Another week of school, another week of Cervantino, all is well.  I’m lucky to live away from el Centro during the festival as it can get very busy and noisy.  In 5 weeks I leave Guanajuato to meet my sister in Mazatlán for our trip to Copper Canyon.

I am 1/3 through school and 1/4 through my trip.  My Spanish has settled down and I’m satisfied with the progress, however, I can’t help but realize how impossible fluency will be after my trip.  Hmmm …

I’ve been to a number of (free) Cervantino events including a tribute to Ceasaria Evora tonight which I really enjoyed.  Watched a 4 hour film version of Hamlet in English and found the Spanish subtitles helped me understand the old English!  Lots to come as the festival runs until October 26.

Had a cold last week and Montezuma’s Revenge these last two days.  Ojalá that all will be back to a healthy normal tomorrow.  Obviously Dukoral is not fool proof.  Oddly, I think I caught the bugs from food prepared by a teacher at the school.

Rain, lots of rain fell this week with thunder and lightening, causing torrents of water to cascade down the callejones and flooding in the streets. It was quite amusing being en el centro when the rain started with everyone dressed for summer dashing for cover. I bought an umbrella which has served me well. Usually the downpours are brief and it has not yet rained during the day.

Cervantino starts this week which will bring excitement to the city and to our daily lives.  Looking forward to it!

I am humbled by the inability to speak without basic errors and by limitations in expressing myself. This is the greatest challenge at this time.  I’ve slowed down my speech and am trying to speak with more forethought.

Yesterday I visited the museum La Alhondiga for a refresher on local history and the fight for Mexican independence 1810-1821.  Today we watched the parade to celebrate the declaration of independence in 1821.  It was a display of civic pride.

I realized that my iPod Touch has a camera so here many photos.

Not sure why but I feel quite tired this morning even after have a full night’s sleep.  Could be because yesterday myself and two other students did a bus trip to Dolores Hidalgo and San Miguel de Allende.  It was a fun trip.  The highlight for me was the museum of José Alfredo Jiménez.

There were only four days of school last week due to the holiday for independence day.  Monday night there was a small party at the school with teachers and students, home made pazole rojo, music including ranchera classics, singing, dancing, and warm friendships.  I was the first to leave at 2am, others partied all night.

I decided to take four classes per day rather than three.  It’s a little bit more money for the school and fun education for me.  My Spanish comprehension is very good now and I’m quite comfortable speaking.  I’m actually making conversation just for practice.  However, I’m speaking quite badly making grammatical errors all the time.  Sometimes I’m quite confused and forget simple stuff.  I’m trying to program myself to think about sentence construction and grammar while speaking.

It’s a lot of work and frustrating but exactly why I’m here.

I arrived in León airport last Thursday and was picked up by my homestay hosts Pati and Paco.  The family includes two young adult males and the youngest is a female teenager.  All are very nice and the parents in particular making me feel at home.  We are having lots of conversations which is the idea behind homestay.

Their house is above the historic city centre on the road that winds itself around the valley between the Pipila monument and La Buffa mountain.  I tried to take some pictures but the camera battery is dead and I forgot to bring its charger.  There are lots of pictures to be found with google of the city and surroundings.

The house is one of many that belong to Paco’s family.  Downstairs is the kitchen, dining area, and two bedrooms and a bathroom for students.  The family lives upstairs and I have not been there.  My digs are not as nice as last time but who cares.  Part of this journey is to live more simply with less but to enjoy the richness of the immersion.

I’ve been here just two days getting the know the people, reacquainting myself with the city, and shedding impediments to speaking in Spanish.  So far so good.  Today I’ve been invited to a family birthday party in a nearby town at which there could be around 100 people.  I’m looking forward to the food!  Spanish school starts on Monday.