Mexico

8/4: I{m taking a break from packing at the moment. Some of my clothing is
hanging out to dry still, but will be done soon- warm day, though not sunny.
Thought I should write this email now while I have access to a computer, but
probably won{t send it until later...

To pick up where we left off:
Sábado, 7/29/06
IN the morning, we went to the Abastos market looking for ceramic mugs
EIleen wants to buy. I wish I could take pictures of Abastos without people
getting offended, because just about everything there is typically Mexican
and picture-worthy.
At night, we went to a fair that´s taking place. UNfortunately, since it was
the first day, the venr¡dors were still unpacking, and we didn´t ride the
rides because they were 4USD a go- not worth it to me...

Domingo, 7/30/06
Eileen´s sick; we stayed home all day.

Lunes, 7/31/06
I went to class, which was held in the auditoriu, on stage. Eileen still
sick, and therefore didn´t go to the hospital (to work).

Martes, 8/1/06
Happy birthday SHubha; happy anniversay, RIck and Eilee-Mumsy.
Today, during the break for classes, some of my classmates (12 year olds,
all) surprised me with a party. THey closed the stage curtains and set up`on
the stage, then pulled me through when they were ready for me and we had a
little private going-away party on the stage. They had prepared food and
drinks and gave me presents and cards. It was very sweet of them. The cards
were even written in Engrish: THe first reads, ¨A friend like you is very
rare for me. HAVE A NICE TIME. Good luck Kelsey! Roses are red, the sky is
blue, sugar is sweet, the people is happy, but not as happy as you. ¡Good
bye!¨ The other says, ¨Hello Kelsey!!! Thank you for share with we for this
times, for be our friend... I Just can to Know, but I don´t forget us! Good
bye. I going to remember you Don´t forget us. Goodbay Kelsey. We´ll miss
you!!!¨


Miércoles, 8/2/06
I wen to Mrgarita to find out how Eileen spends her day at the hospital.
Apparently, it involves a lot of standing around waiting for patients. We
did see to several (very cute) children with colds, a guy with a foot injury
from playing soccer, a diabetic old lady, and some other people.
In the evening, Eileen and I went back to the fair and bought some jewelry
as a thank-ou gift to Mría. THe bus back from the fair was a miniature
adventure. We got on one tat said CENTRO, and the driver went way out into
the middle of nowhere, where everyone else got off the bus. After a while,
the guy turned back and asked us where we were trying to go. He drove us
back practically to the doorstep- he didn´t have anyone else to be driving.
THe bus trip was over a half hour long, though.

Jueves, 8/3/06
I went again to the hospital with Eileen. Since it was her last day, the
doctors and nurses threw a litle party in the break room, with cake and
coffee.
Back at home, the phones STILL aren´t working, so Eilen, frustrated, turned
to to me for help and we set up an IM so she could talk to her boyfriend.

Viernes, 8?4/06
We´ve been going around, getting the last things we want to get, having a
last café de olla up at the center, and packing. Presumably, we´ll continue
to do so until our bus at 8:40 this evening to Puebla.

Mexico

Hola, time to check in again...

The internet was down since the desktop it was connected to was moved out of Daniel{s room when he left and into the main room. It just got back, but now the phone{s out. They{re not related- it{s wireless internet and aparntly, "sometimes the phone doesn{t work after a rain". This being the rainy season, I guess we{ve just been lucky so far.

Cosas Interesantes

Hanging clothing out to dry
I recently discovered that our dishwashing soap is actually laundry detergent
Ants´ eggs rain down daily from the ceiling, sepecially noticeable on my bed
Being able to say whatever I want in English (for instance, "wow that is a really ugly shirt") when shopping with Eileen and not having the storekeepers become offended because they have no idea what we said- I´m going to miss that.
No one is able to pronounce my name
Trying to understand the error message (in Spanish) on the -Apple- computer
Abuelita´s constant whistling under her breath
Making plans to kill the dogs next door and the parrot (although now we put a towel over its cage so it doesn´t screexh at first light
Eileen, at 22, is considered an old maid. 11-yr-olds give birth at the hospital she works at
We did the laundry by hand because we had no water. >That was entertaining once.


Recetas

Sopa de Verduras, estilo Aubuelita

Snap both ends off of green beans. Chop to 1cm long pieces. Wash in colandera and dump into pot of water.
PLace pot on stove to boil.
Chop, wash, and dump baby corns just a with beans.
Pare carrots into sixths lengthwise. Chop, was, dump, and repeat with baby zucchinis.
Chop finely, wash, and dump cabbage.
Add water until all vegetables are coveed.
Chop coarsely:onion, tomato, garlic. Fry with a little bit of oil until unions are translucent. Puree in blender until with a little bit of water.
Combine everything in a big pot and add water, 2Cook on stove until finished.

Viernes, 7/23/06

The party Tania invited us to was very ...interesting. For the record, I don´t recommend voluntarily entering discotechs. I was rather disfavorably impressed. Tania´s friend had reserved an entire Matisse restaurant and turned into a discotech for a Hawaii-themed party. The music was blasted painfully (though no one danced), and it was very dark, but for the flashing, psychedelic disco lights. Eileen and I soon left.

Sábado, 7/22/06

Eileen and I walked all over town. She fell in love with all the ¨cute¨ wood stuff and bought a bunch for her house. It was sunny in the morning, and we shared a giant (big as a full-sized jamba juice) licuado of guava (fresh, saw them make it) for 15 pesos. I love how cheap and delicious everything is. In the afternoon, it poured, and we were caught in the center of town with no umbrella, so we sat in a roofed, outdoor section of a cafe and shared hot chocolate, cafe de olla (even I liked it and I don´t like coffee- look up the recipe on recipezaar), and cookies, waiting the rain out, laughing as cars splashed through puddles and ladies in heels tried to wade across the river of a road. Took pictures of the waterfall down the stairs, and watched as a tent set up for the public collapsed from weight and people ran out from under. The fountain was under another (bigger, stronger) tent, or it would have overflowed for sure.

Domingo, 7/23/06

We went up to the waterfall again (Chiflon). It was much wetter than last time. The river was overfull from the deluge (though t hasn´t yet rained today) and had flooded the cement picnic shelters. When we got up to the top, we couldn´t even see the waterfall for the spray. The stairs to the top were waterfalls themselves, rainbows were everywhere, and we ended up taking off our shoes, because the trail had turned into a calf-deep stream. It was enormously fun. Unfortunately, the water also permeated Eileen´s passport, so that´s out drying now.

We came back soaked, and fortunately, we have water today and took hot showers, and Aubuelita had big, hot pots of my favorites on the stove: rice with corn, spicy beans, tortillas, vegetable soup, and chicken in mole.

María returned home in the morning.

Miercoles, 7/26/06

There hasn´t been anything to report, really.
We get up around 8, Eileen goes off to work, and I walk up the 5 minutes to Casa de la CUltura. The dance class warms up wi to bad American music blasted loudly, then dance to poor quality traditional Mexican music, also blasted. During break, I juggle until the children try to grab the juggling balls, at which point I put them away and talk or read. Apparently, I have admirers in the guitar and marimba class, because little kids"so-and-so from such-and-such class sends you health." I didn´t get what they were talking about until some of the girls next to me made ooo-type noises and kissy sounds. I now avoid the guitar and marimba classes.
We dance again, then I go home at one.
I eat, generally mole, chicken, rice, and beans with tortillas, and then read, help in the kitchen, juggle, use the computer, etc. in the afternoon. Eileen gets home 8-ish and we eat, talk, and go to bed.


Jueves, 7/27/06
IN the evening, there was a concert in the park of the Washington, DC youth orchestra. I was strange to hear people speaking English. The music was good, though most of their songs were instrumental parts to hymns.

Viernes, 7/28/06
We got up at 5:30 adn one of Mría´s friends drove María and Tania to Tuxtla, dropping us off at Chiapas de Corzo along the way. Eileen and I took a 3-hour boat tour of the cañon, and saw crocodiles, waterfalls, caves, and suchlike. Afterwards, we took a taxi to Tuxtla, where we checked in with Maria and then went off to explore Tuxtla by foot. It was very hot, so we stopped for drinks and food, made purchases, and returned home by bus at night.

Mexico

t´s been wet here, raining most afternoons, evenings, and nghts. It´s otherwise sunny, so we end up huddling under umbrelas (if someone has the foresight to brig one) in our sumery clothes.

Cosas Interesantes

Mosquitoes appear to be an indoor-only thing- I´m being eaten right now, but if I go outside and, say, read, here will be none in sight.

I now know how to judge when an avocado is ripe: when the tip s black, cut it from the bush; when the whole thing´s black and a littlesquishy, you can eat it. You´ll need to know that sometime.

It´s very hard to buy the groceries around here, not because the grocery store is far away (it´s all of two blocks) but because Abuelita sneaks out of the house and buys so much that it would be wasteful to buy more.

The way most English-speakers can´t pronounce rr, most Mexicans can´t pronounce our form of r. They always roll it.

Domingo, 7/16/06

Dan walked me all around town, showing me the panadería, the mercado, the supermarket, and how they all related to the town center and to María´s house. At the Casa de la Cultura (the closest equivalent in the US that I can think of would be somwhere between a community college and a day camp), we found the proram for the cltural festival, and I signed up for daily classes (10-1, Mon-Fri, as many weeks as I´l be here, and then some) in Ballet Foklórico.

When we returned, Eileen, Dan, Daniel (whomwe are supposed to speak to only in English, to teach him how), and I drove to a waterfall. It was a hot hike, and we wished we´d brought our swimsuits, because there apeared to be swiming in the river. When we reached the top of the hike, just about right under the falls, we got soaked anyway. The water splashed dwn about 100 m, and there were ziplines available (at little cost- about 10 pesos (>$1)) which we wuld have gone on had we not had to leave.

We hurried home so that Dan and María could catch their bus to Oaxaca for their 1-week luna de miel (hneymoon- the literal translatio is accurate) at Dan´s house.

In the evening, Eileen and I (and, separately, Jorge and Tanya,) walked up to the center of town for a free concert (parto f the festival). It was a brass band concert, and the lead trumpet was a very funny MC for himself. They played everything from classical to Mexican traditional to swing.

Lunes, 7/17/06

My first dance class: I felt a bit out of place, being tall, white, and blond-ish (t´s funny- I´m conspicuously blond here, even though at home my hair´s smewhere between blond and brown), not to mention the only one of my age there. Most of my classmates are girls between the ages of 10 and 13, with a couple of moms in the back also taking the class. There are also three guys, sread evenly over the age range. The music was played VERY loudly, and we learned a dance, then reviewed some that they had learned the previous week (I followed along, trying to figure out what they were doing). Over our 45-minute ¨recess¨, I made friends with sme of the 13-year-old girls.

I came home, ate, and read from th kid books we´d gotten. I finished Cenicientas and Mujercitas.

Tanya, Jorge, Eileen, and I all went to the concert (it´s great- a free concert every night during this festival). Three groups played, and all were very funny (by accident).

The first group: It was called ¨Sivory¨ and was a Mexican rock/pop group. The music was al right, but it was hilarious watching the lead singer, who was a bit full of himself, dance around the stage in front of a completely unresposive audience. It would´ve worked had there been peple dancing, swaying, singing along, but everyone was just staring. It was a tough audience anyhow, though.

The second group: ¨Grupo Leyenda¨ playing ¨The Beatles¨. Good music, and we sang along. However, you had to know the words already to know what they were saying through the accents- netiher English-speakers nor Spanish speakers could tell.

The third group: Äguila de Chiapas¨ was a marimba group, and they actually knew what they were doing and were able to make the auience get up and dance. I enjoyed watching the old guys in suits geting so into the music, and especially the one wih the electric guitar, keeping the beat.

The volume of all three groups was up high enough that I think the drumbeat altered my heartbeat.

Martes, 7/18/06

After dance class, I tried to find a new way home (aside from the bvious route- it´s two blocks stragt down te road from where I take classes..) and got lost, ending up on the opposite side of the square than I should have been. Soeday, I´ll find a map or something, so I can at least do relocation practice.

Reading: I finished El Gato con Botas (I´ve been compiling vocabulary lists for each story, although some of the words aren´t in either my Spanish-English dictionary or the Spanish dctionary) and started La Bella Durmiente.

At six, Tania, Jorge, Eilen and I went to a concert enttled ¨Cuba para Todos¨. We weren´t sure what to expect, but unfortunately, it turned out to be opera. The pianist who accompanied the singer, however, was extremely entertainng- very skinny, animted, and incredible with the piano.

IN the park, there was a storytelle, who sang and danced and spoke slowly enough for his young audience that I got most of what he said. He told two stories adding music and dance where he saw fit. The first story was a version of A Midsumer Night´s Dream, only without any mortals (exeption of Bottom). The second was Ceniciento (Cinderellis), modernized (the step-siblings watched TV all day, the ball was a discotech..) and with the main character not particularly kind, beautiful, intelligent, etc.. as Cinderella generally is portrayed.

There was another concert, Music of the Bolivan Andes, but we were tired and didn´t stay long.

Miercles, 7/19/06

We began to dance the Palenque (specific set of dance moves) in formation, and I ended up in the lead of the line, even though I´d never actually been taught that dance (it was taught before I came, though I have picked it up since, fortunately), because I´m tallest in my class (despite the fact that it includes adult men and women.. I feel SO tall here).

During the break in classes, I talked with a woman from my class who´s been trying to learn English from a book. After classes, because I´d asked, she showed me to a place nearby where they teach salsa. The same place also teaches mambo, tango, merengue, etc., and the lady at the font desk couldnçt tell me which classes were when, because from wht I can tell, it depends on the teacherçs mood. We havençt gone yet, but it remains a possiblity.

It was a wet concert that night, but Eileen and I went anyway. I jugled, and the cameras set up to project the concerts filmed me juggling instead. The first person who playeed was nto very interesting, but the next people up were flamenco dancers. (sigh) I want those skirts.. They were very good.

Jueves, 7¡20¡06

I uggled during the break, and a lot of the kids tried juggling with me ¿three between two¡. After break, we danced Palenque in the courtyard, with the marimba class playing the music. They kept getting lost, so we got lost too. Our respective tachers made us start overagain and again until there were no errors.

In the afternoon, there was a free play, which I went to without knowing what it would be. It turned out to be a comedy of a gay Dracula. It was at least as odd as it sounds.

The concert was a bad with drums, electric viola, guitar, and a really big instrument with about twelve strings. It was very wet in the audience, and seated on the ege of the fountain, we feared for a fountain overflow.

Viernes, 7¿21¿06

This keyboard keeps changing which keys mean what as I type. Very strange.

Our dance teacher, for an unexplained reason, couldnç come today, but I was let join the theater class instead. I was unimpressed= imagine the way preschoolers crawl around and make animal noises, chasing each other, pretending to be cats and dogs, then imagine them being directed to do so by a teacher, and having a stage to do it on.

After classes, I walked all around the town to get exercise, then camehome and washed clothes. Exciting...

Tonight, Taniaçs invited us to a party one of her friends is having. Itçs supposed to be Hawaii themed.

Whatçs everyone else been doing+

Mexico

Cosas Interesantes

People trying to learn English from me

The lady who wouldn't by Coca-cola because it was cold

Hearing La Abuelita complain about anyone not in the room (and about vegetarians in general- María, Tany, and Dan all are), and then hearing them complain right back about her

Seeing (and eating) the actual guava fruit, not just drinking the juice

Having my hands smell really good from making salsa

Making limeade- all the way frm the tree to the finished product

The parrot in the other room waking us up every morning by imitating the squeaky doors and the sound of fingernails on a blackboard. I expect it will soon begin imitating the idiot dogs next door.

Gorgeous bumblebees, goold and black, about the size of a thumb joint

Caterpillars that are painful to touch

Trying to mime or describe words in order to find out what it is in Spanish (a lot like charades)

Being taller than just about everone here- La Abuelita is about chest height on me, and some of the ladies only come up to my hip.

Being asked how my quinceañera was (I wish)

Hearing people be surprised that a girl has played soccer

Meeting people for the first time and having them kiss me on the cheek (this is especially weird with Tanya's boyfriend or any of Daniel's friends- twenty-something-year-old guys)

Everything really cheap

No seat belts in the car, though I reach for it every time

La Abuelita cooking constantly, and people eating her food only occasionally

Language Notes

Not everything is as it has been taught. For instance:

Agua is pronounced "awa".

Pelo is animal hair, like the mane of a horse, while cabello is for people hair.

Oriente and poniente are more common than este and oeste. (East and west)

Helado is also known as nieve

Use bañarse whther it's a bath or a shower

'g' is generally not pronounced when followed by a u or an e

Journal

Miercoles, 7/12/06

I didn't leave the house, but I did do some cooking. You already saw those recipes.

Jueves, 7/13/06

In the morning, I learned how to make beans:

Frijoles estilo Abuelita

Pressure cook 6c? (lots) of beans in water.

Chop 1/4 med. onion, 1/2 clove garlic. Fry in plenty of oil until onion is translucent.

2c at a time, puree beans in blender, with 1/4 c water, 1/2 tsp salt, and some of the onions and garlic in each load.

Put pureed bean mixture in frying pan with 1/2 c oil. Stir together and heat.

I went with María and Dan to get paperwork for the Registro Civil- just for the exercise. While we were walking along the road, we came across a man standing on teh sidewalk, teaching people about venemous snakes (what to do if you're bitten, how to identify them...), with examples, for free. It was very interesting. We watched for a little while, and continued about our business.

When we returned home, everyone was cleaning house for the postwedding party.

In the evening, I seeded grapes (each one the size of a large cherry) for the gelatin dessert María was making:

Gelatina de Fruta

Slice fruit (grapes, peaches, tuna, guava, mang, papaya, etc...) and place in the bottom of a mold.

Make clear gelatin according to package directions and pour into mold, careful not to displace fruit.

Cool in refrigerator.

If desired, make a second batch of gelatin and add milk (or color, flavor, whatever). Pour this second gelatin on top of cooled clear gelatin for a layered effect.

When gelatin has fully congealed, flip onto serving platter and serve.

While we were cooking, Dan sat down at the table and tried, despite the protests of María ("No puedes! Eres hombre!") to remove travel stains from his wedding suit. He couldn't, but when María tried, she couldn't either. He's going to wear something else instead.

Viernes, 7/14/06

A busy day, cooking and preparing.

We arose around 6:30 in oreder to be able to do everything necessary before the wedding.

We went to the big market to buy food, then returned and cooked:

Salsa Mexicana

everything to taste in this recipe

Chop: tomatoes, green jalapeños*, and onion. Combine in large bowl.

Mince: garlic. Add to bowl.

Season with: salt, lime

Mix well.

*To cut down on spice (we did), deseed the jalapeños before chopping.

Pescado Estilo Dan

Put 1 head garlic (chopped) and 1 large ginger root (grated) into a marination pan. Mix in 2 1/2 cups soy sauce. Marinate seven slices of (some kind of white fish) fish 1 1/2 hrs.

Place fish on foil-covered baking pans and cover fish with another layer of foil.

Bake.

Serve with lime and cilantro.

We made lemonade and orange juice by squeezing the friuts until we had a pitcherful.

La Abuelita made her beans, rice, and chicken.

The guacamole-making turned into a bit of a contest between María and Dan, so I'll include both recipes:

Guacamole estilo Maria

Scoop 4 avocados into blender with 1/3c lime juice, 4 deseeded green jalapeños.

Blend, adding salt to taste.

Guacamole estilo Dan

Scoop 2 avocados (that's as many as were left) into bowl.

Add: 3/4c chopped cilantro, 2 cloves minced garllic. Mash together with fork.

Salt and lime to taste.

The judging on the guacamoles: María's had too much lime, but Dan's was too bland. They were best mixed together, though Dan's was really good with salsa.

When the cooking was done, evferyone showered and put on pretty clothes for the wedding. The girls went into María's room to put on makeup and earrings, and I rediscovered how much I hate makeup, especially eyeliner.

At seven, we all walked down ot the Registro Civil. Some friends of María's met us there to be witnesses. I was official photographer for the wedding (in its lovely, romantic office setting...). Dan gave her the ring, they kissed, and all the usual stuff, and we all walked back to the house (friends included) for a party. We ate, drank (you know, Coke and brandy are pretty good together...), and I enjoyed trying to comprehend hand guestures and sound effects. Oh, by the way, María's 50-something-year-old friends wanted us to ask the American guys if they wanted Mexican girlfriends (they meant themselves).

The party went on for a whaile. There's an interesting tradition for the wedding cake: two candles, with the wedding rings on them, are lit and blown out by the newlyweds, then they each take a bite of the cake (with no hands, cake still uncut) and kiss. I didn't really understand the ceremony, but the cake was tasty.

Sábado, 7/15/06

Dan, Eileen, and I drove to the Guatemalan border, parked, and walked across. There was a market where we crossed, so we poked through shops, and Eileen and I each got a new shirt (hecho en los E.U....). It was really hot, so eventually we returned to the car for the improvised AC of open windows. Many pictures were taken of the beautiful mountains of Guatemala. They're very pointy and green.

In the evening, we went to the zócalo of Comitán, where they were having a book fair. We got some books written for little children (which, when we read them, tripped us up about every third word anyway) and watched a street clown. He was hard to hear, but since half of what he was doing was mime anyway , it was funny. When he noticed us and started shouting "Hello!" (in English), we left quickly before he could call us to centerstage.

Today is the first day of the Comitán cultural fair. It's a weeklong event, and if we can ever find a program (their website has one for 2004) we'll go to it.

Hasta más tarde!

Recetas

Recipes de La Abuelita. As she assures me, "hay muchas maneras que hacer [whatever it is she's teaching me to make]" (there are many ways to make [])

Also, all measurements are estimated, but the rice is definitely 1 part rice to 2 parts liquid, because she actually told me that- at least 3 times.

Arroz Blanco: estilo Abuelita

(non sticky)

Chop finely: 1/4 medium sized onion (she used half of a home-grown sized one, so maybe a little more) and 1/2 clove garlic.

Measure out 1c rice, pour into a medium-sized pan.

Heat 2c water. Pour water into pan with rice. Let sit 1 min.

Pour out water, rinse rice 3+ times. Pour rice into colander and set up to drain.

Dry pan (which you have now rinsed the rice in) and pour in somewhere between 1/3c and 1/2c oil. Place on stove at low heat (that's a 3 or 4 at home, but I don't know about other people's stoves.
Shake colander of rice to get out as much water as possible. Pour rice into warm oil. Cook 5 mins, stirring constantly.

Pour out almost all of the oil, then place back on heat and add in onion and garlic*. Stir briefly, then add 2c water**, 1 tsp chicken bouillon***, 1/2 tsp salt, lime to taste. stir in and cover. Turn heat down even lower (the LO setting on our stove...) and wait 20 minutes or until water is completely absorbed (check so you don't burn it)

*This is a good time to add vegetables, meat, etc.

**Or another liquid. She recommended tomato juice. Just as long as there's twice the amount of liquid as there is of rice.

***And/or other spices.

To adjust recipe size: 1 handful of rice per person eating. Measure the amount and then adjust everything proportionally, e.g. 4 1/4 cups rice, 8 1/2 cups liquid.

Enchiladas de Pollo, estilo Abuelita

This one°s pretty simple.

Fry tortillas in boiling oil, three at a time, a few seconds each side (this is to heat them and make them sticky, you{re not starting from scratch)

When you{ve got about twenty, put chicken in them and roll them up, side by side. They should stay closed all by themselves.

Now you can eat them as they are or set them aside to cool.

If you let them cool, you can heat them in the microwave or pour hot mole (a bitterish sauce made from the cacao bean, which I wasn{t there to see made, so I can{t give the recipe for it) on top.

Mexico 2

Here are some interesting things about life down here:

-People walking around in traditional costume: Many of the women wear them, especially around the fringes of town. Babies are carried in cloth slings on their backs and everything else is carried on their heads. It's interesting to see these women with giant sacks of rice or corn on their heads, and some carry their purses that way, too.

-Languages: Spanish is hard enough to speak with a native speaker, but many of the people from around here speak Spanish a a second language, and don't necessarily know all the grammar. These are usually the same people as wear indigenous costumes, and their native tongues ar those of the indigenou peoples of Mexico, which isn't at all related to Spanish.

-People coming up and selling stuff: this is actually rare here, probably because, for all practical purposes, we are the only tourists here. There are, of course, the obligatory street vendors, with their many types of homegrown, organic food. It was pointed out to me that just about everything is organic here because no one can afford pesticides.

-The food: all (okay, nearly all) delicious. I recently tried tuna, which is not fish, but the fruit of the nopal cactus (that flat one). Tunas are the little things that look like buds all along the edges of the nopales. You pick, peel, and eat the tuna, seeds and all. They have the texture of Asian pear, and the flavor is similar to kiwi. I don't recommend chicharrones, which is deep fried pork skin. What's really neat is that you can see everything growing on the bushes. In María's garden, there is a lime tree and bushes of two different types of avocado, neither of which are available in the U.S. I also got to see pomegranates growing, but that was in Xochmilco.

-Being the only white people around: this is a safe town, beautiful and clean, perhaps half the size of Guanajuato. It is, however, close to the border, so tourists don't come here possibly for fear of Zapatistas (a militant group for returning Mexico to the campesinos [farmers]). People look at us in the street, surprised to see anyone with light skin. I stick out especially, with my hair. At least Eileen's is dark brown.

-Our hostess was, some years ago, kidnapped by Zapatistas, and loved it: María works at health clinics. I don't know how many years ago it was, but she told us that Zapatistas kidnapped her to the cloud rainforest in order to pressure the government to build more group health centers. María found the forest beautiful, and soon, the local women heard that there was a doctor in the area and came to her with their problems. She wasted no time and started a women's group for them, teaching healthful lifestyles and hygiene. The Zapatistas promptly unkidnapped her, for "causing unrest among the natives". She wishes she could have stayed longer.

-The animals: This house has two kittens, named Linda and Delila. There is also a parrot, but apparently, he's mean, and will soon be going to the zoo. Next door are to excitable, evil, LOUD dogs, one of which is a rottweilwer, ant the other of which is really small. There are also scruffy dogs in the street, and the occasional burro.

-Water: Obviously, we're not to drink what comes out of the tap, but that's not why I bpthered to note it. Here, water is "a sometimes thing, not an always thing". Some days when you turn on the faucet, you get water, other days, not so lucky. I'm not really sure what they do about this.

A typical day:

We arise around 7, and María heads off to work. Dan goes out and does whatever it is he does. We eat breakfast, which can be awkward, because I'm never quite sure whether I'm supposed to sit and let la abuelita serve me or get my own. The awkwardness is amplified by the fact that la abuelita loves to talk, but is often hard to understand.

Eileen goes off and catches a bus to the hospital where she works, which is not the same one where María works.

I'm left at the house with Tanya and La Abuelita, who go about doing various chores.

No one's quite sure what to do with me, but I usually juggle and find something to do later.

Everyone but María (who's still working) is back at the house around 1, for la comida, and then people split off to do afternoon activities.

There tends to be another gathering in the kitchen just before bedtime, and we sit around talking and drinking tea and eating cheese and sweet bread.

The journal:

I'll pick up where I left off, Sunday, 7/10/06, just after having arrived at María's house.

We went to Daniel's graduation just after I wrote my first email. Daniel is María's son, and Dan is the one who came with us and lives alternately in Oaxaca and Alaska. It's confusing, and even more so because here they call both Daniel and pronounce it Danielle. Anyway, the graduation ceremony was very interesting. To begin, they had a flag ceremony, which is so different here that I'll have to describe it: the audience is made to stand and salute, with the right forearm straight across the chest, fingers also in a straight line. Four girls enter, one carrying the flag, and three arranged at her two sides. Two other girls follow them on. They come to the center of the stage, marching militarily, with one of the initial four girls calling commands. They face the audience and stand, and at the side of the stage, three middle-aged men in suits play the marimba. They did two songs, I believe they were the national anthem and a hymn, during which the audience was obliged to sing, still standing and saluting, the girls on stage stood stony faced and stiff, arms at their sides, and Eileen and I exchanged glances and wondered what the words were. After the songs, the girls left the stage with the flag, and the audience was allowed to sit. After the flag ceremony, students were called one by one onto the stage, accompanied by a parent or sibling, to shake hads with each and every teacher and have their pictures taken. I don't know how this differs from American graduation ceremonies, aside from that they didn't get caps annd gowns or pomp and circumstance. It took a very long time for the graduation ceremony to finish, but Eileen and I amused ourselves by estimating the height of the girls' heels. Most were six inches or more. We left Comitán's theater and had drinks at a café next to the central plaza. Mine was Tlacalatl, an Aztec corn drink. It was ...interesting.

Lunes, 7/10/06

In the morning, María drove Dan, Eileen, and I to Las Margaritas (it's the town next door, not a restaurant) to get Eileen settled in at the hospital. We returned to Comitán. María went to work, and Dan showed me to la tienda where Jenny (pronounced henny) and her son Eduardo work. It's a little place, with shelves full of everything from liquor to Cup of Noodles,to cleaning projects, to cigarettes and diapers, which she sells one at a time. Jenny owns the place, and Eduardo or her mother take over when she's not there so that the place won't be empty. Jenny has been known to talk people's ears off, so I got plenty of opportunity to practice Spanish. When customers came, my job was to give change and to wrap items if they needed wrapping. The rule for what to wrap, I found out, are things that might leak, like rice, things that have a strong smell, like candles or cleaning products, and bottles of liqour, because "they don't want people to know they have it".

Before returning to the house for la comida, Dan showed me the market, which was a typical Mexican market. We got tuna, mangoes, bananas (those are really different down here), and lettuce. Things are really cheap down here- we got about ten good-sized mangoes for what amounts to $1.50 USD.

Comida was vegetable stew and cheese.

Later in the afternoon, Eileen crammed Spanish doctoral vocabulary and Dan and I walked up to the cemetery. It was closed, but we could see the giant graves, like little houses, crowded and colorful. During the walk, he told me about his day. Apparently, he's marrying María on Friday. He's making it sound like no big deal, and they were just going to sign papers to make it legal, so I guess I won't get to see a Mexican wedding after all. Anyway, he and María had gone to get permission-type documents signed because he's technically a foreigner. Unfortunately, the guy who could give them the papers wanted to take María out instead. Eventually, she managed to convince him that she was, in fact, getting married, so after a half hour, he gave them to her.

It rained that night, but in the morning, everything was dry.

Martes, 7/12/06

I worked at the store again, this time with Tanya along. I had the same job as before, and we also weighed old newspapers, packaging them for sale by the kilo. People with stores in the marketplace use it to wrap purchases. Jenny's been trying to learn English from me, but she's having a really hard time pronouncing words.

After comida, Tanya, Eileen, Dan and I drove to San Cristobal de las Casas. This is a bigger, somewhat touristy town about an hour and a half away. We browsed the marketplace. We wanted to get embroidered shirts, but all of them were really wide, so we ende up not getting any. Dan brought us along for opinions and went shopping for a wedding ring. After looking through pretty much every jewelry store in town, he picked a medium-sized ring of gold and jade, which was all of our favorite. Dinner was tacos, and we also had mangoes with lime. These two foods, street tacos and limey mangoes could easily become our staple foods, along with licuados, which are drinks of fresh fruit, which the vendor juices as you watch. Even the orange juice licuados are really delicious.

We also drove by a grocery store, and Dan got wine to celebrate after the wedding, Eileen got a notebook to write new words in, and I got a dictionary in Spanish. It's really cool, because I can mostly understand the definitions, and it's much more fun than using a Spanish-English dictionary.

That's probably enough for one email. Today we're learning how to do laundry, and later how to make rice (with oil, garlic, and onion) and can whole peaches. We'll see if I understand a word La Abuelita says.

Mexico 1

¡Hola, todos!

Before I write anything else- I´m typing on a Spanish keyboard, which is all weird, so I´ll probably misspell words and skip punctuation occasionally. Relax- I´m not losing my nitpickiness when it comes to those things, just typing oddly. I just love how you have to hold down INS, ALT and 2 to get the @ symbol.

All right, on the the journal.

My plane left Sea-Tac at 7:40 PM, so I got to fly all night- lucky me. I transferred planes in LA and there met my travelling partner, Eileen, fresh from Alaska. (Aside: The names are confusing to me, too. Probably especially to me. No, I´m not travellig with Eileen Breseman, but with Eileen Follett, who is 22 and Alaskan. In the future, I shall refer to Eileen Breseman as Mumsy, because a) that is a hilarious thing to call someone, in my opinion, and b) it may help avoid confusion.) We boarded our plane to Mexico City, whch didn´t take off until 11.00 or 12 or something.

It was a great plane ride (sarcasm, sarcasm), The pilot flew to Mexico City (heretoforwrd referred to as DF- it´s like calling Waschington, Distric of Columbia DC) and idled there until he was about out of fuel, then fle us to Acapulco, explaining over the intercom that the DF INternational Airport was closed because of the two runways, 1 was under construction, and on the other, another plane had forgotten to use landing gear, and so had crashed. The air around DF was crowded with airplanes, so we stpped in Acapulco around 5AM to refuel and wait for air traffic to clear. We were not allowed to gt off the plane, so we all jus wated. Around 8 AM, we finally landed in DF, and were met by Dan, who lives in Oaxaca or Alaska (it varies). We found a hotel, showered, and slept, to try to make up for jet lag. Time here, btw is Central, so 2 hrs later than Pacific. Then we arose and wadered the city, Dan as our guide. We saw El Museo de Atroplogía, uting it short and rushing through to get out in ust 2 hours (it is a REALLY BiG museum). The primary mode of trael here is El Metro and Los Peseros (little green buses).

Viernes, 7-7-06

We got up at 5:30 in order to miss the weekday crowds of the metro and arrived in el Centro Norte de Autobuses. We go tickets for Teotihuacán and enjoyed the morning there, nearly with the place to ourselves. It is not as hot here as it might have been, since it is the rainy season. It is not, fortuatley, raining, but it is cloudy.Later, we visited El Zócalo (the central area of a city, in DF it´s huge with an ENOrmous flag) and surrounding sights, including El Palacio Nacional, covered with muralsby Diego Rivera, el Catedrál, which had saffolding up so people could clean the pantings and goldwork,

Tomamos una siesta enel hotle, then went back out again and saw Garibaldi square, which, though in a not-so-nice part of town is an interesting sight because it is literally packed with ariachi bands for hire. I don´t like mariachi, myself, but this was amazing by sheer multitudes. We returned to el Zócalo, where there were people protesting the recent vote and calling for a recount, and then stopped into a café. While we were there, a ¨band¨started to play. What they lacked musically was ade uop for by volume. That is to say, we had to leavebefore our eardrums broke.

Sábado, 7-8-06

We slept in a bit, then hauled our bags up to Terinal Norte and checked them for the day. Then we headedall the was south of the city on the Metro, discovering on the way the longest transfer yet. We were all glad we weren´t carrying our bags for that one. At the end of the southernmost stop, we boarded a light rail and took it to its last stop, Xochmilco. Xochmilco is a prime tourist attraction, with fatboats to rent with men to pole them along the lake. It was overpricd and very touristy, but still worth doing, for all the beautiful boats and the novelty of mariachis and vendors in their own boats trying to sell stuff. the novelty was the boats, not the selling. After a light rail ride back north,we poked around the artisan market in Tasqueña until it was time to return to the bus station. We picked up our bags and boarded the bus for Comitán, Chiapas.

Domingo, 7-9-06

The bus ride lasted through 10:30 or 11 this morning. When it was done, María, our hostess picked us up from the station and drove us to our house. Noticably, no one uses seatbelts here. She drove us to her house, and we met Tanya, her ¿17? year old daughter and her slightly older son, whosename I cançt remeber, as well as la abelita, whose name aso escapes me. We were treated to shower, meal, room, and, now, internet.

More logs later.

¡Hope the spelling is decipherable!
-
Kelsey BresemanñÑ¿?¡!ªºç
www.sarcasmsociety.com

PS: How as Pirates of the Carribean 2 and who won Wrld Cup?