Semana 6 (week 6) Ride the first bus I see!!

Friday night I went out bowling, dinner and a birthday party with a bunch of the girls (and 1 lone guy) from my program. We were celebrating Laura's birthday and Kelly's too! Bowling was very fun. The alley was the nicest one I have ever been in, new, clean, no stinky bars etc. Of course, all the scoring was completely electronic, so problems there. I bowl so horrible keeping score really isn't necessary! Afterwards, we had dinner at VIPS at Mexican chain that is owned by Walmart. I have learned Walmart owns a lot of businesses here from the upscale to the bargain. VIPS is a level or two above Denney's. I had a "Italian" food and can't tell you how delightful olive oil and balsamic vinegar can be when you haven't had it in a while.
After dinner we all walked to Laura's friends house for a fiesta. We played games, ate yummy cake and learned to salsa and cumbia dance. I got home around midnight, a first for me here!!

On Saturday, Feb. 23, 2008 I decided to adventure out to see the downtown area alone. My host told me about a museum that I decided I must see! In the spirit of my pledge to ride the first bus I see, I got on one, and before I knew it I was going in the wrong direction. OK..no problem, just hop off and find a new bus! Fortunately, I carry my map with me so I could figure out what direction I need to go in, so then I set out on foot till I find a busy enough road to find a new bus. The cool thing is, in my explorations of buses, I am starting to recognize numbers and where they go!
After a hour I made it to the zocolo and was able to find the museum. Museum Ampro, it was incredible, a mixture of pre-Hispanic, colonial and modern art. It is of very high quality, well organized and just about all the information about what you see is in both English and Spanish. From there I went on the hunt for a cool coffee bar I have heard about and it was pretty neat. Wondered some artisans markets and finally went to the movies.
On my trip home, I was standing on the side of one of the busy streets trying to figure out what bus to get on, since it was getting dark, I didn't want to be taken off somewhere to far off my path. As I am standing there, a older gentleman says to me in English "what bus are you looking for" and I truthfully said "no sé (I don't know). He spoke English, I mostly spoke Spanish. He asked me how I got to where I was, I didn't know that either. So after a few more minutes, he went off to his bus. So then, I just hopped a bus figuring if it turned before the next major cross street I would hope off. So about 2 blocks up it turned and I hopped off! But like a miracle, the very next bus that came around the corner was one that was labeled "ZAVELETA" my street! How wonderful, so I hopped on it and 20 mins later I was right by my house! I was quite proud of my success!

Sunday, myself and 3 other gals from my program went to tutor the indigenous students. We successfully broke up into small groups and went to work communicating. In my group, I was trying hard to get them to talk, asking all the basic questions. After that, I went after family stories, actually got a good one. One of the girls, said her great grandmother and father were in the Mexican revolution time period, which is about 1910-1920. From my classes here, I have learned just about everyone was affected one way or another during the Revolution, it was a very very bloody and violent. This gal shared that her grandparents had to live in caves under the group to escape the soldiers. Also, her grandparents hid all their money in the walls of their little house and unfortunately, the military blew up the house and the money too. I actually got her to say all that in English. She would say it in Spanish, I repeat in English and then she repeats in English. Also, I chatted with the students about Dia de Muertos, The day of the Dead holiday. As I suspected since they are from the rural areas it is a big deal in their families and communities.

One last thing of note, my host Esmeralda invited me to go out to late lunch with her and her friends. What was really unique was after dinner we stopped by a place in this little town called "Container City", yep, it is a little shopping area within this town and it is all shipping containers. They are stacked every which way, double decked too. All are painted a delightful pastels and random quotes are painted on the sides of the containers from the Beatles. The ambience is very upscale, trendy, hippy'ish, mother earthy etc. There are clothing shops, tea, coffee, beauty salon, tattoo parlor, bookstore, even a yoga/massage shop. I gotta go back and take photos!

I posted some bowling photos on flickr.

I have started my level III grammar class. No stress. So far I like it, it certainly has a whole different atmosphere. My new teacher is much more laid back which is good for me. Not feeling so stressed it is easier to learn.