Today in class we learned how to read Mayan. We spent most of class trying to figure out how the calendars work because, just in case the less informed readers don't know, the Maya have multiple calendars and we tried to learn the major three: the Sacred Almanac (Tzolkin), the Vague Year (Haab), and the Calendar Round (which combines the two otherwise incompatible Tzolkin and Haab calendars).

So basically what we've got with the Tzolkin are numbers and days. Straight-forward right? But wait, I forgot to mention that there are 13 numbers but 20 days! That means Imix doesn't always line up with 1, but in 19 days it'll line up with 8, and in 19 more days who knows where Imix will be! It's like where's Waldo except where's Imix and his various other counterparts! Imix won't be reunited with 1 again until 260 days have passed because that's one cycle.

Still with me? Well we're moving on to Haab, which measures days and months! The Haab is a calendar of 18 months with 20 days each and is 360 days long (it's easy to remember because 360 is more or less 365 so that makes it a vague year). But don't panic, they do tack those 5 extra days on the end in a special evil, bad luck-filled month of their own. So never you fret, all 365 days get in there. At this point the Haab appears to be pretty easy, but here's the twist, they don't count the days 1-20, but rather 0-19; I mean, the Maya had to do something to stand out. But anyways, those are the two calendars.

Seems pretty complicated right? Head's kind of spinning? Well it's about to get worse because now we're gonna shove them together into the Calendar Round! A calendar so ridiculous that a complete cycle is 52 years long! This is also the calendar that has predicted the end of the world, so after today's class I have my doubts.

(Note: Also, as far as the world coming to an end in December 2012, the Maya also predict a new beginning IMMEDIATELY after the end so it's not just the apocalypse, it's a new beginning, people need to chill out. And FYI, the end of the world date in Maya is 13 baktun.0 katun.0 tun.0 uinals.0 kin 4.Ajaw.3.K'ank'in)

Ah don't worry, I won't try to explain the Calendar Round, I don't fully understand how it the two calendars are actually combined within it anyways. I can read it now though.

Today I was running a little late for our big meal (which is lunch here) so I just kind of sat down and started eating without inquiring what it was like I normally do. It kind of looked like Mexican lasagna: layered meat, beans, and tortilla chips with a light red sauce. Finally I asked, "Como se llama?" and my mom responds, "Pan de Cazon." Pan I understood, pan=bread or in this case tortilla but what is cazon you ask? Baby shark. Today I consumed a baby shark. Win?