Instituto Cultural de Oaxaca

Ah, the life of a student...I'd forgot how wonderful it can be. I walk to school each day, stopping on the way to pick up fresh-squeezed orange juice and tamales from one of many street stands. The school building is a grand old colonial with a large garden. Class begins at 9:00 and ends at noon. Then we have an hour of conversation at a table outside in the sun. Topics discussed thus far have included travel, food, local fiestas, tattoos (my Australian classmate Cristel has a beautiful collection and a new one on her back with sugar skulls for el Dia de los Muertos) and the best places in town to find internet, jewelry and such.

My profesora Gaby speaks only in Spanish, but utilizes her full range of motion to act out verbs to help us understand. We all keep our dictionaries close at hand. Today discussing vocabulary, she was explaining that taza is a cup, taza de bano is a toilet and tasa relates to value in the economy, but I thought she was saying that the economy is in the toilet. I'm actually picking up jokes in Spanish!

Overall, I am very impressed with my teacher and the school. In two weeks here, I am speaking better Spanish than I did after two years of college courses in Montana. Classes are small with 2-5 people and currently approximately 50 students attend. Coincidentally, a group from University of Washington is studying here also. Other students hail from Israel, England, Germany and France. Cultural outings are offered each weekend plus afternoon classes in cooking, art, and history. Lucero, the directora has built up the school over the past 20 years and she is giving back to the community by giving microloans to other business women.