Escuela, fan clubs, y fatigue

Monday was my first day of school, I can't believe it's only Wednesday. I'm exhausted.

Mexican law school is like high school with cigarette breaks. It's not exactly the break-back Socratic method hawking stress pressure cooker that I'm used to at McGeorge. The concepts are really basic, it's just the language barrier and new legal terms that throw me off and take me a little longer to get, but I understand nearly everything in class and I've been participating in class discussions, so I'm really happy with how my Spanish is coming along!

Regardless, I'm tired. I have to wake up at 5:30 every morning to take the bus at 6:30 to get to my classes on time. I have classes straight through from 7:30-1:30, and the past couple of days I've been up until 2am doing homework, so, I feel like a zombie! There's really nothing like being on a Mexican bus at 6:30am jam packed with people going to school and work. It's unbelievable how many people are packed like sardines onto the micros, and it's incredible how much the micros feel like rollercoasters. Something else is that there are no driving rules or regulations here. Literally. In order to get your driver's license, you go to the supermarket and you buy it. Traffic lights are ignored on a regular basis, cars drive down the wrong way down one way streets, it's incredible. Dad, you'd hate it--it'd give you anxiety.

The students at the school are really fun, and I'm the only exchange student there so they're all trying to claim me as for their group of friends as soon as possible. Kindof like steal the bacon, and I'm the bacon. I have this group of 19 year old boys that follow me everywhere and always invite me out and stuff, my girlfriends here have dubbed them my groupies. It's pretty funny. I think it's just because kids here aren't used to hanging out with extranjeros, especially from California which is apparently superpadrisimo. :)

So, not much more to tell other than school's going well, I'm making fast friends and am studying hard, but enjoying myself, too. The best part is my Spanish--sometimes I don't even realize that I'm speaking or understanding it, as if the divide between the two languages is starting to crumble a bit, which is really exciting!!!

Oaxaca

I just got back from Oaxaca and I had such a great time and have so many stories that I decided to make a top ten list rather than drone on about things nobody cares about.

OAXAQUENO TOP 10 (In no particular order)

1. The food!!! Oaxaca is one of Mexico's culinary capitals, and for good reason. I had some amazing moles, soups, breads...all of the food here is so amazing and totally cheap.
2. The art. Oaxaca also happens to be one of Mexico's art capitals, and I spent way too much on some of the most amazing artesania pieces I've ever seen. You could easily spend your entire trip shopping in Oaxaca, there's just so many amazing things to see.
3. Meeting Isabelle (from France) & Michelle (U.S.) in the really cool hostel I stayed at. Michelle only stayed with us for a day in Oaxaca, but Isabelle stayed the entirety of my trip and we had such a great time together! We went out a lot and went on adventures that we wouldn't have otherwise gone on by ourselves.
   
4. Being a superstar for a night in a local bar. Isabelle, Michelle, & I went out to this crazy blacklight bar where chelas (beer with hot sauce, lime, & salt...incredible) were only 10 pesos each and there was a funky rock band playing covers all night. We got a little tipsy, danced to some of the ska music, and had a great time. When we took off, EVERY guy in the bar, including all of the band members pleaded with us to come back "NO TE VAYAS, PORQUE NO REGRESAS? ADIOOOOOOOOOS!!!" It was way too funny.
   
5. The CHOCOLATE. Oaxaca is also Mexico's chocolate capital! I had a cup of hot chocolate from the well -known Chocolate Mayordomo everyday! :) It puts that Nestle Abuelita garbage to shame!!!
6. Going to the Guelaguetza recreation with Isabelle, and being asked to dance onstage TWICE by the cute dancer! Of course I accepted!
   
7. Visiting the Centro Cultural Santo Domingo--an ex-convent that was recently transformed into an amazing anthropology & art museum. I was most excited to see the exhibit of artifacts pulled from Teotihuacan (where I'd just visited and climbed the pyramids just outside of D.F.) and the treasures recently extracted from Tomb 7 of Monte Alban, including a jade encrusted skull and a number of exquisitely preserved jewelry from centuries past. Mom, you would've loved it! Apart from the amazing exhibits it stored, the ex-convent is quite a sight to behold, and behind it there's an amazing botanical garden.
   
8. Live music. Almost everywhere you go in Oaxaca, you're bound to be surrounded by live music of some sort or another--mariachi, marimba ensembles (which I believe is characteristic to the state of Oaxaca), guitarristas, or even orchestras!
   
9. The Zocalo. Oaxaca's Zocalo is beautiful, covered with trees and currently adorned with Poinsettias (or Nochebuenas as they're called here, which means Christmas Eve), it's always filled with people relaxing and live music playing. I loved to just spend time in the Zocalo, read my new Isabelle Allende novel over a cup of Oaxaqueno chocolate and listen to the music. So relaxing.
10. The Mercados. Oaxaca has 3 big ol' mercados: Mercado Juarez, 20 de Noviembre, y Centro de Albestos. It was fun to explore them and find treats like fresh baked bread or freshly sliced coconut with lime and hot sauce.

My ONLY complaint about my trip was that I came down with food poisoning last night, which was really awful and caused me to lose my last night there. Thankfully I was able to pull it together to make the 8 1/2 hour trek back to my host family's house in Tlalpan. I should be 100% by tomorrow, but I plan to take it easy the rest of the weekend since my classes start Monday.

Hope everything's great with all of you! xoxo

Catholicism & Men

My dean here is the best--he's really taken care of me so far and has made sure that I'm very comfortable and happy. He's a pretty important and controversial dude--he's the lawyer for the Cardinal of Mexico. Needless to say, our politics differ substantially; regardless, we get along famously.
He invited me to mass at La Catedral in the Zocalo, and I received VIP treatment the whole time--it was insane. We were escorted by the police to the Zocalo from the freeway all the way downtown, I was personally escorted by members of the Cardinal's security to various special places in the Catedral, and I was allowed to enter rooms not available to the general public, which included some of the most incredible art I've ever seen.
After mass, I was escorted into a special room where the public is not allowed to go, and the door was locked behind the small amount of people that were allowed in to see the Cardinal off. After he changed out of his vestments, I shook his hand before he left. Again, though we disagree politically, it was pretty impressive to shake the hand of someone so politically powerful. I also wonder what my grandparents Olga & Nick would say if they could've seen me going to mass at the Catedral & shaking the hand of the Cardinal!? Que locura!

Also--a note about men here in Mexico. They stare at me like I have 3 heads (unlike my experience in Chile, apparently I look different than the general population here...people can tell right off the bat that soy gringa), and if they're over the age of 40, they like to ask me out on dates (which happened to me today...DURING MASS!!! GROSS!). I talked to my host parents about guys here--and they explained to me that the culture is simply different. Here, there's really no shame in telling a woman she's beautiful and asking her out, even if it's TOTALLY OBVIOUS THAT SHE'S NOT INTERESTED, NOT EVEN A LITTLE BIT. The machismo will take some getting used to...it's not at all out of the ordinary to get asked out or be told that I'm beautiful and that they're totally in love with me--it's weird and I'm not used to it.

Teaching English & Fryin' up Platanos

I have to say that spending a semester in Mexico is the best decision I could've made for myself--I couldn't be happier, and I don't feel like I've been this genuinely content for a really long time. I'm also really happy with my Spanish--it gets better and better every day, which is incredibly encouraging!

I was up at 5:30am because my host mom asked me to come to her classroom and speak English to her students--she's an English teacher at Diego Rivera Middle School. We had to levantarnos REALLY early to take the micro (bus...pronounced meecro) to school. And let me tell you--there's nothing like a little cumbia in a rickety ol' bus at 7am to get the blood flowing. I love cumbia, but that early? It's almost offensive!
I spoke English in two of her morning classes and it was just too funny. Everytime I spoke, the students actually applauded me! hahaha! It was a little surprising to be applauded for saying things like, "I'm from California," and "I have a cat named Josefina." When I told them that I liked cumbia and tacos al pastor, they went NUTS...yelling and all excited. After my little presentacion, they all wanted to take pictures with me and a bunch of the little boys actually asked for my number. Ridiculous!

Afterward, Farath and I grabbed a coffee from the local oxxo (just like 7 11) and headed back home to fry up some platanos. On our way home from the bus stop Farath showed me a couple of little tortillerias, where they make tortillas with a machine.

AND THEN Farath showed me how to make fried platanos, which ended up being incredibly delicious. We feasted on sopes that we made ourselves and had the fried platanos for dessert. Oh man.

Then we decided to head to the Tiangui, or open air market, to explore. I love hanging out in Tianguis...there's just so much to see and everyone's yelling at you to buy whatever it is that they're selling.

Tonight we'll take it easy, just novelas, knitting (I'm teaching Farath), joking around with Cairo & Farath, & tacos, but tomorrow we're going out dancing and then Sunday to the museums, which are always free on Sundays. Also, I'm VERY excited because Cairo (my host mom) told me that there's a cumbia dance studio closeby...so I'll be an experta when I come home.

xoxo--shoot me a line if you have time, it'd be great to hear from you all! Shout out to my homies in Sac & everywhere else.

Pictures

1. Makin' sopes in the nearby Tiangui, or open air market. Every Tuesday they use blue corn maiz.

2. Mmmm...sopes.

3. Farath putting hot sauce and limon on our popcorn at the movies

4. Isn't my tia cute?!! Here she is showing me how to make refried beans


Also...check out my new slideshow on the right hand side.

Getting situated

I've spent the last couple of days hanging out with my family and settling in to my new casa. There's so much to tell about my host family--they're so much fun. Last night, I went with Farath and a couple of her friends to a movie and a little cafecito afterwards. They're muy buena gente, I'm really excited to be rollin' with such a relaxed and fun crowd. At the movies, we put salsa picante and lemon on our popcorn, and I'm never eating popcorn any other way ever again. It's delicious.

Afterward, we came home and watched the rest of this RIDICULOUS novela called Pasion, that I'm actually starting to get into. It's one of those things where at first you're like "are you serious?" and then you can't stop watching it! The rest of the night was spent chatting with my host mom and sister over homemade refried beans and tortillas and cafecitos.

Tonight we're making mole and platanos fritos...mmmmm.

So, no new news...I've just been exploring Tlalpan with my host sister, getting oriented to the district, and getting to know my host family. They're really incredible people...I must've done something right to live with them!

Fotos nuevas

1. Hangin´with Diego y Frida in the Palacio Nacional

2. Flexing our muscles after toughing out the very steep climb up Teotihuacán's Pyramid del Sol

3. By Mexico's first ever (an maybe last?) ice skating rink in the Zócalo. We didn´t skate on it because the line was so incredibly long!

I´ll upload pictures of my family soon. My sister wouldn't let me take pictures of her yesterday because she hadn't done her hair or anything. :)

It's really wonderful to stay in Tlalpan with such a wonderful familia y casa. Tlalpan is very quaint--the Zócalo is really cute and surrounded by very cool cafes and restaurants. I can´t wait to explore it more!

Ya tengo familia!!

So much has happened since my last post!

Almost immediately after I left Cafe AM (a really great cafe in the Centro that's worth checking out) to tomar cafe and upload some pictures to my blog, not only did I have someone confess their love to me and ask me out (after about 5 minutes of chatting), but my host family called and I moved in with them last night!!

My host sister, Atenea came to pick me up last night from the hostel, and we drove a very long way to the Delegación Tlalpan, where I now live. We immediately clicked, she´s so much fun. After only about 30 minutes in the car we were already joking around, making promises to go dancing all the time, and singing loudly to Julieta Venegas and Juanes. We went to pick up my other host sister, Farath, to get tacos. Then we went to a taco stand and I swear to god I had the best tacos I've ever eaten in my entire life. I had 3 de pastor, and 1 de carnitas, and they were so incredible...I'm so glad the stand is close to our house and that the girls go all the time!

I moved into my little room, which has its own bathroom and everything. The house is great and in a great location on top of a hill south of the city, so at night you can see all of the city lights. It´s incredible. The family is so friendly and the girls are really fun, life couldn't be better. We also have a little pet turtle named Tuga, that lives with me in my room. :)

It feels so good to have a place to live and move out of the hostel--everything has fallen into place and I feel genuinely relaxed and totally comfortable. It also helps that my Spanish is getting better little by little, which makes me feel more independent and less niñita. So, bring it on, Mexico.

Ya te echo de menos, Katie!

Today was Katie's last day, I'm so sad to see her go!!!
This morning we headed to Cafe el Popular to tomar cafe con leche y pan dulces. So good. We had to roll ourselves to the metro station after filling ourselves with so much bread. Ridiculous.

Afterward shopping for some artesania, we went to this amazing little coffee shop really close to our hostel which I've been eyeing all week. I ordered Cafe Arabe and it was so fancy the way they served it! I really love coffee here, when they do it right they do it right. Not that nescafe crap they serve in Chile.

I'm hoping to move in with my host family tonight or tomorrow, I have yet to hear from them, which is starting to frustrate me, but asi es la vida. More pictures to come!!!

Pyramides y LUCHAS

SO...today I climbed the Pyramids at Teotihuacán, it was just so incredibly powerful. I hung out most of the time with Mirelle's dad, who was such an amazing tour guide! It was also really great to speak Spanish all day, it's starting to flow a lot better, which is very exciting! It's actually starting to become harder to speak correct English, I'm starting to use English vocab with Spanish grammar when I speak in English (which won't be for much longer since Katie leaves tomorrow. Which I'm really sad about!!).

After vistando las pyramides, we went to LUCHA LIBRE and I haven't had so much fun in SO LONG. We sat RIGHT NEXT to the tv commentators! And El Flash and El Sensei waved at me and blew me kisses!!! All we do the whole time is yell groseros at the luchadores and laugh like crazy--"SUBETE PENDEJO!! SUBETE A LAS CUELGAS!!" I'm learning all my bad words from lucha. AND the lead commentator signed my program for me! I'm going every week, es bien paaaadre.

I promise to post pictures soon, it's that I have yet to have a whole lot of time on a computer and a dependable internet connection.

la gringa anda bien cansada

It's tough to believe I've only been here for a week--the US feels so very far away. I feel so lucky to be here, to be doing and seeing things that I never thought I'd have the chance to experience. I'm also really tired! We've been walking & using public transportation all week long, and I'd forgotten how exhausting it can be to use my Spanish all the time.

I definitely am ready to settle in with my host family--with whom I have yet to connect. It's tough to feel so uprooted, I'm ready to move out of this funky ass hostel and into a place without vinyl mattresses--I can't wait to take a real shower and not live out of my suitcases. I've decided hostel stays are not really my thing-maybe it's just the one I'm staying in, but I've realized that having my own room and bathroom is something that my patience and sanity seems to require. It's great to save money, and I'll tough it out for the next couple of days, but what I need above all else right now is some quiet time to myself, which is absolutely impossible to come by here.

What's great is that my host family seems like they're going to be wonderful. They live in a big ol' house and they have two daughters that're my age. Perfect.

Today we headed to the Parque Chapultepeque (think Balboa or Golden Gate Park) and though there are a ton of incredible museums there, I was totally fascinated with all of the street vendors that line that walks and assault you with all the crap they have to sell. It's incredible--like the ramate multiplied by a million -- DOS CINCO HELADOS DOS CINCO HELADOS, ¿QUE LES DAMOS? or yelling about their chicharrones or any other thing they have to sell you. They seriously yell right in your face!

Alright I'm off to bed because we have another really early morning tomorrow--we're going to Teotihuacán and want to climb the pyramids before everyone else gets there! I promise to post pics soon, I've had bad luck with internet connections so far.

Drop me a line if you have a sec, it'd be wonderful to hear from you!

Some pictures & a quick update

We're back at our funky little hostel in Mexico City's Centro Historico--here I am next to my vinyl coated mattress, and then falling (not really) into a hole outside of our hostel. The construction made it a little scary to walk on the sidewalk outside!

Yesterday was incredible--not only did we go to Frida Kahlo's house in Coyoacan, but we ate churros filled with nutella and cajeta. If you've never been to Mexico and you think you know what a churro tastes like, I'm sad for you.

It was so incredible to be in Frida's house--we saw her bed, her casts, some paintings, letters that she wrote to Diego, and many other amazing things that belonged to her and her family. Frida has quickly become an idol of mine, so it was amazing to be in the place where she was born and grew up.

After heading to Frida's house, we hung out for a bit in the plaza in Coyoacan where people come to pasar tiempo no mas, a concept pretty foreign in the U.S. We then went to a teeny place where we ate sopes and quezadillas--they made the tortillas and everything else right in front of us. I was a little worried because that place definitely would've been shut down by the health dept in the US, but I'm turista free so far. Knock on wood.

Today was pretty tranquila. We're exhausted after doing so much in such little time, but we're resting up because we're heading to an antro tonight with Mirelle, Sergio, and some of our other nuevos amigos. It should be pretty fun.

Cuernavaca

Estamos en Cuernavaca, a really cool city about 1 1/2 hours from D.F. We´re staying in this AMAZING little bed and breakfast and have done some really cool stuff.´ Speaking of the b&b, this morning I had my first plato of huevos rancheros autenticos, and oh my god. I´m going to come back so fat because the food here is to die for.

Our first night we went to a small cafe called La Maga, y era perfecto...totally bohemian with great food and coffee for super cheap. Our big adventure was yesterday though, when we visited the Pyramids at Xochicalco. We decided to take the cheapo busses to save $5, and it turned out to be a big adventure. We almost died like 5 times. Our bus driver liked to play chicken, and road dividers and signals or more like suggestions here than requirements! It was fun...Dad, you would´ve hated it! :) The Pyramids were incredible to see--the pictures don´t do them justice. What´s nice is that there was maybe 10 people total there, so it was very quiet and we seemed to have the place to ourselves. Y que vista.

After resting a bit after our crazy trek home, we went out to Los Arcos, a really great restaurant and bar for la hora feliz and had some great food and a few coronitas while listening to live cumbia, salsa, and merengue. It was there that we met Angel, who is from Cuernavaca but now lives in Chicago. He was so much fun, we hung out with him most of the night, which continued on to Harry´s bar, which serves foreigners for free on Tuesdays. Harry´s was totally bizarre, we didn´t really like it--habia demasiados gringos.

So, so far so good. I really love it here. Although sometimes my Spanish can get stuck in my mouth, it´s going really well and I´m excited to see how much I improve over the next few months. Mirelle and her friends are great, so I feel really established and comfortable since I already have a really fun easy-going and energetic group of friends.

More later, we´ve got to continue conquering Cuernavaca! :)

Ya llegue!

I can´t believe that I´ve only been here for a couple of days. Katie and I have already done so so much, it feels like we´ve been here for at least a week! I LOVE IT HERE. The city is just incredible. Dios mio I don´t even know where to begin.

Katie and I connected in baggage claim at the airport at around 8pm, about 6 hours after my flight landed. We decided to take the metro because our hostel doesn´t provide its shuttle service on Saturdays. Of course, right? Let me tell you--if you have about 120 pounds of equipaje, don´t take the metro from the airport to your hostel just to save some money. Although it can be totally entertaining, it´s a huge pain in the ass when you realize that you don´t know the metro system and are lost, have about 20 flights of stairs to ascend or descend, and that´s its 9pm and you look very gringa y turista with all your stupid luggage. Thankfully we received unsolicited help from about 5 guys at different points in our trip, and I even scored some digits! haha, I probably won´t be cashing in on that offer.

Despite the headache, I totally fell in love with the metro. You can get anywhere for $2 pesos, which is about $.15 USD, and there´s always someone selling something or singing or playing music for a few pesos. It´s really chaotic and it always guarantees a belly laugh about something or other.

I also immediately fell in love with Mexico City--the first thing I saw was the Zocalo at night, which is totally incredible. The Palacio and the Catedral are so striking and the energy of the Centro is just so lively, it´s amazing.

OPn the 6th we wandered into the Palacio, and saw all of Diego Rivera´s murals there. Afterward we finally met up with Mirelle, and before taking us to her house to share the rosca de reyes, she took us through the Catedral in the Zocalo and treated us to a tour of the top of the Catedral! We were above the entire City, actually walking on the ceiling while mass was taking place. Y que vista! We finally headed to her house in the evening, and a ton of her friends came over to hang out. We thought we´d have a really traditional dinner to celebrate the Dia de los Reyes, we thought we´d eat tamales or something like that, but Mirelle was like, ¨¿qué quieren comer? ¿A ustedes les gusta sushi?¨ And when it turned out that the sushi place didn´t deliver, we just had pizza. We finally cut the rosca de reyes, a big circular fruitbread (that no one really enjoys) that has little dolls inside. If you find a doll in the piece you cut, it´s a blessing, but you also have to throw a little tamale party for everyone in a month, so no one really wants it. Katie found two in hers!!

Right now I´m in Cuernavaca, staying in a really amazing little bed and breakfast about 3K away from the Centro. We´re going to visit some ruins today and go out tonight. This weekend, Mirelle and her friends are taking us out dancing, to Teotihuacan, and to Six Flags Mexico City!!! Crazy. I also plan on checking out lucha libre, ballet folklorico, and Frida Kahlo´s house in the coming weeks. Oh, and the food here is incredible--we´ve had good luck so far.

There´s so much more to talk about, but for now I´ve gotta head out because we´re catching a bus to the ruins. I´ll upload pictures asap.

Les mando abrazos y millones de besitos! Hasta luego!

Ya me voy!

It's finally starting to sink in that I'm going to Mexico. Today I'll spend all day packing and taking care of everything that needs to be taken care of. Tomorrow my family will drive me to LA, and early Saturday morning I'll fly out of LAX.

Katie booked a hostel for us, and Sunday night we'll head to Mirelle's family's house for the Dia de Los Reyes dinner. After that, who knows! :)

I'll miss all of my friends very much, and I'll really miss my family, Molly, & Josie.

Que ustedes tenian vacaciones muy relajadas y que 2008 este llena de cosas bonitas y sorprendentes. Hasta pronto, entonces. :)