Un Mosquito

It´s never the bites that get me. I could sit there and let the stupid things bite me for as long as they want. It´s that sound.

The night before the first day of class I spent realizing my passionate hatred for natures most annoying creation- mosquitos. i laid down to an early start on the night and just read my book when the mosquito from two nights ago showed its head. I waited. I waited. And then when it finally landed, I made my move. Got it. Ok, I thought, now I can totally go to sleep in peace.

So there I am- settling in, finding that perfect position, and savoring the last moments of the day when the sound comes. That damned sound. No sound is more annoying to me than that sound. I thought there was only one in my room. But no- there is two. So I wait and play cat and mouse with it for the duration of a half hour before giving up and simply putting a t-shirt over my ears. This actually worked- mostly.

Anyhow- I woke up in a daze and it seems to have continued for most of this the first day of class. I am the only person in my class- class A1. This is because I know zero Spanish. I think I may be the least knowledgeable person to have entered a class here- because they keep looking at me like that. But that could be my emerging Norwegian-Mexican Soccer Mullet with extra grease from all of this humidity and heat. Who knows?

Regardless, my teacher, Marisol is great. She's 30 and has taught at the Instituto for 6 years. She´s energetic, smart, and engaging. We did a lot of vocab and exceptions in regards to articles and such today. We have grammar from 9-12 and then do a speaking hour from 12-1pm. We have a couple of ten minute breaks mixed in (and they are necessary- I felt like my brain was saturated today). We get free coffee at the Institute (and it´s definitely free quality-but no complaints ) which helped today with the grogginess.

Then this afternoon, I had my seminar. My seminar is cooking. From 4-6pm everyday, I learn a new recipe from this beautiful old lady whose name I already have forgotten. We did Entomatadas today. An entomatada is basically a version of a tostada, but the tortilla is covered with a salsa like sauce (tomatoes stewed with chiles, pureed with garlic and onion) poured over the tortilla garnished with thin slices of onion, sprinkled with goat cheese, and topped with parsley. Muy bonita y rico! Fun to listen and watch and eat.

Anyhow- I´m off to finish my homework over a beer at my favorite new place. For those of you who haven´t been to Mexico- start planning a trip here to Oaxaca.

Love to you all