Soy Otono!

     The honeymoon phase of Mexico continues, and I am enjoying each day more and more. It definitely has much to do with the 80 degree days and having class while lying in the grass under palm trees. And, tonight, I came home and watched the lunar eclipse with my family. My mom and I sat in the car and watched as the moon slowly faded away. I find it incredible that a family can take someone in and make them feel as I do. I was certainly worried before the trip about all of this, but it's more than I could have expected.

     After classes today, LeRon, Andrew, and I went to the market in order to photograph the food for a class project. It's more tame than the market in Peru; however, I had a much stronger reaction to this one. It may have been because as I was perusing the beans, all of a sudden I was staring right at 5 chicken heads. And at the next table over, the heads were attached to the bodies but they were hanging limply over the counter. But, I haven't been faring well with seeing larva and other insects during class...so it may have something to do with me being uneasy with the whole animal kingdom today. After being complete tourists and taking enough pictures for the project, we began our hunt for a restaurant (mostly so that the boys could have quesadillas and margaritas).

     In other news, I'm becoming a salsa aficionado - so far we've only had two classes, but I've thoroughly learned a few steps. Tomorrow's class will surely place me at the salsa expert phase, or so I've told LeRon's family.

     So, some Mexican culture/living differences that I've noticed include the constant fireworks at night - my dad told me that it's because everyone's having a fiesta all of the time. Also, none of the Mexicans sit out in the grass, like us gringos do. They walk by, stare, and we just simply bask in the sun, enjoying the beautiful days. There's also an array of feathered birds (peacocks, ducks, geese, etc) that roam around campus - LeRon and I saw one male peacock doing a dance for three females. Despite his attempts, he wasn't able to woo any of them. Needless to say, we were a little disappointed.

     And finally, my lesson of the day: Though I'm improving on my Spanish, I still slip up, and there may have been a few more mistakes today than usual. But, I've learned that as long as you can laugh at yourself and as long as I'm trying to become a better Spanish speaker, then it doesn't matter.