over my head

Wow. Today´s lesson was quite a bit over my head. Yesterday I was sure I had been placed in the correct level, "low intermediate intensive", and I did well understanding, speaking, and doing the exercises. It was still challenging, but great. Then today - in the morning class I did well, had to ask some vocabulary questions but felt I was being challenged just enough. Then came the second class of the day.... verb conjugation in different times and tenses. Oh my brain hurt! Things like : "when speaking about an event that happened in the past but is ongoing we use the Present Perfect tense rather than using the Past Indefinite." Ohhhh boy. I never learned these terms like "Present Indicative" and "Pluperfect" and "Imperfect Subjunctive" and such. My head was swimming as I tried to write my exercises saying "Have Antonio and Antonia reserved the church? No not yet but they have been speaking with their parents". Seems simple, but once you try and conjugate irregular verbs etcetera, whoa! After class I sat for an hour redoing my work, which had been a mess. The professor said not to worry, that I will get it, but today was a workout on my brain, that´s for sure!

After class I went for a walk and noticed the men who want to say hi all say "Adios" instead of "Hola". I remember learning something about this in my medical spanish course, that because you are not expecting to stay and talk, you go ahead and say bye as your way of saying hello. Interesting!

A wonderful lunch en Centro de Ciudad - mmmm so yummy, que rico. And the best of it was that it was with new friends. This travel alone thing is brilliant, why I didn´t do this before is beyond me. I was surrounded by languages as we each lapsed into our mother tongues searching for translations - Dutch, German, English, French... all the while giggling as we searched in our dictionaries and verb books and giving study tips. And as I sat with these 20-something year olds who were already world travelers, I wondered what I have been doing with my life.

I think about my furnished apartment and wonder why I renewed my lease. I could stay here. Is it possible to fall in love with a place? The city of Guanajuato is so small that I continue to run into people I have met randomly. The beauty of the place is not only in the architecture and vibe, but in the people too. The university is in the center of town and hanging out there feels revitalizing, though I am saying this after only having been down there one day, haha.

I visited the large flea market and got myself a watch - I actually came here without one, forgetting it, but it was easy to get a modest timepiece for only $65pesos which is about $6.50dollars. (In Mexico the $ sign is also used to denote money, you just say pesos to deliniate between those and dollars). There were many other things to look at there but nothing I wanted to buy, though it was fun to look.

I mentioned to Tamara that I love dancing (me gusta mucho bailar!) and turns out she does too, so tonight we are gonna hit the club for some Salsa we hope. Anyway that is the plan. Whoo hoo! Problem is I have nothing to wear; everything I brought is cargo pants and hiking boots. Well, I suppose it will have to do....

My host mom has told me that she worries about me because I am never home. I had considered getting an apartment when I made my plans but had wanted to be further immersed in the culture by living with a family. Funny, because she is right, I am never home! This morning she said to me "you are my kids here, and you don´t eat with me" and I felt guilty. Tomorrow I will have to be sure to dine with her for lunch, the most important meal of the day - set from 1:30 - 3pm. Today I gave her the gifts I brought from Colorado and she was so sweetly moved, I was glad I did that. She hugged me and thanked me so much I sort of was embarassed all I got them were Colorado t-shirts!

Tonight we have round two of the cultural class, and I am so very tired, I am not sure how I can keep my eyes open for it and then also go dancing. I will, though, as last night proved, as soon as Javier starts talking I will be thoroughly entertained. Last night´s lesson was on the Posada, the procession re-enacting Mary and Joseph (Maria y Jose)´s search for an Inn... Interesting to learn how the Spanish brought Roman Catholocism here to Mexico in the "second conquest" of the indiginous peoples and why the religion is different here than elsewhere - because of the influence of the indiginous people on the development of a new religion. Also very nice to get a focused explanation of the significance of the things done, sung, eaten, and seen during the Posada, since I participated in the service of Posada prior to leaving (thanks Angel!) and watched the Posada on the street here my first night here. I don´t know tonight´s topic but it may be the same since this is a big festivo from Dec 16-24.

So, my homework awaits, and then there is class, and oh my I haven´t left any time for getting myself prettied up for dancing!!! Better run.... Ciao!