27/5/04

Last night after I posted my blog my sweet mate Salia and her brother Justo came and kidnapped us to go to dinner and the mall. We went to one of the most amazing italian restaurants I have ever been to. It was called Italliani's and it was muy bueno! Justo and I spent the evening talking about theatre. He is a communications major because his dad wouldn't let him major in theate. I think I learned more spanish last night than in all of my classes so far.... They are such great people! and they have a car which is good because the public transportation scares me! Salia is a handful!! she is 18 and has just finished her first year at UDLA... She is so great! she got so upset when she found out how old I was because I look younger than all of them. I probably look the youngest in our entire group and yet with the exception of the 2 in their late 40s I am the oldest. And so far I feel it. I have a hard time keeping up with these kids!!

We had our second cooking class today. It was alot of fun. We learned to make frijoles charro and chilaquiles verdes... es sooooo yummy!! I like chilaquiles!! and it is so much fun to say!! When I get back we are definately having a dinner party.

Tonight Salia is taking us to the supermercado so we can do our grocery shopping. It is very exciting! that way we don't have to eat out all the time.

I leave for Oaxaca at 6 in la manaña. Everyone else is going clubbing tonight.... I am going to bed. Maybe the dorms will be quiet for once....

26/05/04

Today was nice and relaxed.... After class and lunch I came back to my dorm put on some laundy and took a siesta! After my nap Alysa and I went to Salia´s room and watched some TV. American TV is so bland in comparison!! Salia is helping us with our pronunciations and Mexican slang! She is fabulous!! Tonight I have alot of homework so that is probably how I will spend my evening. I have two papers to write and some stories to read. I am really looking forward to this weekend and the trip. I also found out today where to get the settings for my wireless card. So now hopefully I will be able to use my laptop to access the internet. I also added new pictures so be sure to check them out!!

05/25/04

Today was a much better day! Classes went well. I really like my teachers. They are very patient and understanding. The group is starting to try to talk in spanish amongst ourselves which has lead to some very amusing spanglesh episodes... today at lunch we had little white potatoes as a side dish. One of the girls tripped and they fell off her plate and went everywhere. She yelled out... -Oh no! I have spilt mi papas all over me!!- I probably shouldn't have laughed at that but I did.

I had my first cooking class as well today! ... I am going to love that class. We get to eat what we make at the end of class. It was sooo yummy!! Today we made chalupas and rice pudding from scratch... I don't like rice pudding so much but the chalupas were amazing. After class we headed back to the dorms. I got a shower and took a nap... I know it was very exciting... and now I am starting on the mounds of homework I have. This weekend I am going to Oaxaca!! I am very excited!!

5/24/04

FIrst day of classes.... Not too bad. The teachers are very patient and I wasn't the worst person in the class so that is good I think. I haven't felt very well today... mostly lack of sleep and dehydration. I hope. The native students moved in for summer classes yesterday and our dorm is no longer quiet. If I thought the noise was bad in the dorms at UH... at least there was carpet there to absorb some of it. I don't think I have ever seen so many people who talk so much. They make my girls look like quiet subdued little people. I am going to have to find time to go into Puebla and find somewhere with earpulgs. They also all smoke and there are no rules about not smoking in the dorms. Not real fond of cigarette smoke but I suppose I will get used to it. Ok enough complaining. You guys might get the impression I am not having a good time. At lunch they served a soup that was amazing. One of the best things I have ever tasted!! I signed up for my extra cultural classes as well today. I am taking cooking and ballroom dancing. I am very excited about it. Now I have to walk to the store for dinner before it gets dark.

Day 2

We went to explore Puebla today. The three of us chicas from houston hooked up with a group from New Hampshire for dinner last night and again today for the tour. They are so much fun!! Our Animadore (Host student),Geraldo, showed us how to use the public bus into puebla... if I thought the plane ride was scary the bus.... a million times worse... fun but scary.... It goes like 60 70 miles an hour on these tiny winding cobblestone streets paying little to no attention to the enormous speed bumps they have all over Chaloula. Better than that, the seat that I choose to sit in happened to not be bolted the rest of the bus. It was exciting...

We got to Puebla and walked to the main square. It was only 9:15 on Sunday morning so everything was still closed so we wondered around til 10 looking at chuches... so many churches...more and more churches... Then we found a bookstore and I picked up some books in spanish. It was starting to get hot and we were thirsty so we headed to an icecream shop Gery knew about. Ice cream is very different here. Not really all that sweet... with a little tartness thrown in. It was time for our bus tour about the time we finished, which worked out nicely. (Gery is a good guide) The tour was about an hour... which was fine except it was very very sunny, very very long, and when ever the bus stopped HOT. But I got the general overview of the city and added some places to my list of must sees. After the tour we were all starving so we went to a little resturante off the square about 4 blocks... The food was very good!! However about 1/2 way through our soup course Jen hollers out ¿Que the f#@! is that? after we had all finished laughing at her... interesting... mix of spanish and english we found she had discovered a worm in her soup. It was very diappointing because It was so good... A Tomatoe type broth with broccli in it. None of us could finish ours. But the rest of the meal was good and bug free. Luch made us realize how increadably tired we were so we decided to make one last stop to show us how to get to the local walmart (muy importante tienda) and then we headed back to the dorms. Tomorrow we start classes so wish me luck. I am very nervous about them.

Welcome to Puebla

Hola todos!!
Well I managed to get to Mexico safely. It was quite
an adventure! I am at the terminal waiting to board
and the tinyest little airplane pulls up to the gate.
I turned and looked at my professor and my concern was
obviously written all over my face. He laughed and
said it would be fun! I doubted him. But he was
right! It was noisy it was bumpy... the comparison I
came to was it was like spending two hours on the
serpent at astroworld. (The serpent is the kiddy
version of the viper.) The flight went by so quickly
though! I was sitting next to a lady that lives in
Puebla but is from tulsa and so she spends half of her
time there and half here in Mexico. Her name is
December (yes, like the month) and we really hit it
off. We talked... welll yelled is a little closer to
it with how noisy that plane was... the whole flight.
She gave me the names and locations for several
restraunts to try while I am here. We are going to
try and get together sometime next week for dinner.
Out flight got in at 11 pm and we were one of 3
flights that had come in all day at the airport so
getting through customs was mostly painless. we were
at our dorms and checked in by midnight and I finally
managed to get unpacked, settled, and to bed at 2ish.
6:30 came very very early this morning. Breakfast was
an exerience... With our eggs they served a side of
black beans (which I was somewhat expecting) and a
vegtable medly tye dish with green beans, peas, corn
and such (which kinda threw me) It was quite tasty
however. I then spent the rest of the morning doing
placement tests. I actually managed to get placed in
the level I am needing... which suprised me a little
because everyone else in our group placed below where
they were supposed to be. Lunch was very fun they had
a banquet for us. Mariachis serenaded us for our first
two courses. It was very entertaining. Now I am off
for a nap before spending the rest of the evening
studying. I hope you are all doing great. I will be
sending you links to two websites sometime this week
one will be to the pictures from the trip and the
other to my blog. Feel free to write me it will be
great to hear from home over the next seven weeks. I
miss you all already!!
Wish you were here