Thoughts About Thanksgiving

Well, the past week has been very different than past Thanksgivings. First of all, I had class every day (sad), and what was worse was that I had to hear about everybody being with their families and eating tons of good food. It made me think about Thanksgiving and all the things I missed about it:
-being with family
-eating tons of good food
-being in NYC and waking up at 4 am to go watch the parade
-riding the subway because there was nothing else to do
-disturbing the NYC citizens and wreaking havoc

I did, however, get to experience a lot of typical Thanksgiving day occurences. Shannon and I hosted a Thanksgiving day meal at her apartment. We invited a mix of North Americans and internationals. All the US students were going to contribute food; however, almost all of them backed up either the day before or the day of! Needless to say, Shannon and I were super stressed that we wouldn't have enough food so, while Shannon stayed to work on the turkey and stuffing, I ran all over downtown Guanajuato buying potatoes, drinks, and vegetables (I will never forget the Spanish word for green beans now: ejotes.)

So, it wouldn't be Thanksgiving without all the last-minute stress and it wouldn't be Thanksgiving if something didn't happen with the turkey. In this case, we couldn't get it to cook. Ovens in Mexico are gas-operated and don't come with temperature gauges so we had absolutely no idea how hot the oven was. By the time everyone came the turkey still looked kind of raw in places. After much deliberation we decided to cut off the pieces that were mostly cooked and stick them in the microwave.

Despite the stress (and believe me, I laughed during it all because it was SO funny), everything turned out really well. I think everyone enjoyed it and it was really great to be able to celebrate the day in Mexico.











Oh yeah, the one thing I ABSOLUTELY DID NOT MISS EVEN ONE LITTLE BIT was Black Friday. Thank goodness it does not exist here.

This is me procrastinating...

I can't think of anything really interesting to say. My last day of the semester (exams and all) is December 7th and I have so much homework to do before then. I have at least 3 papers looming over my head...ugh. (Some of it MIGHT be my fault since I have procrastinated.)

I think my problem is that I can't say "no" to people. I mean, this has always been my problem, even in the US, but here it follows the trend of, "yes, I do want to ____ (insert fun activity here). And, even though I have homework, I'll come anyway!" While this is all well and good, and I have a really great time, it also means I have about no motivation to deal with my school assignments.

I really just want it to be break so I can go travel! Here is a picture that describes how excited all of us are for vacation (along with our well-loved travel guides)!!

It's gotten colder here in Mexico (although in the afternoons I can still go out in short sleeves), and now that I have appropriate clothing I am absolutely loving the weather! Actually, my favorite reason for the weather is that they are now selling champurrado in the streets. Champurrado is a hot drink made with corn meal, chocolate, cinnamon, and other spices. Mmm...delicious!

Also, my taste buds (and my stomach) have become used to being in Mexico. For example:

I can't eat pizza without salsa on top of it (it's soooo good).
I can eat tacos from the street vendors...without getting sick!
I regularly crave elote: corn with crema, cheese, and chili.

World Travels (at least through Mexico)

Yesterday Shannon, Lisa, Laura, and I all got together to plan a little bit for our travels during Christmas break. I am now so excited about all of the places that I'm going to see that there is almost no hope that I will be able to focus on all my schoolwork before we leave!!

We're going to start in Mexico City, pass through Puebla, and then head toward the Yucatan Peninsula passing through Veracruz and Tabasco. Then we'll go west and see various places in Chiapas and Oaxaca before ending back up in Guanajuato!

Of course not being home for Christmas will be a little strange, and I'm going to miss being with my family, the Christmas tree, the apple cider, the endless hours of reading for fun, etc. But, I am also really grateful for this opportunity to know more of Mexico, practice my Spanish, and spend a month with wonderful friends. It is going to be SO much fun!

I think I might be just the tiniest bit homesick :(

(And I've stared at "tiniest" for at least 5 minutes because I am convinced that I've lost all ability to spell.)

Some Things Don't Change

I just spent all day shopping in Leon (read: If you will remember, my personal hell is being stuck in a shopping mall).

It was such a strange experience. When we entered the city on the bus it was kind of like I was back in the United States. I saw Sam's Club, Walmart, Chilis, Applebees, Office Depot, Auto Zone, etc. The shopping mall we went to was super modern with air conditioning, a movie theater, an ice rink, a Starbucks, and a food court. I ate Chinese mall food for lunch which was pretty similar to what there is in America (with the exception of the chili served on the side, like any good Mexican meal). I kept expecting to speak/be spoken to in English because it was so similar to the malls in the US.

There were, however, some aspects of the day that were very unique to Mexico. When we left the bus station, there was a huge outdoor market full of shoes and bags (Leon is famous for their leather products). Everyone was calling to you from their stands to try on shoes, look at their merchandise, etc. I did see some "Lacoste" sneakers for 150 pesos (that's less than 15 USD) and tons of "Coach" and "Louis Vutton" bags. In the mall I had a difficult time figuring out sizes because shoes, pants, and even some tops are labeled very differently from the states. And of course, all conversations were held in Spanish.

This mix of Mexico/US was actually really confusing and exhausting. I did NOT like it and I'm so glad that Guanajuato is not so industrial.

All the shopping (i.e. torture) was necessary because I've been freezing the past two weeks, and so now, hopefully, I'll be a little more comfortable. But I've had my fill of shopping for at LEAST the next 6 months.

So, all this to say, that I hate shopping in Mexico about as much (if not equally) as I do in America. This means that it will probably take an act of God to get me to enter an Old Navy when I get back to the States.

I absolutely love love LOVE salsa dancing :)

Dia de los muertos

Sometimes it's kind of strange to see how the culture of Mexico and the influence of American culture in Mexico mix. For example, EVERYONE my age and younger celebrated Halloween on the 31st with costumes, parties, and trick or treating (for the younger kids). However, the traditional Mexican holiday around this time (Nov. 2) is Dia de los Muertos. I think I am definitely more of a fan of Dia de los Muertos. Here's why:

I love this tradition of going to visit the cemetery as a family

The Catrina is everywhere...

...even in the Jardin de la Union!

Altars like this one (for Diego Rivera) are placed all around the city

And there are stands full of sweets EVERYWHERE

Like this :)

Pan de Muertos=the best snack EVER. It's bread made with anis and then topped with cajeta made of sweet potatoes and guayaba.

Happy Dia de los Muertos!

y el cervantino se acaba

Today was the last day of the Cervantino. It has been so much fun the past three weeks. I went to so many events (Spanish rock concerts, string quartets, outdoor plays, dance performances, etc.) that I feel incredibly cultured; also, there were so many people here every weekend, that the free entertainment was just watching all of the craziness.

During this time, however, I've also done a lot of thinking. Performance groups from all over the world came to participate in the festival. There was so much talent and every event was so impressive. I can only imagine being so accomplished in one field that it becomes your career and your job is to travel all over the world to perform. WOW.

So, naturally, I think of all the time and effort I've put into dance and music. Twelve years of my life went into dance, and I had my dreams of being a professional ballerina. I decided to major in music and have spent the past 10 years or so working on piano and violin. That is a really long time, but it's nothing in comparison to what would be necessary to make a career out of it.

I always have a hard time watching performances of dance/music/musical theater/etc. because I still wonder if I could have ever "made it." Realistically, no. I don't have that kind of talent and I don't have the self-discipline to make it my life. And here comes the problem: will I ever be able to dedicate myself to anything very seriously? Prima ballerinas and professional musicians have invested their entire lives into their discipline. But I have never been able to commit myself to one thing for any amount of time. While I was dancing, I was still involved with sports, school, music, etc. I was not happy being a music major until I also added a major in Spanish. Now that I am in Mexico learning Spanish, I'm already thinking of my next language and will probably take a German class next semester.

Why can't I focus on improving myself in one area? I don't know that I have the desire to give up my varied life and the different experiences I have (because I think that when you commit yourself to something like dance or music you sacrifice a lot of life experiences), but I also feel like I just keep jumping from one thing to the next without taking time to really excel. So it come down to this: is it better to delve deeper in one aspect of life or do tons of different things without ever really settling down? Who knows.