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January 26, 2007
A Little Bit of Opera, A Little Bit of Phonk, A Little Bit of Free Falling
This week was a busy week (and awesome) because so many things happened. Please excuse this entry if it seems a bit jumbled, as I try to recollect the week’s events.
On Monday night, Marcela, our Yucatan Conversational Professor (for the Rutgers program only), brought us to see an opera in the Teatro Peon, across the street from the UADY central office on Calle 60. It was a great cultural experience—not only because it was in Spanish, but because it’s not ever day that you get to see an opera. I had a lot of fun; we even got balcony seating & I was able to take some great pictures and movie clips.
Tuesday began my Antropologia Mexicana class under the Segundo Semestre horario. I love the class--- in fact, I think it’s the best of all my classes. And, although the students are one year younger than me, I think that they’re all really friendly. In fact, 3 guys from the class and two girls invited me to come with them tomorrow morning to a cenote (one of those many subterranean water dwellings here in the Yucatan). I’m really happy that they invited me—and surprised—and it’s going to be a good experience, I think (especially since I’m going without any of my Rutgers compañeros). The three students—Dediere, Heidert, y Cesaire are really interested in learning English and asked if I would be interested in holding a conversational hour or two during the nights in the centro, so I think I might consider it. We also plan to exchange music sometime next week.
Later on Tuesday, I got Julio (su nieto) interested in Oragami. I made a fortune teller for him…what a cultural break-through that was.
On Wednesday I went with a totally different group of Mexicanos and Erich (my friend from the Butler program) to see PHONK!, a Canadian group that was performing in the Teatro Merida. They were basically like a spin on the Blue Man Group or Stomp or Blast and it was a great experience. My Rutgers group was a bit taken by surprise when I told them that I had plans with Mexicanos… oh well… I’m really enjoying the time I spend with students here--- I am forced to speak Spanish and I like learning about Mexico hoy en dia. I have a lot of pictures from Phonk!
Yesterday, Thursday, was a rainy, miserable day. I waited at the bus stop for over an hour to get to school. The buses are generally crowded, but this week, they’ve been terrible. Almost every morning, I’ve had to jump on the bus while it’s practically in motion (no joke, I’ve mastered this into an art form) and I’ve had to stand in the stairwell of the bus with the door swinging open, holding only onto the hands of other Mexicans and a pole to keep me inside the bus. NO JOKE. It’s what I like to call my morning extreme stunt. I ride like this for about 45 minutes until I get to the Facultad where I am nearly ready to collapse from exhaustion and motion sickness. So, the bottom line is: All you in Michigan, be thankful for the bus system that we have!
Class went well the whole week, and I am beginning to feel more comfortable raising my hand in class and more actively participating. Although I still need to work on my Spanish, the only way I will improve is by trying and making mistakes. And while I mind criticism sometimes, I guess I should remember that it all comes in good faith.
Last night, after our class with Mirna, our Yucatan Civilization prof. (for the Rutgers program only), I met more students again in the Centro and I went with a different group to see Phonk a second time. Although not nearly as good, I like meeting and getting to know new people. Ben and Cristina were supposed to come but they weren’t able to get in. Ben was practicing his trombone on the patio and I guess lost track of time…
I also saw Lorena, Sara and Antonio’s granddaughter (who’s my age, studying medicine at the UADY) and she told me that she would also like to exchange music. She’s going to bring some magazines by as well, so that I can read them on the bus and whatever.
Afterwards, I met up with the two of them in the Centro—we went to the Heladeria for ice cream and then, we had the brilliant idea to walk Cristina all the way home to Vista Alegre because the buses stopped running (it was after 11). Somos locos…we left the Centro at 11:30 , walked Cristina home, and didn’t get back to our house until 3:15 in the morning! But to be quite honest, although we were exhausted, it was a good experience getting to know more of the city and it was some “quality bonding time”, I guess you could say…
That’s about it for now; I just finished up a nice breakfast with Dona Sarita—Ben’s still sleeping… tonight, I have plans so I have to get a lot of school work done before them… Lots of reading to do!
Adios…
Posted by jlsumich at January 26, 2007 12:41 PM