Hey Folks!

For them of you who only understand english and spanish I decided to write some of my entries in that languages :) Maybe I have some problems with the past tenses in english, but I think that is not too bad for understanding anyway.

Well, my last entry was on Friday last week, so I hope I can remember everything happened;) Madeleine arrived on Friday night at "Casa del Fresno" where I am living - I have mailed with her when I was in Germany ( there she lives at Almannsdorf which is really near where my parents are living - at lake constance). She is 19 and received her mature this summer like Kristin who is living with me, too. Also we are at different ages we although have much fun together :)

On Saturday we walked to the supermarket which is two streets away from our house. It is really a big one where you could buy everything you need instead of fresh meat and fish - which they have in seperately stores. We bought some bread (yes they have some kind of that), milk, cornflakes, tortillas, noodles and tomato sauce - not very mexican but we wanted to cook some noodles "italian style" which we did in the evening after going for a walk through the colonial center and changing money ;)

On sunday we had the opportunity to go to the cinepolis - which is the very big cinema here in Oaxaca City. Oh my god - we were 7 (!) girls in one (!!!) taxi. Kristin, Madeleine, Catherine, Bettina, Tanja, Sabina, Marie-Louise. And the another taxi with also 7 girls in it. It seems that this is normal here because the taxidriver did not say anything and the police on the way did not stop us anyway!! Well, we have been two girls on the front seat and five on the back seats. This drive was really funny and it was not the last time to be driven like that....

The drive took about 10 minutes. The cinema is a little bit outside the centre, and there is a big shopping mall as well besides it. We have been 14 girls,... wow....

I was very glad to know that our film has been shown in english with spanish subtitles :) We watched "Under the same roof" with Katherine Heigl. The poster was with spanish title - "Bajo al mismo techo". The movie was really funny but also kind of sad at some moments. I can recommend it!

We went to bed at about 11.30 pm..... On monday spanish school started. We had a three pages test with gramatical subjects, then, seperately for everybody, a little conversation in spanish with the director of the school which decided the level for us.

There are only 3 levels with each different grammatical level classes. I am at level one but therefore NOT beginners - instead its an advanced grammatical course. I am very happy to know that I already have a good knowledge in spanish - I did not forget everything :)

I have 3 hours grammatic course in the morning from 9 am to noon with Simone from Schorndorf (she is nearly my age) and Martin from Portland/USA (he is about 40something). Martin is here with his wife - they both have some months off to take spanish lessons and on the other way teach english to poor people in the country, which I think is really really a good thing one could do. So they also do some volunteering here. Martin said he studied sociality and has a professorship in his subject. So in other words he is a university professor.He thinks it is a pity that many americans do not believe that it is possible to study more than one foreign language......well, and he is proud to say IT IS possible ;)

At noon we have half an hour break and then conversation class follows. Because Martin has to go to then, I have conversation only with Simone and Hugo, which is our GAY conversation teacher ;) He is really funny and - believe me - you can see by his hand shaking that he is gay (but he also told us).

My spanish gets better each day, but I need more practice. So its good to have already four weeks spanish course and afterwards my volunteering, and afterwards travelling around in this beautiful country.

After classes on Monday, Madeleine, Catherine, Elena, Bettina, Jogi and me, went to a restaurant at the Zocalo where we ate some mexican food! It was not bad and thank god I had no stomach problems. Jogi was born in Afghanistan, but grew up in Germany (Hannover). He told us that he is a Lufthansa pilot - with 23 years only - we all were very surprised then. Well, his parents told him to study medicine which he did - but not for a long time - and then he decided of his own to apply for the pilot school at lufthansa and got the job. Wow, that is all I can say about that.

But we had or still have all our small problems to find "our" niche, which makes us kind of a own community ;)

Well, in the late afternoon, we drove (again with 7 girls in one taxi) to the shopping mall, just to have a look at it. It was too expensive for us (we already got familiar with the mexican money course;)) and went to another mall around the corner which was much better in pricing.

Yesterday, after school, I walked through the colonial centre with Bettina from Switzerland. She is 29 years old and a very nice tough woman. We have got nearly a similar personality, but she is a bit more shy than me. We were searching for some ballerinas (shoes) but also we have been to 5 or 6 stores, the shoes have been either too small or to large and they had not them in our sizes.

In the evening we went to the football game from school. It was a way outside the centre again and we drove again by taxi. It was funny but then we got bored and went back to the centre for dinner. We went again to that italian restaurant called "Mezza Luna" which is really really goooooood. We have been many women again, Madeleine, Bettina, Nadja, Rebecca, another Nadja, Elena, Marlene and me;) it was really a nice evening and we had much to chat.

I did not mentioned that, next to Madeleine, I felt a little bit ill the last days. I had a headache and flu.......but the girls say its normal because the body has to get comfortable with this air - and we are at 1500 meters above the sea.... its okay, I have enough medicine with me.

Today I get a little rest at home, so we can all meet again at Cafe Social tonight at Bar Txalaparta :)

The Computer at this Internet Cafe has a broken USB, so I cannot upload my fotos. But as soon as possible I swear.

Amigos, have a great day!

And please write me what is going on at home country, I am curious!!

Thanks for all of you who have written some messages on my blog:)

Kisses from Nina