Catching Up

Man it's been way too long.

It's hard to get myselft to sit down and write about Mexico when I'm so busy living it! Ha. That's a terrible excuse. You're right I've just been lazy.

I've learned a lot so far from coming on this trip, and not just about Spanish/culture/other academic things. I've learned a lot about myself. I think the details belong in a less public journal but here's a no-duh statement I've been reminded of here:

• The most important thing in life is people and relationships

If your bad mood is getting in the way of having good relationships--fix the problem. 

If you feel distant from someone because you're from different cultures (or other reasons), break the barrier. Street venders are moms, dads, uncles, aunts, sisters, brothers, and best friends too. Break through the social shells that surround the unknown and you'll find out that people are people, no matter what language they speak or where they're from or what they do for a living.

This is all just a review. This stuff is common sense. But it's such a beautiful thing to actually see that come true before your eyes. To actually see that opaque colored veil come off of a culture you never knew personally before now. It's like having a pre-impression of someone before you meet them, and then you meet them and realize that your pre-impression was all wrong eventhough it was the most accurate thing you could possibly have thought. Texts books about culture are great, but they just don't do the real world justice.

Alright here's my attempt at catching up the past week or so: 

1. Went dancing. Learned how to salsa! It's all in the hips. Shakira was right btw. They DEFINITELY don't lie. You can spot a gringo from a mile away just by comparing the stiffness of their hips. 

2. Watched Emporers New Groove with Spanish subtitles. Fun, but not picture worthy. Or noteworthy for that matter. Forget I said anything. 

3. Went out with my new native friends to get ice cream hecho de agua! That's right--dairy free! It was kind of like sorbet but different. Sooooo delicious. Meet Daniel and Lili.   

4. Saw the ruins at Uxmal. So awesome! There was a really cool light show/presentation at the end that I could kind of understand (it was in really echoey Spanish). Learned a little bit about the Mayan God of Rain named Chaac and bought a cool baby journal to record new Spanish words I learn.    

5. I ate that.

If it looks like octopus that's because it is. If it looks raw that's because it was cooked only using lemon juice--no heat.

6. Other things I ate:

Tacos al Pastor. My favorite behind cochinita. 

Different tacos al pastor from the restaurant "Los Trompos." It's like the McDonalds of Merida. But better food. 

The most glorious nachos in the world. They just ripped open a bag of cheese flavored tostitoes and dumped in a bunch of heaven. (3 different kinds of salsa, crema, cheese, and more).

7. Did you know there's an LDS temple down here? It was awesome. We got to do some baptisms. In Spanish. Very cool. 

8. As expected, Mexico is verrrrry hot and verrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrry humid. The only time I'm not sweating is when... no just kidding I'm always sweating. Except for the day me and Zoie took this picture. It was a miracle. Un regalito de Chaac. 

9. Did I tell you I got a hair cut here? Nothing drastic. Just got shorter bangs and layers. Cultural experience. It was interesting trying to explain what I wanted in Spanish. The barbor actually came right to our house! It was pretty cool.  

10. Went on a fun boat ride in Celestun to see flamingos and go to the beach! I don't have any good pictures of the flamingos because we weren't allowed to get close to them. :/

11. Went to juego de la pelota downtown which was awesome. They basically re-enacted a game of ancient Mayan "futbol" o algo. Ya know, where they try to kick the ball through the ring? That one. Except the ball was on FIRE. Almost went over the barriers and burned the audience haha. Here's me with one of the players.

12. We went to this really cool tapestry shop and a lady was out weaving! I seized the photo opp. 

13. Went to a sweet art museum and learned about the Aztec version of the creation story. How things came to be. Very cool take on it all. Basically all the animals used to be human in the past, but in order to survive natural disasters they turned into animals. Flooding rain=fish. Excessive wind=monkeys (sought shelter in the trees). Fire=birds (flew away to escape). Mythology is awesome. Here are some of the cool head statues they had out in front of the museum.

Until next time!

I'll just be living and loving every second of it. 

You do the same. :)

  

Wild Cats (and not the High School Musical kind)

I currently have 8 bug bites on my feet.

Every time I open my laptop, there are at least 4 tiny bugs crawling on my screen and in/out the cracks between the letter keys.

I couldn't sleep last night because there was a vicious wild cat fight going down outside.

A WILD BAT flew into our room one night and almost gave us rabies.

I LOVE MEXICO!!!!!

Sincerely. It's the same kind of relationship I used to have with my sisters before we were mature enough to stop fighting. They drive you crazy sometimes but you love them even crazier because you just do. They're family. I guess I'm starting to feel like Mexico is family! 

I even slept talked in Spanish the other night. Ask my roommate. 

Week 1

This week was awesome!

Travelling was no biggie... this was my first international flight alone and everything went great. Pues... I guess I wasn't completely alone since I met up with 2 other girls from the program at my layover in Houston. FYI the Houston airport has delicious tacos.

So many fun things this week!!

1. Explored Mérida on bikes. You guys. Mérida is awesome. Beautiful, safe, friendly... all the good things. I'm super happy to be here! 

2. Saw Spider Man 2 or "Hombre Araña" as they say in Spanish. It rained like crazy afterwards... but felt amazing after being so hot all the time. Lots of people in Mexico believe that if the rain touches your head, you'll get sick, unless you wash it off right when you get home. I guess it's some sort of myth. 

3. Successfully used public transportation without getting lost! <<most exciting thing of the week right there. Lili Grande (our host mom) was so proud. The bus system here is awesome. The drivers are super attentive... if you want them to pull over and pick you up all you have to do is slightly stick your arm out for half a second. And if you don't want them to pick you up (like if it's the wrong bus) you just shake your head. People just get each other here. Not much conversation needed. Which I'm glad for because my Spanish still kind of sucks. But it's getting there :)

4. Climbed this sweet monument. Proooobably not the best idea. Got a good picture out of it at least. I wish I knew more about Yucatan history so I could say something interesting about the monuments haha.... my bad. I'll do better next time. For now just enjoy the aesthetic appeal. 

5. Made a new friend... Fernando the frog. He was nice. Even posed for a selfie. 

6. Swam in this beeeeeaautiful cenote. Note how clear the water is. Felt amazing! In the picutre you can see the shallow area that girl is standing in, but under those lili pads, it goes at least a hundred feet deep. WITH SHARKS. heh. Just kiddin' dad. 

7. Went to a delicious Mexican (obviously) restaurant that served thee best blue corn tacos. Riquísimos! Corn tortillas in the US are kind of meh... but these were incredible. The texture!! Ah. So good. Also served "agua de jamaica" which is a juice made from flowers. Flowers! How cool is that? And it's delicious. 

8. Went to these awesome Mayan ruins called Dzibilchaltún. It's weird stepping into the past like that. The whole time I was just trying to imagine these short Mayan people walking around, just living their normal lives, with no thought that their homes and temples would become tourist attractions in the far future. Made me wonder if our time has anything timeless enough to be remembered and preserved like that.  

Alright I don't have pictures for these things but they're still great. First, I saw my first bull run ever. It was interesting.... educational. Not very comfortable to watch but a cultural experience none the less. I'm happy we didn't see any bulls get killed. 

Second, we finally made it to church! Me and Zoie (my roommate) didn't go to church the week before because we had no idea at what time it was... plus we kind of accidentally slept through it. But this week church was AWESOME. We went to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (in Spanish of course) I cannot tell you how awesome it was to feel the spirit through another language. Everyone had such strong, beautiful testimonies. One man talked about the butterfly effect, comparing it to Joseph Smith. In Spanish, he said something like, "who knew the acts of a young boy in the 1800s would affect millions in the future." Chilllllsssssss. Ahhh and it got me so excited to serve my mission and see what kind of effect my little butterfly wings can have!  (cheesy, I know)

¡Hasta luego!