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...

"Common sense is the collection of prejudices acquired by age eighteen."
-Albert Einstein

Well, here we are. For those of you who don't know (or forgot), today is my birthday. I'm turning 18.
This has been an interesting experience for me, the sort of person who takes birthdays a little more seriously than other people. I think this has a lot to do with how much I think about how big our universe and time and space and all that really is. To quote The Hitchhiker's Guide to The Galaxy (and really, why not): "Space is big. Really big. You just won't believe how vastly hugely mindbogglingly big it is. I mean you may think it’s a long way down the road to the chemist, but that’s just peanuts to space."
I have always been the sort to think of space and time as different representations of a similar thing, too, so for me, birthdays are very important. They are mankind's way of making little, useless, redundant, insignificant attempts to impose order on a system, to which we are more insignificant and unimportant than the smallest idea of a speck of dust, which literally runs on chaos. I like to think of my birthday as my version of standing on a mountaintop during a thunderstorm in wet copper armor shouting "All gods are bastards" (and that was a horrible murdered Terry Pratchett quote. Damn, I'm on a role today). Usually (at least for the last couple of years) I celebrate my birthday by eating lots of my favorite foods, trying to spend as much time as possible in the company of lots of my favorite people, and trying to do lots of my favorite things (most memorably to date, I believe, I dragged several friends to spend the day in The Field Museum in Chicago. The fact that they both went and are still my friends explains why they are some of my favorite people). For some reason, eighteen is considered the magical number where people are suddenly mature and grown up enough to be treated as mature and grown up (I've spent plenty of time around people from 17 to 23 and I've still not seen enough evidence to convince me. Actually, there are plenty of 30-year-olds who have yet to convince me). That said, it's seen as a turning point. I feel like I should somehow be able to make it something important. Or at least my hidden superpowers will finally show up (I'm pulling for teleportation, but I'll settle for being to fly and shoot lighting out of my fingers if I have to). But what to do, how to do it? So many choices, so many ideas. Oh, and what, do you ask, am I doing for my oh-so-special day? Why I am spending a good 4 hours on a bus. And the rest probably waiting around for something. Granted, I will be waiting and riding on the bus which is taking me, over the next few weeks, to CANCUN (!!! <- this, ladies and gentleman, is the sound of pure awesome), but still. Nothing big, nothing special. No fire works, hell, no friends I've known more than a couple of months.
But I've thought about it, and I think that's ok. I mean, I could have some giant party so big they could hear us two towns over. I could be living on a yacht somewhere in the Carribbean, sipping martinis (I've never had a martini, but I think I'd like to try one). On the other hand, I could be living in a trailer park in Louisiana, working at a truck stop and calling myself 'Betty'. I could be in the hospital. Hell, I could be dead (and if I hadn't learned how to skid the training wheels on my bike so well, I probably would be). So here's the thing: I could be anywhere in the world, doing anything in the world, and it would still just be another day. No matter what I think or do, people live and people die. They burn food and forget things. They wreck cars and miss opportunities. People talk, laugh, live. Animals go about their business. Life lives. The world turns. The sun sets and rises (at least until I finally finish that giant laser-thingy I'm building in a castle in the Alps).
This day only makes as huge a difference to me as I want it too. So while yes, I am spending the day on a bus, I can at least make it a non-grumpy, happy day on a bus. And I think that's good enough for me.

On a different note, here's some dumb stuff I found out on the internet about this day. My tree, apparently, is chestnut (ooookay). My signs are Scorpio and the Year of the Monkey (cool). The 21st of November is on the cusp of pretty much everything (i.e. the 22nd is always a different sign, tree, etc). I share birthdays with Bjork and Voltaire (<-how do they know that?). Popes have both been born and died on this day throughout history. Scarlett Johansson turns 25 tomorrow (mmmmhmmmm). I accidentally got myself a weird birthday present by downloading all 7 Harry Potter books narrated by Jim Dale onto my ipod (for those of you who don't know, I have had a crush on Jim Dale's voice ever since I first heard the books more than, wow, must be ten years ago). When I read them, I can hear him reading them too. I haven't heard Sorcerer's Stone for more than 4 years, so hearing it again has been a real treat. It's weird, some parts have the exact same inflection I remember, and some parts I don't remember at all. This has reaffirmed my desire to read those books out loud to my kids before they ever get near those damn movies (my experience with HP was such a huge part of growing up for me, I dream of being able to simulate it for my offspring, should they exist).
In another weird note, I have finally outgrown the Harry Potter books (SPOILERS AHEAD, YOU SILLY PEOPLE WHO STILL HAVEN'T FINISHED BOOK 7). I am now older than the three for all 7 books. I still remember secretly staying up on my 11th birthday, waiting, just in case. How odd, to have outgrown something which creates such a framework, a time-line for so much of my childhood. Oh wait, hang on a second. Doesn't the epilogue take place, like, 19 years later? So I would have to be, what, 36 or something. Whoo, I guess I don't have grow up yet after all! False alarm.
Have a fantastic year, everybody.

"Live as if you were to die tomorrow, learn as if you were to live forever."
-Mahatma Gandhi

Oh great and good lord, please grant me someday the ability to both make enough money to fund this sort of stuff, and the time to do it.

The Domino Effect


The Extreme Version


Thank you, and good night!

Sorry it's been so long folks. Stuff has been going down, the most recent of which was that the power in my house has been on the fritz for 2 whole days. It came on last night (cross your fingers), hopefully for good for a while, but by then I was too tired to type anything. As it is, 2 weeks of content might be a bit tough to come up with all at once, so bear with me here. I'm going to try a blow-by-blow as best as I can, starting last weekend.
Last weekend, we (my host family including Luis Fernando, and also Arnoud and Joao) went to Tonala in Chiapas for a baby shower. My host mother's family is from there. Beach pictures to follow (Chiapas, at least the bit that I saw, is a lot like a cross between Colorado and the Caribbean). On the way back, we stopped for the night in Tuxtla Gutierrez, incidentally on Halloween night (again, many blurry, Bigfoot-esque pictures to follow -I love my camera, but if there's one thing it cannot do, it's shooting at night). I also got to have the closest thing to the food I love back home since I came here (again, more to follow). I also, for the bazillionth time, got told off for not wanting to go out and party (they can keep saying it, but they can't make me enjoy it. I can't make me like it. Blame my first personality).
After it came the biggest disappointment I've had since I got here. November 2 is Dia de Los Muertos in Mexico. In Mina, everyone goes to the stadium and brings flowers and eats and works on the giant altar and all. I was looking forward to it since before I came to Mexico, since over a year before. So, as you can imagine, I was a little put out when, in the space of 4 hours, I developed a truly spectacular fever and, for all intents and purposes passed out for 12 hours. Insult was added to injury when, the next morning, I was told off again for not trying harder to 'acclimatize'. That was definitely the low point of the last month.
But, things have looked up from there! I still have the flu, possibly exacerbated by some sort of allergy brought on by the bizarre season change, but since pretty much my entire school is identically sick to one degree or another (even so severely as causing a shut-down of the bathrooms for an afternoon to clean up the vomit -charming), I don't feel as special. The season change here is...weird. I usually end up a little under-the-weather around the season changes back home, especially if I am in school or otherwise occupied, since that tends to dictate that I will not be taking care of myself very well or sleeping very much. I thought here, in this soft, tropical climate, I would be fine. But apparently, when the temperature drops, although it may still feel like jeans and a t-shirt weather for us Midwest-Americans, there's still humidity. And the humidity makes it a squidgy, sticky, creeping cold which, among other things, makes it very difficult for someone busy and surviving on 5 hours of sleep a night to get rid of a mild but very annoying cold. On the other hand, the rest of my school is sick too, teachers included.
Now, since this was typed over the course of about a week, and I have trouble remembering what I ate for lunch yesterday (seriously, no clue), than I am going to forget some stuff and refer to it later and you're all gonna be thinking "WTF?", but that can't be helped. Anyway, I have many awesome pictures of Chiapas, which will hopefully make it onto the *___*Picasa*___* page....someday.
School commenced, as previously mentioned, and the week went as normal (Happy Birthday, Patrick!). On Saturday, we drove up to the other house in Veracruz with Louis Fernando. For some reason, I was the only person even remotely worried about the state of the house. This was the first time we had gone up there since the roads had cleared after the last hurricane, about a month ago. I knew the water hadn't made it anywhere near this neighborhood, but I also knew that there's usually a little more to hurricanes than lots of water.
Score one for knowledge.
I'm sure I've smelled something worse in my life (my life has been a little more graphic for my age than most), but for the love of cheese I can't remember what or when. As usual, they had left the fridge fully stocked, to avoid shopping when they came back. Thing you have to remember is, the power in Mexico is very volatile at the best of times (one of the reasons this post took so long is that last week, the power for the whole property was turning on and off every 5 seconds...for 4 days. We still don't know why). So when hurricane winds (not usually known for their kindness to electronics and power lines) blew stuff away, they took the power out with them. And for some reason, when the power came back on for the rest of the street, it didn't come back for the one unoccupied house. Add to that the broken windows, and the fact that with the windows and various cracks around doors and such there was about an inch or so of dry bay-silt on the floors all through the house, and it was not fun. Saddly, I forgot to take a picture of the fridge before they had emptied it out and started hosing it off and...brace for eww....scraping off all the bug casings. I kept trying to help, but no one would let me. Actually, it was sort of interesting from a clinically anthropological sort of way. Petrona and Julia kicked everyone out of the house and wouldn't let anyone back in to do anything unless they found something they couldn't reach or couldn't move. It was hard for me since a) I was bored and b) I'm programmed to try and help when I see a little old lady trying to climb into a cupboard to clean the back. They were very angry, in an unfocused sort of way I'm not used too. It was like they took it as a direct affront to their very old-school Mexican pride in the woman's duty to keep house (which I have been running up against more and more. It will be interesting to see how that comes up in my next 2 families).
That said, it took days to get the smell out of my nose. They actually piled everyone into the car, braved the insanely crowded late-night traffic and parking, and spent 2 hours just wandering around the mall looking at stuff. I didn't understand what we were doing until someone explained we were trying to avoid going back into the house.
Enough of that. School resumed on Monday as per usual, but lead to a breakthrough. As of all the time before, I had kind of been looking for something to learn (aside from Spanish). I've started practicing guitar again, but I can do that at home. I had been thinking about playing soccer, but besides the fact that again, not that hard to do back home, it also seems to be nigh on impossible to accomplish here. It's funny, everyone keeps saying "Oh sure, there's soccer for girls here, I know there is", but no one actually plays it. I've only had one person actually come out and say I'm not going to find that here, but no one seems to have told anyone else. All the adults are still convinced we just haven't looked in the right places. Anyway, the music teacher got trapped inside in our classroom on Monday due to inclement weather (is that how you say that?). I had seen the music students from afar, usually carrying some sort of guitar-like instrument and wrestling a lot (the one's that actually play and don't sing tend to be boys). I, in typical oversight fashion, said to myself that I don't really enjoy mariachi as much (some exceptions), and ignored them. But once I got to hear them practice, I got a descent look at some of the instruments. They are NOT, in fact, guitars, but a sort of cross between a guitar and a ukulele. They come in 3 sizes (accurately called primero, secundo and tercero -first, second, and third) and are as a group called 'jaranas'. It gets better. I've never heard them before (and the Wikipedia page on them is woefully lacking), because they're not played outside of southern Veracruz. The music is very fast, big on percussion, slightly repetitive, and really, really happy-sounding (to me at least). I was instantly enthralled. Of course, as with most things I find fun, people reacted to my wish to try playing with one of those "oh, sure honey" looks, while secretly thinking I'll figure out eventually that it's a boy thing. But after Petrona got over her initial shock that I could actually play guitar (another boy-dominated activity), and I wouldn't shut up about the jarana, she started to look into it. I got my first go on Wednesday. It was the polar opposite of Monday (snigger, get it? get it?), so much so that all the students skipped out on their other classes and played a soccer match with an actual referee (maybe I'm reading too much into it, but it seems to me that soccer gets incrementally more violent the more important the score is. Pff. Boys.), or taking the time out to cheer extra loudly from the bleachers (depending on their preference and gender <- if it seems like I'm harping on about it, that would be right, I am. Bear with me, please). I, still exhausted from Veracruz, slept through the first half of the game on the top bench of the bleachers (not on purpose), and I woke up when someone elbowed me in the head (also, I'm assuming, not on purpose). At this point, I noticed the music teacher had piled all his stuff up on one of the big, stone stair/bleach/thingys that hug the elementary school and run parallel to the sports field. I went over, and, after clearing up some initial confusion, he taught me some very rudimentary chords. Jaranas usually have 8 strings, are carved from the core of certain kinds of strings (Chiro, the music teacher, makes his own), and are played a lot like a guitar. I play best on a tercero; it's easier for me to handle and is closer in size to a small guitar. I can play secundo, too (about the size of a standard ukulele), but I have some serious trouble with the ones smaller than that (there's one kind, I think it's a sort of offshoot/soprano thingy which is about the size of a guitar for some sort of American Girl type doll). I LOVE it! I can't play worth crap (it doesn't help that I don't know any Spanish in relation to playing music), but I really want to learn to do this! I was a little put out to learn that I can't really play with the rest of the class. In true Mexican fashion, no one out and told me this, but Chiro is in charge of all the music classes for the whole school, and they're practicing for some sort of competition right now. My friend Patrick was really sweet about explaining that I probably couldn't play with them, since the year before they had had a Korean girl perform with them and gotten a whole bunch of points taken off. I think he was really worried about offending me, which he shouldn't have been. Not only would I not want to play in front of the whole school (I'm shy, I don't know how to play the instrument yet, and all the songs are in Spanish!), but the only people who could offend me through this are the stupid judges! (I was a little put out for some reason. I don't know why, Americans practically invented unfair stereotypical profiling).
Anyway, my host mother found a little school that meets for two hours every Thursday and Friday night (I'm going to have to take a taxi there). The classes are less than $20 USD a month. She was all worried that 'it would be too high'. I tried to explain that my guitar classes back home were about $14 for 1/2 hour once a week and in the U.S. that's reasonable, but I don't think she believed me. So, I'm probably going to start classed once I get back from Ruta Maya on 4 December. The teacher says for now I can use one of his extra jaranas to practice. I can't wait!
Let's see, what else has happened....
Oh! I finally paid for my Ruta Maya seat (thank you guys, I owe you big time, I love you!). For those of you who don't know, it's a Rotary thing (I'm guessing in all countries, although I can only speak for the USA and Mexico) to hold 2 (although I'm guessing that might be slightly harder in places like, say, Belgium). Oh, for familial enjoyment, this comes from a language and country chat I was having with Arnoud and a couple of our Mexican friends a week or so ago. Patrick and I were complaining that most of Europe speaks upwards of 2 languages, were as the U.S. and Mexico, outside of large cities, are almost overwhelmingly English and Mexican Spanish, respectively. Arnoud's counter-argument was that while most of Belgium can speak 2 or more separate tongues, you can also drive all the way across it in about 2 days and it has no mountains to speak of. Jose Louis and I both agreed that we want to go to Belgium. Of course, I followed with: "The question is, why wouldn't you go to Belgium? Belgium."
No one got it. "We are pilgrims in an unholy land".
The real stumper is, why can I remember random lines from Indiana Jones, but I can't remember the correct verb for 'let go of me'.
Also, as some of you may be aware, my birthday is coming up. I'm turning 18 on 21 November. It's just as big a deal here as it is in the states (at least in a legal sense. I think they blow off a bit of the whole 'woo, b-day!' thing with Quincineras). It's starting to look like I'm going to miss my actual birthday completely, party-wise (which sucks, since it actually fell on a Sunday this year). So, my family threw me a party this Sunday instead. It was epic, in a normal sort of way. I got some cool presents (thank you, guys!). Most of the friends I invited actually showed up (at 3pm on a Sunday, which, my host mother was quick to point out to me, probably means they really want to be my friends, which is cool). One person who didn't come actually showed up really late just to wish me a happy birthday and explain why he couldn't make it, instead of just waiting to tell me at school (once again, thanks Patrick!). I had a really good time, and as some people are starting to notice, a truly legendary cake incident (forever immortalized on Facebook. I'm working on getting a copy so I can post it to here. I figure if that many people saw it, what the hell, it was funny!). I promised Jose Louis and Gustavo I would get them back, thereby highlighting another cultural difference. They freaked out a little and I had to explain it's just something you say, as long as you're laughing when you say it you don't actually mean it. BTW, all you lovely folks back home, it was funny here. You try that shit at my 19th b-day, I will put the smackdown on all y'alls. Just sayin'.
Due to my bizarre MentalFloss addiction, I have a fun fact for you. I always thought the Firefly character Badger was named Badger, but it may have been a sly job description. Turns out, a 'badger' was a name for a Medieval age bloke who bought stuff from the people who made/grew/owned it and sold it to vendors or wholesalers, at a profit. Sort of an early middle-man. Obviously, the job was cut out (snigger). Joss is God!
So, party rocked, actual birthday may be spent in a bus on the way to Veracruz (or waiting around for something. This is a Rotary outing we're talking about).
So that brings me to today. Considering how happy I am, it seems more productive to list the only things going wrong right now.
1) I cannot find anyone to come pick me up so I can see the 1st HP7 movie at midnight tonight (and I already have a ticket!)
2) I am really tired (but we should face it, that is not news).
3) I cannot find any stores which sell nice shirts in my size (fun, right?)
4) My freaking ipod finally ate my copy of Zombieland, and The Walking Dead, while good, is severely lacking in both the funny and the Woody-Harrelson-with-a-banjo moments.
And that is it! If I left anything out, take it up with the Complaints department (which, BTW, is a gorilla wearing glasses and reading a 2-day-old copy of The Guardian).
I love you all, good night!