¡Chócalas!

...known in english as "high five" or "knucks," this word has quickly become one of the favorite words of our group. Other favorites include chiflar (to whistle, like the piropos or catcalls gringas get on the streets), que honda qüex (what's up dude), and ¡UF!, which really isn't anything translated - we kind of just use it when we want to.

This week has been absolutely crazy, it's hard to believe that we've been in Cuernavaca for one week already! Time has gone by so quickly.

After classes on Tuesday, Sadie (my roomdog), Abby, Maggie1 and I (Maggie2) went to Superama, which is a supermarket within a 2 minute walk of our house. I believe it is owned by Wal-Mart, which they have in Cuernavaca as well (and of course, I refuse to go there). After exploring the aisles of Superama, we went to the zócalito (little town square) to get some ice cream, which was perfect for the hot hot afternoon heat. Cuernavaca is nicknamed "the city of eternal spring," so pretty much ice cream is always welcome in our daily cuisine.

*being side-note*

Maggie Nelson and I have class together all day, every day. To differentiate us, our professors deemed us Maggie1 (Nelson) and Maggie2 (Cech), I am 2 because I was late coming to class on the first day. For the duration of the blog, I may refer to us as "the Maggies," "Maggie1/Maggie2," or "1 and 2," or better yet what we get quite often, "uno y dos."

*end side-note*

Wednesday was a busy day: in addition to our 6 hours of class, we had our weekly 3-hour Gonzaga class from 4-7pm that has its own extraneous amount of homework it requires. So class got done on Wednesday at 2, I took the salsa-class offered at the school from 2-3, and then had lunch and had our Gonzaga class from 4 to 7pm - needless to say I was fried when the end of the day came. And as for the salsa class... well, it was fun! But I'm an athlete, I have no rhythm. That's not humility speaking, that's blatant honesty. I'll try anything twice though, and the class is on Tuesday, so who knows what kind of moves I'll have after this week.

Thursday we had class as usual until 2, went home and had comida after school was over, and then at 4 we met up at the school for a tour of the zócalo (the main town square). There was a large group of students from the University (Universidad Internacionál, or UNINTER), from GU, Illinois and Indiana. When we got to the zócalo, we hopped on a double-decker tour bus, that was probably designed to make the gringos look even more ridiculous than we already do. They had us take a super-gringo bus because they were making a video about UNINTER for a t.v. station in Cuernavaca, we're gon' be famous!!!

Friday we had our end of the week exam, which kicked my butt, way much. Then we went with Abby's friend to get some ice cream (like I said, ice cream is always appreciated in our cuisine). We were pooped Friday, long first week.

Yesterday early in the morn, we went to México D.F. (Distrito Federal). Our first stop was the Metropolitan Cathedral, which is HUGE and absolutely gorgeous. After that, we headed to the Palacio Nacional where the Federal Government offices are. More importantly, there are some absolute phenomenal Diego Rivera murals there that detail the history and ancient cultures of Mexico. There was so much beauty in the detailed meaning of each figure in the many murals, it was a very spiritually-stimulating experience for me. Following the Palacio Nacional, we went to the Templo Mayor, which is an archaeological center and museum with ancient ruins that now sit preserved in the middle of the city. After the Templo, we had the chance to grab some grub and kick it in the zócalo for awhile, and at one point, a group of Mexican young'ins approached me and asked me if I would do an interview with them in english. We were chatting and they were asking me questions and told me it was for their English class at their university in D.F. "Is it because I'm a gringa?" I asked them in spanish, jokingly of course. They hesitated and looked at each other and then at me and smiled while they said "yes!" We all got a good laugh out of that. Finally, we went to the Anthropology Museum of Mexico, which is abound with ancient and current cultures and artifacts, such as the original Aztec calendar (frickin' giant)! As much as museums are interesting (apologies for a lack of a better vocab word), there is only so much one can handle of museum-going in one day. And Saturday, well, Saturday was a lonnnng museum day, fo sho.

...which brings us to Sunday! Today! We went to mass today at the Cathedral in the zócalo, at 10:30 so we could sleep in. A few things for us to keep in mind for mass next week:

a) the 10:30am mass is the mass at which there are the most babies and children. while they are absolutely adorable and make me want to adopt several Mexican children, they also were rather loud and distracting - partly because there were 3 babies sitting within arm-length of our 6-person group, and partly because I am not used to the attendance of children at the 8:30pm mass in the Gonzaga chapel.

b) pick up the books at the entrance of the Cathedral next week. There weren't books in the pews with which we could follow along the scriptures, and the stuffy heat of the Cathedral along with our newly-christened spanish-listening ears made it difficult to understand what was being said. Our mamá told us that there are books at the entrance that you can pick up for the service to read along with if we wanted to. Good job, gringas, good job.

c) the 12:00 noon service has a mariachi band! We will go to that one next week!

I am rapidly and most definitely falling in love with Cuernavaca. I am head over heels for the language, there is a freedom that comes along with understanding another language. It's a portal of sorts into a world to which the door had been closed before. The culture has come alive vibrantly, and while I am definitely a gringa, I didn't experience the traditional, famous "culture shock."

So this time, I will just say that even though the program ends in five weeks, I have an itching feeling that I won't want to leave. Who needs to graduate and finish their undergraduate career anyway, right? (jokes jokes, mom and dad!!!)

Week 2, here I come!

Besos!