She could be your R.A.

Kady Leon Wu is the sort of student that every teacher wants to have in great quantities. She is smart, dedicated to learning English, and always did the homework in our Saturday classes this past year. The daughter of Chinese immigrants who moved to Mexico City and then Michoacan, she recently matriculated to the prestigious Universidad Nactional Autónoma de Mexico, kind of the UCLA of Mexico. She will celebrate her 18th birthday this coming Haloween, but don’t count on any outragous parties from this college freshman.

That’s because she lives in, of all places, a convent. We had a good time gently teasing her (okay, mercillisly teasing her) about this during the class, but I figured this story had to be told in greater deal once she was actually living in the nunnery. So I emailed her a bunch of questions. When she wasn’t dodging blows from rulers, she graciously took time to answer them, and in the process shed a little light on Mexican university life:

PR: How did you come to live in a convent?
KLW: Well, I have a friend who is a doctor, and she is living here in Mexico City, so she recommended this place to me because it is very near to my university. But I am still a teenager, and this house is only for girls who are 18 or more. So my friend helped me and told the nuns that I am an angel. Right? In your class I was an angel? Ha ha. Anyway, I was accepted and have moved in.

Q: Yes, everything is possible in Mexico. So how are the nuns?
A: Everyone thinks that nuns are very stressful and boring, but that’s wrong. The principal of this convent is a nun whose clothes are very casual and even though she is 45, she dresses like she is 27! When I saw her and asked if she was the principal, I stared at here and thought, “What? Is this the right place?” But it was. The hardest thing about living here is that you have to live by yourself, cook three meals a day by yourself, wash clothes and of course make up your room. But the best thing about it is that we will all become very mature people. We won’t be like babies always depending on their parents all their lives. No way!

Q: What, if anything, does this living arrangement have to do with the general impression (one I imagine your parents have heard about) out there that Mexico City is a big fortress of thieves and hooligans?
A: Well, everyone thinks that Mexico City is a terrible city to live in, but why then is it one of the biggest cities in the world? You know, all cities have their problems, and I think Zamora is more dangerous than Mexico City. When I started living here, I was a little bit scared, but with time I started to like it a lot. It has everything and I am living alone and I am still alive! I have survived here for two weeks. The city is stressful, yes, but the thieves you talk about only come out at night. There is also more security on the streets than before. Mexico City has been increasing in size, with more cars and buildings, and that’s why they always do pollution checks on cars. Also, it’s not permited to smoke in public areas, and that makes for a more healthy place to eat or have fun.

Q: What is the situation with the rules at the convent? When do you have to be in for the night? Can anyone visit you? What about playing music and stuff like that?
A: Well the rules are very simple: you have to do everything by yourself, such as wash your clothes, cook your three meals and wash your dishes. Every week I have to clean up the kitchen, which is shared by everyone. People can visit me, but there is a special place for that because no one can enter your room. (NO ONE!!!) And at night we’re supposed to be quiet, but the girls are crazy here, and in this house you can hear everything. I think because it is old construction. That’s why I can not sleep well at night! And you have to be at house before 10:30 pm!

Q: Do people break the rules and get away with it? Are you one of those people?
A: Ha ha, of course girls break rules, but they dont get away with it. A nun is like an owl: very smart and sees everything. And you know, in your class I was an angel, ha ha, so of course I am not one of those people.

Q: Is it easy/possible to make friends when you live in a convent? How many other students live there?
A: There are 28 students, and yes, it is easy to make friends, but some of the girls who have been living here for more than four years feel that they are the owners and they treat us like kids who do not know anything.

Q: What else happens in this building, if anything?
A: Well, the nuns have in their big house a place for poor little girls whose dads cannot pay the school or give them food to live. So the nuns are big hearted people, and they give beds, food, and educations to those girls for free. The money they make from the students who come to study goes to things like that. Also, now in the house Televisa is recording a soap opera called “Las tontas go van al cielo” (Dumb girls don’t go to heaven. Here’s a hilarious clip that is funny even if you don’t know Spanish.)” And they pay a lot of money to the nuns as you can imagine.

Q: In the United States, leaving for college is often the first big experience with absolute freedom. It’s not uncommon for first year students like yourself often stay up all night drinking too much and doing all kinds of drugs. Often, their grades suffer in the process. Now, you are an unusually serious student, you live in an unusally serious place, and UNAM is an unusually serious school, but from what you can see there, are there any similarities to the U.S. experience?
A: Well, many of my fellow students at UNAM are in this situation. They always invite me to get drunk on Friday nights, and of course I don’t accept. Really, it is difficult for me to get used to living in a big city, but I’m starting to like it. And of course I have more freedon, I can eat everything, and do not have to hear my mom’s voice always.

Q: How is school going in general? What are you studying and what has surprised you in the first few weeks of college?
A: Well, this is a public school (50 cents for one semester) and I was in a private high school ($600 USD per semester) so that’s a big difference. Also, the teachers don’t care if you do the homework or not. And at class students can smoke and use cell phones.

Q: And how much do the nuns charge to live there?
A: It is $120 USD for a month, and $10 USD extra for Internet, and each six months I have to pay $60 for the laundry.

Q: If I said I was sorry for making fun of you so much about this whole convent thing, would you believe me?
A: No, well, yes. Ha ha. don’t worry, teacher, your are the best English teacher I’ve ever had.

(Editor’s note: Darn tootin. That’s what we like to hear, Kady, but it’s easy with students like you. Good luck. And for the record, I’m not sorry. Also for the record, Leon Wu is a native speaker of Spanish and Cantonese. Though she speaks excellent English, her answers were edited for grammar and clarity.)