4:15 was a rather early wake up thanks to Mom’s flight. She got up and got going and I waited in bed until she was ready to leave. Then we walked to the elevator and she got in but it closed really quickly so our good byes were rushed a little by the closing metal doors. Then she came out on the floor below us (which was not the main floor). I guess I had been working the elevator if and when we used it. Piso Bajo (PB) didn’t have the same significance as G for ground floor. Anyway we managed to get it so that she was headed down to the main floor and out to the airport.
I went to sleep after that for another two hours til 6:45 at which point it was abruptly back to the grind. I fit the rest of my stuff somehow into a carryable stance and did just that: carried everything to the bus stop. I had my weighty backpack and my laptop case, my purse, another plastic bag, and this blue gift bag filled to the brim which I had to carry in both hands and not by the handle. As you might be able to imagine at this point, all this stuff is not a good combination for a bus. Especially a bus that is *very* packed. That meant that I didn’t even really have time to adjust all my stuff before someone sat down next to me which, at one point in time the poor lady next to me was holding my gift bag full of stuff. There really just wasn’t enough room!
To make matters a little worse, I was afraid I wouldn’t be able to gather my stuff in time to get off at my stop. Instead, I ended up on the flip side of the coin. I stood up, got everything together, and then had a ways to go. And because I didn’t have any hands free, it was really confusing on when I wanted to get off. So I went a little further but then a lot more people stood up to get off and I just got off the bus somewhere around 8 blocks from my house. So in the already really hot morning I carried all my stuff to the house but all the same managed to make it back…even if my arms were trembling in the end.
I actually made it back with enough time that I was able to unpack somewhat before heading off to school. And when I got there, I gave the rural anthropology exposition I was supposed to give last week. Over all, that presentation didn’t go swimmingly well but I stumbled through it and then the professor kind of summarized things. It’s all good, in that class I’ll get the grade for the effort.
After that, or rather during that class, Mom got to Houston intact, no problems except for a heavy carry on hehe. And I ate lunch, and went to Spanish class where we talked about the subjunctive which passed the time pretty quickly. And by the time it ended, at about 4 o’clock, I was actually rather hungry so Chelsea and I decided to drop by Plaza Fiesta where I got a bagel with cream cheese which was really good in that that hasn’t really been an optional food since I’ve been here. The guy I ordered it from seemed really baffled that that was all I wanted: no tomato, no nothing on it, just cream cheese.
And that was the fun of the day. When I got back I worked on my essay test for Migrations that was due the next day. The first question went really well, and then things progressively got shorter as the evening wore on and I began to care a little less. Not exactly shooting for an A in this class. Doesn’t transfer to my gpa anyway… and one C in my college career might not kill me…hopefully ^.~
At 11 I was finished. The day was kind of long, and I was really tired. And so I went to bed and slept with some intentions to get up in the morning and maybe look over the essay-test a little more in the morning.
Cheers! <3 Kate
Friday, February 27, 2009
Wednesday, February 25, 2009
February 25, 2009
Final Day :(
We put as much time into this day as humanly possible. We started at 5:30AM since we had to catch a taxi to the bus station. I didn’t think it would be too safe to be walking through the streets that early in the morning. We were out the door at 6AM and on our way to Chichen Itza by 6:30. The bus ride was a very pleasant one, I think we had the new bus, it had the “new” smell, and great air conditioning.
The bus let us out around 8:15 at Chichen Itza and our tour of the Mayan ruins began. All the pictures will be on face book sometime next week when Katelyn gets a chance to load them all. She has a full week ahead. The ruins and history are amazing. The carvings in the walls are still viewable after all these years. We toured around 4 hours or so. It was an extremely hot day. I think I was dripping wet by the end of the day; One of the things that caught us by surprise was all the individuals who were selling their goods. I honestly thought we’d go there and other than a T-shirt there wouldn’t be anything to purchase….that couldn’t have been further from the truth.
While waited for the last bit of time to go by until the bus arrived we saw a guy and girl doing Mexican dancing with bottles on their heads and then trays of glasses. Hard to believe someone could balance all that and dance at the same time. We were to meet the bus at 2:20 and we were out there waiting at 2:10. We started to worry at 2:33 when we hadn’t seen the bus. So we started walking up towards the entrance gate and a guy came running out from behind the buses yelling “Merida, going to Merida” We were relieved that we hadn’t missed it some how. The ride back was wonderfully cool and relaxing.
Upon arriving back at the bus station we caught a cab back to the hotel, we were exhausted from the hot day and the thought of 20 more hot blocks wasn’t in the least appealing.. Katelyn had us take a taxi out front of the bus station instead of the taxi service connected to the bus station and it saved us ½ of what we spent in the morning. (20 pesos) Isn’t she a smart girl She’s really learning the ins and outs of Mexico. We quickly showered and headed to out last dinner together. We went back to the out door restaurant we spent our first evening together and from there we headed back to Plaza Grande for one final hurrah! The Plaza was still a buzz being the last and final day of Carnaval. I’ll always remember this beautiful center with hand carved bushes in circles and squares and the birds that make squealing noises.
Back to the hotel to put the finishing touches on packing, squeezing things in and hoping my bag isn’t over the weight limit. I made a mistake by not bringing a bigger purse. Bob you’ll be proud of me though, I had the opportunity to buy a nice big bag today, and I was so tempted knowing it would make packing easier but I resisted.
So my last night in Merida, Mexico. This has been a most amazing week. Katelyn and I have had one great day together after another. One laugh after another and one adventure after another. Adios Merida, te quiero!!
Besos y Abrazos,
Kate & Sunny <3
We put as much time into this day as humanly possible. We started at 5:30AM since we had to catch a taxi to the bus station. I didn’t think it would be too safe to be walking through the streets that early in the morning. We were out the door at 6AM and on our way to Chichen Itza by 6:30. The bus ride was a very pleasant one, I think we had the new bus, it had the “new” smell, and great air conditioning.
The bus let us out around 8:15 at Chichen Itza and our tour of the Mayan ruins began. All the pictures will be on face book sometime next week when Katelyn gets a chance to load them all. She has a full week ahead. The ruins and history are amazing. The carvings in the walls are still viewable after all these years. We toured around 4 hours or so. It was an extremely hot day. I think I was dripping wet by the end of the day; One of the things that caught us by surprise was all the individuals who were selling their goods. I honestly thought we’d go there and other than a T-shirt there wouldn’t be anything to purchase….that couldn’t have been further from the truth.
While waited for the last bit of time to go by until the bus arrived we saw a guy and girl doing Mexican dancing with bottles on their heads and then trays of glasses. Hard to believe someone could balance all that and dance at the same time. We were to meet the bus at 2:20 and we were out there waiting at 2:10. We started to worry at 2:33 when we hadn’t seen the bus. So we started walking up towards the entrance gate and a guy came running out from behind the buses yelling “Merida, going to Merida” We were relieved that we hadn’t missed it some how. The ride back was wonderfully cool and relaxing.
Upon arriving back at the bus station we caught a cab back to the hotel, we were exhausted from the hot day and the thought of 20 more hot blocks wasn’t in the least appealing.. Katelyn had us take a taxi out front of the bus station instead of the taxi service connected to the bus station and it saved us ½ of what we spent in the morning. (20 pesos) Isn’t she a smart girl She’s really learning the ins and outs of Mexico. We quickly showered and headed to out last dinner together. We went back to the out door restaurant we spent our first evening together and from there we headed back to Plaza Grande for one final hurrah! The Plaza was still a buzz being the last and final day of Carnaval. I’ll always remember this beautiful center with hand carved bushes in circles and squares and the birds that make squealing noises.
Back to the hotel to put the finishing touches on packing, squeezing things in and hoping my bag isn’t over the weight limit. I made a mistake by not bringing a bigger purse. Bob you’ll be proud of me though, I had the opportunity to buy a nice big bag today, and I was so tempted knowing it would make packing easier but I resisted.
So my last night in Merida, Mexico. This has been a most amazing week. Katelyn and I have had one great day together after another. One laugh after another and one adventure after another. Adios Merida, te quiero!!
Besos y Abrazos,
Kate & Sunny <3
Tuesday, February 24, 2009
February 24, 2009
So we woke up late this morning due to our excellent night last night. And thanks to Mom’s ingenious idea for putting the “don’t-come-knock-at-9-AM-to-see-if-we-have-laundry” sign on our door, we got up at 10. We moseyed on downstairs for breakfast and then back upstairs for showers and to get changed before the parade.
As it was though, we were rather out of luck when, at 12 o’clock, we were looking for a spot to watch the final Carnaval parade. This was rather unfortunate. Oddly enough, though there were a lot of still empty seats, they were all taken: paid for in advance where the people had tickets.
For a little while, we managed to squeeze behind a fence, but this seemed somehow particularly striking as a separation. This left us without really being able to “experience” the parade or really interact at all, even though we had a few left over beads from last night. That being the case, we decided to walk down to Paseo Montejo and see what was going on down there. Maybe we could get a better spot, or at least something would be happening. We ended up in a shady spot, sitting on some steps but really not able to see the parade, however enjoying the little children all dressed up for the day.
The way the city was recycling all the beer cans from the 5 day Carnaval was by allowing you to turn them in for shirts, ball caps and other hats all with the special Caranaval Logo. Katelyn had seen this the first night we were there, but the trick was you had to turn in 5 empty beer cans to get it, so we passed on that. Now today we realized that one mans trash is another mans treasure. There was a man standing near the tent where you turned in your cans. He had 2 trash bags of beer cans. So I said to Katelyn “go over there and ask him if we can buy some of those cans” So she asked and we actually bought empty beer cans from this man, 40 pesos for 20 beer cans so we could get shirts and ball caps. I never thought I’d see the day where I’d buy empty beer cans but I guess now I can say I’ll buy just about anything. Hey Bob…..I’m really trying to keep the spending in check, you can blame Katelyn for the trash purchase, she “had to have” those shirts. You know how Katelyn is, she can’t throw away anything and I told her before she left not to bring home any trash, (candy wrappers in Spanish etc.) so I guess she putting her behavior in reverse.
We decided to call it day from Carnaval and headed back to the hotel where we rested at the pool and then headed up to the room to check into the cost of going to Chichen Itza. We ended up having to walk all the way over to the bus station which is a good 20 blocks away in order to buy the tickets but it all worked out. On the way back, we took a slightly different route and ended up right in the middle of an actual carnival where they were selling food full force with rides and games. In the end, we were swayed by very compelling aromas of churros and marquesitas for a “little” snack followed by some yucatecan ice cream which we had yet to buy while we’ve been here.
So actually making it back to the room, we thought one of the things we had bought while we’d been here had gone missing. We found it after tearing the room apart though …twice. So we were all set. Mom actually organized her luggage a little so hopefully that won’t be too much of a chore tomorrow evening and we can just enjoy ourselves. I’m really hoping that she isn’t too far over the weight limit (oops…)
And that’s where we are for the night. Writing up the blog, possibly going to watch a movie, possibly going to go have dinner and Ta-Da. That’ll be a wrap for Tuesday.
We did actually decide to get a little bit of dinner before settling in for the night. Because it's rather cold tonight, we went to the restaurant downstairs and ate there. It's always very nice when we eat there. They really make an effort to make sure everything is wonderful and open the door when you leave. It's a really great hotel in case anyone is planning on staying in Merida. =)
Love & Cheers,
Kate and Sunny
February 23, 2009
Today started off as usual with breakfast then we headed to El Banko para Dinerio.(to the bank for money). The rest of the day was spent walking around Plaza Grande shopping. Because of Carnaval there are many vendors.
The big event for today was Carnaval. Yesterday when we were in Progress we talked with this guy (Tomas) who pegged us right away as tourists. He was telling us that Carnaval in Merida was the 3rd largest celebration for Carnaval and how he and his family get a table at La Paranda restaurant for the evening and bring beads for bargaining for what is being thrown from the floats. He said he had a couple of open spots if we wanted to join them. So about 5pm Katelyn and I went over to La Paranda and sure enough he and his family and some friends were there. Sure enough they were all wearing massive beads. Now the whole reason we are there is to see how the beads work for bargaining so we had to figure out how to get the beads. Tomas informed us that his mom brings the over from the states and we’d have to ask his mom for them. We were willing to purchase them from her if needed to join in the experience but when Katelyn asked her about them she gave her two packages. Now we were in the game .
Before the parade started, clowns came out to entertain the crowd with their antics. They were jumping over each other, and generally just…well…clowning around. Luis and Tomas weren’t about to be left out of the game, however, and they started interacting with the crowd, too. They threw beads into the bleachers, and then started a contest based on where you were sitting for which side could be the loudest before throwing another set into the stands.
With all those antics, the parade seemed to get underway pretty quickly. Soon there were traditional garbed flocks of people marching down the street. Little girls and boys mixed in with the grandmothers. Beads were doled out readily to cute faces.
And then came the Corona/Sol girls. Beads were thrown. There were attempts at bargaining for t-shirts. We did actually manage to get one which was fantastic, though there was some serious reluctance to part with the t-shirts on the side of some of the float-riders. Something almost equally as spectacular is I did get to give beads to the Joker.
At the end of the evening, everyone meandered down to Pasejo Montejo for some band-action. Luis was leading us to the stage where his band was supposed to play, but instead there were two fat guys “singing” which generally involved more talking than singing. We waited for a while to see if things were going to get changed up, and eventually some choreographed dancers came on the scene but there still wasn’t any real music for dancing and stuff. But it was around one when we got to the hotel, anyway.
I’d like to point out that I did manage to stay up past Mom. She conked out pretty quickly when we got back. I needed to digest a little more caffeine before I could hit the hay.
It was pretty much fantastic the whole thing: definitely well worth the change in plans that we kept making throughout the day for what we were going to do. =)
I also have a link for you all for pictures on facebook. I apologize if some of them are a little dark, but hey, what can you do? it's night time, hehe:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2027664&id=47802150&l=6ae0f
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2027671&id=47802150&l=d589a
Cheers & Love ~ Kate and Sunny
The big event for today was Carnaval. Yesterday when we were in Progress we talked with this guy (Tomas) who pegged us right away as tourists. He was telling us that Carnaval in Merida was the 3rd largest celebration for Carnaval and how he and his family get a table at La Paranda restaurant for the evening and bring beads for bargaining for what is being thrown from the floats. He said he had a couple of open spots if we wanted to join them. So about 5pm Katelyn and I went over to La Paranda and sure enough he and his family and some friends were there. Sure enough they were all wearing massive beads. Now the whole reason we are there is to see how the beads work for bargaining so we had to figure out how to get the beads. Tomas informed us that his mom brings the over from the states and we’d have to ask his mom for them. We were willing to purchase them from her if needed to join in the experience but when Katelyn asked her about them she gave her two packages. Now we were in the game .
Before the parade started, clowns came out to entertain the crowd with their antics. They were jumping over each other, and generally just…well…clowning around. Luis and Tomas weren’t about to be left out of the game, however, and they started interacting with the crowd, too. They threw beads into the bleachers, and then started a contest based on where you were sitting for which side could be the loudest before throwing another set into the stands.
With all those antics, the parade seemed to get underway pretty quickly. Soon there were traditional garbed flocks of people marching down the street. Little girls and boys mixed in with the grandmothers. Beads were doled out readily to cute faces.
And then came the Corona/Sol girls. Beads were thrown. There were attempts at bargaining for t-shirts. We did actually manage to get one which was fantastic, though there was some serious reluctance to part with the t-shirts on the side of some of the float-riders. Something almost equally as spectacular is I did get to give beads to the Joker.
At the end of the evening, everyone meandered down to Pasejo Montejo for some band-action. Luis was leading us to the stage where his band was supposed to play, but instead there were two fat guys “singing” which generally involved more talking than singing. We waited for a while to see if things were going to get changed up, and eventually some choreographed dancers came on the scene but there still wasn’t any real music for dancing and stuff. But it was around one when we got to the hotel, anyway.
I’d like to point out that I did manage to stay up past Mom. She conked out pretty quickly when we got back. I needed to digest a little more caffeine before I could hit the hay.
It was pretty much fantastic the whole thing: definitely well worth the change in plans that we kept making throughout the day for what we were going to do. =)
I also have a link for you all for pictures on facebook. I apologize if some of them are a little dark, but hey, what can you do? it's night time, hehe:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2027664&id=47802150&l=6ae0f
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2027671&id=47802150&l=d589a
Cheers & Love ~ Kate and Sunny
Monday, February 23, 2009
February 22, 2009
Breakfast down stairs in the restaurant, where we are now recognized, (for wanting to pay twice hehehee) started our day. I’m hoping to get pictures tomorrow of the fruit carvings that done each day as decorations for the buffet. There was a chicken made from pineapple and tribal face from a watermelon. Can’t wait to see what tomorrows will be. You can really tell here that the chef takes a lot of pride in his food preparation.
Upon finishing breakfast we changed into our beach clothes and headed out for a walk to catch the bus to Progresso Beach. Normally the bus station is fairly close about 5 blocks but because of Carnaval the road was shut down for the parade this morning so we had to walk another 5 blocks to where the bus was leaving. The bus to Progresso is very nice, like a Greyhound bus and the ride was about 45 minutes. Progresso is similar to San Diego but here they have grass umbrellas out on the beach with tables and chairs where you can order a meal; we had dinner after taking in some sun and shopping.
Today there was a parade in Progresso for Carnaval. It was much smaller than the ones we had seen the last two evenings but fun all the same. The second time the parade came through we were like “wow here are the floats again” and then about 45 minutes later, they came through again and this went on the entire day. The people riding the floats and throwing candy and gum were just as enthusiastic the last time as the first and the crowd was just as excited to receive the treats. We lucked into a piece of bubble gum today. Our day was very low key, just resting, taking in the sun and watching the people care for the seagulls. Interesting enough they love feeding them. The gulls hover and the people throw stuff up to them and they catch it mid air. It really seems the people enjoy feeding them which is so the opposite in the US. If I remember correctly we don’t like to feed the seagulls because they won’t leave you alone. The vendors were out strong today at the beach selling food, dresses, belts and lots of jewelry.
We headed back to El Centro around sixish and stopped by Plaza Grande for the ever elusive churro before calling it a day. We lucked out to find a lady fixing them so we got them hot out of the pan…yummy. That's what's going on in the picture above.
Another blessed day. Beautiful, fun and exciting.
When we made it back to the hotel room, we discovered that Mom has much more stamina for the day than I do. The past couple nights have generally involved me conking out while she’s writing the blog just exhausted. Before we hit the hay though, we did paint out fingernails so now we have pretty fingers and toes =D
Cheers! <3 Kate and Sunny
Sunday, February 22, 2009
February 21, 2009
This morning started out not too early: about 9 o’clock. Mom and I went down to breakfast at the restaurant here in the hotel. We have vouchers so we get to eat for free, which is great, but yesterday there was apparently a little confusion with when exactly Mom was supposed to give the voucher to the waiter. At the very beginning, the guy went ahead and took it from her, but when she was trying to leave someone asked her if she’d paid, so there was a little confusion over the word voucher (ticket is a better known word) and it wasn’t a problem.
That being the case, when we went down there this morning, the waiter asked for the “ticket” and I asked in return about when we were actually supposed to give it because of what had happened yesterday. He assured me that there wasn’t actually a problem and I could go ahead and give it to him now. Of course, he also said, if she wanted to pay twice then that was perfectly fine as well; he’d let her. When we went to leave however, the waiter stopped my mom and the door and said,
“Excuse me, did you pay?”
My mom looked at him and began to explain but the waiter and I just began to giggle: it was a joke; he was the one that we had explained to about the ticket and was just giving her a hard time.
After breakfast we headed up to get ready to have lunch with Katelyn’s host family. We wanted to take flowers as a hostess gift so we walked about 8 blocks to the florist. Now the side walks here are very narrow and I forgot to mention yesterday I seriously escaped getting hit by a car by about an inch when I stepped into the street to give space for someone coming from the opposite direction to pass, so today instead of walking next to Katelyn she led the way and I followed. We did find the flower shop where we bought the flowers and then caught a taxi to the house. Now during the taxi ride Katelyn is getting very upset because the meter is going “muy rapido” as she tells the driver. More so than other taxi’s she’s taken. She really begins to get concerned when he takes a turn she isn’t familiar with. She’s telling me she doesn’t know where we are and that this is going to cost us a lot more than normal. So I’m thinking okay well…..we’ve made an error, mistakes happen,. As it turns out he lets us off at a Carl’s Jr. Now the meter showed we owed 230 pesos for a ride Katelyn said should have been about 50 pesos. Then he tells us that the cost is 50pesos so we were relieved but totally confused. From there we walked about 2 blocks to the host family house. Their home is very nice and we were greeted with hugs. They served us a wonderful lunch with poc chuc which was pork and then we had empeanadas filled with beans or chicken that you put this wonderful sauce and onion over. I thanked them for having Katelyn and they stated she was a wonderful guest and they enjoyed having her. I believe they do as they seek things for her they know she enjoys like today they bought her guanabana ice cream, they bought coconut for me.
After lunch Leticia, the host mom, gave us a ride to the Altabrisa, which was wonderful mall, much like Towson and nothing like the Frederick mall. Then we caught the bus to Plaza Fiesta which is a smaller mall, had a treat from the bakery and the caught another bus to El Centro. Now here’s the thing, you can catch a bus to El Centro but you never really know where it’s going to let you off, so we got off at the bus station which seemed to be the end of the route and was about 15 blocks from our hotel.
During our walk back to the hotel the excitement for El Carnaval parade had begun, people were already taking their seats and as we passed a restaurant, the maître Dee offered us a table for 30pesos, meaning you had to order that much food and drink to sit there. So we hurried back to the hotel, dropped off some of our stuff and headed back to the restaurant. Now these seats were wonderful, right on the parade route and dinner was part of the plan so ate, drank and enjoyed the parade. We did good tonight…we caught beads, a Carnaval T-shirt and a couple snacks and a cup.
After the parade we headed over to plaza grande about 2 blocks away for churros which don’t seem to travel like the other foods available on the street. Then back to the hotel for a good nights rest for tomorrow holds a day at La Playa (the beach).
A note to Clare and Bob … our magic jack connection here is very low in the room so calling is probably not going to be a possibility. We are thinking of you two and wishing you were both here to enjoy all the fun. We love you! Xoxo
Oh one quick note, here during Carnaval, the children dress up in costume and the adults where fun head pieces. That‘s what Katelyn and I have on in the pic posted.
We are having a BLAST!!
Cheers! <3 Kate & Sunny
Saturday, February 21, 2009
February 20, 2009
Happy Birthday MOM! =D For me the morning started before six, and I was off to school with a quick “I’ll be back in a couple hours.” Went to school (didn’t actually present…go figure) and then on the way back I picked up a tres leches cake I had ordered last week for Mom’s birthday. Well…this was supposed to be a special tres leches cake because I had asked for them to make me one with coconut on it since coconut cake is Mom’s special birthday cake. When I got to the Pasteleria though, the girl didn’t seem to know what I was talking about even though I showed her the receipt. Then she just gave me a cake which I tried to ask her how she knew it had coconut on it, but she just said “oh they told me this one had coconut” …after asking if I was sure that this was the place I had ordered it from. Oh well, the cake was still good, and while Mom and I were walking around later we went in and the lady I had actually ordered it from was there and she already knew about the mistake and apologized profusely, saying that she hadn’t been there and that she was sorry the girl had treated me poorly and gave me the difference in change for the coconut. That’s just a few more pesos we can spend elsewhere ^.^
As Katelyn left for school I got my day started by putting together her ½ way bag. Amazingly enough everything fit into the one bag I had originally bought. Then I proceeded to unpack, thinking “I’m going to be here a whole week I might as well put stuff away and not live out of the suitcase. When I looked out the window this morning I noticed how different everything looks in the morning. The buildings are very colorful something you don’t notice at night. Then I headed down for breakfast where I had some of the best coffee I’ve ever had and tried some new breakfast items. The buffet was full of fruit and other what we consider non breakfast foods in the states.
While waiting for Katelyn to return I had time to enjoy the beautiful aviary outside our room while reading the new book Clare had tucked into my suitcase for my birthday. While reading I saw a young man who looked to be with maintance, I thought I should mention our air conditioner was leaking water and the towels I had put down were overly soaked. So he told another man who came and I thought fixed it. (more on that to come) . Around 11;30 Katelyn came in with a wonderful birthday cake, we shared a piece and then headed out to get some lunch. We ate in the beautiful outdoor restaurant that was built around this huge tree. I had a picture taken of us there but we are having trouble downloading the pics so hopefully we will be able to put them up later. Katelyn dropped her purse and it had a soda in it that got all over her camera so we aren’t sure if the problem is not being able to transfer the card from one camera to the other or if it’s the soda did in the camera. Anyway after having a great lunch we headed over to Plaza Grande which is really like park but full of vendors. I picked up a few items there and then we walked through buildings full of vendors selling everything from fresh fruits and vegetables to shoes. We wanted to get some churros but Katelyn informed me “The churros only come out at night” hehehee so they were nowhere to be found. Returning to the hotel Colonial to drop stuff off we were told our airconditioner wasn’t working and they moved us to another room. Of course that meant packing everything up again and we laughed because it seemed like we already had more than what we could fit in the bags we had brought. But the gentleman helped us move our stuff and we are currently in room much the same but with a better airconditioner.
Now our plan was to find this little shop Katelyn had been told of to purchase a birthday gift for her host sister and then head to Carnaval- the big party in the street. Well we got on the first bus, and I was thinking I hadn’t ridden a bus for transportation since Disney World and this bus sounded like it was going to fall apart, but we arrived safely to where the store we were looking for no longer was. So now the plan was to figure out how to get to Carnaval….The ladies at the bus stop told us that this bus would take us there “just tell the driver to tell you where to get off” so we boarded a bus already full so we stood holding on for dear life and then we stopped picked up more people, and then stopped again more people got on, stopped again more people on all the while we are now standing in the very back of the bus unable to hear the bus driving tell us where to get off so we ask the men in the back of the bus “Donde es Carnaval?” Get off a little further down so we road a little longer, looking at each other like “ok when do we get off” but then we crossed an intersection where we could see Carnaval but the bus kept going. Eventually it did stop a couple blocks down so we hopped off made our way there. For Carnaval they block off miles of street and there are food vendors and beer vendors every 3ft. We decided our dinner would be a little of everything they had to offer so we started off with a marquesitos, which was a thin pancake with cheese rolled up, next hot dogs and fries but they were like octopus hot dogs that had been fried, quibies (pronounced “kibis”) which was like a big hush puppy that left us wanting something else, which led us to churros (that were out in full force everywhere you looked) made fresh right there and wonderfully good, Tamales and tacos al pastor which were very very good. Now keep in mind we were sharing everything so hopefully we didn’t eat as much as you think we did.
Amazingly enough here the city sets up 1000’s of seat for people to view the parade. So we found great seats in front of a stage. Of course, we were there rather early…the parade started at 7 PM Mexico time (which, as I forgot to remember and inform Mom, means it probably started around 7:30 or so) and we were there at 5 o’clock. That being the case though, we did have front row seats—front row seats we didn’t have to pay for:
Not long after we sat down, a lady came and sat next to us and several of her family members sat around us. We asked if they wanted to all sit together but she said no, that this was fine. Around 6:30, with more people arriving, she started charging people 30 pesos a seat. 30 pesos to sit in chairs that the city had already set up…hah!
I’m pretty sure that’s just part of the culture here. Wherever you can make a buck (read: peso) you do it. If that means charging people for seats that aren’t yours, then hey, go for it. Who’s going to tell you otherwise? That’s the basic premise anyway.
The parade finally got to us about 8 o’clock. Of course, in the mean time, Mom, who had almost talked me out of changing into jeans before we left, was cold. =P She did manage to persuade me away from my sweater, though, so I was cold too. I need to learn to stick to my guns: “no, Mom, while it’s warm out now, it gets cold when the sun goes down and the wind blows around,” haha. Oddly enough, no one was selling jackets or anything like that, so we were stuck with the chill.
The parade was amazing though. You’re never going to see anything like it in the Bel Air parade, and I’m pretty sure all the guys who were there were probably drooling like St. Bernards. There were lots of sexy women on those floats, shaking their stuff dressed in as little as possible. Actually I’m pretty sure Star Wars and Batman paraphernalia never looked so sexy.
The theme for this year’s Carnaval is the Cinema. So we saw the Merida Star Wars Fan Club, Luke Skywalker and Darth Vader on stilts, a magnificent Lion King float, Batman, Spider man, a dancing Alka Setzer (not really sure where that fits in), and, of course, a bunch of Corona Dancers. All the floats were really decked out, as Mom said, like Disney World: lights, music, dancers. One actually had fireworks going off from the top of it and the little sparks were falling down into the street! There was a ton of confetti that would be shot out and then swirled around in the air. They threw little cositas out into the crowd; we actually managed to catch a little cloth cooler type bag, an empty coke cup like you’d get at the movies if you ordered a large drink with your popcorn, two packs of globos (which are little cracker type things I’ve eaten in soup here) and something that I think has to do with either opening or holding your beer/soda can.
The whole thing was really amazing and went on for an hour. …and then when we tried to get back to our hotel room it was still going. And then when we tried to go another way it was still going. And then another way it was still going. We’ve decided it’d be better if we just wait til it gets up closer to here instead of walking all the way down to Paseo Montejo (although all the food and stuff is down there so who knows. This time we’ll bring sweaters ^.~).
By the time we did make it back, I was *exhausted.* We went and sat out by the pool for a little bit but then went up and went to bed.
Needless to say I had an amazing birthday…all day.
Cheers! Sunny & Kate <3
As Katelyn left for school I got my day started by putting together her ½ way bag. Amazingly enough everything fit into the one bag I had originally bought. Then I proceeded to unpack, thinking “I’m going to be here a whole week I might as well put stuff away and not live out of the suitcase. When I looked out the window this morning I noticed how different everything looks in the morning. The buildings are very colorful something you don’t notice at night. Then I headed down for breakfast where I had some of the best coffee I’ve ever had and tried some new breakfast items. The buffet was full of fruit and other what we consider non breakfast foods in the states.
While waiting for Katelyn to return I had time to enjoy the beautiful aviary outside our room while reading the new book Clare had tucked into my suitcase for my birthday. While reading I saw a young man who looked to be with maintance, I thought I should mention our air conditioner was leaking water and the towels I had put down were overly soaked. So he told another man who came and I thought fixed it. (more on that to come) . Around 11;30 Katelyn came in with a wonderful birthday cake, we shared a piece and then headed out to get some lunch. We ate in the beautiful outdoor restaurant that was built around this huge tree. I had a picture taken of us there but we are having trouble downloading the pics so hopefully we will be able to put them up later. Katelyn dropped her purse and it had a soda in it that got all over her camera so we aren’t sure if the problem is not being able to transfer the card from one camera to the other or if it’s the soda did in the camera. Anyway after having a great lunch we headed over to Plaza Grande which is really like park but full of vendors. I picked up a few items there and then we walked through buildings full of vendors selling everything from fresh fruits and vegetables to shoes. We wanted to get some churros but Katelyn informed me “The churros only come out at night” hehehee so they were nowhere to be found. Returning to the hotel Colonial to drop stuff off we were told our airconditioner wasn’t working and they moved us to another room. Of course that meant packing everything up again and we laughed because it seemed like we already had more than what we could fit in the bags we had brought. But the gentleman helped us move our stuff and we are currently in room much the same but with a better airconditioner.
Now our plan was to find this little shop Katelyn had been told of to purchase a birthday gift for her host sister and then head to Carnaval- the big party in the street. Well we got on the first bus, and I was thinking I hadn’t ridden a bus for transportation since Disney World and this bus sounded like it was going to fall apart, but we arrived safely to where the store we were looking for no longer was. So now the plan was to figure out how to get to Carnaval….The ladies at the bus stop told us that this bus would take us there “just tell the driver to tell you where to get off” so we boarded a bus already full so we stood holding on for dear life and then we stopped picked up more people, and then stopped again more people got on, stopped again more people on all the while we are now standing in the very back of the bus unable to hear the bus driving tell us where to get off so we ask the men in the back of the bus “Donde es Carnaval?” Get off a little further down so we road a little longer, looking at each other like “ok when do we get off” but then we crossed an intersection where we could see Carnaval but the bus kept going. Eventually it did stop a couple blocks down so we hopped off made our way there. For Carnaval they block off miles of street and there are food vendors and beer vendors every 3ft. We decided our dinner would be a little of everything they had to offer so we started off with a marquesitos, which was a thin pancake with cheese rolled up, next hot dogs and fries but they were like octopus hot dogs that had been fried, quibies (pronounced “kibis”) which was like a big hush puppy that left us wanting something else, which led us to churros (that were out in full force everywhere you looked) made fresh right there and wonderfully good, Tamales and tacos al pastor which were very very good. Now keep in mind we were sharing everything so hopefully we didn’t eat as much as you think we did.
Amazingly enough here the city sets up 1000’s of seat for people to view the parade. So we found great seats in front of a stage. Of course, we were there rather early…the parade started at 7 PM Mexico time (which, as I forgot to remember and inform Mom, means it probably started around 7:30 or so) and we were there at 5 o’clock. That being the case though, we did have front row seats—front row seats we didn’t have to pay for:
Not long after we sat down, a lady came and sat next to us and several of her family members sat around us. We asked if they wanted to all sit together but she said no, that this was fine. Around 6:30, with more people arriving, she started charging people 30 pesos a seat. 30 pesos to sit in chairs that the city had already set up…hah!
I’m pretty sure that’s just part of the culture here. Wherever you can make a buck (read: peso) you do it. If that means charging people for seats that aren’t yours, then hey, go for it. Who’s going to tell you otherwise? That’s the basic premise anyway.
The parade finally got to us about 8 o’clock. Of course, in the mean time, Mom, who had almost talked me out of changing into jeans before we left, was cold. =P She did manage to persuade me away from my sweater, though, so I was cold too. I need to learn to stick to my guns: “no, Mom, while it’s warm out now, it gets cold when the sun goes down and the wind blows around,” haha. Oddly enough, no one was selling jackets or anything like that, so we were stuck with the chill.
The parade was amazing though. You’re never going to see anything like it in the Bel Air parade, and I’m pretty sure all the guys who were there were probably drooling like St. Bernards. There were lots of sexy women on those floats, shaking their stuff dressed in as little as possible. Actually I’m pretty sure Star Wars and Batman paraphernalia never looked so sexy.
The theme for this year’s Carnaval is the Cinema. So we saw the Merida Star Wars Fan Club, Luke Skywalker and Darth Vader on stilts, a magnificent Lion King float, Batman, Spider man, a dancing Alka Setzer (not really sure where that fits in), and, of course, a bunch of Corona Dancers. All the floats were really decked out, as Mom said, like Disney World: lights, music, dancers. One actually had fireworks going off from the top of it and the little sparks were falling down into the street! There was a ton of confetti that would be shot out and then swirled around in the air. They threw little cositas out into the crowd; we actually managed to catch a little cloth cooler type bag, an empty coke cup like you’d get at the movies if you ordered a large drink with your popcorn, two packs of globos (which are little cracker type things I’ve eaten in soup here) and something that I think has to do with either opening or holding your beer/soda can.
The whole thing was really amazing and went on for an hour. …and then when we tried to get back to our hotel room it was still going. And then when we tried to go another way it was still going. And then another way it was still going. We’ve decided it’d be better if we just wait til it gets up closer to here instead of walking all the way down to Paseo Montejo (although all the food and stuff is down there so who knows. This time we’ll bring sweaters ^.~).
By the time we did make it back, I was *exhausted.* We went and sat out by the pool for a little bit but then went up and went to bed.
Needless to say I had an amazing birthday…all day.
Cheers! Sunny & Kate <3
Friday, February 20, 2009
February 19, 2009
Mom arrives in Merida Mexico
There are times when you do what you have to do to see those you love. For me that is flying.
My flight out of Baltimore was a rough one. For the first 15minutes of the flight we hit a lot of turbulence due to high winds, as the captain had warned us just before take off. Our plane was up, down, left , right. I thought for sure I was not going recover but thanks to the patch for motion sickness I did just fine. It was completely booked flight, not a seat available. The same was true for the flight into Merida. I guess everyone was coming for the huge Carnaval event which started today but really kicks off this weekend.
Upon arriving in Merida we all had to go through customs which was very time consuming due to the fact a lot of us did not have our forms filled out completely after exiting the plane. But once past the initial stamping of papers we entered into the long line of having bags checked. Now the way they do that here is you push a red button…if the buttons shows green you go through but as it was in my case the RED light came on so I was the lucky one that got to have their bags checked. I’m not sure what they thought they were looking for, but they didn’t really go through much, more liked observed what I had in my bags. After that I walked through the glass doors and saw Katelyn waiting for me. With all girly squeals we greeted each other with hugs and proceeded to find the shuttle guy holding a sign with my name on it. He took us back to our hotel which is basic and nice.
Upon checking in Katelyn did all the talking (thank goodness, I didn’t understand a word) and we were given our meal tickets for breakfast and room key. There are beautiful atriums here. I can’t wait to view them in the sun. The gentleman brought up our bags and explained how everything in the room worked. I assumed it was customary to tip the bus boy so we did.
Once our bags arrived, Katelyn and I went out for a small snack and something to drink. We came across this beautiful out door restaurant that had live entertainment. It was so nice to be outside. At midnight we decided to call it a night, since Katelyn has an 8AM class tomorrow.
It’s been a rather long day with travel so I’m really ready for some sleep myself.
This is going to be a wonderful week.
Love to you all who are following!!
Buenos Amigos~
Sorry for not writing sooner: My week has been crazy busy. I haven’t even had the time to read the poem that Will sent me on…what was it…Monday? Yeah. I’ve had four expositions one of which I was supposed to have today but the teacher ended up talking through the whole thing so that didn’t end up actually happening.
Spanish class has actually been cancelled both times this week, and unfortunately, due to my state of affairs, I was happy. All day yesterday (quick update) I was sick. By the time I got home from school which was thankfully two hours early thanks the cancelation, I fell into bed and didn’t get out of it (for the most part) til 6AM at which point I felt better. At the time though I was really worried that I was going to be sick all through this week! Luckily I’m better though.
Anyway, the extra time today gave me a little more time to prepare for my final presentation tomorrow. If I can get through that then we’ll be golden (for the most part…til I have to do this 8 page test she assigned us (grrr)). But for now, yay for mom being here and yay for carnaval and yay for 3 days off of school. And since it’s getting to be pretty late and I’ll be up at quarter of six I’m going to get going.
Buenas noches~ <3 Kate
There are times when you do what you have to do to see those you love. For me that is flying.
My flight out of Baltimore was a rough one. For the first 15minutes of the flight we hit a lot of turbulence due to high winds, as the captain had warned us just before take off. Our plane was up, down, left , right. I thought for sure I was not going recover but thanks to the patch for motion sickness I did just fine. It was completely booked flight, not a seat available. The same was true for the flight into Merida. I guess everyone was coming for the huge Carnaval event which started today but really kicks off this weekend.
Upon arriving in Merida we all had to go through customs which was very time consuming due to the fact a lot of us did not have our forms filled out completely after exiting the plane. But once past the initial stamping of papers we entered into the long line of having bags checked. Now the way they do that here is you push a red button…if the buttons shows green you go through but as it was in my case the RED light came on so I was the lucky one that got to have their bags checked. I’m not sure what they thought they were looking for, but they didn’t really go through much, more liked observed what I had in my bags. After that I walked through the glass doors and saw Katelyn waiting for me. With all girly squeals we greeted each other with hugs and proceeded to find the shuttle guy holding a sign with my name on it. He took us back to our hotel which is basic and nice.
Upon checking in Katelyn did all the talking (thank goodness, I didn’t understand a word) and we were given our meal tickets for breakfast and room key. There are beautiful atriums here. I can’t wait to view them in the sun. The gentleman brought up our bags and explained how everything in the room worked. I assumed it was customary to tip the bus boy so we did.
Once our bags arrived, Katelyn and I went out for a small snack and something to drink. We came across this beautiful out door restaurant that had live entertainment. It was so nice to be outside. At midnight we decided to call it a night, since Katelyn has an 8AM class tomorrow.
It’s been a rather long day with travel so I’m really ready for some sleep myself.
This is going to be a wonderful week.
Love to you all who are following!!
Buenos Amigos~
Sorry for not writing sooner: My week has been crazy busy. I haven’t even had the time to read the poem that Will sent me on…what was it…Monday? Yeah. I’ve had four expositions one of which I was supposed to have today but the teacher ended up talking through the whole thing so that didn’t end up actually happening.
Spanish class has actually been cancelled both times this week, and unfortunately, due to my state of affairs, I was happy. All day yesterday (quick update) I was sick. By the time I got home from school which was thankfully two hours early thanks the cancelation, I fell into bed and didn’t get out of it (for the most part) til 6AM at which point I felt better. At the time though I was really worried that I was going to be sick all through this week! Luckily I’m better though.
Anyway, the extra time today gave me a little more time to prepare for my final presentation tomorrow. If I can get through that then we’ll be golden (for the most part…til I have to do this 8 page test she assigned us (grrr)). But for now, yay for mom being here and yay for carnaval and yay for 3 days off of school. And since it’s getting to be pretty late and I’ll be up at quarter of six I’m going to get going.
Buenas noches~ <3 Kate
Monday, February 16, 2009
February 14, 2009
Happy Valentines day. Okay so this is kind of exceptionally late in terms of posting, but I’ve been ridiculously busy. Valentines day for me consisted of a lot of homework which is unusual for a Saturday. But I read for Mayan Civ and I read in part for Rural Anthro. Generally just a lot of homeworking. I was later reminded that it was in fact Valentines day.
It was kind of interesting, it didn’t really seem like my host family did anything special to commemorate it. Instead of being a kind of family-love holiday it seemed like it was more restricted to couples and that sort of thing. I think my host parents went out, and Jimena’s boyfriend was over at the house all day while Maria del Mar was at her boyfriend’s house. So that’s all good and well.
In the evening, I went to Amarantus to celebrate Erica’s birthday. I think her actual birthday was Friday we were celebrating on Saturday. Earlier in the evening they went and had sushi for dinner.
Anyway Amarantus is a disco. And apparently an exceptionally popular one. Wasn’t really a huge fan of the hordes of people that were packed in there. For the first time I think I saw where Will and Craig and the boys were coming from at H2O (senior week). Anyway, just wasn’t a fan of this one. That’s okay. In part I think I was also just a little nervous of leaving my purse…or of having it with me. Even as I walked out the door I just had this feeling I was going to loose it, or leave it, or have something stolen from it. It all turned out fine; I still have everything. Oh well, next time. =) Next time in a place where I can both breath and stand up without a constant wave of people brushing up and bumping into me.
I came back to the house at 2 AM and the people more or less next door were having a party. With music. I’m pretty sure that would never fly in the USA, but they were crankin’ it up. Even with the doors closed and the windows shut I could still hear it like I’d left my laptop on. I mean, it wasn’t blaring or anything, but I could still make out lyrics and all that.
So that was the day. Pretty uneventful, but I kind of had my Valentines Day earlier in the week when I got my cards from my grandparents and family =).
However, as it *is* [/was] Valentines Day, we might be due for some more theory. Admittedly, this theory is brought to you courtesy of Chelsea, as she noted this and put it into words before I did. She just didn’t realize she was contributing to the Male Theory Anthology.
Male Theory:
Mexican Males are attracted to Damsels in Distress while American Males are attracted to Mulans. Eh-hem. That is to say, Mexican males like to help, to fawn over, to ‘be the man’ of the relationship. American Males, on the other hand, want you to be just as tough as they are. They’re going to applaud you if you layout for the Frisbee (read: if you sacrifice your body to the unforgiving ground in order to catch said flying disc).
It’s been interesting, because since we’ve been here most of the girls have actually found novios…or at least hooked up enough to say they found a boy (or several) for awhile. I could be wrong, but most of those who haven’t, have boyfriends back in the States. At the same time, I think a lot of people were hoping to do that, too… On the other hand, it’s actually a some what beneficial thing in that you figure your Spanish would dramatically improve. If you’re hanging out with someone who only speaks Spanish all the time then that’s your only option, too. Learn a lot that way.
…J, I don’t think you’re reading this, but I had quite a bit of female theory for you, but I seem to have managed to forget it. If I remember, I’ll try to let you know. In any case, I hope everyone had a lovely Valentines day. Ciao ~ <3 Kate
Saturday, February 14, 2009
February 13, 2009
OoooO Guess who’s a slacker (*singing* she’s a slacker, she’s a cracker…) yep it’s me. And I’m not really going to post on Thursday because I’m pretty sure nothing memorable happened.
Friday. I suppose I’ll go in order. And I’m not sure if I’ve already written similar sentiments to what you’re about to read, if that’s the case then I apologize for the redundancy, but it’s just as true now as it was earlier.
8 AM: I go to class. Our prof from the infierno is back. This is so very unfortunate: for several reasons. At 8 o’clock in the morning, it’s way to early to be mad. I’m really not an angry person. I think of myself as generally a pretty happy kid, but from here on out, between 8 and 10 every Wednesday and Friday (excluding days off of school) I’m going to be fuming in my seat for two hours. TWO HOURS! Two hours of sitting in one of those little black chairs, simply angry. Barely able to pay attention. Not really able to put my finger on specifically what it is that’s causing this warranted anger, only that this woman in the front of the classroom is causing it.
When Miriam (was that how her name was spelt?) was teachin’ the class, I was happy as a clam. Hey it was still the same work, but at least she wasn’t an inconsiderate biscuit eater who doesn’t have any mercy for people who aren’t from this facultad/Mexico/a Spanish speaking country. Arrrrrggggggggg.
When this class finally finished, Ashley (oh, she (meaning the professor) decided we were just randomly going to have a test on Friday (mind you there’s absolutely nothing in the syllabus about tests…or the novel…what’s next?)) laughed as I ranted. I really do though, that class just makes me incredibly angry. And it’s really just too early in the morning to be that enojada.
Moving on. After that I hopped on the school bus and went to el Centro where I watched this guy feeding the pigeons while I waited for Mandy. This guy was feeding them I don’t know what, but there was a lake of them at his feet and two or three had hopped up in his hands. These are wild pigeons. Just chillin’ there in his hands. Crazy.
Then Mandy and I went to Progreso, and even though we made it there relatively early, we still weren’t able to take advantage of the sun. We were hungry and waiting for Ashley and her boy to show up and didn’t want to get all nasty before said food.
I wore my new flip flops, but that was a terrible idea. Walking around…yeah no. I have blisters on my feet and even now (since it’s actually the next evening) my feet are still hurting. Yeah…that’s rather unfortunate.
Anyway, we ate at this super-sweet place. It’s called a cocina económica. For 25 pesos I had a whole meal. 25 pesos, my lunch was like $1.75 (I happened to have my own drink, but even if I’d bought a drink it would have been less than $2.50). And it was really good. I had chicken with potatoes in some sort of red sauce with rice and beans. Very, very tasty. Definitely the way to do lunch I think. Next time we go we’ll probably go back there.
The Cocinas Económicas are a México/Yucatán thing. Usually they’re run by women in the community, and what they serve changes on a daily basis. It’s made to be cheap, but a good sized meal. We actually had half portions which were perfect. But that was kind of a neat piece of culture right there.
After that we went and rolled out on the beach. Ashley brought her ukulele and did some beautiful singing, and then we just kind of laid on the beach until the most obvious question arose: did we want some postre (dessert)? Yes. Yes we did. And what did we want? Something like chocolate cake. Oh. Yes.
Mandy and I walked around to all the restaurants on the beach and asked/looked at menus to see if they had chocolate cake but we were out of luck until we came to the end of the row where several very excitable waiters told us that we should go to the Super [market]. And that’s exactly what we did. We got what was like an éclair cake (by which I mean it was actually white cake with what was like boston crème as a layer in the middle with chocolate on top with a cherry) for 39 pesos. We also bought plastic forks so the final total was like 50 pesos. Majorly cheap (once again) and I would also like to inform you that between the four of us, we ate this entire cake. Mandy (hopefully) has pictures which when she gets them developed hopefully I can snag a digital copy. It was beautiful.
We then came back to Merida, and hopped busses home. My feet were killing me by this point in time, and while there was a party for the UADY going on, I was informed it wasn’t super-fantastic and I didn’t really feel like going out anymore anyway.
So in conclusion, the day was good minus the two hours in the morning where I had to sit through that painful migrations class. Not too bad for a Friday the 13th. But seriously, who’d have thought a class with such interesting subject matter could be such a terror? Yeah…me neither.
Cheers! <3 Kate
Friday. I suppose I’ll go in order. And I’m not sure if I’ve already written similar sentiments to what you’re about to read, if that’s the case then I apologize for the redundancy, but it’s just as true now as it was earlier.
8 AM: I go to class. Our prof from the infierno is back. This is so very unfortunate: for several reasons. At 8 o’clock in the morning, it’s way to early to be mad. I’m really not an angry person. I think of myself as generally a pretty happy kid, but from here on out, between 8 and 10 every Wednesday and Friday (excluding days off of school) I’m going to be fuming in my seat for two hours. TWO HOURS! Two hours of sitting in one of those little black chairs, simply angry. Barely able to pay attention. Not really able to put my finger on specifically what it is that’s causing this warranted anger, only that this woman in the front of the classroom is causing it.
When Miriam (was that how her name was spelt?) was teachin’ the class, I was happy as a clam. Hey it was still the same work, but at least she wasn’t an inconsiderate biscuit eater who doesn’t have any mercy for people who aren’t from this facultad/Mexico/a Spanish speaking country. Arrrrrggggggggg.
When this class finally finished, Ashley (oh, she (meaning the professor) decided we were just randomly going to have a test on Friday (mind you there’s absolutely nothing in the syllabus about tests…or the novel…what’s next?)) laughed as I ranted. I really do though, that class just makes me incredibly angry. And it’s really just too early in the morning to be that enojada.
Moving on. After that I hopped on the school bus and went to el Centro where I watched this guy feeding the pigeons while I waited for Mandy. This guy was feeding them I don’t know what, but there was a lake of them at his feet and two or three had hopped up in his hands. These are wild pigeons. Just chillin’ there in his hands. Crazy.
Then Mandy and I went to Progreso, and even though we made it there relatively early, we still weren’t able to take advantage of the sun. We were hungry and waiting for Ashley and her boy to show up and didn’t want to get all nasty before said food.
I wore my new flip flops, but that was a terrible idea. Walking around…yeah no. I have blisters on my feet and even now (since it’s actually the next evening) my feet are still hurting. Yeah…that’s rather unfortunate.
Anyway, we ate at this super-sweet place. It’s called a cocina económica. For 25 pesos I had a whole meal. 25 pesos, my lunch was like $1.75 (I happened to have my own drink, but even if I’d bought a drink it would have been less than $2.50). And it was really good. I had chicken with potatoes in some sort of red sauce with rice and beans. Very, very tasty. Definitely the way to do lunch I think. Next time we go we’ll probably go back there.
The Cocinas Económicas are a México/Yucatán thing. Usually they’re run by women in the community, and what they serve changes on a daily basis. It’s made to be cheap, but a good sized meal. We actually had half portions which were perfect. But that was kind of a neat piece of culture right there.
After that we went and rolled out on the beach. Ashley brought her ukulele and did some beautiful singing, and then we just kind of laid on the beach until the most obvious question arose: did we want some postre (dessert)? Yes. Yes we did. And what did we want? Something like chocolate cake. Oh. Yes.
Mandy and I walked around to all the restaurants on the beach and asked/looked at menus to see if they had chocolate cake but we were out of luck until we came to the end of the row where several very excitable waiters told us that we should go to the Super [market]. And that’s exactly what we did. We got what was like an éclair cake (by which I mean it was actually white cake with what was like boston crème as a layer in the middle with chocolate on top with a cherry) for 39 pesos. We also bought plastic forks so the final total was like 50 pesos. Majorly cheap (once again) and I would also like to inform you that between the four of us, we ate this entire cake. Mandy (hopefully) has pictures which when she gets them developed hopefully I can snag a digital copy. It was beautiful.
We then came back to Merida, and hopped busses home. My feet were killing me by this point in time, and while there was a party for the UADY going on, I was informed it wasn’t super-fantastic and I didn’t really feel like going out anymore anyway.
So in conclusion, the day was good minus the two hours in the morning where I had to sit through that painful migrations class. Not too bad for a Friday the 13th. But seriously, who’d have thought a class with such interesting subject matter could be such a terror? Yeah…me neither.
Cheers! <3 Kate
Wednesday, February 11, 2009
February 11, 2009
Well folks, today I did two things that I’ve never done before. Well, I think it’s two; it could possibly be only one, although the probability that I have done the second thing is relatively low. First of all, I ate pepperoni-mushroom pizza. And I didn’t pick off the mushrooms or anything. Aren’t you proud of me? I couldn’t really taste much difference, really…but I did try a mushroom the other day in my salad and it wasn’t so bad either. Once again I couldn’t really taste anything but it had an interesting texture. The second thing that I believe I most likely have never done before is I had pizza with water. That’s right, pizza and water.
Mkay so moving on to the actual day. I got up, and classes weren’t actually so bad because Cavernas was cancelled. Chelsea was saying on the way home “Tomorrow’s Thursday!” and I looked at here and said “Today was Wednesday?” And then … obviously it was. It just didn’t quite seem like it because it wasn’t as exhausting as it normally is.
I did get quite a bit done. Got some readings for class, did some reading for class, wrote a couple of necessary e-mails. Stuff like that. I got a valentine from my family which was fun, and it had a chocolate bar in it which I savored (read: gobbled up).
During the evening, see there’s actually more to the story regarding the pizza. Today Mexico and the USA played each other in futbol (soccer). It was apparently quite a big deal down here, a lot of people were going out to watch the game, etc. My host sister Jimena (25) had the game on in the living room (?) and I asked if I could watch it with her. So we sat there and watched the game/did homework and then she ordered pizza for the two of us, her boyfriend who came over, and then the youngest host sister Maria Regina. Exciting, ne? It was kinda cool. (For those of you who are unaware, the final score was 2-0 EUA [USA]). Rich wasn’t very happy.
I feel like there should be more writing for today, it seems like a lot happened, but I suppose those were probably the highlights and what’s really important. =) Hope everyone has a good night/day.
Cheers~ Kate <3
Mkay so moving on to the actual day. I got up, and classes weren’t actually so bad because Cavernas was cancelled. Chelsea was saying on the way home “Tomorrow’s Thursday!” and I looked at here and said “Today was Wednesday?” And then … obviously it was. It just didn’t quite seem like it because it wasn’t as exhausting as it normally is.
I did get quite a bit done. Got some readings for class, did some reading for class, wrote a couple of necessary e-mails. Stuff like that. I got a valentine from my family which was fun, and it had a chocolate bar in it which I savored (read: gobbled up).
During the evening, see there’s actually more to the story regarding the pizza. Today Mexico and the USA played each other in futbol (soccer). It was apparently quite a big deal down here, a lot of people were going out to watch the game, etc. My host sister Jimena (25) had the game on in the living room (?) and I asked if I could watch it with her. So we sat there and watched the game/did homework and then she ordered pizza for the two of us, her boyfriend who came over, and then the youngest host sister Maria Regina. Exciting, ne? It was kinda cool. (For those of you who are unaware, the final score was 2-0 EUA [USA]). Rich wasn’t very happy.
I feel like there should be more writing for today, it seems like a lot happened, but I suppose those were probably the highlights and what’s really important. =) Hope everyone has a good night/day.
Cheers~ Kate <3
Tuesday, February 10, 2009
February 10, 2009
So, setting the time you want to wake up and turning the alarm on are two entirely different concepts. I highly recommend making sure that you have correctly performed both tasks before shutting the eyelids for the night. Unfortunately, I missed that final step. The whole turning the alarm on helps for the whole getting up on time process. Needless to say, I woke up later than planned.
9 o’clock rolled around and my thoughts went something like this: Wow, I feel rather rested; I didn’t think that I would—oh no! I was supposed to get up at 7:45 and be on the bus at 9. I ran out of the house, waffle in my mouth, and caught the Circuito and got to school actually no problems. About 5 minutes to spare (woo!).
I talked a little in class in the beginning. Maybe that’ll count toward some participation points. I also realized that I have a presentation to give in all of my classes next week lol. Two on Monday, One on Tuesday, and One on Friday. Talk about a busy week.
Annnnd after class they were giving away tacos but I didn’t really feel like waiting in line. I went home (stopped by the grocery store on the way to pick up sodas for lunches) and took a rather delayed shower since I hadn’t had the time to do it that morning.
We ate lunch, and afterwards I called my grandparents to thank them for the Valentines Day card I got in the mail. Personally I’m a fan of Valentines Day even if I’m never dating anyone and it’s just a “hallmark holiday.” I still think it’s fun.
At around 4 Chelsea and I went and got milkshakes which were amazing. And we pretty much just chatted for about an hour about whatever came up, boy stuff, there’s never a finite supply of that. It’s nice to do that every once and awhile, too.
It’s really not been a very productive day. When I got back from that I ended up talking on the phone to Kryssy for almost an hour and catching up with stuff there at SU on her end. That was cool. Aaaaaand yeah. Really not done anything. Need to read for Migrations class tomorrow. I did actually manage to finish my novel for that class though. It was okay, not probably something I’d normally be inclined to read, but it was alright. Much better than some of the academic readings we’ve been doing. And on another positive note Cavernas is canceled which is pretty nifty.
I imagine that there won’t be much else interesting going on for the rest of the night, either, so I’m gonna go ahead and post this so I don’t end up forgetting and you all are left without your nightly reading hehe.
Cheers! Kate <3
9 o’clock rolled around and my thoughts went something like this: Wow, I feel rather rested; I didn’t think that I would—oh no! I was supposed to get up at 7:45 and be on the bus at 9. I ran out of the house, waffle in my mouth, and caught the Circuito and got to school actually no problems. About 5 minutes to spare (woo!).
I talked a little in class in the beginning. Maybe that’ll count toward some participation points. I also realized that I have a presentation to give in all of my classes next week lol. Two on Monday, One on Tuesday, and One on Friday. Talk about a busy week.
Annnnd after class they were giving away tacos but I didn’t really feel like waiting in line. I went home (stopped by the grocery store on the way to pick up sodas for lunches) and took a rather delayed shower since I hadn’t had the time to do it that morning.
We ate lunch, and afterwards I called my grandparents to thank them for the Valentines Day card I got in the mail. Personally I’m a fan of Valentines Day even if I’m never dating anyone and it’s just a “hallmark holiday.” I still think it’s fun.
At around 4 Chelsea and I went and got milkshakes which were amazing. And we pretty much just chatted for about an hour about whatever came up, boy stuff, there’s never a finite supply of that. It’s nice to do that every once and awhile, too.
It’s really not been a very productive day. When I got back from that I ended up talking on the phone to Kryssy for almost an hour and catching up with stuff there at SU on her end. That was cool. Aaaaaand yeah. Really not done anything. Need to read for Migrations class tomorrow. I did actually manage to finish my novel for that class though. It was okay, not probably something I’d normally be inclined to read, but it was alright. Much better than some of the academic readings we’ve been doing. And on another positive note Cavernas is canceled which is pretty nifty.
I imagine that there won’t be much else interesting going on for the rest of the night, either, so I’m gonna go ahead and post this so I don’t end up forgetting and you all are left without your nightly reading hehe.
Cheers! Kate <3
Monday, February 9, 2009
February 9, 2009
Mondays are pretty nice here because I wake up pretty much whenever because my first class is at 12. By whenever I mean sometime before 9:45 which apparently is not a feat here. Either way, I actually started a little bit of homework for Wednesday when I woke up, which was definitely helpful later this evening when I had to finish up said homework.
For “lunch” at 10:30 I made myself a sandwich and toasted it. It was quite enjoyable with a side of cantaloupe. Yum, and a little brownie to finish it all off. And then it was off to class where I talked with Mandy on the bus. She went to Isla Mujeres over the weekend and had a ball so that’s really sweet. Apparently that’s a really touristy are though, and they were told by their Spanish prof they should go to this other island that’s all sand and not touristy but you can rent golf carts to get around. Sounds like a pretty nice spot.
Cavernas actually went by pretty quickly. We had three presentations and didn’t have to waste time “discussing” them. And after that it was about 2. By 2:30 I was getting rather hungry. But I mean, you figure 4 hours later, that’s not exactly too unusual. I had a hamburger…which was in fact a hamburger. I mean, there was literally ham on my burger. It was pretty yummy too.
Then we were off for our 3 hour long Mayan Civ class. This class I usually don’t have much trouble with either. It’s only once a week, and with that in mind, I can just treat it like any other night class. And it’s interesting to boot so that helps.
It took a while to get home. We had to wait for the bus for quite a bit, and then we had to wait for the second bus for quite a while. Chelsea and I ended up striking up a conversation with a guy who was waiting for the Circuito Metropolitano too. It was a really short conversation, but hey, that was okay. It was kind of unfortunate though because for the entire bus rides home my stomach was really hurting . Yesterday, right after I finished writing you all I had a stomach ache, too. Hopefully this isn’t a new trend.
Um, but then I got home, was able to do some e-mail checking, that sort of thing, and at dinner I had the best waffles I’ve ever eaten. We’re going to look past the part of the meal that involves me eating breakfast food at dinner time, and just go with the fact that they were delicious. I ate them with apricot marmalade. You see, I don’t like syrup, so I like my waffles with jam when I eat them =)
Then this evening generally involved me trying to get my final year at college organized. Which shouldn’t actually be a difficult task except that teaching in the spring messes everything up. I need more credits that I can actually take (grr) and so that’s just a whole ‘nother world of trying to figure stuff out. I e-mailed my advisor though, hopefully we can sort it out.
And I chatted with my dear Will over AIM. And my mom too of course. Aaaaaand yep. That’s all Folks *cue Looney Tunes* Cheers <3 Kate
For “lunch” at 10:30 I made myself a sandwich and toasted it. It was quite enjoyable with a side of cantaloupe. Yum, and a little brownie to finish it all off. And then it was off to class where I talked with Mandy on the bus. She went to Isla Mujeres over the weekend and had a ball so that’s really sweet. Apparently that’s a really touristy are though, and they were told by their Spanish prof they should go to this other island that’s all sand and not touristy but you can rent golf carts to get around. Sounds like a pretty nice spot.
Cavernas actually went by pretty quickly. We had three presentations and didn’t have to waste time “discussing” them. And after that it was about 2. By 2:30 I was getting rather hungry. But I mean, you figure 4 hours later, that’s not exactly too unusual. I had a hamburger…which was in fact a hamburger. I mean, there was literally ham on my burger. It was pretty yummy too.
Then we were off for our 3 hour long Mayan Civ class. This class I usually don’t have much trouble with either. It’s only once a week, and with that in mind, I can just treat it like any other night class. And it’s interesting to boot so that helps.
It took a while to get home. We had to wait for the bus for quite a bit, and then we had to wait for the second bus for quite a while. Chelsea and I ended up striking up a conversation with a guy who was waiting for the Circuito Metropolitano too. It was a really short conversation, but hey, that was okay. It was kind of unfortunate though because for the entire bus rides home my stomach was really hurting . Yesterday, right after I finished writing you all I had a stomach ache, too. Hopefully this isn’t a new trend.
Um, but then I got home, was able to do some e-mail checking, that sort of thing, and at dinner I had the best waffles I’ve ever eaten. We’re going to look past the part of the meal that involves me eating breakfast food at dinner time, and just go with the fact that they were delicious. I ate them with apricot marmalade. You see, I don’t like syrup, so I like my waffles with jam when I eat them =)
Then this evening generally involved me trying to get my final year at college organized. Which shouldn’t actually be a difficult task except that teaching in the spring messes everything up. I need more credits that I can actually take (grr) and so that’s just a whole ‘nother world of trying to figure stuff out. I e-mailed my advisor though, hopefully we can sort it out.
And I chatted with my dear Will over AIM. And my mom too of course. Aaaaaand yep. That’s all Folks *cue Looney Tunes* Cheers <3 Kate
Sunday, February 8, 2009
February 8, 2009
Trulelulelu… let’s see, what happened today? I woke up. When I woke up I felt like I had dreamt a lot though I don’t remember these dreams now. Slowly but surely it seems that people from here in Mexico are beginning to make their way into the dreamscape. I know I woke up and thought I was home at one point in the morning, but that’s not the first time this has happened, but I think that Chelsea was also involved in one of the dreams I had last night.
In either case, Sunday is a work day. At least that was one thing that seemed to maintain itself…or at least it did for this weekend. I had a ton of reading for Mayan Civ, and I read a little for Cavernas. And somehow that doesn’t look like a lot when I type it, but it was a *ton* of reading for Mayan Civ, it took somewhere between 3 and 4 hours to do.
At lunch time I went and had lunch. I don’t remember what we had, but I was told that it was food from the northern part of the country (not that it was actually transported from there, but it’s typical of there). I finished Mayan Civ, and then took a break for a bit and ended up talking to Will for a bit online. Chit chat stuff. For a moment the conversation seemed so normal that I felt like I was sitting at my desk and Will was only upstairs instead of…outside and in a different country. That’s okay, it was good. Nice not to have to talk about Mexico.
Mmmmm Cavernas, and then I decided to watch a movie after I chatted with my mom for a bit. It was a movie with Dane Cook, most of the people reading this wouldn’t like it, so My Best Friend’s Girl is not going to be your movie of choice. Lot of language.
Aaaand after that I had dinner, which consisted of cereal and half a sandwich. And when I got back to my room I decided I wasn’t exactly full, and had some more cardboard disks. And now I’m quite content.
I did go back and beat that level in RA3 (I know you were all wondering). ***Mild spoiler warning here for those of you who may play and/or haven’t finished the Allied campaign***And then in the next one, oh man, Tanya and Natasha working together. I’m pretty sure that’s the most brilliant thing these game creators have come up with. But I got so distracted with that and amused with the concept of those two having to work together that ***end spoiler*** I didn’t realize I apparently had a construction yard, and so when it was suddenly gone, and Kenji (I actually don’t know what that kid’s name is and I’m not going to look it up so I’ll just go with a stock name) came on and was like “That was so easy I can’t even brag about it” I just had to laugh because, clearly, that was too easy. I left the thing wide open. Didn’t even know I had it. Anyway that was funny. For those of you who just read this paragraph and have absolutely no idea what I’m prattling on about, sorry, hehe. Just go with, I made such a huge oversight when the game made fun of me I was laughing too.
So yep. That’s about it, not a very exciting day, but I did go sit outside for about 30 minutes in the sun just to enjoy the weather (that’s when I was talking with Will, so I could kind of only barely see my computer screen but that’s okay. Just remind me when I’ve got squinting-wrinkles around my eyes that I didn’t care when I was busy making them).
And tomorrow is Monday. Which isn’t exactly exciting. But it’s only two classes (even if one is 3 hours) and it’s a go in later day. On the other hand, today marks 5 weeks of being here, which is ¼ of the 20. (I can hear the ‘enjoy your time here while you still have it’ comments now, but give me a break, just because I’m counting doesn’t mean that I think I’m having a terrible time or anything, just means that I know I have 15 more weeks of mexico left). And 11 more days til Mom comes. Which is mighty excitin’ as well. Hehe =D
So that’s basically all I got. Have a lovely day~
Cheers~ <3 Kate
PS: i did mention the whole abuelita thing to my host-mom, and she didn't know what the abuela was talking about so...yeah. Who knows, but at least that's rather out of the way.
In either case, Sunday is a work day. At least that was one thing that seemed to maintain itself…or at least it did for this weekend. I had a ton of reading for Mayan Civ, and I read a little for Cavernas. And somehow that doesn’t look like a lot when I type it, but it was a *ton* of reading for Mayan Civ, it took somewhere between 3 and 4 hours to do.
At lunch time I went and had lunch. I don’t remember what we had, but I was told that it was food from the northern part of the country (not that it was actually transported from there, but it’s typical of there). I finished Mayan Civ, and then took a break for a bit and ended up talking to Will for a bit online. Chit chat stuff. For a moment the conversation seemed so normal that I felt like I was sitting at my desk and Will was only upstairs instead of…outside and in a different country. That’s okay, it was good. Nice not to have to talk about Mexico.
Mmmmm Cavernas, and then I decided to watch a movie after I chatted with my mom for a bit. It was a movie with Dane Cook, most of the people reading this wouldn’t like it, so My Best Friend’s Girl is not going to be your movie of choice. Lot of language.
Aaaand after that I had dinner, which consisted of cereal and half a sandwich. And when I got back to my room I decided I wasn’t exactly full, and had some more cardboard disks. And now I’m quite content.
I did go back and beat that level in RA3 (I know you were all wondering). ***Mild spoiler warning here for those of you who may play and/or haven’t finished the Allied campaign***And then in the next one, oh man, Tanya and Natasha working together. I’m pretty sure that’s the most brilliant thing these game creators have come up with. But I got so distracted with that and amused with the concept of those two having to work together that ***end spoiler*** I didn’t realize I apparently had a construction yard, and so when it was suddenly gone, and Kenji (I actually don’t know what that kid’s name is and I’m not going to look it up so I’ll just go with a stock name) came on and was like “That was so easy I can’t even brag about it” I just had to laugh because, clearly, that was too easy. I left the thing wide open. Didn’t even know I had it. Anyway that was funny. For those of you who just read this paragraph and have absolutely no idea what I’m prattling on about, sorry, hehe. Just go with, I made such a huge oversight when the game made fun of me I was laughing too.
So yep. That’s about it, not a very exciting day, but I did go sit outside for about 30 minutes in the sun just to enjoy the weather (that’s when I was talking with Will, so I could kind of only barely see my computer screen but that’s okay. Just remind me when I’ve got squinting-wrinkles around my eyes that I didn’t care when I was busy making them).
And tomorrow is Monday. Which isn’t exactly exciting. But it’s only two classes (even if one is 3 hours) and it’s a go in later day. On the other hand, today marks 5 weeks of being here, which is ¼ of the 20. (I can hear the ‘enjoy your time here while you still have it’ comments now, but give me a break, just because I’m counting doesn’t mean that I think I’m having a terrible time or anything, just means that I know I have 15 more weeks of mexico left). And 11 more days til Mom comes. Which is mighty excitin’ as well. Hehe =D
So that’s basically all I got. Have a lovely day~
Cheers~ <3 Kate
PS: i did mention the whole abuelita thing to my host-mom, and she didn't know what the abuela was talking about so...yeah. Who knows, but at least that's rather out of the way.
February 7, 2009
Well, today started…particularly early. At like… 7:30. That’s what I get for going to bed so early with a nap earlier in the day. But with that being said, I got online and spent the morning with my parents via webcam. We all looked lovely having just woken up.
I got some breakfast a little later (a peanut butter sandwich) and went out to El Centro to just walk around while I waited for Chelsea to call me back about the zoo. Actually, she called me about 2 minutes I got on the bus, but she said maybe we should go to the theater instead of the zoo and do the zoo some other day which was fine by me.
I wandered around for a while, looking at different shops, attempting to find some sunglasses but I think I need someone to go with me if I’m going to get any. Actually I have some at home somewhere…maybe in my car? Hey mom would you mind checking to see if I left sunglasses in my car and bringing them when you come? That’d be pretty sweet.
I also decided to go ahead and get my nails done while I was out. It was even cheaper down there, it was 105 pesos for a manicure and a pedicure (less than 10 dollars). The experience isn’t quite the same; it was just a little hole in the wall, but the girl spent 2 hours working on my nails I think (or there abouts). I think they look pretty good. Baby-beach pink fingernails and deep raspberry toes.
Basically after this it was time to hop the bus back home for lunch. I got back at 2:30 which is when we normally eat, but everyone had already eaten so I ate in the kitchen with the abuelita (grandmother) and one of the ladies who works in the house. Now, normally this wouldn’t be worth mentioning, except that I can barely understand my abuelita, and the only two things I understood her to say as we ate were “I’m cold” (as *I* sat there in shorts) and “I’ve learned about you” as she kind of shook her finger at me. Now…I have no idea what she could possibly have learned about me. It’s not like we talk, and it’s not like I’ve really done anything to be blackmailed about. Unless of course going to bed at 11 is entirely unacceptable. How dare I not go out and get smashed and come back in the wee hours of the morning make a mess and then go to sleep. I don’t know. So in conclusion lunch was not nearly as fun/uneventful as it should have been.
I then popped into the shower and got my clothes from the Laundromat. And basically decided I was just going to go back to el centro since I didn’t feel like staying in the house. And as soon as I got on the bus again Chelsea called and said something about the theater but her friend was going to call her back again in like an hour so we didn’t really have set plans, etc.
So I walked around El Centro some more, apparently a size 6 (which is an 8/8 1/2 US) is quite large for feet in Mexico. There were these really cute shoes that a lot of different places had (exactly what I would have wanted) but they only go up to size 5. I did get a pair of flip flops. Hopefully I’ll be able to break them in a bit. Nothing too fancy, just black, but the piece or whatever that goes across the foot is braided.
And then I decided, hey, why not, so I bought a movie, one of these 3 in 1 deals but it was a flop. Chelsea and I tried watching one of them and then just decided it wasn’t worth it and turned it off. We watched Bend it like Beckham instead.
Aaaaand voila. Here we are, and I’m rather tired. But with good cause seeing as how I got up early. As it turns out, no one took the initiative on figuring out a different church for tomorrow so that’s going to have to wait til next week. I’ll try to remember to call that evangelical church. We’ll see. Ciao~ Kate <3
I got some breakfast a little later (a peanut butter sandwich) and went out to El Centro to just walk around while I waited for Chelsea to call me back about the zoo. Actually, she called me about 2 minutes I got on the bus, but she said maybe we should go to the theater instead of the zoo and do the zoo some other day which was fine by me.
I wandered around for a while, looking at different shops, attempting to find some sunglasses but I think I need someone to go with me if I’m going to get any. Actually I have some at home somewhere…maybe in my car? Hey mom would you mind checking to see if I left sunglasses in my car and bringing them when you come? That’d be pretty sweet.
I also decided to go ahead and get my nails done while I was out. It was even cheaper down there, it was 105 pesos for a manicure and a pedicure (less than 10 dollars). The experience isn’t quite the same; it was just a little hole in the wall, but the girl spent 2 hours working on my nails I think (or there abouts). I think they look pretty good. Baby-beach pink fingernails and deep raspberry toes.
Basically after this it was time to hop the bus back home for lunch. I got back at 2:30 which is when we normally eat, but everyone had already eaten so I ate in the kitchen with the abuelita (grandmother) and one of the ladies who works in the house. Now, normally this wouldn’t be worth mentioning, except that I can barely understand my abuelita, and the only two things I understood her to say as we ate were “I’m cold” (as *I* sat there in shorts) and “I’ve learned about you” as she kind of shook her finger at me. Now…I have no idea what she could possibly have learned about me. It’s not like we talk, and it’s not like I’ve really done anything to be blackmailed about. Unless of course going to bed at 11 is entirely unacceptable. How dare I not go out and get smashed and come back in the wee hours of the morning make a mess and then go to sleep. I don’t know. So in conclusion lunch was not nearly as fun/uneventful as it should have been.
I then popped into the shower and got my clothes from the Laundromat. And basically decided I was just going to go back to el centro since I didn’t feel like staying in the house. And as soon as I got on the bus again Chelsea called and said something about the theater but her friend was going to call her back again in like an hour so we didn’t really have set plans, etc.
So I walked around El Centro some more, apparently a size 6 (which is an 8/8 1/2 US) is quite large for feet in Mexico. There were these really cute shoes that a lot of different places had (exactly what I would have wanted) but they only go up to size 5. I did get a pair of flip flops. Hopefully I’ll be able to break them in a bit. Nothing too fancy, just black, but the piece or whatever that goes across the foot is braided.
And then I decided, hey, why not, so I bought a movie, one of these 3 in 1 deals but it was a flop. Chelsea and I tried watching one of them and then just decided it wasn’t worth it and turned it off. We watched Bend it like Beckham instead.
Aaaaand voila. Here we are, and I’m rather tired. But with good cause seeing as how I got up early. As it turns out, no one took the initiative on figuring out a different church for tomorrow so that’s going to have to wait til next week. I’ll try to remember to call that evangelical church. We’ll see. Ciao~ Kate <3
Saturday, February 7, 2009
February 6, 2009
Eventually I managed to get out of bed…and out the door. My host mom left breakfast waiting: eggs with cut up hot dog and a side of beans. Well, if I mixed the hotdog eggs with the beans I was able to eat it. And I’ve also discovered that I’m not a big fan of Chamomile tea. But yeah.
So I went to class…migrations, and inspite of my participation that class went *so slow.* I looked at my watch thinking class was almost done, and we were only an hour into it (ie half way done). But then I took the bus back to Plaza Fiesta, and from Plaza Fiesta went on the walk home. This time I brought my iPod so that was kinda nice. People were out cooking really good smelling food as I walked by but I managed to resist.
When I made it home, I took my laundry (9 kilos worth…seriously shouldn’t let it get to be that much) to the Laundromat, and then hopped in the shower. I read for a little while to pass the time, and then it was time for lunch. We had chicken which I managed to eventually place as tasting a lot like Chic Fil A (if you get like the sandwich and it comes with the pickle). It was really delicious and then we also had a brownie for dessert. Yummm.
And that’s really about the extent of the day. After lunch I took a nap, and somehow after I woke up I managed to pass some time until 11 o’clock where I went to bed. I played a little RA3 but made a huge mistake after I captured some ore refineries. Apparently, unlike in prior games, the harvesters don’t automatically convert into your own harvesters, so when I was suddenly not hooked up with the cash I thought I had, I realized that and then the enemy took out the refineries and that was pretty much game. But it had autosaved at some point right after I took the refineries I think so I’ll be able to go back and get my own prospectors in there.
So…yeah. Exciting I know. I need to work on that whole … I’m not really sure what you would call it, taking the initiative or something. Not like I didn’t already know I had that problem but still. Okie pokie, that’s about it. Cheers~ <3 kate
So I went to class…migrations, and inspite of my participation that class went *so slow.* I looked at my watch thinking class was almost done, and we were only an hour into it (ie half way done). But then I took the bus back to Plaza Fiesta, and from Plaza Fiesta went on the walk home. This time I brought my iPod so that was kinda nice. People were out cooking really good smelling food as I walked by but I managed to resist.
When I made it home, I took my laundry (9 kilos worth…seriously shouldn’t let it get to be that much) to the Laundromat, and then hopped in the shower. I read for a little while to pass the time, and then it was time for lunch. We had chicken which I managed to eventually place as tasting a lot like Chic Fil A (if you get like the sandwich and it comes with the pickle). It was really delicious and then we also had a brownie for dessert. Yummm.
And that’s really about the extent of the day. After lunch I took a nap, and somehow after I woke up I managed to pass some time until 11 o’clock where I went to bed. I played a little RA3 but made a huge mistake after I captured some ore refineries. Apparently, unlike in prior games, the harvesters don’t automatically convert into your own harvesters, so when I was suddenly not hooked up with the cash I thought I had, I realized that and then the enemy took out the refineries and that was pretty much game. But it had autosaved at some point right after I took the refineries I think so I’ll be able to go back and get my own prospectors in there.
So…yeah. Exciting I know. I need to work on that whole … I’m not really sure what you would call it, taking the initiative or something. Not like I didn’t already know I had that problem but still. Okie pokie, that’s about it. Cheers~ <3 kate
Friday, February 6, 2009
February 5, 2009
My goodness it would seem I’m behind the ball yet again. Last night wasn’t for any particular reason other than when I realized I hadn’t written, I was already in bed and who knows if I would have been able to get internet access anyway. So…I just stayed in bed.
I actually woke up before my alarm, though this day. This is a little surprising in the sense that I was not able to go back to sleep to get that last half an hour. So instead I just piddled around on the internet for a few minutes until the alarm went off.
Classes were pretty easy. In both of them (Rural Anthropology and Spanish) we watched movies. The Rural Anthro movie was reaaaaallly weird. Basically what happened was this pretty nice guy was “promoted” to be the municipal governor of this…state or city or whatever. So he and his wife drive out there and the city is in the middle of nowhere (hence the rural application to the movie). Now…he’s all about big ideas and bringing the ‘modern’ to this pueblo, but there’s no money in the treasury. He ends up taking a really nice sized bribe from the owner of a brothel which he went to shut down, and it’s all downhill from there. He raises taxes, sleeps with all 3 (4?) of the prostitutes, kills…I don’t know how many people. Really weird. And I’m not really sure if I understood the ending…he may have become like…the president of Mexico.
In Spanish class we watched Como Agua Para Chocolate (Like Water for Chocolate) which is based on a book I read back in 10th grade. So I’m thinking that was pretty cool, but the book was significantly better. The movie made it seem kinda tacky. So in the end I wouldn’t really recommend either of these movies to you even if I did know the title of the first one.
After class I came home. And I don’t think I did too much after that, really. I had dinner with Maria Regina, we had croissants with cheese. I went to bed rather early actually, at like 9. I’m not sure if I was actually tired, or more like I had just accomplished everything that had to get done for the day by quarter of, and then did the math wrong and thought 9 o’clock meant I’d be getting 8 hours of sleep. I think I got about 8 ½.
And that’s a wrap. Cheers! <3 Kate
I actually woke up before my alarm, though this day. This is a little surprising in the sense that I was not able to go back to sleep to get that last half an hour. So instead I just piddled around on the internet for a few minutes until the alarm went off.
Classes were pretty easy. In both of them (Rural Anthropology and Spanish) we watched movies. The Rural Anthro movie was reaaaaallly weird. Basically what happened was this pretty nice guy was “promoted” to be the municipal governor of this…state or city or whatever. So he and his wife drive out there and the city is in the middle of nowhere (hence the rural application to the movie). Now…he’s all about big ideas and bringing the ‘modern’ to this pueblo, but there’s no money in the treasury. He ends up taking a really nice sized bribe from the owner of a brothel which he went to shut down, and it’s all downhill from there. He raises taxes, sleeps with all 3 (4?) of the prostitutes, kills…I don’t know how many people. Really weird. And I’m not really sure if I understood the ending…he may have become like…the president of Mexico.
In Spanish class we watched Como Agua Para Chocolate (Like Water for Chocolate) which is based on a book I read back in 10th grade. So I’m thinking that was pretty cool, but the book was significantly better. The movie made it seem kinda tacky. So in the end I wouldn’t really recommend either of these movies to you even if I did know the title of the first one.
After class I came home. And I don’t think I did too much after that, really. I had dinner with Maria Regina, we had croissants with cheese. I went to bed rather early actually, at like 9. I’m not sure if I was actually tired, or more like I had just accomplished everything that had to get done for the day by quarter of, and then did the math wrong and thought 9 o’clock meant I’d be getting 8 hours of sleep. I think I got about 8 ½.
And that’s a wrap. Cheers! <3 Kate
Wednesday, February 4, 2009
February 4, 2009
Happy Birthday Andy!!!! Today is Andy’s birthday for those of you who don’t know. Now he’s 22 and for all the single ladies he’s also on the market ^.~ Good catch. …and I realize that has nothing at all to do with Mexico but that’s okay ‘cause I’m pretty sure once I struggled to get myself out of bed this morning I was figuring out when I was going to be able to call and with him a happy birthday (yay) and we talked for like… 45 minutes…part of which I was apparently a stalker girl for until he realized that it was just me, and I was in Mexico and indeed not following him around. ^.~
Today was a good day. After I managed to get out of bed. And I was suffering with you all through the cold weather, and by that I mean I wore that white hoodie that Craig changed a tire in oh-so-many years ago at the Putt Putt Fun Center and generally found the temperature of 70 degrees to be below my preferred temperature by about 10 degrees. =D Enjoy the freezing guys.
Moving on, Wednesdays are the long days, we had Migrations and even though we have a sub the amount of reading we’re being assigned is insane. I’ll spare you, but suffice to say it was a huge packet that I’m not going to spend the money to photocopy because it would be too expensive and I’m not going to read it anyway. And if my prof is somehow reading this, I have absolutely no problem admitting it because that is *way* too much (and we have two other packets on top of that one… and the novel).
After class I went to the library and read for said class and then we had Cavernas and Spanish which is always fun. We’ll be finishing up with our prepositions soon but I have an absolutely amazing Spanish teacher which is a bunch of fun. He whistles a lot to indicate a ‘fill in the blank’ and just is generally very energetic and smiley.
Classes behind me, I got home around 5:15, and was starving, so I had a snack, and then called Andy (insert conversation here) and then 16 of us went to this Italian Restaurant in Gran Plaza for Joe’s birthday. It was pretty sweet, his meal was actually completely free. And then we went across the street to 5 Time Lounge and Bar. Unfortunately, we didn’t time this quite as well as we had thought. The buses end the last one around 11:30, however while we left at 10:30, that was apparently too late for any buses to come and Chelsea and I ended up splitting a taxi. In reality though between the two of us it only cost a dollar each. Cool, huh?
Aaaaand that’s basically it. Seemed like a pretty busy day even though it doesn’t fill up an entire page in Word. Maybe I’ve kind of skimmed over some of the details. I thought of New Years as I ate my fettuccini alfredo. There’s nothing wrong with eating the same thing. ..And it was never a big deal before New Years (or at least it had never been pointed out to me). Maybe I should add that it also came with a caesar salad. There you go. Exactly what I eat. It was a special promotion, all that and a soda for 99 pesos (like less than 9 dollars).
Well, that’s all for me I think, toodles~ <3 Kate
PS: I didn’t mean to make my walk seem like a boring trip, I just meant for an hour long trip I don’t have any profound thoughts to share with you. Lol if I didn’t want to keep walking I would’ve just hopped up on the bus. =)
Today was a good day. After I managed to get out of bed. And I was suffering with you all through the cold weather, and by that I mean I wore that white hoodie that Craig changed a tire in oh-so-many years ago at the Putt Putt Fun Center and generally found the temperature of 70 degrees to be below my preferred temperature by about 10 degrees. =D Enjoy the freezing guys.
Moving on, Wednesdays are the long days, we had Migrations and even though we have a sub the amount of reading we’re being assigned is insane. I’ll spare you, but suffice to say it was a huge packet that I’m not going to spend the money to photocopy because it would be too expensive and I’m not going to read it anyway. And if my prof is somehow reading this, I have absolutely no problem admitting it because that is *way* too much (and we have two other packets on top of that one… and the novel).
After class I went to the library and read for said class and then we had Cavernas and Spanish which is always fun. We’ll be finishing up with our prepositions soon but I have an absolutely amazing Spanish teacher which is a bunch of fun. He whistles a lot to indicate a ‘fill in the blank’ and just is generally very energetic and smiley.
Classes behind me, I got home around 5:15, and was starving, so I had a snack, and then called Andy (insert conversation here) and then 16 of us went to this Italian Restaurant in Gran Plaza for Joe’s birthday. It was pretty sweet, his meal was actually completely free. And then we went across the street to 5 Time Lounge and Bar. Unfortunately, we didn’t time this quite as well as we had thought. The buses end the last one around 11:30, however while we left at 10:30, that was apparently too late for any buses to come and Chelsea and I ended up splitting a taxi. In reality though between the two of us it only cost a dollar each. Cool, huh?
Aaaaand that’s basically it. Seemed like a pretty busy day even though it doesn’t fill up an entire page in Word. Maybe I’ve kind of skimmed over some of the details. I thought of New Years as I ate my fettuccini alfredo. There’s nothing wrong with eating the same thing. ..And it was never a big deal before New Years (or at least it had never been pointed out to me). Maybe I should add that it also came with a caesar salad. There you go. Exactly what I eat. It was a special promotion, all that and a soda for 99 pesos (like less than 9 dollars).
Well, that’s all for me I think, toodles~ <3 Kate
PS: I didn’t mean to make my walk seem like a boring trip, I just meant for an hour long trip I don’t have any profound thoughts to share with you. Lol if I didn’t want to keep walking I would’ve just hopped up on the bus. =)
Tuesday, February 3, 2009
February 3, 2009
I figure I should get moving on this before I forget again, hehe. This morning started out pretty easily. I mean, having slept as much as I did it shouldn’t’ve been a problem, right? So I went about the routine, had two pieces of toast with some apricot jam (I mentioned that here in Mexico they have pre-toasted toast, right? Like the point of it is to have cracker-crunchy bread instead of making the bread warm? Yeah.)
Rural Anthropology dragged on just like it normally does. I’m really not going to like it very much when we have our midterm in that class. Maybe we can all study together…with some of the people who actually know what’s going on. Sitting through that for 2 hours is rough…and we even got out 15 minutes early lol. But we’re watching a movie on Thursday so that’s pretty fantastic.
And then I caught the bus home. Only one class on Tuesday even if it is a bore. Then I got to Plaza Fiesta and my stomach was rumbling rather obnoxiously so I got a little bit to eat. I tried to get something small, and it kind of was, but it was still kind of a meal, and I also stumbled across a chai tea latte. The Chai was something I’d been wanting for almost a week now. And whatever it was I ate, something that looked like it should have been Chinese food but wasn’t, was exceptionally mediocre, and I felt a little bad because I wasn’t hungry at all afterwards, and wasn’t exactly starving for lunch either.
But after this escapade, I decided I was going to walk for a little while, and then catch a bus for the rest of the way back. I stopped at a place that does mani/pedicures to see what their prices were, too. Pretty cheap I think when it comes down to it, 80 and 100 pesos respectively, so that’s less than 8 and less than 10 dollars which…pretty good. Might have to take advantage of that. Just maybe. Especially since I have the same fingernail polish on since New Years and a month later it’s not looking so hot. …and I don’t have any fingernail polish remover (oops?).
So I was walking and walking and eventually just walked the entire way home. I don’t even know what I thought about really, it was all pretty mundane, and fairly repetitive, but it took me an entire hour to walk back. That’s okay though.
At 2:30 I sat down with my family and we had lunch. I tried not to eat quite as much as I would have while at the same time eating enough that it wouldn’t look suspicious, ya know? I think I succeeded. Unfortunately that’s still probably more food than I really needed. I think the whole change in food schedule really has messed with my dietary practices.
And I’ve been doing some homework. Well…not probably as much as I could’ve accomplished but I did read one of the entire packets for Migrations class tomorrow. Maybe I’ll even have something to say tomorrow morning but let’s not get too far ahead of ourselves, ne?
I’m trying to decide if I want to go eat something for dinner or not. I’m really not that hungry but it’s kind of at that ‘well, it’s dinner time…you should go eat....’ type thing. And I’m going to need to put the internet on too…Bah. Ohhhhh welllllll.
Ciao~ Kate <3
Rural Anthropology dragged on just like it normally does. I’m really not going to like it very much when we have our midterm in that class. Maybe we can all study together…with some of the people who actually know what’s going on. Sitting through that for 2 hours is rough…and we even got out 15 minutes early lol. But we’re watching a movie on Thursday so that’s pretty fantastic.
And then I caught the bus home. Only one class on Tuesday even if it is a bore. Then I got to Plaza Fiesta and my stomach was rumbling rather obnoxiously so I got a little bit to eat. I tried to get something small, and it kind of was, but it was still kind of a meal, and I also stumbled across a chai tea latte. The Chai was something I’d been wanting for almost a week now. And whatever it was I ate, something that looked like it should have been Chinese food but wasn’t, was exceptionally mediocre, and I felt a little bad because I wasn’t hungry at all afterwards, and wasn’t exactly starving for lunch either.
But after this escapade, I decided I was going to walk for a little while, and then catch a bus for the rest of the way back. I stopped at a place that does mani/pedicures to see what their prices were, too. Pretty cheap I think when it comes down to it, 80 and 100 pesos respectively, so that’s less than 8 and less than 10 dollars which…pretty good. Might have to take advantage of that. Just maybe. Especially since I have the same fingernail polish on since New Years and a month later it’s not looking so hot. …and I don’t have any fingernail polish remover (oops?).
So I was walking and walking and eventually just walked the entire way home. I don’t even know what I thought about really, it was all pretty mundane, and fairly repetitive, but it took me an entire hour to walk back. That’s okay though.
At 2:30 I sat down with my family and we had lunch. I tried not to eat quite as much as I would have while at the same time eating enough that it wouldn’t look suspicious, ya know? I think I succeeded. Unfortunately that’s still probably more food than I really needed. I think the whole change in food schedule really has messed with my dietary practices.
And I’ve been doing some homework. Well…not probably as much as I could’ve accomplished but I did read one of the entire packets for Migrations class tomorrow. Maybe I’ll even have something to say tomorrow morning but let’s not get too far ahead of ourselves, ne?
I’m trying to decide if I want to go eat something for dinner or not. I’m really not that hungry but it’s kind of at that ‘well, it’s dinner time…you should go eat....’ type thing. And I’m going to need to put the internet on too…Bah. Ohhhhh welllllll.
Ciao~ Kate <3
February 2, 2009
Woops! So the lack of post on the correct date this time is due to finding the cure for insomnia. You see, if you read a text book, you get tired. Unfortunately, however, this is just a remedy for an average afternoon. If you read your text book in Spanish, this is transports you to dream land pretty quickly, but you might have a fighting chance at making it out of the trenches with the lectura finished. On the other hand, if you read your text book in Spanish in your bed at 9:30 at night, this, my friends, is the sure fire way to cure insomnia. And…yeah so basically I have no excuse only that my day lasted an entire 12 hours where in I didn’t do a whole lot but in my attempt to do homework I found myself thwarted.
I got up just before 10 and did some homework outside, just some reading for Rural Anthropology which I did not in fact finish, and then I tried to read inside on the couch the novel for migration but somehow my eye lids kept drooping closed. After lunch though I talked with my mom for a while which was fun, and then Chelsea and I went to the movies.
There are a ton of malls around here. It’s pretty uncanny, actually. But anyway, we learned that there’s a difference in regular going to the movies and then VIP seatings. VIP seatings cost 80 pesos (roughly a little less than 8 dollars) and regular seatings cost 50 (roughly less than 5). You could also go to a discount theater and pay about 30 pesos, and there’s even the possibility that here it’s a 2 for 1 type deal so two people enter on one ticket. Pretty sweet, eh? Anyway, I’m not entirely clear on what the VIP seating involves, but it sounds like they bring you food to your seat or something along those lines which sounds pretty fantastic to me. But we went to see Bride Wars in a regular setting.
Chelsea’s a big fan of chick flicks, which is dandy. As for this movie I didn’t think it was super fantastic. Like it was fun to see, but not something that’d I’d go watch again. And I don’t want to spoil anything for anyone planning on seeing it but the ending I thought was a little deceptive…if you see it and think about it afterwards maybe you’ll see what I mean.
We also went to Burger King, which is basically our favorite place now. But we got blizzards, or the BK equivalent which I think is called a BK storm. Very tasty. Andd….that pretty much brings us back to hoping on the bus, heading back home, trying to do homework and falling asleep in the process pretty much. Hehe well that just meant almost 10 hours of sleep for me today which is lovely.
Pues, Cheers~ <3 Kate
I got up just before 10 and did some homework outside, just some reading for Rural Anthropology which I did not in fact finish, and then I tried to read inside on the couch the novel for migration but somehow my eye lids kept drooping closed. After lunch though I talked with my mom for a while which was fun, and then Chelsea and I went to the movies.
There are a ton of malls around here. It’s pretty uncanny, actually. But anyway, we learned that there’s a difference in regular going to the movies and then VIP seatings. VIP seatings cost 80 pesos (roughly a little less than 8 dollars) and regular seatings cost 50 (roughly less than 5). You could also go to a discount theater and pay about 30 pesos, and there’s even the possibility that here it’s a 2 for 1 type deal so two people enter on one ticket. Pretty sweet, eh? Anyway, I’m not entirely clear on what the VIP seating involves, but it sounds like they bring you food to your seat or something along those lines which sounds pretty fantastic to me. But we went to see Bride Wars in a regular setting.
Chelsea’s a big fan of chick flicks, which is dandy. As for this movie I didn’t think it was super fantastic. Like it was fun to see, but not something that’d I’d go watch again. And I don’t want to spoil anything for anyone planning on seeing it but the ending I thought was a little deceptive…if you see it and think about it afterwards maybe you’ll see what I mean.
We also went to Burger King, which is basically our favorite place now. But we got blizzards, or the BK equivalent which I think is called a BK storm. Very tasty. Andd….that pretty much brings us back to hoping on the bus, heading back home, trying to do homework and falling asleep in the process pretty much. Hehe well that just meant almost 10 hours of sleep for me today which is lovely.
Pues, Cheers~ <3 Kate
Monday, February 2, 2009
Learnings on Life 01
So every once in a while, hopefully, I’ll be able to say “hey…I’ve grown a little.” Which is kind of what you're supposed to do whilst studying abroad (so I get points to count against the failing at studying abroad aspect of this trip ^.~) In this case, the story is dancing. Dancing, or the idea thereof perhaps I should specify, has been something I’ve liked. High school dances were pretty sweet, for some reason H2O was a good idea at some point during senior week, and you can continue in that vein right on up to now. But um, you can also continue with this snap shot that generally involves me chilling in whatever local chair happens to be unavailable and, if I’m lucky, with a pepsi in hand. I can think of more than one occasion where in I’ve dragged Will out, and while we’re actually at whatever place you’d think it was the other way around. A severe need, probably, on my part, to loosen up.
Now being here, people go to these clubs on the weekends and dance and that sort of thing. It’s one of those “hey well you should at least experience it type things” and the first time we went out, we’ll just say through a series of events I went from being very much the same girl who enjoys sipping her drink and chilling in a chair, to dancing my little heart out. Now, you might be thinking “so why are you telling us this tonight when we know you went out the first time in like, the middle of January.” Well, that was something of a one-time thing I thought. In this case, however, the whole affair came a lot more naturally and I was thought to myself, yo, I could do this even in the States. The whole “people you know would be there” bit (which here in Merida tends to be nonexistent and helps in the whole cracking the shell) doesn’t seem nearly as intimidating.
And basically that’s it. We had a good time at Ky60. I like it better than Envy—it was no smoking inside which = <3 .Very very good. Aaanyway, I just thought I might share. Hopefully this’ll be the start of more than just one manner of growing. Perhaps this counts under the ‘confidence’ facet or the ‘not worrying so much about what other people are thinking’ sect. Classification to be determined at a later date. And this time, with the taximetro functioning, it only cost 55 pesos. Much better than 90 or however much it was to get home the first time.
Cheers! <3 Kate
Now being here, people go to these clubs on the weekends and dance and that sort of thing. It’s one of those “hey well you should at least experience it type things” and the first time we went out, we’ll just say through a series of events I went from being very much the same girl who enjoys sipping her drink and chilling in a chair, to dancing my little heart out. Now, you might be thinking “so why are you telling us this tonight when we know you went out the first time in like, the middle of January.” Well, that was something of a one-time thing I thought. In this case, however, the whole affair came a lot more naturally and I was thought to myself, yo, I could do this even in the States. The whole “people you know would be there” bit (which here in Merida tends to be nonexistent and helps in the whole cracking the shell) doesn’t seem nearly as intimidating.
And basically that’s it. We had a good time at Ky60. I like it better than Envy—it was no smoking inside which = <3 .Very very good. Aaanyway, I just thought I might share. Hopefully this’ll be the start of more than just one manner of growing. Perhaps this counts under the ‘confidence’ facet or the ‘not worrying so much about what other people are thinking’ sect. Classification to be determined at a later date. And this time, with the taximetro functioning, it only cost 55 pesos. Much better than 90 or however much it was to get home the first time.
Cheers! <3 Kate
Sunday, February 1, 2009
February 1, 2009
FEBRUARY!!! Yay! One month down (or 4 weeks if you want to look at it like that) and 19 more days to go until Mom comes =D So that was exciting. 4 more months sounds like a long time, but somehow rolling out of January and into February makes it seem like time is passing. Like when you lay in bed and look at the clock and watch the numbers change…Anyway it seems to mark a certain amount of time passing. So 4 more months/ 16 weeks (for those of you who have more trouble with math than I do).
This morning I got up all bright and early to go to church at 7 AM. I’m not really sure why it was decided that we would go to church in the morning when there was an evening option, but that was indeed the way things were decided and we did in fact go.
Chelsea and I popped onto the 52 Norte and road until we got to calle 50 at 51. We needed to get to calle 74 at 49. So we walked, and walked. I think I’m going to really need to invest in a pair of flipflops for skirt wearing because as comfortable as the heels I have are, walking long distances isn’t really the best.
But we finally made it to church if not a little bit late, and we sat down behind Arianna and Mandy who managed to be on time. …and we sat down for…choir practice…? We got in, and the woman singing at the front leading (who mind you wasn’t exactly the next Madonna) was teaching the congregation to sing the song…and I don’t mean like I’m going to sing it then you sing it, she was literally showing them how to go up and down with their voices… It was…really odd. Then we sang a different song and she told us we did a good job and there was nothing to correct! …seriously? …like…for real?
Then the pastor came up to the front, and he seemed like he’d be a pretty lively speaker…and the message…if you can consider it a message…was…I’m not really entirely sure what to say about it. Not substantial? Maybe that’d be the best way to put it. To give you an idea, the service lasted for an hour. In that hour, the first half was probably spent learning to sing, and then there was praying over the kids when they exited for their own program, and then the message and then offering. That doesn’t leave much time for talking. I should also mention we four gringas were the only people between the ages of like… 16 and 35. Yeaaaaah.
After that though, because it’s Sunday this is sort of a special affair in Merida. They close down the centro in terms of automobiles and set up vendors in the street and that sort of thing. I didn’t actually buy anything. While we all looked around I didn’t think Mandy and Chelsea were really shopping. They were saying that we’d have plenty of opportunities to buy this sort of stuff later. Which is probably true. Eh, oh well.
So we made a round of El Centro and sat down for what we thought was going to be a Mayan dance of sorts. As it turns out, we sat down for a puppet show. This was entertaining for a little while, as in, in the beginning, but we were kind of tired and so we left before the show was over.
Chelsea and I then got on the 52 Norte where we were told our student IDs weren’t valid on Sundays when it comes to the buses, which means we either ripped the original bus driver off or we were ripped off. We were also ripped off when we bought some churros which is annoying. Note to self: do not converse in English while buying anything.
For lunch my family brought home Kentucky Fried Chicken, haha. So that was alright, and I shared the part of the cheesecake Diana had given me (oh let me sum up here really quickly for your sakes, on Friday a small group of us went to Diana’s (the resident director’s) house for dinner and it was really good she fixed us curry and for dessert we had chocolate cheesecake) with my family and they all enjoyed it.
Basically after that I fooled around on the computer a little more. Watched a small portion of Dr. Horrible’s Sing Along Blog and took a nap for an hour. I have been trying not to make a habit of napping while I’m here. I’ve done a good job of it over all, but today I gave in.
Aaaand this is being posted rather early (as you may or may not notice via the time stamp) because we may or may not go out tonight to this place called Kyu {I don’t know about you guys but this makes me think Japanese not Spanish} which is supposed to be really cheap for girls on Sunday nights and since we don’t have class tomorrow it’s the perfect opportunity to try it out. So we’ll see. I’ll talk with Chelsea and see what’s up.
I’m reallllllly getting sick of cigarette smoke. The smoking population here makes SU look like a sterile doctor’s office. It’s *everywhere*. Bleh. I think I’m going to end up with a black lung before I leave without ever needing to smoke myself. Isn’t second hand smoke worse, too?
Anyway. That’s about all I have for today. I ate all my cashews. I really need to stop eating so terribly. As I’ve been eating much more than I should/need. In part I think it’s because I’m not entirely in control of what I’m eating, ie, food is being prepared so I eat what I’m served, and then sometimes you just want something that’s ‘normal’ or that tastes particularly good when you can have it since you don’t always have that option. Bah…I should probably end that reallyyyy quickly. We’ll see though, it’s kind of hard. Pues, Cheers! <3 Kate
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