We never have time for internet! Seriously. We go to school from 9-11, eat lunch from 11-12, and we have only an hour to check email, travel site, etc. Then from 1-3 we have to study, 3-5 is class, and at five we have to walk home because the shortest route to the centro goes right through the prositution district. Our teacher said they “start” at eight, but just to be safe we want to be out of there before it gets dark. Since it ´s winter here, that means about 6/6:30. I think after this week of school our blogs will be extremely long for awhile just to catch up.
Our classes (aulas) are going great! Really, our teacher is great and he brings really useful handouts The atmosphere here is incredible. The school is in a really old house (early 1800s) with amazing vaulted ceilings, beautiful, huge, arches of stained glass in the windows, ancient but well-cared-for wood floors, and really great staff. Internet is free here, and they ´re letting us use their kitchen so we don ´t always have to eat fruit and crackers for breakfast.
The school from the outside at night
Today, the director of the school and our teacher are taking us out to a popular form of restaurant. It ´s like a buffett, but instead of “all you can eat” it ´s by weight (per kilo). So, there is set price for a kilo of food, you fill your plate, they weigh it, and then…??? ´We ´ll find out the rest today. I ´m excited! This is the kind of thing that we ´re not brave enough to try on our own. Well… brave is the wrong word. We would try, but there is no way we ´d understand such a completely different cultural/food practice, so we don ´t even try. I mean, we have problems even when we go to regular restaurants figuring out wether to wait to be seated, seat yourself, order at the counter and then sit, order at the counter and take your ticket to another place and then sit… It ´s crazy! We should record our conversations. It would be really funny.
“What are we supposed to do?”
“I don ´t know. Do you think we go up to the counter?”
“I don ´t know. What are the other people doing?”
“I don ´t know. There isn ´t anyone else trying to get food.”
“Well, should we try to order at the counter?”
“Maybe we should sit down.”
“I don ´t know.”
“Well, what do you think?”
“I don ´t know.”
“Oh look! There! That guy!”
“Yeah, it looked like he just sat down.”
“Okay, let ´s try that.”
HILARIOUS.
Oh… p.s. GROSS story. So, you remember the guy who semi-conned us into buying all the fruit at the farmers market the other day? Well, we ate the mangos, but when I was first peeling mine, I noticed it had an extra stem. I thought it was some kind of weird genetic mutation, so I thought nothing of it and forgot about it. When I got to the extra stem area, I bit through it and this really bitter taste filled my mouth. I pulled back and spit it out and examined the stem. It was hard and dark on the outside and soft and white on the inside. It was a frickin ´bug! Like a centipede with lots of little legs going from the outside of the mango all the way to the seed! UGGGGGHHHH! I was pretty grossed out, but I had to keep eating it because it was the only food we had. So, as nausea consumed me, I choked the rest of it down, but I really had to talk myself into the next mango I ate the following day.
Anyway… have I talked about the coffee here? I don ´t think so. It ´s so strong. Not just black like coffee in the U.S., but STRONG. So strong that there are only two sizes of cups. One is about the size of a disposable bathroom cup, and the second (my size) is about the same size as one of those little paper cups that you put ketchup in at fast food restaurants. It ´s really sweet, so you drink it straight. I drank three my-size cups (so about a shot glass and 1/2 of coffee) yesterday, and I almost died. I mean, I don ´t drink coffee as it is in the U.S., so one cup is plenty for me there. And the little paper ketchup cup here is apparently equal to one coffee-cup full in the U.S. After one, I ´m really hyper. After three tiny shots I was shaking and nauseous and sweaty and jittery. And everyday after morning class, when I ´m jumping around and poking Pat, he always tells me, “Jema! No more coffee!”
Anyway… time for the per kilo lunch buffet!
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