Wow I cant believe Ive been here for 2 weeks, it seems longer than that. Ive been so busy. Thursday night a few friends and I went out to dinner. We tried 6 different moles, they were all very good especially the yellow and almond which taste similar to sauces from India. That same night 3 of us went out salsa dancing at the same place we went last week. We met up with a friend of ours who is from Kenya, Frances. Frances is a salsa teacher is Kenya, isnt that great. He was such a wonderful dancer, I had a great time dancing with him. He is definately one of my favorite people here. Unfortunately, that night there wasnt alot of people there so we ended up leaving after an hour or so. This week I was able to meet more people at the school. One of them is this woman, Jenna, in my class who is only here for a week, but I really like her. I think she is doing her PhD at UC Berkeley in Sociology and is teaching a Statistics course, super-duper smart. The other is this woman, Theresa, who just finished her Phd in Psychology and is living in Oakland. It was really great to talk to Theresa about her educational path. She confirmed what a lot of people have been telling me, if you dont want to do research or go on to be a psychiatrist stick with social work, its a different path to the same place. So I feel much more set in what I will be pursuing once I get back from Mexico. So did I tell you that everyone here is absolutely fabulous. There is this very cute and sweet man that runs the internet cafe I go to almost every single day. We are at the kissing phase....dont get the wrong idea. In Mexico when you meet someone informally or get to a point in your relationship where you consider the other a friend or compañero, when you see each other its customary to give them a hug and kiss on the left side I think it is (the french give two kisses, right? one of each side). I LOVE THIS! It seems to me that we should incorporate this in the states, I think it would make people less afraid of each other and give us a way to show each other the love we all feel yet are so afraid to exress. I know it sounds super new agey, but dont you think so too? Anyways, I love the way people show affection here and I feel very well taken care of and if I need anything I dont have to look very far. So anyways back to the guy at the internet cafe, I think he's some sort of advisor. I always see all these different women sitting and talking with him, some crying. They seem to be having a very intimate conversation. I really want to ask but Im not sure if its rude and I wouldnt know how to ask or understand what the answer is. Anyways, he's very sweet. Mi mama and I are going to the market today. Im going to try to find a disposable camera, mine took a dump. I think there is either something wrong with the charger I have for the battery or there is something wrong with the camera. So unfortunately no pics until I get back. I'll try to get on my friends flicker account and get some pics from her. My spanish is getting so much better. I understand mostly what people are saying to me thanks to context and the words I pick up here and there. Im trying to think of ways to hold on to it once I get back. Intercambios are a great way to go but thats only a couple of days a week. Well, we'll see maybe I'll need to come back again. Okay, well I better go. I hope everyone is doing okay and I miss you lots.

Wow, its been a while since i wrote. A lot has happened. Last friday i hung out with some friends. We were walking through one of the parks and there was a christian punk band, well not even punk like hard hard core rock from the states. It was surreal. We went salsa dancing that night and had a bunch of guys ask us to dance. They were really good, I've never had the chance to dance with a partner who was that good. It made me dance better. We had lots of fun. Saturday i met some friends at an organic market. The market didnt have much but it was pretty cool. After we walked around town and had lunch. We went to a small market and bought some scarves and stuff. The scarves were only $2 a piece so i might have to buy more. Sunday we went to Monte Alban. Monte Alban are ruins that over look the valley of Oaxaca. The whole site is really big, not like Tikal in Guatamala. Tikal's pyramids over look the top of the forest canopy. It's surrounded by lots of trees with lots of monkeys who like to urinate and deficate from the trees. Monte Alban isnt quite that dangerous, its on top of this "hill" and when you are at the top you feel your are on top of the world because you cant see anything but the sky. Its beautiful. My Spanish is getting better and better everyday, and my english is getting worse. Im taking a weaving class now, which i love. A lot of the people in my class are from California, so its nice to talk to them about where they live and where Im from. The mother of the house I live in is really great. She calls me hija, which is daughter in spanish. She is very sweet and always asks me how things are going, how did i sleep, if i need anything, are you hungry? The food here is really great and if you take out the lard its actually really healthy. We've found lots of vegetarian restaurants and even an organic restaurant. Anyways, I'll write more later. Hope everyone is doing well. Email if you get a chance.

I'm sure my ass is where my head is. I cannot seem to get this right. Was traveling always this confusing for me? Maybe I'm actually losing my mind or maybe it's that "old" brain thing coming on. I can't seem to do anything without having to do it several times before I get it right. I'm always leaving my room and then going back several times before I have everything I need and even then, nope, still forget something. Today I missed my cultural class because I was out getting food and a new notebook, that was awesome, NOT!. Oh yea, on top of the ass I already feel like because I cant understand a word anyone is trying to say to me, its like they are speaking a different language...HA, that's because they are...I thought it was funny. Anyways, I have a list where I write down everything I want to say. I daydream of writing poetically about the people and my days but basically here's what the list says; I like to sit and watch people more than I like to walk around and looking at shit (sorry, foul language is necessary at the moment), there's this cafe across the street from this amazing church that has cheese graters as lights-it's great!, my host family has a liquor store under their house...YEAH!, they also have this huge avocado tree that has a bunch of avocados, a beautiful garden, the water smells like shit and I had a lizzard in my room last night. I spent the day yesterday finding my way around. The city seems pretty doable. Okay that's it for now.

Okay, so a funny thing happened to me on the way to the airport the other day. After spending countless hours getting everything ready for my trip, errands to make sure that my cat was well equiped, or should I say Erin was well equiped, errands to take care of voting and address change and essentials, saying goodbye to friends...well lets just say I was ready to take off for a while. I woke up Thursday morning at 3:30, took a shower, ate some breakfast and got in my car for the hour and 45 minute trip to the airport. I was about 10 minutes from the airport when I decided that I should double check my itinerary (I'll just mention here that I was running late and was probably going to miss my flight anyways...but a small detail compared to what happened next). So I was looking at my intinerary and it said my flight was leaving at 5:20 so initially I totaly freaked out, but then I looked a little closer and the date was all wrong. I wasn't leaving on Thursday I was leaving on Saturday. How could I over look this? I was so busy trying to figure out what I needed to do to get ready that I just didn't even realize that I had booked a totally different itinerary than what was in my head. Am I too old to trust my brain? Maybe so. Well it all worked out. I spent the next 2 days in Portland with friends and got on the correct flight on Saturday. Saturday was very tiring, 3 flights, 4 airports and 2 countries. Here's the kicker, so of course my baggage didn't show up at the airport. I was expecting this so I had a change of clothes on my carry on, but it so annoying, all my toiletries are in there. Also, because it was so late there were not a lot of people in the airport so I had to take a taxi that costed me $30, which is very expensive. Needless to say I was exhausted but I arrived at my host families house around 9pm. Señora Montoya was very nice, she fed me and showed me my room. She has a beautiful house and my room is great. I have a nice bed, my own bathroom and drawers to put my things. I think I slept for 11 hours last night. I got up this morning and felt like a train had hit me, before I showed myself I sat on the bed and wondered if I could really do this. When I finally showed myself Señora Montoya started saying something about going to the market but I didn't really understand. I was about to take off with Señor Montoya when she reigned me in saying that he was going to the market to pick up Tamales and she was going to get me some food. ARGH!! I definately am better at speaking than understanding, but I'll get there. Her daughter and a friend came over. They were very nice and gave me a ride downtown. Anyways, today I'm going to walk around. I'm hoping I don't get too lost but I need shampoo and other things. School starts tomorrow so I'll be busy most weekdays but I'll write more later.