Hace frío! (It’s cold!)

Tuesday November 21, 2006
It feels like all I ever talk about anymore is the crazy Mexican weather… But, honestly! It does seem to be something that no one could have prepared me for. I am writing this while in Guanajuato, at the end of my first day of language school (more about that later), and though I haven’t heard the official temperature from today, I am sure it must have been around 2 or 3 degrees Celsius. I spent the entire day wearing one long-sleeved shirt, a wool sweater, a THICK sweatshirt and a windbreaker – and I still wasn’t warm! While in San Miguel this past weekend I purchased a pair of mittens, thinking I would only need them for that particular evening. That was Saturday, and it is now Tuesday, and I have every intention of wearing them again tomorrow. Apparently it was -2 in Mexico City today. And the biggest issue about these temperatures is that the houses and buildings are NOT insulated. The outside temperature IS the inside temperature. Yikes!

Like I said, I am currently in Guanajuato. After spending Saturday and Sunday in San Miguel (still a favorite of mine!) and doing some serious Christmas shopping, Abby and I drove to Guanajuato. I had no idea what we were in for when driving into the city. It is amazing! Designated a UN Historical City, it has tunnels and subterranean streets, leaving much of the regular streets free from cars. It has a bit of a European feel: lots of beautiful old buildings (theatres, churches, a big university). There are several squares in the centre surrounded by cafes and restaurants with outdoor seating (though no one is sitting outside these days). Shortly after arriving in the city, we contacted our host families who we would be staying with for the week. I am staying with the Alguilar family: Guadalupe and Alberto. Guadalupe picked me up in her OLD Volkswagon Beetle (a Mexican staple) and drove me to her nearby house. The house is very comfortable. I have my own room and bathroom. The family provides all my meals and I have a 20 minute walk to the Spanish school.



We didn’t have classes on Monday because it was the Mexican Revolution holiday. Every city and town, large and small, seemed to have a parade that day. The two parades that I was able to bear witness to (San Miguel and Dolores Hidalgo – a town in between San Miguel and Guanajuato, and home to lots of Talavera pottery) seemed to consist of all the school children from the city wearing their school uniform and marching in the streets. There were no floats, though occasionally the kids twirled batons or jumped rope. Some groups, instead of wearing the school uniform, wore traditional dress.

Now, the main purpose of this trip of course is to improve my Spanish, and today marked the formal beginning of that. We were supposed to be at school for 8:30 to get our class schedules figured out. In typical Mexican style we waited a long time, not getting my schedule until 9:50, to discover that I had missed my first class and half of my second. I went up to the second class and joined it, but it was much too easy (hooray! I do know some Spanish!). After negotiating with the schedule lady I got a different schedule that was better – but not perfect. There was one particular grammar class I was hoping to take, but it is not being offered this week. To make up for it, Abby and I (who have the exact same schedule) added a semi-private lesson each day so we can hit of this verb tenses that we wanted to come away with. The makes my schedule include 2 hours of grammar class, 2 hours of conversation and then an hour semi-private class. It didn’t seem to exhausting today (but I missed 1.5 hours of class!). I definitely think I will learn a lot this week, in class and at home, where I only speak Spanish to the family.

Well, I am off to bed… I’ve got 4 blankets on, in addition to my pajamas and a sweatshirt. Here’s hoping for sunny skies tomorrow!