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!