Weekend

It's hard to imagine that I've been in Leon for almost a week. There are some things that will still take some getting use to (like being stared at wherever you go - can you ever get used to that?) but I'm sure that in the next week, this place will really start to feel like home.

My first class on Saturday went (almost) as good as it could've. The "almost" part referring to the fact that only 3 of my 6 students showed up. The director was telling me that when it gets "cold" here (around 40 degrees), people don't come simply because of the cold. Neither of us really understand it, but I guess it is another culture difference to get use to. The 3 students that did show up where great. After substitute teaching, it is so nice to have students who yearn to learn. I mean, they hold onto my every word, it is great. We were working on learning the future tense, so one activity we did was read each others' palms to predict what "will" happen. It was hilarious. The student I did the demo on thought I was a genuine Palm Reader and freaked out when I told him he will have 4 children and lose all his money when he turns 50.

Later that day the young teachers went for a relaxed lunch in the central plaza (above). It is really precious the way the trees are trimmed like little mushrooms. Sometimes a band even plays in the gazebo. Afterward the girls took the bus to go to the "nice" mall, called the Plaza Major. Basically, the farther north in the city you go, the richer the people are and the nicer/cleaner things are. If you can see the hill off in the distance above, that is where we headed. Once you walk in the mall, it is like you are in the US. No joke. The movies in the theater are even in English. My friend stopped to eat at Cinnabon - haha.

Shall I get to the new cuisine I've tried? :) The always available street food is the best part about Mexico, and I haven't gotten sick yet! Fingers crossed...

• Mexican pizza (substitute chorizo for pepperoni and add a mayo-based spicy sauce on top)
• Mexican ketchup (tastes like sweet and sour sauce?)
• polvorone - a type of shortbread cookie
• leche con fresa - a watery milk with blended strawberries drink, served over ice
• gordita - fried tortilla pocket with your choice of ingredients inside (I chose cheese, picadillo, and chiles) *picadillo is ground meat with tomato sauce

This week I have a little more training and then the new period of weekly classes starts next Monday. I am looking forward to buying a cell phone and figuring out where there is a gym or park nearby to exercise.