June 28: A new day

So I woke up to a rooster crowing this morning. We are not in the countryside and the sun was not quite up, but I swear I heard a rooster. Over and over: cock-a-doodle-doo! It was kind of cute actually. I heard the other student leave and got excited about moving into my real room and officially unpacking. I was feeling better and at 8am, La Senora had quite the feast, just for me, and served on a laminated San Francisco placemat. I did not bring these to her. I brought her some chocolates and a SF photobook.
I was a little scared to eat but I did survive to type this. I hear what they serve you the first day is what you have everyday. She made me a fruit plate of fresh papaya, apples, & bananas with a fresh orange squeezed on top. Then she said she was giving me a burrito, which was like a quesadilla with ham and the yummy Oaxacan cheese that is somewhat like a thinner mozzarella string cheese, sort of. I wasn’t sure if it was rude to not finish everything and/or if my stomach might just explode and I would shoot off for Mars. Then she came in with a concha pan dulce and was trying to convince me to have coffee too. I just cut off a small piece to be polite and then was sent off on my 5 minute walk to school.

We had our orientation, picked our workshops- I’ll be doing cooking classes 2 hours a day for 2 weeks, and then something else the 3rd week. If my Spanish improves fast enough, I would love to take medical Spanish. You actually get to go to clinics!
This is my schedule:
9am-12pm traditional class
12pm-1pm conversation
1pm-2pm lunch
2pm-4pm cooking class
4pm-5pm intercambio

The intercambio is a partnership with a local Oaxacan who wants to learn English. I basically filled out what time I wanted to meet and my interests, and they hook me up with someone who fits the bill. The woman doing the orientation said, I quote, “This will be your instant Mexican friend.” It wasn’t obligatory and I was a little hesitant since the schedule is so packed, but I think it will be great. So step back, white people! One Mexican friend coming up.

I took a written test and then a teacher looked it over and gave us an oral exam. The first thing this guy said was, “You know French?” (He said it in Spanish though- everything in Spanish.) Apparently my Frenchy talk made its way into my written test- oops! One of my CCSF compadres is originally from Ireland and she said the same thing happened to her with her host family. Everytime she thought of saying it in Spanish, Irish words started popping up. OK, its not just me…I will be in 1A: the basic of the basic and may possibly move up depending on the 1st few days.

Then we were taken on a small walking tour of the town and Zocolo (city square.) The guy in the beard is Toby and he works for the Instituto.

The center of town has a bunch of cobblestone and brick streets, which are more difficult to walk on, but I love.There is some really cool graffiti around town. I love this lady:

I plan to take many more pictures of the graphic art around. There is quite a bit from the 2006 demonstrations.

Santo Domingo is a ridiculously awesome cathedral in town. It is actually bigger than the city's main cathedral.

Here is a side entrance. Hello, gorgeous!

I love the color of the back walls as you are walking towards the zococlo.


Below are some new amigas taking pictures of Santa Domingo. The one waving only lives one block away from me.
The walking tour took us into a market where we all split up. I had hit it off with this Irish woman and another woman who travels all over and works as a librarian in San Francisco (awesome!), but they had obligations with their host families. I took off with a group of younger chicas and we found our way to a slow, yummy lunch, a trip to the post office, and ice cream in the zococlo.

The ice cream shop had interesting local flavors like chili mango & mescal. They did not have the rose petal flavor I read about, but I will find it & gobble it up asap. Yes, the women below are twins. The 3rd picture is one of the cool photos in the post office. (I'm having trouble typing inbetween photos today. What's up blogger?!)
In the zocolo. Yeah, I'm making a funny face but check out the lady on the left. She has dessert on her head! Yay!


On my way back home, there was a wedding being let out at Santo Domingo. The entire wedding group looked pretty ritzy and when the couple came out they had the traditional Guelaguetza (gay-lah-GAY-tzah) effigies of a bride and groom, as well as women dancing in traditional costumes alongside a marching band. Felicitacion Monica y Ethan!

This isn't the best video, but you can see some of the traditional dancers and effigies. The better video got deleted. (Uploading things online has been frustrating here.)