A Joke

This is what my abuela told me (translated to English of course.)

There was a young mosquito, and he said to his mother, "May I please go to the theater?"
And she responded, "No my son you may not go."
But he asked again, "Mother, may I please go to the theater?!"
And again she responded, "No my son, it is very dangerous!"
But he insisted and begged one last time, "Pleeeeaaaasssssssseee!!!!"
And finally his mother caved and she said to him, "Fine.  Go.  But be careful of the applause!"

Lol.  I thought it was sooooo hilarious. 

Soy Milk + Orange Juice

= wtf? AMAZING!!  Yeah, I know.  I was totally surprised and slightly creeped out as well, but I got over because it was sooooo good, lol.

Mexican Pride and Independance

Today I went to the Mexican Independence day celebration in Guadalajara's main plaza.   It was incredible.  Think carnival, meets market, meets 4th of July, meets crazy.  There were sooooooo many people there.  And the pushed.  A lot.  There were a couple of times I seriously thought my life might be in a little bit of danger due to the extreme sardinish nature of my situation, but thankfully they passed, and I got to experience (and record most of) the famous Grito! Which is where the governor yells a bunch of things and all the people yell back, VIVA!!!! a bunch of times.  It was really awesome to see so much healthy pride.  I don't think we have enough of that in the United States.  I mean we have plenty of extremest, unhealthy, close-minded pride, but not enough of the good, spirited, uplifting kind.  (In my humble opionion.)  But anyway, I also got to hear (and again record most of) all the people singing the national anthem.  They sang it with so much gusto, I couldn't help but want to sing along.  (But obviously I couldn't because I didn't know the words.)  Anyway, it was such a fun time and a wonderful experience! 

P.S. Pictures and video will be posted soon on Facebook :)

Another Culinary Delight!

Cajeta de leche.  Equals DERICIOUS! (as Scotty would say.)  Basically it was this caramel type thing made from sugar and milk that came in this long oval box.  Anita, one of my abuela's assistants, gave it to me to try.  We put in on toast, and it was soooo good.  Think caramel meets marmalade meets chewy meets heaven.  And there you have it.  Thankfully, that box was pretty big, so I have quite a bit left and I definitely intend on enjoying over the next few days.  (I think I'm going to try it with apples next!)

Despedida de Soltera

Bachelorette party.  Mexican style.  Very interesting.  One of the games we played was where you had to walk a few feet up to a cup with a coin in between your knees and then drop the coin into the cup.  If you made it it meant your a virgin . . . if you missed it meant your not.  (And if anyone is curious, I totally made it.)  The other really interesting and bazaar thing that happened was that the host brought out this bowl filled with Coke and a large, peeled banana in it.  The banana was supposed to signify a 'part' of the husband-to-be, but I don't really know what the Coke was about.  But then the bride-to-be took the bowl around and everyone had to take a sip.  She tried to get everyone to take a bite of the banana too.  I didn't, but a few people did, and apparently it was very scandalous because each time there was a bunch of laughter and carrying on.  So there you have it.  Despedida de Soltera.

Tiangüis Cultural y Tlaquepaque!

Yay for shopping :)  The Tiangüis Cultural was this massive open-air market selling all sorts of things.  Mainly crap, but some really cute stuff.  I bought this nice woven basket/purse type of thing (see photo) to carry my books in since my backpack is really too big.  So anyway, we spent about an hour there, and then made our way to Tlaquepaque . . . very slowly.  We couldn't figure out/agree on what bus to get on.  Lol, oh the fun of big groups of people in a huge city.  Anyway, Tlaquepaque is a town adjacent to--but pretty much a part of-- Guadalajara that is full of really high quality artwork and handy-crafts.  They were all super nice and super expensive though, so I didn't buy anything in the shops.  I did, however, buy this nice little piece of artwork (again, see photo) off the street because I thought it would look nice in my future classroom :)

The artwork

The bag/basket/purse thing

Yay Lebanon!

I love your food!!  Okay, so last night (Friday) on kind of a whim, we went to this Lebanese restaurant called Beirut because another student from Germany, Debbie, really likes belly dancing, and last night was one of the nights that they had a performer, and she really wanted to see it.  So we went.  I really wasn't planning on liking the food at all, but OH MY GOODNESS it was sooooooo delicious!  It wasn't spicy (like I was expecting) and it wasn't covered in curry (like I was expecting) so it was pretty much amazing!  Plus as it turns out Debbie is an incredible dancer and was actually better then the performer.  It was really neat.  And she loves Lebanese/Arabic music, so she was actually able to request songs!  So anyway, we already have plans in the works to go back because we liked it so much.  And I'm so glad.  Every day and every experience seems to be an adventure--which obviously I'm loving :D

Enjoyed a Small Slice of Cuba Today

We went to this bar . . . actually I don't even remember the name of it.  But it is literally run by the Cuban government and is a source of income for them.  Apparently they have this chain or restaurants/bars all around the world--except for in the states and the UK (because of our poor relations with them).  But anyway, the lady we were with was telling us that they bring in musicians from Cuba that are basically enslaved by the government because they don't get paid directly, the money just goes back to their families in Cuba, and if one of the musicians "runs away" then all the others get sent back to Cuba and aren't allowed to work anymore.  The theory is that they won't run away because they don't want their other musician friends to suffer the loss of their jobs, or for their families to loose their source of income.  Or so she said.  But anyway it was also really cool because you can buy real Cuban cigars at these joints as well.  I thought that was neat.  Not that I smoke, but still.  The idea of having a Cuban cigar is publicized as such a status symbol and classy endeavor, that even a non-smoker like me can appreciate being in the presence of such a highly prized object.

A Very Important Side Note

I am finding it very difficult to calculate/ understand how much money I am actually spending.  It's about 12 pesos to the dollar, so sometimes the math can get a little messy (at least for me).  And so when I see prices like, 49.99,  I'm like wow that's expensive, but then I do the math and I'm like . . . oh, no it's not.  But anyway, I just kind of thought about it because when the numbers get really high, like when I bought my books today, I get lazy and don't even do the math lol.  So when I got home and wrote it down and converted the amount to dollars (so I can keep track of how much I'm spending), I was a little surprised.  Lol.  The lesson learned: don't be lazy and always do the math.  (Although I think even if I would have been aware of how expensive the books were, I still would have purchased them just because I really REALLY wanted them)

Exciting Day

Today I went with my friend Megan to get coffee and then walk around.  We ended up going to the Mexican-Walmart called Bodega Aurrera.  It actually is like the Mexican branch of Walmart, but it's weird because they have normal Estadunidense (or United Statesian)-Walmart's here too.  But anyway I was finally able to buy an umbrella, so I was excited.  Then, because Megan and I are both self-admitted nerds, we popped into some book stores :)  I bought the complete Don Quijote, as well as a Bible (in Spanish obviously) and I am super excited about both of my purchases and I can't wait to start reading!!

Continually Impressed by the Teaching Methods

It's like I'm practically in the best TE class of my life while intending to learn something else.  It's actually been really nice.  Yesterday we played this game where one person had a sticky note with the name of a famous dead person on their backs.  Everyone else could see the name but the person who was wearing it.  Then all the other students had to describe the famous person (using the imperfect tense) to the student with the sticky note and then they had to guess who they "were".  I think that is also some kind of game, but I don't know the name of it.  But anyway, it was super fun, and a great way to practice the tense.  I'm super excited to steal this idea too.  But it doesn't end there!  Today we played a game of tic tac toe (or "gato" in Spanish) where we were divided into teams and a representative from each team went up to the board to fill in the verbs with the correct conjugation.  The representative with the most correct conjugations in the correct formation got the points for their team.  It was really fun, and again, I'm totally stealing this idea! 

Today I Proved to my Abuela That I am Offically Crazy

Yep.  She thinks I'm nuts.  Well not really, maybe just weird.  And I was doing something so natural to me, I didn't even give it a second thought.  Can you guess?  We were eating something hot.  Yep, I blew on my food (to cool it off, obviously).  Or apparently not so obviously.  She outright laughed at me when I did it.  It went like this:
me: "What?" 
Abuela: "Nothing, it's okay." 
me: "Because I'm blowing on my food?'
Abuela: "Yes!" 
me: "It's hot." 
Abuela: "So why don't you wait?"
me: "I don't know.  Because this is what I've been taught. (then me trying to defend my seemingly ridiculous actions) It's really common in the U.S."
         Lol, this was really my first encounter with customary differences.  At least it was relatively small and not that embarrassing when compared to some stories I've heard. 

A Very Fun Weekend In Mazamitla

This weekend I traveled about two and a half hours outside of Guadalajara to the beautiful community of Mazamitla with a group of about ten CEPE students, and about eight other Mexican students from around the city.  Is was so wonderful.  We left in the morning and arrived around noon and took our stuff to the cabaña.  It was actually really nice with lots of space and character.  Then we all got back in the vans and went to eat at a restaurant.  The food was okay, but the really cool thing was that I got to try this coffee called "cafe oya" and it was delicious.  I don't know exactly what was in it, but for sure some cinnamon and it was amazing!  Ah I loved it and I want more!!  Anyway, then we had the rest of the day just to tour the town and check stuff out.  It was such a cute town with a bunch of Japanese influence, which is evident in the architecture of the main church and the town square.  All the shops were really cute.  The community is known for it's woodwork, so there were a lot of wood-based handicrafts for sale.  Then we basically had the night to drink and socialize with the other students on the trip, and that was fun as well.  On Sunday we got to see a beautiful waterfall that the town is also famous for.  It was stunning!  It was a rough forty-five minute horse ride to get there, but it was so worth it.  I actually crossed the river and climbed over a bunch of rocks so I could right next to the fall.  It was such a powerful experience and definitely a first for me.  The whole trip was so much fun . . . I can't wait to take another and discover a new place.

P.S. If your curious, the pictures from this trip, as well as others from the semester so far, are all now available for viewing via Facebook!  Hooray!!

Photos--Finally!!

My bed.

My closet of drawers for my very small amount of clothes.  I seriously with I had this much space at home!

My giant closet, again for my very small amount of clothes.

My bathroom.

The door that leads to the small courtyard with roses outside my room.

So when they said it was the rainy season . . . they definately meant it.

So it is 9:51 pm and the skies have opened.  It's raining, and pouring, and thundering and lightninging (ps I love that word) like you would not believe.  I know that a storm may just seem like a storm, but the whole time I've been here everything has been such a new experience; this feels like one too.

Salsa and Convo

So today I had my first salsa lesson which was super fun.  I actually really like learning new dances when there isn't all the pressure of: "Do I look just like everybody else?"  "I'm I in line?"  "What is my facial expression right now?" "I'm I going to get placed in the front or the back?"  lol thank you show choir for the paranoid rigmarole of questions.  Lol, but this time I actually got to have fun, so I'm looking forward to next week.  I also met with my Mexican conversation partner today.  I was very nice and also very accomplished.  He is a 27 year old financial lawyer who seems to have the same love for grammar that I do, so I think it will really be a good time.  (lol, I know . . .  I'm such a loser) But anyway, that was today.  Oh also, I couldn't take any money out of my bank account via the ATM.  Wtf US bank?  Oh well, hopefully I'll be able to get it worked out before I leave for my trip Saturday morning--I'm off to beautiful (or so I've been told) Mizamitla.  It should be great!

Culinary Adventures = Cactus

But, I haven't blogged in a few days . . . so you 'll have to read through all my other updates to get to the part about the cactus.  Anyway, Sunday we went to the Centro where the famous (not to mention gorgeous) Cathedral is.  It was really stunning.  Also in that area is a bunch of shopping.  Like blocks, and blocks, and blocks, and blocks of stores.  Which were disproportionately comprised of shoe stores and dress stores.  It was nuts.  Seriously, people should come prom dress shopping down here.  Anyway, that was Sunday. 
Then Monday came.  I don't really remember doing anything so it must not have been that cool (lol).  That's okay though.  Sometimes we all need a break from insane adventures :) 
So on Tuesday, a.k.a. yesterday, a group of students from CEPE went to volunteer at an all boys orphanage.  It was very interesting to see.  It was a good experience, but I'm not going to lie, it was a bit of a disappointment from that which I was expecting.  I think all my previous experiences in Mexico kind of gave me a predetermined idea, as well as extremely high expectations, of what it would be like.  I  was expecting all my little friends from Cristo Rey in Reynosa, but that is not what I got.  And not necessarily in a bad way, just not what I was expecting.  The boys here were very fun to play with, and obviously very rough and energetic, and I did have a lot of fun.  I think my heart just still aches a little bit for all my fond memories in a place that is now (hopefully temporarily) inaccessible to me. . .  
Anyway, yesterday also happened to be another one of the student's, Tara's, birthday.  So we met at CEPE last night to go out and celebrate.  The only problem was that it is the rainy season here and it happened to be down pouring on our walk over there (which was actually kind of fun because it was the first time I actually got to see it rain), so despite the fact that we (and be we I mean the other girl that lives near me and myself) had umbrellas, our shoes, and feet, and jeans, still got soaked.  Sad day--but not for too much longer!  We waited at the school for like twenty minutes for Tara and her roommate to show up, but they never did.  So Whitney (my neighbor) and I decided to give up and go home.  But as we were walking home this car started honking at us--which has actually become kind of normal--but it kept doing it and it followed us and pulled up next to us, and then we realized that it was our friends.  So we went with them and their Mexican conversation partner, Fernando, to a small bar called !Que Pues!  It was a fun time and we ended up getting drinks on the house, which obviously doesn't happen very much (to me at least) in the states.  So that was fun.
Today.  Today after classes a group of us went out to lunch.  We had intended to visit a museum afterwords, but we found out that the museum is free on Sundays, and movies are half price on Wednesdays, so we went to a movie instead of course!  But we picked an awful movie.  We saw Chloe and it was disgusting.  None of us had seen it, and none of us really knew what it is was about, so we just went.  Oh my God it was like porn practically.  We were all turning away and looking down and anywhere but at the screen it was so awful.  Yuck!  It was so disturbing I can't even think about it anymore.  So that was that.  I came home and did my homework, and then I Skyped with my parents for a little bit.  And then tonight I had tostadas with different toppings for dinner.  One was a tuna/tomato/onion/radish mix that was very good.  The other was an even more delectable mix of cactus/tomato/onion/cilantro.  I loved it!  And I didn't even know it was cactus until I asked.  I thought it was green beans lol!  Oh the things you'll eat when you have no idea what they are :D