Hello Central Heating?

Its about 3 AM and I cant get to sleep... its too cold because there is no heating in the building. Apparently the A/C unit in the wall is supposed to give heat as well as air conditioning... but I can't figure out the 100 different buttons on the A/C remote control. But at least I can laugh at how both advanced and primitive China is sometimes. HA!

Nanjing, etc.

Hi All! Missing Ann Arbor a tad... I bet the leaves are already changing colors and falling. Here there are not many trees.

Went on a weekend trip last week with my roommates to a city called Nanjing. There were eleven of us, from about 9 different countries. It basically was the typical foreign student trip... took the train there, stayed in a REALLY bad hostel and spent the entire two days that we were there hiking around the most famous monuments and tourist spots. My feet really hurt at the end. But it was great. I got to see the tomb of Sun Yatsen, I climbed up this huge pagoda, I saw the tomb of the last Ming Dynasty Emperor, I had my picture taken by about two hundred Chinese people, I went out on a lake in a boat, I went out on a pond in a huge inflatable bubble... that about sums it up.



Otherwise, things are "mamahuhu" (so-so) at home. School, work and the complexities of daily life go on. Visa issues are annoying me, but I should be able to work things out until I transfer to the university and get a student visa. I'm excited about the Halloween Party at work, my birthday next month, and another trip (to Guailin) that I am taking next week. Work is still strange... things are the same - I don't really do too much. I'm getting to know my coworkers a lot better though, and its fun to hear about their families, their lives, etc.

Well, thats all for now. I'm going to go with my roommates to get some dumplings from the "food street" two blocks away. Its the place where vendors park their homemade carts and fry things up right in front of you, it's great! Six amazing dumplings for about forty cents total. Yummm.

A Days Work

I finally received my first paycheck and found out how much my work has been paying me. 12 yuan an hour. Thats about $1.50 an hour. Its frustrating and I must admit that I'm quite annoyed (digo, enojada) about it... but I'm going to stick with the job for a little because next week I shall be switching to a different area - I'll be in charge of the children's rooms. Apparently its a promotion... And I shall hopefully be actually working and gaining experience from this.... We shall see.

Update

* Last week was vacation week - no work or school! I was planning to go on a trip to Xitang (ancient city, beautiful lake) and to Wuxi (city with the biggest Buddha in China). Nope, I didn't go any where. Came down with strep throat and spent the week in bed. I have many complaints about the hospitals here in China (among many other things) but given the current poli sitch I shall keep it to myself at least for now.

* My job has gone from no responsibility to loads of responsibility. We are opening up a Kid's Club (for childcare, etc.) and apparently I am going to be in charge of everything. Everything. This includes babysitting (I will have helpers of course), coordinating events, working with clients, and being the MC at the grand opening. Such a change from sitting at a desk and doing the occasional translation. To be honest, I'm a tad suspicious and a bit nervous but also excited about this change of pace.

* School, social life, etc. are all going well. I am missing my girls who returned to Europe. Luckily I have five roommates, so at least things are always lively in the apartment. I plan to transfer next semester to Jiao Tong University - it's more official, more campus-y, and I already have friends there.

* I was very happy to find out yesterday WHY Chinese toilets have two flush buttons. The small button is for a tinkle, and the big one is for number two. Ahh, makes SO much sense now! And it's earth-friendly.

* Got my absentee ballot yesterday. Score! I'm still extremely worried about the economic crisis in the US right now though. Are you people crazy? Why aren't you freaking out? I'M freaking out, and I'm halfway across the world.

Anyways, with work, school, family, friends and volunteering, I am much too busy to even contemplate being homesick. In fact, I feel quite the spoiled princess right now. :-)

Sick

Had a fever of 103 the past two days. Dad and I are leaving for the doctors right now. Will keep ya'll updated.

Motorcycle incident

It was a Friday night and I was planning to meet my friend Daniel for cocktails. I wasn't too keen on going, but he swore that the bar we were going to was amazing. So, I headed out of my apartment which is located in the busiest part of town - People's Square. Yep, nine o'clock on a Friday night and there were billions of taxis on the street... all of them full. There were also billions of people standing on the sidewalk also desperately waving at any taxi that drove by. After fifteen minutes of waiting, I was getting impatient.

A guy on a motorcycle started loitering around me. Yes yes, everyone tells you: DO NOT TAKE THE MOTORCYCLE TAXIS. They are illegal and don't have meters... they are just normal people trying to make a buck on the side. Yet, I was getting desperate, and this guy kept hanging around me, knowing that I was waiting for a taxi. So finally (after repeatedly calling Daniel who wasn't answering) I caved in and got on the motorcycle. I figured I might as well take a chance once in my life. "How much?" I asked him. "Five quai" he replied. Not a bad price.

We were zooming along happily (I was excitedly recording my video) when I realized that I only had a one-hundred quai bill with me. "I hope you have change for one-hundred" I told the driver. "It's fifty quai, so I will owe you fifty quai" the driver said. WHAT?! NO. HELL NO. He said five quai at first! Another Chinese person trying to rip me off because I'm white. I got pissed. I started arguing with the driver but he wasn't convinced. And I didn't know how to tell him to stop and let me off. So I did what any rational person would do. I called my daddy. My dad started to argue with the taxi driver in Chinese.

Finally the taxi driver stopped in a neighborhood and demanded twenty quai for getting me that far. I was pissed. I started yelling at him in my very bad Chinese. People started coming out of their houses and peering out of their windows. One guy helped me translate. Finally, I settled on marching to a restaurant and getting change for my one-hundred quai. I gave the guy ten quai and the finger, and took a picture of his license plate. The jerk.

Word of advice. DO NOT TAKE THE MOTORCYCLE TAXIS.

The Tea Ceremony Scam

The scam is this: A group of friendly young Chinese people approach a foreigner, usually a young woman who is alone. They speak English well and they are funny and make lots of conversation. They claim to be college students on vacation from Beijing. Later, they mention that they are on their way to a tea ceremony. They ask if you would like to join. So, you figure... "why not?!" You are in Shanghai, and feeling all grown-up and spontaneous and independent. So you go to the tea ceremony and have a lot of fun with these so-called students. Later the bill comes and it's ridiculously expensive. Everybody splits the bill, but you still end up having to pay $350 quai for your part ($50 USD). You wonder how only the tea was so expensive, but don't say anything because everybody else pays their part as well.

This happened to Constanze the first day she got to Shanghai. She was confused about the incident, but didn't think anything of it until the next day she was in the same park, when another group of "friendly students" approached her. She was conversing with them, and they too asked her to go to a tea ceremony. She said no, but the thought began to dawn on her that it was a scam. This was confirmed later by a French girl who approached her and and warned her about it. Apparently the "tea house" has many different menus depending on how much money the "mark" appears to have.

Once you know about the scam, its very easy to spot, as the groups of students hang out mainly in People's Square and the park nearby and make quite obvious attempts to start conversations with foreigners. I've been approached a few times, but I just ignore them.

Constanze and I were on our way to an art exhibit when we walked by a young woman talking to a few young Chinese people. Overhearing the conversation, we realized that she was a "mark". After continuing walking for a few minutes, we decided to turn around and warn her. Luckily, we came right as they were leaving. We suspected that the girl was German, so Constanze marched in and started talking to the poor girl in German (yes, she understood!). She ended up leaving and coming with us to the art museum where she was headed in the first place.

Porn, Arabic Equipment, and other things...

* I went out with my boss for lunch the other day, and the waiter brought out some type of meat dish. 

Me: "What kind of food is that?"

Boss: "It's porn."

Me: "Huh?"

Boss: "Porn."

Me: "WHAT?"

Boss: "It's Porn. P-O-R-N. Porn. It's a type of meat."

Me: "Are you sure its called PORN?"

Boss: (Checks her English-Chinese electronic dictionary) "Oh, wait. It's called spare ribs."

* The same type of misunderstanding happened with my co-workers. They kept telling me about all the expensive Arabic equipment and Arabic classes that our club offers. "Wow." I thought, "You need equipment to learn Arabic?" No, turns out they meant AEROBIC. :-) 

* I met two super nice girls at a party at my school. Constanze is German, and Laura is French and English. We have been spending a lot of time together and it's great! We've been to the Yuyuan Gardens, to a "fake market" (where they sell fake brand-name things) and to several nightclubs. Sadly they are both leaving soon!

* I volunteered at the Shanghai Children's Medical Center this weekend. I met three other Chinese girls about my age, and I got to play with sick Chinese kids. Most of the kids were shy, and it was quite hard for me to communicate with them and their parents. But still, I made a few little friends, and learned Chinese words such as: headache, toothache, turtle (oo-guay like Kung Fu Panda Master Ooguay), kangaroo, dolphin, bear and chimpanzee). 

* Today I moved into my apartment next to the school. The other people here seem very nice, but my room is dingy and the bathroom STINKS. Next week I am moving to a nicer room in a different apartment in the same building. Me living in that room was the original agreement - but they somehow decided to stick me here for one week. Grr. 

Szechuan Food

I met my dads coworkers today. We had a fancy dinner tonight in a Szechuan restaurant which rivaled my Hong Kong dinner and included lamb ribs, frog stew, eel and fake eel (which is made from tofu), fish, pork, pork and fish together, chicken, chicken feet and thankfully ONE vegetable dish which they ordered especially for me. We also had "swa-mei-tang" which is plum juice. It was quite good and helped to take the spice out of the famously spicy Szechuan food. 

The coworkers were all very nice. They told me an urban legend about a Spanish man and Chinese woman who got married. The couple spoke English to one another in order to communicate. When they had a baby, they spoke to the baby in their mother tongues. Three years later, the baby still couldn't speak any language at all. Finally it started speaking in a language nobody understood! 

YAY!

Horray, yippee! I've finally finished the site that I've been working on for author Leslie Williams!!! You can view it at:
LeslieWalkerWilliams.com

Now I am planning to make a new site for MEE since my dad has been holding on to a domain name that he hasn't been using: fishtoe.com. Hehe funny name, I know! 

First Day of Work!

Today was my first day at work at the Ambassy Club, a swanky private club that costs in the range of $1,300 USD and belongs to casino tycoon Stanley Ho. I was scheduled to arrive at 1:00 today, however my new boss didn't show up until around 2:30, so I was stuck waiting for her in the lobby for over an hour. While in the lobby, I realized how frumpy I was (aka rumpled shirt, salt-residue on my scuffed boots from winter, leather BOOTS because I don't have dress shoes) compared to all the other well-groomed, immaculately dressed workers of the place. Man, I should really get some shoes.

I think I am the only American that works there, although the staff say that 80% of the members are foreigners. Most staff speak at least a little bit of English luckily. My job title is: personal assistant to the woman in charge of sales and memberships. She has about 6 other people in her office (working under her), and I really like all of them. They are all fairly young (late 20s, early 30s-ish), and one girl in particular is very helpful and talkative. Her name is Michelle and she has two pet chipmunks! She showed me around the club, although we spent most of our time talking to the dreamy fitness trainer in the gym. He seemed nice as well, although our conversation was quite stunted by his strong accent. It took him and Michelle 10 minutes to get me to understand that they were talking about Arnold Schwarzenegger (which they pronounced something like: Ah-Ro-Du-Do Sha-Zen-Nu-No-Guh). My boss, other than showing up late, is very pleasant and soft-spoken. However she seems to be a little directionless with what to do with me. Today after taking a tour of the place I just chatted with co-workers and played around online. Tomorrow I will start correcting all the English on their website. I think everyone likes me so far, if nothing more for the fact that I can practice English with them and that I am on their level.


Oh, just found a WIKIPEDIA link about my work:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ambassy_Club

Shanghai Livin'

Today dad and I spent the day sightseeing and shopping. We went to a Taoist temple, and later to one of the many little markets. I found a ton of cheap, cute stationary and stickers, yay! Later we went to the fabric district, which one of my friends recommended to me. I ordered three formal work-shirts to be tailor-made for me. Each shirt costs only $15 USD and I got to choose the cloth and the style from a fashion magazine. They will be done in a week, and I am very excited to have some tailor-made clothes!

News from the past week:
- I've gone out to the bars twice, and managed to make some tentative friends! I met a really cool French guy who could speak mandarin. We spent one day walking all the way from my house (Jing An Temple district) to the Bund, which is across town. It was so fun! Unfortunately, he had to return to his country this weekend.
- I got a job! I was hoping for an internship, but instead my aunt Diana hooked me up with her friend who is looking for an assistant. I will be selling memberships at a fancy-pants health club which is right next to the US Embassy. Hopefully I will make connections with embassy people. That would be cool, right? Work starts tomorrow. Eek!
- My cousin Amanda arrived! Thank god for someone my own age. We went shopping yesterday, and hopefully we will be hanging out a lot more. She is nice and very down-to-earth.
- I am obsessed with getting a pet chipmunk. The other day I saw these street vendors with tiny cages containing little bunnies, mice, or chipmunks. The poor things looked so miserable. I want to buy one as a pet, however I have to see whether the apartment I am going to stay in will let me have pets. Apartment move-in is on Sept. 14th, so I still have a ways to go. I am counting down the days however. Hopefully, work will keep me occupied until then.

Back to Shanghai

(Click on the picture to see more pictures!)

We returned home from Hong Kong/Macau last night, and now I have about two weeks left until I start school. Yesterday (our last day in Hong Kong) I shopped for knockoff designer purses and DVDs, and also got massages at a spa with Aunt Jenny and my dad. In HK I also made sure to do all my important internet stuff while I was free of the "Great Firewall of China". I was also able to watch English language TV (oh the luxury!) and watched the breaking news that Obama decided to run with Biden. Hopefully my absentee ballot will arrive soon!

Also, the day trip to Macau (known as the Las Vegas of the East) was interesting. Dad and I walked around the downtown while Aunt Jenny hit the casinos, but sadly the casinos are one of the only activities in Macau, so there wasn't too much to see. And I ended up catching a cold from going in and out of the boiling heat outside and the freezing air-conditioning.

Now in Shanghai I am hoping to find a place to volunteer or work in my spare time. My cousin Amanda (who is only a year younger than me) will arrive this weekend from an international study-cruise in Europe. Finally somebody my own age to talk to! Needless to say, I am jumping with joy!

I still need to work on my skills at the squat-style toilet, which consists of a flushable hole in the ground and footholds on either side. It is standard even in fairly upscale malls and restaurants. And I thought Mexican toilets were bad!

Lastly, an interesting tidbit I learned from my travel book: on avg. 600 people are killed in automobile related accidents each day in Shanghai.

Hong Kong

Hello from the Conrad hotel in Hong Kong! We flew in from Shanghai on Friday to visit my aunts, even amid the typhoon warnings, but so far the weather has been great. And I have been living a life of luxury over here on the decadent island of HK. Tonight, I must have eaten about 8 different animals for dinner: an appetizer of duck foot and abalone, sharks fin soup full of chicken feet and fish stomachs, and then lobster, pork ribs and fish as main dishes. As much as I would like to be a vegetarian, it seems pretty impossible at the moment.

It has been great to see all my family, especially since I have spent just about every waking hour since I arrived in China with my father. My aunts spoil me like crazy. Last night we went to a very upscale, cosmopolitan restaurant overlooking the entire city of Hong Kong. My aunts are extremely worried that I never eat enough, so they were constantly piling more food on my plate, while in the meantime giving me "hong bao" (red envelopes filled with money).

And today I literally shopped til I dropped. In the morning, my dad and I hit the brand-named stores in the malls which are the size of small cities (dad bought me some nice walking shoes). And in the afternoon my aunt Alice took us to "Nu ren jin" (Ladies market) which is basically ten blocks of stalls selling purses, clothes, watches, jewelry, ipod cases, lingerie, and everything else you can think of. Err.... I went a tiny bit crazy there, and bought a few things that I possibly don't need.... but it was hard to say no to the cheap prices, especially when I had the bargaining machine of Aunt Alice to back me up. Tomorrow we are going gambling in Macao with Aunt Jenny, and then we return to Shanghai on Tuesday.

So, things are going well even though I have been pretty homesick and it feels like I am rather isolated (even though there are 1.3 billion people around me...). But hopefully things will change once I start classes. Yes, I enrolled in a school! My dad was hell-bent on getting me into a university here, but since the application deadline for the fall term has long passed, we finally, finally, Finally found a suitable private mandarin school which is quite jazzy from the looks of it. The best part is that they offer apartment accommodations close by, in which I will be living with not one, not two, but five other students! Roommates = new friends. I will have my own bedroom of course, and the place is nice and very clean inside. I am uber excited and counting down the days until move-in and classes starting (Sept 14th). And I am sure I will get over my homesickness soon, I hope.

Shanghai Arrival

I arrived in Shanghai two days ago and things are going fine, although I am still trying to get acclimated to China. The city is huge, but luckily dad lives pretty much in the center of the city, so it is easy to get around. We live on the 11th floor of a swanky apartment building with modern furniture in it. Looking down from our window, I can see the roof of another building, with a golf driving range on top of it.

Traffic is one of the things that is very different in China. Cars drive two inches from each other on every side, and don't pay much attention to any traffic laws that might be in place. When dad and I were taking a taxi from the airport to the apartment, a car in front of us accidentally accelerated, crashed into a guardrail, and then bounced off and swerved into the other lane. We were almost involved in the accident, but luckily our taxi driver slammed on the brakes. Then, we slowly made our way past the car (now with one side of the door completely skimmed off). Our taxi driver sighed: "My god, that car! That car!"

Yesterday, I saw another accident. A car had hit a schoolgirl, and then had run over one of her feet. The driver got out, but the poor schoolgirl had her toes trapped beneath the tire and was laying on the ground screaming and crying. Yikes. One must be extremely careful when crossing the street.

Today, dad and I are going to search for schools for me. He wants me to go to a university, but the problem is that the application deadlines have mostly passed already. So we are going to visit one that is associated with the University of Michigan, and see if I can squeeze into the upcoming semester.

So far though, dad and I have gotten many important things done. I got a cell phone yesterday and we registered me at the local police station. I also met up with a friend of a friend who lives in Shanghai and happens to be Mexican. He introduced me to two of his friends, but sadly they are going to be leaving China soon. However, they did give me some good advice about Shanghai, including a "magic number" that gives help to ex-pats with anything they need - translation, directions, etc.

Keep an eye open, I will be posting pictures soon. And give me a call! I am still getting over my homesickness here. My number is: (86) 1500-194-0015

Back in the Deuce... for a few days.

Just a little update, I got back from Greece last night and I shall be staying in Ann Arbor for a week before taking a trip to California. Then I'll be back for another week before my big trip to China.

Oh, and I do not have any pity for George the scooter-rental-man anymore. He charged me 70 euros for some tiny scratches to the scooter from when I fell. And he didn't even ask me if I was okay. The nerve!

The case of the evil moto... or the paranoid Amanda?

So, I think my paranoia is bringing me down. Either that, or my scooter is possesed with an evil spirit. After I fell on Saturday, I was extremely paranoid and careful while driving yesterday (Sunday). I really took grandma-style driving to the extreme. I was SO nervous about falling... that I ended up falling three times. The first two times happened during the day, and they weren't bad. Neither the scooter nor I were hurt. But last night as Anna and I were coming home from getting ice cream, I fell for a third time on the same steep hill on the same sandy/rocky dirt road leading to the meditation center. That time, it was dark and I couldn't see anything, and when I fell, the scooter fell on top of me and I couldn't get up. It was a little scary. All the gas from the scooter came pouring out on top of me, and I first I thought it was blood! I managed to kick the scooter off of me, and Anna came rushing back down the hill to help me (she is used to me falling by now). So, today I am very sore and definitely a little scraped and bruised. I am not going to drive at all today, but I do want to try again tomorrow. I could just stop driving completely, or go back and get a version of Anna's scooter, which has much bigger wheels and is easier to handle in the sand. But if I did that, I will feel like my scooter defeated me. And I am not going to let the stupid scooter defeat me, goddamn it!

Furious George

I am convinced that George, the owner of the scooter-rental place, hates us. He has a pained expression on his face everytime he sees Anna and me. After seeing Anna try out the scooter for the first time, he was reluctant to even rent them to us. Then, there was the incident where the brake on my scooter was locked into place because somebody must have hit it. George suspected that I was the one who crashed it, even though Grandpa assured him that it wasn't me. Yesterday, we went to get Anna a scooter. Since she had been practicing on mine, she took mine because it was more comfortable and easy for her, and I rented a new one with smaller tires. That same day, we left our scooters parked by the grocery store. When we came out, the license plate on Anna's scooter was laying on the ground, bent and twisted. We had to take it to George to re-attach it.

And today yet another scooter incident happened to me. Last night, Anna tripped and hurt her foot. She didn't want to go out at all today, so I decided to drive along the countryside with my camera and try to get some good photos. Things were going great, I was getting some really beautiful pictures of houses and other things along the road. Then I saw a peach tree with ripe peaches on it, down in a ditch. I parked my scooter on the side of the road and waded down through the weeds to get to the peaches. The peaches were hanging off the tree, over a huge pile of big rocks. So I climbed up onto the pile of rocks to get a better shot. I was so absorbed in looking at the peaches, that I heard a small *clink* but didn't even think about at the moment. Then I realized that my key to my scooter was no longer in my hand. It had dropped down into the pile of rocks. I spent about 30 minutes digging a hole in the rock pile. There were strange things down in those rocks. There were snails, many eggs of different varieties, a huge white worm with black polkadots inside a crysalis, red bugs shaped like small dried rose petals, and even a yellow skeleton of a scorpion. After 30 minutes, I was exhausted. People were driving along the road, staring down at me, probably wondering what a girl in a sundress was doing hauling rocks around. Then I saw Grandpa drive by. I screamed at him to stop, and luckily he somehow heard me. He and I spent another 20 minutes digging through the rocks. Finally, we realized that it was hopeless and decided to go to George to see if he had an extra key for my scooter. As we were climbing back up to the road, George drove by. We flagged him down. He and Grandpa spent another 10 minutes digging through the rocks. We never found the key. George seemed to be quite unhappy about it. Luckily, he had an extra key though, so I took that one and promised to make a copy.

George doesn't know yet... but on the way home from the rock pile, I was so exhausted and stressed that when I took a sharp turn down a hill, the scooter slid on the gravel and I fell right over. I wasn't really hurt at all - just a few bumps and bruises. However, the scooter got scratched and one of the reflectors cracked and fell off. Oops.

It's all Greek to me

Anna and I have managed to make some Greek friends here. One of them we went kyaking with today. I have also managed to learn a few Greek words such as:

skilos = dog, gata = cat, limoni = port, omorfa = beautiful, ef-haristo = thank you

Thats about it. The rest, well... as Anna and I say to ourselves... its all Greek to me.

Meditation and Snorkeling

Last night, Anna and I attended a Sanyas(sp?) celebration at the meditation center where we are staying. Since we are the granddaughters of a “mystic,” (which from what I gather means a meditation master), most people at the meditation center are surprised that we don’t meditate at all. But last night was a special occasion, because five people were becoming Sanyasins. I think this means that they pledge to live their life on the principals of meditation and of Osho (the figurehead of meditation). So, Anna and I came to the nightly meditation, after which followed the celebration. It was quite fun actually. Everybody dresses in white, and we listened to live music, danced, and then had silent meditation, then listened to a recording of Osho. Then, we formed a circle around the people who were taking their vows, and they danced. It was interesting to see how everything worked. I’ve always been curious about what grandpa does, and so this gave me a little insight into it.
Earlier, Anna and I both bought snorkeling gear, and today we had a chance to try it out for the first time. Anna has snorkeled before, but I had no idea what it was like. My conclusion is… I love it!!! It’s amazing! It’s beautiful! I feel like a fish! I can see underwater! We swam over to the cliffs, where there are many huge rocks underwater. Of course it is not as colorful as “Finding Nemo,” but we definitely saw some amazing things. There were black sea urchins, little bottom feeders with white whiskers, rainbow colored fish, and one huge school of thousands of tiny fish.
Well, that’s about all for now. The evening meditation tonight seems to be over, so I am guessing that grandpa shall be ready soon to go have some dinner. Tonight we are going to try some souvlaki. OH, and other news! Anna practiced on my moped today, and she really improved her driving. Tomorrow she is going to rent one too. This is good – it means we can get around the island by ourselves. Yay!

Too much relaxing

Today, Anna and I spent the day eating, sleeping and swimming at the beach. It is quite isolated here, so that is just about all that we can do.

On the other hand, I did have a mini-adventure today on the way into town. As I was following grandpa and Anna on their scooter, my scooter started puttering and slowed down. Grandpa zoomed off, assuming that I was being slow, and that I would catch up. Something was wrong with my scooter though, and no matter how high I revved the engine, it wouldn't go any faster. Finally, I stopped on the road and tried to see what was wrong. I waited for Anna and Grandpa to come back, but nobody came. I also had no idea where I was. So, I managed to drag the scooter in front of a grocery store. Some men came out and started helping me.

After going to the post-office, Anna and grandpa realized that I still wasn't there. They headed back and found me, and we got the scooter fixed. Apparently, somebody had hit the scooter while it was parked, which caused the brake to lock into place as I was driving.

Yassu from Greece!

Yassu means hello in Greek, as far as I know.

Well, things are good and I am in Lesbos at the moment, although getting here was a bit difficult. Anna and I arrived in Athens and found grandpa almost immediately. However, when we went to check into our plane from Athens to Lesbos, it turns out that they had canceled the flight without telling grandpa. Luckily, we rescheduled the flight for the next day, and grandpa had a friend in Athen whom we could stay with. So, we took the metro into Athens and spent the night at Moona's apartment. The next day we woke up at three in the morning, and took the flight to Lesbos. When we got to Lesbos, there was supposed to be a rental car waiting for us in the parking lot, so that we could drive to the city in which we were staying. We searched the entire parking lot, but the car wasn't there. Finally, after phone calls it turns out that the rental place had taken back the car, since we didnt arrive on time. So then we had to wait another hour for the rental service to bring back the car. Finally, we got on the road and headed towards Aerossos, the city where we are staying. A meditation center in which grandpa teaches is located here.

The city is gorgeous - it's all mountains and white houses with red tiled roofs, right next to the sea. The meditation center where we are staying is pretty too. Most people stay outside in tents and cabins, but there are some guest houses as well. Anna and I have our room and our own bathroom - a luxury here. Meals are served outside, and all meals are vegitarian. Yesterday, grandpa and I rented scooters so that we could drive around the town. Without them, it is about 30 minutes from the meditation center to the beach or to downtown. Anna is learning how to drive a scooter too, but I think she is a bit nervous about it. The beach is pretty but rocky. Tomorrow we shall go to one that has more sand. Apparently it is "bathing suit optional" there.... I think I shall keep mine on.

More updates later.

Pizza Girl

Yep, I am officially one of the pizza girls, or at least that is what I am called by the patrons and volunteers of the Ann Arbor summer festival. Working at the pizza restaurant isn't entirely bad. At first, I hated it. One of my first days, the boss made me clean behind the deep fryer. I had to go down on my hands and knees underneath it, and scoop up piles of black oil scum with a spatula. It wasn't fun. I am still having some kitchen adventures though... the other day I set a huge flour bag on fire by accident. Then I didn't know what to do, so I just pointed at it helplessly until somebody else put it out. I also manage to spill and/or drop something just about every day, and I also suck at the cash-register. After ringing up a customer, usually I will realize later that I undercharged them for something, or the customer will realize that I overcharged them for something, and come storming back. Other customers are extremely demanding. One woman asked if we had sea-salt instead of regular salt to put on her pizza. Another customer ordered spaghetti with meatballs, with alfredo sauce on one half, and marinera sauce on the other half. When we served it to him, he looked disappointed and said that he meant to have the different sauces mixed together. Argh.

But still, I have fun there. I really like all the other workers. They are all about my age, and we are constantly joking around with each other. I am also getting to know the regulars that come in. Some can be a little quirky, but most are very nice. So, other than the fact that I am working way too much (seven days a week), life is pretty good. I am also getting ready for my vacation to Greece with my grandpa, in July, and for my stay in China in August. My dad and I are trying to get my visa figured out so that I will be able to stay in China the entire year. But anyways, I must go get ready to go to work. So as we would say in the pizzeria... Ciao!

Leaving Guanajuato

I cried while I was walking downtown today. It's because I'm leaving tomorrow for the States and I don't want to go. I really don't. There are so many things I'll miss. Mainly, the gorgeous city and the people in it, but also all the little details of my life, such as driving through the ancient arches and tunnels at night on Tonio's motorcycle, walking through El Jardin, having a "black kiss" (type of hot chocolate) at Cafe Tal, watching people go by from the steps of Teatro Juarez... even just walking down the street is just so much more fun in Mexico! In the U.S., nobody is going to sell me fresh orange juice for a dollar, no cowboys with a chain of donkeys are going to be wandering the city, and I won't know half the city by name. It sucks.

I'm going to miss all of my classmates and friends a lot as well. We've grown so close and had so many good times together. I will miss Katie and her motherliness and her boobaloos and chocolate minty balls, I will miss laughing and dancing down the street with Amanda P., I will miss Johnny's polite side and his funny side, and Jeanie's awesome waitressing stories... I'll miss everything.

Then again, I am happy about going home too. I am glad to be leaving the drama of Guanajuato, and happy to go back to greenery and trees and grass and rain. I can't wait to eat sushi again, and to take a shower with water pressure (yay!), and to be able to fill up a glass of water from the tap. So, I guess I'll get to packing now. I have a busy day ahead of me, with saying goodbye to everyone. Hasta luego, amigos.

Stressed.

One thing that I will not miss about Mexico are my unhealthy habits: I had four cups of coffee today! In Mexico I am just a coffee addicted, clove guzzling, greasy-taco eating machine! I need to stop. I need to go to bed too. But I have so much homework to do tonight... these last days are so stressful. :-(

Upset

Somebody in my house has been taking money from me. I know because I've been writing down how much is in my stash, and various times there has been money missing. I calculate that in total I have lost 120 dollars. ARGH. I don't know what to do.

Dolores Hidalgo and more...

I didn't enjoy walking home from school today... It was almost 90 degrees (F), a good part of the 30 minute walk was up a large hill, and I was wearing long jeans because shorts are not acceptable to wear around here. However, apart from the terribly hot weather, I am getting sad about going back home. I have less than a month left. This weekend I had a dream in which I had returned to Michigan and I was crying because I couldn't go back to Mexico. When I woke up, I was actually surprised to be in my bed in Guanajuato.

Speaking of happier things though, I went to Dolores Hidalgo this weekend and had a great time. Dolores Hidalgo is a little city that is historically famous for it's part in the Independance of Mexico, and culturally famous for all the weird different flavors of nieve and helado (ice creams) that they sell there. So, late afternoon on Saturday Me and MNF (my new family) and Katie jumped into their little car and zoomed through the mountains to Dolores. We weren't even sure that there would still be vendors out by the time we got there, but luckily this weekend happened to be the Ice cream Fair weekend. The plaza was absolutely full of different stands of vendors, and everyone giving out free samples. I ended up trying samples of all types of ice cream, from the delicious to the bizzare, including: Mole, Shrimp and Octopus, Chamoy, Corn, Tequila, Beer, Rum, Cucumber, Pistacio, Mango, 6 Delights (apple, cherry, grape, pineapple....plus two more "delights" that I forget), Angels Kiss (cherry with nuts), "Temptation" (I have no idea what was in that one, but it tasted GOOD), Butter with Dried Fruit, Zapote Negra (a black type of fruit)... and more. I settled on buying four flavors: peach flower (which was my favorite), cajeta (goats milk carmel), coconut and rose petal.

Later, me and my full tummy went back to the house of MNF and we watched August Rush and they spoiled me shamelessly and stuffed even more food down my throat.

Temezcal

So, today our class took a trip to a temezcal, which is located up past Plaza de Los Angeles in the backyard of the owners. Basically, a temezcal is ancient type of sauna that pre-hispanic Mexican tribes used. It is a small, round hut made out of mud and bricks, with a wood-fire oven attached to the outside. Inside is very dark and hot (obviously) and there are corn husks hanging from the low ceiling. There are square rocks around the edges of the hut for people to sit on. In between every two seats are huge clay jars filled with water, for people to refresh themselves with. In the middle of the temezcal are glowing hot rocks that are shoveled in from the outside oven, and smaller pumice stones.

When we got there, we stripped down to our bathing suits and entered the temezcal. It was ungodly hot! Apparently it was 40 degrees (F) hotter than the outside temperature, which was 90. So it was about 130 degrees in there! It felt hard to breathe, and my body became drenched in sweat immediately. In fact, I never knew I could sweat SO much. A shaman guy came in, and explained to us the ritual. We rubbed oil on ourselves, drank some hot cinnamon tea, held hands, and did some chants. Then we rubbed ourselves with salt and aloe, and stewed in there a while longer. Finally, we came out and had some light refreshments. I relaxed in the hammock that was there.

The place was quite beautiful - they had plants and flowers and herbs growing everywhere. Most of the people left, but five of us girls remained. Finally when we left, we walked down the callejones and encountered a cool artsy wall, an adorable baby rat with it's eyes barely opened, and some interesting graffiti.

My New Family

This weekend has been awesome so far! I have been hanging out a lot with my friend Johnny. Me and my group met him and his group at the Zacatecas beer factory on class trips... even though both groups are from Guanajuato. He is really well informed, plays soccer for the University, and his English is impeccable because he studied abroad in the U.S. for a year.

Well today, his mom (who is a middle school teacher) had to go to Leon to chaperone a school party, in which they crown the "queen" of the school. (Imagine a HUGE auditorium filled with hundreds of sweaty 14 year olds dressed up like 23 year olds, dancing to techno). Anyways, I tagged along so that I could get a ride to Leon. But the whole point of this story being that I met Johnny's brothers, and his mom ... who is SO AMAZING!!! Needless to say, I already love her, and I think the whole family loves me, and we drove back from Leon singing "the itsy bitsy spider" in Spanish and English. I really felt like I was part of the family.

Oh, and while I was in Leon, I ate some great sushi and had a white mocha Starbucks. YUM!

Zacatecas

We visited Zacatecas this past weekend, and it was a fun trip. It was not as hectic as the Mexico City trip, yet we still managed to get a lot of stuff done. We took a tour of the city and went in a cable car over the city, up to a mountain (ironically also named La Bufa - the same name as the mountain in Gto.). We went to some "pyramids" which were not actual pyramids but a city built rather vertically by prehispanic tribes, who ate snakes and deer and believed in human sacrifice. It is called "La Quemada" (the burned one) because the city was completely burned when it was discovered. We visited a mine which had been rennovated for tourists. It also had a club in it (which we visited later, once we had free time). The mine impacted me a lot - I felt amazed to be so far underground, inside rocky tunnels, and to think of the hard work that men and even children had done to dig so deep into the rock without dynamite - only pickaxes and drills. We visited museums, including a Huichol indian museum. They are the indigenous people of the Mexican desert who eat the hallucinagenic cactus peyote as a ritual. Their art is colorful and full of animals.


We also visted the Corona beer factory. The buildings are so huge inside that workers ride bikes to get from one side to the other. My favorite part was the huge vats of "wort" - the liquid mixture that beer is made from, before it becomes alcoholic. It contains wheat water and sugar, among other things. There is a sink next to the vats of wort, and when you turn on the faucet, pure sweet wort-water comes out. It takes good. It has a discusting sounding name though. The strange thing was that on the tour, a group of Mexican students from Guanajuato were there. I made friends with one of them, and we are planning to watch a Mexico-China soccer game tomorrow. Also, the Corona tour guide seemed to really like our group. It was quite strange. He invited us to return to Zacatecas for a margarita party... although Corona doesn't make any margarita related drink. Then, later he showed up at our hostel with two other Corona workers, bearing a cooler of beer. We all ate dinner and drank together, and they were very nice. I am still confused as to why he wanted to hang out with us though.


I also managed to buy some cool souvenirs, including some art made by the Huichol indians. I also got this candied gourd thing called Visnaga which is a typical Zacatecas treat, for my host brother who demanded that I bring him back something. He seemed quite satisfied with it. Then he took me out to dinner today. It's strange. I've never had a brother before, so it's quite frusterating to have somebody whom I live with who is annoying and selfish one second, and then completely fun and generous the next. He calls me ugly, and he pokes me (my pet peeve!), and he bothers me when I am trying to sleep or trying to do homework, or he talks about boring stuff for a long time! UGH!!!! It's so annoying! But then, he also takes me to dinner and to beautiful little towns, he introduces me to his cool designer friends, he buys me gummies, and his adorable sons call me their sister. So he can be really nice at times. My friends think the reason for his strange behavior is that he has really bad manners.... who knows.

La Bufa

This weekend, Carlos and I went to La Bufa - an especially odd mountain/cliff in the midst of the many moutainy cliffs around Guanajuato. We climbed all the way up to the top (which was VERY tiring by the way) and were able to see the entire city down below. It was quite amazing. I also climbed up the cross that is on the very top of the mountain, and I stood up on it too see the entire countryside. What a rush! And apparently there is a legend about a wizard who lived on La Bufa. Anyways, below is a picture of me on the cross. And I must say, Carlos did NOT take very flattering pictures of me that day. I took MUCH better pictures of him. Argh.

Interesting Words

Heirba buena ("good herb") is the name for the mint plant.
Hierba mala ("bad herb") is the name for marijuana.
Piel de naranja ("skin of orange") is the name for celulite.
Manos de pulpo ("octopus hands") is what you say about someone who is too touchy feely.
Hablar entre los dientos ("to talk between your teeth") is to mumble.

Okay, it's late. I should get to bed. But first, I must say... I discovered the most AWESOME taco vendor who sells delicious "tortas" (sandwiches), and he's open quite late! I had a torta after salsa class tonight. It was great!

Mama Mia!

Mom got here Sunday and we have been having a blast so far! Sunday, Carlos and I picked her up from the airport. We got her settled in a hotel about a 10 minute walk from my house, and then she came over and had lunch with me and my host family. Then I showed her around the downtown a little bit - to the important hang-out places such as El Jardin and La Basilica.

Monday, we went to Museo de la Cera (museum of the hill), which was basically just some wax figures of important people in Mexican history. It wasn't very exciting. Then we went to the Municipal Market in Las Embajadoras where they sell tons of produce, cooking supplies and other stuff. On the way back, we passed a froo froo candy store and got suckered in to sampling pretty much every type of Mexican candy that there is. We ended up buying tons of candy! Then we went to Mercado Hidalgo where they also sell produce, as well as ceramics/pottery, leather stuff, touristy stuff, and every other type of stuff. Mom bought some dried "jamaica" (hibiscus flowers) to make agua fresca de jamaica. She also bought some huge cinnamon sticks. Then, we went to my favorite cafe, Santo Cafe. We had great tortilla soup and an awesome crepe stuffed with mushrooms, spinach, tomatos, and with chimichurri sauce on top.

Today, we took the bus to San Miguel de Allende - another city about an hour from here. We walked around the downtown a bit and went to the Artisanal Market which it is famous for. I was hungry and in a bad mood, so we ate at some expensive restaurant, and I got fetticini alfredo! It seems like it has been SO long since I've had pasta... wow. It was great. Later, we took a taxi to the hot springs outside of town. There were different warm pools, and then there was a weird, dark tunnel that lead into a dark circular pool with a dome shaped roof. Water from the hot spring poured out from a spout in the side of the room. It was "wild" as mom put it. On the way back to Guanajuato, we took the "luxury" ETN bus back so that mom could see how great it was.

We'll see what adventures we shall have tomorrow!

Barra de Navidad

I got back from my vacation at the beach on Thursday. Eight of us from my program went - 6 females and 2 males. We went to a beach about 9 hours away called Barra de Navidad. It is a small town with fewer tourists than most beaches. Surprising, the bus ride there was actually very nice. We took the "top of the line" bus line (ETN), which had huge reclining seats, footrests, several tv monitors which played bad Tom Hanks movies, bathrooms, and even food and drinks! However, the trip there was prolonged by the fact that we had a two hour layover in Guadalajara.

When we finally got to Barra de Navidad, it was already dark. We walked to the hostel, threw our stuff in the room and went to eat. Then we headed to the beach with John's guitar, and sang camp songs for a while. We spent the remaining three days of our time there at the beach mostly. We sunbathed, swam a little, and ate a LOT. There were even vendors who walked up and down the beach, selling everything from jewlery, to donuts, to fake tattoos, to pineapples filled with pineapple-watermelon puree with chili and lime on top (of course). I caved in and bought one. At night, there was one main bar that we frequented, which was sadly filled with tourists. However, I did meet some interesting, retired, drunk old men there. I also met many people from Guadalajara who were vacationing in Barra. One awkward thing that happened a few times was that complete strangers wanted to take pictures of me and my friends, or with me and my friends. This has also happened in Guanajuato... it seems a bit weird to me.



The last day, we took a bus to another beach that was close by. This beach was better because it was wasn't as windy as Barra. I went swimming but declined to go on the Banana Boat (literally, a gigantic inflated banana pulled by a motor boat). Also, Jeanie saw a mantaray swimming in the water.

The only thing that was bad about trip was the hostel. I beg you, NEVER, NEVER stay in "Hotel Jalisco" in Barra de Navidad. Ughh. It was disgusting and extremely overpriced for the quality of everything. Plus the owners were rude and unhelpful. Too bad we already paid in advance. First of all, males and females were supposed to have seperate rooms, and we were all supposed to have our own beds. But we didn't. There were three queen beds and two singles in two connected rooms. So most of us had to sleep two to a bed. Also, the "covers" on the beds were SUPER thin and so cheap and old that they had holes in them. So we were freezing at night, and the windows to the room would not close. Lastly, we all had to share one bathroom. The bathroom didn't even have a door, it only had a shower curtain, which does not provide very much privacy for anybody who has intestinal issues. Inside, there was a toliet and a shower head which sometimes only had freezing cold water. We called our room "the hell hole".

Ahem, but to end on a positive note... other than that it was a great trip! I really did have a great time, plus I got a nice tan and was able to relax for a few days.

Weekend Adventures

I have been BUSY the past week or two. I had a 13 page exam in my grammar class on Thursday (huacala!) But luckily now I have a two week vacation... mañana I leave for the beach - a place called Barra de Navidad, it's about a 9 hour busride. Apparently the buses are "very nice" but we shall see how "very nice" they are...

Also, Dia de Las Flores/Dia de la Virgen de Dolores was this past Thursday and Friday. The tradition is to stay up all night on Thursday, and then go to the main plaza on Friday and eat breakfast. And then boys are supposed to give pretty girls flowers in the plaza, and there are virgins everywhere. I mean, Altars to the Virgin of Dolores. Yep, and I did it! I stayed up all night and then had tamales for breakfast with Amanda P. And I also got flowers from two people! Well... one of the was my host brother.... but still! Then I went home and slept until 5PM.

Anyways, the past few weekends, I have had a few other adventures traveling to other small towns or "pueblos," mainly with my host brother Carlos who is a photographer:
La Luz: A small mining town with ruins of Spanish "haciendas" on the outskirts. Probably from the 17th century. Haciendas are huge houses that belonged to the rich owners of the mines. They were also sometimes used to process the minerals from the mines. La Luz also has a beautiful small church, a town square, and tons of adorable farm animals.

Santa Ana: Again, a small mining town with ruins of haciendas... The town used to be huge... back 300 years ago. Now it is just a small farming community. I think the mine closed down. Anyways, the ruins are so beautiful because they are in a lakebed which is underwater half the year, during the rainy season. Since this is the dry season, we could go down and walk around the ruins. We also walked all the way to the dam which creates the lake. It was quite a muddy journey at some points.

La Presa: Me and a bunch of friends (including my Norweigian roommates) went to the house of some rich friends. They have a weekend house on a lake which is created by a dam. The dam caused an entire town to be flooded, and now it is at the bottom of the lake. The only thing that remains is the town church which sticks up in the middle of the lake. The lake is surrounded by a few really huge, rich houses... and many poor farmers whose cattle graze around the lake.

My Contact Info

Send me something! Call me!!!! I miss the States!

Amanda Tsang
Tenaza #24
Col. San Javier
Guanajuato, GTO
36020 MEXICO

Phone: 011-52-(473)-732-1618
Cell Phone: 011 -52- (473) 119-7899

Up Shit Creek

So. After class today, four of us girls had appointments at the beauty salon (services are SO much cheaper here)! Anyways, we were walking along, when up ahead we see that a street was flooding with water running down it. As we got closer, a god awful stench permeated the air. The water happened to be from a dirty water line that overflowed - thus causing tons of dirty, bathroom POO water to come rushing down the street, bearing unidentified floating objects. We had no choice but to cross the river - it was the only way to get to the salon that we knew of. Other people were crossing it as well. So, we got plastic bags from a nearby store and put them over our shoes. Then we crossed. OH MY GOD it was terrible. The smell was so bad that I couldn't stop dry-heaving even after we had crossed it and were a block away. Not to mention that the plastic bags fell off in the middle of the river.

Yes, we did wash our hands once we got to the salon, but I am still paranoid that I might have contracted a fatal disease from the toxic water. The experience was so bad that I absolutely refused to cross it again on the way home. I paid for a taxi.

Machismo and the lack of it.

Machismo is the Mexican (and Latin American) idea of manliness. It's the tradition view of how a man should be. In particular, there is a saying that Mexican men are the three F's: Feo, Fuerte y Formal (ugly, strong and formal). So far, I've noticed that there is a certain amount of Machismo in Guanajuato, but yet on the other hand many men do things that would be considered sensitive or even feminine by people in the United States.

Many people are familiar with the fact that in Latin America, many men will stare at women and even whistle and give catcalls. Recently when we went to Puerto Rico, my dad claimed that it was MY fault that men were acting this way - he said that it was the way I dressed, the way I wore makeup, etc. This is not the case. Men here will whistle at any young woman - especially if she looks foreign. It does not matter how she is dressed or made up. On our walk to school in the morning, Amanda P. and I also often have men try to speak English to us. They will yell out "Good Morning!" or "Hello!" It is completely harmless, and we ignore it. This has been one of the biggest differences between Mexico and America.

However, I have also noticed that men here do many things that are considered "unmanly" to American people.
- Many men pluck their eyebrows and groom a lot more extensively.
- Many men aren't afraid to hug each other, put their faces close to each others, or even dance with each other ocassionally.
- Men carry their girlfriend or wives purses or pink backpacks without being afraid of being called gay.
- Men here definitely do not mind PDAs (public displays of affection).
- Many men grow their hair long... and wear headbands.
- Men LIKE to dance.
- Men aren't afraid to sculpt their hair into a rock-hard, helmet-like structure using large amounts of gel, hairspray, and grease. They also aren't afraid of wearing TOO MUCH perfume/cologne.
- Men here are experts at making roses out of paper napkins from the bar.

Home Sweet Casa

I never thought I would be so happy to be in a tunnel... until last night, when we arrived in Guanajuato and we were driving through the first tunnel into the downtown that signified that YES we had arrived home. What a trip! Sooo, let me back up to the beginning.

Thursday Night:

Amanda P. (who has infinite amounts of energy) and I went salsa dancing because we didn't have classes the next day. It probably was NOT a good idea because the very next morning we had to leave with aching feet for Mexico City (aka. the D.F. or Districto Federal. But most people just say "Mexico" to signify the city... which is a bit confusing if you think you are already IN Mexico).

Friday:

8:00 AM - 13 students including me, 1 chaperone and 1 driver stuffed themselves into a tiny white van. The trip started out with the driver trying to back up, but instead kept repeatedly ramming into another car which he couldn't see was there. We drove for 5 hours and it was impossible to find a comfortable position to sit in. Finally we arrived in Mexico City. We plunked our things down in a very cool and modern yet economical hostel, and went to eat at a great buffet. Things seemed fine, but gurglings of my stomach and aching feet signified that something might be amiss.

3:00 - 7:00 PM - After eating lunch, we went on a whirlwind tour, given by our tiny yet charismatic guide Pepe. We went to the Palacio Nacional (a government building), Templo Mayor (I don't even remember what that was), the Cathedral, and Zocalo (which I think is the huge plaza). Then we went to see a very cool art exhibition called Snow and Ashes. Finally we arrived back to the hostel. By then my feet hurt like hell, I felt strangely ill, and I was in a foul mood.

8:00 - 11:00 PM - Things didn't end after the tours. I had to meet up with Christian, a friend of a friend who lives in the D.F. I brought Amanda P. along, and we went out to eat and then walked around the city more. We went to see the Chinatown (more like 1 street) of the DF, along with some other sights. Finally we got home and I collapsed into bed yet couldn't sleep because I had a fever all night.



Saturday:

9:00 AM - 6:00 PM - We had tours the entire day! First we visited the Plaza de las Tres Culturas which represents the 3 cultures of Mexico. It includes an Aztec pyramid, a Spanish church, and a modern Mexican building. Then, we went to the Basilica de Guadalupe. This was a huge cluster of churches, including the church in which is housed the cloth that holds the original image of the Virgin of Guadalupe. The story goes that a Nahuatl (Aztec) speaking Virgin appeared to an Aztec peasant and asked him to build a church for her. When the peasant went to the priest to tell him to build the church, the priest didn't believe him. So the Virgin told the peasant to gather flowers in his cloak and release them before the priest. When the peasant did so, an image of the Virgin appeared on the cloak. Milagro! (Miracle).

My favorite part of the day was when we visited a place where the people did artisanal crafts. They showed us how the indigenous tribes (and Aztecs) made paper and thread out of a type of cactus called Maguey. They showed us the cactuses that taquila and mezcal come from. We tried three different types of alcohol from different plants. Later they showed us different types of semiprecious stones, and how they carve them. Then of course, we got to shop at their store. I bought an obsidian frog for my host mom. She collects frogs, and I thought that it was so much more meaningful to buy something from a place where I had seen how they made it.

The rest of the afternoon was spent in Teotihuacan. It is the site of an ancient city, about 2,000 years old - older than the Aztecs. Even though I felt quite sick, I somehow managed to climb up all of the pyramids. The view was beautiful.



Finally, we returned to the hostel. I was extremely tired and still feeling sick. But again, Christian (who was super nice) was hopeful to see Amanda and I again. So, he took us to a night market in a Spanish neighborhood called Cuyocan. Amanda and I shopped (bought some awesome jewlery!) and we ate at a really fancy restaurant. They had this wine with grapes and apples inside of it... it was amazing.

Sunday:

Finally the day came to go home. But first, we had a few more things to do. First we went to see the house of Frieda Kahlo. It was amazing to see all her art, letters, photos, and the home that she lived in with Diego. I also felt a little bad for her - Diego was an ugly guy, plus he didn't treat her too well. I guess being a famous painter counts for something though. :-)

Lastly, we went to Xochimilco - the remainder of the lake that the Aztecs built their grand city on. They made amazing man-made islands. It's fasinating. We had lunch on a lovely boat while ridiculously good looking Mariachis serenaded us. It was reallly fun and a great end to a trip.



Monday:

Well, most of this blog was wrote in the time that I would have been at school. I left in the middle of my classes today because my stomach still felt terrible. Luckily I have already been to the doctor - he says it's probably an intestinal infection. He gave me some antibiotics to take. The strange thing is that my host brother and host dad are also both suffering from some type of stomach illness too. It feels so great to be back in my own house, in my own bed, as much as I can call it my own. My host mommy took me to the doctors office and sat with me, and also has been preparing special meals for me, such as chicken rice soup, chopped fruit, and tea made out of "Dog Herb" (yerba de perro) which is supposed to be good for the stomach.

So, although I felt quite like dying throughout the entire trip to Mexico City, I am happy to have endured everything and to have been able to experience all the greatness of Mexico City. But man, I am glad to be home.

Street Food

Me and my stomach have decided that one of my missions is to try the variety of different common foods sold on the streets here (as long as it looks clean and sanitary). There are always tons of food vendors in the streets both day and night. It's very common for people to buy something and then walk around eating it outside.
So far I have tried:
- "Nieve de Limon" = lemon snow. A slushy ice cream-like thing, made with natural lemon juice. It was pretty tasty.
- "Elotes" = corn kernels in a styrofoam cup, mixed with mayonaise, quesilla (white, grated cheese), chili powder and lime juice. It was good but a little too juicy for me. The other variation is just corn on the cob, stuck on a wooden stick and smeared with the mayo and chili powder.
- Fruit cup mix. It has a specific name, but I forget what they call it. Basically they chop up whatever fruits you choose (papaya, mango, watermelon, etc.) and put it in a cup or a plastic bag. Then they sprinkle chili powder and lime juice over it.
- Aguas frescas (Fresh waters?): different juices made with fruit, water and sugar. I've tried the hibiscus one, but there is also watermelon, orchata, tamarind and other flavors.
- "Paletas" = popsicles. They come in all different crazy flavors here. I tried one that was mamee flavor. It was interesting. I also tried the mango with chile flavor. I really liked that one.
- Pizza. The pizza here is pretty much the same (you can get pepperoni, hawaiian, etc.). However, when you sit down at the table or counter, there are a wide variety of sauces to apply to the top of your pizza. Most people use these lavishly. The choices of sauce are: hot sauce, worcestershire sauce, mayonaise with chilis, and ketsup.

* A note about hotdogs. Here, people do things with hotdogs that people the States couldn't even imagine. In the morning, we have eggs with hotsauce and hotdogs. People make hotdogs and spaghetti, pizza with hotdogs on top, and of course there's always the simple hotdog in a bun. In a coffee kiosk in the University, I ordered a "Sandwich" from the menu. The girl took a hotdog, sliced it, and put it on a piece of bread with mayonaise.

The First Week is Over!

Yes! I've done it! I survived my first week in Mexico and it wasn't even that hard! My classes are great! I did switch to the advanced class, and it has been so much more fun. The professors are a lot more interesting and it's not hard to pay attention or keep up at all.

I'm becoming closer to the other students. Especially Amanda P. We do pretty much everything together since we are neighbors. She's nice and very candid. Luckily, she has a better sense of direction than I do. If we didn't walk to school together every morning, I don't think I would be able to find my way without a map. The walk to school/downtown is about 30-40 minutes depending on how fast we walk and if we take the shortcut through the tunnel. Either way, the walk involves tons of hills, narrow streets with speeding taxis and motorcyclists, food vendors hawking their wares, and tons of other people. It's fun.

Last night all the students gathered to have dinner at the program director Karen's house. It was awesome. Her house is amazing, first of all. Secondly, the food was great. She hired a taco-man to make tacos in her house, and we also had homemade guacamole and quesadillas. YUM! Afterwards, a few of us girls went out to see if our salsa dancing lessons were working. I am getting better at dancing (surprisingly!). But I still have a lot more work to do. Also, it depends on the dance partner. If the partner is good, then he simply pulls me and spins me and therefore it looks like I'm an awesome dancer too. :-)

Easing In

Classes started yesterday and it's kind of a struggle for me to get back into things. I'm in the less advanced of the two groups that they divided us into for classes, but the annoying thing is that I'm better than everyone else at Spanish as a result of talking with native speakers constantly. So... I'm trying to figure out whether I should switch or not.

Lately, I've gotten more friendly with my host family. They are great! One of my host "brothers", Carlos, helped me hook up ethernet to my room. Also, I'm very spoiled as far as ammenities goes. For breakfast, first comes juice (sometimes freshly squeezed), coffee and water, followed by a fruit and yogurt plate, followed by a "main" dish (usually eggs or waffles). For lunch, there are also 3 courses. For dinner... well, they don't really eat dinner. I usually eat the other half of my lunch for dinner since the lunch is so huge. Also, a maid comes in every day and tidies up my room and makes my bed.

Last night, me and Amanda P (another student who lives very close) went to salsa classes. It was fun, but embarrassing that my hands were really clammy. We've decided to register and go to all the classes, even though they are 4 times a week, which seems like a lot to me. Tonight, more girls from my class have decided to come along with us.

Around the city in 18 hours

Wow, I feel like I fit an entire vacation into one day today! First, I had breakfast with the Norwegians. Then, all of us study-abroad people met up downtown with our program director, and we took a tour of EVERYTHING. First, we went to San Gabriel - a huge mansion plantation type house built in the 1700's by the owner of a big mine. Mines are really important in Guanajuato, that's pretty much what made the town what it is. Then, we visited TWO historical churches, then we went and saw a huge mining hole with machinery coming out of it, then we went to a place where we actually went down into the mines (it was a lot of steep steps in the dark), then we went to see a historical statue called Papilo, THEN we drove 45 minutes to Christo Rey - an enormous statue of Christ that marks the center of Mexico.

One of the things that has been hard for all of us students is that in Mexico they eat a huge breakfast at 8 AM, and then don't each lunch until 2 or 3 PM. So it's hard to endure that long. I literally was at the point of exhaustion at lunch time. Oh, and another bad luck thing... I think I might have sprained my ankle. I tripped down a step at a taco tent and my ankle has been hurting ever since. Hopefully it's just bruised or something - if it turns black and swells up tomorrow then I will start to worry.

The night was busy as well. My host mom called her granddaughters over (they live right next to us). Fortunately, they are 21 and 24! Just my age. And they both study at the University here. They are super nice and tomorrow are going to show me how to get to class from the house. Yes, and of course the night ended with a group of us students going out to the bar to celebrate a birthday. It was fun and I am actually getting to know the other American students better.

Moving In

Today my orientation continued. For breakfast, we all got on a bus and drove to a nature reserve called Las Palomas.The reserve also has a conference ...house?... and a big kitchen/dining area. It was cool because the people that worked there also cooked us a traditional breakfast (of chilaquiles and scrambled eggs with hotdog chunks) and then after "orientation" was over, we had an amazing lunch. The best thing they had was chopped up chiles with cream and corn kernels. Yum. They also had chiles rellenos (which I didn't like... in fact, most of the Americans didn't like them, which stumped the Mexicans) and chicken with mole (Yum) and quesadillas, rice and potatoes.

Afterwards, we came back to the hotel. I walked down to the internet cafe with some other students, and then came back for dinner, which I ate with my host mom and another host family. The dinner was fairly awkward, but at least we got to know each other. Afterwards, I heaved my duffle bag into the car and moved into my new home.

My host mom is really nice, her name is Maru and she's quite an older woman. She has 7 children (who are all adults) and 16 grandchildren! There is also a couple who are Norwegian that are staying here to study abroad as well. The house is large and rather old, but at least I have a well equipped room with plenty of space. My only complaint is that there isn't a mirror in the bathroom! Oh, and there isn't wireless internet. But they do have a fairly nice computer in a tiny guest house/office off of the patio. Maru's husband seems quite knowledgeable about computers. He used to be a mining engineer and he has tons of computer magazines laying around. He also can speak a fair amount of English.

I got here!

Thurs. Feb. 7, 2008 10:00 PM (from hotel room)

Happy Chinese New Year! Yep, and today I arrived in Guanajuato. I woke up at 5 AM so that I could have plenty of time for my 8:00 flight. I hadn't been extremely anxious beforehand, but once I got on the plane I suddenly got hit with a wave of really bad nausea and homesickness.... hopefully that will go away in a few days.

I did have a tiny adventure once I got to the Guanajuato airport. My connecting flight was about two hours delayed, and I hadn't been able to call the program organizers. So when I arrived in Mexico, I couldn't find the guy who was supposed to pick me up! I stood around for a while and then limped around the airport with my HUGE (seriously, it's BIG) duffle bag. Finally, I decided to take a taxi there. Of course I was a total foreigner and tried to just grab one from the curb. Nope. You have to go Inside, and then Pre-pay for you taxi at the airport. The ride to Guanajuato from the airport was about 30 minutes, and my taxi driver lady was talking on the phone most of the time. When we got onto the highway, I noticed that the woman started accelerating, and the speedometer was rising past 140. I started getting nervous and clinging onto the side of the car and I was finally about to beg her to slow down.... then I realized that the speed here is probably measured in kilometers. I felt rather silly after that.

So far, I haven't seen much of the city, but what I have seen is quite beautiful. The landscape is very different from Michigan, it is hilly and there are practically no trees, which makes everything really open. In some places you can see for miles and miles.Today and tomorrow we are staying in a hotel, which is a lovely, historical place. There is no heat though, and the night is quite cold! In fact, I don't think there's any ventilation at all in this place.

There are actually only 13 students in the program. I guess I'll refrain from judging everybody else just yet, but I didn't really strike up a friendship with anyone so far.

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I just started my blog... Woot!