when in mexico

an entire week has passed since i´ve journaled, which means things have been buuuuuuuuusy. i think the same is the case for my friends and family, as i´ve not heard from anyone in QUITE some time. hmm....

i will try to expel briefly what has gone on in the past week.
first: classes. gave my first presentation in historia on friday. have another on wednesday. am not a fan of that class, but at least i´m not the only one who feels that way. basically everyone else does, too. it´ll be ok.
second: salsa lessons. i´ve only taken two formal classes, but i´m already ten times better than what i was.
third: using what i´ve learned from those salsa lessons. yes, leisha has gone out the last THREE NIGHTS. who would have ever thought it??? the first night brought about tons of dancing... and with locals, nonetheless. what a BLAST. salsa, kumbia, merengue. sort of flying by the seat of my pants and the locals lead me (ok, just two of them... luis, who i would rather call Señor Suave, and eduardo, a professional something or other here in guanajuato who i definitely ran into the next afternoon in the jardin area and tried my best to avoid... unfortunately, my attempts to blend in were useless... must be something about the hair and blue eyes... and i got a hello within no time... but i continued walking, lol. he was a good dancer, but that was about it. when we danced, after i said to him that i was tired and couldnt dance anymore, he said, ¨por que, ¿no tienes GANAS de bailar conmigo?... yeah, man... i lack the GANAS... that´s it, pal! anyway... luis was a whole other story, and a hilarious one, at that. two different bars, several dances into it, he probably thought he´d be getting a piece of arse by the end of the night... which happens all too often with american chicks all though i´m not sure why the girls would want to subject themselves like that to the dirtiness of the locals here, particularly the men... anyway... he was satisfied with kisses on the cheek, which like just about every other country in the world, except the usa, is nothing more than a symbol of friendliness and cordiality. this guy, though, was the biggest showoff in the world with his dancing. i was like nothing more than eye candy to accompany his bad boy salsa moves, but hey, i apparently looked good doing it. read on.)
the second night started out in capitolio, which really lacks the typical mexican feel to it. more rap and hip hop than anything else, a few of the girls and i were dancing around when a guy came up to me and said, ¨you... last night... el bar... you dance really well!!!¨then, introductions. marcus, from montreal. later, he said they were going to head to el bar, and that they´d see us there. and they did. talked with him and with his friend daniel who was from york, great britain (what an ACCENT!)... danced a bit with marcus who lacked, well, the ability to dance, but that didnt stop him (my kind of guy! do it anyway!). more talking, more dancing, we decided we´d all meet up at el tres later. we did. more dancing, more talking (with the both of them). decided we´d meet up again the next night (last night).
so, last night. went to el bar like i said i would, and they werent there, like they said they would be, but everyone else was, and WHEW, everyone else could DANCE! (TONS of locals go there, as its where i danced with luis and ernesto... and those locals can daaaaaaaaaaaaance, wow!) anyway. eventually left to head to bar fly where some of my roomies were, and ended up getting stolen by some isa students who said they were going to capitolio. ok, i will go, too. on the way there, sitting at a table at a cafe in the street, was marcus and another guy from canada. basically, i ended up sitting with them for the next hour, talking, laughing, ripping on the united states (ok, to make it closer to even, a little on canada, as well). no dancing for us though... they had decided they didnt want to drink that night (whereas they really had the night before..... argh!). fine with me, i really enjoyed the convo, as sitting at a cafe having convos is a way i love to spend my time. so anyway. we decided we´d meet the next night at 9 to hear a great music group right outside of the teatro juarez. that´s tonight, and i´m looking forward to seeing him again, but i hope dan shows up this time! i have marcus´email addy already, but not dan´s, and i want it, because he´s already said that i could visit his family when i go to GB in january, and he could show me how to cook (he was a chef before he started traveling recently), only if i teach him spanish (he´s funny enough with him english accent, i can´t wait to hear him speak spanish!!! lol). so... new friends. from around the world. i am LOVING it!!!!!!!!!!
fourth: visited san miguel de allende on saturday, less than 2 hours from guanajuato. waded in the natural hot springs (wow!!!), and then shopped around the town which was a very beautiful, very authentic place. spent a little more than i´d anticipated, but all for great authentic mexican sorts of things (mom, think CLASSROOM!!!). was a good, brief excursion.
fifth: slept in until 11 this morning. the first night i´d gotten more than 5 or 6 hours of sleep a night in almost a week. it felt good.

so that´d be it, in a nutshell. i still have a mean cold but it could be worse. (i know, i know, if i have a cold, then why would i be going out at night. blah. no me digas.)

time to get back to the house, and prepare for church which is at 5.