Hard.
The turtle is not impressed.
I had planned to write a post this evening, after returning home from my first proper day at work, but I have just been informed that afternoon classes have been suspended because of hurricane Jova, which is making its way towards the coast as we speak. Since I was due to work from 4pm-7pm today, this means that I have the entire day off. Which would be cause for celebration, except that the rain makes it impossible for me to do anything! I'm waiting for Liz to get home from work so that we can go and rent some films to watch this afternoon.
My first few days in Colima have been great. I haven't been caught up in a whirlwind of activity, but that's been nice because it's given me an opportunity to settle in properly. Even in the space of a few days my confidence has grown and I'm very lucky that the family I'm living with is very patient; they all go out of their way to help me communicate myself, which I appreciate immensely. On Saturday, we took Nico (a schnauzer with a disturbing resemblance to my grandpa) to the vet for a haircut and shampoo. He looks pretty hilarious now:
I'd forgotten how great it is to have an interactive pet. We recently put our springer spaniel down because, in his old age, he'd lost his "spring", and my cat Sooty spends most of his time spread-eagled in a patch of sun or curled up under my bed. Nico, on the other hand, is like a little human. I've had a good dance around my bedroom with him, and he always dashes to the front window to greet those who come and wave off those who go. In fact, as I write this he is using me as a climbing frame to try and get access to my laptop. Maybe he's trying to communicate with the human race. SPEAK, NICO. SPEAK.
Nothing.
In other pet-related news, I was extremely jealous to hear from my younger sister that my family has acquired a new kitten in my absence. I gave my parents strict instructions not to do so until I got back from Mexico, but this was a kitten in need, as she was being bullied by her siblings, so I've forgiven them. I'm not convinced it'll fare much better in our household - Sooty has, unsurprisingly, reacted very badly to the presence of a youngling in the house. Hopefully he'll dig deep and find some trace of a paternal instinct before inflicting too much emotional damage on the poor thing. Anyway, I met her on Skype last night and she's an absolute beauty. Welcome to the family, Minnie!
On to a more important topic: food. I am a big foodie, so one of the most exciting things about coming to Mexico was the prospect of trying loads of new things. Everyone raves about Mexican food - which, by the way, is nothing like the Tex Mex stuff we eat in Britain - so I was starting to feel disheartened after a few bad dining experiences in Mexico City. However, coming here and eating home-cooked food has been fantastic! Lety keeps telling me the names of everything I'm eating, but I don't remember any of them. All I know is, it's great. Contrary to popular belief, the Mexicans don't tend to cook really spicy food. Instead, they make wickedly spicy salsas (green is by far my favourite), so you can add as much or as little spice as you like when the dish is put in front of you. The best thing is, the food maintains its deep flavours despite the heat. While most of the food I've eaten here has tasted amazing, I can't imagine that it's very healthy. The Toscanos use their oven as a storage space for plastic bags, rather than a means of cooking. Everything is fried on the hob in an impressive amount of oil. To be honest, I'm enjoying the food too much to care right now, but my parents may not be so happy about it when they have to pay for two seats on the plane to get me home for Christmas.
My only complaints are, of course, hurricane related. The rain does make things pretty boring. The constant sound of running water also makes me need to wee a lot and, worst of all, the mosquitos are out in their gajillions. At four o'clock in the morning, when all you want is to be fast asleep and dreaming, it is very easy to seriously entertain the idea of taking a machete to your feet just to make the itching stop. The weird thing is, they only like my feet! I have had one bite on my thumb (weird), but other than that, it's all about the feet. Last night, I even tested my theory by slathering my feet in vast amounts of 50% DEET repellent, leaving the rest of my body free of any products and wearing only a t-shirt (saucy minx). I am sitting here now without a single bite north of my ankles. My feet tell a different story. There are about 10 new bites on them. It is mind boggling.
The hurricane also means that I'm unable to let you know how my first day of teaching went, so that post will have to wait another day. When I do eventually get into the classroom, I am planning to do a conversation class on "National Stereotypes", which should hopefully be a funny ice-breaker as we watch clips of Family Guy's Nigel Pinchley and Austin Powers. I will be working for 20 hours a week, leading a conversation club across three campuses. I have to choose one topic per week and then adjust the content for different language level targets. It makes it pretty easy as I really only have to plan one lesson per week, but it might get a bit boring by the time I've used the same content for the fifth or sixth time! I imagine the members of each class will have different things to bring to the table, though, so I'm sure it won't be a problem.
I don't think there's anything else very important to tell you, so I'm off to ring el novio.
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