don't give me that sass, little mexican girl who plays guitar better than me

Last night was my first Mexican guitar lesson at las Casas de la Cultura. I went in with my two friends who had just finished a salsa dancing class there and as soon as we got done in the administrative office, we walked to my classroom, classroom 7. I definitely had the new-kid-first-day-of-school nervousness going on. I didn't really know what to expect because there were no levels listed for the class and I am definitely a beginner. I just didn't want to be the suckiest person there.
I was, but it turned out to be fine. And by fine, I mean, not only was I the suckiest person in the class, but I was also the oldest person in the class by at least 10 years. It was a bunch of pre-pubescent boys, and one tiny little girl who was probably like, 5 or 6. I sat next to the little girl, because the boys were all practicing their music and, of course, they were a million times better than me. I figured if nothing else, the little girl wouldn't make me look as bad.

So while we're all sitting there waiting for Vidal, our teacher, to come in and start the class, I tried to make small talk with the girl sitting next to me but she was just full of sass, and not in a good way. Anytime I tried to ask her a question or talk to her or even smile at her she was like, "Que esta haciendo aqui?" or "No habla conmigo." Basically telling me to Step Off. I obviously stopped talking to her (I thought she might resort to violence...she honestly was so brutal), but through the entire class, she kept giving me the evil side eye. And of course she was a rockstar with her tiny guitar. And I was jealous of her guitar stickers.

The guitar lesson was a little humbling. As he gave all the other kids their assignments, my assignment was literally to just pluck the strings with a certain finger pattern. I didn't use my left hand at all. Just imagine plucking the same guitar string with an index-finger-middle-finger-index-finger-middle-finger pattern for 1.5 hours. Not that exciting. But I like Vidal quite bit and he spent a long time talking to me after the class about the classes and how I will progress to playing actualy music and whatnot, so I'm going to keep going. I just won't be sitting next to sass girl anymore.

Anyway, I'm heading to Playa Mazunte tomorrow morning, and hopefully I'll be able to put that little girl's side eye behind me.

Peace.

p.s. - The pic is of me last year in S.America. I didn't want to look like any more of a guerra (ok, maybe not a guerra because I'm not white, but you get the idea) by taking a pic in my class. That is the guitar I've been using, though, and it actually has a hilarious story. I visited Bolivia during a huge festival weekend where everyone drinks all day and all night. I was waiting for lunch outside a restaurant and listening to these guys playing their guitar on the street. One of the drunken crazies was like, "Te gusta la guitarra?" and I was like, "Por Supuesto" and ducked into the restaurant to eat. While I was in there, the crazy came in and was like, "Un regalo para ti" and handed me a guitar. I tried to return it (the guitar store was across the street), but the guitar store guys wouldn't let me. They did give me a free lesson, though, and then took me dancing, which was nice since I was traveling solo that weekend. And that is how I came upon my free guitarra. The end.