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.