Estoy frustrada!

Yesterday was my first day of classes- had Maya in the morning, the class was filled with other exchange students, two of which aren´t from our program. The professor was very nice and I understood everything he said, although, our text book is going to be in English because it has less mistakes than the Spanish version and he is also going to teach some grammar in English. All in all, it seems like its going to be an easy class because there are no local students in it- a good and bad thing. The first day we basically just went over statistics about the populations that speak Maya and the different dialects.

After class, I caught the bus to the office- asked the Program Director about some classes and went out to lunch. A few blocks down from the office there is a vegetarian restaurant- I got a veggie burger- covered in all kinds of funny sauces and vegetables, as well as a ½ liter of jamaica. It was really good and cheap too, I probably have a new favorite place- and it seems like I will be one of their only customers too. After lunch, walked around trying to find a newspaper for my homework (unsuccessfully) and bought a drink at the Oxxo (gas station, convenience store). Walked back to the office and saw the largest lizard I have seen, outside a zoo, in my life. This thing looked like a misplaced croc!! I took pictures so when I feel like being really patient I´ll wait for them to upload onto flickr.

Spanish class was ok- they are a bit boring but now we have a lot of homework and a big grammar book that I need to study religiously. I don´t know anything.

After class I took the bus back home and ate dinner. Dinner was an interesting concotion of tortillas, cheese, onions, salsa verde, and sour cream. I swear to God I eat at least 4 tablespoons of sour cream or butter on everything here. My stomach was also a little upset last night, although that probably goes without saying.

After, I met friends in el centro- the walk there was interesting. I stopped to talk to a few guys on the street that I pass nearly every day. They seemed very nice but ended up being a bit crude- I´ll spare the details since my grandmother is reading this! To make a long story short, it wasn´t a good start to the night. Ended up meeting my friends, they were going to eat dinner but I figured I would get some chips and maybe a chelada (chela- beer- mixed with lemonade). Went to a restaurant that looked good- ended up being horrible. The guacalmole was old, or else made out of some horrible mix, and when we very, very politely said something to the waiter they got upset and the manager came over and told us (abbreviated) that all the ingredients were fresh and that we didn´t know what we were talking about. We waited nearly an hour for our food, and another half hour or 40 minutes for the check- in which they had overcharged us for a few things. We pointed this out- once again- very politely and they said they would go change it. Another twenty minutes went by in which the waiters just looked at us, and I finally got up and told them that we were very annoyed and would like the check now, otherwise we were going to leave. Got the bill and paid. While this had all been happening some creepy old man was staring at the table making gestures (once again, I´ll refrain from elaborating) and continued to stare, for a good half hour until we asked him what he was looking at. UGGHH! This was such a frustrating experience.

I´m so frustrated of sticking out so much, people coming up to me and patronizingly speaking to me in English, or men just being crude and disgusting. Ugh!

Today so far, I had one class- Theories of Social Movements. Really frustrated, it was hard to understand because the prof´s voice was scratchy, the room was loud, and all the other (local) students were laughing and making jokes that I definitely didn´t understand. It seems like all the local students avoid the foreign ones and visa versa. I also feel like I´m never going to learn Spanish and that I don´t have a clue what is going on. I really would like this phase to be over!!!