Adventures in Mexico (the first weekend)

Well, when I left you, we had just gotten settled in and were waiting for things to happen. We had a very busy weekend. After visiting San Miguel de Allende on Saturday, we were exhausted. It's almost a mile up here, and I'm really feeling the elevation. So, on Sunday, we hung out and slept a lot. However, Prof C found out that it was the last night of a play that she had wanted to see last summer. Conveniently, the play was held in the Old Train Station which is literally across the street from the house (the tracks are still functioning - unfortunately- but not for passenger trains). We ambled off and what a neat experience it was.

The play told the story of Carlota, wife of Maximilian. Max was put in charge of Mexico by the French, but didn't luck out very well. Eventually, there was a revolution and he was executed here in Queretaro by firing squad. Carlota went crazy and never recovered. The play told a rather interpretive version of the story, but was fantastic. They used the set of the train station and very little else. First, we all stood out on the platform and watched as Carlota missed her train (as an actual train went through the station!). Then, the station master (the only other actor in the play) ushered her and the audience inside to a waiting room. The rest of the play took place here. By turns, the actor who played the station master became Maximilian, Bentito Juarez (the first president of the Republic of Mexico and the one who authorized the assignation of Maximilian), Napolean, and a few other people. He played the accordian, clarinet, and harmonica as well. Carlota cried three times and as we were in the front, we could see her actual tears. She went slowly crazy during the performance and it was quite excellent.

On Monday, we came here to the Tec to try to make plans. Note that I've written try. It's very difficult to plan in advance here and we were pretty unsuccessful. But, all was fine. J and I headed back to the house and after our siesta, we decided to walk to the centro and people watch a bit. We stopped for ice cream (not quite as good as gelato) and parked ourselves in a plaza. After a while, we were approached by four girls. They asked us if we would help them with a class project. Being teachers, we had to say yes of course. So, we became actors in a video! They were making a video as a final project for a communications class. We never quite understood the point of the video, but it was a lot of fun. The girls were clearly persuasive and soon had a group of 15 people standing around them. They instructed us to dance like we were at a concert. After they were satisfied, the group dispersed. Then, they asked us if we'd help some more. They had us fight with each other, slowly savor a bottle of water and some popcorn, and listen to their ipod. We gave them our emails, so hopefully we'll get to see the final product of the video!

Today the Spanish classes began. We still aren't quite sure what, when, where, and who we'll be teaching, but we do know where to go for Spanish. However, my class is full of some pretty reticent students and since I'm only auditing, I don't want to dominate them. C and I talked about whether I'd drop the class, but for now I'm going to go to the grammar portion and try to arrange an English-Spanish language exchange with a student here for the rest. I feel like I'm a bit more motivated than my classmates, and I certainly don't want to spend 20 hours a week sitting on my hands (4 hours a day for 5 weeks... it's very intensive). We'll see if we can get this deal agreed upon by the people in change... well, it's definitely going to be an adventure!