This week has been beyond hectic! I do not have a heavy course load because of the transfer of semester credit hours to the quarter system, but it was difficult get the few classes that I did. I was pretty much set in taking Spanish 1. After that I needed to figure out a good fit of courses for my other two classes. Besides class issues, there have been an interesting turn of events in Rachael's life after she moved in with my host family. Despite being busy with scheduling and such, I did find time to spend with friends. Well more like they just come pick me up and I'm surprised by their arrival...So let's begin with the recap.
Monday:
I had only Espanol Basico 1 (Basic Spanish 1). I felt like the class was in warped speed. We conjugate a couple verbs and did common questions and responses. For example, what do you do? Where are you from? What is your last name? The teacher is very energetic, maybe even overly energetic like she's a grade school teacher and we're her budding 5 year old students. During the day I met some girls from England and Ireland who were here last semester and they told a group of us that things are just "different" here. Not bad, but "different." And everyone seemed to share the same sentiments, lol. No matter who you spoke with the same word arose - "different."
Rachel wanted to move in on Monday, but the housing coordinator said to wait until Tuesday to give the host mom time to adjust. Adjust for what?! So Rachel waited until Tuesday to move.
Tuesday:
I have all of my classes on Tuesday (and Friday). I arose at 6am to get ready for my 8:30am class - Professional Ethics. The professor for Ethics is awesome! Weird guy as in his mannerisms, but a great and dynamic teacher! I'm really excited to be in his class, but I'm not sure if I'm ever going to get over how during his breaks how he slowly walks around ever so slowly with a coffee mug in hand. The sight of him doing that makes double over with laughter every time! Immediately following Ethics I make my way to The Study of Islamic Movements in the Middle East. I thought I would take the course because it's possible that it would have a different take on things than in my Terrorism class I took at the University of Cincinnati (UC) this past summer. After going through the syllabus and enduring the 6 person class discussion I realized that I did not want to sit through that for a whole semester. After all I am in Mexico for an enriching, life changing experience. Two hours later I went to Spanish class. At 4pm I went to Perspectiva Internacional (International Perspective). I signed up for this course thinking it would be a general outlook on the world from a Mexican international relations point of view (no the syllabi were not available when I was choosing courses to take back in the Fall). Turns out the course is the same exact course as one of the entry level course for International Affairs/Political Science majors at UC. Because we did introductions at the beginning of the class, the professor knew I was a last semester student and refused to have me in her class for a lack of a challenge and imminent boredom. After class she personally escorted me to the international programs office to vouch for me wanting to change out of her class. The academic adviser sent me the list of classes to choose from to select replacements for Islamic Movements and International Perspective. Funny thing is out of the three non-Spanish courses I thought I was going to drop the Ethics class, but that was my favorite. My goal for the evening was to find one course to replace the other two course. I found another class and Filosophia (Philosophy) which is also taught by the Ethics professor.
Mind you, after my 4pm class I'm running around trying to change courses and Rachael is too. We finally rendezvous and we ride the bus to her house to pick up her luggage. We get to her house and it is completely uninviting and eerie. The host mom did not greet us or even peek out of her room to see who was coming into her house. Instead a young girl working on her homework in the kitchen said hello and greeted us in the traditional Mexican way: a kiss on one cheek and a hug. After we bring everything downstairs, Rachael says her goodbyes to the house mom who reminds me of the house mom in the movie Memoirs of a Geisha (check it out for a reference, good movie too!). I'm trying to mind my own business and take the suitcases to the door. I go back to say good by to the lady and she says something to Rachael in Spanish that I didn't catch. On our way out Rachael said the woman told her, "Oh great, now I can go on vacation!" When Rachael first got to Queretaro her host mom told her that she was her work...Ya, bad news.
We take a taxi to my host family's house and eat dinner and have a quiet evening.
Tuesday is laundry day. Blanca washed, line dried, folded, and neatly arranged my clothes for me on my bed. She also changed the sheets! Mommie I'm gonna be so spoiled!
Wednesday:
I spend the morning waiting on giving the immigration lawyer paper work and money for a student visa that I was told by the Mexican Consulate in Washington, DC I didn't have to get. It costs about the same amount of money, about $56USD. For anyone interested doing a program in Mexico that is 6months or less, be prepared to pay that money, because I wasn't.
After the lawyer I talk to the academic adviser to sign me up for Philosophy. She tells me I need to talk to the professor because the class is full. He then tells me the Humanities Department head is the only one that can physical enter me into the class and to tell the adviser that so that they can call the department head. I go back to relay that message. The adviser phones the dean, but has to leave a message because she was out teaching class. After my Spanish class I go back to see if there was any word about my class, but I forgot there is a break here from 2-4p for administrative offices for their lunch break. So I wait for almost 2 hours to be entered into the course. So that's finally settled. Later in the evening I email the professor for the syllabus so I can get the information for the right folder of readings at the copicenter (place on campus that has all of the student workbooks/readings organized by professor and students go there to buy books like at a book store or you can just make copies of books from the library or anything else you need).
Suddenly the doorbell rings and it's Alma and Mauricio (her fiance). They want to go out for dinner. I had no idea they were coming over!!! But of course I went out. We went to the Galerias Centro Comercial/Mall so Mauricio could look for shoes. We planned to eat a place people like to go to for sushi called SushiRol. Monday through Wednesday they do buy one get one free sushi and the place was packed! We ended up leaving and going to the centro/downtown. We ate at a place that has traditional Mexican food and is a diner kind of style. I finally got a chance to get horchata, which is a traditional drink made of rice milk...mmmm yummy!
Various chilies at the restaurant in the centro
Horchata - rice milk drink
Paris Restaurant that is part of a hotel in the centro. At night they have live jazz. This is the place I walk past that reminds me of Maurice playing. :'( *tear* The bass player is some younger guy too!
Cotton candy I bought from a street vendor. It tastes like it was made with 'sugar in the raw.' After all that is how real sugar tastes!
Thursday:
I had just Spanish class again, but I spent the morning going to the copicenter to get the reading packets for Philosophy and Ethics because I wanted to be sure those were my classes before I bought everything. After getting the copies I went on a witch hunt for a binder on campus...No such thing! Right off campus is an Office Max and an Office Depot (you'd think I was in the U.S.). I bought a binder and notebook paper. You will not find notebook paper like in the U.S. All the paper has separate boxes at the top for your name, course name, date, and whatever else you want to put up there and it's often square paper/graph paper. The closest I could find to regular lined paper was dark outlined paper that has no blank space at the top or the space for a header that I am used to seeing.
For Spanish class she told us to prepare a 1min. introduction of ourselves and to have it memorized to present to the class. I definitely wrote mine on the bus on the way to school :D. I'm not really sure why she had us do that..I know it was for the practice, but our class was barely able to successfully complete the Spanish alphabet nor could we count very well! Anywho, she did a random draw of who had to present and I was selected. The other half of the class will do their presentations on Monday.
After class I went to the gimnasio/gym to finalize my extra classes, but of course the person I needed wasn't there. So I had to wait until 4:30p to drop futbol/soccer class (advice I took from my father. love you dad <3) so I won't have to buy shin guards and all. Sadly all the other athletic classes are full so I can't sign up for spinning or pilates :( Now I just have salsa and guitar. I hope the salsa instructor will let me stay in the class because I will only be able to make 1 of the 2 days each week.
While I waited to change my extra classes I read for Ethics. After changing the classes I headed over to the library to type my response paper for the article. I did not know how to sign on in the lab nor did I know how to print..The greatest feat was the fact that keyboard was not the same. I struggle for the longest trying to figure out how to type the @ symbol. All of the punctuation marks and special characters are in different places. Now I know how to do things for the next time!
After the library I rode on the bus with a girl that's in the Islamic Movement class I attended. She asked me where I was from and I said the U.S. And she responded that she thought I was African. I'm not really sure why I took offense to this in my head...I told her I am African and that my dad is African and my mom is American. And I asked her where she is from and she said Hong Kong...To her defense I do have an afro (not that that is a real reason to thing I am African) and she studied in France before. In France there are a lot of Africans and that she probably experienced Africans there...I don't know I thought in my head and I just drop my inward analysis of her assumption.
Of course when I got home I Skyped my parents and Maurice and next thing you know Alma rings the doorbell to go out. This time I knew she was coming but did not know what time. If anything that woman will keep me on my toes. I had Blanca heat my dinner up because I planned on waiting for Rachael to get home to eat, but she told me to go ahead without her. Thinking that I had time I did not eat right away. So I took my food with me because I did not eat soon enough. We went out to a place called Kuku Ruku in the city center. It's a hostel/hotel/apartment building that Mauricio's friend opened. It's sustainable/green. The rooftop has an amazing view, the decor is contemporary chic with stone native to Queretaro and original tiles from the colonial period. It was my kind of place...oh and the food was goooood! My meal was $130pesos (soup, extra avocado, my drink, and tip) and I kept thinking to myself that it was so expensive...definitely only $9.75USD lol. I feel like pesos just fly out of my hand, it's ridiculous. $750pesos for my visa, $4950pesos/month for housing, etc...but when you calculate costs with the exchange rate it's a steal!
Kuku Ruku hostel/hotel/apartment complex
Kuku Ruku hostel/hotel/apartment complex
My meal: Tortilla soup with extra avocado
Alma's cactus dish. Cactus is used for cooking at restaurants here
Itziar's dish. Almost like sliders. They sandwiches had beans, chicken, cheese, and potato on them. The bread was brushed with a red sauce for flavor. This was really good!
Mauricio's quesadillas that had hamaica flower in it. Hamaica is used to brew a unique and yummy flavored tea. Blanca made hamaica tea the other day. When I tasted it I realized I had it before, but not sure when, why, or how.
Friday:
Today I have just Ethics and Philosophy and there is a International Programs Welcome Lunch at 2p.
Ethics was great. I'm so going to enjoy it!...After class though, I received terrible news. I saw Rachael walking across the courtyard and told her to come join me. She broke the news that she decided to go home tomorrow morning! She has been debating all week on whether or not she should stay in Mexico or go home. Since day one she has had nothing but signs telling her to leave: arriving in Queretaro at 11pm and not having her host mom pick her up nor is she at the house to greet her, her host mom did not create a good environment for her, the day she moves in with me Standford contacts her to say that she has been invited for an interview for medical school, University of Wisconsin Madison tells her no matter what she takes it won't count towards her Spanish degree (she double majored in Spanish and Biochemistry), the school told the Tec to charge her for the 4 classes she took this week, but the Tec said no. So she moved her flight for tomorrow.. I was excited having her at the house but I guess it was not meant to be. It's sad that her school is screwing her over on this because she could have gone to the interview for Standford and come back to Mexico afterwards, but sadly that is not the case.
From now on it's me on my own, lol...lone soldier hahahaha. Who let's me out everyday!
Rachael and I on campus hanging out after she told me she is leaving. Of course I had to get a picture of us! I will miss her a lot even though I've only known her for a couple weeks. Bye Rachael <3
Approaching Bernal
