Apathetic when the time is right

I have learned from my FLLT 326 class that I am incredibly apathetic during an organized game. Our professor in this class (mind you, classes are an hour and forty minutes here) divides us up into teams, and we compete to see who remembers the most minute details about a spanish author. 

My pros/cons list on this topic:

Pro: I have actually retained information.

Con: The information is printed from Wikipedia.

Pro: It's a huge break from an hour and forty minute lecture.

Con: Our prize is a piece of candy...or a cheer, sung by the losing team.

For instance, today we went outside and were divided into two teams of three and four. We then had about 30 slips of information on Carlos Fuentes (printed from Wikipedia!!). Our professor would ask us a question, we searched for the right slip of paper, ran to a tree, touched it, ran back, and gave her the correct answer.

Somehow, I'm not too disturbed by this, but I really should be. It's pretty ridiculous to think that that is a college class.

Anyways, I'm still loving Mexico. The weather hasn't changed too much, though it did rain for the first time this week-it was only a light sprinkle for about an hour.  

My Mexican culture note: it seems as though they are very fond of triple milk cakes - we celebrated LeRon's birthday this week and on the day before at midnight, Rachel presented the first triple leche cake. Then, the following day, at his house - his family brought out the same cake. It's this very moist layered cake, which I am not a fan of.

Spring break is only two weeks away today (so excited)! I'm planning on going to Guatemala to hike in the countryside, see some volcanoes, and sleep in a tent! And, it seems like Mary will be coming along - the fourteen hour bus ride to the border will be so much better. 

Speaking of trips, we're going to Oaxaca this weekend, and speaking of Oaxaca, I need to go pack.

Viernes es el fin de la semana!

I can't figure out how to use UDLA's library system, so I just end up walking aimlessly around the library looking for books. I tried using the database search, and after finding a book, was told that it didn't exist in the library. I'm not saying that I've given up, but I have now reverted to using UD's online articles. I'll figure this out one of these days. In the meantime, I'll be enjoying UD's online article database.

So, I started this post probably an hour ago, but after answering the doorbell, became incredibly distracted by my laundry and a conversation about life and such with my Mexican father. Me gusta mi padre mucho. P.s. he's a huge Obama fan, and utterly unimpressed by the fence that the U.S. wants to build to separate Mexico from the United States. I'm pretty sure that a fence is a very poor solution to this problem as well. I do have a controversial analogy about the subject....but,

But anyways, today was no-class Friday (as every Friday is), so we went on a day-trip in an unnecessarily huge tour bus to two churches. We went to Tontantzintla: though it looks like an ordinary Mexican church on the outside, inside is extremely ornate and barroque. For the other church, we only went inside the tunnels underneath and walked around.

Well, enjoy the photos!

Leron and Christina going down the steps on their butts....cutest thing.




























P.s. I swear I'll get better with my picture placement - in the meantime, know that I'm trying.

Soy Otono!

     The honeymoon phase of Mexico continues, and I am enjoying each day more and more. It definitely has much to do with the 80 degree days and having class while lying in the grass under palm trees. And, tonight, I came home and watched the lunar eclipse with my family. My mom and I sat in the car and watched as the moon slowly faded away. I find it incredible that a family can take someone in and make them feel as I do. I was certainly worried before the trip about all of this, but it's more than I could have expected.

     After classes today, LeRon, Andrew, and I went to the market in order to photograph the food for a class project. It's more tame than the market in Peru; however, I had a much stronger reaction to this one. It may have been because as I was perusing the beans, all of a sudden I was staring right at 5 chicken heads. And at the next table over, the heads were attached to the bodies but they were hanging limply over the counter. But, I haven't been faring well with seeing larva and other insects during class...so it may have something to do with me being uneasy with the whole animal kingdom today. After being complete tourists and taking enough pictures for the project, we began our hunt for a restaurant (mostly so that the boys could have quesadillas and margaritas).

     In other news, I'm becoming a salsa aficionado - so far we've only had two classes, but I've thoroughly learned a few steps. Tomorrow's class will surely place me at the salsa expert phase, or so I've told LeRon's family.

     So, some Mexican culture/living differences that I've noticed include the constant fireworks at night - my dad told me that it's because everyone's having a fiesta all of the time. Also, none of the Mexicans sit out in the grass, like us gringos do. They walk by, stare, and we just simply bask in the sun, enjoying the beautiful days. There's also an array of feathered birds (peacocks, ducks, geese, etc) that roam around campus - LeRon and I saw one male peacock doing a dance for three females. Despite his attempts, he wasn't able to woo any of them. Needless to say, we were a little disappointed.

     And finally, my lesson of the day: Though I'm improving on my Spanish, I still slip up, and there may have been a few more mistakes today than usual. But, I've learned that as long as you can laugh at yourself and as long as I'm trying to become a better Spanish speaker, then it doesn't matter.

Speaking in spanish all day can be cumbersome, especially when you can't communicate exactly what you want to say. 

Though this is true, I'm really enjoying Mexico. It's strange- before going to Peru, I imagined this rich, wealthy land, yet it was the opposite of everything I expected- the poverty rate was well over 50% and all the people that I spoke with explained how difficult their lives were. But here in Mexico, I asked my host mom in our walk to school about poverty our town. She told me that poverty isn't too much of a problem in Puebla; however, in other areas of Mexico, it definitely is (of course we know that). The affluence is evident in most of the home: they have large gates in front and inside of mine, like most, is this magnificent garden. So, my family: I have three sisters, all in their late 20s, and their 9 and 11 year old cousins come over all the time. The two families are really close, especially because last year the girl's mom died. So, they usually come for breakfast. But, they help make a large house seem more cozy, and according to my father, Angelica and I are only allowed to speak in Spanglish- her English and me Spanish.

My host father is great. We do have a little bit of a language barrier, he's still able to make me laugh. He watched me the whole time that I drank my warm milk tonight, in anticipation that I wouldn't like it. Then, when I explained that I enjoyed it, he thought that I was too nervous to dislike something. The whole family really likes to stare me down when I'm eating a new food - like the fruit tonight. I've got to say, it's a little uncomfortable, and thankfully all of their new fruit/warm milk are delicious.

After our orientation today, I was picked up by my parents. We were talking, and of course I missed a piece of the conversation. I was explaining that driving home is much slower than walking, and they began to laugh because we were going into the city to go to the "super" aka super walmart (inside, they let me choose my own cereal - you're jealous, I know).

In other news, we rode in a double decker bus to tour the city, ate a five course meal, of which I could only eat 2 courses, and were introduced to the campus of the university that we'll be studying.