Nobody here thinks I'm asian (although they say, very politely, that they can see it in my eyes after I tell them). Nobody here thinks I'm Latina, either.
Also, I saw a couple breakdancers (around 15 years old? who knows, some Mexicans are pretty short) in a town square the other day. I wanted to join, but they started going all sheepy with their eyes so I decided to stay away. They were only doing freezes and stuff--no air flares. Unfortunately. I'm going to do some scouting though...see if I can find some crazy street gangs that actually use breakdancing to decide where they're going to knife fight :D
Thursday, June 4, 2009
En Cuernavaca
So I'm in Mexico now--sorry for the late update, I've actually been here for a while--and things are actually just as I remember it. Well, not just, but nearly there; I've been hit over the head with all different kinds of memories everywhere I turn. It's a bit bittersweet; I loved my time there (or rather, here), but I haven't stayed in touch with any of the kids or with my host family, and it's been 3 years. I feel somewhat guilty, I guess. In any case, in Puebla, where I was before today, the Zocalo, or Plaza de Armas, or main square (kinda like the commons in New England) looked almost exactly the same as the one in Xalapa. There's still the apathetic pre-teen elote (a kind of corn snack) sellers in the streets; speed bumps all over the place; impressive cathedrals; cobblestone roads; flat cities--it's like falling back in time again.
A bit too much, I'd say. As much as I enjoyed it last time, I didn't come back to relive it. Undoubtedly it's different; I'm with a bunch of high-achieving Harvard kids (we all had fun memorizing the Nahuatl calendar and Mayan counting system), which changes things quite a lot. Last time I was one of the most intense about learning more Spanish...speaking of which, I'm also now expected to be basically fluent in Spanish (rather than having people praise me all the time for being at a pretty basic level). Oh, and I'm going to be doing actual volunteer work, rather than just sanding down tables--no more grunt work, basically. I'm a bit anxious for all the meeting of the indigenous people to start, actually; reading what J has been up to has made me feel kinda weird about the going out to karaoke and bars and such that we've been doing :/ I wanted to spend the summer doing more service work than cultural awareness stuff--
ah well. I'm sure I'll be tired of actual work soon enough.
I'm actually talking to you online now, sweetheart, so I'm gonna go so I can pay more attention to you.
I'll try to keep this updated more often though--I hope you're reading it? I'll be following yours as soon as you get around to doing more exciting things than your bf ;)
night!
A bit too much, I'd say. As much as I enjoyed it last time, I didn't come back to relive it. Undoubtedly it's different; I'm with a bunch of high-achieving Harvard kids (we all had fun memorizing the Nahuatl calendar and Mayan counting system), which changes things quite a lot. Last time I was one of the most intense about learning more Spanish...speaking of which, I'm also now expected to be basically fluent in Spanish (rather than having people praise me all the time for being at a pretty basic level). Oh, and I'm going to be doing actual volunteer work, rather than just sanding down tables--no more grunt work, basically. I'm a bit anxious for all the meeting of the indigenous people to start, actually; reading what J has been up to has made me feel kinda weird about the going out to karaoke and bars and such that we've been doing :/ I wanted to spend the summer doing more service work than cultural awareness stuff--
ah well. I'm sure I'll be tired of actual work soon enough.
I'm actually talking to you online now, sweetheart, so I'm gonna go so I can pay more attention to you.
I'll try to keep this updated more often though--I hope you're reading it? I'll be following yours as soon as you get around to doing more exciting things than your bf ;)
night!
Sunday, May 31, 2009
oh and PS..more at the end
I forgot to mention RLi, the most g person I know. thanks for the storms footwork ;D
I'll make good use of it, I promise.
I can't really say much else about him, he's such a man of mystery. Svk you better start working hard if you wanna keep pace with him...
I'll make good use of it, I promise.
I can't really say much else about him, he's such a man of mystery. Svk you better start working hard if you wanna keep pace with him...
The End (without ever having written a middle)
So it's been an eventful year--obviously, since I haven't found the time to update this in a while. Ah well, only one person reads this really...but I <3 her so I figure I should keep her updated on my life south of the border.
Currently, I am sitting at Houston International Airport, waiting 5 hours for my flight to Mexico. The last few days have been a nightmare of packing, unpacking, and packing again--and then repacking when I realized I needed a bigger suitcase (it's now about as big as I am, which means either I need to grow, or it needs to shrink :/). I've been racing around, feeling like I've been neglecting to say quality goodbyes to everybody; I didn't even get to say goodbye to my own mom, since after she dropped me off, with the intent of coming in and seeing me off once I got my bag checked, the ticket agent realized I had gotten my flight time wrong and I was supposed to be leaving in 10 minutes. Whoops...
And then there's my grandparents, mid-80's, probably on their last trip out to the east coast (they're from Seattle). I spent all of 2 days with them, during their month long trip here to watch my sis graduate, and my mom constantly reminds me that this may be the last time I see them. I'm hoping not; the grief I know I'll feel at their death would only be compounded by grief that I hadn't done right by them the last time I saw them.
then there's K, who's on her way to Japan soon (yeah babe, you're probably gonna be the only one reading this, but I'm still encrypting it like you do, until I come up with a better solution). I'll miss her dearly--three months is a long time, even though its been about that long since we've had a decent heart to heart :/ (they don't count when Y is in the room, sorry :P)
J is in Peru, and its kinda a comfort to think of someone in the same situation that I'm in. He's at least kind of? on the same continent. ish. haha but we can trade stories when we get back. I'm sure he's busy curing babies and all that right now :D
AC I'll miss too--I'm sad I didn't get to go see him for his birthday, especially since he's given me so much crap about "disappearing." I'm gonna try and catch up with him on the gossip girl front (maybe in Spanish? Who knows) and then force him to watch it with me come september. At least he has a blog I can keep abreast of (although I just remembered that both K and J have them too...) ha. but i'll miss him, as bitchy as he can get sometimes. i'll undoubtedly need a heart to heart at some point while I'm there. And I may be in NYC in august, so maybe sake bombing repeat? we'll see
and JJ? I'm terrified of over thinking that one. K and J and AC and the rest of the gang are easy to miss, but I think I'll always worry that I'm missing JJ too much. Especially since this is one of those rare times when I do miss someone genuinely. My brother stole Mr Bojangles for the last couple nights, so I've had to deal with sleeping alone, but I guess I better get used to it for the next three months.
well, my battery's dying, so ima bounce, but the next time I blog it'll be from Mexico.
adios muchachos--
que se cuiden bien hasta la proxima vez
<3
Currently, I am sitting at Houston International Airport, waiting 5 hours for my flight to Mexico. The last few days have been a nightmare of packing, unpacking, and packing again--and then repacking when I realized I needed a bigger suitcase (it's now about as big as I am, which means either I need to grow, or it needs to shrink :/). I've been racing around, feeling like I've been neglecting to say quality goodbyes to everybody; I didn't even get to say goodbye to my own mom, since after she dropped me off, with the intent of coming in and seeing me off once I got my bag checked, the ticket agent realized I had gotten my flight time wrong and I was supposed to be leaving in 10 minutes. Whoops...
And then there's my grandparents, mid-80's, probably on their last trip out to the east coast (they're from Seattle). I spent all of 2 days with them, during their month long trip here to watch my sis graduate, and my mom constantly reminds me that this may be the last time I see them. I'm hoping not; the grief I know I'll feel at their death would only be compounded by grief that I hadn't done right by them the last time I saw them.
then there's K, who's on her way to Japan soon (yeah babe, you're probably gonna be the only one reading this, but I'm still encrypting it like you do, until I come up with a better solution). I'll miss her dearly--three months is a long time, even though its been about that long since we've had a decent heart to heart :/ (they don't count when Y is in the room, sorry :P)
J is in Peru, and its kinda a comfort to think of someone in the same situation that I'm in. He's at least kind of? on the same continent. ish. haha but we can trade stories when we get back. I'm sure he's busy curing babies and all that right now :D
AC I'll miss too--I'm sad I didn't get to go see him for his birthday, especially since he's given me so much crap about "disappearing." I'm gonna try and catch up with him on the gossip girl front (maybe in Spanish? Who knows) and then force him to watch it with me come september. At least he has a blog I can keep abreast of (although I just remembered that both K and J have them too...) ha. but i'll miss him, as bitchy as he can get sometimes. i'll undoubtedly need a heart to heart at some point while I'm there. And I may be in NYC in august, so maybe sake bombing repeat? we'll see
and JJ? I'm terrified of over thinking that one. K and J and AC and the rest of the gang are easy to miss, but I think I'll always worry that I'm missing JJ too much. Especially since this is one of those rare times when I do miss someone genuinely. My brother stole Mr Bojangles for the last couple nights, so I've had to deal with sleeping alone, but I guess I better get used to it for the next three months.
well, my battery's dying, so ima bounce, but the next time I blog it'll be from Mexico.
adios muchachos--
que se cuiden bien hasta la proxima vez
<3
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