First Day at CEPE

I’m starting to feel the effects of culture shock. During CEA orientation Cassandra explained the symptoms and I’m following them by the book. At first you feel wonder and amazement at all the new things around you and everything is exciting, but then you start to get frustrated with the differences between your culture and that of the country you are in (language, home life, attitude toward work, etc.). I’m not sure what’s after that because that’s all I’ve felt so far, but I just have to keep reminding myself that these are normal stages and that I’ll get over it soon. I’m just so annoyed with not being able to communicate fully. It’s going to come bit by bit I guess.

Katie and I walked to CEPE this morning for orientation and placement testing. There are about thirty other students, mostly American college students, at CEPE from a number of different programs. I met one guy (Tyler) who goes to UW too and lives in a home-stay around the corner from me so we got to talk about Seattle a little bit.

After we answered a few questions on a worksheet, the CEPE people split us into groups for a more in depth oral and written placement test. The guy would come out and call someone’s name, they would go in and talk for a bit and then he would come and call someone else’s name while the first person took the written test. The better you were at Spanish, the longer he talked to you. He talked to one woman for a good fifteen minutes. He talked to me for maybe ninety seconds. My test said level 3-4 on the front page which implies that that’s what I’m going to end up in. It doesn’t sound that bad until you find out it goes up to level 10 and you can’t take the Mexican culture and history classes you came here to take unless you are in level 8 or higher. Yeah. Linda, another girl who also took the 3-4 test, wasn’t very happy about it either so we decided we’re going to try to get in to 5-6 instead.
After the placement tests we were free to go, so a big group of us decided to explore the big mall in the neighborhood, the Centro Magno. It looked just like any American indoor mall with a Starbucks, a Chili’s, and a movie theater. We wandered into an “exotic” pet store with a bunch of little birds, fish, and some puppies and kittens. Granted, they did have a chameleon so it was a little exotic. My favorite stop, though, was the bowling alley (exactly Astasia’s scene) which had a sign with the caption: bowling, billiards, and night club. Oh yeah! It was only $10 US for two games, so we might actually go back there some time.

Later in the day Katie, Tyler, and I took a taxi to La Tapatía, a huge square in what looks like old Guadalajara that connects the big cathedral to the cultural center and a bunch of other cool old buildings. What I would have given for and audio guide! There was also a thriving shopping district which centered on a huge, three story market that was like Pike’s Place Market and every Thai market I went to combined. I bought a new wallet there because every time I take out my wallet here I feel like I’m flashing my money all over the place. This one is much smaller so I can carry only what I need and not look like a raving tourist.

We came back about an hour ago and I’m just biding my time, waiting for dinner. Pati, my host sister from Zapopan, is here with her husband and Poncho. Apparently Poncho and Gabriel (Tere’s other grandson who lives here at the house) are only five days apart in age. I need a nap.

Tomorrow I find out which level I got placed in and classes begin!