Why oaxaca

This is a very good question. I flip-flopped so many times on where I was going to go and if I was going to come here. So far, it seems like a good choice. My homestay family has been very nice to me. Their house is ok. I am sleeping on a twin bed that is small but decent. The bathroom is a little odd. The door is a metal gate (the walls are also fairly thin so it seems your business is pretty public.)
I stopped this message mid draft. I'll pick up with some of the weeks activities. The spanish classes turned out to be a nightmare as they didn't have their regular teacher for the week and they brought in a sub who had no experience teaching spanish to adults. Also there was no set curriculum from the instituto so we spent half the class on monday on one page in our 200+ page book (how to introduce yourself in spanish page which everyone should have known before attending the class) then we spent the other half on simple present tense conjugation of one verb. The next day we spent most of the class on past tense conjuagation of only one verb. It was very frustrating for a lot of students as they just wanted a simple rule to follow for the regular verbs instead of spending hours on one verb only. Fortunately, the cooking class I signed up for and my intercambio exchange student are worthwhile since it's all in spanish and there's some
good practice. By wednesday however half the class had dropped out so I decided I would move on too. I took up the next level class in the afternoon. This class is a world of difference and is providing more of the challenge that I need.
There are some great little shops and amazing temples/churches which rival those found in europe. I've done quite a bit of walking as it's common for people to be walking around and seems to be very safe. I also took a pilates class and the exercise i've been doing has kicked my ass especially since oaxaca is at altitude (~5000 ft).
I visited a couple of chocolate shops which is one of the main reasons I came to oaxaca. Yet I haven't purchased anything other than chocolate drinks which are very tasty. There are a couple of big differences between oaxacan chocolate and american chocolate. Oaxacan chocolate seems too often grind the chocolate bean whole with the husk. It appears to use a lot of sugar. The sugar and ingredients are not as finely ground and the result is gritty chocolate. The chocolate is usually ground with almonds, cinnamon, vanilla, and/or walnuts/pecans. The cacao does not appear to be fermented, so the taste should not have as much fruittiness. The sugar is not initally ground with all the other ingredients it's ground on the second pass. Chocolate mayordomo seems always to be packed. There is only one other chocolate maker nearby which is la soledad. I have to go back today or tomorrow and finally try the chocolate itself.
So overall I would say oaxaca was probably one of the better choices in mexico. There are just the right amount of tourists where they don't appear to be a major nuisance to the locals so you really can get a good flavor of local daily life while still feeling safe among the other visitors.