On the corner of Memory and Santa Clause

Just in case someone wakes up really early this morning and has to wait to open presents, I thought I'd share a little poem so they'll have something to read while they wait. Consider it part of your Christmas present Amy....Oh! I mean, whoever you are...

It's Christmas night and I'm in my bed,
thoughts of presents run through my head.
I hope I get that Barbie Jeep,
I hope that Santa thinks I'm asleep.

Between the trundle bed there is a crack,
And that is where I've hit the sack.
It's not too comfy, but I don't care,
I'm wearing padded underwear!!

I'm getting thirsty, my mouth is dry,
It think a piece of ice I'll try.
But my big sister is awful quick,
and she thinks up a mean old trick.

Holding a blanket she blocks my eyes,
But secretly peeks at her own suprise.
She is so naughty and has such gall,
I don't know why Santa brought her anything at all.

Maybe next year I'll write him a letter,
and tell him for her coal would be much better.
I don't know why, but I love her still;
even though she is such a pill!

Merry Christmas!

Runnin' Reds

Driving by the MTC the other day with Rochelle. Come to a red light so I stop. Car next to me stops too. A few seconds pass and car next to me goes. The light is still red. I say to Rochelle:

"WHAT THE?! THAT CAR JUST STRAIGHT UP RAN A RED LIGHT!"

So I waited until the light turned green-as I am a law abiding citizen and have never ran a red light-but when it turns green I went and caught up to the outlaw who was stopped at the next red light. How fortuitous. I looked over at the evil-doer and wiggled my finger in the air disapprovingly, giving him a stern look. His partner in crime was chuckling but the dead-beat driver was looking pretty sheepish and maintained a forced stare straight ahead. Me and Roch were cracking up; it was just about as good as when I let off a whoopi-cushion in Jake's car. I guess there's just nothing quite like driving in Provo.

Hot and Cold

I don't know if anyone else has experienced this, but it seems that some kinds of heat are better than others. For example, when some people get cold, they like to take a hot shower, run a hair dry over their hands, or turn up the furnace. For me, the best heat is from a space heater. For some reason crawling into bed at night with the space heater on makes me feel so cozy, but there's only one problem; I'm one of those weirdos who likes it to be cold while I sleep. Don't worry though, I've found a solution. A little while before going to bed I crack open the window to let my room get cold and right before snuggling down under the covers, I turn on the space heater...leaving the window slightly open. That's right, I sleep with my window open and my space heater on. It's a little strange I know and maybe counter intuitive, but it makes me sleep so much better. Does anybody else have some weird sleeping quirks?

Sweet Saturdays

What I loved about today:

Driving with the windows down and feeling the fall breeze.

The red trees in the mountains.

Going to the farmers market.

Eating carmel apples.

Not having tuberculosis.

Starting a new book.

Shaving my legs.

Listening to the Beatles.

Me gustaria una Gordita, por favor...

Lanae and I have found the best restaurant for Mexican food (yes another post about Mexican culture). It's called TacoRiendo, which is a pun on the Spanish word corriendo which means running. Today I had the most amazing gordita EVER. The tortilla was like a tortilla on the outside but bready on the inside, the carne asada (steak) was so flavorful, and the crema and queso was nothing short of divine. The place is on State St. in Provo just north of DI and right next to Tesoro. If you want to go, call me!

Back at the "why?"...I mean Y!

Returning to the good-ole boring campus of BYU is not easy after an exciting summer filled with Mexican fun. I've never claimed to be a "true-blue cougar" and must say that my return to Provo has not been a joyous occasion for me. However, one thing that has certainly improved my return to Happy Valley is hanging out with the people from my study abroad program! We've found some awesome, authentic Mexican places to go eat and had fun reliving our viaje. It has now been 1 month since I came home. Never would I have guessed that after 4 weeks I would still not be able to let it go. My point in saying all of this is...I miss Mexico!

Sell-es-TOON

On Saturday our group went on another excursion. We met at 9:00 and drove to a beach in Celestun where we took a boat ride to see the Flamencos (flamingos) in their flocks on the river. After that, we took our boat through some smaller connecting rivers that were enveloped in "el bosque", the forest. I like to use the Spanish word bosque better than forest because the forests here aren't like the forests I usually think of in the Western United States, so bosque to me sounds like a whole new word with a new meaning. So now there are forests, woods, jungles and bosques. After swimming for a little while, we rode back along the shoreline to the beach we had originally started at. The water of the usually calm Gulf of Mexico was a little rough going back which made our ride quite uncomfortable and full of violent turbulence as our boat would continually crash down on every other wave. All in all it was a great day and my butt recovered.

Makin' Amigos

On Monday night we had our first "Noche De Hogar" or, Family Home Evening. We went to the home of one of our host family's and swam in their pool, jumped on their trampoline, ate treats and then had a lesson. It was really fun because a few guys from the ward came and we taught them how to play Marco Polo, a game that never fails to procure a great deal of laughter. On Wednesday night we met up with them again at an ice cream shop in downtown called Colon, famous for its coconut sorbet. After walking around for a while we came home and had another one of our host mom's delicious meals and called it a night.



Yesterday after school we went to Itzimna, a small colonial town about an hour away from Merida. There is large convent there where they used to hold open-air masses and train priests. Apparently this convent has the second largest courtyard in the world for open air masses, second only to that of the one in Rome. While we were there we also went to some of the ruins, a really interesting museum with modern artifacts, and ate an awesome dinner of queso relleno, panuchos, and banana con leche. To wrap it up, we returned to the convent for the sound and lights show, took some cool pictures of the cathedral lit up in the night, and headed for home.

Bienvenidos a Mexico

Today we went to some ruins near Merida called Dzibilchaltun, meaning "the place of writing on stones". It was really interesting and there was a small temple there called "El Templo de Siete Munecas" or the house of seven dolls. It was very hot today so we were very excited after the ruins to go to our welcoming party at a house on the beach. One of our directors from the University here has a home right on la playa del Progreso. The water was incredibly warm and my favorite part was that all of the houses on the beach have small pools the size of hot tubs but deeper with fresh, cool water to wash in after being in the salty water. It felt absolutely divine.



This was the cenote at Dzibilchaltun. They have found many sacrificial items in it such as pottery, jewelery and human bones. This was one city where they are sure that the winners of the Mayan ball game were sacrificed rather than the loser.

The Temple of Seven Dolls

These were probabaly living quarters.

The Gulf of Mexico and the Beach of Progreso.

En El Muelle De San Blas

Today in class we listened to a song from one of my favority groups as far as Spanish music goes (not that I listen to a ton of Spanish music). It is called En El Muelle De San Blas, meaning at the dock of San Blas. Check it out! English translation is below...


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oyMlsb1O5dE

She said goodbye to her love
He parted in a ship at the San Blas dock
He swore he would come back
And soaked in tears she swore she would wait
A thousand moons passed away,
And she was still at the dock, waiting.
Lots of evenings nestledIn her hair and her lips.
She wore the same dress
In case he would come back,
He would not mistake her.
Crabs bit her dress, her sadness and her illusion.
And time went by,
And her eyes were full of dawns.
She fell in love with the sea
And her body grew roots at the dock.
Alone, alone in oblivion
Alone, alone with her spirit
Alone, alone with her love, the sea
Alone at the San Blas dock
Her hair went white
But no ship brought back her love
And in the village people called her
The crazy woman of the San Blas dock
And in an April afternoon
They tried to take her to the nuthouse
But no one could take her away
And they never separated her from the seaA
lone, alone in oblivion
Alone, alone with her spirit
Alone, alone with her love, the sea
Alone at the San Blas dock
Alone, alone she stayed…

Now I know Why People Here Have Dark Skin

Today while we were waiting for the bus we ate tacos at a little restaurant. While we were eating, the owner came and started talking to us and asked us if we knew why the man sitting next to us was so black. We were a little confused as to why he would ask this, but then he reached into the man's sack and pulled out the biggest bottle of Coca-Cola I have ever seen and said, "Because he drinks so much Coca-Cola!" And then they both laughed so hard like it was the funniest thing to say. Of course we couldn't help but join in. A little more about Merida, the buses are a little crazy, they drive much like I would imagine the bus in Harry Potter does, it seems like everything has to leap out of the way for the bus to come through. The University we go to is very small, smaller than my high school, I'll post pictures eventually. Also, here in Merida, I get honked at more than I ever have before in my life, that will take some getting used to but I guess it's pretty common here. Who knows, maybe it will be something I miss when I come back to the States...well probably not.

Lluvia Lluvia y Mas Lluvia

I'm going to have to skip the introduction because I have other things I need to do, so here's what's new. After lunch today, we went to "El Centro", a long street with tons and tons of different kinds of shops. When we left the house to walk to the bus stop it was starting to sprinkle a little and by the time we got to El Centro, it was literally raining harder than I have ever seen. Luckily it's warm here so to me it felt really good when I was soaked to the bone. I honestly could not have gotten more wet if I had taken a shower, the rain had better water pressure than the home I'm staying in. I'll wrap this up with my 3 favorite things about Mexico so far:
1. La Comida, the food
2. Los Arboles rojos se llama "flamboyanes", the red trees
3. Hacer trueques, bartering

A Toast

Okay Amy, you'll probably be the only person to ever read this so I'm dedicating it to you. Here's to giving in.