A true test to my education.

My host sister studied in Canada for a semester & worked in New York for six months. Her English is pretty good because of this. At first, I appreciated it because when I couldn't quite think of a word or understand everything in a conversation, she could help me. Now, however, she's fallen into the pattern of talking to me only in English. I know she's just trying to help and make things easier for me but it's gotten rather annoying. I really want to practice my Spanish as much as I can, especially since I now have less than two months left and I feel like I'm no where near where I had hoped I would be. At dinner tonight we had the tv on when yet another political commercial came on. My sister took this opportunity to ask me about voting and elections in the US. I was explaining about voter registration when she asked about the electoral college. All in Spanish. The only time she has talked to me in Spanish for the past couple days was to ask me how the electoral college worked. The electoral college is hard to explain in English to people who are familiar with the American political system and here I was trying to think of the words to explain it in Spanish. Let me tell you, it took a while. All day long she asked me simple questions like "what would you like for lunch?" or "which movie do you want to watch?" in English. The one questions she asks me in Spanish is about the electoral college. Then I mentioned the election in 2000 which just led to even more questions about why we even use the electoral college if votes don't seem to matter. And she asked about why some states seem to matter more than others. Her mom stop listening half way through the explination because it took so long. Sometimes because I was searching for the answer & trying to remember everything I had learned in my government classes and sometimes because I was searching for the words in Spanish. Luckily I paid attention in my US Politics class last semester and she was patient with my Spanish conjugations or it would have been downright impossible to answer!

Semana Santa

I have two weeks off of school for Easter & all the holy days that go along with it. We don't get any days off for Easter at home! It helps that basically the whole country is Catholic so everyone celebrates the same holidays I suppose. The week of Easter most people get off work, hence the name Semana Santa, or holy week. Holidays are a lot less commercialized here. At home, I feel like the meaning & significance behind the Easter holiday easily gets lost with all the chocolate, decorated eggs, and Easter bunny. You can't forget the real reason for the holiday here. There are full blown reenactments in the streets with people carrying crosses and reenacting everything down to the crucifixtion of Jesus. It's intense. My family told me the first day or so I was here that they considered themselves Catholic but weren't very religious. The only time I've seen them go to church so far was on Ash Wednesday but for not being very religious they sure know a lot about the Bible. We were watching a show on the history channel about the birth of Jesus and my mom started naming obscure people and places from the Bible and details about them. She knew things about Jesus's siblings, cousins, it was impressive. And everytime we get into the car to go somewhere, my sister does the sign of the cross before pulling out of the driveway, along with other times throughout the drive but I haven't figured out a pattern to the other times yet. It was almost impossible to make reservations to travel during Semana Santa because the whole country has the same week-two weeks off. It's not like Spring Break in the states where it's all random weeks in march & then the breaks are really only for students. It's a whole country on a break at the same time. I could get used to it.

hablando con los taxistas

I've been slightly lazy these past couple weeks and have taken taxis more often than I usually do. It's just been so blistering hot that I can't stand the thought of the 20 minute walk to my house up a mountain. I can feel my calves burning with each step up the practically vertical incline. That may be a bit of an over exaggeration, but not by much! I always like taking taxis though because it provides a great chance to practice my Spanish. Lately, I've had the funniest and most interesting conversations with the taxistas. My friend Ally lives a couple blocks from my house so we share taxis a lot. The first question the taxi drivers ask without fail after I tell them where we're going is, where are you from? We tell them Los Estados Unidos, I say Kansas and Ally says Carolina de Norte. This has confused the last couple drivers. For some reason, they cannot fathom that Ally & I are from the same country. They always try to guess what country Ally's from, even though she just told them North Carolina, in the US. Ally's African American and it just apparently throws some people off when we say we're from the same country. One taxi driver kept asking if she was from Cuba after we dropped her off. Then he asked me about racism in the US and if I liked racism. I was very confused & had to ask him three times to repeat himself to make sure I understood correctly. He had just seen me give my friend, of a different race, a hug and say, in Spanish, call me tomorrow. I told him I didn't like it at all and he agreed. It was a very bizaare conversation! Then a few days later we took another taxi and the driver asked where we were from & we repeated almost word for word what we tell everyone else. Then he said, oh, you're from the country with the new president! and tried to pronounce Obama's name but couldn't quite get there. I was trying to make conversation, and figuring that it's a pretty safe bet that a majority of people in other countries aren't fans of Bush, I said, si, me gusta mucho mas de Bush. He didn't seem to care if I like Obama more than Bush or not, he had a question he wanted answered. He proceeded to ask, "Why in a country of pure guerros is the president not a guerro?" I was very confused because guerro usually refers to a white person or someone with really light skin and here I was in the cab with a girl who's skin is darker than the taxi driver who just said she was from the US. Obviously, it isn't a country of "pure guerros!" I tried to tell him the US had all different types of people. And then I was left wondering why my president should have to look like I do?

My host mom loves Obama though. Everytime he's on the news she always comments on either a) how much she likes him b) how handsome he is or c) what an eloquent speaker he is. My host sister said he reminds her of the nice uncle that you can tell anything to because he always looks like he is listening intently. I thought that was nice.

A weekend with the monkeys

Last weekend we took an excursion to a town a couple hours away called Catemaco. The town's claim to fame is they have a lot of monkeys and shamans. Needless to say, I heard this and got excited. We stayed overnight in cabins in the jungle. There were trees and birds everywhere, and as we found out a little later, monkeys too! When we first got there we ate lunch then took a tour of the jungle area around the cabins.

^path leading to our cabin^

^the inside of our cabin^

^view from the dock where we stayed^

^giant tree in the jungle around our cabins^

^jungle bridge^

We drank mineral water from a well with cups made out of leaves and got mud masks on our tour. We also met a shaman and got cleansed. He was a cute old man but he was wearing a polo. I was hoping for some more authentic shaman gear, whatever that may be. For all I know, it could be polos. I couldn't exactly follow everything he was saying during the blessing/cleansing but I caught a lot of good things about happiness, love, health, and money for God's child. There were pictures & statues of Jesus, the Virgin of Guadelupe, and prehispanic gods so he had all his bases covered.^mineral water well^

^makeshift cup out of a leaf^

^Amy getting a mud mask^

That night we were awoken multiple times in the night by loud birds and other loud animals that turned out to be monkeys right outside our cabin. In the morning we canoed out to an island that was populated by monkeys and got to float right by the banks where there were four or five monkeys sitting on a branch grooming each other. Then we got massages with eggs. The eggs were supposed to absorb all our negative energy and afterwards we had to throw them into the ocean. Later on in the afternoon, we got mud baths where we were completely covered in mud and had to sit in the sun for 20 minutes while it dried. Then we washed it off, scrubbed really, in the mineral water lagoon. It was cloudy & a little rainy that day so the whole process was very chilly but it was fun and I definitely felt clean afterwards, inside & out!^Amy seemed to sleep fine^

^monkeys^

^canoes we used to get to the monkey island^

Then we started our long journey back to Xalapa. One of the vans always gets pulled over at the military checkpoints. The first time it happened I was in it and we all had to pile out and stand next to a bunch of army guys in full gear with huge guns who just stood there silently looking angry while one of them checked our van. One of my friends was very adament about the random searches and not a fan of all the military police. It is very un-American to just be able to pull over whoever you want and search through all their things without any rhyme or reason, but with all the drug trafficking through their country it seems like desperate times might call for desperate measures.^our sketchy kidnapper van stopped at yet another checkpoint^^military policeman, prepared for anything^

killing time.

My first class of the day was cancelled. We only found out after I got up, went to class, and waited for the teacher for 30 minutes. But waiting 30 minutes for our teacher is something we´re used to. So now I have two hours until my next class and not much to do, so I´m just killing time.

Last night I went to my salsa lesson. A couple of friends & I signed up for a month´s worth of salsa classes, every Monday, Wednesday, Friday. The first two weeks or so were very fun & exciting. I was catching on quickly & had the basic steps down. I was learning everything as we went along, which was the opposite of what I was expecting since I´m not the most coordinated person. Then our teacher decided to speed the pace of the class up & since then it´s been very discouraging. He introduces crazy spinning moves to us & calls them "sencillo" When my feet have to move in 6 different ways, quickly, all to a particular beat of music, I don´t consider it simple. Most of the other people in our class learn quickly and I have a sneaky suspicion that they aren´t quite at the beginner level as they say. Then last night, our teacher announced that we would be changing the schedule and having class every Monday, Wednesday, Thursday, and going to salsa clubs on Friday to practice. My friends and I stayed afterwards to make sure we understood everything the teacher had told us in Spanish and while he was reiterating the changes and talking about going to a salsa club on Fridays he looks at us, in our jeans & tshirts and says in Spanish, while also using hand gestures to his face & body, "so make sure you don´t forget to do your hair, and put on your makeup, and wear your nice clothes." We all laughed and he just stared at us. Apparently, he wasn´t kidding, he was really reminding us to look better than we do for class! After we laughed he said confused, "or, you can just come as you want to.." I know he expects us to wear heels, but that won´t be happening with me. In general, I think my heels would be easier to dance in than my tennis shoes that sometimes stick to the floor but I have the little problem of being taller than all my dance partners in the class. It´s hard to practice spinning moves when you´re partner has to stretch his arm to fit over your head. Or when I have to duck slightly to fit under their arm. So needless to say, I won´t be wearing heels. Plus, I do not have the skills that walking in heels in Xalapa requires. I have trouble walking in heels and flat, level surfaces. The roads here are either cobble stone or old & broken. Plus, Xalapa is in the mountains. And when I say in the mountains, I mean, I hike up a mountain on my walk home from school. I have trouble walking in my tennis shoes sometimes, I´m amazed that the women here can walk everywhere in their high high heels. It´s impressive, and a skill I just don´t think I´ll ever have. and I´m ok with that.

I´m trying and learning all kinds of new things here. I tried elote, a corn-type snack they sell in every park and people seem crazy about. They take a corn on the cob, put butter on it, then cover it in mayonaisse, and then put different types of chili and spice on it. My family convinced me I had to try it when we were eating our hotdog dinner in the park one night. I felt rude turning it down and I see elote everywhere so I thought I might as well try it. I got the elote in a cup though, so it was just corn, butter, and mayonaisse all mixed together and then I picked the type of chilli powder I wanted to sprinkle on top. All I can say is, I am not a fan of elote. Mainly I´m sure because I am not a fan of mayonaisse. Which sometimes proves a problem here because people in Mexico are mayonaisse crazy. They put it on everything. There is a mayonaisse aisle in the supermarket. It´s not just mixed in with the other condiments, no, it has it´s own aisle, filled just with mayonaisse.

Mayonaisse & ham, my new main foodgroups.

Ancient Ruins

It's another long weekend for me! :) I feel like every other week we have a day off school for something. I'm sure it's just magnified by the fact that we never have school on Fridays, but I can't really complain. This Monday we have school off for what I call Benito Juarez Day, mainly because I don't know the real, official reason, just that it has something to do with Benito Juarez. I think it's his birthday or something on Saturday, but when I said el cumpleanos de Benito Juarez, I got corrected. And then the real reason was kind of fuzzy and got lost in translation so all I really know is...I don't have school because Benito Juarez was a great guy. That's really enough explanation for me.

Thursday night we all went to a resteraunt/bar place for a concert & my friend Emma's birthday. It was really fun & the resteraunt was so cute. They had stars hanging from the ceiling that I'm going to try to recreate for my room at school, and a tree inside as well. Plus all the houses/buildings here are pretty old so they have such cool architecture like high ceilings and exposed beams and cool bricks inside. It's neat. The bands were a mix of traditional music from veracruz, reggae, and funk. It was a really cool combination with all kinds of instruments.


Last weekend we went to El Tajin, Papantla, and Tecolutla. Tajin is an ancient city with really cool ruins. But the coolest part of the place is the Voladores. They do a traditional dance to worship the sun and they climb up this huge pole and then swing down by their ankles. It's kind of scary to watch because they just tie a rope to the end of their ankles then swing upside down the whole way down. And there's a guy on top of the tower who has nothing to secure himself with who dances and plays a flute-type instrument and stomps his feet all while spinning around a crazy distance up in the air. The plate he stands on is about half an inch wider than his feet. It was absolutely crazy & one of the coolest things I've ever seen.

^Crazy Voladores getting ready to go^

^take off^

The next day we went on a boat ride through a river in Tecolutla which was really pretty. We went through the mangrove trees. They had these crazy roots that twisted everywhere and the trees formed a sort of tunnel that our boat passed through. Our guide told us they thought pirates used it as a hideout, it did seem like it could be straight out of Pirates of the Carribean. We saw a crocodile on our river ride too!
^my friend Amy & I on the river ride, taking extra safety precautions with our life jackets!^

^mangrove trees with their crazy roots^
^one of the river banks^
^crocodile hiding in the branches on a log^
^always the little kid, holding the crab our guide scooped out of the water^

All in all, lots of interesting sights and fun times. Plus, I haggled for the first time in the parking lot of Tajin! I desperately needed new sunglasses since I lost mine at Carnaval and a man was selling them on our way in so I stopped, grabbed a pair that I thought I would like and asked him how much they cost. When he said 60 pesos I hesitated and started to say no so he lowered his price to 50. In a hurry to catch up with the rest of my group I said 40? and got an 'esta bien!' as an answer so I succesfully haggled my sunglasses down a good 20 pesos. It was quite an accomplishment for me. But then all my haggling skills from Saturday went right out the window on Sunday when I bought a hammock from a man on the beach for what was supposed to be 150 pesos, but he said he didn't have change for my bill so I essentially bought it for 200 pesos, which still isn't a lot and he was a funny old man who went away happy and I got my rainbow hammock so I was happy, so it was good for everyone in the end.

^my new favorite thing, coconut icecream. I got to keep the coconut it came in too!^

Welcome to the Land of Ham

When I told people I'd be studying abroad in Mexico everyone made jokes about eating tacos all day, every day. I've been here about a month now & have only had tacos twice. I won't deny that tacos are a staple of most Mexicans' diets but the food that has been the most prevalent, unfortunately for me, is ham. It's not surprising for me to have ham incorporated in all three meals of the day. In the morning, I usually have basically a mini quesadilla with cheese & ham. The cheese is amazing, but the ham I could do without. For lunch, anything from ham pie (a quiche-type thing) to chicken and ham to soup with ham in it. Lots of different varieties. For dinner, ham works it's way into any sandwich. Last night, I had a sandwich with ham & cream cheese, or queso de Philadelphia as they called it! All the food I've been eating is usually very good, but I could live without all the ham. to say the least. Also, most of the food has been fried in some way and has a substantial amount of grease to go along with it. I won't lie, this usually makes it all taste great, but afterward I end up feeling very heavy, and not so great.

My host family is great though. I can't think of one thing I could complain about. They take me everywhere! Everyone else in my program walks to school in the morning, but my mom keeps offering me a ride so I keep taking it! Actually, she doesn't even offer it to me, it's just assumed. She pops her head into my room after breakfast & says "listo?" (ready?) and we go. It's great. Even on the weekends when I'm meeting up with my friends somewhere they offer me rides and tell me if I need a ride home, just call. So I do! It saves a lot of time, effort, and money on taxis. Plus, my host mom does all my laundry each weekend & last time she even hung up my clothes for me. I make my bed each morning, but I haven't had much practice & don't do the best job, so the housekeeper lady who comes re-makes my bed for me. My host mom serves me food & clears my dishes, which is actually really awkward for me. She doesn't seem to mind but it feels like I'm at a restaurant or something. Whenever I try to take my dishes to the counter she always protests but I've just started doing it anyway. The whole situation is great, plus they have the cutest granddaughter ever. I'm not sure if I think she's extra cute just because she speaks in Spanish & I can't ever really tell when she's whining or complaining but everything she says kills me. I'm starting to get to the point where I understand pretty much everything she says now too, which is good because it was kind of frustrating to have taken Spanish for 6 years or so & not be able to understand a 3 year old who is still learning how to talk!

I can't say if my Spanish is really improving yet or not but I'm definitely getting more comfortable using what I do know which is good. I can easily tell a taxi driver where I need to go, plus small talk, and order at restaurants, etc, and I can generally talk to people without too much trouble. Some people don't have enough patience to wait for me to conjugate verbs in my head but I've gotten better at shortening the pauses between words.

There are political advertisements on the television all the time because it's almost election time and they brought up an interesting conversation at lunch the other day. My host mother asked me if there were as many political ads in the U.S. so I told her last year there were because of the presidential election but now there isn't much politically to advertise for. So that got them talking about the U.S. presidential election & I told them it was the first time I was able to vote so it was really exciting for me. They were very interested in who I voted for & when I told them Obama it was obvious that was the answer they were hoping for. My host mother & my sister both exclaimed, "Oh! We just love him!" and my host mother told me she thought Obama was "muy guapo" and my host sister thought he was "muy intelligente." This led into a discussion about race in America because they were curious if a lot of people didn't like Obama because of his skin color. I explained that I knew a lot of people who didn't like Obama, but it was because I was from a super conservative state & they thought his ideas were "loco." I tried to explain racism in the U.S. to them the way that I saw it: that it was a very big deal to have an African American president but most people around my age weren't very concerned with race & didn't pay it much attention, but there were still some people from an older generation that held racist ideas because that's how they were raised, and a few of these people had passed their beliefs onto their children, but for the most part racism wasn't as prevalent as it might seem to people who only get a glimpse of life in the U.S. through tv & movies. The housekeeper saw the U.S. in black & white, literally, and was surprised to learn that there were races from all over the world living in the states. She started naming off countries asking if there were people in the U.S. from each country & when my house mom said there were people from "todo el mundo" she couldn't seem to believe it! Then they told me there wasn't really a problem with racism in Mexico but they had a big problem with discriminating against lower social & economic classes.

I wanted to say it's hard to have a racism problem when you only really have one race! I know that's not completely true, but it sure feels that way when I walk home from school & get such confused looks from people. I feel like I should have a third arm growing out of the center of my chest the way people look at me. It's like they can't figure me out! My friend Eric, from Minnesota, is really tall & sticks out like a sore thumb. People frequently ask to take pictures with him, along with another girl in one of my classes who's Japanese. The best is my friend Ally, who's from North Carolina & African American, was walking down the street when two girls told her she had pretty hair (it's braided) then asked to take a picture with her. She was kind of confused but said yes, then they took one of her braids, held it up & pointed to it with huge open mouthed grins of excitement! I don't know what I would have done! But for the most part, even the amateur paparazzi of Mexico have all been very friendly & welcoming once they get over their shock, curiosity, excitement, or whatever feeling it is that drives someone to ask to take a picture with a complete stranger.

and some more recent pictures for your viewing pleasure:

^ one of the cabezas colasales from the Museum of Anthropology here in Xalapa. Xalapa is full of culture & history (not to mention museums!) and this museum is full of sculptures & artifacts from all the different cultures in Mexico & Veracruz before the Spanish invasion. ^

^this tiny little bug eyed guy is the God of the Dead. He was my favorite.^

^ I don't know this lady's official name, but she's the God of childbirth & they believed that if a woman died during childbirth she became a God. So there was a bunch of different Gods like these, like 10 sculptures in the museum alone. But I thought she was pretty neat. ^

^ picture of an ultrasound office for my mom ^
^ two of the girls in my program at one of the many parks in Xalapa, Los Lagos. It's beautiful ^