La Primera Semana de las Clases

(The first week of classes)

We started classes this past Monday. The campus is beautiful, with lots of trees in bloom, greenery and ornamental pools (see the pic of the one with the fountain). I have an 8am Composition class and the girls have 8am classes as well so our Mexican brother Victor drives us 10 minutes to school.

Comida (Food) Update: Everyday we wake up for breakfast around 7ish and Mama serves us a plate full of fruit, sometimes pancakes too. There's banana (platano), pineapple (pina), watermelon (sandia), and cantaloupe (melon). As many of you know I can be a really picky eater but the first day I tried it all (you'd be proud of me Mom!). Admittedly I did end up telling Mama that I didn't care for the cantaloupe but besides that, I've been eating every piece of fruit on my plate. Oh, by the way, I forgot to mention that when we went to Teotihuacan she made Adrian and I sandwiches (tortas) of bacalao (a type of fish) and they were really good.

Back to classes. My composition professor is Profesor Edel Galeana. I'm in the class of 2 (including me), with Selina which is good because we get plenty of practice speaking and lots of personal attention. Classes are two hours long with a 10 minute break in between. It's interesting because Mexicans in general seem much more relaxed about timeliness, as the professors will come to class a few minutes late regularly and it's no big deal. Just a different culture.


Profesor Galeana is very structured and calm, whereas my Conversation professor, Profesor David Roman is very jovial and free-spirited. Two different styles, both helpful in their own way. At first there was a little shifting of schedules, but things have settled down for now (more on that in a sec). Currently I have Composition from 8am-10am and Conversation from 11am-1pm. Thank goodness we had the weekend to adjust to the 2 hour time difference because I am not a morning person so waking up at the equivalent of 5am PST for a 6am class would not have been fun. At first I was waiting around campus after class for the girls to finish up at 2pm and then we all rode back home by car, but lately I've been walking home. It's about a half hour walk, rather hilly so it's good exercise, though my knees might regret it someday. Luckily the one particular hill that's very reminiscent of San Francisco is one I go uphill on the way back, so I avoid the damage of going down it since I get a ride in the morning.

So around 2 or 2:30 we have la comida (literally "the food") which in Mexico refers to a big lunch since they have very light dinners here. I've noticed some shops close for two hours in the afternoon for la comida, while some restaurants or food stands don't open until 2pm (Don Raff's hamburguesas, yum). Just another cultural tidbit.

It's been unseasonably cold in Cuernavaca the past few days (note the temperature to the left today). It's been in the low-70s mid-60s during the day, and it's even rained a good bit the past couple of days and last night, which for "La Ciudad de Eterna Primavera" is "tan extrana" (very strange) for the winter time. I hope nobody blames us Americans for bring the bad weather down with us. Maybe we traded weather because I hear the Bay has been rather sunny.

In the afternoon Adrian and I go back to campus for our Chicano studies Anthropology class with Profe, which is cool. There's a lot to learn about ethnic identity and Mexican-U.S. relations. For example there is no such country in the world named Mexico, or even Republic of Mexico. In fact the name of the country where I currently am studying is Estados Unidos Mexicanos (United Mexican States). How's that for some knowledge.

We're going to Puebla tomorrow where it's even colder. I'm glad I brought a sweatshirt and layers. Puebla has 365 churches within the city, one for "cada dia" (each day), so I plan on "sacar muchas fotos" (taking lots of photos) if they let me. Should be neat!

P.S. A friend of mine has informed me that unfortunately my blog title is grammatically incorrect. It should read: "La Buena Vida en Cuernavaca" instead of "La Vida Buena en Cuernavaca" Woops! Thank you for the correction. Unfortunately I don't think I can change it now that it's all set up.