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!!