screaming peacocks - parte dos

As referred to in this post, the nearby ITESM is home to deer and peacocks. I babbled a bit about the screaming peacocks, and was lucky enough to witness it again this afternoon. Lucky for you, I also had my camera, and enough smarts to take a video, so you too can enjoy this lovely sound...

((Hey, what's the natural habitat of peacocks, anyway?))

hahahahahahahaahahah!

At this very moment, Rob and I are on campus at ITESM, escaping our concrete cave and soaking up some gorgeous weather. Rob is also hard at work on a paper, and I've managed to snag the computer for a few precious moments.

I've decided that, given my limited amount of time, I need to share this with you: Rob got shit on by a squirrel! HAH! I don't know a single person on earth who can claim as such...

Would I be a bad person if I said that it made me laugh?!?!?! : ]

instrucion del Espanol - parte uno

I had my first meeting with my Spanish instructor today!

We spent an hour together at the ITESM library, and spoke entirely in Spanish. Apparently, being a language professor doesn't necessarily mean that you have to speak any another language. Cool...makes me really work for it! It is exhausting, however.

We covered some things that I'm already comfortable with (estar y ser...meaning "I am" in the temporary/permanent form, respectively). We unknowingly reviewed a lot of verb conjugation that I'd flat-out forgotten how to do, and erroneously thought I was rid of for life (the past and future tenses of estar y ser...much more difficult).

All in all, I think it went pretty well. We'll meet on Tuesdays (el martes) for one hour and Thursdays (el jueves) for two. I picked up two third-grade level (that's right...I've got mad skills) Spanish workbooks for a whopping 40P to practice with. Our focus will be fluidity and speed. I hear things well, says Maestra Lupina, but I need to speed up my hearing and speaking. It's nice to have a goal, right?!

My homework for tonight and tomorrow is to speak in only Spanish to my roommates. It will be difficult because they don't know a lot of Spanish. After my class, Rob was playing a game on his computer, and I wrote many things in Spanish in my notebook. I'm also practicing talking in the shops near my apartment.
(Mi tarea por esta noche y la manana es hablo en solamente Espanol con mis companeros. Sera dificil porque ellos no saben mucho Espanol. Despues de mi clase, Rob fue jugando una partida en su computadora, y yo escribio muchas cosas en Espanol en mi cuaderno. Practicando habler en los tiendas cerca de mi apartamento, tambien.)

Blogging in Spanglish counts as talking to my roommates en Espanol, right?! Maybe not...be it's better than nothing (es lo mejor de nada)!

more pics

Apparently I'm not feeling too wordy today, but I have been taking lots of pics, warming up for some really good ones to come...

the Macroplaza, as un-macro as it was, did have some cool architecture
I've heard that Barrio Antiguo is an awesome, old-world neighborhood nearby, with cobblestone streets and super colorful buildings...need to check that out

just practicing my depth-of-field! after I reset almost every setting on my camera, I needed something to play with and had some pesos laying around

further proof that I am, in fact, in Mexico
sometimes I forget that I'm in Mexico...some parts are so Americanized, and other parts are so foreign and ass-backward

I promised better pics of the (screaming) peacock and the deer on campus...how're these?!?!

(and yes, Summer, I chose a doe just for you, since she's obviously "peen"-less)

Estoy una gringa en Mexico

Today is my first official day on my own. Monday, I went to classes and checked out the MBA campus with Rob and crew, and Rob skipped class yesterday in favor of resting (he's been ridiculously sick...let's add this to the growing list of reasons that I don't plan to visit China, shall we?!).

I started off by heading to this adorable-looking coffee shop around the corner, and found that it's primarily a bubble-tea shop. The guy who worked there was rad and realized that my Spanish isn't the greatest. He helped me practice, and made an interesting concoction as my beverage: cold coffee and some caramel-y liquid heated up in the microwave, then tossed in a blender with God-knows-what, and poured over a bunch of those little tapioca bubble things. Odd, yes. Surprisingly good, yup. After a few minutes of conversing (and my asking if there were any Spanish language schools nearby - more on that later), I left feeling pretty good - and not entirely incapable of holding an elementary level conversation in Spanish.

my cafe, complete with a giant straw, for sucking up the little tapioca balls, I'm told...

I headed to the undergrad campus (a.k.a. ITESM - Instituto Tecnologico de Monterrey...or something) to soak up some sun, be outside the apartment, and immerse myself in some language. The campus looks just like San Diego State's campus, so I'm immediately at ease there. The place has random wildlife roaming free: deer chewing up the lawns and peacocks that scream like cats.

damn, I need to work on my photo skills...although in my defense, it was full-on noontime sun

after screaming it's head off, the peacock totally chased a couple of cats away from their food, and started eating from the dish!

The style here is definitely LA-esque. I've seen jeans tucked into boots, those random lightweight scarves, funky sunglasses, Abercrombie & Fitch t-shirts, Coach & Fendi bags, you name it...
(sidenote/rant: Missing, however, are emo-bangs. Specifically mine. I'm HATING these things right now...they're too freaking short and I look like a fourth grader. Grow, damn you, grow!)
Although I feel like I totally stand out, after taking a minute to really look around, I'm definitely not the only gringa here, even outside of the T-bird population...


Rob will be in class for another few hours, during which I plan to head to the local pharmacia & 7-11 in hopes of finding some delicious (non-taco) goodness to whip up for dinner. We have eaten out every night since we arrived, and it's getting old. We found a stellar hamburger/torta place, an expensive Italian restaurant, and have eaten more tacos than necessary. With WalMart a short, perfectly safe, 30P cab ride from here, I'll play it safe and not venture there alone (you're welcome, Mom!).

Spanish school: Okay, so in Antigua, Guatemala, there are Spanish schools on every cobblestone block. Seriously. I figured that, since Monterrey is growing exponentially in tourism popularity, there would be at least one here. I've asked the school that Rob's attending, the administration at our apartment complex, and just about every shopkeeper in a 3-block radius, to no avail. UGH! We're currently emailing people back home who have done business/Rotary work here in hopes that they can steer us in any direction. I'd KILL to be conversant, and will feel lame if I leave here without some mad Spanish skills.

I'll leave you with one final pic: Rob on the steps of our apartments...the window over his left shoulder is mine!