Toilet paper, taxis, and talking with strangers

Here are some things I'm still getting used to:

A dangerous commute- If I don't look both ways (three times) before crossing the street (even one-way streets), I will surely die.

Studying Spanish all day, every day- It's not like I have a day (or a week, as in grad school) to finish my homework. Taking a break from studying or procrastinating until tomorrow is not really an option.

The taxis- Were there eight other people in that small car with me? Is that taxi driver just a regular guy that put a neon sticker in his window that says "Taxi" ? And did it really only cost me 15 cents??
Putting my toilet paper in the garbage can- Apparently, the plumbing can take my crap, but it can't handle my paper. You don't want to know how many times I've had to fish my TP out of the crapper already, and it's only been six days.

Humanist Heaven- Dr. Haley would applaud the pedagogy here. When I got to one of my grammar classes today, my profesora asked me what I wanted to work on. I thought to myself, "No lo creo!" which means, "I don't believe it," one of my new favorite phrases. It's all about ME!! No rote memorization, no essays about pictures of families in the textbook. I get to talk about mis amigas, EB and gun control in the US, the Jersey Shore, human rights, the UN- it's incredible! All to enhance my education! What an idea, letting the student dictate what they want to learn and talk about. And tomorrow, I have to pick a famous person that I want to talk about for class. Great, and I'm going to bust out my best moonwalk! (Sha'donna would be so proud- I had to look up the words for white glove, "guante blanco"). It's an untraditional approach to learning a language, but I love it. I might not know the parts of the body, but I can carry on a conversation about undocumented citizens in the US, and that's pretty damn awesome.

Speaking Spanish with strangers- It's easy to converse with my profesores, my friends, and Beatriz and Gonzalo. But when Gonzalo invited his son and his wife to lunch, I practically froze. I didn't talk much at lunch today, but when I did, the entire room froze and looked at me very curiously, like I was an alien that finally decided to speak. I know that no one is judging, but it's hard when you know you're making mistakes.

I have gotten used to being stared at in the city. I am a "super-gringita" after all, according to Beatriz. I just smile and keep walking. I've also gotten used to eating so much. The body is an amazing machine, how it adjusts so quickly. Today at lunch, Beatriz's brother kept insisting that I needed to eat more, and Beatriz, in my defense, told him that I have a very good appetitie. She should know, since she serves me every meal and practically counts how many times I chew before I swallow. I just smile and keep chewing.

Love and boiled tap water that I swear is better quality than water in DeKalb,
K