I actually wrote a long, interesting, in-depth Christmas post. But, my computer crashed and took it down with it (Windows? Never again). If it is any help, I actually had to re-write this little blurb, because the computer crashed on it AGAIN. Do I know what is going on? No. For all I know, it involves the Space Monkeys from Firefly (geeeeeeek! geeeeek!).
I am leaving on a at-least-4-day-long vacation in about 20 minutes, and since my computer cannot even get internet IN the house, I am leaving it behind. I should be back in rotation before New Years, but since ya never know, Happy New Years! Sorry for all this, and I hope you had a fantastic Christmas or whatever holiday you celebrate (and that you enjoyed Matt Smith in his space-shark-drawn sleigh as much as I did).
So until next time, see ya!

In the immortal words of Chowder from Monster House: OhmygodohmygodohmyGOD I think I'm having a stroke!

Feliz Navidad, gente del mundo! Va a disfrutar tu nuevo ano?

I actually drafted this (god help me), but I can't seem to come up with something appropriately serious and appropriately festive, so we're down to this: surprise! I know I said I had something to tell you when I got home, but in true American fashion, I got bored (It had nothing to do with the fact that I didn't realize how hard it is to write about your life without including, you know, all of your life).
I'll give you a hint: This tattoo is very pertinent.

Surprised? Well, it's not like it wasn't there, but for about 5 years now I've adopted a sort of 'you ask, I'll answer' mentality, and so far it's (sort of) worked. But after the vanquishment (if that's not a words, I'm declaring it one)of Don't Ask, Don't Tell, I started to really think about what DADT stood for and how fucked-up that shit really was (pardon my Portuguese, but sweet Jebus, people). Eventually, I realized that if you turn my policy into a negative, you pretty much get DADT. If I can't stand the idea that other people should have to live like that, I can't make myself live like that in good faith.
If any of my new friends are reading this, I would like to ask you to politely keep it quiet. Talk to me if you want, but, honestly, I really like it here and my life can be really difficult without more people ostracizing me for being different. It's sad, but Mexico can tend to be a lot less tolerant than other places in the world, and you know that's true.

For the world in general, hi! If you love me, like me, or at least have some cursory human interest in my daily personal happiness, please treat this with the passing acknowledgment (rapidly followed by relative indifference) that is really deserves.

On the other hand, if you want something to wig out about, you can have this:
What's going to happen when my host family finally sees what I've been doing to my hair?

I'm sorry if this comes across as uncharacteristically bitter, but at the moment I am uncharacteristically bitter, so that's how it's gonna be.
First of all, I would like to thank all the wonderful people who pitched in for my frankly bossome birthday present. I got it on 5 December, and have been slightly married to it ever since. Unfortunately, I didn't realize quite how married until what happened today. To be honest, I don't really know what happened. It was running a little funny yesterday, but not funny enough to even be worrying, just exasperating. This afternoon, I turned it on, and it wasn't working. It looks like it has a crack or something in the screen (see the attached picture. Honestly, it looks like someone either hit or dropped it), but since nobody has touched it since yesterday and it was working then, I am hoping that the problem is somehow with the ink technology (maybe a magnet was pressed to that spot or something?), and warranty people can help me. However if it doesn't work out that way, I may be stuck (read:screwed). I am not going to write anymore, not because I haven't got more to say, but because hey, it might work out, and because we are throwing a Christmas party tomorrow, and I need to be of good cheer or risk bringing down the mood (and seriously pissing off a couple of very stressed and hard-working Mexican women who have been putting their all into this holiday season).So let me say, I am just so happy I got to play with it for the time I had it. Seriously, that was the coolest present idea. Thank you guys for proving you know me more than I know myself. Hoping this works out, and sincerely wishing you all a bomb-free (snerk) holiday season!

Am I a bad person if this made my day?

Ladies and Gentlemen, John Cleese!

I would like to take this opportunity to thank everyone who wished me a happy birthday last month. I know it' a little late, but in my defence, I (think) I finally got my last birthday card yesterday, and according to the postage mark, it was put in the mail on 18 November. Score one for the postage system! Since I don't have their email address,and I think there is a possibility that they read this, I am going to answer their card on here. To Tia M, yes, I had a great birthday. No, I really don't know how I'm going to out match it, but I'm sure I'll think of something. As we all know,I am the source of all awesome (sorry, that is sort of a running joke among my friends and I). For Tio P: Pues si, en serio. Mi espanol esta bien perfecto! Jajaja, no. Pero estoy aprendiendo, poco a poco. Y si, Veracruz esta muy hermosa ahora, tambien. No se como fue el situation politico cuando estabas aqui, pero ahora esta mucho coruption en el gobierno,entonces esta mucho gente mas pobre y problemas con (no se la palabra) the infostructure. Pero esta muy lindo, con gente muy orgulloso y una cultura muy fuerte. Tambien con comida muy rico! Me gusta mucha la comida tipica de Veracruz. Muchos mariscos! Aaaand now you know just how...interesting... my Spanish is!

Location: Math Class, Escuela Errasquin, Mina, Ver. Mexico
Sound: 'Eminence Front' - The Who
Climate: Sunny, but cold.

This is going to be kind of a short post since I am, for lack of a better term, posting wirelesly. I also have no spell checker, so bear with me. I just wanted to point out some of the exciting new features of this admittedly blander,yet infinetly more user-friendly blog layout. First of all, we have the lovely thingy that shows the pictures in every post but compresses the post into something a little easier to see. I am still trying to figure out how to avoid that ugly 'no image'icon it puts up, but it's a work in progress. The other pages are no longer hidden in the sidebar,they are now at the top of the page for everyone to see. I would like to take this opportunity to point out the new 'Christmas'tab I put up especially for the holidays. Seriously guys, getting presents is sort of against my religion (I mean that semi-literally, stay tuned!), but the question has been asked of me, and rather than force my poor parents to field questions, I thiught this year I'd take a stab at digitizing the process. The small social networking bar underneath it is semi-functional, too. The Delicious, Facebook, (for some reason Digg), and, God help me, Twitter. I know, I know. I was the last bastion. On the other hand, I alway said I'd never drink alcohol, either, and that one's been out the window for months. The RSS feed button has been malfunctioning rather spectacularly, so I may just link it to the Picasa site until I get a better idea. Speaking of Picasa, I have a sort of ask-the-audience type question: With the added photos from Ruta Maya, I am going to finally fill my limit on the amount of free memomry space Google alots me. My question is this: do I a) shell out the cash for a membership, so I can get more space, or b) start deleting the other photos. Believe it or not, I am actually pretty fond of the first one. If I remember correctly (and I checked. I do.), it's about $5 USD yearly for the use of 20 GB, which is not bad at all. I don't really know how long it would take me to fill that up, but I bet I could stretch it (this is extra-annoying since I have 7 GB I'm not using in my Gmail account, but I can't swap it over. The pros for this are many: it's cheap, I can finally upload all the other pictures I have (no, I have not been neglecting to take pictures, I am just trying to manage the space as best I could. I have about 200+ pictures from everyday life that no-one's ever seen.). I can also upload videos, of which I have several. Another plus, sort of by proxy, is that I can simply dump-upload, putting up entire albums at a time, and sort them out later. This would be a huge plus in the 'make posting photos easier for Bronwyn' catagory, since it would get rid of the 45+ minutes I have to spend on my Picasa browser every time I post, flicking through and highlighting photos one by one and trying to tell how good they are by thumbnails on my tiny freaking screen (seriously, cannot WAIT to get a new Macbook). The only reasons I wouldn't go with option A are that this would be the first time I have actually spent any money on this blog (wince), and that it would be a waste of money if no-one's actually using the photo option. So, reply if you care (or if you don't)! I will be holding off on posting more Ruta Maya pics until I get some feedback, so answer!
The sliding bar with the pictures (which is what attracted me to this silly thing in the first place) is being slightly problomatic. I am trying to work out how to crop the pictures so we don't get anymore of that lovely squishy stuff the photo of the street in Oaxaca is so beautifully demonstrating (that pissed me off. I was really proud of that picture). Other then that, not much to say. I am slowly going through all the back posts and fixing/reformating them so they work better with the new theme, fixing the pictures, checking the links, etc. Sorry things have been so slow of late, but the house is a complete mess right now, and I have been pretty busy when not at school. But Christmas break starts next week, so expect more coherent rambling then. As for now, have a great day! Happy holidays!

I know, I know, I need to put up more about the Ruta Maya, and I will. But so I don't lose track of what's going on in the present, I'm going to keep up on the day-to-day stuff too. I made a list during lunch today, but evidence suggests I was a little tipsy at the time (see below), so excuse me if all this gets a little off track.
First of all, I seem to be suffering from the mother of all persistent coughs. I know, not really relevant, but it seems to be increasingly defining my life at the moment (haha), so I thought I should warn you. I'm taking cough syrup, drinking lots of water, all that jazz. I don't really feel that sick in any other way, just that little hitch in my throat, which suggests it's probably something to do with the change in temperature (or the change in humidity, here. I guess it makes people cough sometimes, who knew), or maybe just a reaction to living within spitting distance of a giant, exhaust-belching petrol refinery. Who knows?
Anyone, on to happier or less relevant news. Our house in in a state of complete uproar. They finally made the decision to extend Petrona's already gigantic closet (this is Mexico. The girls have clothes). But, since this house is built a little...differently, it meant boarding up a window and a door, knocking down a wall, and building a new one. This is made all the more joyfully exciting by the fact that this house is made of painted concrete enforced with metal poles. So construction suddenly involves constant hammering and a whole new level of headache medicine for the occupants. They figured while they were at it, they might as well fix the kitchen, too. They want to make a little box-shaped add-on to kitchen (which will spill into the front porch)to house the refrigerator, thereby opening up all the space the refrigerator was using, and offering them the opportunity at a later date to knock out some of the cabinets, add some more cabinets, and put in a breakfast bar. It's a whole big thing. I'm going to be leaving this family around the start of January, so I won't get to see any of this finished anyway.
My language skills are getting...weirder. I'm now quite good at swapping between English and Spanish, and although I feel like I've barely learned anything since I got here, everyone says I have, so I guess I must. I'm hitting the place in the exchange where lots of people stop really learning, since they know enough to live comfortably. I want to keep learning, but I'm definitely going to need some help. Hopefully, we will have Spanish language classes starting soon, so that should be a really good thing. I even heard a wisper that they are going to be for 2 hours after school, every day of the week. I'm excited (at least right now), although I'm fairly certain some of my more social fellow exchange students aren't feeling quite so festive. It doesn't matter anyway, since nothing will be starting until after winter break. Stay tuned!
I seem to have acclimatized a lot, too. Things (cosas) I seem to remember thinking (pensando) of as strange (raro) are very commonplace (I'm starting to wonder how odd the U.S. is going to seem when I get back. I'm already having very scary thoughts about re-learning how to drive (manejar) and ride my scooter. Although really looking forward to the Farmer's Market). I no longer even try to ride in the car(coche) without bracing my hand on the ceiling or holding on to the handle on the top of the door (the roads here are not good). I don't walk around the house without shoes on (although some of that may be that the house is covered in concrete dust -polvo). I haven't really started dreaming in Spanish (I shouldn't expect that for at least 2 more months), although from the dreams I can remember, the people in my head have started speaking fluent Spanglish. On the other hand, yesterday I'm fairly sure they were speaking (hablando) Swedish or something. And today they weren't speaking at all, so who knows. BTW, the Spanish may be horribly mis-spelled. I learned most of these words by word-of-mouth, so spelling is a toss-up.
Anyway, life goes on. There are good days and bad days. But, the bad days are fewer and further between. And the bad isn't really that bad.
Oh, I can't remember the story I was going to tell, so I'll just put this out as some friendly advice: if you ever come to Mexico, be sure to check exactly what's in whatever you're drinking. My drink with lunch, which I thought was juice with fruit cocktail turned out to be sangria. And proper sangria, with a bit of a kick too. I didn't really notice until I'd gone through a bit of it, but I guess it was stronger than usual, because half my family was tipsy, too.
I have lots to say about discoveries and the future and all that, but I don't really feel in an elaborating mood, so I'll save it for later when I think I can wax a little more poetical. One thing I do want to touch on that kind of hooks into the whole becoming accustomed thing is homesickness. Here's where my head's at now: I still miss all the family and friends same as before, but I think it's a little more manageable. I can read up on Facebook or get news from home, I don't feel completely cut off. The things I am most looking forward to back home are pretty much all food or freedom related. By food, I mean I have a list of all the places I want to go and all the things I want to eat there when I get back. Don't believe me? Magic's in Chicago, Eggs' Benedict. The Courier Cafe, banker's burger with Swiss cheese and normal fries, followed by a chocolate and peanut butter shake. The Black Dog, pretty much anything on the menu (and possibly some of that fancy beer everyone's going on about). I want to eat apples and homegrown lettuce. I want to make tomato and mozzarella salad with homegrown basil and Brandywine tomatoes and organic mozzarella. By freedom, I mean I think living in another culture, and having to be a little more guarded with what I say and act more socially acceptable has finally impressed on me the things I liked back home that I always sort of took for granted. I want to register to vote, I am thinking about getting a tattoo (I know what I want it to be of, I'm just looking for a good design and deciding where I want it). I am also going to henna my hair that red color I like so much and put it back in dreadlocks (hopefully I can bribe Ed into helping me again, he did such a good job the first time -although I stand by my decision to take them out, they would so very much not have flown here, more's the pity). I also have some news which may seem a lot bigger to some of you than to others (some of you already know, I would thank you to keep your very loud mouths shut, *Cameron*). I can't tell you what it is right now, since some of my Mexican friends have been reading this (I love you guys!). I will tell you, don't worry, I'd just like to be back in my friendly, supportive family atmosphere before I have to handle this. And without confusing you further, have a great week, happy holidays! Is anyone else eagerly awaiting the return of Supernatural? I was so doubtful, but now it's getting good again! If you will excuse me, I'm going to finish reading Neil Gaiman's American Gods. How did I manage to miss this one? I think I must have read Good Omens instead and gotten them confused. That reminds me! I would like to publicly thank my pure bossome parents for once again kind of creepily reminding me that they know me just as well as I do. I love it, you guys. Thank you so much! In a future post, I will undoubtedly be bringing up another interesting change this gift has brought about...
Stay tuned, and once again, happy holidays!

I know, I know, I need to get the next day up. It will be up soon, I sort of promise. I think. In the mean time, some updates! One, some of the Ruta Maya trips are up in Picasa (I stress the some. I took more than 2,000). They are not in order, or in any way weeded out. I just clicked and dumped the whole file in. I will try to go through and sort and add captions soon! Two, I am considering changing the blogs theme! I know, this one's cool and all, I just feel it might be time for a change. I'm thinking something with a more easily managable photo interface. Thoughts? Opinions? So far, I am most attracted to the ones on this site. I especially like the ones with the sliding option on the header (here's hoping that they're easy to manage!). Expect more updates soon, and have a great weekend!

Note: This was written over the course of about 3 days. The things at the beginning have nothing to do with the stuff at the end. Thanks for keeping up!

Well, I'm back. I'm sure that you were expecting something a little better, more insightful or lyrical, or just something more. I know I was. But I started to type, and that's what you've got. I'm kind of tired right now -wait, let me clarify: I have, for some god-awful reason, now had the opportunity to create levels of tired (dundunda!). At the moment, I am suffering from a sudden onset of acute 'papercut' tired, so called because when I close my eyes I get the same dry, sharp little stab of pain from a small papercut. Screwed up, right?
Now, on to the fun stuff! As you know, this is my first post in two weeks, and also my first post as a proper 18-year-old. Huzzah! Does this mean I'm allowed to swear on this thing? Thought to consider! Well, obviously, I cannot fit an entire 2 weeks into one post, nor should I try, especially not with a two-week stretch as stuffed as these were. Idiot that I am, I shall try to begin at the beginning and work from there. Expect the rest of this story to be confusingly inter-mixed with real-time events posts, probably spaced out over at least a week. So without further depressing confusion, let's go back, as they say, to when it all began:
-I spent a good portion of my birthday on one of the extremely bumpy buses on the way to Veracruz city with all four of the other Minatitlan exchange students, to meet up with the larger Ruta Maya group (side note: I did not know this, not having really left the state of Veracruz for any measurable length of time since I got here, but the roads in Veracruz are especially crappy, even for Mexico. Turns out, the government of this state is one of the most corrupt in Central America. Go figure). Since I can't remember anything especially spectacular about that bit of the trip, it must not have been very eventful (besides one of the most off-key, depressing choruses of 'Happy Birthday' I have ever heard -seriously, if I hadn't known better, I would have thought someone had died). We got to an, as usual, very disorganized terminal to be disorganized-ly stuffed into random cabs, eventually brought to a little hotel that looked an awful lot like a regular house down a back alley that didn't actually admit cars unless they were willing to drive on the sidewalk, and kind of sort of managed to get everyone into the house with minimum damage to shins and toes (this was made all the more exciting by the fact that we were the last group coming in, so all of the people who were already there were waiting for us to go have dinner, and therefore all piled out into the very narrow hallway to see what was going on). I was very surprised to receive several happy birthday's from people whose faces I knew and names I only vaguely remembered. It turned out that the hotel was short a bed, and all the other kids in our group had had beds saved by fellow countrymen (I'm not kidding. The camaraderie was a little freaksome). The other U.S. student is a boy, so he got the only other bed, since it was in the boy's rooms, and I was told I was going to be crashing on an air mattress stuffed into one of the double rooms with 4 other girls. I was again surprised by the mild outcry that someone needed to swap with me, since it was my birthday and I shouldn't be sleeping on the floor. I begged out, since I didn't want to take anyone's bed, and also because the air mattress was a hell of a lot more comfortable than my bed back at the house. Everyone was pretty much as I remembered, which did nothing to dissuade my fears. Okay, this is probably a good time to explain something: See, I've been on more than a couple of these sort of trips. You know, the ones where you get stuck with a specific group of people who you don't really know and who don't necessarily share any of your interests. It's kind of like classes at school, except for me, with one big difference. I've had this sort of gift-bag-draw at Parkland, with people who, while maybe (and in a couple of memorable cases, almost certainly) not grown up, at least old enough to be trusted with things like, say, voting. I may not have loved every member of those groups, but things went okay. By and large, we got along.
But here's the problem. These groups I have to live with, for a descent amount of time, often in very tightly packed, sleep deprived situations, and all these people are kids my age. For someone who is quite, introverted, slightly shy, and (forgive me, but it's true) generally more thoughtful, grown-up and well-balanced than my age-mates, this can mean 2 days of fun followed by the-rest-of-the-trip of pure hell. This has held true to such an extent that not that long ago, I was seriously considering not going. I generally remember trips kindly after they're done, but I don't really like paying money to suffer. I also know from experience that it's going to be a lot better from now on out, now that I am not legally a child anymore. God alone knows why, but people give you a lot more freedom, trust, and responsibility if they think your health is not going to effect their insurance. Anyway, I knew that the students tended to stick to groups depending on country, and since there are only 4 Americans in Veracruz, and I already knew I didn't really get along with 2 of them, I was not looking forward to being snubbed or ignored for 2 weeks.
But, in a birthday present I wasn't expecting, I was not alone. We went out for dinner at a place called VIPs (they call it vips). It's basically the Denny's of Mexico. I shared a burger with my friend Tobey (I don't think I mentioned her before! I met Tobey in Tuxtapec back in, what, September? Tobey is from Taiwan. She's really quite and really cool.), and after wards got the thing I'd been wishing for all day (ice cream!). We walked back home along the bay shore and I got to talking with one of the few people I didn't recognize from the Tuxtapec group. Turns out I didn't know her 'cause she wasn't there. Zeyneb if from Turkey. She speaks perfect English, and has only been living in Coatzacoalcos for about 2 months instead of everyone elses 4 because her university back home made her wait to get her visa. I think we hit it off quite well.
I spent that night ignoring the increasingly boisterous card game on one of the other beds in the room, and instead comforted one of the German girls who lives in Coatzacoalcos, who, even though she's been here for 4 months, is still suffering from some of the worst homesickness I've seen yet. Eventually, once everyone figured out there was no good way to get enough booze into the hotel for everyone (I'm not kidding, they got really inventive. It was pretty ridiculous). I heard they did eventually get a bottle of tequilla in somehow, but by then we'd hit 1am, and I'd opted to go to sleep. So ended the birthday!
After that, things got really interesting.
To be continued...