I live with a woman named Rocío Gallardo Cervantes. Her husband died of a heart attack 5 years ago. Rocío sells Yves Rocher cosmetics, and her husband was a career military man. She has a daughter and a son; her daughter is studying engineering in Germany this year (girl speaks 4 languages-I am so jealous!). Rocío's house is really big, but it's kind of divided into apartments and she has several boarders. I don't remember who all lives here, but I know her son lives downstairs with his girlfriend. It's really common for Mexicans to live with their parents until they get married and have a house of their own. Maribel also lives here, and she cooks and cleans for Rocío. I have to say, I don't really feel comfortable with that. I think it's because I'm not accustomed to having a maid. At school I do my own dishes, laundry, etc. and at home I help out. Maribel ironed my jeans, for goodness sakes! And I don't even get to scrape and rinse my plate after eating.
I have my own room here, with a big closet and a huge desk and a good view of the garden. I'll post pictures of my room soon! The best thing about the house is that Rocío's son has a cat and the cat has a KITTEN! It is so tiny and so cute. I promise to post pictures of Kitten as well. So far I've eaten well. I've had a lot of ham, cheese, and agua de sabor, which is water flavored with fruits usually. Rocío keeps asking me if I like the food and I keep telling her yes-I love to eat and I'm not picky. I'm here to try new things and that definitely includes food. I can't wait to eat out because food is super cheap in some places. Today while walking near the BUAP I saw a sign advertising a chicken molé lunch for 25 pesos! That's about 2 dollars American!
Today I went to the BUAP with the other program students to meet all of the monitores who will help us out, and to tour the Centro. La BUAP has several locations. Today I went to the School of Philosiphy and Letters, which houses Literature, History, Philosophy, and Psychology. It's conveniently located in the old colonial city center (el zócalo) and the buildings are from the 1600's. I'm going to take most of my classes there. Tomorrow we're going to Ciudad Unversitario, or CU. I'm going to take a class in International Relations at CU. I will be taking four classes. I know that I will take the IR class, Select themes: Modern-Day Latin America, and also a history class called Nahuatl about the Aztecs.
Friday I get to tour Puebla, and Saturday I'm going to Cholula! So much excitement. Then classes start Monday...ew.
Word of the Day: palomitas. It means popcorn! I like it because it's fun to say. In fact it may be my new favorite word in Spanish.
In Portuguese, it's "pipoca" and coincidentally one of my favorite words in Portugese. =D
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