Tuesday July 27 - What time is dinner?
8:15 pm
Waiting for dinner, which is usually at 8. The family of course doesn't eat at 8. They eat dinner between 9:30 and 10:30 pm, a light meal of rolls and hot chocolate or something. I can'f figure this Oaxacan schedule out.
People seem to be up early. They breakfast between 6 and 10 a.m., depending on their schedule. Lunch is at 3. Then kids eat between 6 and 8 p.m., and adults later. This is what my teacher Luz told me. When do they sleep, if they eat at 10:30 pm? It seems like the Rodriguezes are up until 1 a lot of the time.
The whole thing just doesn't make sense to me. I am much more understanding of the American breakfast, lunch dinner thing, but I guess that is because I am an American, or Estado Unidenso, as they say here.
School was unremarkable today, except that the wooden chairs seemed especially brutal after sitting on the hard ground all day yesterday.
I am beginning to find my way around the city a little better. The first week I couldntt remember from street to street where I was. Now I can actually find some things instead of just bumping into them at random.
And I'm not so fearful crossing streets. It still seems crazy not to be able to see the streetlights from every direction, but that's just the way it goes here and I have to get used to it. You have to look both ways and make sure no one is coming, because if they are, they sure as heck aren't going to slow down for you.
One of the great puzzlements to me is how nice Oaxacans are to me in person and how malicious they seem while driving.
The signs say "Primer los peatones" (pedestrians first) but that never happens. People zing into left hand turns with people crossing the street without even a second thought. Out of the way!
People here are really relaxed with all the dysfunction. Maybe it is because they are so relaxed that everything is more or less a mess. Maybe some good old American outrage would serve them...stuff might get done.
For instance, at La Guelaguetza in Oaxaca city, it is widely known that they routinely sell more tickets than they have seats, so half the audience ends up standing. Can you imagine a Dodgers game where that happened? There would be RIOTING, I'm not kidding. The first time and every time it happened. It certainly wouldn't happen year after year with no one saying anything.
So there is a trade-off. Relaxation versus mess. I don't know which I like better.
After school I did the usual - found an internet cafe, went to Cafe La Antigua to study, then walked around. The Feria de Mezcal is over, so the festivities in Parque El Llano are over, which is too bad, because it was a fun place to visit.
I walked up to an old aqueduct, a very picturesque area. The old aqueduct was built on top of a bunch of arches, and now people have built buildings underneath the arches, including a tiny restaurant.
My first taxi
I had so much stuff in my bag and was so tired by the time I got done walking around that I caught my first taxi in Oaxaca - $3 to get me back to Chedraui.
The taxista, like all Oaxacans, was very friendly and asked a lot of questions and listened to my bad Spanish very patiently.
Senora Gloria is the nicest woman. She makes me dinner and then sits with me so I won't be alone, following along with what I say and correcting all my mistakes. We spend most of the time trying to figure out what the heck the other is saying.
Various members of the family drop in all the time, especially Cesar and his wife and 2 kids. It is really great to see. It makes me wish my family lived closer together and got together more. It seems like their family life is very rich and happy.
Waiting for dinner, which is usually at 8. The family of course doesn't eat at 8. They eat dinner between 9:30 and 10:30 pm, a light meal of rolls and hot chocolate or something. I can'f figure this Oaxacan schedule out.
People seem to be up early. They breakfast between 6 and 10 a.m., depending on their schedule. Lunch is at 3. Then kids eat between 6 and 8 p.m., and adults later. This is what my teacher Luz told me. When do they sleep, if they eat at 10:30 pm? It seems like the Rodriguezes are up until 1 a lot of the time.
The whole thing just doesn't make sense to me. I am much more understanding of the American breakfast, lunch dinner thing, but I guess that is because I am an American, or Estado Unidenso, as they say here.
School was unremarkable today, except that the wooden chairs seemed especially brutal after sitting on the hard ground all day yesterday.
I am beginning to find my way around the city a little better. The first week I couldntt remember from street to street where I was. Now I can actually find some things instead of just bumping into them at random.
And I'm not so fearful crossing streets. It still seems crazy not to be able to see the streetlights from every direction, but that's just the way it goes here and I have to get used to it. You have to look both ways and make sure no one is coming, because if they are, they sure as heck aren't going to slow down for you.
One of the great puzzlements to me is how nice Oaxacans are to me in person and how malicious they seem while driving.
The signs say "Primer los peatones" (pedestrians first) but that never happens. People zing into left hand turns with people crossing the street without even a second thought. Out of the way!
People here are really relaxed with all the dysfunction. Maybe it is because they are so relaxed that everything is more or less a mess. Maybe some good old American outrage would serve them...stuff might get done.
For instance, at La Guelaguetza in Oaxaca city, it is widely known that they routinely sell more tickets than they have seats, so half the audience ends up standing. Can you imagine a Dodgers game where that happened? There would be RIOTING, I'm not kidding. The first time and every time it happened. It certainly wouldn't happen year after year with no one saying anything.
So there is a trade-off. Relaxation versus mess. I don't know which I like better.
After school I did the usual - found an internet cafe, went to Cafe La Antigua to study, then walked around. The Feria de Mezcal is over, so the festivities in Parque El Llano are over, which is too bad, because it was a fun place to visit.
I walked up to an old aqueduct, a very picturesque area. The old aqueduct was built on top of a bunch of arches, and now people have built buildings underneath the arches, including a tiny restaurant.
My first taxi
I had so much stuff in my bag and was so tired by the time I got done walking around that I caught my first taxi in Oaxaca - $3 to get me back to Chedraui.
The taxista, like all Oaxacans, was very friendly and asked a lot of questions and listened to my bad Spanish very patiently.
Senora Gloria is the nicest woman. She makes me dinner and then sits with me so I won't be alone, following along with what I say and correcting all my mistakes. We spend most of the time trying to figure out what the heck the other is saying.
Various members of the family drop in all the time, especially Cesar and his wife and 2 kids. It is really great to see. It makes me wish my family lived closer together and got together more. It seems like their family life is very rich and happy.
posted by Suebob at 4:31 PM
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