village life

So after a couple of weeks, I feel like I'm settling into my new home. The pace of life here is definitely different to what I'm used to in London! A typical day begins at 4.am, when the roosters start crowing in the mistaken belief that it is already the  morning, rather than the middle of the night. Hopefully I'll start learning to sleep through this before long! The day starts early for most people here as well - normally people are up and about by 7. After breakfast my mornings are typically taken up with lesson planning, and the afternoons and evenings are spent giving classes. I am lucky enough to be teaching a lot of really enthusiastic, interested pupils, and although the classes last between 2 and 2.5 hours, they go past in a flash. I also spend a lot of time in xpujil, and am really enjoying cycling in my spare time. There are some very interesting routes to take in the countryside - it's amazing how quickly you can find yourself in the middle of nowhere!
Darkness falls around 5.30, and evenings tend to be very quiet in the village. There are no bars, although there is one restaurant which serves huge and delicious empanadas which are cheaper than any dinner that I could prepare at home. The shops are open until about 9, and apart from anything else they are a good place to go to catch up on all the telenovelas.
Thankfully the hotel has WiFi so although the village is quiet in the evenings, I am not getting bored. I am also beginning to experiment with Mexican cooking - the shops are full of products that I've never seen before, let alone cooked with. So far I haven't got much further than cooking quesadillas but hopefully this will change before too long!
The people in the village  are shy but very friendly. It makes a nice change to say hello to everyone you see when you 're out and about.
This laidback lifestyle takes a bit of getting used to, but I'm actually loving it. Who knew that life in the slow lane could be so enjoyable?