School is Out for the Summer, and more...

Good afternoon! Buenos tardes! It's Tuesday here and I just finished my last day of school. Truthfully, I could go tomorrow since my mom's flight doesn't get in till almost 5pm... but... I think I am "over"school. I have learned some really great new things in Spanish but really haven't been able to apply much of them yet. I have been learning about the "gerund" (using "ing") and also reflexive verbs... honestly if you haven't studied spanish and don't know what those are, I couldn't explain it. I don't even know how to do these things in English. Did I ever learn about reflexive verbs in English???? I kept asking my teacher Andres, if he was POSITIVE that I was in the right class (based on his evaluation of my Spanish) and he assured me I was. It just feels like I use the same 15-20 words over and over again, mixed up and for different reasons. I definitely think my private lessons with him have been good, but in some way, I don't feel like what he is teaching me is really sinking in. Not his fault... mine... completely. Perhaps it has to do with the fact that I am changing schools to work with an entirely different client base, and won't need to use my spanish daily like I did at The Accelerated School. This time it's for fun, not for necessity. In any case, it was fun... yesterday we had a debate on whether or not "using a cell phone for text messaging is beneficial or detrimental". We had to choose a slip of paper to decide whether we were "en favor" or "en contrar", and then we debated each other about how using abbreviated words can damage a person's grammer. It was funny. Lots of laughing and acting out. Tomorrow they are going to be writing a script for a telenovela (spanish soap opera). I will miss out on that but I'm sure it will be fun. Overall, I think the school was good, but it was very different from my last school in Guatemala. This one was much smaller, fewer students, and also had an English program for Oaxacenos. I don't think I learned as much in a group situation than I did in the private classes in Guatemala, but it was fun to interact and meet other people during class time. Both were great experiences and I have no regrets!

So otherwise, no big plans for today. There is a movie at the school tonight that I will go to. Afterwards will be a discussion again and probably dinner. I have been hanging out with Susan, my new housemate from Mass. She is a 4th grade teacher, in her 50's and very nice. She probably will take my room when I leave because mine is so huge and has a private bathroom.

I forgot to mention here that the other day when I was walking to meet some friends (on Saturday night) I accidentally walked into a parade and immediately became a part of it. It was a huge parade of all of the delegations from the different villages who participate in the Guelegetza, the dance festival of Oaxaca. Yesterday was the last day so on Sat. night all the performers walked through the street in costume, bursting of cultural pride! I got so swept up in all of it, I actually found myself emotional while I watched all the young men and women in their indiginous dress parading and dancing through the street. I am posting a few pictures from that since it was such an amazing event to fall upon. I had NO idea it was occurring, as I was just walking in the perfect direction to the Santo Domingo church at the exact moment it was starting. Buena suerte!!!