Is that why the Lone Ranger called him "TONTO"?

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Trip Start May 17, 2006 Previous
Entry Trip End Jun 07, 2006

  Xalapa, Mexico
Thursday, June 1, 2006

Today at the hospital we discussed the creation of diet plans for patients with Susanah (Head Nutritionist). At one point she asked us a question, to which we didn't have an answer. Susanah promptly called us, "Tontas." She was only joking, but what she didn't know is that we had learned that word the evening before in Spanish class. "Tonta" or "TontO" (if you are referring to a male) is a nicer way of saying "Estupido". As you probably can guess, Estupido means Stupid.

She was pretty surprised when we all bust out laughing. She didn't expect our Spanish to include such vocabulary.

Today was the last day of Spanish class (YAY!!!) I haven't mentioned it much in this travelogue so far, but I have NOT enjoyed Spanish class. It's really unfortunate, because I love languages, and have taken Spanish before and truly enjoyed it. This class was different.

Our class consists of the entire ten people in our UGA group who all have very different levels of Spanish ability. Everything from 10 years of Spanish to none at all. My hope was that we would gain a larger vocabulary duing our two weeks of class, so that we can at least communicate to a waiter in a restaurant what'd we like to order with a serious of points, grunts, and a couple of real words.

However, that is not what happened.

On day one we conjugated verbs. Hmmm...yes, that's important, but I think there were probably more important things to discuss (i.e. How to tell the taxi driver where you want to be driven too).

So today, the LAST DAY OF CLASS, what do you think we did? WE LEARNED SPANISH PRONOUNCIATION!!!! Shouldn't that have happened on day 1? Oh well...

After Spanish class, we presented our group nutrition projects. Group 1 talked about Dia de Muertos (Day of the Dead) and served flan. I've never like flan before in the US, but this one was made with Cream Cheese and actually quite good.

My group was next. Rather than bore you with ALL the details I'll just tell you, we talked about the different spreads we studied, discussed obesity in Mexico, shared our food, and sang our song. The song was actually a big hit! (Be listening for it coming soon on a radio station near you! haha)

The final group presented a series of skits relating some of our experiences in Xalapa. The first scene was from the Market. Two of the girls (playing "vendors") tried desparately to convince a couple of American tourists to buy their wares. "Mira, mira-- it's real silver!" The Americans tried UNSUCCESSFULLY to bart. Sounds familiar...

The second scene was from the hospital. The punchline from this scene is that a 16 year old girl comes in with a chronic stomachache, and then finds out that she is actually pregnant. This scene brought home the point that 1/3 of all the mothers giving birth in the hospital are teens.

And...finally...the group presented us with a "Top 10 List" of Survival Tips for Americans Visiting Xalapa:

10. Pizza Hut is located near the mall.
9. Always bargain
8. Don't forget your immodium!
7. Driving lanes are just for decoration!
6. Walking in the rain is 10x's more fun than Spanish class.
5. Kiss ice good-bye!
4. Do not drink the water, do not drink the hot, boxed milk (You have been warned).
3. To fit in you must pass out at the hospital.
2. Tortillas and beans...it's what's for dinner.
1. Always have fun, because Xalapa is #1

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