Day 10 - April 17, 2007

How does that song go?....¨I didn´t sleep at all last night...du do du do du!¨ I can´t even sing when I´m typing! LOL I literally woke up every 15 minutes. That´s like 3 nights now!

It´s chilly this morning and of course, the hot water wasn´t working too well. I actually wore my jean jacket to class.

The Teva sandals helped keep my toes aligned, but they gave me terrible blisters.

I got to town early, so I stopped for a Chai near the school, but it was the powdered kind. While I was sitting there, a dog came running over and it was very friendly. It had a collar on, so I thought it belonged to the lady who was ordering, but it wasn´t. It jumped up and starting kissing my face. What a good way to start the morning!

The dog ended up belonging to a guy with dreadlocks who also had an older white Lab. He went to the Internet Cafe´and his dog came to school with me. The Security Guard was thrilled. The dog took a sip of water from the fountain and then ran off.

Playa Lingua
We have a new classmate named Uri who is from Germany, but his girlfriend lives in Playa and works for a Realty in Tulum. He knows Spanish pretty well.

Kathy, from Canada, is a pro though. Her boyfriend is in the advanced class. He has also been to Spain to study.

I really wish that they would stop asking our political affiliation and talking about George Bush in class. I really don´t care to discuss that topic with strangers. Yesterday I had to say that George Bush was ¨el stupido.¨

Today went pretty well. I still am further behind than everyone else, but now I at least have a good base and some good suggestions from people on how to learn Spanish. Our Teacher, Luis is really a smart man. He can tell us words in all of our languages and explain things to us, which they couldn't´t do at IH Riviera Maya. He also has a very broad knowledge of music, history, culture, sports, etc.

Luis, el maestro, was complaining about el estutiante´s who come to class on Monday, but never show up again until maybe Thursday. He said one person has been there for 3 months and still makes a lot of mistakes. He said that they are more concerned with getting some "hoochie coochie."

Before class, I spoke to a little girl who was at the school in Spanish and she understood what I said and I understood her. Watching Sesame Street must have helped.

Private Lesson
I took a private lesson with Lu Lu today at 2:00 p.m. She helped clarify some of the things that were confusing to me.

Caliente
Lu Lu told me that when describing conditions, that you can´t say ¨Estoy caliente¨because that means horny! Calor is the appropriate word to use. You can use caliente to describe food, but not people.

My lesson ended a little after 3:00 p.m.

Pollo Tamale
I bought a chicken tamale from the street vendor by the ferry dock. Annemarie told me that she eats them, so I thought I would try one. It actually had a whole chicken wing inside, which was gross, but I ate around that. It cost ninety cents. Oh, and I didn´t get sick!

Beach
I walked the beach to get some sun and then sand got in my blisters. That was stupido! I had a 5 minute free massage on the beach near Bad Boys bar.

Disgustamendo (That´s my favorite Spanish word)
If one more guy spits and it hits me, I might end up in jail for slapping him! I think they need lessons on manners. I´m so grossed out, not only by them spitting, but by the fact that it´s blowing at me when it´s windy out. This has happened about cinco times now. Argggh!

Nacos
I saw a t-shirt that said ¨no more tacos¨and I thought it would be funnier if tourists wore t-shirts that said ¨no more nacos!¨

Yaxche Maya
After eating at Cueva del Chango, it´s difficult to try other restaurants, but I wanted to try authentic Mayan cuisine. I was planning on going to Yaxche Maya for Easter, but you already know why that didn´t happen.

I sat at an outdoor table, which was nice and I had a juice drink called the Coba with chaya in it. It was very good. I ordered a pork dish that was made in banana leaves. It was good, but for the price, I would go back to Cueva del Chango instead. I´m glad that I tried it though. I also watched them make flaming Mayan coffee for another table.

Puke Central
Walking through town was like an obstacle course. People threw up in the streets. I think some people had a few too many today! It was totally disgusting, but fortunately they wash the streets every day.

Work-Out
I worked out since I haven´t been working out with the exception of walking everywhere. And, I walk with two big bags on my shoulders.