Mérida Segunda Semana - Part One

My second week in Mérida started off fairly slowly. The other student who was in my class, Maureen, switched to a different level so I now have the one-on-one attention of my teacher. Which is great for class time, but terrible if I neglect to complete my homework because of my nighttime activities. After class, we had our usual guía time. We switch guías each week and my new one is Paula. We went on an errand (yes, I know I am addicted to running errands and I admit it is slightly sick that even in a foreign country I am running errands) to Wal*Mart – yes, Mérida is a happening place – so I could buy flash cards. I also picked up some snacks and nail polish. It's a very exciting life I lead.

After we got back, Maia, Lauren and I played Scrabble with our guías. Great game for learning and reinforcing words! Our homework changes every night, but the assignment always includes 20 new vocabulary words as well as a "diario" or journal entry for the day. We were planning to swim later that afternoon but I forgot my bathing suit so instead, we hit the bus home and studied instead.

Tuesday brought a delightful change to my classes. We began listening to the radio to help improve my conversation. As most of you know, my hearing is not so great (even with my good ear angled toward a speaker) and my lip-reading skills are not nearly as handy when attempting to decipher Spanish because so many letters are formed similarly, they speak very quickly, and many are MUMBLERS. Also, staring at people's lips – often misinterpreted as a flirtatious advance - is even more awkward in the demonstrative, politically-incorrect, sexually-charged culture of México. So… listening to songs on the radio is very helpful for learning to identify where words end and begin and to be accustomed to varying rhythms of speech. It's also great for learning common phrases and expressions of the language. That's now a daily activity for Pati and I.

With the 4th of July approaching, we also spent a lot of time talking about holidays and various traditions in México and the U.S. They get something like 16 days off standard. I was so jealous after the Kforce-6. But I guess I've made up for that the last several months! I think the thing I was most impressed by is how much Méxicanos love to celebrate. They work long and hard but are not afraid to put it aside and party like rockstars. For example, Christmas Day is basically one big party in the streets. So is New Year's Day. And for New Year's Eve they have some great traditions. They take all their old belongings (clothing, photos, documents) that they want to move on from and stuff it into a life-sized doll and then sew that up. Then at midnight, they light it on fire. Talk about therapeutic release! In a more happily-focused act, they countdown the last 12 minutes of the year and eat a grape and make a wish each minute. I thought that one was pretty neat. They also wear different colored undergarments to represent what they want for themselves in the upcoming year (e.g. red for love, yellow for money). All in all, a very interesting and educational conversation – exactly the kind of thing this trip is about. I'm ready to purchase a ticket for my return for La Navidad y el Año Nuevo.

That afternoon, I again played board games. I am a total nerd, I know, but I can rarely psych myself up to wander around in the heat of mid-afternoon. Oh, and I had my guía switched because one of the female students wanted only female guías each week. So now I have her guy, Tony. He's hilarious and very helpful - corrects my grammar and everything. We also like the same kind of Mexican music so we listen to that on his phone while we talk and walk around the city. He's also been teaching me how the kids talk here so I know how to sound cool.

After school, my roommates (Paul, Lauren, and Maia) and I went to a gelato buffet with Christián, the institute's director. Oh my goodness – it was absolutely amazing. We each opted for the sampler which is all you can eat gelato plus a drink for $6. Well, they bring us each out a plate of 4 gelatos to start. And then, we got another round, and then another. Although I'm sure there were some repeats, we potentially tried 60 different flavors since we, of course, shared. Some were so tasty (e.g. tiramisu with chunks of soaked lady fingers and the cookies & cream). Others, not so much (e.g. cheese – I'm sure there was a much more glorified, official name for this one but it was literally 65% diced cheese. Awkward).

One of Christián´s friends, Luis, also joined us and wanted to get the group together for a trip to the beach. So after the gelato buffet - yum, just typing those words makes me happy - we hit up Oxxo (a local chain of convenient stores) to buy some snacks and some Sol, a popular cerveza Méxicana. There has been marea roja (red tide) around the area so we drove deep out of the city to hit the beach. It's incredible. They have the road, then about 35 feet of vegetation, then 50 feet of sand, then the water. We just drove straight onto the beach, parked the car, turned on the music, and enjoyed ourselves. We were so far out from town and in such a remote part of the beach that we could see a million stars because there was no artificial lighting for miles. I probably sat on the beach for twenty minutes marveling at their beauty. And then spent another 10 doing the same in the water. The water is shallow for a long stretch – walking out 200 feet probably gets me as deep as my waist – and so warm it's comfortable to wade for hours.