Cuernavaca Week 1
Brent and I have completed one week of school. We’ve actually picked up a lot of Spanish in just one week. We are able to carry basic conversations pretty well. Since Brent is ahead of me he is in a more advanced class, but I’m sure that’s better for the both of us because its frustrating being in a class with people ahead of you or behind you. However, we still have a lot of difficulty communicating with the family so we have a lot more to learn.
The school is really great and I would recommend it to anyone who wanted to study Spanish abroad. All of the students and teachers are really nice and the classes are taught in a very relaxed, but efficient manner. There are 4-5 students per class and there are two types of class: structure and conversation. We have conversation in the morning and structure in the afternoon. One interesting thing is that most of the students are from California. It seems like about 80% and the others students I met are from various places in the US such as Virginia, Michigan, and Texas. Also, most people stay from 2-3 weeks and are astounded (and of course jealous) that Brent and I are staying for 9 and 12 weeks.
The host family that we live with is very nice, but they speak no English and we can’t always understand what they’re saying so we haven’t spent a lot of time with them. I hope to be able to communicate much better in a week or two. There is also a family of students staying in a different part of our house who eat with us (A dad, a mom, and 3 kids who are 8, 12, and 16). They’re from Ventura, Ca. We mostly speak English to them, although the parents seem pretty fluent in Spanish.
The food has been pretty good, but sometimes a little weird. We eat a ton of meat and very little vegetables which I don’t like. We eat a normal breakfast at 8am, our big meal is lunch which is around 2:30pm, and a little dinner around 7pm. This is apparently very normal for most people who live in Mexico. Brent and I (and most of the other Americans I talk to) have a hard time lasting until 2:30 for lunch so we’ve been buying snacks at the school and unfortunately they only sell junk food. I’m hoping that we’ll get used to their eating schedule soon. Most of the food is typical Mexican food: enchiladas, taquitos, quesadillas, and a lot of soup with meat on the side.
I bought a really good map of Cuernavaca from a lady that was leaving so Brent and I got out and explored the town. There are a lot of markets, museums, big churches, and other historical land marks. We’ve mainly been walking for exerciser, but taking a bus or taxi is cheap also. On Saturday Brent got a nice looking watch for $10 and I got a few t-shirts for a couple bucks each.
The weather has been nice and warm, but a little humid. It pours for about 20 minutes in the late afternoon everyday, but as long as we can stay inside or hide in a cafe its fine. Probably the biggest complaint Brent and I have is the mosquitoes. Both of our ankles and feet are covered in bites. I have at least 20 on my right ankle alone. We bought bug spray, but need to be better about wearing it.
Well, that’s all I can think of to write for now. Please post comments if there is anything else you would like to hear about! 
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Since the internet is slow I can only upload short videos. Here’s our school:
Cuernavaca-4 from Brittni Daley on Vimeo.
Here’s our house:
Cuernavaca-Casa from Brittni Daley on Vimeo.