13 canaries and a rooster

On Saturday morning, after many problems at the airport with tickets and such, thanks to Profe, we ran through security and boarded the plane just in time. We flew to San Salvador, and then to Mexico City. After going through customs, we took a bus to Puebla, which is where we will be living and studying for the next 5 weeks. Puebla is the 4th largest city in Mexico and has some of the most rich history and culture in Mexico. Also, for you worried parents and friends out there, even though it is a large city Puebla is very safe. As soon as we got off the bus, we met our host families and left with them for the rest of the weekend. Kelsey and I are staying with Mari and Alfonso, an couple who have grown children and grandchildren living in other places. They are both very nice, and Mari assured both of us right away that mistakes are part of the learning process. That's good, because I've already made some. They are hosting another person, Alejandra who is about our age and is from Guadalajara, Mexico. She is studying at another university. They also have 13 canaries and they used to have a rooster, but Mari told us that the neighbors complained about the noise. Haha, we were just glad it wasn't keeping us awake while we are here.

On Sunday, we walked with Mari to the center square (or zocalo) and watched an orchestra performance. There is always a lot going on in the zocalo like dances, music and other activities because the city has a lot of history and culture. Kelsey and I are lucky because our house is about 5 blocks from the university and about 8 from the zocalo. Kelsey and I walked back later in the day to the zocalo and there was a band area set up where groups were taking turns playing rock music and one group played "Twist and Shout". It's amazing where random things that I know from the US show up.

Today was our first day at the university. We had an oral test and a written test and afterwards they placed us in classes depending on our level and how well we did on the tests. I am in a class with 6 other people, and there are 3 different levels of Spanish represented in my class, which I love because then I can be challenged more! Our group class is mainly about history and culture of Puebla and Mexico in general, but it is all in Spanish and includes what we would like to learn about history or culture, or what we need help learning as far as grammer and stuff in Spanish. Tomorrow, I have my first individual Spanish conversation with a guide. In our conversations, we are going to be exploring the city and going to museums, churches, and other places around the city. We have a lot of freedom to tell our guides where we would like to go or what we would like to learn about. The director gave us materials including a Spanish-Spanish dictionary...which means that we are supposed to use Spanish words to look up other Spanish words. The goal is to start thinking in Spanish and not translating from English. The other goal is to be able to speak Spanish and be pretty much fluent when we are done. We are going to have lots of homework, but hopefully I will become really good at Spanish! It's hard to believe we only have 5 more weeks in Mexico! I plan on making them count! Hasta la vista!