What have I been doing?

Sorry all that I haven’t written very much. There has been so much happening that I haven’t known what to write about so I ended up choosing whatever seemed the most important at the time so I will try to catch you up a little bit on what has been happening in my life. I am going to post a couple entries right now so you can read what you want….

What have I been doing?
My life is so full of activities here! I have classes every morning from 8:30-12:00 (1:30 on Thursdays). I am taking Mexican Literature which is really hard (partly because literature is not my strong suit (even in English). I am also taking a conversation class which I really don’t like that much. I don’t love the teacher and when we have class in the classroom it is really, really boring. But some days in that class we go on field trips which are awesome! We have gone to markets and churches and the zoo. The zoo was really fun and I got to hold a four-month-old monkey named Bruno. He was so adorable!! I am also taking an advanced Spanish class every day of the week. I love that teacher so even though the material can be boring, I really like that class; however, since Abby, Aaron, Hannah, and I already took Advanced Grammar and Composition at North Park, we have the option of joining a university class instead two days a week. We are still waiting to see if that will be a good idea or if it will be too much. I am hopeful though.

At night three days a week we have optional fun classes of artesanias, cooking, and dancing. Those have been really fun. On Monday nights we have our art classes where we made telas (painted pieces of fabric), piñatas, and the others painted clay pots last week (I was visiting families). On Tuesday nights we have cooking class and it is really fun. We have a professional chef that comes in, teaches us how to cook, and we get to eat the wonderful food. On Thursday nights we have dance class which is really fun but the first week we learned a folkloric dance from Oaxaca (which was not really what we were hoping for) and last week we learned Cumbia (and some of what we learned and did was weird)! For example we began and ended the class in a circle holding hands (and at the end went around the circle and said a word in Spanish—for who knows what reason).

We have also been volunteering at an orphanage and helping with homework. This is not my favorite part of the week because they often don’t need my help and I feel useless. I have really enjoyed getting to know the kids though. They are really fun but I just wish I had more of a chance to get to know them when they weren’t supposed to be doing homework.

We have also had excursions every weekend and mini-excursions on Wednesdays. The first weekend we went to a Purepecha (the local tribe) ruin site and town (Tzintzuntzan, Patzcuaro). Then the next Wednesday we went to a church and an art museum that were close to our school in Morelia. Last weekend we went to four small towns outside of Morelia and in one of those towns we got to watch them make copper which was really cool. Last Wednesday we went to an island town that also has a huge statue at the top that you can go up (like a mix of the lighthouse in Guayaquil and the Virgen in Quito for those of you who know what that means). That was a really cool place and I really enjoyed that trip. Finally this past weekend we went to Uruapan (another city nearby). On Saturday we drove to a volcano name Paricutin and we saw the volcano from a lookout. We then rode horses to the place where the volcano had erupted and we saw the ruins of a church there. That was so fun and we got to climb around on the lava and ruins and it was seriously the most fun we’ve had on an excursion. The church was really cool because the lava flow stopped at the altar to Jesus and it was left in tact. After returning on our horses to the van (my horse won on the way back and on of the ten-year-old boys named Pedro Dos rode back with me). That was fun to get to talk to him. He and all of his friends spoke Purepecha in addition to Spanish which was really cool. Then we drove to Uruapan and we got to visit the narrowest house in the world. It was just a weird place because I have no idea why anyone would actually choose to live there but a family of four lived there for nine years. The entire house was so skinny that my arms didn’t fit if I held them out straight. It was just mind-blowing. Anyway after that we went to visit the national park by our hotel and then to the hotel to rest after a very exhausting day. We went swimming and then went to a restaurant across the street to eat and watch the soccer game (Monarcas v. America). That is the most exciting game of the season in Morelia and I was bummed that we couldn’t return to Morelia to go to the game but we were assured we could watch it on TV. When we got to the restaurant and the game was starting they weren’t showing it. So I asked and they told us that it was blocked in all of the state of Michoacan so people would go to the game I guess. I was very upset but they very nicely turned on the radio so we could try and listen (which was very hard since it was in Spanish, very fast, and most of us were engaged in conversations). Anyway after dinner we went back to our rooms and found the game on TV so we got to watch it and MONARCAS GANARON (my team won 1-0)!!! Yesterday we got up and went to another ruin site (of the Teotihuacanos) and a lake (Lago Zirahuen). It was a fun day but we were exhausted. Then I went with Aaron and Hannah to watch the Super Bowl at a restaurant near my new house.