Spanish lessons and more Oaxaca.
Up early (unfortunately, as usual), and, other than my Spanish lesson in the late morning, I’m not sure what the day will look like. How am I feeling about my pending lesson? Okay, but not sure it will help too much unless I really keep it up once home (and that probably won’t happen). I started self-taught lessons after my trip last year, and put in a fair amount of time and did get a bit of the basics down, but I eventually stopped and since then most of what I learned I’ve forgotten or has not really served as much of a base. Still, taking lessons here seems a very worthy thing to do.
Indeed not too much happened today. In the morning, we took care of the garbage, which is an interesting community project. No one knows when the garbage truck will actually arrive, but they’re ready. When it arrives, no one knows exactly where, the sanitation guys ring a bell letting people know they’re here, and out comes the neighborhood, garbage bags in hand, scurrying to wherever the truck has parked. It’s like a small community gathering.
I had my Spanish lesson, for about 75 minutes, today working with Alberto’s niece, Frida, who also teaches there. I am starting to see the underlying construction (in a basic way, that is) of the language, as well as better understanding conjugation (did we learn that in school? I suppose so.). Anyway, this is a very good start… if I keep it up, and I realize that one-on-one lessons like this far outstrip online language programs, at least the ones I used last year. I’m pretty happy about it. It also seems like a great thing to do while in Mexico.
The rest of the day got away from me. After arriving back at Rachel’s after my lesson, we sat and talked for a while, and then I went out into the city, taking a walk back toward the historical center, coming back by way of El Llano Park, where once there stood Llano Zoo, from the late 40s to 1970, when the zoo was closed and turned into the park, serving the neighborhood. Today, golden lions, left over from the zoo days, stand proud at the corners of the park.
I booked a 2½ hour guided walking tour of the city for tomorrow morning, before Spanish lesson number 3, and also booked a half-day visit to Monte Albán for Saturday morning. On Friday, Rachel and I, and friends Patti and Tom, will take a day trip to Ocotlán de Morelos, about 22 miles from Oaxaca, where there is also a traditional tianguis (open-air market), which includes a livestock market. It’s one of the oldest regional markets in the valley, and is well known for livestock trading, local farm goods, and local artisan crafts. On Saturday, after I return from Monte Albán, we will (I hope) visit the Tree of Tule (El Árbol del Tule), an ancient and giant tree aged somewhere between 1,200 and 3,000 years old (wow)located in the town center of Santa María del Tule, not too far outside of Oaxaca.
But in terms of what I did today, not so much.
In the evening, Patti and Tom, who will be joining us on our trip to Ocotlán, came for dinner, and a fine time was had. Rachel has interesting and nice friends, and has a nice community down here. Everybody has a sad story though, it seems, and just as Marisa talked last night about her sister’s death, Patti talked about the deaths of her mother and brother, both very sad stories. Whew. These stories really drill into me nowadays. I’ve become pretty sensitive to losses, both for surviving family and friends and also the people who are suffering and have lost so much of their lives. While walking, I saw a very disabled lady slumped over in her wheelchair, very thin, and completely out of it, unable to do anything but be cared for by others. It is so sad, and even thinking about it now makes me sad and teary. Life! It can be horrible and is without any pity.
And eventually, after writing my blog for today, I hit the sack, hoping for a solid night’s sleep.