Spanish Classes in Oaxaca

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Have just come to the internet cafe after a torta de milenesa con queso. Amazing. Thanks for the hot tip Sam. i just can't get enough of them. i think i may have put on 10 kg already. i keep eating everything in sight thinking at least one of the things is going to make me sick and help me lose a few kilos. Nothing as yet! Only bloody kev gets mexicana belly and he´s already muy flaco.

After crumbling in Mexico City (our arms are tired from charades and they don´t seem to understand the bits of French we keep accidently slipping into the conversation) we´ve decided to stay in Oaxaca to study Spanish for 2 weeks. The alternative is going down to hang out at the beach and, as much as it appeals right now, we foolishly thought we should actually be exercising our brains. Plenty of time for beaches at the carribean, we thought. Anyway, we´re still planning to head down there on easter saturday and hang out for a few days, but its looking like 4 days rather than 10 (our initial plan).

Español is muy difficile. We had our initial examination to determine our ability and it was a little embarrassing. we were going as well as can be expected (well, we impressed ourselves!) but we got to the end of the examination and she said "ustedes espanol es basico¨or words to that effect. ¨Basico? Que?¨ the dictionary was brought out but we couldn´t find the word, we asked her to find it for etc. Eventually after what seemed like an eternity involving a lengthy game of charades she eventually broke down and said very clearly ¨BASIC, YOUR SPANISH IS BASIC!¨. how embarrassing.

So anyway, i´d like to think that we have been improving in leaps and bounds. Originally it was just the two of us in the class and there were another 2 people in an ¨intermediate¨class, but today one of the guys was moved into our class because the girl he was put with was too slow (she was a texan...). so i guess thats a good sign. unfortunately now though, with this new guy, Kev and I are struggling to keep up. we´ve got some serious catching up to do this arvo. Our general day involves classes in the morning for 4 hours and in the afternoon we sit around drinking 2 for 1 beers/cocktails and do our homework. To stop it getting too routine we mix the afternoons up with a bit of salsa dancing (Kev is a definate contender now for Strictly Dancing) or a cooking class or a trip out to one of the mayan ruins.

Our host family are lovely. we´ve actually got our own apartment above their house and we head downstairs for breakfast and dinner. We don't actually eat with the family, unfortunately, but the mother sits with us and natters away. we smile and say ¨si¨and mumble words like mmmm muy bien, delizioso etc.

Oaxaca is a beautiful wee town with a colonial feel to it with narrow straight streets, old stone buildings and lots of cafes. Life revovles around the zocolo ( square) in the centre of the town where the locals hang out and there is always free entertainment with bands, buskers, etc. Highlights of our time here include going to see Oaxaca thrash the pants off Campeche in Baseball (i don´t really know why, we don´t even like baseball but it was cool, we acted just like Homer would have), going to see the world´s biggest (and allegedly oldest) tree (yep, it was big) and being around for Semana Santa! Now that was an event! woooh!

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Photos

Studying hard!
We like to study with beers at the Zocolo.

Play Ball!
Kev has a new pal... the Oaxacan baseball mascot.

Making tortillas
Proud as punch. Geez i´m going to miss eating these puppies.