¡Ups!

No, I'm not calling out for delivery--that's just a new word I learned today during our first day of classes in Playa del Carmen. Guess what it means? Give up? It means...Oops! Didn't see that one coming. I sort of wonder whether UPS realizes that to native spanish speakers, its name sounds like a word no one wants to hear from the company delivering their valuables.

Anyway, like I said, today is Emily's and my first day of Spanish classes. We're in separate classes, but that's okay, because now I can pay attention to my lessons without the radiant beauty of my wife to distract my gaze. (I hope she reads this post later.)

The school is very cute--it's enclosed by a wall and all of the school buildings are little palapas, sort of like walking into a small native village. Except that this village also has ceiling fans, computers, and plumbing. (Few people know that the volleyball court that can also be seen here is actually very common in local villages, where the sport originated from natives trying to pass coconuts over the massive spiderwebs common to the region.) The school is a bit on the warm side, since all of the classrooms are outside, but the fans help, and there is always the computer lounge (where I currently am, on a computer) for an A/C break. The school also has some extracurricular activities: tomorrow Emily and I will take a cooking class, and Thursday we do salsa dancing.

On a totally unrelated note, an amusing story from last night. In the pursuit of cheap eats, Emily and I ended up eating last night at a place called Señor Tacombi--a combination of taco and combi, a type of local bus (we were actually headed to a Thai food place, but it was closed). Señor Tacombi lived up to its name: it was less a restaurant than a taco stand in the shape of a big bus (picture a VW bus and you get the idea), and the owner stood inside the bus making excellent tacos for pretty cheap. We will no doubt be back to eat there more than once during our stay.