Hola everybody! I have now officially been in Mexico for a month! I can pretend like it isn’t really going by that fast though, because February is short. Right?
I haven’t updated in a while- somehow this always gets put off until tomorrow. Now I have major catching up to do!
Three weeks ago, the weekend of the 20th we went to Veracruz for Carnaval, one of the biggest in the world! I went with Laura, Tina, and Gabriele. There were a TON of people. Picture Oktoberfest (drunk people) meets Mardi Gras (colors) meets latin dance movie. That's Carnaval. Not exactly my scene, but I still had a lot of fun. We waited four hours for a parade that lasted 20 minutes (actually, it lasted hours… there was a break in the floats and everyone just left because they thought it was over), then went to a concert and danced far more than necessary. Laura and I stayed in a hotel-like complex above a family’s house. The room itself was pretty gross and Carnaval pretty crazy, so I was glad we stayed only one night.
The next day Laura and I donned our matching green raincoats and got on the bus south for Alvarado. We were still with Gabriele and Tina, but picked up two other friends as well. We explored the town of Alvarado and the boats for a few hours, returned to the bus station, and embarked for final destination Tlacotalpan.
Tlacotalpan is one of the prettiest places I have ever been. We stayed one night but it felt like longer. It is a quiet little riverside town where every building is painted beautiful bright colors and has arches along the front and all the streets are cobblestone. The parks are great and kids of all ages are outside playing… one group had skateboards with two wheels called ripsticks (reep-steek). We spent several hours trying to master how to ride them in the town’s plaza. We stayed at a huesped house at night, and explored the town by day. We went for a boat ride (so nice to get back on the water!), ate great food, and walked down the bright streets. They're filming a telenovela (soap opera) there, so we got to watch them film that too. The town and the night was so perfect it was eerie.
Two weekends ago, we stayed close to Xalapa. Friday was what will always be remembered as “The Cookie Incident.” Laura and I thought it would be fun to bring cookies to a dinner party, and adventure ensued. We rode past the grocery store on the bus, but figured we’d stay on just to see where the route goes. Turns out, it goes far far away, up a very big hill, down a dead-end dirt road, and then stops. Stops. So we hiked back to civilization, managed to find all of the ingredients despite language barriers and lack of baking popularity, and rushed home to find… a broken oven! After a while, we got the oven working, but the cookies were rock-like so we decided not to bring them to the party. Good thing we didn’t… way too much food anyway! Gabriele made a feast of the pizza and pasta ever.
Saturday I went to a pool just outside of Xalapa with Laura and friends Hector and Jacob. Pool accessories are a tad different here… apparently a wide, dry, slanted tile platform is sufficient for a slide, and small raised areas are diving boards. Sunday, we went to a peaceful little town called Naolinco, where (seemingly) everyone makes leather shoes, belts, wallets, and purses. It is really nice to get out of the city for the weekends, especially to little pueblos like this one! It was also “Dia de la familia” that weekend, so we had a nice dinner outside on the patio with extended family.
Last weekend, I went for a run and found one of my new favorite places in Xalapa. On my map it was a big green space with the word “Panteon.” Thought it was some kind of park, but it turns out panteon means cemetery. Regardless, it is gorgeous and close to our house, overlooking Xalapa. From there all I can hear are the birds, and pinwheels and far away dogs. Uncanny how the cemetery looks so much the same as Xalapa below!
Hector was playing guitar for an international teleconference out of Xalapa on climate change, so we went to watch him and to check out the conference. The music was great, but the conference was really weird- people look to this woman with dyed-blonde hair as a god. Hard to explain- I agreed with their intentions, but their words lacked substance, the entire affair was overflowing with propaganda, and it was all communicated in a way that looked like a poorly done middle school presentation. Strange experience. We left early and went to Tina’s birthday party, then got up the next morning to go to…
El Cofre del Perote! This is a mountain near Xalapa, one of the tallest in Mexico. Six of us climbed it together- it was a beautiful day and we were rewarded with a great view of Xalapa and the surrounding country. It was tough climbing, we chose to go straight up instead of walking on the road that winds its way to the top. It is really beautiful, but the entire top of the mountain is covered with antennas, which takes away from it. From where we started, it took us about 4 hours to go up, and 2 to descend. Then we went to one hiker’s aunt’s house for dinner where I had my first tequila of Mexico!
Also of note:
My class schedule is finalized at last! I’m taking three classes at the EEE (School for Foreign Students), and one at the Universidad Veracruzana with Mexican students. I still haven’t seen my professor for my class at the real university yet… maybe he’ll come to class today? I’m also just getting started with a class in prehispanic painting that I think should be pretty neat. It is 1 on 1 with the teacher, and it is a style and medium I’ve never used before.
A group of us have started playing ultimate Frisbee a couple of times a week. It is a great time- ultimate frisbee in the truest sense of the phrase! We play in the dark with a light-up disc on a teeny field of wet grass, poles, trees, and giant roots. And there is a cactus garden in one of the goals.
The title is from when Patricia was baking downstairs. Laura and I didn’t know what she was making and were really hungry, and thought we were smelling cookies. But she kept using the blender! Hence, “Why does she keep blending the cookies?” Turns out it was a cake for the twin’s birthday.
Other major highlight is that I found pianos! Roberto, my once-invisible-now-slightly-less-difficult-to-locate cultural aide, and I went to the Arts section of the campus and he showed me where to find the practice rooms. Piano withdrawal is no longer an issue.
Also, catastrophe of the month was that my camera died. Luckily, Laura lets me use hers when I want a photo of something. I found a place that repairs cameras, and I think it should be fixed tomorrow! I’ll upload pictures soon.
Okay, update complete. I miss you all very much! Adios!
Tuesday, March 10, 2009
Friday, February 20, 2009
Photos!
It has been raining all day today... so here are my pictures, finally!
Welcomed to Mexico by smog over Mexico City...
This is our house! Our bedroom is on the second floor.
Here it is!
Dining room/living room (couches that I have never seen anyone sit on)
Kitchen, aka Sensory Overload...
Tequila! Hanging out on the porch-like area.
This is from Animal Fest. Left to right: USA, Germany, New Zealand. And I am holding Laura's drink, I promise.
Day at the beach!
Me, Laura, and Ana at Xico waterfalls. Sweaty ickiness, sorry.
We started at the little far away buildings on the right, then hiked across a bridge and around to where this picture is taken from. I loved this place!
At the entrance were guys with really big guns, so I took a picture.
Sunday, February 15, 2009
Goza Mi Corazón Por Haber Estado Aquí
Note: I wrote this last night... today is Monday (not Sunday) and I went to school (not waterfalls). Just go with it.
Hi everyone!
Hope you had a fabulous week-weekend. I sure have! My days have been full and I basically collapse into bed each night. For example...
Today, at 6ish, Laura and I decided to go to a cafe to write our blogs and putz. It´s Sunday, so we knew that most places would be closed because here almost everyone takes Sundays off to spend with the family. We had a good idea of a couple places that would be open though, so we weren´t worried. A 2 hour walk later, we finally found a place with internet that was open. And this is in a city of 500,000! Crazy that it was so difficult.
Also, on that note, I´ve noticed recently that one of the most common phrases here is "sigue subiendo," which means "keep going up." That´s because Xalapa is in the mountains, and the streets are steep pretty much everywhere. So our walk involved quite a bit of vertical too.
Earlier today in the morning/afternoon we visited Coatepec (Kwa-ta-pek) and Xico (Hee-ko), gorgeous little towns perched in the mountains. I went with Laura, her tutor Ana, and Ana´s mom. We stopped in the town of Xico for a few minutes, but our main destination was the cascadas, or waterfalls, just out of town. We walked on paths among palm trees and coffee plants (shade grown!) that took us to lookouts with beautiful views.
Okay, so it looks like I am working backwards here. I´ll just keep things simple and stick with the backtracking.
Saturday we went to the beach! It was quite the trek; we left at about 11am and were on the bus by a little after noon. After two unnecessarily purchased tickets, one bus transfer, and quite a bit of confusion, we found ourselves at Chachalacas (try to say it, you know you want to!). It was a great day and the water was really nice. We ate at a little restaurant on the beach and then made our way back home, exhausted from the sun and from travelling.
Also interesting (at least I think so), the area we are in is NOT very touristy. So much so, that we were at the beach (keep in mind, two hours away) and saw two white girls in the distance. We concluded that we would probably know them. They came closer, and sure enough... we have class together!
Neither of us has class on Fridays, so instead we relaxed in the morning and went to a concert at night. It was called Animal Fest and was a fundraiser to help animals in Xalapa. The bands were good, although we couldn’t stop laughing at all the guitar-hero-esque American music that the first band played. We found some of our friends from school (an Italian, a German, a New Zealandian (sp?), and a Mexican who works at the school) at the concert. So many of the students talk in English among themselves all the time, so it was great to find a group that spoke Spanish. Then we went to a party with them afterward. I think that 98% of our school was there, quite the gringo-gathering. Plans were made for ultimate frisbee-ing and more excursions.
Continuing with our time-travel… Thursday we had class in the morning, and in the afternoon a welcome party for the students at our school. After the party we went to a little bar called La Chiva that both my guidebook and a girl who studied here before recommended. It reminded me a lot of the Bodega in La Crosse, a personable crowd and lots to look at. (And internet) We’ll be back!
Also, the title. This was on an arch that we drove under as we left Xico today. I just liked the idea of what it said: Goza mi corazón por haber estado aquí. Loosely translated, it means, “My heart is joyful for having been here.” I think it is a really neat reminder to the people that pass through that they have been in a special place, but in particular I think it says something about the people who live there, the people who see that sign every day- that they recognize the beauty of the place they call home. It is such a simple phrase, and such a simple idea, but strikingly unusual.
And the turtle´s name is Samantha.
I had every intention of including photos, but apparently this particular Mexican computer and my flash drive don't mix. Soon, I promise!
Hi everyone!
Hope you had a fabulous week-weekend. I sure have! My days have been full and I basically collapse into bed each night. For example...
Today, at 6ish, Laura and I decided to go to a cafe to write our blogs and putz. It´s Sunday, so we knew that most places would be closed because here almost everyone takes Sundays off to spend with the family. We had a good idea of a couple places that would be open though, so we weren´t worried. A 2 hour walk later, we finally found a place with internet that was open. And this is in a city of 500,000! Crazy that it was so difficult.
Also, on that note, I´ve noticed recently that one of the most common phrases here is "sigue subiendo," which means "keep going up." That´s because Xalapa is in the mountains, and the streets are steep pretty much everywhere. So our walk involved quite a bit of vertical too.
Earlier today in the morning/afternoon we visited Coatepec (Kwa-ta-pek) and Xico (Hee-ko), gorgeous little towns perched in the mountains. I went with Laura, her tutor Ana, and Ana´s mom. We stopped in the town of Xico for a few minutes, but our main destination was the cascadas, or waterfalls, just out of town. We walked on paths among palm trees and coffee plants (shade grown!) that took us to lookouts with beautiful views.
Okay, so it looks like I am working backwards here. I´ll just keep things simple and stick with the backtracking.
Saturday we went to the beach! It was quite the trek; we left at about 11am and were on the bus by a little after noon. After two unnecessarily purchased tickets, one bus transfer, and quite a bit of confusion, we found ourselves at Chachalacas (try to say it, you know you want to!). It was a great day and the water was really nice. We ate at a little restaurant on the beach and then made our way back home, exhausted from the sun and from travelling.
Also interesting (at least I think so), the area we are in is NOT very touristy. So much so, that we were at the beach (keep in mind, two hours away) and saw two white girls in the distance. We concluded that we would probably know them. They came closer, and sure enough... we have class together!
Neither of us has class on Fridays, so instead we relaxed in the morning and went to a concert at night. It was called Animal Fest and was a fundraiser to help animals in Xalapa. The bands were good, although we couldn’t stop laughing at all the guitar-hero-esque American music that the first band played. We found some of our friends from school (an Italian, a German, a New Zealandian (sp?), and a Mexican who works at the school) at the concert. So many of the students talk in English among themselves all the time, so it was great to find a group that spoke Spanish. Then we went to a party with them afterward. I think that 98% of our school was there, quite the gringo-gathering. Plans were made for ultimate frisbee-ing and more excursions.
Continuing with our time-travel… Thursday we had class in the morning, and in the afternoon a welcome party for the students at our school. After the party we went to a little bar called La Chiva that both my guidebook and a girl who studied here before recommended. It reminded me a lot of the Bodega in La Crosse, a personable crowd and lots to look at. (And internet) We’ll be back!
Also, the title. This was on an arch that we drove under as we left Xico today. I just liked the idea of what it said: Goza mi corazón por haber estado aquí. Loosely translated, it means, “My heart is joyful for having been here.” I think it is a really neat reminder to the people that pass through that they have been in a special place, but in particular I think it says something about the people who live there, the people who see that sign every day- that they recognize the beauty of the place they call home. It is such a simple phrase, and such a simple idea, but strikingly unusual.
And the turtle´s name is Samantha.
I had every intention of including photos, but apparently this particular Mexican computer and my flash drive don't mix. Soon, I promise!
Tuesday, February 10, 2009
¿Elena, Xalapeña?
Hola there everybody! I thought a blog would be a good way to keep everyone posted on my encounters with our friends to the south, so here goes! I'll try to keep it updated, so check back for more posts at your leisure.
So far, so good! I traveled here and am living with a friend from school, Laura. We left Sunday morning (Minneapolis ->Dallas -> Mexico City -> Veracruz) and arrived that evening without unnecessary excitement. Someone picked us up from the airport in Veracruz and brought us to our house in Xalapa, just over an hour drive. It was a pretty quiet ride, a lot of looking out the window and trying to piece together coherent sentences in Spanish. So rusty! Still though, it was amazing how quickly my Spanish has improved these last few days! I could feel it coming back to me more with each moment, and already I think I am as confident as when I was in the depths of Spanish courses at UW-L.
Anyway, back to Sunday. Our host parents came out to greet us in the street. Their names are Patricia (yes, mom!) and Alejandro. They are very nice and Patricia especially is very easy to understand, because she's had so many students stay with her in the past. Also living with us in the house are twin girls (18 yrs), Dani and Gabi, and a son, also Alejandro (Alex) that is 22 and whom we haven't met yet because he is working for the government and is currently in another city. Oh, and there is a dog, Tequila, and a recently discovered, ostensibly semi-alive turtle. Not sure about the name yet, but I'll ask and get back to you.
Monday was orientation (SO much information). We walked to the Center, where orientation was, with our mom on a route that took us past our school so we would see how to get there. It is about a 1/2 hour walk from home to school. After orientation we went on a bus tour of the city. There are some really neat parks with lots of green and trees! I can see one from here, just across the street.
Then today was our first day of class, and our mom took us on the bus to show us how to conquer that Mexican standby (No sweat). We're at the EEE (Escuela para Estudiantes Extranjeros, or School for Foreign Students) at the University of Veracruz at Xalapa, the main university in the state of Veracruz (of which, by the way, Xalapa is the capital). I'm still getting my classes figured out because the ones I signed up for all pretty much overlap or are scheduled at the same time as other classes that I'm in. Also, I'd like to take a class at the Universidad Veracruzana with real Mexican students instead of just foreigners like me, so I have some hoops to jump through still to make that happen. So basically my classes will probably change infinite times in the next week-ish.
Sidenote: I'm at a weird place in my Spanish where some of the time I have to really plan out and conciously translate what I want to say, and other times it just kindof jumps out of my mouth. Still other times it almost feels like I am thinking in Spanish, but really at this point I think I am just quickly translating everything by habit.
Right now we are at a coffeeshop partway between home and school. The weather here changes pretty quickly, it can be warm one minute and chilly the next. Nothing like WI winter though!
That's all for now, but I will have pictures soon, so visit me again! Love you all mucho!
Elena
Ooh, also: Feel free to post comments on here if you want or shoot me an email if that is too fancy/complicated. Bye!
So far, so good! I traveled here and am living with a friend from school, Laura. We left Sunday morning (Minneapolis ->Dallas -> Mexico City -> Veracruz) and arrived that evening without unnecessary excitement. Someone picked us up from the airport in Veracruz and brought us to our house in Xalapa, just over an hour drive. It was a pretty quiet ride, a lot of looking out the window and trying to piece together coherent sentences in Spanish. So rusty! Still though, it was amazing how quickly my Spanish has improved these last few days! I could feel it coming back to me more with each moment, and already I think I am as confident as when I was in the depths of Spanish courses at UW-L.
Anyway, back to Sunday. Our host parents came out to greet us in the street. Their names are Patricia (yes, mom!) and Alejandro. They are very nice and Patricia especially is very easy to understand, because she's had so many students stay with her in the past. Also living with us in the house are twin girls (18 yrs), Dani and Gabi, and a son, also Alejandro (Alex) that is 22 and whom we haven't met yet because he is working for the government and is currently in another city. Oh, and there is a dog, Tequila, and a recently discovered, ostensibly semi-alive turtle. Not sure about the name yet, but I'll ask and get back to you.
Monday was orientation (SO much information). We walked to the Center, where orientation was, with our mom on a route that took us past our school so we would see how to get there. It is about a 1/2 hour walk from home to school. After orientation we went on a bus tour of the city. There are some really neat parks with lots of green and trees! I can see one from here, just across the street.
Then today was our first day of class, and our mom took us on the bus to show us how to conquer that Mexican standby (No sweat). We're at the EEE (Escuela para Estudiantes Extranjeros, or School for Foreign Students) at the University of Veracruz at Xalapa, the main university in the state of Veracruz (of which, by the way, Xalapa is the capital). I'm still getting my classes figured out because the ones I signed up for all pretty much overlap or are scheduled at the same time as other classes that I'm in. Also, I'd like to take a class at the Universidad Veracruzana with real Mexican students instead of just foreigners like me, so I have some hoops to jump through still to make that happen. So basically my classes will probably change infinite times in the next week-ish.
Sidenote: I'm at a weird place in my Spanish where some of the time I have to really plan out and conciously translate what I want to say, and other times it just kindof jumps out of my mouth. Still other times it almost feels like I am thinking in Spanish, but really at this point I think I am just quickly translating everything by habit.
Right now we are at a coffeeshop partway between home and school. The weather here changes pretty quickly, it can be warm one minute and chilly the next. Nothing like WI winter though!
That's all for now, but I will have pictures soon, so visit me again! Love you all mucho!
Elena
Ooh, also: Feel free to post comments on here if you want or shoot me an email if that is too fancy/complicated. Bye!
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