Binge Drinking and Saturday Night

Having spent last Saturday evaluating my "progress" as a teacher ("I didn't check instructions well at the begining of the course... and I... erm... still don't") that all important time of the day came along when all one has to do is turn up at their friend's flat and have them cook you dinner and serve you wine. I finally managed to try Mole, which Luis kindly prepared with shredded chicken and enchiladas and I kindly scoffed having quickly attempted a terrible photo (yes, that's the dark blur on the left). Either way it was absolutely delicious - rich, spicy and chocolatey.
This was then rounded off with more chocolate in the form of Kelsey's birthday cake which was accompanied by both the English Happy Birthday tune and the Mexican Anthem (seriously, 'God Save the Queen' is shorter).
We then finally made it to a salsa club which was a lot of fun although, being English and totally uncoordinated salsa dancing really just means jerking about and waking up the next day feeling like you have dislocated your hip. However I'd do it again so it can't be that bad.
And today I had my last and most interesting class ever which I was able to design by myself. I chose Teenage Binge Drinking in Britain and, while many a comment was made (including my tutor's "if you need some realia - you can just point at yourself" - ha. ha.) I really enjoyed the discussion at the end of the lesson. Most of my Mexican class found the concept of alcopops totally foreign and had some really insightful views as to the role of the family for young people. So while this week (and weekend) could get better in some ways, in many others it's going great.

Museo de Arte Popular

Last Friday evening we went to the Museum de Arte Popular for a magazine launch. It was an art magazine called AlterMundi and while some of the pages are very intense (the theme of this issue is "Death" - what else?) there are some really beautiful artworks and Spanish poems included within the magazine which has a strong Latin American influence.

They also made the piece above on the floor of the museum out of sand, which was really vibrant and rather impressive me thinks. However most importantly the evening meant free wine and a good chance to practice my Castellano after a "fun" afternoon teaching relative clauses in English (WHICH are in fact as much fun as GCSE Physics).

I managed to go with my two friends from the school who both have a degree/diploma in art, and so I had not one, but two "must have" accessories for one's friday night gallery visits!

The museum itself is very interesting as it has a lot of indigenous folk art. The photo above to the left shows the word "Welcome" in all the different indigenous languages of Mexico, including one, called Hñahñu which to the untrained ear sounds like a series of different breaths.

The two pieces above are both made by paper mâché and the thing I have plonked myself infront of in the photo below is called an "Artesan Tree" which has pretty little symbols and objects worked into it's "branches".

One of the most beautiful pieces was a silk tapestry which is based on symbols representing souls (the tube like shapes), the mind (the crosses) and spirit.

Unfortunately after all this we ended our rather sophisticated venture in a Taco cafe up the road, stuffing our faces.

But all in all it was a great evening and an excellent start to the weekend.

Sunday 21st September

This past Sunday I went to see a Mexican film called Arráncame la Vida set in 1930/40s Puebla. It is a love story about a woman married to a muchacho politico, based on the novel by Ángeles Mastretta (no, I hadn’t heard of her either.) Unlike most recent English films of the costume drama genre it did not have a ridiculous number of over the top lines and best of all – it had no Kiera Knightley! It was funny, had a good pace and, most importantly the dresses worn by Catalina (Ana Claudia), the protagonist were T.D.F (to die for). According to El Universal this is the most expensive Mexican film ever (a whole 65 milliones de PESOS) but it was probably one of my favourite films of this year. Again, according to El Universal (one does not do much research for one’s blog) it’s heading for an Oscar or a Goya so hopefully it will make it to English cinema for Dad to download and Mum to avoid.
Afterwards we went for dinner with a Mexican friend who had requested an intercambio to practice her academic English for her class the coming week. However this quickly descended into a 3 hour long gossip over boys, pizza and Claudia’s dresses almost entirely in castellano. It was so unconstructive that we are now doing the same thing again next week.
As for food (ahem, mum) I had a pizza azteca – pizza with goats cheese and huitlacoche. Huitlacoche is a mushroom fungus and a popular ingredient in quesadillas - it looks and sounds disgusting but tastes the opposite.
Anyways I’m afraid that’s all for now as I can procrastinate no longer and must face the miserable prospect of a lesson on the present perfect, simple and progressive past. Yay.