First times in México

I am starting my fourth week of studying in Cuernavaca. The small adventures I encounter are making this a well-rounded journey.

This past week has been one for "first times" since I've been here. After school on Thursday I went to my first salsa class! There were probably 30 Americanos trying to learn to dance in a small room surrounded by mirrors... it was quite the sight! My partner and I were probably the best couple in the class believe it or not. Salsa classes are every Tues/Thurs and I'm definitely bringing some salsa dancing back with me to the States!

I think I've figured out that siestas are definitely an everyday thing in this culture. It's hard not to take a siesta at 2 everyday. My normal routine for the day consists of classes from 8-2pm, siesta after my father picks me up from school, dinner with my family from 4:30-5:30, tarea (homework), blogs, emails, Skype, and studying until the night time. A few nights out of the week I'll go downtown to walk around, Los Arcos for some salsa dancing, or head to the mall for a movie with my family.

Transportation is the most inconvienent thing to get accustomed to. Radio taxis and walking are the best options if my parents can't take me someplace. My parents are only responsible for taking me to school and back so if I wanted to do anything in the evening, I need to make other arrangements. After the third week of being here, I was able to take my first radio taxi by myself, pretty impressive I can tell the driver where I need to go and helping him out by saying "a la derecha, a la izquierda, and derecho". I don't let anybody know I speak only a little Spanish. My male friends have been great about taking me home in a taxi after dark but the pesos are definitely adding up. My house is a mile from the gated entrance which makes the rate double in price instantly.
I have also made the first walk all the way to my house after school because my father did not answer his phone one day. It's great for some alone time, being able to be by myself for a 2 mile walk but I've learned to not make eye contact, don't turn around when a taxi beeps their horn, and since traffic is ridiculous, always look left and right at the same time before crossing the street. (haha)

Day trip to Mexico City
Last Sunday, I took a day trip to Mexico City with my friend, Aaron. He wanted to meet up with his old professor from NC State who now lives in the City and I was hoping to meet up with Adolfo and his family. Those plans fell through that day but it was a new experience being able to travel independently outside Cuernavaca and not being with the school. We took a taxi to the bus stop around 11am. We bought tickets for the bus that runs every 15 minutes from Cuernavaca to the Mexico City airport, watched the Disney movie, Horton Hears a Who (in Spanish), bought tickets for the metro which is a little difficult trying to follow such a confusing system in another language, walked around Zona Rosa which is part of the entertainment district in Colonia Juarez. Needless to say this part of Mexico City is where you find many mariposas (translates to butterflies in English, but I will let you figure out the real meaning) There is still heavy tourist traffic, and you will easily find yourself accosted by people in the streets selling goods and services, whether it be tours from taxi drivers, plus the usual crowd of street vendors, lottery vendors and beggars. If you're not interested, just ignore them and keep walking.

We had sushi for lunch, serenaded by a Mariachi band, got off at 4 different metro stops looking for a bathroom. Figured out that even with 30 million people living in that city, there are no bathrooms to be found! Last stop was the Angel de la Independencia in the glorieta (round-about intersection).

It was a different but an exciting day to become more independent while being here. We kept an eye out with everything that was going on around us, trying our best to communicate in the real world, and made it back to Cuernavaca a little after dark.

Laundry
My host family is not responsible for doing student's laundry so I take my clothes to the walk-in laundry mat beside my school. I took my bag of dirty clothes to them before school in the morning, they weighed it, washed, dried, folded my clothes and sealed it up in a fresh plastic bag. It was ready by the time I got out of school at 2pm! A whole 43 pesos ($4) for washing 2 weeks worth of clothes!