Barack Obama en Español

Last night, Emily and I really wanted to see Obama's speech at the democratic convention. So, we asked around, and I was assured by one of my teachers that we would be able to find the speech on cable (which we have at our residence). We decided that if that didn't work, we would go out to one of the more American-oriented bars and convince them to turn it out.

Well, we lucked out and found the speech. It was being broadcast live on CNN. Unfortunately, it's the Mexican CNN network, and not the American version being broadcast here. The result? Everything was translated into Spanish. Not subtitled, mind you, but dubbed. So, last night, Emily and I got to enjoy Obama's speech, but we did so by trying to make out what Obama was saying beyond the much louder voice of the translator, and when that failed, by listening to the translation and hoping that our Spanish was up to snuff. Actually turned out to be decent practice for our Spanish skills.

Earlier yesterday, Emily and I went out to lunch at one of the more local establishments that we've so far visited. There is a wide range of eateries around here--some are nice restaurants meant for tourists, some are taco stands meant more for tourists but cheaper than the nice restaurants (e.g., Señor Tacombi), some are relatively clean looking local restaurants, and some are questionable-looking holes in the wall. We're being careful to eat in the places that look clean, but the local places are much cheaper, so we ventured into one that looked reasonably safe. We were quite pleasantly surprised with our meals: two orders of the day's special, which were chicken fajitas served with white rice and black beans and some chips in a sweet Yucatecan sauce. The owner also offered us a local iced tea, on the house, made of something pink that we still haven't identified but which tasted great. So, adventuresome eating choice number one: success!

Moving even further backwards in time, Wednesday night the school hosted a social night at a local bar. There were a ton of people there, and it was mostly a good time, but it was as hot as, well, Playa del Carmen in the bar and there was no air conditioning to abate the heat. They had fans, but they didn't do much to help. We mostly enjoyed ourselves while we lasted (Emily was a little frustrated because she ended up next to a student who is nice but who speaks only English, making it difficult to achieve the purpose of practicing our Spanish), but before long we wilted from the heat and went home to our pleasant, air-conditioned room.

In other news, Emily has gotten a temporary gym membership at a place a block from our school so that she can go to spinning classes several days a week. From what she tells me, she likes the class even though she can't always understand the instructor (understanding yelled Spanish is even tougher than understanding Spanish spoken in normal tones), and the gym either lacks air-conditioning or their A/C is weak, because the spinning room is apparently very, very hot.

Also on the subject of exercise, Emily and I have been doing a lot of stretching, mostly for my benefit, because I am the least flexible person in the world, and given my recently-acquired interest in capoeira, I need to gain some flexibility. Well, last night, just before Obama's speech, with my legs straight out in front of me and without bending my knees, I, Michael Areinoff, touched my toes. It's true! I really did! This may not excite you all very much, but it's a very big moment for me, and I'm looking forward to making further progress on the flexibility front.

Last amusing thing: in my class this morning, I learned polite ways to say burp, vomit, and various other things. My favorite is the polite way of saying you have to vomit, which in Spanish is normally the straightforward vomitar. Polite version: volver el estómago. Which literally means, return one's stomach. Polite? I guess so. Colorful? Oh, yes.

Tomorrow we're off to visit the ruins at Cobá. We'll post again sometime later this weekend.

Salbutes!

We had our first cooking class on Tuesday and we made the most delicious anteojito, called Salbutes. For your enjoyment I am posting the recipie so you can make them your selves if you are so inclined. They are kind of like little tostadas.

Corn Tortilla shells
masa de maiz (corn dough--for those of you in tucson or LA you can probably get this fresh from the mexican market, for those of you elsewhere we were told you could use corn flour)
water
salt
oil

First put some corn or vegtable oil into a big caserol pan and heat it up, you should have an inch or two oil, we are frying things here. Then Mix the masa, water, and a little salt until it is staying together nicely but not stickey or runny, kind of like playdoh. then make small balls and push them into a flat shape like a corn tortilla, but maybe just a bit smaller and a bit thicker. When the oil is hot, we were told if it is too cool then the dough absorbs too much oil, then drop them into the pan and fry them until they are just a golden color. Take them out and place them in the collander to drain the oil and let them cool down a bit.

Then you top them with, in this order:
chopped letuce
shreadded chicken (we just used one of the little pre-roasted like you can get at cost-co and shreadded it up)
some thin slices of tomato
A slice of avodcado
and Salsa Taquera.

Salsa Taquera
1 clove of garlic
1 jalapeño
4-5 tomatoes
chopped cilantro
1/2 chopped onion
chopped avocado
salt

First you want to roast the jalapeño and tomatoes which you do by putting them on a hot dry flat pan until they turn black and the skins pop.

Then put the garlic and jalapeño in the blender with a bit of water and blend well. Then add the tomatoes and blend again, but less well so it is chunky, add some more water and salt too. Then take it out of the blender and mix in the cilantro and chopped onion and chopped avocado. Mix it up and enjoy! It wasn´t too spicy.

We hope you enjoy!

A post of what we have been up to will be coming soon including, my adventures in mexican spinning classes! But right now the computer is in high demand so I am off.

Gustav

Just so that no one is overly worried about us here in Playa with a tropical storm coming through, please rest assured that we are keeping an eye on the weather and we are not supposed to get hit with anything more than some good thunderstorms (and believe me, the rain is welcome). As it stands right now, the storm is set to head mostly across the water between Mexico and Cuba, with only some glancing effects falling on us here. So, everyone can be happy to know that we are both safe and excited to get some cooling effects from the storm.

Photos!

We've finally got a few pictures put up on Flickr, so you should see them in the slideshow on the top of the sidebar on the right. Here's a small selection:

Here we are at our first meal in Cancún:


Emily on the beautiful Cancún beach:


Baby sea turtles!


Here's the sea turtle farm:

And the turtles in a bucket:


Beautiful evening on the beach in Playa del Carmen:


Señor Tacombi, our new favorite taco stop:

We´ve got Food

So as Michael told you all we started classes yesterday. I am in a lower level than Michael, which keeps him less distracted apparently, kind of like a mechitzah I guess (for those of you who know how I feel about Mechitzahs you can guess that I am a little ambivilent about this whole "its great to be in a different class because we won´t be distracted argument" Seems to me that is a good argument when you are in the higher class--just like when you are closer to the Torah, and you say, no really you are still special even in the attic.). Despite my sadness at not being so advanced, It is actually good in the end because as it turns out the last time I formally studied Spanish was during my junior year of college in Spain and I really need the review. There is only one other student in my class, a guy from Switzerland and we seem to be at about the same level as me. The afternoon was spent, first taking a siesta (I am not sure what I am going to do when I get back and it is not actually socially or economically feasible for me to sleep for and hour or two each afternoon) and then acquiring food. We decided to rent a little fridge for our time here, much like the little fridges we all had in college. Then we went on an adventure to the Mega store, which is alot like a target but with more groceries. We got sliced turkey, corn torillas, peppers, cheese, chips, and some sweets and then went home and had our first picnic meal in our room. It was delicious. Then we went out for people watching which is a very amusing past time here in Playa. We ended up sitting on the beach and watching the boats go and come from Cozumel and a crazy Mexican family take their two small children swiming in the ocean in the dark. Today our theme of food will continue with a cooking class that starts at 1:00. Hopefully it will be yummy. I brought snacks today because I get really cranky if I don´t get to eat until 2 which seems to be the regular lunch time around here. Well that is all from me for now. I´m off to go have a snack.

¡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.

Good Advice

Timeshare salesmen are seemingly evolving into the butt of a number of jokes for this trip. Hopefully that will change when we get out of touristville and the beach towns. In the meantime, we found some good advice in a guidebook we borrowed from our hotel: "Approach timeshare salesmen as you would a wounded rhinoceros." Words to live by.