BIENVIENDOS A BANAMICHI

i am writing this message from mexico, on a mexican keyboard, which means i can´t find anything by touch. (the letters are all in the same places, but all the extra keys are mixed up!)
the at key, for instance, is on the Q button. although i can´t get to it by pressing shift, so i don´t really know how it is used. one thing about this trip, is they placed me with a host family in which neither speaks much english. in fact, the two years of spanish i took ten years ago has me more equipped to speak español to her than for her to speak inlgles to me. that´s another cool bit about this keyboard= ñ! it´s right there where the semicolon is on my keyboard at home.
besides being inspired to study my spanish (as i´m suddenly not so bad or shy about speaking like a three year old), this trip has been awesome. will definetly post some pics soon...
traveling to another country with 13 students in three vans is pretty cool. our hosts have kept us busy the whole time we have been here! today we took a 2 1/2 hour trip to hermosillo, the capital of sonora. the furthest south i have been in mexico! we saw museums and had lunch. yesterday, we went to aguas calientes and bathed in the hot springs. all the americans at least, the mexican kids did not go in until much later, when some were thrown in and many went in their clothes. ah, culture! am so glad i decided to be modest and wear a grandma suit- it turns out bikinis are really insulting around here.
mexican school is different as well, the classrooms are bare, nothing on the walls, nothing but desks, a teacher, and a blackboard. there are not students in special ed here, services do not go past elementary. also, everyone wears uniforms.
having a great an exhausting time. soon i will be home studying spanish again...
besos!