around in, looking out into the garden.
from the lower level, looking up
Monday, October 23, 2006
More photos
this is from inside the grand room we all lounge
around in, looking out into the garden.
from the lower level, looking up
around in, looking out into the garden.
from the lower level, looking up
photos.....
me looking down on the 2nd level of the school!
me w/my classmates, the second week of school.
The lady w/red hair is Claudia, who I did a lot of sight seeing with. She has now returned home in Quebeck.
Sunday, October 22, 2006
Week 4
Oct. 15, 2006 - Oct 22, 2006
Hola Mis Amigas!!
I just returned from Mexico City. Had a really nice time. Saw lots. So much stuff it is crazy. My host family drove Claudia (other student in my school) and I over to Mex. City with them. The family took us directly to the hotel. Which was very nice, and we got a great rate at the hotel, the rate was $50 a night, so we split it. Juan Pablo, who works at school, got us some sort of deal, which was very nice as the hotel was normally very expensive!
I took lots of photos until my batteries died. I bought some new batteries from a street vendor. Unfortunately, they didn’t last long. I would post photos but my Internet connection is just to weak.
Our hotel was next to the Zocolo, or Constitution Square, middle of the historical dist. Wow, it is a really happening place. Concerts, street musicians, vendors etc. Stuff happening all day long and most of the night. Zocolo is basically the name of the major square of the district. Most every city/town here has a town square, all called Zocolo.
We took a bus tour of the city, on Sunday. There are some very lovely neighborhoods, artsy ones, and trendy ones. MC has it all. We went down one road that was the Rodeo Drive. All the expensive, exclusive shopping you could want if you’re into designer’s fashion. So many statues, monuments comminerating just about anything you can think of. There is a statue of George Washington, can't remember why but it was there!
I have shopped very little if at all for souvenirs. My house has to many souvenirs as it is, however, I did get a music cd in MC. This guy came into the restaurant I was at for lunch, he was playing an instrument very similar to a didgeridoo. You know that long horn thing from Australia. Anyways, this instrument is from the Mayan culture, and so it is native instrument from Mexico. Anyway, it was pretty cool music. On Sat. night I heard a street band, all Mexican rocking out w/ African drums. I have all the same instruments at home as they had!! Except we don’t know how to use them! They even had a couple girls doing African dances. It was cool to hear our drums in action!
Mex. City also has tons of museums. We visited the Museum of Anthropology, a huge incredible collection of artifacts from all the various cultures that have lived here over the centuries. The museum is huge, we only saw part of it, and that took 3 hours. Next time I will see more!!
Mexico is very proud of it ancient indigenous cultures especially the Aztec. Aztec is the general name of ancient culture, but the people were called, mexicas (may-hi-kahs). There are monuments to famous Aztecan leaders, words from the Aztecan language are everywhere. I can't say any of them either!
We only saw a small portion of this giant city, more to see next time.
As I finish up this 4th week and head into my 5th week. I am now starting to miss the familiar. Especially food. Everything I eat here has a name I know, but the food does not taste familiar at all. Drives me crazy at times. While in Mex. City, at a restaurant, I ordered "fillet mingnon" (sp?) thinking I would get a juicy steak...nope...I got an over cooked, chopped up beef, in some sort of gravy. I find it hard to believe that there was a steak in the gravy. I was so disappointed!! So I have told myself just deal with it. It is a foreign country after all. It will not be the same, no matter what, so learn to like it!! In fact, I spoke with a young man about it, and he felt the same way when he studied in the US. He said, US tacos just aren't as good as here, I had to laugh!! It is all in what we are used to.
School is going pretty well, but getting much harder. I am starting to study the little components of the language that make a sentence make sense. It is all so different than English. The students there that speak french, pick this stuff up so much faster than I. Mostly because the french language is structured exactly the same way. French conjugates verbs the same way, uses pronouns that same, and more. English conjugates so differently, english sentences are formed differently, there are just so many differences. I wonder if I will ever get it all straight in my head. Even though, at times, I just feel like a flop, I keep going...on and on...Never say NO!!
Forgive my spelling, my English and my Spanish somehow are merging. My teacher told me that is a phase of learning a 2nd language! First separate, then mixed, then separate, so I guess I am in phase 2!!!
more next week!
Hasta manana
Oct. 15, 2006 - Oct 22, 2006
Hola Mis Amigas!!
I just returned from Mexico City. Had a really nice time. Saw lots. So much stuff it is crazy. My host family drove Claudia (other student in my school) and I over to Mex. City with them. The family took us directly to the hotel. Which was very nice, and we got a great rate at the hotel, the rate was $50 a night, so we split it. Juan Pablo, who works at school, got us some sort of deal, which was very nice as the hotel was normally very expensive!
I took lots of photos until my batteries died. I bought some new batteries from a street vendor. Unfortunately, they didn’t last long. I would post photos but my Internet connection is just to weak.
Our hotel was next to the Zocolo, or Constitution Square, middle of the historical dist. Wow, it is a really happening place. Concerts, street musicians, vendors etc. Stuff happening all day long and most of the night. Zocolo is basically the name of the major square of the district. Most every city/town here has a town square, all called Zocolo.
We took a bus tour of the city, on Sunday. There are some very lovely neighborhoods, artsy ones, and trendy ones. MC has it all. We went down one road that was the Rodeo Drive. All the expensive, exclusive shopping you could want if you’re into designer’s fashion. So many statues, monuments comminerating just about anything you can think of. There is a statue of George Washington, can't remember why but it was there!
I have shopped very little if at all for souvenirs. My house has to many souvenirs as it is, however, I did get a music cd in MC. This guy came into the restaurant I was at for lunch, he was playing an instrument very similar to a didgeridoo. You know that long horn thing from Australia. Anyways, this instrument is from the Mayan culture, and so it is native instrument from Mexico. Anyway, it was pretty cool music. On Sat. night I heard a street band, all Mexican rocking out w/ African drums. I have all the same instruments at home as they had!! Except we don’t know how to use them! They even had a couple girls doing African dances. It was cool to hear our drums in action!
Mex. City also has tons of museums. We visited the Museum of Anthropology, a huge incredible collection of artifacts from all the various cultures that have lived here over the centuries. The museum is huge, we only saw part of it, and that took 3 hours. Next time I will see more!!
Mexico is very proud of it ancient indigenous cultures especially the Aztec. Aztec is the general name of ancient culture, but the people were called, mexicas (may-hi-kahs). There are monuments to famous Aztecan leaders, words from the Aztecan language are everywhere. I can't say any of them either!
We only saw a small portion of this giant city, more to see next time.
As I finish up this 4th week and head into my 5th week. I am now starting to miss the familiar. Especially food. Everything I eat here has a name I know, but the food does not taste familiar at all. Drives me crazy at times. While in Mex. City, at a restaurant, I ordered "fillet mingnon" (sp?) thinking I would get a juicy steak...nope...I got an over cooked, chopped up beef, in some sort of gravy. I find it hard to believe that there was a steak in the gravy. I was so disappointed!! So I have told myself just deal with it. It is a foreign country after all. It will not be the same, no matter what, so learn to like it!! In fact, I spoke with a young man about it, and he felt the same way when he studied in the US. He said, US tacos just aren't as good as here, I had to laugh!! It is all in what we are used to.
School is going pretty well, but getting much harder. I am starting to study the little components of the language that make a sentence make sense. It is all so different than English. The students there that speak french, pick this stuff up so much faster than I. Mostly because the french language is structured exactly the same way. French conjugates verbs the same way, uses pronouns that same, and more. English conjugates so differently, english sentences are formed differently, there are just so many differences. I wonder if I will ever get it all straight in my head. Even though, at times, I just feel like a flop, I keep going...on and on...Never say NO!!
Forgive my spelling, my English and my Spanish somehow are merging. My teacher told me that is a phase of learning a 2nd language! First separate, then mixed, then separate, so I guess I am in phase 2!!!
more next week!
Hasta manana
Tuesday, October 10, 2006
Where am I?
I just realized, I not written anywhere on my blog...where I am...for those who don't know. I am attending a Spanish school called "Kukulcan", in Cuernavaca, Mexico. I am earning credits/units here towards my bachelors in Spanish from Univeristy of Houston. My classes are basically Spanish 3, 4, and 5. When I return to UH in January for the spring semester, I take Spanish 6, the final "learning spanish class". Starting Fall 2007, I start all my upper division courses, where it is expected that I will be more or less fluent as the classes will be Literature and history etc. If I don't have a good command of the language by next fall, I am in big trouble!! I have to do well here to achieve the progress I need to be prepared.
Cuernavaca is south west of Mexico City, about 75 miles or so. The nickname of this city is "eternal spring" as it is about 75-80 degrees in the day and 65-60 at night, year round. No humidity either!! This is the rainy season, rains most every evening, as well as thunder and lightening. It rains hard, but like Houston, not for long. Maybe a hour or 2. But since it really rains at night most of the time, it really doens't get in the way of much. I am in bed when it rains.
This city has a long history of being the vacation spot for all the elite of Mexico City. Many famous Mexican artists, politians etc have had homes here: ie: Frida Kahlo y Diego Riviera and many others. Cuernavaca is also the capitol city of this state, Morelos. So all the government offices are here. Naturally the politicans live here as well. They only way, I know there are around here as there is generally armed guards guarding the homes. All homes here are behind walls so one never knows what they look like. Unless, you walk by when the gates are open!!
The city is very pretty. Tons of flowering trees. Some are so beautiful. The color of the trees, just give the city such a nice feel inspite of the garbage issue.
Oh, I found out today, the garbage issue has only been happening for a month or so, and supposedly today it has a solution. So the mountains of garbage should be leaving soon.
Oh... I met another goal!! I finally all by myself, negioated my own taxi to get home from the mall. Now I know I can do it again!!!
hasta manana
Cuernavaca is south west of Mexico City, about 75 miles or so. The nickname of this city is "eternal spring" as it is about 75-80 degrees in the day and 65-60 at night, year round. No humidity either!! This is the rainy season, rains most every evening, as well as thunder and lightening. It rains hard, but like Houston, not for long. Maybe a hour or 2. But since it really rains at night most of the time, it really doens't get in the way of much. I am in bed when it rains.
This city has a long history of being the vacation spot for all the elite of Mexico City. Many famous Mexican artists, politians etc have had homes here: ie: Frida Kahlo y Diego Riviera and many others. Cuernavaca is also the capitol city of this state, Morelos. So all the government offices are here. Naturally the politicans live here as well. They only way, I know there are around here as there is generally armed guards guarding the homes. All homes here are behind walls so one never knows what they look like. Unless, you walk by when the gates are open!!
The city is very pretty. Tons of flowering trees. Some are so beautiful. The color of the trees, just give the city such a nice feel inspite of the garbage issue.
Oh, I found out today, the garbage issue has only been happening for a month or so, and supposedly today it has a solution. So the mountains of garbage should be leaving soon.
Oh... I met another goal!! I finally all by myself, negioated my own taxi to get home from the mall. Now I know I can do it again!!!
hasta manana
Monday, October 09, 2006
Week 2 Oct 2 – Oct 7
I had two goals this week. 1. Find the post office, buy stamps, and mail the postcard to Univ. de Houston. The International Studies director insisted that I mail a postcard to her, so I did. My other goal was to negotiate the price of a taxi ride. I haven’t do it yet, mostly because I haven’t had to go anywhere in a taxi and I haven’t gone anywhere alone. Eventually, it is gonna happen!! I have a tough time understanding numbers, so it will be an adventure.
I have been considerably braver this trip using Spanish than I ever did in Guatemala. I just go for it! It seems to all work.
The big event of the week was that I got sick. Montezuma’s revenge, so to speak. Back in Texas I sign up to particpate in a medical blind study to wear a patch for preventing tourist diarrhea in foreign countries. I am being paid, a stipend for my participation. Well, all last week, I was so confident that I had evaded Senor Montezuma, told the dr. this past Monday, all is great. Yeah, I had a growling bellying, but I am not going to get sick. Well, no matter how hard I willed myself not to get sick, Wednesday morning, I was sick. The other perk of this study is I get free medical care. So Rosalia, (lady of the home I am in) took me to the clinic. As I sat there in the clinic, I am thinking to myself; how I am going to communicate all this in Spanish. I was feeling kinda stressed, nervous, scared etc. But once again, I managed to express myself in Spanish, and in the end between my Spanish and English here and there, I explained myself, and got antibiotics. The next day, I felt 100% better. I hope once the antibiotics wear off I don’t get sick again.
I am in this blind study to develop a medicine through this patch that when worn before departure to the foreign country will eventually immunize tourists from such issues. I thought for a while that I got the “good” patch. Now I am not sure, maybe it didn’t work? Or did I get the placebo? Perhaps, a different sort of bacteria than what the patch was meant for? I will never know, only the scientists who are conducting the study are the only ones who will ever know.
Since I got sick and medicated, I am not sure if I will be dismissed from the study or not. I see the dr. on Monday, so I will find out then.
I was just proud of myself for getting through another situation, successfully communicating in Spanish.
School is coming along. Had another end of the week exam today. I have lots of concepts to learn the details of and a lot of verbs to memorize. I am the only student here, currently taking the classes for credit. Everyone else is here for personal education for various reasons. No pressure for them!
There is another new student in my house he arrived last weekend. A very nice young man, named Noé (pronounced N0-way, Noah in english) he is from France. He is 24 yrs, and is set to begin a new job in December for Air France as a flight attendant. He is hoping that learning Spanish will help in his work. He lives upstairs in the house. Where as, my room is basically outside of the house.
So now there is 3 languages bouncing around the dinner table. It pretty funny at times. He and I in our “learning” Spanish, except Noé knows some English, so if he can’t figure out the Spanish, then he will ask me in English. If I can’t figure out the Spanish, I ask him in English. It gets pretty funny at times.
Some of this week’s observations: Teen and young adult couples smooching is a very common sight here in the mall, on corners, restaurants, and on quiet streets. Down the street from me it seems is a popular place to park. I am guessing that since kids here, live with their parents till they marry, if they want to be alone, they have to find someplace other than home!
Motorcycles are not big here; I see them but not a lot. As like in Texas, helmets are optional.
I have come to realize that the garbage issue here is pretty big. Today we drove to some sort of museum (in my opinion, it was a big room w/posters on the wall), but we drove past the hugest mountain of garbage I have ever seen. Someone is still picking trash up from the curbs around the neighborhoods. From what I saw today, they just pick an open area, and start dumping, right here in town. People are driving past the giant mountain of garbage, walking past etc. It was just awful. I know that this garbage issue is a big political issue as well. I am guessing that is probably why there isn’t a solution yet. I ask Rosalia about it, she said that they have no place to take the trash, so they just pile it where the can. She said the officials try to find land out of the city but so far everywhere they look, they are told no. NIMBY I suppose to a certain extent. From what I gather, this is a fairly new problem but I am not sure. I have also read in the local paper there is some sort of strike of the garbage truck drivers. Seems like a very complicated problem. Not easily fixed either.
Saturday myself, Claudia y Noé took a bus to a small town about 1.5 hrs from here. It was really neat. This town called Taxco (tass-co) is a historical town. It is historical for an incredibly ornate church that dates back to the 1750’s. Also, because it is the silver capital of the country. So all the buildings have to retain the historical look. All white, with a certain building style. Also, this town is situated on the side of a mountain. Wow, it is either all up hill or down hill!!! Pretty impressive views!!
There were tons and tons of little stores selling silver. Mostly jewelry. It was just overwhelming for me. I bought other stuff!! I will most likely go back later and get some silver. All silver stamped “925” supposedly means it is 92% silver. If someone fakes the stamp…it is jail. If there is no stamp it is silver plated.
Enough for this week. More next week. I am working on photos but my internet connection via wireless is so incredibly slow. I could cook dinner in the time it take to load a photo!! I will keep trying though!!
Hasta Semana
I had two goals this week. 1. Find the post office, buy stamps, and mail the postcard to Univ. de Houston. The International Studies director insisted that I mail a postcard to her, so I did. My other goal was to negotiate the price of a taxi ride. I haven’t do it yet, mostly because I haven’t had to go anywhere in a taxi and I haven’t gone anywhere alone. Eventually, it is gonna happen!! I have a tough time understanding numbers, so it will be an adventure.
I have been considerably braver this trip using Spanish than I ever did in Guatemala. I just go for it! It seems to all work.
The big event of the week was that I got sick. Montezuma’s revenge, so to speak. Back in Texas I sign up to particpate in a medical blind study to wear a patch for preventing tourist diarrhea in foreign countries. I am being paid, a stipend for my participation. Well, all last week, I was so confident that I had evaded Senor Montezuma, told the dr. this past Monday, all is great. Yeah, I had a growling bellying, but I am not going to get sick. Well, no matter how hard I willed myself not to get sick, Wednesday morning, I was sick. The other perk of this study is I get free medical care. So Rosalia, (lady of the home I am in) took me to the clinic. As I sat there in the clinic, I am thinking to myself; how I am going to communicate all this in Spanish. I was feeling kinda stressed, nervous, scared etc. But once again, I managed to express myself in Spanish, and in the end between my Spanish and English here and there, I explained myself, and got antibiotics. The next day, I felt 100% better. I hope once the antibiotics wear off I don’t get sick again.
I am in this blind study to develop a medicine through this patch that when worn before departure to the foreign country will eventually immunize tourists from such issues. I thought for a while that I got the “good” patch. Now I am not sure, maybe it didn’t work? Or did I get the placebo? Perhaps, a different sort of bacteria than what the patch was meant for? I will never know, only the scientists who are conducting the study are the only ones who will ever know.
Since I got sick and medicated, I am not sure if I will be dismissed from the study or not. I see the dr. on Monday, so I will find out then.
I was just proud of myself for getting through another situation, successfully communicating in Spanish.
School is coming along. Had another end of the week exam today. I have lots of concepts to learn the details of and a lot of verbs to memorize. I am the only student here, currently taking the classes for credit. Everyone else is here for personal education for various reasons. No pressure for them!
There is another new student in my house he arrived last weekend. A very nice young man, named Noé (pronounced N0-way, Noah in english) he is from France. He is 24 yrs, and is set to begin a new job in December for Air France as a flight attendant. He is hoping that learning Spanish will help in his work. He lives upstairs in the house. Where as, my room is basically outside of the house.
So now there is 3 languages bouncing around the dinner table. It pretty funny at times. He and I in our “learning” Spanish, except Noé knows some English, so if he can’t figure out the Spanish, then he will ask me in English. If I can’t figure out the Spanish, I ask him in English. It gets pretty funny at times.
Some of this week’s observations: Teen and young adult couples smooching is a very common sight here in the mall, on corners, restaurants, and on quiet streets. Down the street from me it seems is a popular place to park. I am guessing that since kids here, live with their parents till they marry, if they want to be alone, they have to find someplace other than home!
Motorcycles are not big here; I see them but not a lot. As like in Texas, helmets are optional.
I have come to realize that the garbage issue here is pretty big. Today we drove to some sort of museum (in my opinion, it was a big room w/posters on the wall), but we drove past the hugest mountain of garbage I have ever seen. Someone is still picking trash up from the curbs around the neighborhoods. From what I saw today, they just pick an open area, and start dumping, right here in town. People are driving past the giant mountain of garbage, walking past etc. It was just awful. I know that this garbage issue is a big political issue as well. I am guessing that is probably why there isn’t a solution yet. I ask Rosalia about it, she said that they have no place to take the trash, so they just pile it where the can. She said the officials try to find land out of the city but so far everywhere they look, they are told no. NIMBY I suppose to a certain extent. From what I gather, this is a fairly new problem but I am not sure. I have also read in the local paper there is some sort of strike of the garbage truck drivers. Seems like a very complicated problem. Not easily fixed either.
Saturday myself, Claudia y Noé took a bus to a small town about 1.5 hrs from here. It was really neat. This town called Taxco (tass-co) is a historical town. It is historical for an incredibly ornate church that dates back to the 1750’s. Also, because it is the silver capital of the country. So all the buildings have to retain the historical look. All white, with a certain building style. Also, this town is situated on the side of a mountain. Wow, it is either all up hill or down hill!!! Pretty impressive views!!
There were tons and tons of little stores selling silver. Mostly jewelry. It was just overwhelming for me. I bought other stuff!! I will most likely go back later and get some silver. All silver stamped “925” supposedly means it is 92% silver. If someone fakes the stamp…it is jail. If there is no stamp it is silver plated.
Enough for this week. More next week. I am working on photos but my internet connection via wireless is so incredibly slow. I could cook dinner in the time it take to load a photo!! I will keep trying though!!
Hasta Semana
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