así es….de mi punto de vista, pues

We made it. Dan, Hannah, Lisl and I arrived in Mexico City Saturday afternoon with no problem other than the difficulties encountered attempting to maneuver the large amounts of luggage we possess around the airport.  The country representatives, Derrick and Ana, along with their 3 year old son Lukas, fed as an amazing traditional Mexican meal and then we all conked out for awhile.

We went out to a small taco restaurant for dinner.  The tacos in Mexico City are a good deal different than what I´ve always thought of as tacos…these were small corn tortillas, about four inches across, with your choice of meat, cheese, cactus, or avocado on top.   It was delicious.

Sunday morning we went to the church that Dan will be working with in Nalculpan, which is just outside of Mexico City.  We took a half hour metro ride (very nice metro system) and a half hour combi (VW buses turned into large taxis) ride to get to this very small church.  We were introduced and people were excited to meet us and very welcoming.  We spent Sunday afternoon eating, reading and packing our clothes for our first week of language school.

Early Monday morning we took the metro to the bus station…it doesn´t get light here till rather late..7:30ish…and took a Greyhound type bus from Mexico City to Cuernavaca, about an hour bus ride.  There was some gorgeous scenery on the trip south…mountains and forests…and everything seemed to be so green.  The four of us were split into different classes after a short entrance exam and we began class promptly.  All of us have no more than four people in our class so we get a good amount of attention and correction.  My class has a girl from Germany, a guy from Japan and our teacher, Carlos, in addition to myself.

It´s amazing to me how much grammar I´ve forgotten in the part four years that I haven´t been taking Spanish.   It´s also surprising how quickly things are coming back.  I think these classes will be a very good re-introduction to the Spanish language before I head out into the campo.

The four of us are all living with different host families.  I am the only student with my family at the moment, although they have another small house behind the main house in which students can live.  My family has obviously had many students live with them before and they want to make sure that I have everything that I need.  They are very willing to talk with me in Spanish and, despite the fact that my sister is fluent in English, she doesn´t use the language except to clarify something.  They have been very welcoming and kind.

The eating schedule is somewhat different here…we start classes at 8 am, so breakfast is at 7:30, lunch is at 2:30 and dinner is at 7:30.  There is a small bakery right up the street from our school that we can get a snack at during one of our breaks from class.  Classes are held from 8-1, with a ten minute break every hour and one 30 minute break halfway through.

I am still catching up on sleep, though I did manage to finish the last Harry Potter book, which is highly necessary to read for anyone who´s read any of the other books.  I´ve taken a number of pictures which I hope to put up on here as soon as I can figure this ancient computer out.  I´m not sure if this thing even has a USB port.  If not, then I´ll have to wait till we go back to Mexico City to upload pictures onto the country reps´computer.