I’m sitting at the computer lab at school (no, we don’t get a Thanksgiving break—why would Mexicans want to celebrate the pilgrims coming and invading their continent?) , trying to figure out how to get from Guadalajara to the beach and then to Oaxaca. Class is finished next Friday, and then I have a week free to travel before I head back stateside. So my friend Mary and I are making plans to head south. I would be fine to just hitchhike down there (oh, I can hear the admonishments now...) and save some money, but Mary’s not cool with that.

I never wrote about last weekend’s excursion to the neighboring state of Michoacán. I guess there’s really not much to tell—I saw all the normal touristy stuff in Morelia; went to a bar with Mary and a couple of her Mexican friends (which turned out to be a gay bar which was nice because we didn’t get hit on like every other place we go); we went to the island of Janitzio (which was one of the most picturesque places I’ve been to here) and saw the “butterfly fishermen”; wandered around the tiny town of Pastcuaro where there was a festival going on and people were throwing confetti everywhere; and watched the movie "A day without a Mexican" on the bus trip home (you should see it if you haven't--it's funny and informative).









































Yesterday my roommate Oliver and I went to a Kumbia Kings concert. It was only two bucks to stand in the very back, but we could still see and the music was good. Then we met some friends at a bar where a local jazz-rock band was playing. They were unbelievably good and I’ve never been interested in that kind of music before.

My roommate Molly left a few weeks ago and now we have this new guy from Arizona. He’s originally from Persia so he speaks with an accent. And he came here knowing absolutely NO Spanish. So this means my host mother will be speaking primarily in English with him and with us when he’s around. This really makes me mad because I'm not here to speak English! I've been continuing to speak Spanish with her even when he's around, so he'll just have to deal with it. It's better that way, anyway. Whatever. These last few weeks I have tried my best to be out of the house as much as possible. I hardly hang out with my gringo friends from school, choosing instead to go out with Mexicans. Only two more weeks; I better make the most of it.