Mexico Day 7 (already?!)

Hola mis amigos!

As the title suggests, I can’t believe I have been here for a week already! And that I only have one day left of Spanish classes. On a confidence scale of 1 to 10, I have gone from about a 1 to a 9. I am no longer a beginner. Now I am an intermediate beginner! Of course, I can only speak in the present tense, but nobody’s perfect!

The school has done a good job of varying activities. On Tuesday we had a cooking class. It was interesting to feel like a student in a foreign school, only being able to pick out key words and get the gist of things. Of course, learning to cook potato stuffed taquitos is probably easier than learning the causes and effects of World War II when you only understand one of ten words.

Wednesday is the weekly school social night. They arranged for it on a rooftop bar overlooking the city’s main commercial avenue. My group of friends I have made is great, and it is growing every day. But also we have noticed a lot of people in the school are clique-ish. Come on! No need to act too cool for school while you are living in paradise!

Speaking of paradise, after class each day has consisted of beach, beach and more beach. Each bar and hotel offers rows of chairs overlooking the ocean. Our favorite place rents out 2 chairs and an umbrella all day for about $4 and they bring you buckets of 6 drinks for $8. So its no wonder I have stayed so long I have been burnt to a crisp. My sunburn turned to ugly peeling- so I decided to try one of the massage/spa places. I got a special skin peel and massage for under $30, which is unheard of in the states. Though my friend has told me in Thailand it would cost $5… Anyways, my back is totally fixed, but I made the amateur mistake of doing this around 6 PM-prime mosquito time! So instead of bathing in aloe I am now covered in Benadryl Anti Itch gel. .. And by the way, I had quite the embarrassing surprise when I put my head down during the massage and when I looked up again my friendly female masseuse had passed me off to her male co-worker! Enough said…

Last night we went to karaoke after the social night. They only had a few American albums, including Queen, but NO Somebody to Love! I guess my future fame will have to wait for the US. We tried to sing Bohemian Rhapsody, but the Mexican DJ skipped over us (not before the girls in my group fit in Dido and Shakira, however). Speaking of music, my teacher says they have never heard of Lady Gaga down here! That’s crazy! Speaking of Lady Gaga, how blatantly obvious is Christina Aguilera RIPPING HER OFF in her latest video???Today at school was salsa class, proving once again that dancing with me should only be attempted with steel reinforced boots. Actually it didn’t go as bad as expected, but if meringue, bachata, or salsa come on, don’t expect me to be jumping on the dance floor!

So anyways that’s why time has flown by. On Saturday we have an all day excursion to Chichen Itsa, one of the 7 ancient wonders of the world! We are all looking forward to it! I am sure I will have plenty of pictures and stories to recount! Until then…