Back to Puebla

Here we go again...

... another trip to Puebla, Mexico. It is through the study abroad program at UNLV again. I'll be taking 6 credits in 4 weeks, and I'll stay an extra week or so just for fun. I really am not such a big fan of writing in my blog, but some funny stuff goes down when you are in another country, so I'll give it another shot. My last trip to Mexico was an amazing experience... it led to a few changes in my life; probably the most dramatic was the decision I made to change my major of four years (Culinary Arts Management) to Spanish. I love learning a new language, seeing a new culture, trying the food, and realizing the things that make us different (and the same).

Things I am looking forward to:

- Seeing my host family (Saray and Rosa Maria)

- Mis AMIGOS

- The crazy institute dances

- My ward (church)

- Hearing Espanol every day.

- Taking classes at La Iberoamericana

- Regaton playing in the streets

- Chalupas, esquites, tacos, chiles en ogada, mole poblano...

Things I could probably do without:

- The massive amount of PDA on every corner

- Taking the bus everywhere... which wouldn't be so bad if I were better at directions and the bus drivers didn't drive like maniacs... and if there was an actual bus route to follow.

-Stomach flu... oh yes the first couple of weeks are going to be memorable.

- Ummm, really, that's about it... I guess the whole avoid-traveling-by-myself-at-night-so-I- don't-end-up-like-those-girls-on-Taken thing is kind of annoying as well but I'll try not to do anything really, really stupid and that takes those chances way down.

So, yeah... vaminos!

Why I Love Mexico

Here are some things that I think make Mexico Mexico.

1. The fact that not only do they sweep and mop the floors inside of the house, but outside as well. The sidewalk, the benches, even the roads.

2. Strange refrigeration practices. For example I have seen refrigerated nutella and peanut butter on many accounts (aka cacaguata); however, things like eggs, milk, and meat, not so much.3. Evidently, showering after you eat is a major health risk.

4. Kisses on the cheek. This happens when you first meet someone, when you greet someone, or when you say goodbye. Regardless if you are talking to one person or twenty, a kiss is a social requirement.

5. Mexican Standard Time. It puts Mormon Standard Time to shame. If someone tells you to meet them at 5:00 pm what they really mean is 6:30 or 7:00 pm.

6. Michael Jackson and Bob Marley are everywhere. On the bus, in the market... there is no escape.

7. Small change, such as 5 or 10 peso coins are valued above all else. It is rare to find someone willing to give you change for anything above 50 pesos.

8. Public transportation. Don’t need to go too deep into this one but let me tell you there are some cray cray drivers out there.

9. Police in the back of trucks with huge machine guns and combat boots.

10. People pointing out physical imperfections. If you have a bad hair day, muffin top, or pimple, watch out.

11. No concept of standing in line.

12. Church dances... people actually dance. :)

13. You could have a Spanish-English dictionary in one hand, a map in the other, and an American flag sticking out of your bag and people would still ask you for directions.

14. If you ask someone for advice or directions they ALWAYS have an answer for every medical ailment, social problem, or directional question. Even if the answer makes no sense.

15. Public bathrooms. So there are almost as many crazy bathroom accounts as public transportation but this one kind of combines the two. So the other day I was in the bus station in Xalapa with my friends Brittany and Adriana and I went to use the bathroom... so you have to pay 3 pesos to get in and there is this huge spinny thing at the entrance that only turns to let you in after you pay. So when I was leaving I left out a different door and there was a turny thing that said "empuje" which means push so I pushed it but then it stopped halfway around and this lady on the other side tried to get in but she couldn’t. And then I realized that I was going out the in and that I had probably used this woman's 3 pesos and was stuck, not able to go backwards or forwards. She realized this too and continued to yell at me for cheating her out of 3 pesos and I didn’t have my wallet with me to pay her back so I had to stand there stuck in the turny thing feeling horrible. Luckily she had more money with her to get in and glared at me and she entered the money and turned the wheel allowing me to escape. I ran and got my wallet to try and pay her back but she was gone by the time I got there. Sad day. Oh another interesting fact about bathrooms in Mexico... flushing toilet paper is a no-no.

16. Apple soda. Mmm

17. PDA. It’s everywhere. In the street. In the store. In the school. In the park. In the church. yup.

18. What’s mine is yours. The people here are so giving and generous. They would literally give you the clothes off their back. I have been benefited so many times from the hospitality of strangers. The other day a lady bought Brittany and me a bag of nuts for playing with her daughter. We had never met or seen this woman before. My friends and their families have shown me so much love and kindness. They have given me food and hospitality, friendship and love. They have treated Brittany and me like we were members of their family. I can’t express how much this has meant to me being in a foreign country away from family and friends and to have people here in Mexico welcome me into their homes and lives.

basically in conclusion... amo Mexico.

Con Cuidado

So I love how anytime I go anywhere someone feels the need to say something like "be careful" or "dont walk down any dark alleyways", or "cuidate." and how everytime i talk to my parents on the phone they say "youre safe? not talking to strangers?" i appreciate the concern but i have only had two frightening experiences since i came here.

About two weeks ago Brittany and I were chilling in mi casa, my host family was off in Cholula partying. We were raiding the kitchen when we heard this "BANG BANG"... like gun shots. And after all, we were in Mexico so i went all gung ho and got on the ground because the shots were getting progressively closer to my house. When they noise stopped Brittany, the brave one, got up and looked out the window at our potential murderers. Then she looked at me hiding underneath the kitchen table and laughed because it turns out that the garbage trucks sound an awful lot like a gang fight... whoops.

So the other experience I had actually involved real-life danger. I was walking home from the guapacita marlenne´s house and it was pretty late... raining like crazy and of course i forgot my umbrella so me and good old itunes were booking it down flooded street and this vicious dog pounces out of the alleyway. dogs can smell fear right, so i turned up my music and kept on walking when fido started growling and barking and doing that weird pouncy thing and i swear i saw foamy stuff coming out of its fangs so i booked it across the river of the street. while i was running my ipod started doing that shake and shuffle thing so it was switching from akon to julieta venegas to church music to daddy yankee and the dog was swimming across the street to get to me and i saw a group of guys ahead. oh great they can help me. sike. they started yelling cat calls at me "mamaciiiita... mirame mami chula..." okay really, if you want to get a girls attention and a rabid dog is chasing after her... SAVE HER! my gosh did these guys never watch disney movies? so i ran past the creepers and this guy selling chalupas came out and said something that made the blood thirsty beast run up to him and.... lick his hand? because that vicious dog was his PUPPY. uuuuuuugh. i mean i still could have gotten rabies and died so i dont think my actions were rash at all but i do think that all of this talk about being super careful is going to my head in a somewhat extreme way.... just sayin.

A Word About Public Transportation...

Okay... so pretty much some of my most exciting experiences so far in Mexico have been related to public transportation. which sounds really sad right? oh poor girl, shes so bored that riding a bus is her only form of drama... um no. Public transportation here is super cray cray. Every morning wait outside in the cold wet streets of Puebla an hour early just to attempt to flag down a bus on a packed three lane highway. And not just any bus... 34. And not just any 34, the one that says Mega in itty bitty writing which no human being could possibly see unless the bus is three feet in front of them. And say you actually see this Mega bus and manage to raise your hand to flag it down before it passes you... it may just pass anyway because the driver doesnt want to stop. So say i miss my bus... I have to flag down a different bus that names about ten different locations and drives AWAY from the university only to pick up another bus in the middle of nowhere to go back to my school taking a grand total of 40 minutes to go to a location 2 miles away from my house. And if I dont have time to catch the alternated route, i take a taxi. which is definitely the last resort on my list because theres the whole possibly being kidnapped and sold thing and the fact that they charge me 5x as much just because i have an american accent when i speak spanish... and is there anythingi can do about it? no.
Luckily, this morning I was able to catch my bus... i think mostly because i was wearing a bright red shirt and skinny jeans and the bus driver was a peirced up 17 year old. Word to the wise... if you somehow magically manage to catch your bus and the driver is young... reconsider. Unless you want to go for a ride that makes Indiana Jones at Disneyland seem like a Dumbos Grand Adventure. As soon as i stepped on the bus and gave him my 5 pesos the driver zoomed forward and weaved into traffic and my non-traction flip-flops slid on the metal floor causing me to plop down, luckily in an empty seat, in the bakc of the bus next to some poor lady who probably thought i was drunk. ugh. this guy was more insane that usual though, we are talking butt coming off of the seat, everyone sliding and slamming into each other, and everyone else was stumbling around like they were tipsy so that made me feel better about my little surfer move i´d pulled earlier. we were getting all wet in the back from the open door and while the driver was stopping to let someone off we got hit by a tree through the open door. a tree. INSIDE of the bus we got hit by a tree. so we finally got to my stop for the university which is inbetween the Walmart and the Costco (ironic)... and the bus slowed down enough for me to jump off into the grassy median in the middle of the highway. so in the future if i ever find myself in need to jumping out of a moving vehicle, say a bus or train or something, ive got it down all thanks to the public transportation in Mexico. ¡Viva colectivos!

Why blog?

I have to say, I haven't been the biggest fan of blogging in the past. I guess I didn't really see the point, I mean why? Why on earth would anyone take what is essentially an electronic journal and broadcast it across the entire world wide web? That's insanity. Journals are supposed to have little locks on them and be hid under secret floorboards. Not like they actually held anything all that incriminating. I'm pretty sure nobody would gasp at entries that referred to a secret crush or the devastation of having a bad hair day, but it's the principle of the thing. And really, what makes my life so interesting that people would want to hear about it? Booooring.

But, I am glad to say that I have seen the light. Because I have this great opportunity to spend the next four months in Puebla, Mexico and I think that blogging is a good way to take all of the people I care about on this little adventure with me. Which will consist of two 19-year-old girls (the lovely Brittany Romanello is also going with me... the spunky and gorgeous Turkish-born Utahn who I met in Las Vegas and has spent the last month or so in Argentina...), a lot of blonde, or I guess brunette, moments, and hopefully some divine intervention.... a lot of divine intervention.

There was a little panic and frustration today because I'm packing (ew) and then I found out that there are some text books that I can't buy in Mexico so now Amazon is having them overnighted to my house so that I can somehow shove them into the 50 pounds of stuff that I am allowed to carry with me for my four-month adventure to Puebla. Yeah, not so fun. But then I went over the list of classes that I'm taking and my course descriptions and my host family and I started to get the pre-travel butterflies and now I want to dance around the house. I'M GOING TO MEXICO!!!!