La Nochebuena

I guess it's no longer Christmas Eve (as the title might say), as it is 4:06 on Christmas morning in this moment. Just wanted to record somethings I did today. First of all I woke up to a powerless house, and it stayed that way until about 6:00 tonight. I didn't do anything in the morning... like actually nothing. Ok well actually we helped Ceci set the table for dinner, which was at our house later tonight. Papa Ernesto asked that Michael keep an eye open for the people who were supposed to come around to fix the power, so I was in the same place on the couch when Mama Ceci and Regina left (hair apt), as when they came back. And that was like two or three hours later, although I can't say for sure because none of the clocks were working. In that time I ate a two chocolates and talked with Michael about the good old days when there was snow for Christmas. Mama Ceci came back just as the electricians arrived. They arrived with a flash of electricty. We don't know exactly what happened, but there was a big bang and a flash of neon blue that apprently Michael saw. Then Papa Ernesto came and everyone went for sushi, and later hand-churned ice cream. When we got home I called Heather and my family, who were in Auntie Cath's house for Christmas Eve. It was really nice talking with them. And I phoned Grandma yesterday which was also really good. It's nice to hear familiar voices.

Then I showered and got ready for church. There was a service near our house that started at 9:00... I don't think I've gone to the same church more than twice with my family, and the guy at this service was interesting. He was a bit older and talked a lot. But it was nice because he seemed to know a lot of history and a lot about the bible.

When we got home there was already one family in our living room waiting for us. The atmosphere was very Christmasy with the bowls of nuts and the lights from the tree. Ernesto's side came, some friends of the family and then Tio Rey and Tia Lici. We did some readings with the nacimiento (Nativity scene) and then at midnight we took turns rocking baby Jesus. It's a tradition here to celebrate Jesus' birth at 12:00 by singing and two people rocking the cloth he is laying in. Hmm not sure if I explained that very well. The two youngest people start by each taking two corners and swinging him while everyone else sings. All of the youth end up having a turn in the end, and then baby Jesus is added to the Nativity scene. A bigger version of the baby is passed around and everyone kisses his forehead. After that we did the cousin gift exchange. Cousin Ceci had me, and I had Regina. I got a purple braclet and a silver necklace (crazy, I know).

At 1:30am we started eating dinner, which was a soup, fish, beef and apple salad. For dessert I ate tapioca. We finished around 3:30, and then we sat around the table and talked. Some of the kids went to the back property to watch a movie. Lea, Paulina and I ended up going upstairs to watch TV slash sleep. And yah... thats where I am now at 5:00!

Bigode Nueva

The Beginning of Christmas

I would say it's beginning to look a lot like Christmas, but that would be a lie! As far as weather goes, it is more or less the same as it was in August when I arrived. I'm sorry to say that I'm losing my Canadian-ness as I think it's freezing cold here in Mexico. I bet it's 18degrees celcius but I am so cold. The thing is outside it's fine and I could easily wear shorts, but the house is like an icebox. But it seems like lots of people here enjoy dressing as though it's -30 with snow on the ground. There's girls walking around with Uggs and big mitts, children in thick jackets we would go skiing in. Neckwarmers, numerous sweaters... just about everything but snowpants. I'm just so glad I brought my sweat pants!!!! So so glad. I've been living in them so far this Christmas season. Eveyone here probably thinks I'm a slob (but they're probably right). Also I went two days without washing my hair! I showered just minus the shampoo ;) It's because I discovered how great short hair can be when it's not straight. If I braid the fronts when it's wet, it's awesomely crimped by mid-day! It's just so much more fun. And it's stiffer and says more slick when I haven't washed my hair that day. So thats's kind of nice.

I wanted to talk about more about this Christmas season thing. First of all, it's not so common to sit on Santa's lap in the mall here. Instead of writing a letter to him, the kids make one for the Nino Jesus. I think most Catholic families have a nacimiento in their house, with Mary, Joseph, the donkeys (everyone). Kids write the letter and put it near the nacimiento with one of their shoes (in case el nino Jesus doesn't know who wrote the letter).

There are these dinners called posadas which there are nine of and celebrated at friends and families homes. They say there are nine of them, but I don't know because I've gone to two. But I think it's like a countdown to Christmas... starting on the 16th and ending on the 24th. Christmas here is a very religious holiday. The posadas are enactments of Mary and Joseph looking for lodging the night Jesus was born. The hosts of the home are the innkeepers and everyone else is requesting a place to stay by singing a special song. Everyone is holding a small candle, and two people are carrying statues of Mary and Joseph. We go to three different houses or places in the yard, to ask to stay and supposedly the third is the one that let's us in. Here some of the prayers of the rosary are said, which are basically praises for the virgin Mary. The comes the pinata! I learned that there are seven points that represent the seven "most deadly" sins. The bright colours in the pinata represent temptation, the blindfold is faith and the stick is willpower. The candies inside are the riches of the kingdom of Heaven. So the signifigance is that when we are faithful and "break through" sin, God will reward us.

We also drank a drink called ponche, which is like a glorified apple cider with seasonal fruits and cinnamon sticks. At the end of the night the kids get a goodie bad with candies (and they were good too!). The first posada I went to was in a friend of Mama Ceci's house, where this particular group of friends meets every year. We ate tacos. The next one I went to was last night at one of my relatives houses. It was more casual and we ate hot dogs. But they were glorified hot dogs with jalepeno, tomato and mayo! Also we were all given a medium-large sized bag of M&Ms which I ate pretty rapido.

Roses and Starbucks Cups

It's crossed my mind recently more than once how life really isn't that fair. I mean, I don't recall anyone ever trying to insist that it was... but little things often remind me how life isn't fair. Sitting at a red light I saw a young couple crossing the street to where a woman was selling roses. It was a Friday evening and they were dressed for a semi-formal night out. The girl was choosing her roses as the guy took some money out of his wallet. It just made me wonder what did this woman do that determined she would be the one selling flowers instead of the one receiving them. Is it that she couldn't finish highschool? Or because she has darker skin? It really isn't that fair.

Also what do the people who cook and clean the house think of this lifestyle? I feel guilty the days when I don't do much. Like for example if I watch more tv than usual or sleep in late. I wake up at 10:15 and Alma has already been up for almost three hours cleaning and tending to everybody's pety needs. I wake up, shower, go to the kitchen, make eggs, leave my dishes in the sink, check my facebook, and go up to the roof where I pass Alma on the way, who is doing laundry. After about an hour I come back to the room where the bed is made, the floor mopped, and the sink clear of toothpaste debree. The house cleaners don't really get to have lazy days if they want to keep their job. They empty the garbage bins, where they see empty Starbucks cups and the price tag for another dress. I can't help but wonder if they feel any resentment when they find a pair of new shoes on our floor every second week, while knowing there are many people who lack so many essential things in their lives.

Un Examen y Una Corrida de Toro

So it's exam week but that doesn't stop me from being confused. I waited until last night to look for my exam schedule, which I scribbled in one of my notebooks somewhere... couldn't find it. Michael said he had Math today, and I just assumed that I had Arte y Cultura because it happens at the same time as his math class. Arrived at school at 9:00 on the dot (also the time the exam was supposed to start). I knew the exam was happenening somewhere in the fourth building, even though the class is usually in the third. So I´m running around hoping my destination isn't a closed door with the class chuckling at me from the inside of the tinted windows. I was looking for people from my AYC class, but I saw some people I knew and just smiled and waved (they were in their class starting their exam). Later the thought occured to me that maybe I have a different exam today! Like the class where I saw people I knew...... it could have been my Literatura or my Filosophia class. So that's nice becasue it just goes to show I can never escape making a fool of myself. It feels like no matter how hard I try, my efforts are always wasted. The exchange student(s) who aren't going to their exams this week are in a better position than me... they have what I thought was earned by going to class, doing the work you could, and this is how making friends would happen. But as it turns out the best way to make friends is to skip class and never do homework or show for exams.

Anyways! It's Monday and I had an eventful weekend. On Friday I went for a haircut, making it the second time I've gone to the same place on my street. Sometimes it's difficult to communicate what is wanted with the language barrier. I asked for the pieces in the front to be longer than the pieces in the back, and just kind of trim the rest. In the end I didn't think there was much of a difference between the lengths in the back and in the front, so I asked if she could cut it a bit shorter. Even though she had already dried and styled it, I don't think she minded. But the head honcho of the salon was like "Oh you're re-cutting it?" Deciding she could do a better job than her employee, she took the scissors, grabbed the hair in the back and in two and a half snips it was gone. Okie dokie! So now there is a difference! hahah. And somewhere in the deal I must have said "Yes" when she must have asked do I want bangs. But it turned out alright I think.

On Saturday there was a surprise party for Mama Ceci because it was her 50th birthday. It was ginormous! Over two hundred people were there along with catored food and a live band. Lunch AND supper were served along with a bunch of desserts (delicious). For lunch (16:00) I ate some kind of garlic pasta with shrimp, ravioli, fish, lasagna and salad. For dinner (22:30) we ate poztole, which is like avacado, beef, lettuce, onion, potato, tortilla soup. Pollo, Ceci and Enrique all made videos which they posted on youtube for their mom. Some people danced, others smoked and the rest just talked.

Sunday we went to a bull fight! That was yesterday... I'm glad I went but not sure if I would go again. I agree with Micahel/his dad, or whoever said it's one of those things you don't need to see more than once. I thought it was sad; these bulls who have been stabbed or kicked or whatever so that they would be good and agitated when they are released into the ring, look so confused. Like why is everyone dancing around, in what looks to the untrained eye to be a funny Mariachi get-up, and what do they think they're going to do with those colourful knives? Why is everyone staring at me and why do they want me to fall?

In the past I've thought that cows have a Cleo-like look to them, and I thought the same when I saw the bulls. I don't know know if it's in the way they move their head or blink their eyelashes but I didn't really like it. If the bullfight was good the bullfighter kept both ears and the tail. One fighter threw them into the crowd. If the bullfight was good the bullfighter and the others who were involved (waving flags and making the toros dizzy, etc) would walk around the outside of the ring, as people threw their hats or their kid's shoe to them. Then the torero would toss it back, supposedly at the person it belonged to. There were six or seven bullfights in total and it lasted a bit over two hours.

Stranded

So my luck continues. I was supposed to go to the centre today with some people from my History of Art class. Ok perfect... good so far! The plans kind of changed so that I was going to go with them right after school. I met them in the library, as planned. I ask what time will we leave for the centre, because a couple of them were on the computer and didn't look as though they would be finished soon. They said 2:30. Ok, so can I go and tell my mom where I will be (Mama Ceci was coming to the school to pick up Michael around 1:30, and I thought that instead of speaking through Micahel I would tell her myself). Sure yah that's fine. Ok, I will be back, I said. Some time later I come back to hear that they've already left. And it was before 2:00....... and the plan was for me to get a ride there with them and then walk home later. In other words I'm not expected home until I arrive there on foot, at no specific time. And this is the day that I didn't bring my cell phone to school. And the person who can help me at school happens to be on a lunch break. And even if I could borrow a phone I'm embarassed to say that I don't remember the house number. So here I am... sending out facebook messages hoping someone will go online, feeling like the idiot exchange student who avoids all group assignments. I don't know when or how I'll get home, but I'm sure something will come up.

Toilet Overflow

I officially hate automatic flushing toilets. When I'm changing for basketball, it must flush a dozen times because of the motion sensor. That's a lot of water! And just five minutes ago I was in the bathroom and the toilet kept flushing, and then before I knew it there was water all over the floor. The girl in the stall beside me was like AHHHHH and I was like hide me. I still don't understand why it overflowed in the first place... there was absolutely nothing in it!! But of course all the girls in the bathroom waited to see, who is the person that will emerge from the stall that made the toilet overflow. I'm just making friends everywhere I go. All of these stupid things always happen to me.

¡Piñatas!

Today during History of Art class, we hit a piñata! Something that I feel would only happen in Mexico. I don't know if someone from the class brought it or what but we hit/broke/ate it. It was hanging from the building outside out classroom, and the teacher was just like "Ok let's go hit the piñata, and the first person will be Dianna". I didn't realize there was a song to sing when someone is at bat. But yah, then we resumed class as though nothing stange had happened.

Catching up

I have so much to catch you up on.... and probably I don't rememeber half of it.
For starters, last week we got a four-day weekend! because Mexico celebrated being independent from Spain for 200 years. On Wednesday after school we (Michael, Eduardo, Victoria and me) went to Guanajuato for a party of sorts. The city of Guanajuato was a major city in the history of the Independence of Mexico. Wikipedia says (yes) that the Roman Catholic priest who "uttered the cry of independence" was from Guanajuato, Gto, Mexico. When I told people at school that's where I was going for the day, they gave me the impression that it was The Place to Be.
The girl who was having the party lives in an apartment in the downtown area of Guanajuato. It's a really cool city because it has a lot of history. If you want to go places, you need to walk because most of the roads are only for pedestrians. Victoria and I were really craving some kind of donut or cookie so we walked to the panaderia and bought four pastry things. They were awesome. The best ones were a coconuty cookie and a brownish lump which was some kind of sweet bread. Delicious.

Most of the night was spent on the roof eating, drinking and dancing. At 1:30 I almost went to sleep, even though most of the people who didn't go to a club were still partying away. But as I was waiting in line for the bathroom in my pajamas, some people I didn't really know convinced me to stay awake with them. So I put on my street clothes and danced until almost 4:00. You wouldn't believe how many people have tried to teach me how to dance Mexican Style (without success). When I hear Mexican music I think that I hear the rhythm that I would dance to, but it turns out that what I'm hearing and what the music is are two different things. I obviously cannot keep time with my feet. I'll work on it.
One of the last guys I danced with was a very little guy, whose voice went very high when doing a Mexican yoodle. The only words he knew (and kept saying) in English were "check it out". For example, if I continue to misunderstand the dance lesson, he will stop dancing and say it. Or if I step on one of his tiny little feet... he will take off his sock and point to his hurting toe. Check it out.

I'm at school right now during the time when I would usually have History of Art. I don't know why, but we dont have this class on Fridays! I don't really care why.

The other night Papa Ernesto, Mama Ceci, Michael and I went to a Marimba concert. I will post a picture when I am at home. It was at the museum auditorium close to our house. We were going to walk, but somehow the people here can predict the weather fairly accurately. And my parents said it was going to rain later, so we should drive instead. And it did rain later. Mama Ceci would say in the morning before school "The weather man said it will rain today but the clouds are here and the sun is there." Sure enough, even though the sky was 3/4 covered in dark clouds, the clouds and the sun were not in the same piece of sky, so it did not rain. Sounds about right! But the people know.

Anyways, the Marimba concert was really cool. There were four or five guys on one massive marimba and three on another. Sometimes someone also played the bass and some kind of box drum. They were all family. The oldest guy must have been about ninety, and he was really cute, because he shuffled only like you would see in a cartoon. Like Jacob Two-Two or something. I thought of Kelsi because I know for sure she would have loved him.
After, there was free food, martinis and desserts outside! It was really nice the way it was set-up. It was like a lounge with a bar and couches, and people walking around with octupus in dishes ready to take your order. I tried some kind of tequila martini and also a bunch of dessert-like foods. My favourite is churros. They are like warm doughy things, kind of in the shape of a corn on a cob, with carmel and condensed milk inside then rolled in brown sugar. I only ate two but would have loved ten more. Also there was a typical Mexican postre that kind of reminded me of fudge. Yah, it was that good.

Gorditos

YES I just got the best news of life, which is that I do not have a History of Art class today. I´m not lying when I say that it made my day go from really bad to incredibly good. I don't even know why my day wasn't going in a positive way.... I woke up ten minutes before we had to leave for school, but instead of feeling rushed (as I should) I just felt extremely rested. I didn't eat breakfast but my mom packed my a yogurt and granola bar to eat at school. Even though it's much more comfortable to eat at home, I kind of like eating at school because now I'm not hungry between classes. Usually I feel tempted to buy a panini or a muffin at school after Spanish class, but I feel no hunger!

I just wrote my first Spanish partial exam this morning and I think it went pretty good. I wasn't feeling very confident about writing it because I didn't study at all last night. I have two friends at school who invited me to go to church with them; I went with one on Sunday and then other last night. They were both different from my "Thunder Bayan" church but I feel it was a good experience to go. They kind of reminded me of like a program that would be taped and shown on TV. I am still in search of a church more similar to the one I am familiar with. I think there are two baptist churches in this city. I need to find them.

Me and my Canadian host brother, Michael, have decided we don't want to become gorditos (little fattys) while we are here, so we risk our lives daily and go for bike rides. I am contemplating whether or not I will continue to join him on these thrilling adventures though, becasue I really actually truly do not feel 100% safe. It's hard though because riding a bike is one of the only ways to be independant here. Even though I am in Mexico by myself, I am more dependant on my Mexican parents, than I needed to be in Canada of my real parents. I am not allowed to drive here, so if I ever need to go anywhere I need to ask someone. Although yesterday my friend Victoria (from France) and I went to Plaza Mayor and it took about 15 minutes in a taxi, and it was only $5.

Before we went shopping, we were at my house eating tacos with Michael and Regina. They were super. There is a service that brings tacos to your house... I hesitate to use TAKE OUT as a way to describe these little miracles, and DELIVERY reminds me of a cheap pizza. But you get the idear. Victoria and I each ate nine and Michael only four! Maybe he is sick, I don't know. I ate mostly tacos del pastor and I loaded them full of salsa, onion, guacamole, some kind of green onion leaf, and lime juice. The best.

The other night I tried these awesome things called Enchildadas Verdes. They are like tortillas with cheese, rolled and put in a frying pan. Then you bathe them in salsa verde with more cheese melted into it and bam, there it is. I will take some pictures soon of them and post them here.

To all my university friends(!) please tell me about your university experiences!!!!!! I think school is starting soon....... and it's kind of strange to think we are old enough to do such things as attend university. I am sorry for the lack of updates.

Hmmmmm in October or November! I am going to Puerto Vallerta with Rotary! And I am assuming that means beach, but I don't know for sure. There are a lot of exchange students in this district. Haha I just realized that my paragraphs are getting shorter and shorter because I just have random things to say. So there is this water here, called Agua de Jamaica. When i first tasted it I thought it was kind of familiar and now I realize why. I think we use it as popery (yah?) for like decoration or to stuff doll pillows with. But here they put the flowers in water and drink it. For meals here they hardly ever drink just water or milk. Well, at least in my family. There is this really good drink that I always have when I go for tacos its made with water, rice and cinnamon.... agua de horchata. Or they will use watermelon to make agua de sandia or cucumber to make agua de pepino. It's really good, and I think pretty healthy.

One thing I do find a bit strange here is how many cookies they eat. Not that they eat them a lot, but a package of cookies has like... six cookies in it and whenever I've been watching (creepy), one person eats the whole thing. In my house in Canada it seems if you eat more than three you should feel guilty ahahah. But there are these really good oreos. I don't usually like oreos, but these ones are covered in white chocolate.

Tamales

I have a lot to fill you in on. But I can't really remember where I left off and what has happened in the time between now and then. I just know it's a lot! In just a few hours I will have the same number of siblings as I originally had in Canada because all three of the triplets have gone on their exchanges. Ceci is the last to go and she leaves today in a few hours. It was be so strange to have such "few" siblings again.

I'm trying to think of where to start..... there's a bunch of random little things that I feel I should say. Well first of all I don't know why I've never put lime in soup before but it tastes great. And the other night I tried tamales, which is some product of corn with cheese and other fun stuff. You put cream on it (kind of like sour cream but not very sour) and also a hot salsa. They are good but tacos still have my heart.

Last weekend I went to Salamanca with the other exchange students for our first Rotary conference. There are like.... over 60 exchnage students which is crazy! Lots of Europeans. Me and Michael (host brother) are the only Canadians, which I was kind of surprised about! We went to a dog show one day (?) and then we had a water fight. The next day we went to a "home for the ancient" where we talked with, well... old people! In Spanish, of course.

I'm sorry, my brain is dead. I will write more later.

These are los patos at my family's House in the Woods. We feed them tortillas. This should not come as a surprise.

Corn in a Cup

As always I don't know where to start, so.... well two nights ago I went to the movies with my sister Ceci, her boyfriend Pepe, Michael and Enrique. We saw Mi Villano Favorito, which is Despicable Me in english. Then we went to Pepes for a bit and met his sister and her boyfriend. They live in a private colony, which looks more like the neighbourhoods in Canada becasue there are no tall gates in front of the houses. There is just one gate that you need to pass through when you enter the colony where they ask you for the house number you are going to, and also they need to take some form of ID from you, which they return when you leave the colony.
After we were there for a bit, we went door to door asking would anyone let us go on their roof so we could see all of Leon at night. Ahah, well not really "door to door" but down the line of tall towers we asked. No one said yes.
Then we walked a bit around a lake and then went to a coffee shop. We sat outside and I had a Cookies'n Cream Frappe Latte which was really good. After that we went home, I think.

This picture was taken from the roof of my house. Same place where Enrique and I took the pictures of lightning, just on other side of house.

Last night I went to watch a belly dancing (recital?). One of the girls at school told me about how she is a dancer, and although I didn't understand most of her Spanish, we ended up making more or less a plan of meeting there. Well, she would be there dancing and me and a couple of the others would come to watch (or so I thought). So! I got there maybe three or four minutes late and the recital was just starting. The lights we already out so I couldn't tell if any of the girls from my class were in the audience somewhere. I ended up sitting in the back beside a guy who was taking pictures throughout the whole thing. It was a really interesting recital. Half way through it I remembered my phone was getting low on battery so I hurried out into the foyer and used my broken Spanish to ask for a pen. I didn't realize that if my phone died, I would not only have no way of contacting my ride home, but also I don't know my home phone number off the top of my head..... it's like fourteen digits long. So I wrote the number on my arm and sneaked back in to watch the rest. I think I didn't get my information right though, becasue none of the other girls showed up! ahahah. It wasn't really a big deal.
After the recital thinger I really wanted to walk around by myself. The theatre I was at was right in downtown Leon and it was really cool. There is like some crazy street market, but it mostly sells just clothes and the sweetest thing is that there is a cathedral with a plaza where you can sit by a huge fountain and it's awesome. Of course there are tacitos for sale on the street corners and also elote, which is like fresh corn with lime and cheese etc in a styrofoam cup. But the sad part is that since I was alone and it was probably 20:30 (the sun has set) I wasn't sure where it was safe for me to go and also I didn't really want to get lost. So I couldn't really do a lot of exploring. I would have loved to have stayed there all night though.

Tomorrow there wil be a goodbye party for my three hermanos that are leaving. Tonight Cecilia went shopping for some supplies, and one of the ingredients for the meal is cow tongue, which looks absolutely disgusting. Its like a blueish-gray colour and it looks cold and furry. Also it's a lot bigger that I would have thought. We will put it in the tacos tomorrow...
Before we went "food" shopping, we went to La Plaza de Zapatos(or something), which is a huge outlet mall full of shoes. I managed to find a pair.

No news is good news.

Mariachi

I had just turned out my light last night a little after 1:00, when a Mariachi band started to play a couple of doors down. It was pretty sweet; they were here for at least an hour because I fell asleep after that. Only in Mexico.

Another Blog Entry!

I decided to splurge and do two blog entries in pretty much the same day. Or at least in the last thirty hours.

Thank you for your comments and birthday wishes!!!!

It was an awesome day. But first I will tell you about last night. At 12:00 on the dot, my parents and brothers came into my room, where I was writing in my blog, and did a traditional Mexican song for me! It was called mananitas (my keyboard doesn't have the enyay key to spell this word correctly), or something like that and it means "little mornings". They brought a piece of cake with candles on it and a balloon. And also an iPod dock because they had some sweet Mexican music (birthday song?) playing from it. It was really nice of them and it was definetly a surprise! I woke up and my host family put up paper cut-out letters spelling HAPPY 18TH DIANNA near my breakfast plate, and there were more balloons! And then just in the last couple of minutes I noticed a picture frame that my host mom gave to me and she printed a picture of my family (in Canada!) to put in it. Also one of my brothers tied the pictures they took of me last night with my birthday cake, onto flowers, and put them into a vase in the bathroom I share with my sisters.

Today we had a dinner at our house and it seemed like a lot of people were here! There was Ernesto (dad), Cecilia (mom), Pollo (hermano), Enrique (hermano), Michael (Canadian host brother), my host grandmother, my great aunt, a nextdoor neighbour who is also an aunt, Eduardo and Tito (from school). We had pork ribs and chicken wings, of course tortillas with some accessories to put inside, cucumber water, chips with salsa, asparagus, zucchini... and more food ahah. For lunch I had a cake made by my host dad's sister in law, who has a catering buisness. It translates to "combination chocolate cake". Delicious for short.

After we ate, me, my brothers and our friends went out to the yard and played ping-pong, futebol, reloj, and then later guitar hero while watching the soccer game on tv. It was a good time! They stayed for most of the afternoon and evening and then my parents (Canada) called me to wish me a happy bithday! So that was really nice.

Then! I was on the computer with Enrique and Michael when Cecilia told us there was a lightning storm outside. So we shimmied onto the roof which I had no idea we could go on! It's flat, pretty big and you can see a lot of the colony (neighbourhood) when you're up there. Michael went to bed but Enrique and I stayed up there trying to catch the lightening for a long time. We took probably two hundred pictures at least and maybe a dozen of them are half good. But it was great though; it wasn't raining or anything, there was just lightning in the distance. He was using a tripod and I was thinking of creative ways to keep my camera steady. In the end a glow stick worked the best jajaja. It was awesome being with someone who shares an interest in taking crazy pictures.

When we decided to come back inside the house we used the glow stick to lead the way and we started laughing becasue it reminded us of (Finding Nemo?) when it was like all dark under the water, and then some wacko fish comes into the picture and he has some kind of light dangling in front of his face. So that was a good birthday.

Holy Poop and Tacos

Holy poop I can't believe that my adventure started only a week ago at about this very minute (currently it is 23:45 and it is Wednesday). I had my first day of school on Monday and it was ok. I would not do it again though hahaha. Not that it was horrible or anything but it is just so hard. I knew the two other exchange students a little bit but other than that no one. It just feels like all eyes are on you and you truly are representing your country, because however I act, people here might assume all Canadians are the same. So I'd better be good (haha).

By the way the picture is one of Chanklas puppies!

I have Spanish in the morning at 8:30, then a half an hour break, matematicas, then filosophia. On day two my last two classes are political studies (or something) and literatura. Some of the classes are in english but most are spanish. I prefer that they are in spanish because a) I have the oppurtunity to train my ear to spanish and b) Maybe there is less homework? jjjajajaj. Just kidding (kind of). Today school was better but the search for Mexican amigos wasn't accomplished. Maybe tomorrow. It's weird though because I don't know whether I am supposed to approach potential friends, or if they are supposed to approach me or what. I don't even know if anyone wants to be my friend! It kind of sucks. But the hope of tomorrow lingers in the air :D

After school Enrique picked me up and we went back to the house to have a good meal of chips with salsa, and a fish salad made with cheese, tomato and a lot of other things. It kind of looked like a bruschetta to me but it had (raw?) fish in it. Then me and my brothers played on the nintendo (something Brad and I would do in Canada!) we played Mario Cart and some other Mario battle game. Then some of Enrique and Pollo's friends came over and we went to the detached part of the house to play pool, guitar hero etc. They are really nice people. Later we migrated outside where we played Reloj, which is like Around the World (basketball game) and also futebol.

THEN we went for a walk down the street to a small vendor around 22:15 where we ate the best tacos ever. I don't even want to think about Taco Time after trying all the miracles Mexicans preform with tortillas. You can get different kinds of tacos; some have different types of meat like steak or pork, or if you would rather have fried tongue it's also an option. Of course there was a medium spicey sauce and also it is common to squeeze lime juice onto your taco before you roll it. Each taco cost six pesos which is more or less, sixty cents. They are just little guys but they are so good. I ate four. My brother Enrique's record is twenty-five.

Food, Etc

Wowzie wow wow! Where to begin? This is Day Two and already I feel very comfortable here. My family is so warm and welcoming that I feel I couldn't ask for anything better. My mom is Cecilia, my dad Ernesto, my triplet hermanos: Ceci, Pollo and Enrique, my little sister Regina, and my Canadian host brother Michael. There is also a dog called Chankla and she had puppies two weeks ago! they are so cute. I need to remember to post a picture of them because I know Olivia would love them.

This morning I took the daily paper outside to read in the sunshine. I wasn't sure if I could leave the gate so maybe I will ask if I can sit outside of it tomorrow. I ate Raisin Bran for breakfast. Although yesterday I tried something new! I will talk about the food later. After breakfast I went to the Immigration Office (I think) to extend my visa. We filled out papers online and everything went fairly smoothly. The for lunch we had chips (kind of like the crunchy cheetos) and a spicy potato chip dipped in salsa (different than the salsa as we know it). I think salsa generally means "sauce" and not the stuff we only dip our nachos in. That was kind of like our appetizer. As we were eating this one of the house helpers was making the rest of the mean, which was spaghetti with more of a cheesy sauce and pork with I think a mustard sauce. Lunch is their biggest meal here. The meals are at different times too; breakfast is served around 11:00 or 12:00, dinner served at 16:00 and then on the days we eat supper it usually occurs at 23:00! I've been surprised at how not hungry I've been.... the last two nights I wasn't really hungry for any supper but I felt I should eat three meals a day! ahah so I ate fruit.

Yesterday I had cucumber with a chili powder on it, and also I tried chicken liver. It wasn't really for me. Jajajaja. When I was about to eat my watermelon tonight my host mom recommended that I put salsa polvo I think was the name, on top of it. But don't let the word "salsa" throw you off! It doesn't taste spicy at all, it's more of a lemon/lime flavour. It was really interesting! I would definetly try it again sometime. And while we are (still) on the topic of food, yesterday for lunch I also had a tortilla with avacado, lime, and green tomato sauce rolled inside of it. Again! it was really tasty! They are so creative with tortillas!

My school starts on Monday. I have three classes a day but I think I have a day one, day two schedule. I know I have Spanish as a Second Language first thing in the morning, then a recess (spare?), math, philosophy, and then something else I can't remember. I was told half of my classes would be in Spanish and half in English. I think I can switch classes within the first week, and for semester two all of my classes will be in Spanish. My school starts at 8:30 and ends at 13:00 but they really encourage us to particiapte in the after school activities. There are a few different types of dance offered, guitar lessons, singing, theatre, photography, and several more. I know I'm for sure doing guitar! but I don't know what else.

Anyways I'd better go to sleep. I'm sharing a room with my two sisters and I think we're heading in for the night.

I need to remember to tell you about the dessert I had for my first lunch (remember: milk) and also my first breakfast (remember: tortillas).

Toronto Airport

Hmm... sitting in Terminal 3 waiting for luggage to come through. I think it might be lost because I've been waiting here for about an hour now. Don't panic mom and dad ;) I guess it was a good thing I had over four hours to do nothing here!! Oh well, I'm just hoping it comes eventually ahahah! I'll let you know how that goes.

Mostly all I can think about right now (besides Mexico), is getting something to eaaaaat. I didn't realize it was 15:30 and suddenly remembered the only thing I ate today was a bowl od porridge! And that was at 9:00!!!!! This is torture for me :D

Did you ever notice that when you spell STATE backwards it is ETATS, which means state in french? I learned that while I've been sitting here reading signs.

My flight here was a bit boring. It was a nice short flight but the person beside me wasn't interested in swapping life stories, which is a bummer. Maybe I'll have better luck on the long flight to Texas. If I'm lucky there might even be a meal included!

Almost There

I just can't believe it's tomorrow! Or today...... aha. And I'm mostly almost finished packing...

Tomorrow!

Oh my GOODness! Today is my last day on Canadian soil for one whole year!!!!!!!! That blows my mind. It still feels totally unreal to me, but I have a feeling that tomorrow at this time it will have started to sink in.

My room is just about empty now. All that's left is putting a couple more boxes into storage and then I need to do some serious dusting. I did most of my room cleaning yesterday and it was really weird, especially going into some of the places I haven't seen for ten years. I found my favourite barbie and all my Nancy Drew books. One thing that wasn't exactly a pleasant surprise was to re-discover, were my braces behind a dusty picture frame.

It's kind of exciting because sometime in the twelve months that I'm away, my room will get repainted. Seeing as we might be getting an exchange student stay at our house (in my room), my parents thought it could use a fresh coat of paint. And also if a boy will be staying here, I can't imagine he would appreciate a pink and green room.

My Year Starting ...Now

It's been decided that Tuesday is The Day! Tuesday is The Day that I start this wild adventure I signed myself up for. Before this, I will pack up all my clothes, earrings, my favourite books and flip flops, as well as the rest of my room, say several tearful goodbyes, maybe eat one last persian, do a Mexican hat dance, and then hop on a plane which leaves at approximately 12:05 on Tuesday afternoon.

Following this may be the most incredible year of my life. It's just so strange that now, on Thursday July 29th, this is when my year is beginning. My goodbye party was last night and I'm pretty much busy every minute from now until I leave in four and a half days. Speaking of last night I'd like to thank anyone who might be reading this that came. It meant a lot to me to see so many people here and it was really overwhelming but I mean that in a good way! Gracias amigos!