Yo no sé mañana...

Don't worry kids...I haven't forgotten about y'all...I've just been out and about emborrachandome.  I have about 12 pages of final projects to write (I have about 3 done) tonight and to hand in tomorrow.  I am low on sleep and therefore my ADD will probably get the best of me (which means the possibility of a real long blog).  Hang in there.  It will happen soon.

Fun image:  Banana clips are totally de modo here.  Further proof that Oaxaca is very behind the times...

Fail blog, fail.

I have kind of been a huge blogging fail this last week, mostly because not much has happened and because I have been rather busy with school.  I SHOULD have time for a proper update a little bit later today.

For now I shall leave you with a startling visual...dreadlocked mullet.  It was all about business in the front (as in no dreads and very short) and the back was alllll party.

Speaking words of wisdom, let it be...

Just a little Beatles wisdom to start your day off...

Nothing has really happened here.  School.  Homework.  Being sick.  The usual.

I ate elote (pronounce ay-loh-tay) last night.  I will never be able to eat normal corn on the cob again.  It is corn on the cob, with a stick in it, slathered in mayo (which has lime in it), Parmesan cheese, and chili powder.    Sounds and looks disgusting, possibly one of the most delicious things I have ever eaten.


Happy election day 2010!

Elections are today.  Up until last week school closures had been for a day or two and nothing more.  This was supposed to be the last week of school...to go onto the next grade you need to receive some papers.  Well the teachers decided to use their power to get the vote to swing their way and put into effect a closure that would last for an undetermined amount of time.  As in, school is not officially done until they say, and people cannot move onto the next grade until they decide to let schools open again to get their papers.  Not a huge deal for kids staying within the same school or going from one government school to another...but apparently going from a public primary school to a private secondary school is very popular and due to the circumstances right now, very difficult.  Thankfully the teachers have FINALLY left the Zocalo because they were starting to smell--garbage everywhere and many, many unbathed people.

Campaigning for elections must end five days before elections.  You better believe that they were out campaigning like no other on Tuesday.  The candidates even have to completely take down their web pages during this time period!  Basically you need to make a decision by this time or you will not be able to find any information on the candidates to be able to do any research during this time.

The city has been DEAD the last two days.  As you may know, laws in Mexico really don't exist.  Blowing a red light is the norm.  You cross a street wherever you want.  Drinking on the streets is actually legal here.  But the one law that these crazy people decide to enforce and abide by is the Ley de seca for 48 hours before elections.  As in after 11:59 pm Friday, alcohol is not to be sold ANYWHERE (including restaurants, bars, clubs) until Monday morning.  Great 4th of July weekend, eh?  We were in the Plaza de Santo Domingo last night around 9 pm and everything was closing.  A very odd sight in the area as most places usually stay open until 4 am or so, especially on a Saturday night.

We are more or less on "lock-down" in our homes today as our director doesn't know what the situation will be like in the city.  She took the advice of one of the senora's and said we can go a few blocks, but to generally stay in our homes.  We've left all of our homework for today.  I think at some point I'll have to leave to get a soda and some snacks (because honestly, doing homework and not munching on food is impossible) but other than that I think I will be sitting in this chair in front of the computer all day.  I'm quite positive that actually doing my homework won't happen (there is no motivation to do homework for a class whose grade does not matter and I do not need the credit for) and therefore I will probably end up finding new and exciting facebook games (hello, Frontierville), reading Harry Potter y la camara secreta (or one of the 3 other novels I bought in Spanish yesterday), screwing around on StumbleUpon (addicting if you haven't discovered it yet, especially when looking at the food/cooking sites... anyone interested in letting me experiment for them when I return home will possibly receive a delish meal), and sleeping.  I would add a depressing job search to that, but after my bad few days I think I will avoid adding more bad to my life.

If the PRI candidate wins (the candidate that the teachers do NOT want and who is basically the chosen successor of the current, corrupt governor) things could turn very ugly in the city.  In 2006, during the last elections, things turned very violent...and stayed violent for 8 months (this includes all government public schools being closed for the entire time period).  My senora said that the two girls she had staying here then were taken by the U.S. Consulate and forced back to the U.S.  Let's hope it doesn't come to that.  We currently still have school tomorrow but we've been told that if we encounter large groups of people on our way we should turn around and not worry about going.  A part of me hopes that I run into something (can you tell how completely done with school I am?).

2 weeks from now and I will be sitting at the tiny Oaxaca airport, waiting to head back to the land of beer, squeaky cheese, and brats (mmmm brats).

Ugh...guys, I think I'm gonna puke...

I'm safely back in Oaxaca after two horrifying 10 hours bus rides and a weekend in the sand.  It was a good weekend.  I don't know what to say about Puerto Escondido.  I take back all the horrible things I've said about the Pacific coast being disgusting cuz it was pretty, though the water definitely wasn't as clear and there was a lot more garbage washing up.  Puerto Escondido was pretty, but not beautiful, like the Rivera Maya. It's a really small, laid back, surfer kind of town...the kind of place that I would go back to, but not the kind of place that I would start planning my next trip upon departure--as is the case with Playa del Carmen.  We only got about 2 hours of sun all weekend (disappointing), we paid to go see dolphins and sea turtles (I saw one for about a second and that was the extent of our sightings), I puked on said adventure even after taking dramamine, we met some crazy people from the UK (one took a 52 hour busride from CA to Mexico City while sitting next to a convicted murderer), and I swear to God the bus nearly flipped at one point on the ride down.  I didn't see it but one of the other girls said that at one point along the road there is a bridge that is barely big enough for a bus... and it's only markings that it is so small were literal flames on either side.  I found some pretty neat rocks and shells on the beach, and got very addicted to searching for them.  We didn't go out at all.  We watched Mexico lose at a bar that had 2x1 drinks for all-day happy hour.  I tried nieve for the first time (tastes and feels like freezer burnt ice cream) and had pizza for the first time in a month :).

20 days until I'm home.  I have a list of foods I NEED to eat in my first few days back and also things I want to do...first on the list--taking a shower that will stay hot longer than it takes to get my hair wet.

If you don't hear from me much in the next 20 days it's because school will most likely be hell.

Vacaciones...

We're leaving in a couple of hours for Puerto Escondido.  Still not sure when we'll be back...we have absolutely NOTHING going on on Monday, so I'm trying to talk to the girls into staying for at least part of an extra day.  There is a possibility that we will get hit by Hurricane Darby while we are there though it looks like it may move more north towards Acapulco before it makes landfall.  Still, it's looking like a wet, rather than sunny vacation at the beach.  10 + hour bus ride and Dramamine here I come.

Estoy floja...

Ok so here are some quick photos since I've been too lazy to upload lately and did it all at once.

The fashion show.  This is the dress that I got to later model.

After a night of dancing.

Model Katie.

No te preocupes...

I know that many of you were extremely worried about my safety here in Mexico.  I often give the example of would you not go to NYC because someone was shot in LA?  That may be exaggerating a bit, but I think this article makes a good point....

http://www.thetruthaboutmexico.com/2009/03/is-mexico-safe/

In other words, do not worry.  The media makes everything worse than it is.

Una noche inolvidable y otras cosas al azar...

Nothing has really happened here lately.  We go to school or volunteer in the morning, go home for lunch, go back to school in the afternoon, come home and do insane amounts of busy work (I feel like I'm in high school again or at the very least back at Stout), and then pass out fairly early.  If I am still awake at 10, especially on a no-nap day, it is an accomplishment!  We also haven't gone anywhere or really been able to do anything so it has kept the excitement at a minimum.  I understand that we need to have class so much, but I really feels like we have no time to be able to immerse ourselves and be able to experience the culture, which is supposed to be a large part of this experience.

I am more or less enjoying my classes (though I kind of wish I would have stuck with my original plan of only one class instead of two).  We've watched a lot of really interesting films in my Film and Literature class.  They have pretty much all been war movies, although last week we watched a really trippy one called "Pedro Paramo".  If you can find it with English subtitles I highly recommend it.  I'm starting to see the "mexican culture" in a different way due to my Zapatista class.  I feel like it is bullshit at times, but our professor has been able to relate even the most obscure things back to Emiliano Zapata and the Mexican Revolution.  For example, very few people wear seat belts here and on construction sites safety equipment (hard hats, gloves, etc) are rarely seen.  According to him it relates back to the lack of fear of death and machismo from the Revolution.  I can see it, but it feels like it's pushing it a little bit.  Still a super interesting class.

The first few days of meeting with my intercambio she asked me about things that I thought were maybe more expensive or cheaper here versus in the U.S.  For almost everything I said it was cheaper here, mostly with the exception of some clothing and shoes.  I'm quickly starting to see how wrong I was.  I went last weekend shopping and bought a pair of super nice dressy sandals for less than $50.  I'm guessing that the equivalent in the U.S. would be around $70-80.  Not a huge difference but still, I bought them from what I imagine is an over-priced boutique.  It's funny because the other girls who are here would never even think about spending that much money on a pair of shoes.  At the market some of the other girls bargain and try to get things down a bit, which I understand and appreciate as an art, but I don't have the heart to do it.  The second time I was trying I realized that trying to get the vendor down from $180 pesos to $150 pesos was really only $14 down to $12.  For me, not a huge difference, for many of them it's gigantic.

The biggest thing I've seen a HUGE difference in is phone costs.  Not the cost of the phone itself, but the price of texting and calling.  Texting is extremely cheap.  A local text is about 15 cents.  Not that much cheaper than in the U.S. but it's by far the cheapest way (outside of good of Facebook chat) to communicate.  Everyone does it and I'm starting to believe that people rarely call each other unless on land lines.  Cell phone calls on the other hand are crazy.  The first time I called Freddy it was late at night.  20 minutes was 60 pesos, about 24 cents a minute... comparable to me calling Freddy internationally from the U.S.  Wednesday was a day of misfortune.  I attempted putting more money on my phone.  I'm not sure what happened but the scary lady at the Super Das was working and I'm fairly certain she typed my number in just one number wrong, but read it back correctly because the money never got put on my phone.  I was out my last 50 pesos.  Not only did that mean I'd have to go to the ATM the next day (a huge pain because they're all at least 2 blocks completely out of my way) but it also meant that I was running low on money on my phone.  I called Freddy and after 10 minutes of talking we got cut off.  I went through 80 pesos in 10 minutes!!!  That's basically the equivalent of a domestic, albeit long distance, call costing 63 cents a minute!  Pretty crazy!  It was earlier in the night, so still probably peak hours, but still.  I couldn't believe it.  Luckily when I went on Friday to add money back to my phone (I literally couldn't text or call ANYONE) I put enough on that they gave me 60 pesos for free, so I got back what the bitch didn't give me.

I've still been too busy to read up on any election stuff.  I'd really like to know more about the three main candidates, but I've had no time.  I did find out however that the last elections were in 2006, when the last teacher's strike was outrageous.  Schools were literally completely closed for 9 months and when they opened back up, the students still had to go forward and were expected to know what they were never taught.  Apparently one of the current candidates won, but suddenly a bunch of ballot boxes went missing, there was a recount, and the current Governor ended up winning.  He was not the teacher's candidate so the strike just got worse.  Also the strike is not really up to the teachers at all.  The government pays the sindicato which is more or less a union, but it seems like me like it has more power over it's members than they do in the U.S.  Then the sindacto pays the teachers their wages.  These teachers get paid based on a points system and they earn more points not from how long they've been teaching, but by how active they are in the sindicato and the strikes.  This only encourages them to not have class because they are getting paid MORE to not teach!  June 14, 2006 there was a big police vs teachers clash that I guess was very violent.  The teachers threw large rocks at police and blockaded roads with giant parking meters (imagine the big machines in parking garages where you can pay for your parking before returning to your car).  My intercambio said that in all her years of school they were always closed for at least a week around this time, if not for months.  Monday was the anniversary of the violence.  There was a large march and the sindicato said that if things weren't resolved after Monday, schools would close indefinitely.  Monday there was no school, but magically on Tuesday I had no hot water when I went to shower and realized that there was in fact school.  The sindicato is being smart this year and rather than straight up closing, they are rotating their teachers through their strike days.  During the last elections they lost a lot of would be support because parents were mad that their children weren't getting their education.  This way the schools are staying at least partially open (I believe I heard a minimum of 30%) and the parents aren't getting pissed.

VIVA MEXICO!!!!  In case you haven't heard, Mexico beat France for the first time in the history of EVER in their World Cup game on Thursday.  It was super exciting to watch.  They will now have to beat Uruguay on Tuesday to go onto the next round.  The excitement around winning was awesome.  I had to leave for class shortly after the game ended and the amount of Mexico pride was crazy.  Cars were all honking the same rhythm and many people were driving around just to honk, wave their Mexico flags, and show off their green, white and red.  It continued for hours after the end of the game.

Team USA is another story.  They did tie, so that's cool.  We didn't get to watch the game though.  We always have class on Friday mornings.  The only reason we got to watch the Mexico game the week before was because they are showing the Mexico games at the Institute--so we could watch and then just move to the classroom quickly when it was time.  There was no way to work both class and the game in.  Hopefully I'll be able to watch the next one, which they also have to win to be able to move on.

Last night was possibly one of the best nights of my life to date.  First of all my intercambio, Zuly, invited us to a fashion show that was happening in the plaza of Santo Domingo.  Her cousin was one of the student designers.  The pieces were all beautiful and I was super impressed.  They definitely blew anything I saw and have seen in photos at Stout out of the water.  Afterwards we met up with Zuly and her cousin.  I guess on Thursday her model backed out and she was scrambling to find someone.  Zuly suggested me but she 1.) hadn't seen the dress and had no clue if it would fit me, though she said it would have and if not they would have made it fit and 2.) she didn't think I would want to do it.  So basically I could have been a model in Mexico.  She did invite me to go try on the dress and take some pictures in it this week (and possibly some of the other dresses if the other designers would agree).  Her dress also just happens to be one of my favorite ones from the show.  Super cool.

We hung out at Santo Domingo for quite awhile.  It was really interesting because there was a lot of partying going down.  At the end of the University school year it is customary for the graduating generacion to march from their school with their band and other things to Santo Domingo to drink and party all night.  They generally leave their school at about 3 in the afternoon and party all night.  By 10 last night there were few still standing.  It was pretty interesting to watch with lots of random fireworks.  We ended up back down at Santo Domingo around 3 am and it was very sad to see the destruction they left behind.  One of the really pretty bars had graffiti all over the outside of it.  Beer bottles everywhere.  It was insane.  But this is how it is in Oaxaca.  I'm sure that by tomorrow afternoon, if not right now, the walls have been repainted and it's no big deal.

Our dance teacher, Saulo, offered to take us out to practice what we had learned.  We were going to go to a salsa club called Candela but when he called his friends to see if they wanted to join us he found they were all preparing for a show that night.  We ended up going to the show.  It was at this very interesting place called La Mata.  It was very pioneer themed, which we later found out is because it's generally a bandera and tejana bar.  They had videos of quebradita playing all night, which was super cool to watch because it's freaking insane.  If you don't know what it is, youtube it.  You will be amazed.  Last night they had salsa night because of this show.  It was basically a bunch of dancers, all of whom our teacher is friends with, from local dance studios.  We thought it was going to be a competition, but it was more or less like 10 exhibition performances.  These dancers were pretty amazing.

After the show Saulo told all of his friends to dance with us, so we got to dance with these amazing dancers all night.  Many of them kept saying that they were really impressed with how good I was, but I thought they were just being nice.  At one point one of the guys told me that Saulo told him that I was a perfect dancer and that I really knew what I was doing.  I really thought nothing of it, until I realized that I was the one getting to dance with the professionals the most, and everyone else was still dancing with Saulo (granted, he used to compete and is super good, but he knows how much we know already).  It was a ton of fun and I was really impressed with myself.  The first time I danced, I was terrifed--and slightly drunk.  I was worried about looking stupid next to all these people who looked awesome.  After about 10 minutes I decided screw it, I know 5 people in this place, and just had fun.  I woke up this morning still with a smile, even though I was crabby that I barely got any sleep.  Even though I'm exhausted today and just want to sleep, I'd go dancing again, right now.

There is a guy from Seattle living here now.  He's really nice, 28, and works for Boeing (they paid for his masters degree, are paying for him to be here for a month, and are then paying him to go to Turkey for 8 months to learn Turkish).  Anyways, he's nice but Grandma Bev, don't go getting your hopes up that he's a new man in my life.  This morning at breakfast he was extremely surprised that I don't play basketball because apparently I'm tall.  I was just really surprised by this because I always feel like such a shorty.  By Mexico terms, ok yes, I am practically a giant.  So take that all you people, ie Jess and Leah, who pick on me for being short!

Sorry for the novel, I didn't expect it to end up being this long at all.  It may be awhile before I get a chance to post again.  Next weekend is our vacation and we have lots to get done before it.  We'll be taking an overnight bus for 10.5 hours to Puerto Escondido leaving late Thursday night.  We'll be taking an overnight bus back Sunday night, most likely.  Headed to go buy the tickets now.  Very excited to spend a few days at the beach and possibly learn or at least attempt to learn how to surf! :)
Ciao!

Pinches zancudos....

translation:  freaking mosquitos.  I currently have a bite that is almost on the sole of my foot.  It is possibly THE worst mosquito bite placement in the world.  I don't think there is a square-centimeter of area on my feet that does not currently have either a bite or a scab from itching a bite.  Even with bug spray...

I have not written lately because nothing has really happened.  Our program is way overloaded and we are constantly going.  I haven't even had time to take a single nap this week. The heat doesn't help either, though it has gotten better this week thanks to some rather brutal rains.  I was getting a little worried because before the storms come the sky turns a really eerie color reminiscent of the calm before a tornado at home, but my professor assured me that due to the landscape here tornadoes are impossible.  He said that sometimes you'll see the start of a tiny funnel cloud, but it will never drop.

It was in fact a cucaracha that was in my bed.  It is now dead.

World Cup soccer has now begin.  Friday we delayed class so we could see part of the game, though we missed Mexico's goal.  They play again on Thursday.  I want to buy a jersey but 1.) they're a little bit more here than if you order them online in the U.S. though with shipping they could just about even out and 2.) they're sold out in most places.  We got to watch the U.S. play England yesterday though the signal at the restaurant we were at kind of sucked.  Our waiter escorted me into the restaurant and gave us VIP service.  It comes as part of the meal, but when ordering a Caesar salad at this particular restaurant they make the dressing at the table in front of you.  It was pretty cool.  Also, in case you didn't know, Caesar salad is technically mexican food as it was originally invented in Mexico.

I went shopping yesterday and bought a ton of stuff, including a beautiful pair of shoes all for less than $130.

One of the girls had her wallet stolen yesterday from her purse while we were in the Zocalo.  Luckily she only had $30 in cash and her drivers license on her.  Her camera was right next to her wallet, she was lucky they didn't also take that.

My nose has gotten really tan.  Nothing else really has though.

I've discovered that Shopko sunglasses are only built to last about a year.  The paint is all coming off of my favorite pair.  Oh well, I guess that means I get to go sunglass shopping soon!

I still have 5 weeks left here and only have about half of a bottle of bug spray left.  It's funny.  I thought I'd barely use that and would go through sunscreen like crazy (which is why I have 2 large and 2 small bottles of sunscreen with me... but only 1 bottle of bug spray).  Other than on my face and occasionally on my shoulders I haven't really used any sunscreen.

We went to a spot on what is called cerro Fortin last night that overlooks the entire city.  Oaxaca doesn't seem like a big city, until at night when you see lights for miles.  I think it's just really spread out more than anything.

We got to go to our new volunteer spot this week and it is amazing.  The place is called Hijos de la luna (which translates as Children of the moon).  It is technically not an orphanage.  The children are all children of prostitutes who currently do not have homes.  The moms come and spend a day with their children once a week, and once they have a home again, they go back to live with them.  It is a really happy place and they act like one big family.  Currently there are about 30 kids there, though while we are there there are many less as most of them go to school.  The youngest is 2 months old and the oldest is 10 years old.  When we get there we help feed the littlest ones breakfast and then we play with them.  A little boy and a little girl have both really taken to me.  I help feed the little boy, who is between a year and 18 months.  I don't know his real name but they all call him gordito which means little fatty... which is no lie.  He has the chubbiest cheeks you will ever see.  The first day I was carrying him around and we started dancing.  He fell asleep in my arms.  It was precious.  As soon as I walked in on Thursday his eyes lit up.  The other little girl that I've spent a lot of time with is Fernanda and I'd guess she's between 18 months and 2 years...though I'm thinking closer to 2.  She has the prettiest eyes ever and is an absolute sweetheart.  She gets super jealous if I pay attention to any of the other kids and always gives me a "look at me, not them" look.  The little girls are all so helpful in taking care of the other kids.  I had to change Fernanda's diaper and the one little girl led me to and gave me everything that I needed.  They also have the sweetest little kitty ever and two dogs, who have what I would guess are about 5 week old puppies.  The kids play with the puppies like it was nothing and they are definitely loving puppies.  I held one on Thursday and he just cuddled in.  It's a great place and I wish we wouldn't have wasted 2 weeks at the other placement.

I guess that's about it for now.  I'm heading to my first Mexican movie theater tonight.  Pretty excited for some popcorn.

It hurts so good...

As you may or may not know, we have our cultural workshops for 4 class periods (2 hours of class, 2 days a week, for 2 weeks).  That meant that today we started a new one...we chose dance.  We'll be learning salsa, cumbia and bachatta.  This means that I danced for two hours nearly non-stop today.  It was marvelous.  Luckily, I already knew the salsa basics and got to demo pretty much everything with our instructor so that made me feel even better (especially after the giant bug incident this morning), though I still managed to make mistakes.  If I just do it and don't think about it it's great... but it's when my mind gets involved in the steps that I messed up.  Anyways, I'm already a little sore, and can tell that tomorrow will be a rough one...but I'm ok with that.  If it were up to me I'd have this class 4 days a week for the rest of the program.  It felt great to be dancing again...I just wish there was a way to keep up with it.

So the big excitement for helping with vaccinations was a let down all over the place.  We got there early and it seemed everything would be good.  The director came and said hi, and said that both Michi and I would be leaving shortly to go help out.  I wasn't feeling the greatest (nearly puked that morning and was running a fever...very congested).  After about 10 minutes he came back out and suddenly decided that one of us would be staying back to work on a project and the other would go.  At that point I was fine with staying as I didn't feel the greatest and thought it wouldn't be a great idea to be around kids.  Little did I know that my awesome Smith Motors filing experience would ruin my day... I had to two hole punch 2 stacks of about 170 prescription receipts and put them together.  Then I had to separate out another stack and punch those.  It seriously took maybe 30 minutes....leaving about another two hours at the clinic.  I asked if there was anything else... nope.  So while Michi was off handing bottles of vaccine to the kids I was sitting, reading Harry Potter...which wasn't all bad, but I could have been doing it in my own bed, or better yet I could have been sleeping...  There were hardly even any patients to keep me amused.  Needless to say that was our last day at the clinic and we've requested to change locations.  It sounds like we're headed to an orphange tomorrow.  It is their busy season so we know there will be work and if nothing else, we'll be able to play with the kids.  

While at the clinic on Thursday I discovered something very interesting... a lady came in and it was obvious that she was very obsessed with beauty...the minute she sat down she started powdering her face.  Her son was too tall for the short nurse to measure his height so I had to come and move the little thinger.  As I sat down, I noticed that she was...wait for it... curling her eyelashes.  with.  a.  SPOON.  I don't know if it worked or not, as her lashes seemed curled before she did it...but I was amazed nonetheless.

In Mexico, people don't really understand the concept of cleaning up after your dogs.  As in, there is dog poo all over the sidewalks.  I've never understood exactly how imperative it is until now.  These are the things you think about and realize when you must walk an hour up a mountain and avoid dog poo for a large portion of your trek.

I guess it doesn't help either that there are a lot of stray dogs.

Speaking of dogs...

My lunch yesterday was filled with disgust and wonder if my being too gullible was obvious to my family.  My family was discussing how their two dogs would go out during the day and come back at night.  One night, they just didn't return.  My senora's nephew said that they were probably stolen.  We then got onto the topic that there are certain Taqueria's here that advertise carne asada, but it's really dog meat.  My senora and the mom both said that it is muy rico.  They then proceeded to ask if i had eaten from any of the street vendors yet, which I hadn't.  They laughed and one of the guys at the table said they were joking, and to stop scaring me.  But then they went back to it and were discussing in all seriousness.  My little sister even asked if she was with when they ate them.  Two of the girls said that their conversation professor also said the same, though they thought she was joking.  I'm not sure if I should believe it or not.  It wouldn't surprise me.  There are so many stray dogs and from what I've heard dog robberies are fairly common.  

Friday we had to move a class up earlier in the day as our professor was going to be in a play.  Between this and our museum tour that day we didn't have time to return to our homes for lunch.  We went to a place that has become famous with Madison groups over the last few years... Super Tortas Gigantes.  It was quite the feat to finish the entire thing...but it was sooo delish and I've been craving one ever since.  I had the hawaiano.  It was ham dipped in pineapple juice...grilled, with cheese and pineapple.  On top was avocado, jalapenos, and tomato.  A little bit of hot sauce.  A torta is just a sandwich but it's on a crusty roll.  I can't wait to eat another one.

Friday night after class we decided to finally go out.  We first went to the Zocalo to try and find some food.  We came across a cafeteria that had crepes.  I had a bananas foster one, which was awesome, and Kathleen had the vegetarian one, which was surprisingly also awesome.  Currently the Zocalo is full of many random things, which I will get to later.  I introduced the girls to Palomas...I had forgotten how awesome they were (it's tequila and squirt with salt on the rim... you can't even taste the tequila).  We then went to a bar called Los Danzantes.  There was a DJ and it sounded pretty cool from outside.  The inside was beautiful.  We got a table next to the DJ and were just chilling out.  It was so weird because although there was obvious dance music playing, no one was dancing.  People did eventually start dancing but it was very awkward so we didn't.  Also, the peanuts they give you with your drinks were amazing, with the pieces of garlic still in the mix.  I was apparently the only one who could speak understandable Spanish so I was given the task of ordering for everyone, though I think our initial waiter was retarded because he could still hardly understand me.  The next time he came by he had to have a different waiter take our order.  This waiter quickly started hitting on me.  By the end of the night he was asking why I wasn't dancing and told me that we should return the next night because he was off and he wanted to dance with me.... needless to say I now have a Oaxacan boyfriend... at my first bar here.  We didn't go back on Saturday, but still.  It was really cool because having connections and all got us moved to a window table...which was literally in a private balcony over La calle Macedonio Alcala which is a pedestrian street a lot like State Street, only it's all cobblestone.  

Saturday we went shopping.  We had all decided we wanted traditional shirts and dresses.  As I stated earlier the Zocalo is a pretty busy place right now and has it's own market there.  We all got a ton of super adorable stuff for really cheap.  After about an hour there we were walking back and stopped by another little market by the Santo Domingo.  All in all I paid less than $1 for a bracelet, less than $5 for a shirt, less than $10 for a skirt, and less than $15 for a dress.  It was a successful day.  I plan to hit up the one by Santo Domingo at least one other time for jewelry... soo much turquoise, you don't even know what to do with yourself.  

Saturday we also decided to be creeps and went to the play that our professor was in.  It was called "El Codex Romanoff" and was about some nuns who were trying to get a hold of Leonardo Da Vinci's secret recipe book that was banned.  It was very weird and semi difficult to follow, though I did a good job until the end.  I now feel very cultured... I have attended the theater not only in a different country, but in a different language.  

Oaxaca has a history of political problems, specifically those involving teachers salaries and benefits, and not just the city, this applies to the whole state.  My sister hasn't had school the last two Fridays so that the teachers could attend marches and protests.  There is something big happening this weekend, with a march, and therefore no school again, on Monday.  If things are not resolved on the 14, the schools will close indefinitely until things are worked out.  What does this have to do with anything?  Teachers from other towns have come to the city to protest.  They have taken up residence in El Zocalo and the different villages rotate their presence a few days at a time.  3/4 of the plaza is covered in tents.  There are vendors and beggars everywhere.  The other part of the plaza is a market right now, because these people from the indigenous villages have come...it only makes sense that they sell some stuff and try to make some money as well.  There are also a ton of food vendors, since the people obviously need to eat.  

It is so difficult to be down there right now, not only because there are tarps and strings everywhere but because there are so many beggars.  And not only adults, most of them are children, especially at night.  And they are adorable.  And persistent.  I've gotten to the point that I just look at what they're trying to sell me and say no right away before I can look at the person selling and see that it's an adorable kid.  And the kids are of course all geniuses and know to hit up the soft looking Americans...making us prime targets.  Saying no to the "old" people is a lot easier... though it may have made me have some voodoo curse set upon me.  Saturday I was rushing to meet up with the girls and said no to a very old lady...she starting shouting at me in something other than Spanish...

I think my senora cleaned my room today/looked for the large bug.  I'm exhausted but currently still too afraid of my bed.  Here's too hoping I can gain some courage and that it doesn't happen again or it's going to be a loooonnnngggg month and a half!

Bug update:  Before she went to bed she brought me a towel to put under my door so that no bugs can get in here at night! :)

No voy a dormir por los proximos 40 dias....

Sooo this wasn't going to be written right now... but thanks to a certain unwelcomed visitor in my bed I am awake early and I am terrified.  When I went to bed last night there was a big something or other flying around my room.  It landed on me a couple times but I couldn't get a good enough look at all.  I think I did end up killing it though as there is creepily a large fly looking thing being moved across my bedroom floor by a couple of ants right now.  Falling asleep was no problem.  I didn't have to be up until 7:30 today.  At 6:30 I awoke to feeling something on my leg.  I moved a bit, and felt it on my other leg.  It definitely wasn't just my sheets playing trick on my tactile perception.  I leaped out of bed, trying to not scream and wake everyone else in the house up.  I knew I had a flip-flop on the floor by my bed that I was reaching to grab as I was trying to find the damn thing.  I saw it scurry under the sheet by my pillow and then move around some more.  It was so dark that I really couldn't see much other than movement and in a dumbass move decided to turn the light on so I could see.  Of course the light switch is far away from my bed...and of course the damn thing was faster than me so it ran down the wall before I could see it for sure.  I do know this--cockroaches don't like light.  I also know that they can be quite large and are fairly common in Oaxaca.  And though I know that it is possible to find them anywhere, I feel like the other room felt less bug friendly and there therefore may be a change of rooms happening today.  I don't think I'll ever be able to sleep in this bed again.  Not even for a nap during the day.  I'm horrified.

HGTV Mexico style...

Yesterday we were FINALLY able to begin our volunteer work.  It has been one thing after another.  First there was the aforementioned strike involving all of the Seguro Popular clinics and hospitals in the State of Oaxaca.  Then as we were assured we would be able to start yesterday there was another march/protest/blockaded road that prevented us from being able to get to the clinic the way that Lucero, the director of the Institute, knew.  She THOUGHT she knew a back way and after getting lost and asking a random on a motorcycle for directions we found our way there.  I was anticipating getting to the open gates and them closing in our faces.  But we walked right in and started talking with the director.  Apparently unorganized is the Institute's motto.  Although Lucero and Gustavo, the director of the clinic, had spoken, they had not discussed the educational backgrounds of myself or Michi (neither of us are med students) nor had they discussed what we would be doing.  Lucero suggested some things and Gustavo suggested some back.  Anyways.  Lucero left and Gustavo gave us a tour.  It's a cute little place that doesn't really have much to it, but it sure is busy.  After the tour Gustavo said he was going to talk to the nurses about what we could do when all of a sudden he disappeared with three nurses, never to return in our remaining hour and a half at the Institute.  AY DE MI!  The Doctor who was there was very kind, but was with a patient so she told us just to take a seat and chat or watch tv.  I learned how to take a boring old umbrella and paint it so that it is beautiful and something you can be proud to carry around.  It was the Mexican version of the Today Show...but I felt more like I was watching HGTV or Food Network (we later learned how to make mango and swiss cheese sandwiches and frozen watermelon drinks).  We literally sat for the rest of our time there, watching TV.

As we were sitting there this crazy loud lady, who decided she could really do whatever she wanted, entered. The nurse who was checking everyone in left with Gustavo and the only other nurse and the doctor were seeing a patient.  We said hello, but did not know what else to do.  She immediately started talking to us.  Apparently we pass as possible locals as both her and her son asked if we lived nearby.  Not understanding what she was asking me I said yes to something and had no clue what.  You would think I would have learned my lesson by now.  Anyways, she barged herself into a Consult Room where luckily the Doctor was just finishing up with the other patient.  When her son walked in she loudly yelled out to him "Those girls are definitely interested."  Interested in what you might ask?  Apparently Octavio, her son, works at one of the local tv stations, and we told her we wanted to be on TV.  We quickly took that back, but he still invited us to stop by the station any time we want to watch a live broadcast and see how things work.  I still remember the address so maybe one of these days if we can catch a break from our insane schedules we will stop and pay Octavio and his mom a visit.

Tomorrow we are volunteering again.  We have to be at the place at 9 am.  May I remind you all that it is about an hour + walk.  Consider how early this means Katie must be awake, alert, and functioning.  Now, consider this.  We will be helping out at a mass vaccination clinic in the small town's Zocalo.  The director made it sound like we will not only be doing paperwork, but will probably be helping actually do the injections.  How cool is that?  It is totally normal for a non-licensed person to be allowed to do something like that here.  My senora said that in the past she had a girl stay here who was a pre-med student.  She went to one of the hospitals and asked if she could do some shadowing.  They said even better, you can help with some procedures.  She was in the maternity ward.  Everyday she would come home and tell my senora how many births she got to help out with.

To be a doctor here you must volunteer one year of service after your residency in one of the "rural" clinics, like the one I'm helping out at.

Breastfeeding in public here is the norm.  No one even blinks an eye.  I don't know why, but I find the fact very interesting.  I think it's because if a woman just whipped it out and started doing it in the U.S. she would catch quite a few glares.

No one here ever has change for "big" bills.  Many times you can't even use a 50 peso bill to pay for something that is 20 pesos.  This causes problems when the ATM pretty much only gives you 50, 100, 200, and 500s.  At the market in Tlacolula this weekend I ended up having to borrow 20 pesos from a friend because I only had 15 in coins and my next smallest bill was 100.  When I paid with a 100 for something that was 40 a little while later, they had to go to all their neighbor stands asking if they could loan them enough to give me change.

Speaking of the market at Tlacolula, I tried mezcal this weekend.  I tried three different flavors--coconut, coffee, and Fruit from the 7 regions.  The coconut and coffee were good because they had a little but of sweetened condensed milk added to them and were not very strong.  The 7 regions one was quite brutal, but still very tasty.  I can't believe the prices of alcohol here, or at least for mezcal.  A large bottle, that even for something like Fleischman's would cost around $20-40 at home, was 50 pesos (about $5) here.

As we left class yesterday we realized that one of the main streets in the city and the one we all walk up together, Porfirio Diaz, had no cars on it.  No big deal.  There had been the blockade at the top of it, in front of the Medical School earlier in the day, so we thought nothing of it.  Very soon we heard marching band music and realized that there was a march coming down the hill.  It was very cool to see.  It was for one of the candidates for Governor, Gabino.  I managed to take some pictures.  Also yesterday, as Michi and I were walking back to school from our volunteering there were people for Gabino standing on the sidewalk on Porfirio Diaz.  I got a pretty cool paper fan thinger and a comic book.  I wish candidates in the U.S. had comic books of themselves made.  Michi even got a really cool bracelet.

Speaking of the elections.  Monday night we were leaving school and they were of course, out as always.  Traffic was moving as normal but there were people waving giant flags IN the road (on the "lane lines" that don't really exist in Oaxaca).  As in the flags were blocking the view of the drivers.  No big.  They also had a mascot of their candidate, Eviel and his picture lined the sidewalks on other flags.  It was quite intense.  Although I'm sure it was illegal to have the flags in the middle of the street, I was surprised that no one really cared or did anything to stop it.

Mosquitos blow.  That's all there is to it.  After I changed rooms I discovered that the new room was pretty much infested with mosquitos and some sort of other little bitey bug.  Before the move I had maybe 4 bites.  Two nights after the move I was covered... as in on ONE leg alone over 13 bites.  I itch like mad and have made several scab over in my sleep.  Yes Jess, you can call me Scabs now.  Also, until last night I didn't have a fan in here.  May I remind you that it has been at least 90 almost every day since I got here (exception: 1).  May I also remind you that it doesn't get down to 70 until about 2 am or later.  Let's just say that between the heat and the mosquitos I went a couple days on very little sleep and was not the happiest of all campers.

We had our trip to Mitla, Tlacolula and Teotitlan del Valle on Sunday.  Mitla was only cool because of it's architecture and the fact that it didn't involve a ton of walking.  It was not nearly as impresionante as Monte Alban in it's grandeur.  Check out my photos on facebook (all my non-facebookers, click here to see them) to read more about it.  Basically it was a really cool, happening kind of place and then the Spanish arrive and did what they seemed to do best...tear things apart and use it for themselves, basically screw anyone who isn't us or doesn't have our beliefs.  Tlacolula is just a small town but it has one of the biggest markets in the Valley of Oaxaca outside of the city.  We only had 45 minutes to explore though it was where I had my mezcal adventure.  We saw a really really ornate church there, but people were actually praying and stuff so I didn't feel right taking pictures.  Pretty much the coolest part of the city was it's name, which is really fun to say (pronounced TL-a-co-loo-la).  Next we went to Teotitlan del Valle, a small pueblo where everyone's first language is Zapotec and they make beautiful tapestries.  I really wanted to buy a purse there but they only had totes and I figured that would get itchy.  It was really neat to learn about the weaving process and I even got to take a try at using a spinning wheel.  I was pretty much a master of it right away.

Today was our last cooking class.  We learned how to make entomatadas.

Basically by varying the salsa, which was super easy to make, I can now make many things including enchiladas and chilaquiles.  She also told us a really easy way to make super good salsa and gave us a simple recipe for tamales.  Y'all better be hungry when I get back because I'm going to be a cooking machine.

I will leave you with this final thing that I have been pondering for days.  I have decided that Mexican men must be bred with an innate sense of how to whistle loudly and obnoxiously.  That or else in Jardincito they take a class like "Whistling 101: How to attempt attracting the women with your call".  I can't even be mad when I get whistled at anymore because most of the time I am simply impressed by it's volume and the various themes that they tend to whistle.  An example:  Freddy has a very distinct whistle.  I was sitting at the airport waiting for him (I got in a little earlier than expected).  I suddenly heard a whistle and knew right away that he had just walked in and saw me.  Also, when he gets to his mom's house he whistles as he's walking up to the door, as a kind of doorbell.  It's crazy.  Leah, you know what I'm talking about.

The girls sitting on the steps at Mitla.

The importance of paying attention to EVERYTHING in another language...

The other morning I was eating breakfast and was still half asleep.  My senora was telling me how my one sister and her mom were going to Mexico City for the weekend to visit another sister.  She told me that I should come stay downstairs with her so that we both wouldn't be alone.  I agreed.  Apparently I also agreed to moving down here permanently.  I didn't realize this until it was too late and they had completely moved a bunch of furniture around.  I feel really bad because I had already settled into where I was and was really enjoying the family experience but still having a lot of freedom.  I also feel bad because the mom (my senora is technically the grandma) has moved up to one of the other bedrooms where I was...so basically I took her room.  Also the two girls are living together now (one had been sleeping in the same room as her mom).  The mom is only here for a few hours a day and exclusively to sleep, so it isn't a HUGE deal, but still.  I was told to try it and if I don't like it I can go back up there...though both the girls and my senora seemed super excited for me to be living down here.  Now, instead of having my own bathroom I have to share with at least 3 other people (though there are so many other random people living here that I'm not sure if they also use the same bathroom or not).  The room doesn't feel as bright and clean as the other one, and I get the vibe that large, disgusting bugs will be a frequent thing.  We'll see.  I'm not excited about it, but I'll make them happy and try it.  Her biggest reason for me moving was that there is too much traffic noise in my old room, but I so far think it's louder down here than up there....only time will tell...

Tomorrow we were supposed to go to a place called Hierve el agua, but that has had to be changed due to some problems outside of the place.  My family told me that it was just that locals are forcing people to pay now, but the Institute and my director have made it seem like more.  Instead we are going to some ruins called Mitla and another small town called Tlacolula, a village that is famous for it's woven tapestries.  It should be exciting though it is a long 2 hour ride each way.

The protest that had the main roads in the city closed was over by the next morning.  The only remnants that anything had happened were a lot of garbage (food leftovers and lots of beer cans/bottles littered the sidewalks).  Apparently that protest had nothing to do with the health clinic strike--which still continues as far as I know.  If I understood my professor correctly (he mentioned it quickly in a sidenote during class) it was two small pueblos who decided to come to Oaxaca to make their protest more widely known.  I'm not sure what they were protesting though...

The protest from afar.  Lots of people gathered.  Randoms standing on top of cars that were stuck in the intersection.

That was over but Thursday started a new set of protests... teacher protests.  Friday nearly all of the public schools in the state of Oaxaca were closed for the teachers to go protest.  From what I understand it happens annually and can last through the weekend or as long as a month or two.  No one knows when the schools will open again.  There were some marches around the city, and random street blockades on Thursday and Friday.  I think they must have been protesting on my street yesterday for awhile (I'm pretty sure there is some sort of government office next to my house).  I was taking a nap and woke up to hear a bunch of glass breaking and suddenly a bunch of people yelling.  By the time I decided to get out of bed to see what was happening--I had assumed that the glass was some dishes falling at one of the many restaurants near my house--things had pretty much died down.  From what I was told at lunch today there was a fight and they broke the glass front door down on what I believe is the government office.  Crazy stuff.  I got back home at like 11:30 last night and there were still a ton of people just chilling outside.

Milk men are still a thing here...they don't leave it on the doorsteps as I imagine milkmen to do but every morning between 8:15 and 8:30 there is a series of very long and obnoxious honks coming from a silver van.  Apparently he is the milk man and if you want to buy milk or cheese or who knows what else he sells you go to his van while he sits there for a few minutes.

I bought Harry Potter y la piedra filosofal the other day for something to keep myself entertained.  I have more than enough books in English with me but this seemed like a better use of my time.  I am thrilled to be reading it and plan to keep buying them (hopefully I will end up with all of them).

The other night one of the UW girls had gotten back to her house after class and was just organizing her room.  She walked over to her purse and saw something move.  Turns out it was a scorpion.  Her "dad" came to kill it and it turns out that they aren't deadly here...though getting stung by one apparently hurts something terrible. He also said it's a super rare occurrence and happens MAYBE once a year.  I am now terrified.  Since then I have seen a cicada the size of my mexican phone, another beetle (that was quite large), and 2 large squished grasshoppers on my walks home.  Not cool.

We have what are called talleres twice a week...basically cultural workshops.  This last week we had cooking class.  Monday we just went to the market, which was interesting as always.  Wednesday we made frijoles negros, salsa y tortillas and put them together to make memelitas (also known as sopes in other parts of Mexico).  Oh. My. God.  They were delish and I can't wait to make them for all of you.  I have been craving to eat the salsa again it was that good.

Michi and I with our Memelitas

One afternoon this week I was walking to class.  I don't like the way I go, but it's easy and about 4 blocks less than going the longer way...so I do it anyways.  The sidewalks are small, telephone poles are the in middle of them, and there is a wall the goes almost the entire length of the street.  Many times when you get to a pole you have to walk in the street.  I chose to walk between the wall and a pole at one point where there is a lot of space and a man who was walking towards me chose to do the same.  I had no way to avoid him as I was between him and the wall.  As he approached me he walked very closely and nearly kissed me on the cheek...as in I could feel breath on my cheek he was so close.  He quickly got a death glare as I kept walking.  Needless to say I've chosen to walk on the outside/in the street ever since.  

I went to the market this morning with mi hermana Karla, the older one.  This market has the cheapest fruits and veggies so they go every Saturday to stock up for as much of the week as they can.  A large pineapple, 10 pesos.  2 Kilograms of potatoes, 10 pesos.  2 Kilograms of tomatoes, 12 pesos.  Keep in mind that the conversion is a little more than 10 pesos to the dollar (So 10 pesos is a around 90 cents).  We also went to get chocolate.  My senora doesn't like the way the major chocolate stores clean their cacao beans, nor their ratio of cinnamon and I'm not sure what else...so she cleans and toasts the beans herself and puts together all the other ingredients.  So we took two large bags of the cacao beans and everything else to the chocolate store so it could go through the molinero.  Bascially it's a machine that grinds and mixes everything together.  When we got home she melted it and made it into several pans of chocolate bars which she will use to make my morning hot chocolate.  It's also used in mole.  If you have talked to my mother in the last few days you have probably heard that I ate mole (as in the small animal).  That is false.  I ate a sauce called mole (pronounce mo-lay)...it is very famous here in Oaxaca (this is the land of 7 moles) and has probably 100 different ingredients in it, including chocolate, but it is impossible to pick out any one flavor.  It takes a long time to make.  

On our way home from the market we drove past a tire store/alignment place near our house.  The sign outside stated that on Saturdays they give free tire alignments to women.  Interesting, eh?

Elections for governor are set to take place on July 4th.  It is very interesting to see how the campaigns work here.  You can go to any of the print shops and pick up your car stickers (literally stickers that take up the entire rear windshield) or large banners to hang from your porches.  They also apparently make life-size cut outs of the candidates (there is one creepily on a porch of a house behind my school...kinda creepy).  At stop lights people walk out in front of the stopped cars for the duration of the red light and hold up giant signs with their candidate info on it.  Today there were girls in tiny tiny mini-skirts passing out things at busy intersections.  One of the candidates, I have yet to figure out which, has a remixed version of "I gotta feelin" by the Black Eyed Peas that they are constantly playing near our school (the real version has now been stuck in my head for the last week).  There were girls near our house today passing out aprons that had candidate info on them.  Intense and different stuff.

Rainy season has yet to come to Oaxaca City.  South of the mountains they've been getting some but it hasn't crossed over the mountains as of yet.  It rained for a few minutes last night.  I think we might get some tonight as the sky was very eerie at dusk tonight.  The director of the Institute told us the other day that it will for sure start raining once the hurricanes come.  The city is protected from hurricane damage by the mountains, but still gets all of the rains from it (which is a good thing).  Apparently it doesn't matter which ocean the hurricanes are in, we'll get the rain.  It has cooled off at night more lately, but the day is still very warm.  I'm starting to slowly (very slowly) get tan lines on my shoulders from my backpack.  Hopefully tomorrow at the ruins will help even that out a bit.  

Una huelga en las calles

Today has been a very interesting day to say the least... but before I get to that I'll fill y'all in on the weekend happenings...

Saturday we had nothing planned.  I just hung out at my house in the morning and then met up with the girls later in the day.  We went to Parque Juarez which is also known as El Llano.  From there we walked to El Zocalo and walked around for awhile.  It seemed like it was finally going to rain, and we did feel a few drops of water but it never really happened.  We grabbed some ice cream (two of the other girls tried Chili Mango ice cream...it tastes about as bad as it sounds) and we people watched for awhile.  We then decided to head back to 100% Natural, the restaurant we had been at the day before for some alcoholic beverages.  I had a Vampirina which was a bottle of Corona mixed with pineapple sherbet and orange juice.  Soooo delish.

Sunday we had our excursions to Monte Alban and San Bartolo Coyotepec.  The drive from our school to Monte Alban was only about 20 minutes and was mostly through the city though a lot was up the mountain side. We got there early before there were many people there and it was still rather cool.  I can't imagine spending time there in the afternoon.  The pyramids were huge and the whole place was breathtaking.  It was definitely way more than I expected it to be!

There was a lot of information given to us about the history of the pyramids and such, but honestly I don't remember much... between being hot and wanting to take picture it was hard to process it all enough to remember anything.  But it was an awesome experience and was super beautiful to see!

The journey down the mountain to  San Bartolo Coyotepec was rough.  We were hot, thirsty and hungry and the roads were very windy.  If Dramamine didn't take an hour to take effect I would have loaded up on it.  Instead I tried to not puke, made a new 5 year old friend (no one tell Taylor or she might beat me up), and managed to spill half my water bottle on myself.  It was very cool to see the technique that they used and the pottery was beautiful.  Most of it wouldn't hold water, so the pretty vases I could have bought would have been pointless and most of it was simply decorative.  I wish it all wasn't so fragile or I would have bought a ton more!  

Yesterday was our first day of classes, nothing major.  In our cooking class we toured the markets again and watched them make Oaxaquen chocolate.  I was stupid and forgot to put the battery back in my camera so I couldn't take pictures.  It's a really neat process and the chocolate is awesome.  I plan to buy some to bring home (to make hot chocolate with). I also got to try some mole.

At lunch yesterday I was given some tortillas with what looked like some beef and beans in it.  I started eating but quickly stopped when I discovered something sweet that definitely wasn't beef.  I kept trying it to try and figure out what it was, but the taste was so odd.  For a minute I thought it was supposed to be a tortilla with just mole or chocolate in it.  I asked my senora...turns out it was sweetbreads... I asked her what it was but didn't understand... after looking it up I was glad that I didn't try to eat more.

I have had the same tomato/beef broth soup every day except Sunday in some form or another...

This morning I got up and got to school by 9 as we were supposed to be starting our volunteer work.  I will be working at a place called Instituto de Saludo de San Felipe.  It is basically a seguro social health clinic.  Anyone in Mexico who is employed, their children under 18, and their parents who are too old to work are eligible for this seguro social which is basically free health care.  So Lucero, the owner of ICO, drove us up to San Felipe.  It was a little frustrating because we were at the ICO at 9, but Lucero is a busy lady and it was probably 10 before we actually left for San Felipe.  It's a cute little pueblo that used to be it's own little entity but with the growth of Oaxaca it has now become part of the city.  It has it's own Zocalo and church and market.  We got out of the car and walked the short way to the clinic and saw that the gates were closed.  As we got closer we saw that there was a sign up basically saying that sindicato had closed them down for and undetermined amount of time due to a strike that was happening.  Lucero was having none of that and thought well maybe they'll want the girls to help out around the clinic anyways.  So she proceeded to reach through the gate and open it...and as we walked in remarked "I hope we don't end up in prison for trespassing."  We entered the clinic to find one doctor just chilling out.  She basically said that she was there just in case of an emergency in the town and that there was nothing for us to do.  It's an adorable little clinic-- 2 consult rooms, a birthing room, a dentist room, and a hospital room.  I'm pretty excited to work there.  

We were returning to the school when we realized that there were a few cop cars blocking our way back, before we could really see anything we thought maybe there was a bad accident.  It turns out it was a protest happening in front of the large free clinic/hospital on one of the busiest streets in Oaxaca (it's basically a 6 lane highway that I cross every day).  It was only that one block that we couldn't get down, so we went a different way and talked some cops into letting us go the wrong way down a one way to get into the driveway of the Institute.  We went and sat on the porch at the ICO and just hung out, listening to the rally from over the stone wall.  We soon saw people running down the street and intense honking.  One of the guys from the Institute went to go close the gates to the school (mostly just to keep the randoms that were gathered outside out of the school...we could still go in and out so it wasn't like the school was on lockdown or anything) and we saw people from the streets jumping up on top of cars that were stuck in traffic in the middle of the intersection.  We soon saw people walking by and heard lots of whistling.  Lucero explained to us that the protest most likely had something to do with the clinic strike and that they had blocked off one of the main arteries of the city to make a point.  After several hours of sitting at the school waiting for our intercambios (all of whom ended up cancelling after we sat around for 3 hours doing nothing...talk about frustrating) we left to go home for la comida.  We walked outside and it was crazy surreal.  A 6 lane highway, that usually takes a lot of time, patience, and courage to cross was void of any car traffic and instead was full of people standing around and vendors selling food.  They had blocked off the 2 main roads in the city, Nino Heroes de Chapultepec, y Porfirio Diaz.  It's hard to say how many people really were there because they are spread out over several blocks and are all sitting on the medians, the curbs, walking around...  It was very different from any protests I've seen in the U.S.  There weren't people holding signs.  No one was chanting things.  Every once in awhile you'd hear everyone start whistling and it sounded like a bunch of birds.  You'd hear sirens every once in awhile as the hospital was still open for emergencies.  While we were eating lunch my senora said she thought the protest was over because there weren't buses coming down our street anymore... so I took the short way back to class at 330...I was walking down the hill and the number of people walking up the hill (who normally drive or take buses) was insane... it looked like there had been some disaster at the bottom that people were fleeing from (like in the movies).  I got down to the street and the scene was exactly as it had been.  No one paid me any attention (well not beyond the normal cat calls at least) and I was on my way back to school.  I asked one of my teachers about it and he said it was a fairly normal occurrence in Oaxaca.  It's supposed to be illegal but no one really pays it any attention.  I am prepared for many more things like this to happen as there are elections on July 4--a very interesting situation that I plan to research a bit more and fill you all in on.  One of the other girls was told that they usually only last a day and are over by about 6 pm.  We left to head home at about 8 and the street was still blockaded so I guess only time will tell what will happen with it.  It was very interesting to see.  I feel like if a situation like that was allowed to happen in the U.S. there would be violence or some sort of fighting happening...but every just seemed rather content to be chilling in the street.  It was very eerie to walk out and not see all the cars and to sit through class without the obnoxious noise of traffic, but it was very interesting to watch it develop.  I got some far away pictures but was too scared to go any closer to the gates to get better ones.  

No worries, I still feel super safe.  As Lucero said, it's an experience.  I can only imagine how bad traffic actually was...it seemed horrible still on my walk home, and usually by 8 traffic has pretty much died down.

Sara, I found a place with really good chipotle hummus this evening...another reason you should come visit.

I tried quesadillas arabes last night... it was as big as Leah's head.

My phone is possibly not receiving texts currently... though I'm not really sure.  Some weird symbol randomly appeared today and I have no clue what it means, so if you try texting me and I don't reply it's either because I didn't get it, I have no money left on my phone (though I'm not really sure how to check that), or I just don't like you, *cough*tom*cough*.  

I got to watch the Grey's Anatomy finale last night, talk about intense television.

It is hot here.  No one knows why it hasn't started raining yet.  

I should weigh about 12 pounds by now from all the sweating and walking I do.

I've decided that they length of my day can be determined at the end of the night by how gross and dirty my flip-flop feet are.  

I think those are all of my random tid-bits for the night.

CIAO CIAO!

Links to fotos

We went to Monte Alban and San Bartolo Coyotepec today.  I'll write about those later but realized that I'd never be able to pick just a few pictures to post.  Anyways, here are the links to the pictures on facebook.  Just link the underlined writing and you'll go there.  For my techtards/non-facebookers out there just click the next button at the top of each picture to see more.  It should be set up so that you can see all the pictures even if you don't have facebook!

More pictures of my house

Monte Alban and San Bartolo Coyotepec

Algunas fotos de mi casita...

My window and table

The street in front of my house.  This was taken from my window.  I had to cross parallel to this traffic to go to the bank and it was very difficult... this is actually a fairly slow street compared to another that I have to cross to go to school.

This is my school.  It is the old estate and home of los abuelos de Lucero, the lady who  owns the school.  It is huge for it being a house and very pretty.

We took a tour of the city today and bought cellphones, which was an adventure all it's own.  I bet walking to find the right TelCel was about 5 miles...at least.  The rest of it probably totaled up to 10-15 miles of walking today.  I am now the proud owner of a brick, that is so old school it doesn't even have a color screen...quite the drastic change from my Crackberry, but it gets the job done (sorry if you get a text that doesn't make sense... it's been over a year since I've even T9'd and my phone doesn't even have that).  Found a cafe that I adore that has awesome smoothies, licuadas, and has a very extensive food menu as well, though I didn't really check it out.

We flyin first class up in the sky...

A little Fergie to get y'all goin on a Thursday night... I somehow managed to buy first class seats from Mexico City to Oaxaca... which in all fairness was a waste of money (though I had no choice)...the flight wasn't even a full 45 minutes long... I really got no perks other than apple juice during take off and drinking out of a real glass glass...

I woke up Sunday morning with a sore throat... by Monday morning it had worsened to a stuffy nose... with all the dry air on the plane I arrived in Mexico City barely able to breath without coughing and without a voice.  I therefore spent literally all day Tuesday sleeping.  I am feeling much better now, though it has progressed from no voice, to coughing, to sniffling, back to sore throat... I'm still not sure where drinking water is in the house so I don't really have anything to cure it with either...

I left Freddy's at about 8:30 this morning and took the bus from Playa Del Carmen to the airport in Cancun where I proceeded to sit around and do nothing for awhile... cue the flashbacks of the 18 hour delay in said airport...  My flight to Mexico City was alright, though if it weren't for the Dramamine I had taken I probably would have puked--more on my general views of Mexicana flights in general will follow...I found the girls from the UW rather quickly and we just kind of sat around until our flight.

It was very cool taking off from Mexico City and seeing all of the mountains and such that we flew over.  (Another little side note that I found interesting--in big cities like Chicago, New York, etc it seems like all of the big tall buildings are clumped together in one general area...not in Mexico City.  You saw a clump of 3 sky scrapers here and another 2 over there...just randomly scattered all over the place)  I paid much more attention to the flight attendants and the mountains than I did my book...which is saying something because I was at a pretty good part.  It was pretty cloudy for the middle portion of the trip but as we were beginning to land it was super cool.  Oaxaca from the air does not at all look like a city.  For awhile, I thought we were possibly landing in the wrong place.  Granted, Oaxaca really isn't a big city...but still.  As we were landing there were fields all around with random shacks... just before I could see the runway I looked out the window and saw a man plowing his field using a goat!  I seriously thought I was landing in FAWI because the airport was so tiny!  There was one runway, which we had to turn around on after we reached the end to go to the "gate" which was really just some stairs chilling on the cement.  Inside was even smaller with one national and one international baggage carousel.  My host mom and the older sister were waiting for me with a sign and we quickly checked out of there.  The first Oaxacan stop and go light we came across didn't work and for lack of a better word it was pretty much a clusterfuck of cars.

Apparently the big sport in Oaxaca is baseball...not soccer.

My family seems super nice.  They had another girl who has been here for the last four months from Oregon who is actually leaving at 6 tomorrow morning.  She is a super nice girl and I wish she was going to be around for at least a little while longer.  I was given a general tour of the house and had some "water" with my senora (it was really like lime fizzy water but whatevs) and then was going to come up and unpack/take a siesta when she said she was headed out to dinner with some of her friends and invited me along.  I got to see where the school was and had a delish burger.  It is like a 10 minute walk to the school, if I book it.  The biggest problem now is that we returned after my family had gone to bed so I don't know where water is (if I am allowed to have any) and such, and my throat is killing me/I can't stop coughing!  I know I'll make it through the night but it's just so weird to not be able to go to the kitchen and help myself.  I felt bad asking her so many questions so I just left that one alone in hopes that she might offer it up...though she did not.

It is hot as balls here.  There is no wind coming through my window.  The fan for my room doesn't work.  The other girl said I can steal hers once she leaves, which would be great except it still leaves me tonight in the insane freaking heat!

Some quick ponderings about Mexicana Airways...  I don't know if it's just that time of year/in Mexico or what but for whatever reason all four of my flights have been crazy bumpy and "sway"-y.  Landing in Mexico City was the worst today.  There was some intense cloud cover and we kept going up and down.  At one point I thought we were about to roll/fall out of the air with the random side angle we had going on.  (Leah, Terri...I thought of you guys as the guy next to me chuckled at me.  After we landed he looked at me and said with hand gestures subir y bajar y subir y bajar... fue malisimo!  So although he laughed at me...even he was a little freaked).  Good part of their service...they offer food and alcohol on all their flights.  And no, you don't have to pay a crap ton in cabin for them.  The flight from Chicago featured possibly some of the best cheese tortellini of my life.  They also come back to check to make sure you don't want anything else to drink as soon as they are finished serving the first time around...this pretty much continues in a cycle until you land.  Bad thing... (though this really isn't Mexicana but whatevs)... I thought sitting in the front row would be kinda cool... not only cuz of the first class aspect but because it would be less bumpy (which it was... I could hardly tell we had lifted off the ground)... It was pretty cool but the sounds of things clanking around up there make it a little bit more scary.

Alright.  I think that is all of my ruminating for the night.  I am going to try to get some sleep through this god awful heat... if the chocolates for the people at the school hadn't melted yet they certainly will tonight!  Oh and fail on the little brother sitch... he's only here before and after school and doesn't really live here :(

Also, I have internet at my house which is super chido (though apparently they don't use that word in Oaxaca) so expect more frequent updates from me!

Ciao ciao!

Leavin on a jet plane....

So tomorrow is the big day.  I'm "officially" a UW alum now even though I still have this one class to take this summer.  Here is a run down of what the big plans are for the first few days:

I will leave the metropolis of FAWI (Fort Atkinson, WI for those of you not in the know) at 8 tomorrow morning and will be travelling to Chicago for my flight out of O'hare at 2:10pm.  I will arrive in Mexico City at 6:15pm and will then fly to Cancun where I will land around 11:20pm tomorrow night.  It will be quite the long day of travelling but I have a few days of nothing.  I will be staying with Freddy for a couple of days and will not have Internet access.  I plan to spend most of Tuesday sleeping and watching movies while he works.

Thursday morning I will have to get up and return to the Cancun airport.  I have a 1:45pm flight to Mexico City where I will meet up with the three other girls from the UW who will also be on the trip (Kathleen, Michi, and Jessie).  We're all on the same flight to Oaxaca together and should be arriving there around 7pm.  The host families will be waiting at the airport to pick us up and we will go straight home with them that night.

Friday morning we have to be at ICO (Instituto Cultural de Oaxaca, the language school that I will be attending) at 9 AM for our orientation.  We'll be taking a couple of tours of the city and just generally getting to know where things are.  Luckily they moved this up to Friday so that we can know where some things are in the city on Saturday...which is a free day!  I'm hoping to be able to explore the city and buy a cell phone that day.  Sunday we are taking a trip to some ruins called Monte Alban and a little village called San Bartolo Coyotepec (it's a place that makes traditional black Oaxacan pottery).  I will officially start classes at 9 am on Monday with cooking class.

Many of you have no idea where Oaxaca is, and my "hand map" of it is pretty non-descript...so here is a map I found on Google.

The big yellow dot is where Oaxaca City is (where I'll be living).  The upper blue portion shows where many of the places I'll be visiting are in comparison to Oaxaca.  You can see where I'll be on Sunday (Monte Alban) on there as well.

Last thing... I am extremely excited to meet my family.  My senora's name is Aurora...she is an older lady who's grandchildren will be mis hermanos (brothers and sisters).  I will have two sisters (Karla who is 19 and Diana who is 12) and a brother (Sebastian who is 8).

I will post again as soon as I can (probably Friday or Monday) and let y'all know how things are going!