"Do you like onion rings?"

There is this bar/restaurant (good drinks, crappy food) called Los Arcos that is downtown in the zócalo, and on Tuesday and Friday nights they have salsa (yes, dancing) nights with live music, and absolutely everyone goes to salsa nights at Los Arcos. Last Tuesday a big group of us Gonzaga kids went, and ordered some food because we were hungry. There are these two girls in our group, Maite and Christine, who are roommates and who I absolutely adore they are so funny. When we were ordering they were looking to split something. In keeping up with Mexican culture, Maite asked Christine "Do you want enchiladas?" and before Maite finished her sentence Christine asked "Do you like onion rings?" Oh man, we all died of laughter. And the best part was that the waitress was laughing too. Good old gringa times. That story was better in person, but it's still pretty classic. (In case anyone was wondering, they ordered the enchiladas).

I was not very good about writing in my journal this past (second) week, and my exhausted brain has little recollection of the smaller details of this past week. I'll do a better job this week!

I can tell you that on Saturday, our group went on an excursion to Cholula and Puebla. In the town of Cholula, there are (I think) 350 churches, almost one for every day of the year. When the Spanish came and conquered México, they saw a temple in Cholula, and as our tour guide described it, "they thought it would be a good idea to throw sand and dirt on the temple and build a church right on the top of it." And so they did, and so became the butt-burning hill-climb in Cholula. From the top of that covered-up temple you could see so many churches in all directions, it was a bit overwhelming I must say. While some of the churches were incredible sights, others had strangely-creepy figures that would have made it impossible for me to worship in a place where they were luring over me so eerily.

All of the churches also made me think of my time in Zambia last summer. When we went on our weekend trips around Zambezi, we often stopped in many churches if not attended mass at the churches we went to. What permeated my brain on Saturday was the disparity between the ornate, elaborate churches the Spanish built in Cholula and the simple, plain churches that the Zambians built on their own. Not only were these differences a point of economic comparison, they were also a point of comparison of the beauty found in everyday simplicity, and the beauty that people often overlook in the simple things that are right before them. Beauty lies in the eyes of the beholder, no?

Voy a dormir, hasta luego!

Besos!

These hips don't lie

It's already the second Wednesday of the 6-week stay, my my time has flown! Thank goodness I am staying for 6 weeks, I couldn't imagine only staying for 3 weeks: there are four students from our group that are leaving a week from Sunday. When originally looking at figuring the trip into my grander summer plans, I figured that I would come to Cuernavaca only for 3 weeks in hopes to come back to the US of A after that and have an internship or shnazzy job waiting for my return. And then something hit me in the face like I was bike-riding into a brick wall: I am only young once (so cliche), so why the hell not get the experience I really wanted to have and stay for the whole 6-week period? So here I am, in Cuernavaca, looking at 1.5 weeks down and 4.5 more to come. Bring it on, baby.

Last week I took the free salsa-class offered to gringos at the University. Dang, rhythm is a hard thing to come by. I definitely have more practice as a sports-player and not as much practice as a dancing-fiend, so not gonna lie, I was pretty dang awkward. But of course since it was so much fun, I wanted to come back this week! So yesterday (the majority of our Gonzaga group) I went to the salsa class again, and this time my feet were feelin the beat. And my hips, my hips were moving kind of like Sharkira's (key word in this sentence being 'kind of').

It just so happens that downtown in the zócalo there is a bar/restaurant called Los Arcos that has salsa nights every Tuesday and Friday nights. They also have a mean happy-hour, and at a normal time too - 8 to 10pm, none of this 2ish to 6ish pm business the United States gives us. So a group of us went down to Los Arcos that night to practice our newly-learned salsa moves and have a Corona or two. That place was absolutely hopping, oh man, and there were some couples that sure did know how to move their hips. Definitely not lying.

Recommendation: Take a salsa class!! Do it. Don't want to go it alone? Bring a friend! Nothing better than improving your groove and being able to laugh with one another. I'll volunteer for the position if you really want :)

Besitos!

¡Chócalas!

...known in english as "high five" or "knucks," this word has quickly become one of the favorite words of our group. Other favorites include chiflar (to whistle, like the piropos or catcalls gringas get on the streets), que honda qüex (what's up dude), and ¡UF!, which really isn't anything translated - we kind of just use it when we want to.

This week has been absolutely crazy, it's hard to believe that we've been in Cuernavaca for one week already! Time has gone by so quickly.

After classes on Tuesday, Sadie (my roomdog), Abby, Maggie1 and I (Maggie2) went to Superama, which is a supermarket within a 2 minute walk of our house. I believe it is owned by Wal-Mart, which they have in Cuernavaca as well (and of course, I refuse to go there). After exploring the aisles of Superama, we went to the zócalito (little town square) to get some ice cream, which was perfect for the hot hot afternoon heat. Cuernavaca is nicknamed "the city of eternal spring," so pretty much ice cream is always welcome in our daily cuisine.

*being side-note*

Maggie Nelson and I have class together all day, every day. To differentiate us, our professors deemed us Maggie1 (Nelson) and Maggie2 (Cech), I am 2 because I was late coming to class on the first day. For the duration of the blog, I may refer to us as "the Maggies," "Maggie1/Maggie2," or "1 and 2," or better yet what we get quite often, "uno y dos."

*end side-note*

Wednesday was a busy day: in addition to our 6 hours of class, we had our weekly 3-hour Gonzaga class from 4-7pm that has its own extraneous amount of homework it requires. So class got done on Wednesday at 2, I took the salsa-class offered at the school from 2-3, and then had lunch and had our Gonzaga class from 4 to 7pm - needless to say I was fried when the end of the day came. And as for the salsa class... well, it was fun! But I'm an athlete, I have no rhythm. That's not humility speaking, that's blatant honesty. I'll try anything twice though, and the class is on Tuesday, so who knows what kind of moves I'll have after this week.

Thursday we had class as usual until 2, went home and had comida after school was over, and then at 4 we met up at the school for a tour of the zócalo (the main town square). There was a large group of students from the University (Universidad Internacionál, or UNINTER), from GU, Illinois and Indiana. When we got to the zócalo, we hopped on a double-decker tour bus, that was probably designed to make the gringos look even more ridiculous than we already do. They had us take a super-gringo bus because they were making a video about UNINTER for a t.v. station in Cuernavaca, we're gon' be famous!!!

Friday we had our end of the week exam, which kicked my butt, way much. Then we went with Abby's friend to get some ice cream (like I said, ice cream is always appreciated in our cuisine). We were pooped Friday, long first week.

Yesterday early in the morn, we went to México D.F. (Distrito Federal). Our first stop was the Metropolitan Cathedral, which is HUGE and absolutely gorgeous. After that, we headed to the Palacio Nacional where the Federal Government offices are. More importantly, there are some absolute phenomenal Diego Rivera murals there that detail the history and ancient cultures of Mexico. There was so much beauty in the detailed meaning of each figure in the many murals, it was a very spiritually-stimulating experience for me. Following the Palacio Nacional, we went to the Templo Mayor, which is an archaeological center and museum with ancient ruins that now sit preserved in the middle of the city. After the Templo, we had the chance to grab some grub and kick it in the zócalo for awhile, and at one point, a group of Mexican young'ins approached me and asked me if I would do an interview with them in english. We were chatting and they were asking me questions and told me it was for their English class at their university in D.F. "Is it because I'm a gringa?" I asked them in spanish, jokingly of course. They hesitated and looked at each other and then at me and smiled while they said "yes!" We all got a good laugh out of that. Finally, we went to the Anthropology Museum of Mexico, which is abound with ancient and current cultures and artifacts, such as the original Aztec calendar (frickin' giant)! As much as museums are interesting (apologies for a lack of a better vocab word), there is only so much one can handle of museum-going in one day. And Saturday, well, Saturday was a lonnnng museum day, fo sho.

...which brings us to Sunday! Today! We went to mass today at the Cathedral in the zócalo, at 10:30 so we could sleep in. A few things for us to keep in mind for mass next week:

a) the 10:30am mass is the mass at which there are the most babies and children. while they are absolutely adorable and make me want to adopt several Mexican children, they also were rather loud and distracting - partly because there were 3 babies sitting within arm-length of our 6-person group, and partly because I am not used to the attendance of children at the 8:30pm mass in the Gonzaga chapel.

b) pick up the books at the entrance of the Cathedral next week. There weren't books in the pews with which we could follow along the scriptures, and the stuffy heat of the Cathedral along with our newly-christened spanish-listening ears made it difficult to understand what was being said. Our mamá told us that there are books at the entrance that you can pick up for the service to read along with if we wanted to. Good job, gringas, good job.

c) the 12:00 noon service has a mariachi band! We will go to that one next week!

I am rapidly and most definitely falling in love with Cuernavaca. I am head over heels for the language, there is a freedom that comes along with understanding another language. It's a portal of sorts into a world to which the door had been closed before. The culture has come alive vibrantly, and while I am definitely a gringa, I didn't experience the traditional, famous "culture shock."

So this time, I will just say that even though the program ends in five weeks, I have an itching feeling that I won't want to leave. Who needs to graduate and finish their undergraduate career anyway, right? (jokes jokes, mom and dad!!!)

Week 2, here I come!

Besos!

Stairmasters and kegstands

After many attempts to upload photos to the blog, my impatience has gotten the best of me. It has taken at least half an hour per upload, so I feel as though my patience isn't that bad...? I'll upload a photo one of these days, I have about 40 more of them in Mexico, so there's plenty of time left!

Oh man except there was this one photo, of our first tequila "shots" in Mexico [I say "shot" in quotations because it was in an itty-bitty cup equivalent to about 1/4 of a shot of a drank]. But shoot, was that some delicious tequila, 100% hecho en Mexico. This took place at a pit-stop on our way to our excursion site on Sunday...

...and on Sunday we went on an excursion to the ancient Aztecan-city ruins of Teotihuacan. It's located north of Mexico City, and is still in tact after so many years of wear-and-tear [it's estimated that there were agricultural settlements there as far back as 600BC]. It was incredible to see how much people could do with their bare hands and a little bit 'o elbow grease! The temple of the Sun and the temple of the Moon were incredible, with the Sun temple towering about 72 meters, give or take, above ground! And yes, yes we did ascend the Sun temple. Let me tell you-stairmasters 'aint got nothin on this baby. Those old-fashioned pieces of equipment can kiss my thoroughly toned buns-and-thighs, thank you.

Flash forward to today, the first day of clases! Here was the schedule of the day (for me):

8am - Orientation

1015am - Advanced Grammar [this class is in the morning from 8am until 11am, but since I had orientation today I went late]

1115am - Conversation

1210pm - Advanced Composition

2pm - end of classes!

My teachers are great: in addition to speaking extremely-rapido espanol and being very funny, my Advanced Grammar teacher is also very exotic looking [in a very good way, of course] - dark skin, piercing eyes...bienvenidos a la Universidad, muchachas. My Conversation and Advanced Composition teacher is a riot, we talked about the indigenous people of both Mexico and of the United States, and then we chatted about some slang and explained the good American kegstand, which is explained as a very strange American tradition [si, es la verdad]. He told us of a group from Dallas [Texas, my state of choice] that was studying here and had a keg at one of their houses every single weekend... Now, there's the "Go Big or Go Home" kind of mentality that I so lovingly know Texas for. A little bit of Mexican culture, a little bit of American culture, and we're good.

It's really incredible though how much spanish I feel I am soaking up after only one day of classes. I have a feeling that I may not want to speak english for awhile once I return stateside. Amigos, be fore-warned...

OH MY GOSH AND MY BAG CAME TODAY!!!!!!! It was SO nice to be able to change into clean clothes after 3 days. Here's lookin at all of you back in the states: please please don't take advantage of your closets and dresser drawers. :)

Time for some homework. Hasta luego!

Besitos!

"¡Estoy feliz, estoy en México!"

Buenas noches de Cuernavaca!

After arriving at my host-family's house today with no suitcase, an empty belly and in need of a really good night's sleep, I am currently pretty incapable of writing anything worth reading. One thing I can say with clarity is that the gin & tonic I had with dinner last night was much needed after my looooooong day, I can't recall ever having tasted such a satisfying beverage.

My bag isn't with me though. Because of all of the flight cancellations/etc., it is said to have arrived in D.F. around 4:30pm today, and will be delivered to my homestay tomorrow morning. Same clothes three days in a row? No problemo.

Oh my host family is so fantastic! It's just a mama and a papa, their two daughters are older and have married. I haven't met mi papa yet, but mi mama is amazing! I am living with another GU friend and there are two girls from a school in Pennsylvania that are studying at the Uni. here and staying at our house. Should be a wonderful time, fo sho.

I am thankful I arrived today though, because tomorrow our group is going to Teotituachan, some pyramid ruins north of D.F. With that, I am off to bed.

Besos besos besos.... porque Estoy feliz, estoy en Mexico!!!

Welcome to Fort Hood

Due to severe weather in Dallas, we were unable to land there on our airplane from Portland. So as alternative #1, we were going to fly to Waco, Texas to re-fuel until we could land in Dallas. Whelp, Waco was flake-o with weather as well, so alternative #2 was to head to Killeen Military Base/Regional Airport in Fort Hood, a little south of Dallas. Long story short, I am here now in Fort Hood, Texas [no, no I am not in Cuernavaca]. I am kicking it with two new stranded-traveler friends I made, Laura and Mary, and we are about to watch Netflix to pass the time until we depart to Dallas. Go big or go home, right Texas?

Besos

Ready, set...

GO!!!

T-minus 7 hours until I hop on a flight for Dallas, my gateway to Mexico D.F. [Mexico City]! It's been a long time coming, and I am so soo ready to let the sails loose and go off to a marvelous adventure. Am I mentally packed? Nope. Physically packed? Heck no. Am I ready?? Well, I will have to be tomorrow!

Last summer, I embarked on a different adventure. Flashback one year to date: Maggie was in Zambezi, Zambia, Africa with the CLP Servant Leadership Program. Hell of a first-time international-travel experience! We had a group blog that the [roughly] 13 of us took turns writing on that was an amazing opportunity for us to share our journey with our friends and family. One year later, I realize that I most definitely left my heart in Africa, as for the past few days I have been religiously checking their 2010 blog for the latest update. It's an amazing group that will undoubtedly have some amazing insights on their experiences. I will continue to check it religiously, I encourage you to check it out too: www.gonzagainzambezi.com.

My friend Liz Purdy introduced this poem to the 2009 Zambezi group last summer, and I have found resonance with it ever since. Dr. Josh Armstrong, the director of the Zambezi program, posted the same poem on their blog this year, he beat me to it so now I feel like a copycat posting it on mine! Here it is though:

For the Traveler by John O'Donohue

When you travel, you find yourself

Alone in a different way,

More attentive now

To the self you bring along,

Your more subtle eye watching

You abroad; and how what meets you

Touches that part of the heart

That lies low at home:

A journey can become a sacred thing:

Make sure, before you go,

To take the time

To bless your going forth,

To free your heart of ballast

So that the compass of your soul

Might direct you toward

The territories of spirit

Where you will discover

More of your hidden life,

And the urgencies

That deserve to claim you.

May you travel in an awakened way,

Gathered wisely into your inner ground;

That you may not waste the invitations

Which wait along the way to transform you.

I look very much forward to updating the blog, which I hope to do a few times a week. Next time you hear from me, I'll be in Cuernavaca!

"The world is grand, awfully big and astonishingly beautiful, frequently thrilling"

- Dorothy Kilgallen

Besos,

Margarita

(Margaret = Margarita in spanish!)