Sunday, February 27, 2011

Los Oscars en Espanol

Watched some of the Oscars: in Spanish. I wondered how it would work, with a live show in English that people here seemed interested in watching. I think it must be just slightly delayed, because the commentary seemed to know what was about to happen, who was about to be a presenter and what they would say. And then voices in Spanish would immediately translate what was being said: a woman's voice for the women and a man's voice for the men. I could hear the English quietly under the translating voices. (But for Buzz's "Spanish mode" there was no need to translate.) I quit after the documentary awards. I'll have to check who wins later on the Internet.

One of my Mexican friends back home said there would be lots of white people here in Cuernavaca, and there are, but they are not Americans. Many are Mexicans: the local population is not especially Indian or mestizo looking. My host and all her family look very much descended from the Spanish. So do all my teachers at the school. We do see foreigners here, but the other night at Los Arcos for salsa dancing the people we met, whom we thought might be gringos, turned out to be French and Cuban. They are all studying at the local university. Except for the people at school, I have not met other Americans. I occasionally here English being spoken, but more rarely than I thought.

I have also heard that the school once had up to 200 students per month, and this week we will be down to about 10. They used to make use of two buildings, and now they are thinking of selling one. They say it is the economy, but I think they are not giving enough weight to the bad press Mexico is getting in the states.

La Plateria

Went to Taxco yesterday with Nicole. We literally spent the whole time shopping. There is just one jewelry store after another, and even if you are not in an official-looking jewelry store (some with guards out front and the jewelry under glass), then there are stands in the street, in little markets, everywhere. I finally bought a ring that I like a lot. There is silver for sale in Cuernavaca, too, so I will probably buy some more. This really was a cute little town. Here are some pics:

This is a hilly city, with many cobblestone streets.

And markets selling everything.


Approaching the main square and the cathedral.
 

All the taxis are white bugs. It is very cute. They speed up and down all these hills and through the tiniest of streets. Many times we thought we were on a pedestrian only street until a little white bug came speeding along.

Friday, February 25, 2011

Es como estoy bebiendo un mar.

I have admitted a bit of a defeat: 6 hours of intensive language school is too much for me. By the last hour of the day, my mind is mush, and then I go home and eat with Lupita and speak more Spanish, so it's almost like another hour of school. Then I would like to be able to sight see and go to some of the surrounding towns and some ruins nearby, but I'm exhausted. So I've asked the school if I can cut out at 2:00 instead of 3:00. I don't know if that will change when we eat comida, but I can at least set my books down, maybe check email or something before immediately going to eat and converse more. (I haven't even had time to do my homework!)

Have I mentioned that my host, Lupita, used to run her own restaurant and teach cooking. Oh my God, she's a wonderful cook! Everything is homemade and fresh. Today I had chile rellenos. She makes homemade soup, homemade jam, homemade flan, homemade mousse. Of course, I did mention that I am on a diet, and her response was, "Todas las mujeres!" All women are on a diet. But she serves salad and vegetables. All the food is like heaven! Me gusta mucho! Y no puedo dejar de comer.

Tomorrow I am going to a nearby town that is well known for being a lovely small town and selling lots of silver. Quiero comprar la plata. Nicole has already been, but she agreed to be my guide, so we are going to buy bus tickets tonight, have a glass of wine at one of the best restaurants around, which happens to be walking distance from the bus station, and then go back to the restaurant with the dancing to see Nicole's dance teacher. And yes, I agreed to a salsa lesson next week. Por dios! Que he hecho!

Wednesday, February 23, 2011

Some pics.

I tell you, this kind of intensive learning is not for the feeble or foolhardy (i.e., it may not be for me!). Add in kids (or at least one kid) who think skype is a great way to keep mom informed of every emotional drama and this has been a very stressful day. Had my first breakdown.

But nevermind that: how about some pictures? I received a request for pictures of what it's like where I live and at the school. I'm afraid you'll find it is much like any room where one boards and any school in the semi-tropics known as the land of eternal spring. But here you are:

This is my street. Not all streets in Cuernavaca are paved with stones, but many are. And nearly all streets are lined with walls. All the homes around here seem to be walled off at the street.
This is the gate to my house.
a small yard and driveway are to the left as you enter the gate. Then follow the brick path to the main part of the house, and follow on around back to my room.
This is the entrance to my room in the back (you can see me taking the picture in the glass).
This is my bed and little desk.
There are actually two beds in my room, but I am the only student staying here now.
Here is a view of the courtyard at the school, from one of the upstairs classrooms. This is where everyone goes when the bell rings. We get "recess" every hour. This is when the students who are not in the same class can visit. There is an eclectic group of students.
This is one of the classrooms. I now have three classes a day: one for conversation and two for grammar. There are only two students in my classes: me and one other, but different students between conversation and grammar. One can get pretty personal in conversation class, when we are supposed to just start talking about things: I feel like I have given a synopsis of my life, in Spanish, at least three times.
The Palacio Cortes in the central square. I haven't been in yet, so I'm not quite sure what it was, but it looks like a castle of some kind. The cathedral is in a different part of the city.
The main square on my first day here, a Sunday. It was packed with people, and these big screens, and bands. It is not as busy other nights of the week, but this is not a sleepy city.
For example: salsa dancing, on a Tuesday night. This goes on every night apparently, at one of the restaurants that borders the square. People just dance right in between the tables, and when that is too crowded, they take it out into the square. Imagine men coming right up to ask you to dance, and knowing how! I don't think you find that much back home!

Tuesday, February 22, 2011

No puedo caber más información en mi cabeza.

Oh my god, I'm tired. This is a lot for an old lady like me to take in. Studying all day. Walking around town all afternoon. Today, I took a siesta! But now I am going out to watch salsa dancing in El Centro with Nicole. She has taken a couple of salsa dance classes here, and her teacher told her that there is dancing somewhere near the downtown square every night, so I am persuaded to go with her -- to watch only! But it doesn't even get started until 8:30. I was so tired in class today my teacher told me that yawning was not allowed -- at least I think that's what she said. After comida today at 3:00, I was ready for a nap. Hopefully that will give me strength to go out tonight!

Hasta luego.

Monday, February 21, 2011

First Day of School

I began my two weeks at the escuela with a test: written and oral. The director very quickly said she knew where to place me, and the other students do seem to be at about my level – some a little higher and some lower. The morning class is for conversation, and the afternoon class is for grammar. I met a few of the other students. Nicole is a single woman, a few years younger than me, who is staying in a house just a block away. We were driven to school together by Lupita, and then Nicole’s “father” (i.e., from her host family) picked us up. The other students in my classes are all older than me: a defense attorney from Oregon and a couple of retired people who come to the school every year. Everyone else seemed to know the ropes: the bells signal 10-minute breaks, there is water and coffee available at the little cafeteria, there is a longer break mid-day and most students bring their own lunch. I felt a little lost, not knowing what to expect. And everyone tries to speak Spanish all the time, even the students during the breaks. The staff wear little buttons that say “Espanol, por favor.” If we lapse into too much English in class, we get a little scolding.

I had breakfast and “comida” (the 3:00 main meal of the day) with my host, Lupita. We only speak in Spanish, so I am not totally sure of what is going on, but I think her granddaughter is staying with her all week because her daughter has to travel to Panama for her job. So she is taking care of me and a one-year-old. Our abilities to communicate in Spanish are probably not that different.

The Internet has not worked since the power outage last night, so who knows when I’ll be able to post this. In the meantime, I go in search of pens, notebooks, and a few other necessities. The weather is warm and the sky blue. Couldn’t ask for a better day to walk around the city.


My New Home in Cuernavaca

I made it to my new home for the next two weeks: a little room in the back of a lovely home in Cuernavaca. I parted with Arthur at the Mexico City airport this afternoon, as he boarded a plane back home and I got a bus to Cuernavaca. The bus was very nice and clean, with on-board video entertainment, snacks, and bathrooms, but it was only a 1 1/2 hour trip.

Uh oh. Power just went out. The adventure continues....

Got kicked off the Internet when the power went out, but I still have my laptop battery, so I can type offline. Also, the laptop screen is the only light in my room now. In the main part of the house, my host, Lupita, has her daughter and granddaughter visiting, and the granddaughter, one year old, started crying as soon as the lights went out. I’m assuming someone might bring me a flashlight when the baby stops crying.

So, let’s see, aside from this sudden power outage, the trip has gone completely smoothly. There was a taxi stand just outside the Cuernavaca bus station, just as my contact at the language school had said there would be. I got a ride to the street that the house is on, but both ends of this tiny street are blocked off with locked gates. There are buzzers at the gate, but they are not labeled, so I didn’t know which one to push. I tried to call the phone number I had from my cell phone, but the first attempt didn’t go through (I dialed the country code unnecessarily). Then a car opened the gate to go out of the street, so the taxi driver suggested I go through and go up to the house directly. It seemed like as good an idea as any, so I paid him and went in. I got to the gate with the right number on it, that looked just like what I had scoped out earlier on Google street view, but there was no doorbell. I tried calling into the gate a few times, and I thought I heard voices, but no one came out. Then I tried calling the number again without the country code and it rang, but no one answered. Then someone finally came out! She opened the gate and welcomed me and apologized for not answering the phone – she heard her phone ringing but couldn’t find it (sound familiar, Michelle? See, it happens all over the world). She showed me to my room, and then later brought me a map to orient me to the town. She said what time we’d have breakfast and when she would drive me to the school. I met her little granddaughter. All this was in Spanish!! Barely a word of English. I was able to understand and answer!

I walked downtown, and the central square was PACKED with people. There was a bandstand set up, as well as what seemed to be a kind of political rally, possibly in honor of or celebrating the election of the governor of this state, Morelos. Many people had hats and T-shirts that read “Unidad Morelos” – United Morelos, or something like that. And street vendors selling everything imaginable. I found a place to eat and people-watch.

Back at the house, I was able to get the password for their wireless Internet and skype with the kids. Got a text that Arthur had landed in SFO. Was starting this blog entry and thinking of taking a shower when the lights went out. I’m really glad I wasn’t in the shower already!

Lupita has now given me a single candle (no matches; hope it doesn’t blow out), said she hoped the lights will come on soon, and left. I have a reading light that is battery operated. And still the light from the laptop screen. Hmmmm… Shower in the dark? Read? Preserve laptop battery? The possibilities are endless.

Friday, February 18, 2011

Diego Rivera Day

Arrived safely in Mexico City. The hotel is fantastico (it's the Four Seasons, after all). This morning we met 6 others from my editorial committee for sightseeing. We took the subway to the Zocolo, which is the Tiananmen Square of Mexico City.



The Zocolo, like most main squares in Latin America, contains the cathedral and key government buildings. We went immediately to the Palacio Nacionale, under the guidance of Doug Massey, one of the co-editors for the Annual Review of Sociology, with the express purpose of seeing the Diego Rivera murals. They truly were spectacular. And try to imagine a principal government building in any country outside of Cuba, China, or the former Soviet Union that prominently depicts Karl Marx and a workers' revolution. One of the stairways depicts pre-Columbian Mexico, then a history of Mexico, and then the future, featuring Karl Marx and the demise of capitalism. It was really wonderful.

The cathedral.


Committee members, spouses, and me learning about the murals.

School children in the Palacio come to see the murals also.

We then walked, talked, ate, and drank our way through the murals at the Ministry of Education and the Diego Rivera museum. As one committee member said, it was art and social/political commentary all in one. These are some very political murals: overt political slogans, hammers and sickles, Lenin, Trotsky....





We then broke off from the group and walked back to the hotel, past a random street protest and along the broad boulevards of this enormous city.








Tonight we were able to skype the kids and tell them all about our adventures, and hear about theirs. Tomorrow I get to work, and Arthur navigates the city, and the language, solo.

Wednesday, February 16, 2011

The art of packing light

Eagle Creek. REI. Compression sacks. Travel size everything.

Anna holding all my clothes for the whole trip. For two and a half weeks, including work clothes for my meeting. Compression sacks rock!!!

My two carry-on pieces. Carry-on only! No more lost bags.
Carry-on only!

Monday, February 14, 2011

Strictly a travel blog.

Having been persuaded by a few friends to try this, I am restricting my blog to a travel journal only. I embark for a little over two weeks in Mexico: 18 days, actually; enough time to stage a revolution in some countries, but hopefully in this case just enough time to learn some serious amounts of Spanish.

I go first to Mexico City for an editorial committee meeting (hence, company pays for the flight :), then on Sunday, I travel by bus to Cuernavaca, about an hour south of Mexico City. From the bus station in Cuernavaca, I hail a taxi and go to my host family's home, where I will stay for two weeks while studying Spanish at the "Spanish Language Institute" (ASLI, http://www.spanishincuernavaca.com/).

The kids will be at Gramma Eloise's house in Idaho for the first week, which is a school vacation. Then gramma flies home with them and helps Arthur out in the afternoons for most of the second week. This will be the longest I've been away from the kids since we got Anna. Before that, I went to Africa for a month when Alex was very young, about 3, and then to China for two weeks to get Anna when Alex was 5. But I've never been away from Anna for this long. Thankfully, neither child seems at all concerned about this long separation (sigh; they could fake it a little). And gramma is so great with them; she has all sorts of plans to keep them busy and spoiled. Thank you gramma!

That's the plan. If I have interesting tales of my journey, I'll share them here. This is my first-ever attempt at a blog. I have always kept travel journals, but never a public one! (In fact, I've never gone back and read through any of my old travel journals myself, so they have died an entirely un-read death.) If this one goes unread, too, I think I'll be OK with that!

Now back to packing.... (I'm militant about packing light!)