Full Schedule and Mexican Roulette -- August 3

I've been here for about half a week only, but my days are already planned out to the last bit. It doesn't sound too bad. Wake up at 6 am (no alarm, my eyes just pop open), go down to the beach, take a swim, return to the house, shower, and have breakfast: coffee and a bowl of corn-flakes with a banana - first I considered my host-mother stingy for it, and I was about to say: "Is that all?!?", but at that time my Español wasn't up to that level, so I didn't say anything. Now I don't even feel like eating more.

Then, around 8:45 I head off for school, where I have about an hour or so before my class starts. When I have nothing to prepare I hit the internet - like right now. In class we get lectured about the correct teaching procedure. Adjusting our language to the students levels, and emphasizing our instructions with body language I have no problem with. When it comes to organizing stuff, the importance of a lesson plan and such, are the things I have to work on. No impro teaching allowed here, which is what I became really good at in Hungary. Everything has to have a structure. That's what we are graded on.

We, that is a group of ten people from all over England, Scotland, New Zealand, and the US (plus myself from you know where). All of us are somewhere in our 20's with the same goals: teaching English while traveling the globe. According to our teachers the chances are quite good, and it's easy to find work. I never expected anything less. Just only gotta make it through the course (which isn't THAT hard, really.) In the evenings we can apply in practice what we've learned in the morning. The school offers FREE English lessons to locals, which in my opinion is what makes things most difficult. People don't have to pay, so they come whenever they want. Even if they DO make it to class, they arrive about 20 minutes late (not unusual for Mexico... or for Hungary for that matter). Our time, however is divided into clear sections, so we have to group and re-group them...

After class we usually go out for what we called the "One Beer Only Club". Sometimes we stay for a second... Prices are all right, even on the touristy 5ta Avenida we pay 15 pesos (1.5 USD) for one beer, so we rarely spend more than 50 pesos. Food is similarly cheap, but is a little bit more complicated. Not everything is gold that glitters, and the tastiest enchiladas can cause you the most fiendish diarrhea (or more...) The sea is right around the corner, so sea-food should be safe enough to eat. On the other hand, there are no fisher-boats anywhere, and the next fish-market is God knows where. 

On the first day I had lunch at a TRULY Mexican place, way beyond the tourist-miles. Plastic chairs and tables, old, faded parasols, and a strikingly working-class atmosphere were the main features that got me interested. In fact it looked like someone's yard with an open-air cooker. The only thing that distinguished it as a restaurant was a chalkboard with meals and prices on it. Since my host-family has their kitchen in their back-yard as well, I though it'd be nothing uncommon, so I went in and sat down. First they all looked at me like they'd never seen a gringo before, but the little old lady was very friendly. She took my order and made three quesadillas, with beans and a very spicy beef-stew inside, that couldn't be beat by any of the classy hotel-restaurants. On the side I had lettuce, tomatoes, sour cream, green and red salsa, and a huge cup of (admittedly watered down) papaya juice. Only much later did I learn that that's what they call an "agua de fruta".

For everything I payed 40 pesos including tip. Good deal! That evening I was told about the most gruesome stories of students who had come down with food-poisoning, Salmonella, E-coli, Hepatitis, etc, etc. so I consider myself lucky that the only thing I got from eating there were a few decent farts from the beans. Also, the guy who got the salmonella didn't even eat at the cheap places, but in one of the ritziest places on the 5ta. So what can I say? The wheel keeps spinning, risk is everywhere, anything can happen. And who knows, I just might try my luck again... those Quesadillas were tasty!