Baila Conmigo

feliz cumpleaños

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO ME!

January 23rd is my official birthday in Mexico.

I am still not totally sure why. But, I'll take it!! My family bought me a piña y queso (pinapple and cheese) cake. Yes, cheese. Not cheesecake. Believe it or not it was SO delicious. They have cheese flavored ice cream as well which is also very tasty. 

They sang happy birthday to me and had me make a wish after which I of course blew out the candles! They then told me to take a bite. I said "OK" and waited for them to hand me a plate. After a few awkward seconds they motioned for me to take a bite right out of the whole cake. Huh?? I was hesitant at first but, I went for it! Yummm! :)

First trip to Puebla

We took our first trip this weekend to the big city of Puebla! Wow. I am in love with that place. There is so much beauty there. Such incredible architecture and many amazing places to visit. We left early Friday morning and got back on Sunday evening. We stayed in a nice little hostel in the center of the city.

This cathedral was across the street from the hostel. It was in the center of a big city park where they hold so many activities and events every day.

We paid about 90 pesos to take a 3 hour bus tour of historic places in Puebla. Baylee and I were having a good time on top of the double decker bus!

A "tree house"

This is the San Francisco cathedral. It is considered to be one of the "wonders of Mexico." It has tunnels that lead from under the cathedral to a an open piece of land a little ways away.

The gang outside of the cathedral. Mallory, Becca, Baylee, Kelsey, Ashely, Me, and Robbie.                                    

                       Baylee, Me, and Kelsey

                                                                             

    Eating tacos for lunch! Ashley, Robbie, Me, and a friend we made named Paul. He is from England and is currently touring all of Central America.

We found a cool workout park while we were there. Obviously this picture is very poor quality but, here's Baylee, Me, Ashley, and Kelsey getting our work out on. We have a good time together.














On Sunday afternoon the big city park had so many activities going on. There was a live orchestra, a story telling tent, clowns, and these people in the picture were dressed up to promote their charity organization. They were taking donations so they can purchase new books for the elementary schools in Puebla.

I'm absolutely crazy about this place. We had such a fun time getting away from our routine and seeing more of Mexico. Many more vacations like this to come. Buenos tardes!

bahhh bahhh

Last night I had this for dinner......

lamb head.

When I first saw it earlier in the day I was freaking out. My family made me hold it and get a picture. So here is me posing cutesie tootsie with it....

But this was my real reaction the whole time. So much screaming. So much chaos. So disgusting.

They made it into a soup, and I really did hate it. Not a tasty animal. 

Success

Here's a  thought/story for you.... One of my friends down here, Ashley, who is a teacher as well, is living with a host family who owns a little "kitchen" here in Tehuacan. It's just a simple get-it-and-go restaurant. I went to the kitchen with Ashley the other day and right outside was an old, frail man sitting in a wheel-chair. He looked like a homeless beggar, sitting there by himself, probably baking from the sun. Ashley explained to me that he is always there. We walked past him and went into the kitchen to get some food. Ashley's host sister, Fernanda, came in to talk to us and after a few minutes we asked Fernanda who the old man was. She explained to us that he is the owner of all of the buildings and homes on that block, including the space the kitchen was in. She told us that he is EXTREMELY wealthy. Ashley and I were shocked. He looked like the furthest thing from "well off." I hope he was happy though. He seemed lonely, but maybe he found joy in seeing and talking to others. Hopefully I learn enough Spanish to possibly talk to him and learn more about him and his life.

That helped me remember that you should never judge a book by it's cover. In all aspects of life.

Note To Self:

When you move to a different country, you'll find a lot of things are different. Including the adds they put on your Facebook page. For example......

(feel free to use Google translate if you don't pick up on the problem)

Food & Hygiene Products

I eat the most interesting things down here.....

On the list so far:

 
• maggots
• a drink that smells/tastes/looks like tequila but has no alcohol content (supposedly)
• This ---->........ for breakfast (that's french fries, a little salad, steak with onionjs, and some vegetable that I have never had)
• juice from some sort of flower
• mole (I know it's not rare in Mexico but I HATE it)
• fish heads - including the eyes
• cow tongue
• and a wholeeee lot of TACOSS!!

I'm loving it here. My host family treats me SO incredibly well. They'd do anything in the world for me and I love them so much for that. They're so fun too. They joke around with me. I joke with them. The kids are my best friends. Tonight we had another family fiesta and while all the adults were playing poker together, my sister Mya who is 21, her boyfriend, about 10 kids, and I all played soccer for like, 2 hours. So much fun!! We were all so sweaty after. Down here you'd think that all the Mexican kids would be so good at soccer.... not the case with my family. They make me look like a star. Haha. Even my sister's boyfriend, Gustavo, who is 29, was terrible! It was a blast playing with them all though. I love these kids. 

A funny and interesting thing happened the other day. NOTE TO READER: This might be T.M.I. for you, so I apologize in advance!! Especially you, Tam Tam! Just remember.. It's natural!! Anyway, I went to the store with my grandma, Ellouise,  to pick up some shampoo and conditioner for myself, and a few items for her. While we were walking through the store we came upon the "feminine hygiene products" section. Speaking all in Spanish (which makes it 10x funnier) she asked me if I needed any pads. I told her no and that I brought plenty of tampons. Her breath was taken away and she got very serious with me. She told me "No!" That was not OK because I am a "senorita." "Yes, I am a girl... why is this a problem??" I thought to myself. She then began to grab cases of pads and continued to explain to me why I could not use my tampons. After a minute of trying to break through the language barrier and figure out what she was talking about, I realized that in Mexico, "senoritas" or, younger women, do not use tampons. EVER. Only older women, usually after 1 or 2 children, depending on how old they are, start to use them. What?!?! I told her that I've always used tampons and that in the United States, all ages of women use tampons. That was traumatizing to her. She reallyyyy did not want me using tampons. A girls gotta do what a girls gotta do though, right?! 

I went to a taco shop with Ana, Mya, and Gustavo a few days ago. The brought out a bowl of peppers with our food and I declined to put any on. My mom grabbed one and told me that if I ate it she would give me 100 pesos. That's roughly 10 bucks in the U.S.! Obviously I'm going to eat it!!! Badddd idea. It was the hottest thing I have EVER eaten. I can handle hot things pretty well. With this pepper though, my eyes were gushing tears for probably 5 minutes. It was unbelievable!!!! My lips were red and throbbing. I held ice cold water in my mouth for a few minutes but it did not help. I used salt to try to neutralize it but it did not work! Only time could take that sting from my mouth. And on top of that, I was whipping away my tears with the finger that I picked the pepper up with and it was so potent that I burned my eyeballs! My family thought it was sooo funny. Ahhh! It was a terrible experience to say the least. But hey, I got 100 pesos out of it!!

Estoy Feliz

I have realized that it is not acceptable to get frustrated when not knowing enough Spanish to communicate well. It’s very easy to get overwhelmed when having a 5 minute long conversation with my Mexican grandma, only to figure out that she was trying to tell me that she would take me to the store to buy shampoo and conditioner this afternoon. Like, whaa?! It should NOT take that long to discuss that! These people word things in ways that Senora Kutsulis never taught me!!!

There are times that I feel I know exactly what’s going on. Like, in sacrament meeting. It was fast and testimony meeting and about every single person in the ward got up to bear their testimony (it was SO cool).  I could totally follow along with their testimonies and what they were sharing! In Sunday school and Relief Society, I could, for the most part, understand the lesson and the stories they would share. But, then there are those times like this evening…. I was driving home with my family from yet another fiesta and I was listening intently, trying to pick up as much of the conversation as possible. Either these people have the most BIZZARE and RANDOM conversations or…. I’m clueless. I swear my sister Mariella asked her boyfriend about politics or politician (using the word “politico”) and he responded with a sentence including the word “leche” (milk.) UNBELIEVABLE! What in the worrllddddd are they talking about?!?!

Or how about today when my sisters were talking about my hair and how blonde and thin it was (they were asking me if a lot of my hair falls out……. NO. It’s doesn’t fall out. It’s just naturally terribly thin! Thanks mama Tams.), and I responded in a sentence using the word “caballo” (horse) instead of “cabello” (hair). Ahhh this whole Spanish thing is so hard! I KNOW those two words. And I’ve known them for years! But when I’m trying to become a good speaker and try to speak fast, it all comes out incorrect! Haha. Bless my heart, right? 

This all makes me feel for that blessed Japanese exchange student my (American) family had for a week a few months ago. My sweet mother one day asked Kaito (the student) if he had enough blankets on his bed and if he was warm that previous night. He responded with, “you no have a lot of trees on your mountains….” Oh dear. That is for sure me. And for sure my Mexican family just laughs and laughs at me just the way my siblings and I did with sweet little Kaito.

So, a little update on these past few days… On Saturday I went to the school for a few hours to prepare for school a bit more. At 3, my mom and dad and sister, and my aunt came and picked me up from school and we drove out to San Felipe for a wedding reception of a friend. It was very cool to experience that and see how different their culture is. At the reception there was a mariachi band and about 40 invited guests. The bride and groom were the ones that prepared the food and served everyone. No catered food. No standing in a line greeting your hundreds of guests. No gifts were given. No specific wedding colors or themes. No bridesmaids or groomsmen. It was interesting. Who knows, maybe all weddings are different down here. Some may be more similar to the weddings I’m used to back in my American Mormon bubble. And some may be more rambunctious. It was quite different though. After the wedding we just came back home and hang out for a bit and went to bed.

This morning, I went to church. Really, realllyyy cool experience. The church is so true. Even in Spanish. Hahah! I love it. I want to figure out how to bear my testimony in Spanish and share in fast and testimony meeting in the next few months. How cool would that be!? Being at church was so comforting. It was like a little piece of home. What a blessing! Anyways, after church my co-teachers and I went to the school to organize a little more for our classes tomorrow! And then in the early evening we went with one of my friends’ host brother (a native Mexican, of course) for a walk around downtown to see it all and try to figure out this city a little more. And then, like I said earlier, there was another fiesta tonight – for my uncles birthday. It was a good time. I met many more people and had a lot more laughs.

I’m loving it down here. What a cool experience this is going to be! Until next time, Buenos tardes!

Photo: Christian (brother), Julietta (cousin), Me, Jesus (cousin), Angel (friend), and Donny (cousin). Love them all sooo much!

First Night With The Host Family

Well, here I am, laying in a queen sized bed in a room the size of my parents’ bathroom watching one of the only English channels on television. Fortunately, it is The Big Bang Theory! It is increasingly difficult to hear it though because right outside my guest-house room door is the Tepoles’ rather large yard and there is currently an 8 man mariachi band whom having been playing traditional Latin music for the past 5 hours, along with approximately 25 intoxicated Mexicans sporadically cat calling and “AYE-AYE-AYE-ing” at one another. Also, I get a big bang on my door every few minutes from a shanked shot on goal by los ninos playing an intense game of soccer.

Can I just say that I am LOVING this. And that is going to sound nothing but sarcastic, but I truly am having the time of my life. I have been out there running back and forth between cat calling (without the alcohol) with the adults and scoring goals with the kids. And it has been the most exciting 5 hours I have had in a loonnggg time.

For those of you reading this that don’t know what I could possibly doing with my life, let me explain a bit…. I just moved to Tehuacan, Puebla in Mexico. I am with a program called International Language Programs (ILP) and I will be down here for 4 months. I, along with 5 other girls are volunteering at a school teaching English to children between the ages of four and fifteen. I have been adopted by Pedro and Anna Tepole who are probably in their late 50’s-early 60’s but look and act like they are in the prime of their life. Seriously. These people know how to party!!

They threw this party here for my welcoming tonight. However, I’m sure they’d be partying regardless of my arrival or not. I am very grateful for La Fiesta de Bienvenida held in my honor. They invited all of their children/grandchildren, extended family, and friends. They have a daughter my age and a son who’s 17 and then their older children live in homes just across the street with their spouses and children. It’s a family reunion todos los dias around here. Just what I’m use to!!

I have yet to figure out my way around this authentic Mexican city, as well as, choking up so bad when people speak Spanish to me! I understand so much of the things people say to me, it just takes me a few seconds to respond and by the time I figure out what to say back, I have already spit out “lo siento,” “yo no se,” or “no comprendo.” I just need to be patient with myself and really take the time to practice my 5 years of Spanish! I suppose it has only been 1 day since I got down here so maybe it just takes some time. Haha.

Well, I appreciate your interest in my exciting journey and ask that you might share your insights and thoughts with me! Until next time, buenos noches!