Monday, August 31, 2009

this whole recharging the mexican phone thing is annoying

Seriously, I hate having to go into a store and say "necesito un recarga". It's so annoying. Part of me just wishes they had plans here, because I know they'd be cheaper than the plans back in the United States. Really, everything besides clothing is cheaper here. Clothing here is outrageous. One shirt (that looks like something you could get at a Forever21) is about 40 US dollars. That's outta my sights here, so I am having my parents send me some more clothing from home. It's starting to get cold here, and I only have one zip up hoodie, but hopefully that'll suffice. I'm sure I will survive. I have plenty of cardigans to get me through the days. 

Today for lunch my mom prepared "Enchiladas Mineras" which are a type of enchilada specific to Guanajuato. It was the birthday of my brother in law (Fernando) today. They served red wine for lunch, but me being all 20 and cool, I opted for the mango water. I was really thirsty and wasn't trying to get my "tengo sed"-ness out through red wine. That might have ended up bad. 

Last night I chatted with Jane, Meredith, Sally, and even Laurin because she was at OWU visiting. It was fun hearing a bunch of friends in one place, but also made me miss them that much more.  

Sunday, August 30, 2009

I am sitting in Jourie's house on the internet, waiting for Gossip Girl to download. I missed a few episodes from last season, and I'm trying to catch up. Mom, Dad, remember that the NEW season comes out the 14th and soon after that you could potentially gift me it on itunes. ;) You know, just a suggestion. Also, hoping to get that package soon! 

I am missing out so much at school already and it's making me really sad. Oh well, I'm having fun here. 

Friday, August 28, 2009

Life

Yesterday I went with Jourie to get her haircut and today at 10 I am about to cut mine. Nothing big, just a few inches off, since my hairs gettin all nasty being here.

I feel like my spanish here is very off and on. Some days it's good. Some days it's bad.

I guess Jourie, Jack and I got invited to a boat party tonight where they stay in a cabin all weekend. Sounds like a blast, but it's a little cold to be swimming I think. Jourie isn't really down for it so we'll see what happens I guess.

Yesterday we went out to Capitolio with the law students here in Guanajuato. It was fun, but I was soooo tired. Jourie and I left around one, but I have no idea how long Jack was there.

Well, that's about it for right now.

Monday, August 24, 2009

zacatecas weekend

This past weekend I went with my exchange group to Zacateca's. There we did numerous things, but I would have to say my top two favorites were the zipline across the mexican land and going to a club that is located in the mine we visited earlier that day. Everything we did I told Jourie, "hey jourie, we're peeing in a mine" or "hey jourie, we're partying in a mine". I think my favorite part was when she told me she couldn't even see. We took a cable car overtop the city, which was a pretty intense view of Zacateca's. Zacateca's looks a lot like Guanajuato, but not nearly as "high and low". We visited a museum of modern art, a museum of masks, and a museum of Chichimeca art. Apparently the Chichimeca's get all hopped up on Peyote before they weave. I personally liked the mask museum the best. I found a gubia while in Zacateca's (finally) because that place is supposedly a capital of print-making. We went to some Chichimeca pyramids, which was cool because everything he was saying was a repeat of what I am learning in my Migration class. The guy gave us free hats, and I saw the biggest grasshoppers I've ever seen in my entire life. Overall I'd say it was a pretty bomb weekend! 

Sunday, August 16, 2009

went to a fiesta... jack took bad pics

"If by bad you mean great" - Jack

Last night we went to Jack's sisters going away party. It was all young people, and started at 6. I left around 2. We met some cool people. Jourie took a lot of pictures and put them on facebook. Jack wasn't even looking in most of them and in a lot he looked really really drunk. It was pretty funny. He actually only remembers taking 2 photos, not 30. The party was a lot of fun. 

Today I worked on my art project for a while. Now I'm at Jourie's house, just hanging out. We went to a seafood place earlier, I don't care for it much. 

Thats about all that's happened today. 

Friday, August 14, 2009

watching e! in mexico

Jourie and I are sitting on her bed watching The Girls Next Door, that television show about the girls of the playboy mansion. It's the episode where Kendra moves out. I wonder how much money they make being Hugh Hefner's girlfriend? Probably a lot. 

The movie came out in other parts of Mexico today, but as my mom here tells me, Guanajuato gets all the movies released to them a week later than the rest of the country. I guess it's to motivate people to go to the bigger cities and bigger theatres. Government ploy? Probably. 

Today I picked up my package from my parents. Dad, what were you thinking with that shirt? I think it's a boy shirt in pink. haha but I really appreciate the effort and thoughtfulness. I really like the purple bag and all the other stuff. I'm wearing the bracelet, and my friend Jourie was jealous of it. 

Jourie and I slept through our class today. We're retards. I talked to my professor and she just laughed at me. I pulled a Julie DiCarlo and had a dream that Jourie called me and said we didn't have class, so I turned off my alarm. She just forgot to set one last night, and since we are eachothers wake-up call, we didn't make it to our only one hour class of the early morning. When I told my family today, I was made fun of for about an hour.

I have mosquito bites all over my body. Here the mosquitos are nuts at night. My friends and I all have "pinchas" all over our body. They're itchy, and my anti-itch cream doesn't really work but as Jourie says, "we don't wanna get liz legs" (an inside joke). 

I can't find folders here anywhere. Apparently, Mexicans don't use them. I just want a basic folder to put my millions of papers in, and there's nothing. Still haven't found the Gubia, but I have the one of my family friend. 

I have a bunch of new spanish music and I'm sure I'm only going to keep adding to the collection. People here love their celebrities though. And they're the same as home, with a few more that speak Spanish. I think my new favorite is Paulina Rubio. 

Thursday, August 13, 2009

Finally I'm posting

My art class here is called "grabado". In the USA that's print making. My art class is full of those stereotypical artist kids (think dredlocks and wacky clothing... i love it). My teacher is a total hippie and listens to a lot of reggae and american ska music. Although, today she probably thought I was an idiot because she had to explain how to do something to me twice before I understood. I dont know these tools in english, let alone spanish.

My class in the Valenciana is really nice. Its my cine and literatura class and it's pretty fun. Abby's dad is the professor, and he cracks jokes the entire time.

I've met a lot more people here. I saw what a student apartment here looks like (probably the grossest place ever, and I wouldn't consider myself a particularly clean person). I have checked out all the fun places with my friends. My mexican friends force me to speak spanish, which is a lot easier with them than in a classroom for some reason. My family told me last night my spanish has improved considerably.

I can't believe I have been here an entire month. My family sent me a package but I have to go into town to the post office to pick it up. They don't have door service here.

Cell phones are weird here too. There's no package. You recharge your phone (by peso amounts) which determine what happens.

Tomorrow my friends and I are going to see "Que Paso Ayer?" which here is "The Hangover" because some of our mexican friends havent seen it and therefore don't get our jokes quite yet.

Everyone here is so nice. I really can't get over it. Tonight my friends and I plan to go out. These 8am classes every morning make me want to scream, but I guess after tomorrows class I can nap for the rest of the day (until movie time). My shower here is warm. I really can't complain.

Grandecito - A little big
Chido/Que Padre/Esta Padre- cool
^I don't know, I'll update the fun phrases list later. Right now we're going to the centro.

Tuesday, August 4, 2009

last night

We went to Jourie's and played cards for a long time and then we went to the hippie bar. Pretty fab. 

Monday, August 3, 2009

Guadalajara weekend

I forgot the last time I updated this, so here goes: 

Jack and I Thursday afternoon went to Leon, the town right next to ours, to take a look around. It was really cool, but kinda reminded me a little of Tiajuana, Mexico. The stores are al crammed into these little shady venues, but they were pretty cool. I've never seen so many leather belts, boots, and shoes in one place in all of my life. Thursday my friends Jack Abby and I went out exploring. We went around town and hung out, didn't really do too much. That was the last day of classes (for CIEE) so we were ok to go out for a little. Friday morning we took a bus to Guadalajara. It was around 140 pesos for a one way ticket to Guadalajara (two-ways are non-existent). Our bus trip was around 4 hours because we stopped at another bus station in between. We found a hotel, after taking a cab ride with the oldest most unsafe cab driver ever. That night we went exploring for a little, but mostly just passed out in the hotel room. Saturday we took a horse drawn carraige tour for about an hour. It was 200 pesos for all three of us. Our carraige was purple, and we had a white horse. I pretty much loved my life. Jack, however, was not loving it as much as Abby and I, but he was a good sport. There's a Ripley's believe it or not in Guadalajara in the main center. There were also big stages with authentic Mexican dancers and singers and such. It was pretty cool to have something going on there all day. We looked around the shops. On the outskirts of the main plaza, the city is organized really weird. There are lots of the same types of shops around one another. Like, one whole block is devoted to luggage, and another to childrens junk, and another to blankets and towells, etc. etc. It was kinda interesting. I was sad though, because both my Quesadilla and my Chilaquiles in Guadalajara were nowhere near as good as the ones I can get here in Guanajuato. It was Brigette's birthday, and I'm sad I missed it. But other than that, I don't think I ever want to leave here. Ever.