(no subject)
On Monday when I was walking home from school I rounded the corner in one of the many stairways that I have to climb and happened upon a very intoxicated man relieving himself on the wall of the stairway. I felt like I was in the French Quarter, except this was at 3:00 in the afternoon. He wasn't very affected by being busted in the act; in fact, he was so unaffected that he didn't even bother zipping his pants. He just leaned against the wet spot he had made on the wall and watched me run up the rest of the steps to my house. Later, when we were all sitting at the table eating lunch, we saw him through the window as he paused in front of the house to tuck in his shirt.
That night I went to the culture class on expressions. My house mate, Briana, and I left the class early so that we could go to a ballet at the Teatro Principal (the same place where I saw the experimental dance show). I said I wasn't going to write about this because I was sort of embarrassed, but oh well. The poster advertising the ballet said that it was being put on by the University of Guanajuato, which is who put on the experimental dance show, and although that show was strange, it was very well done and the dancers were excellent. So I was expecting the same thing this time and was excited by getting to see it for so cheap. But when the show started, we quickly realized that this was not a ballet performed by University students, but a dance recital for girls ages 6 to 14. No wonder there were so many kids in the audience. All the Mexicans in the audience must have been wondering who in the show we could possibly know and why in the world we were there. I stayed the whole show so that I could meet up with Danna and students from UF to go to dinner at Domino's. I was a little ashamed to eat at a fast-food-ish
style restaurant in Mexico, but, gosh, was it good. Domino´s is one of the few US fast food places in Mexico. There's also a joint Dunkin Donuts and Baskin Robbins.
Yesterday after class I went to the Comercial (the Wal-Mart)with Michelle, one of my classmate (she's from Salt Lake City but lives in Alabama now) to buy some things for school. Michelle lives in an apartment rather than with a family, so she had to buy groceries. We spent a while checking out all the strange fruits and reading funny labels. Then I had to walk all the way across town to get home for lunch.
The walk is not getting easier like I thought it would! My legs still burn and I have shortness of breath every time that I walk home; my house is at the very top of the stairs and sometimes I have to lean against the gate for a minute before I go inside. It doesn't help that I usually walk home from school at about 2:00 or 3:00 in the afternoon. I'm so hot and sweaty when I arrive home, which is usually right before lunch is served, and every single day our first course is soup. Really hot soup. Steaming hot soup. Not what I want to eat after hiking up the mountain in the afternoon sun.
After lunch and a few minutes to cool down, Danna and I went back to the center of town to go shopping. She's still looking for gifts for her family, and there were some things that I've seen in stores that I wanted to get. Yesterday was 'El dia de los estudiantes' (Students' Day), which is kind of like Mother's Day or Grandparents' Day, but for college students. My teacher said it's basically an excuse to drink and go out at night. Students don't go to class and instead walk around the streets all day. There's a huge party that starts at 1:00 or 2:00 in the afternoon and that's held in the baseball stadium. There are several stages with bands, lots of drinking, and pandemonium. At 8:00 the party ends and all the students disperse to bars and clubs throughout the city.
When Danna and I went shopping, there were already tons of students in the streets. Because Danna is leaving this weekend and because some of her friends can´t go out tonight, we decided to make her last night out Wednesday night, which corresponded to 'El dia de los estudiantes'. We met some of her UF friends at the house where they are staying and hung out for a while on the terrazza, which again, had an incredible view of Guanajuato (their house is near ours and therefore pretty far up the mountain). We went to a bar called Why Not?, where they introduced me to the game Tippy Cup and a drink made with vodka and lime juice. So good. We then went to Capitolio, which was absolutely packed. We met some law students from Texas who had just arrived here to take a class at the University, but we lost them when we entered Capitolio. We fought our way to the back bar, which is formally known as the VIP section, but it should really be called the gringo section, because that's where they tend to congregate. The crowds aren't as wild there and the music is all fairly recent American. We're pretty loud and obnoxious when we're en masse like that, but sometimes it just can't be helped. Besides, it's a little easier to ignore peoples' stares and comments when you have a distracting group like that, although we definitely get more attention.
Us en masse
On the way to another bar, we stopped to get pizza at a restaurant on the way. I refrained, maybe because I had passed by that restaurant a few days before and seen bees crawling on the pizza in the cases, maybe because I just didn't want to spend any more money than I already had that night. Danna and I decided that our feet couldn't take any more and that we were ready to call it a night, so we hailed a cab. Although I didn't eat the pizza, I was hungry when I got home and I tore into a package of cookies I had bought at the Comercial earlier that day. I distinctly remember shoving whole cookies into my mouth. This morning when I woke up, half the package was gone.
That night I went to the culture class on expressions. My house mate, Briana, and I left the class early so that we could go to a ballet at the Teatro Principal (the same place where I saw the experimental dance show). I said I wasn't going to write about this because I was sort of embarrassed, but oh well. The poster advertising the ballet said that it was being put on by the University of Guanajuato, which is who put on the experimental dance show, and although that show was strange, it was very well done and the dancers were excellent. So I was expecting the same thing this time and was excited by getting to see it for so cheap. But when the show started, we quickly realized that this was not a ballet performed by University students, but a dance recital for girls ages 6 to 14. No wonder there were so many kids in the audience. All the Mexicans in the audience must have been wondering who in the show we could possibly know and why in the world we were there. I stayed the whole show so that I could meet up with Danna and students from UF to go to dinner at Domino's. I was a little ashamed to eat at a fast-food-ish
style restaurant in Mexico, but, gosh, was it good. Domino´s is one of the few US fast food places in Mexico. There's also a joint Dunkin Donuts and Baskin Robbins.
Yesterday after class I went to the Comercial (the Wal-Mart)with Michelle, one of my classmate (she's from Salt Lake City but lives in Alabama now) to buy some things for school. Michelle lives in an apartment rather than with a family, so she had to buy groceries. We spent a while checking out all the strange fruits and reading funny labels. Then I had to walk all the way across town to get home for lunch.
The walk is not getting easier like I thought it would! My legs still burn and I have shortness of breath every time that I walk home; my house is at the very top of the stairs and sometimes I have to lean against the gate for a minute before I go inside. It doesn't help that I usually walk home from school at about 2:00 or 3:00 in the afternoon. I'm so hot and sweaty when I arrive home, which is usually right before lunch is served, and every single day our first course is soup. Really hot soup. Steaming hot soup. Not what I want to eat after hiking up the mountain in the afternoon sun.
After lunch and a few minutes to cool down, Danna and I went back to the center of town to go shopping. She's still looking for gifts for her family, and there were some things that I've seen in stores that I wanted to get. Yesterday was 'El dia de los estudiantes' (Students' Day), which is kind of like Mother's Day or Grandparents' Day, but for college students. My teacher said it's basically an excuse to drink and go out at night. Students don't go to class and instead walk around the streets all day. There's a huge party that starts at 1:00 or 2:00 in the afternoon and that's held in the baseball stadium. There are several stages with bands, lots of drinking, and pandemonium. At 8:00 the party ends and all the students disperse to bars and clubs throughout the city.
When Danna and I went shopping, there were already tons of students in the streets. Because Danna is leaving this weekend and because some of her friends can´t go out tonight, we decided to make her last night out Wednesday night, which corresponded to 'El dia de los estudiantes'. We met some of her UF friends at the house where they are staying and hung out for a while on the terrazza, which again, had an incredible view of Guanajuato (their house is near ours and therefore pretty far up the mountain). We went to a bar called Why Not?, where they introduced me to the game Tippy Cup and a drink made with vodka and lime juice. So good. We then went to Capitolio, which was absolutely packed. We met some law students from Texas who had just arrived here to take a class at the University, but we lost them when we entered Capitolio. We fought our way to the back bar, which is formally known as the VIP section, but it should really be called the gringo section, because that's where they tend to congregate. The crowds aren't as wild there and the music is all fairly recent American. We're pretty loud and obnoxious when we're en masse like that, but sometimes it just can't be helped. Besides, it's a little easier to ignore peoples' stares and comments when you have a distracting group like that, although we definitely get more attention.
Us en masse
On the way to another bar, we stopped to get pizza at a restaurant on the way. I refrained, maybe because I had passed by that restaurant a few days before and seen bees crawling on the pizza in the cases, maybe because I just didn't want to spend any more money than I already had that night. Danna and I decided that our feet couldn't take any more and that we were ready to call it a night, so we hailed a cab. Although I didn't eat the pizza, I was hungry when I got home and I tore into a package of cookies I had bought at the Comercial earlier that day. I distinctly remember shoving whole cookies into my mouth. This morning when I woke up, half the package was gone.