Start of the Weekend! and a few other days

Oh man, this week has been so long. I feel like i've been running around all over the place just to get the basics done. We have spanish everyday from 9-1, and then the other class called Thematic Seminar where we listen to lots of lectures, etc. Wednesday was decent, but in the evening I had a sudden lapse of lonliness, cause i missed home, and i missed hanging out with the group here, so I ended up going to the coffee shop next door to read some assignments, and make new friends. I ended up meeting the owner and one of the waiters, and we talked about soccer, politics, etc. It was really interesting hearing his point of view on all the teacher strikes and violence that had happened a few years ago in Oaxaca, which we have been talking a lot about this week. He said that it especially affected the middle class people and small business owners. The poor people who were with APPO (the umbrella organization for about 300 other organizations that were participating in the strike), had very little to lose, and the rich people could just leave. But he said that within one block near the center, around 50 stores closed, and 300 or more all around the zócalo (center). And he said that experts calculated that it would take 7-8 years to recover. He didn't like either the government and governor (Ulises Ruiz), who APPO was demanding to force out of office, or APPO. Oh man, but all the stories are so sad. Of the federal police coming and attacking the people striking in the night. And women coming to meet them with hands painted white, and holding flowers, in an attempt to keep peace. And some people walked all the way to Mexico City and held a hunger strike. And god all the violence, disappearing, and dirty war like issues. It's just so crazy. And that all happened 1.5 to 2 years ago! It's really sad to think that this kind of repression is still going on.
Anyway, next day was much better. In our spanish grammer class (5 people total, and our teacher is Manuel), we got into a conversation about politics! And our professor told us a Bush joke! It was hilarious, and totally awesome! He has a good style of teaching for grammer, and is just plain a lot of fun!
For the conversation part of Spanish, we went to the artesania place where the had original artwork from different indigenous groups in Oaxaca. There were so many beautiful things! I'll really have to go back there and buy things before I go.
Then I went over to a friends house (from the program), and we "worked" on a presentation about Chiles that we done some interviews for on Monday. We ended up talking about it for about 30 minutes total. The rest of the time was filled with talking with her mom, chatting, and listening to some really pretty Shakira songs, and giving eachother massages. Heaven.
Then we went to an NGO. We hoped to hear about what they were doing, but we only ended up listening to more history on Oaxaca, most of which we had already heard. It was really long, and we were all tired. So a group of us went out to coffee, and me and two other people worked on a different presentation on some readings we had done. Me and a friend, Megan, had to take a bus back to the center at around 9ish. I walked for a little way, and when I passed by the coffee shop the waiter, Raúl, was chilling in the doorway. We talked for a bit, then I got a bit of dinner, then tried to go looking for an interent cafe, but it ended up being closed, so I ended up talking with Raúl for like. 30 minutes. It was pretty cool. He had been in the US for 3 years on a work permit, and seriously, had been more places than I've ever been in the US. It was pretty cool.
Friday, we had our presentations and discussions about the readings, etc. It was soo long. Very interesting, but we ended up going 1.5 hours over, and even then, the last few things were rushed. Oh, but we did have a brief interruption. There was a march going on in the street outside our school, so we simply had to go see it. It was a group of students protesting the privatization of schooling. Sweet! We got done around 2:30, we went home for lunch, came back to watch a documentary, then a group of us went out to dinner, then out to a bar where they had acrobats! I'd never seen a live acrobat performance before, so it was quite cool!
The next day, leaving at 9am, a group of us decided to go up some stairs, and ended up hiking a ways for a couple hours. We got a gorgeous view, and it was good to get some excercise. And now, I don't know. I know that the fiestas have already started for the Día de Independencia, which is on Tuesday. I'm sooo excited!

PS. Oh yeah, and for all of you coffee lovers, I have had coffee here at least 10 times since arriving. : )