The trip home was good. I'm back in school at Mason and started my 12 hour workdays yesterday. Right now I have an hour break between class and work so I'm checking email in the theatre office.

Many people want to know what happened with Lauren and Marco... I will tell. Saturday night after Marco got off work He, Lauren, and I went down to the Zocalo and picked a random bar to hang out at. I was really hoping we would run into the other GMU peeps down there, but it was either too late or too cold. Although I was enjoying the two for one beer specials at El Rincon Bohemia I was shivering way too much and told them I wanted to go home. Lauren said she'd be ok by herself with Marco, and I agreed. She was more worried about me stumbling home alone. So I got home about 2:30. Barbara was packing. I fell asleep with my clothes on.

The next morning I got woken up at 8am by a panicked Kim on the phone. "Is Lauren with you?" "Um... no" "When was the last time you saw her?" "um... 3am at the Zocalo, with Marco" "I'm freaking out" "I can tell" "Should I call Professor Lee?" "Not yet, I'm sure she's fine, just wait there, Barbara and I will try to call the restaurant"

I hung up the phone and Barbara called Caminitos and left a message on the answering machine saying we can't find Lauren and we are very worried and she was last seen with Marco and please call us back with any information on how to track him down.

Kim called back. Still freaking out. We told her to give Lauren until 9am. We figured that would be enough daylight time to have woken her up and gotten home, but still enough time before the bus was supposed to leave for the airport to do some serious investigation.

Barbara and I got ready to go. Both of us were really scared. I felt so guilty because I was the last one to see her. We both kept coming up with these hoffific ideas of what could have happened to her.

At 8:58 Kim called again. Oh Shit-we were sure she had called Professor Lee.

No. Lauren had just walked in. Finally. Two minutes before the deadline. Aparently her host parents were getting in the car to go look for her when her cab pulled up. That was a close one.

She explained that since it was so friggin cold outside, she and Marco went to his apartment and just hung out and watched TV. Apparently she fell asleep. She woke up in the morning and freaked out about the time and got home as soon as she could.

So everything is fine. She misses him a lot.


I just keep thinking about that panicked message we left on the answering machine at his job. Tee hee. Wendy is going to yell at him!!!

I come home tomorrow. I'm happy to come home, but I'm really comfortable here... except maybe in the public bathrooms. I now understand why hover is preferred over cover. It's BYOTP here at the Internet Cafe.

Andrea's birthday party was postponed until tuesday because it was cold and rainy when we woke up this morning, and there really isn't enough room for 60 adults and 40 kids in the tiny two-bedroom house. I gave her the Spiderman coloring book I had gotten her and she loved it. We colored together. She loves HombreAraña (Spiderman) and Superman, pretty cool for a four year old with no older brothers or cousins around. She was pretty pissed off that her grandmothers made all the decorations Mimi (Minnie Mouse) instead of superheroes like she wanted.

Since I'm leaving tomorrow I thought I'd get some last minute shopping done at the 'fayuca' (black market) today. I was hoping to find some nice Gucci and Prada knockoffs but that place is so confusing I couldn't find my way back to the place my professora brought me last week. That's ok, I got some pottery and leather. I'm getting pretty good at this bargaining thing I think.

Lauren and I hung out at El Caminito until 5am last night. I think that's the longest I've stayed out in years. I was having so much fun I had no idea what time it was. I only went home because I was worried that Alicia would freak out if she saw I hadn't slept in my bed. When I told Barbara this she started telling me stories about Spain and said that she wouldn't have freaked out until at least 8 or 9am. I gots to check me out this Spain place she keeps goin on about. Lauren hung out at my house for a couple hours before we went out and she really likes my host mom better than hers. We are both seriously considering coming back next year.

Well I'm out of time again. Thank you for playing.
Buenas Noches!!!

Today the whole GMU group had lunch at the Hacienda de Cortez. It is the former home of Hernan Cortez, and I believe a sugar refinery as well. It's over 400 years old. Crazy. It was SOOO cold. Not just there, but everywhere around here is cold. Every day we shiver in our open air classrooms. And the restaurant on the grounds of the Hacienda is completely open as well, with vines growing up into the ceiling. It was beautiful, but we all ordered coffee and soup to warm ourselves up.

I understand that it is much colder back home... but at least you guys have coats and heaters! This kind of weather is very abnormal here and nobody is prepared. It's like an alaskan heat wave. One of the professors from a different college said he's been coming to Cuernavaca every January for the past 20 years and has never seen rain here. It has rained 3 days this week! So wierd. The streets are all flooded.

That reminds me. Yesterday when I left the internet cafe without Barbara, I FINALLY found the direct bus home! That knowledge is going to be very handy in this weather. Was it a coincidence that I got home faster on my own? mmmm.... just kidding Barbara!

Also, before the rumors start flying... that comment from my dad was an isolated joke. I am not romanically involved with any of the locals. If anyone were involved it would be Marco and Lauren. I'm happy for her, but I don't get it. She hardly said a damn word to the guy and he's crazy for her. I was singing and juggling and dancing and joking, and she just sat there staring at him with these puppy dog eyes. Once again, I'm 'the funny one.' Story of my life.

Please guys, explain this to me. Why do you always go for the boring ones? (no offense to Lauren... this is a generalization about the rest of my life)
I'm sorry, but I'm not going stop living la vida loca just to fit into some femenine steriotype. I like singing along with the radio! I like watching cartoons! I like dancing! I like getting drunk! I like touching the stage at concerts! I like playing video games! I'm up on the pop culture! I go with the flow! If I wasn't me I'd really want to hang out with me. To bad I have the attention span of a fruit fly or I might have taken over the world by now.

While I'm on the subject. I would like to apologise to anyone ever neglected to pay sufficent attention to. It's a medical problem that I get treatment for. Since the classes are so small my teacher got really annoyed at me this week because he could tell that I was spacing out constantly. It happens. Then I would really piss him off by knowing the answer even though I wasn't paying attention... ha ha... he had no idea who he was dealing with. 12 years of catholic school without ritalin... I'm da BS masta! Anyways, I was just thinking that sometimes I really space out and people who don't know me might think it's because I'm not interested... but it's totally opposite... maybe you mentioned something that made me think about something else that made me think about something else... its unintentional and I'm sorry.

Speaking of BS. Yesterday in class we learned the importance of proper pronunciation.
Nick tried to say, 'I have a small fear of stray dogs.' 'Tengo un poco miedo de perros en la calle'
What he really said, 'I have a little dog shit from the street.' 'Tengo un poco mierdo de perro de la calle'

Speak clearly.

You never know who is listening.

Our first set of question is from Mr. Tim Kelleher:

'Do they have any leathermen (leathermans) (leatherpersons) in Mexico?'
Not that I have seen. But there are lots of silly american girls that like to lie out by the pool at the school in the afternoon. I'm sure they will be leatherpeople in a few years.

'When are you coming home?'
The plane comes in Sunday night. I plan on moving back to campus Monday. Classes and rehearsals start Tuesday. So I'll be seeing y'all sometime in June.

Mr. Kelleher also adds:
'Do you know what you call the Mexican who your daughter is engaged to?
A Spaniard.'

I am SO sick of class!!! Only one more day!

Last night Marco took Lauren, Kim, and myself to a mexican club. We were the first ones there and it was like 1am. We danced a bunch, but even though I think Lauren wanted to spend more time with Marco, Kim and I insisted on getting some sleep. It feels kinda cool to have a friend in Mexico. I mean my host mom Alicia is very cool, and could totally drink me under the table, but it's nice that we have a Cheers-type relationship with the guys at La Camineta. Marco says he wants to keep in touch with us over email, but I'm sure many of you are rolling your eyes at that because I have enough trouble keeping in touch with family members, former roomates, and god-children. In reality it is very unlikely that I will actually keep up correspondence with a waiter I hung out with for a week in México, but am I supposed to say? 'No, I'm glad that we're friends, but you'll probably never hear from me again because I have severe attention-deficit-disorder. You're lucky I even remember your name... oooh look something shiny!' I don't know how to translate ADD.

Saturday is Andréa's birthday. She is the grandaughter of my host moms. She's turning 4 and she's so smart. She is my best spanish tutor. There's going to be a huge party with a piñata and everything. I want to go buy her a present but I have no idea what a 4 year old mexican girl would want. I'm thinking candy. All kids love candy.

It's kinda wierd. I'm finally getting the hang of this place and it's almost time to leave. I would like to come back... on my own without GMU... they just make things difficult. Alicia said I could stay with her anytime and it would be cheaper than going through the school. There are a lot of americans here that work part time in the bars after their language classes. It's probably illegal because they just work for tips, but nobody cares. The only hesitation I have about being here for an extended amount of time is the severe pollution. This town is about the size of Winchester or Fredricksburg, but has all the pollution of NYC or LA. Sometimes after hanging out in the Zocalo, I feel like I've been rolling around in dirt... BUT I WASN'T! I was just having coffee outside.

I'm not sure what else to write about... Barbara is supposed to meet me here when she is done shopping, but she has no concept of time (we make great roomates). It is now time for the question and answer period. Email me with your questions at megan@kelleher.net and I will do my best to answer them. Our operators are standing by.

Nothing super interesting has happened since Monday. Todays class was really boring. We are learning about Direct and Indirect Object pronouns and it feels like my teacher (who refuses to speak english) is talking faster and faster by the hour. My brain is fried. I only have two more days of mandatory college spanish classes EVER!!! I would like to continue to learn, but not for a grade. I might come back here someday, this town is really all about the spanish language schools. Lauren and I are meeting up with some people we met from another school in a couple hours.

Yesterday Barbara and I had a laundry adventure. Apparently 'fluff and fold' is the standard at the laundromats here. We didn't realise this so we waited until the last possible minute not knowing we would be without clothes for at least 24 hours. So we embarked on a journey to find a self-serve laundromat. (Actually I think the truth is that Barbara is high-mainenence about her clothes. As many of you know I adore the idea of someone else washing my stinky socks.) It took us over an hour to find a place. And even then a woman helped us. (good thing- the dryer was gas powered... BIG FLAMES!!!) Apparently they don't trust the blondes with the heavy machinery.

Afterwards we treated ourself to Argentinian Steaks at a place called Las Lunas across the street. Sooooo good.

I'm finally getting used to stuff here, but at the same time I really need to go home. I miss everybody so much. I'm really nervous about this semester. I left school in December with so many projects unfinished, and so many new ones coming up! I've tried to work on Venus as much as possible, but it's hard enough to memorize my vocabulary words every night without ritalin, much less the bizarre poeticized language in Venus.

It will work out alright in the end. How? It's a mystery.

I have a little time before I meet up with the peeps at 'THE FUN BAR' so I will tell you about transportation in Cuernavaca. You have already heard more than you want to about Taxis. The other option are the busses. Routa 14 runs past my suburban neighborhood about every 10 minutes. It varies because the busses try to see how fast they can go before they have to stop for those pesky passengers. Bus stops are invisible... some are marked by metal benches, but usually a bus stop is where you make it. All you have to do is stand in the street with your arm out, and if the busdriver thinks he has enough room for passengers he will slow down long enough to put the bus in first gear. We gringos irritate them by travelling in groups and making them actually stop. My roommate, Barbara, has class earlier than I do so most days I take the bus to school by myself. I've gotten pretty good at jumping on the bus while it is still moving like the locals do. I've learned to pack light because the walk from Routa 14 to my school involves this one block that's a 45 degree hill that comes out to the equivalent of climbing 5 floors of stairs.

Barbara and I have NEVER gone directly home from school. There are about 22 different 'Routas' in Cuernavaca and only Routa 14 goes to our neighborhood. One time we caught Routa 14 near the Zocalo, but it was going the wrong way. We sat on the bus for 45 minutes before discovering from that NO the busses do not go in a loop no matter how similar the streets and tiendas seem to be. That was BAD. Today we walked almost all the way home before we finally found a Routa 14 in the correct direction. Every day is an adventure.

The internet cafe I'm in right now is about the size of my living room on campus. It has one door facing the very busy street and no open windows. Basically I fell like I've been sucking on an exhaust pipe for the past half hour. So I'm off to the FUN BAR to dance with Marco, and Paco, and Paco Francisco with the other gringas from GMU.

Hasta Luego!
Megan

I got my grades back from last week. I got an A on my midterm. Much better than I could have ever done in a language class at Mason. We have a new teacher this week (the school rotates teachers weekly and accelerates students based on progress as needed).

On Saturday all the Mason students and some of the Ohio U and Missouri kiddos went to the pyramids of Teotexuacan (I´m sure my spelling is off... it´s pronounced Tay-oh-tee-wah-kahn). It was so cold. The weather here has been consistently like long-sleeve weather in the morning and shorts and t-shirts in the afternoon when the sun is at full blast. But Saturday it was freezing and nobody was prepared. When we got to the pyramids, which are north of Mexico City, everyone ran staight for the vendors and bought sweatshirts, bajas, blankets, and sarapes. We were shivering so much it was painful. The pyramids were really cool though. I felt like I was in the movie, The Mummy. Everything is perfectly lined up with the sun and the moon and the stars. They pyrimids are huge and contain altars and tombs and stuff. We walked through one of the ancient palaces that had been restored.

ok. Outta time again.
See ya

OK just to set the record straight. The Leatherman thing was a joke. If I needed one that badly I could go out and buy one myself, right? My friends just find it amusing that I have put it on my christmas list for the past 4 or 5 years and never gotten it. Its a running gag. Don´t worry about it.

Besides I bought myself some great christmas presents. For example:

Yesterday Lauren, Kim, and I went to a resort spa and got massages. It´s a funny, but slightly scary story. The school had recommended this spa, and told us we would get a discount. They recommended that we go as a group and share a cab because it is located a little bit outside of town. So I called Lauren and told her to meet me at the school and we would go together. Well it started out with my ATM card not working and me only having about 20 pesos ($2). We figured we could pool our money and I could exchange my travelers checks at the hotel. So Kim flagged down a random cab. We always negotiate the price with the cab drivers before we get in so we showed him the brochure and asked how much. We thought he said cuarenta y cinco ($4.50) and we didn´t know where the place was so I repeated what he said to Lauren and I said do you have that much? And she said no, and Kim said, I have at least 100 pesos ($10) so we jumped in.

The cab driver was really nice, but when he merged onto the highway I got a little concerned. I repeated our destination and he corrected my pronunciation. So I relaxed for about 10 minutes... then I said this is really far, no? And he said only one more hour... I questioned him and told him we had an appointment in a half hour and he said, no no it´s only 20 minutes he was just kidding. OK... and I repeated it´s really only cuarenta y cinco pesos to go here. And he nodded his head. So we all looked at eachother in wonder.. This is really cheap. He´s only charging twice the price for like 5 times the distance of our typical cab ride.

Then he went through a toll booth, he graciously offered to pay the toll if we would pay him back when we arrived at the hotel. So we added that into the fare and found out we had just barely enough. Lauren asked how we were going to get home. Kim said let´s ride on that burro over there. I think it´s dead answered Lauren. Sure enough there was a dead burro on the side of the road... we were in the middle of nowhere. I asked the cab driver again how much longer. He said not to worry we would arrive in plenty of time. Finally we saw a sign for the hotel.

We passed a couple hundred more cacti and stray dogs. Then things started to look populated. The road opened up into this beautiful view of the hugest lake I´ve ever seen and it was surrounded by enormous hotels and vacation homes. We passed a couple mediocre hotels and came to a big gate with uniformed guards. They asked for our reservation names before they let the cab pass. Then a man who spoke english opened the door for us. We decided to tip the cab driver 2 extra dollars (a 50% tip) because it was such a long distance and he was so cool(we sang along to american classic rock the whole way). But he looked a the money and got really confused. We said, it´s 45 pesos, right... and we want to tip you so here´s some american money. He said, it´s cuatrociento cincuenta. What??? That´s 450 pesos, not 45. Meaning he expected us to pay (45 US dollars) um... no. We don´t have that. I explained to the hotel worker what was going on. He said that it´s only supposed to cost $25 to get to the hotel from Cuernavaca. ONLY?? He haggled with the cab driver and said, I told him he charged too much so you only have to give him 200 more pesos... um we only have like 5. So we paid in american, and the hotel guys exchanged the money for him.

We were all so frazzled from the experience we didn´t know which way was up. The second the cab was sent away everything changed. The hotel manager himself took us on a ´fantasy island´ type tour of this tropical paradise. It was literally an oasis in the desert. There were people swimming and waterskiing in the lake beautiful bars and cafes overlooking the water and a crystal clear swimming pool. It was 100 times better than acapulco. They brought us to the spa and treated us like princesses. Afterwards they sent us home in a private car for $20.

We asked the cab driver to drop us off at this restaurant near Lauren and Kim´s host family. It was closed... more than half of the places around here close on Sundays. So we had him take us to The Fun Bar. That´s what it´s called, literally. (My favorite name for a bar here so far has been ´Drink Team´) We have become regulars at the fun bar. We know all the waiters names and we´ve met some americans from other language schools there too. Paco the bartender knows what we want to drink before we ask for it, and Marco the waiter always puts on U2´s Joshua Tree album when we walk in because after a beer or two I get on the stage and sing along. I think it´s because we come in on weeknights when the place is empty and the employees are all bored.

I´m sitting in the internet cafe in Cuernavaca down the street from the Zocalo (town square). Outside the window there is a lot of traffic. I think it´s rush hour because there is a police man directing traffic with a whistle and it´s kind of annoying. Across the street is a zapateria (shoe store) it´s huge and I want to go buy shoes. This is nothing like the Domincan Republic.

Yesterday I went on a trip after school to a small city called Taxco. It´s very historic. It´s on the side of a hill and the streets are very narrow. The taxis and busses are all VWs. We saw the only cathedral in Mexico that was not destroyed or altered in any way during the civil wars. Everything is gold leaf and there are huge Boroque paintings everywhere. Taxco is known for it´s silver industry. I bought some jewelry. I wish we had more time there. The bus ride was 90 minutes each way and we were only there for about 2 hours. Need more girly shopping time!! I would go back but I´m so sick of busses. The pollution here is terrible.

Today my class went on a field trip to the mercado(market). This place is unbelievable. You can buy shoes and pirated DVDs right next to whole fish and cow heads. It´s bigger than costco. I almost bought a fake Gucci watch for $10US on the black market. I might just go back. We saw ladies shoes being built, and learned about the traditional mexican dresses. They have different colors for each state, kinda like the scottish have different color kilts. ...Maybe thats a stretch. I want to buy a sarape. One of the girls says she is going to come home in traditional dress to freak out her boyfriend when she gets off the plane... we are trying to find her a really huge sombrero like in the cartoons.

My midterm is tomorrow. Class is hard. My teacher is local and doesn´t speak any english. That´s really great for the total immersion thing, but it´s hard when she is trying to teach us grammar. I still don´t get the whole subjunctive thing. If anyone has any tips please email me. My professora tries really hard, but sometimes the four of us students just look at eachother like ´´what the heck is she trying to say?´´ We help eachother out and she is really patient. My spanish is improving so much that sometimes I forget how to say stuff in english. You might have noticed that my sentences are getting simpler. Or maybe that´s my imagination.

I went over my hour on the computer. So I pay another 8 pesos (80cents) who cares?

I´m having a great time but the fact that I can´t just pick up the phone and talk to people makes me a little homesick. I suppose it´s for the best. If I can´t use the phone I can´t procrastinate on my homework. My roomate is done with the computer and I don´t feel like taking the 20 minute taxi ride home alone. So until next time.

Hasta Luego
Megan

Today was my second day of class. I tried to get on the computers at school yesterday but they are these ten year old Apples on dial-up... not good. And there´s only 6 computers for all 100 students at the school. So we walked about a mile to the center of the city and found a nice airconditioned internet cafe.

My class is really fun. There are 4 students in my class and we are all from Mason. We got to know eachother pretty well on the trip to acapulco, so we´re really comfortable about joking around in spanish in class. My teacher is a local woman with 3 children. She´s nice, but too serious. My objective in writing my sentences in class is to make her laugh. ¡Me gusta la cerveza! She liked that one.

Since my last blog entry:
Went on a party boat around the bay of Acapulco.
I slept in a $10 motel room.
Saw the famous La Quebrada cliff divers 35 meters high!
Got my picture taken with the famous cliff divers.
Walked along the cliffs.
Swam in a cove of the Pacific where this guy brought us eighty cent Coronas on the beach.
Got a seriously painful sunburn.
Some of the guys did some mini cliff diving with the local boys.
Went to the touristy beach and swam in the bay.
Watched the sunset over the Pacific.
Tried to sleep on the bus ride home, but couldn´t because they were watching The Matrix Reloded dubbed in Spanish and every time the bus went over a bump the screen shook and blinked. I got a little sick with the combination of extreme sun, lack of sleep, a seat too close to the bathroom, strobe light-style Matrix, and what sounded like gibberish over the roar of the bus engine.

Today is the Fiesta de los Tres Reyes (the three kings) this is the day that children here get Christmas presents. Alicia´granddaughter was telling us all about it. She´s about 5 and was VERY excited. There is also this tradition called the Pan de Reyes. It is a circle of sweet bread with little plastic baby Jesus dolls inside. if you get a slice of bread with a Muñeca (doll) you have to throw a party on Feb 2nd. Since we aren´t going to be here that long Alicia said that since Barbara and I both got Muñecas we have to buy her beer. That´s ok... she bought last time.

My computer says I have 2 minutes left so until next time...
Sorry to those people I was IMing... or NOT IMing.
I´ll try to get back soon.

Be good!

Benvenidos A Mexico!!

Todo Bien!
¡¡¡Estoy en Acapulco!!!

We had a day and a half off today and tomorrow so 12 of the 15 of us hopped a bus to Acapulco beach. We are staying in this little motel... dont worry. My valuables were not left unattended. The Pacific is beautiful! And there are palm trees everywhere.

Class starts monday. Im a little nervous about getting a semesters worth of spanish all learned up in only 10 days! My group is fun. My roommate, Barbara, is really cool and sitting next to me at the internet cafe. Computer use costs about $1.50 US and I cant find the apostrophe on the keyboard so you probably wont hear from me every day. I just wanted to let everyone know that Im fine and having crazy adventures with lots of really nice strangers. Im trying to get my host family to take me to a soccer game. I asked them to take me to a bull fight but Barbara and my host mother got into this big thing about it being cruel and sad and horrible and stuff. Yes, it probably is. But I wanted to see for myself. But since my spanish eees not so good, I said OK, just soccer then.

The house I am staying in is small but beautiful. It is a 2 bed 2 bath with a swimming pool inside a gated community. Our host mother seems very well off. Her late husband was mayor of the city. When we got here we took a nap. By the time we woke up she told us it was too late to go exploring the city... but that she would buy us beer. So the three of us walked to the corner store and got these 40s of Corona. It said ´CORONA FAMILIA´on the label. It says familia because it is family sized. So we went back to the house and Alicia´s (our mama) sisters came over and they did Tequila shots while Barbara and I politely sipped our beers. Then Alicia and I got into a small competition at dinner over who could handle the most Jalepeño. I let her win by one... I didn´t want to be rude.

Did ya notice I found the apostrophe? But not the quotation marks... maybe next time.
ok times almost up.

Check back in a couple days!

Love,
Meegs

Oh yeah... one more thing... 4th year in a row... NO LEATHERMAN!!!
I'm only a Theatre Major for 5 more months people!

I hate to sound ungrateful. Mommy Kelleher tried. This is just too funny for words and it's going in the movie.


Maybe I can buy a Mexican Leatherman.

New Years Crazyness

I must flee the country. I'll TRY to give you updates from the road, but I'm not guaranteeing anything. I heard internet access is unreliable where I will be staying.

Info for my various stalkers:
Continental 1116B, 1224B, 1425T, 658T