in a new twist, apparently i should have learned french before coming down here. there is a program that allows students to do practice exercises and take some tests online. our fearless (those without wits often fear little i have found) leader somehow conjured this program from one of her frenchie friends in canada. unfortunately, the program is completely in french and thus fairly unusable by me. oh yeah, and the students, for whom is was meant, have somehow failed to pick up french as well. one would think this would be disconcerting for the head of the languages dept (but really there is only one language taught leaving me to wonder why this name has not been changed), but she contiues unperturbed and seemingly uninterested in any complaints i may make. today she showed up unanounced and as usual created more work for us while simultaneously offering no help. do people always complain that their bosses are inept? it makes me hope i am never the boss, because then who would i have to complain about?

custom lessons. in mexico, as in most places i once thought, it is bad form to blow your nose at the table before, after or during a meal. not so in england. our friend sally proved this point on sunday as paco and i loudly complained. she then compared it to me wiping my brow with a hanky. granted, sweat has never really been classy, but i refuse to accept sweat as the equivalent of snot. she claims i am ridiculous and that everyone blows his or her nose at a dinner table (really breakfast or lunch is the same). i just cannot accept that. well, she cannot either and vows to blow her nose every time we eat with her. looks like i just lost a person with whom i will dine in the future.

next lesson, same meal, no one in mexico takes food home from a restaurant. paco and sally both ridiculed me and said that it was bad form to walk around with leftover food. i can hear you all snickering about how cheap i am, don´t worry, they were laughing too. however, i still nothing wrong with taking food home if you cannot eat it. why am buying food that is just going to be given to the hundreds of dogs that roam the streets of virtually every town in this country? why? because i have no choice.

last lesson. i was walking to the bus stop this morning when a few high school students nearly fell into the street as i walked past them (to be fair, i did yell, ¨boo!¨ really loudly as i passed them). i asked paco for the word for ¨to stare¨ as in to rudely look at someone for more than a few seconds and continue to look at him-her even after they have passed you and in some cases to turn around and follow him-her a few paces. paco had no idea what i was talking about, so i looked it up in my dicitionary. essentially there is no one word, it is more of a phrase and combines to look and insolencia, which i doubt i need to translate. i was then informed that there is no such thing in mexico. really? no, it is more than ok to stare as long as you want, and apparently to exclaim whatever fool thing comes into your head. this is normal. this is accepted. this from the place where it is not ok to take food home from the restaurant.

that is why i say boo! when i walk by someone who stares. if they think i am ghost or some strange foreign object, the least i can do is oblige them and try to scare them. i suggest you all try it. it makes you feel better at least.