Yesterday was the day following Mexican Independence Day and the day I declared as MY Independence Day. I don’t want to brood anymore over things I can’t change.
In the morning I went to school to print out a paper I had written for my history of Latin America class (which I forgot to turn in). Cristina and I met up at 9 to take the bus to school. I managed to sneak into class only a minute or two late with a cup of coffee in hand.
The line at the school café is ridiculously slow. I think this is partially a cultural thing. When you walk up to the girl you have to give your “Buenos Dias” and then exchange your “Como estas” before you can get on to ordering.
If I do end up moving to another apartment I am going to buy a coffee maker first thing… maybe learn how to make a French press. I do love the stove top espresso maker Joey bought me but sitting and mulling over a giant cup of Café Americana is something like praying for me.
I love espresso but drinking 16 ounces of it might give me a heart attack, after it turns my teeth black.
Our history class did something new on Thursday, we arranged ourselves in a circle and discussed things… It started out as a discussion comparing Mexican Independence Day to celebrations we have in America (in Spanish) and quickly evolved (or devolved) into an all-English discussion about certain cultural aspects of America culture.
I attempted to make the joke in Spanish that the reason Cinco De Mayo became more important in America than Diez y Seis De Septiembre was because we didn’t have any may holidays. I’m not sure if the teacher realized I was joking… Several of my teachers have told me I need to work on my voice inflection when I talk. I speak almost in a whispering monotone unless I am completely sure what I am saying is grammatically correct.
I put way too much sugar in this cappuccino…
I’ve come to Punto Café because sometimes I get sheepish about how often I go to Sunny’s, although I know I’m going to go there right after this. I really wanted a salad and while the cobb salads are really expensive here they are really really good.
I do have to go to Sunny’s to do homework though.
The waiter here remembered my name and came and asked me if I was okay. I told him I’m fine just a little tired. My face doesn’t radiate happiness all the time and I don’t think I’ve mastered the facial expression of serenity.
Back to Thursday…
I sware one of the SFSU girls told the class that ‘bitch’ is a term of endearment among women, or a term of solidarity. I thought that was outrageous and could hardly hold back my giggles.
I think I did fairly well in my Advanced Communication Class later that day. I held an okay conversation with one of my classmates in Spanish about what I think the differences in American holiday celebrating and Mexican holiday celebrating.
I have a few things to submit online for that class today but my grade is better than I expected it would be. Also, I am doing really well in my intermediate Spanish class. I have an 83% and got an 86% on our midterm which I am totally thrilled about. I have to WORK in the class so I will take a B all day long and be absolutely stoked.
If I don’t get an 85% average in all of my classes I could get sent home. The only class I am worried about right now is my History of Latin America class… and I’m sure it doesn’t help that I forgot to turn in that 3 page paper on Thursday. Sweet…
Thursday night is treated more like a Friday here even though quite a few people have Friday classes (I don’t). So Paul motivated a large group of his Gay Mexican friends and his Straight School friends into going out to a club after 6 of us went out to dinner.
Well, after dinner we met up at an outdoor patio and had a few beers before going to the club. At the patio I had 2 beers… Cristina had 4. She is at least six inches shorter than me and I am continuously impressed with how much she can and does drink.
To go to ‘Heaven’ which I can safely call Paul’s favorite Gay Club we all climbed into different cars. Cristina and I rode with Mauricio who is a very very attractive man. His boyfriend was driving one of the other cars but when Mauricio went inside a store to buy cigarettes Cristina and I drooled over him. His clothes fit nice, his hair is stylish without being creepy and he has a really handsome way of laughing and talking even though I only understand about 60% of what he says. He asked Cristina why she was trying to quit smoking… and then asked me if I did.
I told Mauricio “Cuando estoy baracho pero me gusta marijuana mas…” Which has a few grammar mistakes in it and made me sound like a pothead although it is totally true. I have only smoked cigarettes when I am drunk and if I had to pick which I enjoy more I would pick weed.
When I uttered that sentence Cristina absolutely died laughing. I don’t speak Spanish in front of her very often and she thought it was hilarious that of all the words I do know (which is only a small percentage of the Spanish language obviously) I can convey to someone that I only smoke when I’m drunk and I like weed better. Yet, I don’t know the word for clumsy which would be infinitely more helpful in my daily life.
Other updates… Nathaniel and I have been having communication problems. Meaning, he takes almost a week to reply to my e-mails and I get to talk to him in real time maybe once a week. I decided to stop brooding over it. I want to hang out with him when I get home but I’m totally over putting out as much effort as I have been.
Since I’ve been here I’ve gotten to talk to Billy on the phone at good length a few times and we’ve exchanged e-mails but I hadn’t heard from him in a while. He realized I was getting unhappy about it and felt bad and wrote me a spectacularly long e-mail about all the stuff going on in his life. It was maybe 1,500 or 2,000 words, which for me could be considered the higher end of my average e-mail. For Billy, it’s probably the most hes ever written for something not school related.
He was telling me about the cool things going on right now and some of his ideas and concerns for the future. He has come up with a really cool business idea that I think he should make a serious try at after he gets his BA.
I replied to all of the points in his e-mail and talked a little bit about whats going on with me. I told him about something I realized while reading a book the other day: I really miss Italy. Not more than I miss people at home but as far as a physical place goes I miss it more than anything else. And, missing a place you can’t be at feels a lot like getting your heart broken. Physically I am fine but it huuuurts when I really think about it.
I need to live there someday. There is no way around it.
Missing friends and family isn’t as dramatic because I can at least talk to him. I can’t sit down at a dinner table with my parents or daydream about travel over a slice of pizza with Krenzer but I can talk to them about the next time it gets to happen.
Thinking and not knowing about the next time I will amble between the Coliseum, Vatican, Pantheon, Termini and my gelato shop with perfect navigational skills after enjoying some fresh Italian cappuccino foam hurts.
Oh Italy, you break my heart…
In the mean time I can think about Cuba for a possible spring break vacation, Oaxaca in October and have received and invite to visit Alan in Kyoto. That would be crazy amazing. I’ve promised myself to never let my age be more than the number of countries I have been to. Which depending on my memory is 22 or 23 places. This makes Cuba (or somewhere in South America) plus Japan pretty intense.
On top of these grandiose travel plans I need to really start saving up for a new camera. I need it before I graduate, no way around it. But I also know I can start making some serious strides towards saving until I get home and get a job. However, I did send a story pitch to the Chronicle yesterday and I am waiting to hear back.
crosses fingers
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