The 51st State is Mexico

Obviously not.

Whilst we did not acquire any new states today, I did acquire a new student, named Augustin... a man who seems in his late 30's and is from Mexico. He was quiet... which is probably only in contrast to the group of students I have already. They are very comfortable with me; I run a boisterous and energetic class. We laugh all the time and it's heartening. We have our little personal jokes... por ejemplo when I ask questions about the flag for Nelson I leave long pauses after the over-anunciated words "stars" and "stripes" and "states" because he always gets the three confused! When Cecilia has to name the three branches of government I hide behind a book or piece of furniture, or at least bite down on something (a pencil, for instance) in anticipation as she is about to pronounce "Judicial" which she always pronounces "Juice-dish".

She got it right today.

I brought a little booklet in for this evening's class that elaborated on the civics questions and had everyone take turns reading the explanations for questions they got wrong, or those that interested them. Ademio was particularly fond of reading aloud... but then he just loves attention. He has these enormous eyes that remind me of Puss in Boots from Shrek 2. It's so.... I don't want to say cute here but i'll use a word I learned from Ruben once... "Potito" which is a mix between the Spanish words for precious and nice (or pretty).

Noticed today that when Hamlet runs on his wheel he now runs with his little hamster butt facing me, bobbing left and right, which I take as an insult. I'm going to have to turn his cage around.

For Memorial Day Weekend... I have two options. At first it was only one option-- which was go to Six Flags New England with Jane, Crissi, Allen and others. But i'm getting wind that may be expensive... and today after class my volunteer supervisor, Jesse, invited me to come camping this weekend, Friday and Saturday. Visions of sleeping bags and s'mores are now dancing in my head. I've never been camping before and I'm thinking i'd like to. To at least have that experience, once. It would be nice to get to know some new people as well.

I'll know soon enough. Cheaper option wins out... I've got rent and utilities to pay this month. Argh.

Bienvenido al mundo real, Kae.

¡Viva México!