Today I broke out of my shell and hid inside it.
           When I came into my classroom this morning, there was no space at the half-table that Lorena, Ana and Paola were occupying so kind of disappointed, I sat at my own table and worked on chemistry for two periods. Then we had breakfast and as we walked out of the classroom door, Paola invited me to come hang with them. We ate a very good pizza on bread instead of crust that Tilo brought. He also brought lemon tea that once was cooled down was delicious. Lorena gave me a hug again just to be random. After washing our dishes, we brushed our teeth and we went to math class. I worked on my own book as they did algebraic equations. Then was thing we most dreaded: PE!!! Well I dreaded the pain but at the same time last time I felt like it brought me closer to my class as we shared the pain. So, call me crazy but I was torn between dread and good anticipation.
          The teacher ended up not coming anyway so we just hung out for about twenty minutes until Karla had everyone but me march and practice for the flag ceremony that takes place every Monday.
          After snack we had Spanish and I kind of like being the sort of editor of the newspaper we are doing. I had Lorena and Emmanuel help me choose the font for the title for the newspaper and then I looked through actual newspapers to find articles that we copy and put in my newspaper. Everyone gave their stuff to me and I liked the sort of importance of it. I kind of forgot to be self-conscious about my actions and I made all the bizarre faces that I wanted when I talked about Mitt Romney and other issues. I was a little insulted when Ana gave her paper to me she said "please be careful with it, it took me a lot of time to do it," as if I wouldn't. Maybe I am overreacting though.
          At the end of the day, I kissed Paola good-bye and I actually kissed her instead of just ramming her with my cheekbone. After yesterday's attempt, I could still feel where I had hit her for a couple minutes after! I gave Lorena a kiss and a one-armed hug. The School Kiss Count stays the same if you don't count adults. I kissed Karla good-bye also.
          We went to Sedem as it rained to see if anyone was going to show up and then when no one did, we went to Sam's Kloob. Oscar and I soon found out upon walking in, that "The Hunger Games" was playing, so as my parents shopped, we watched!
         Then we went to drop my dad off at his adult soccer game. That was our intention anyway. Oscar and I ended up playing in his game which made me self-conscious and I felt like I was playing really badly. I probably wasn't but I am still disappointed in my soccer skills. My dad scored a birthday goal and my brother also scored one.
        We ate dinner and then had dessert which were both delicious. We each gave my dad one present and then saved the rest for later.
Good Night!

Today was pretty good considering my despair (maybe that word is a little strong) a couple days earlier.
         When I came into my classroom that kind of resembles a one-room schoolhouse (because of the many different grades in the same class), I asked Ana and Lorena if I could sit with them at the table closest to the door. They replied, "yes" so I sat down and took out a pencil and got down to physics. Once everyone else showed up the same group of girls as yesterday were sitting at a table together.
        Instead of doing Math we were all supposed to go down to the kitchen for a meeting. It was about doing a bake sale with all-Mexican food to raise money for a trip of their choice for the third year students (third year of secundaria is 9th grade). I was a little nervous because we (my family) don't know how to cook real Mexican food so when Lorena asked me what I was going to bring for the bake sale and I told her that my family didn't know how to cook Mexican food and she went and told Karla. Karla helped me decide on making posole and directed me to Lucy the math teacher. Andres and I split the ingredients that we are going to bring to school and they will teach us to make it at school.
       We had a good breakfast and went to English class. There we listened to Bruno Mars songs and were supposed to write down the lyrics that we heard. Then it was time for swimming. Paola was going to swim with us this time; I like her a lot because she is funny, nice and makes weird faces! We got dressed behind a flimsy pink screen which I can tell you is hard especially if you don't feel comfortable dressing (and undressing) with other people around. Also getting into a short sleeve wet suit is still hard to get into no matter what. Swimming was fun and all of us four girls were on the same water polo team. After as we were getting dressed, I toweled my hair, making it stick up all over the place and Paola looked at me and said, "If you were a boy I would have a crush on you" and then Lorena spun around me to look at her and agreed. I was kind of surprised but whatever!
      We had snack and then went to art class. We were supposed to draw a Japanese cherry tree though the teacher kept calling it a Chinese cherry tree. Then we went to Spanish and talked about our projects. Emmanuel had to help me understand what Karla was saying to me but I think I understand now.
       At the end of the day, Lorena gave me a kiss on the cheek and as I was leaving so did Paula. That one didn't work very well though; I accidentally hit her cheekbone with mine (whoops). I still have trouble with the whole kissing thing because I just kind of touch my cheek against theirs. It is the custom to do that to both genders even if you don't know them well. For me, if you kiss someone on the cheek it kind of accepts you into the class. I hope my school kiss count gets higher, not because I like getting kissed but because it is kind of an inclusive thing.

School Kiss Count: 2

We made brownies at night for my dad's birthday tomorrow!!
Good Night! 

      "It's okay to have butterflies, just as long as they fly in formation."
      (Random quote from my student planner!)

    Sorry it has been so long since my last blog post, but I have been kind of busy. Here are some highlights and some things that are just memorable to me even if they weren't all that great.

• On Thursday, we had a PE teacher who is about my height and a demon when it comes to exercises. She had us stretch (okay that wasn't so bad but read on); we jogged around the concrete area that doubles as a play place and as a driveway (again, not so bad I mean hey, I ran a half marathon). Then came the more painful part: We had to do frog jump and jump very far across the concrete thing-a-ma-jigger. We also laid down on our backs, put our legs straight up and had to touch our toes twenty times. The MOST painful thing was doing twenty burpies. If you don't know what those are, here is a brief explanation: you jump up with your arms over your head and then squat down and shoot your legs out into the plank position and do a push-up. Those were so hard. After, we walked very slowly up a rather small hill. My legs were so worked that when I had to actually use my muscles to get up that sucker it felt very peculiar as though worms were moving around inside of my thigh muscles. We did some flexibility stuff and stretches and then slowly and painstakingly walked back for a snack in the kitchen before our next class.
• One small victory was that a girl in my class said goodbye to me!! That sounds small, but it made me feel good.
• The next couple days were very painful for me and everyone else. Our legs hurt going up and down the stairs. Over the weekend after my legs were mostly recovered, we went for a run and at the top of a church behind it there was some exercise equipment that we used for a bit before returning home.

At the top of the stairs leading up to the church. Below us you can see San Cristobal.

We....ahem...exercised?!

     Right now I am listening to Cold Play and I can really see how music makes you feel good. I am very happy to be writing right now and my day just got a lot better!

     Okay now to a description of Monday:
     We had the flag ceremony, as is customary for Mondays. It isn't greatly interesting but hey, if it kills time it works for me! :) In the last class, Spanish, Karla (the best teacher in my opinion) was dictating things to write and I was having trouble keeping up. When I was confused I would look up to see if anyone at my table would help me and Lorena (the one who said goodbye to me) told me the words I was missing. At the end of class after I thanked Lorena for her help as we walked out of the door, and she said "You're welcome," and then a minute later when she headed towards the stairs and I walked the opposite way and she gave me a hug and a kiss on the cheek. That made me feel more included as part of the class and cheered me up a quite a bit. 

    After I did a bunch of homework, I got sort of stressed out and I just couldn't take it. I missed my friends and I desperately wished for the familiarity of something in my life. On top of that I was nervous about going swimming the next day as I hadn't done it before. I was terrified for soccer because of my lack of practice and the idea of another new thing in my life. I had a long cry and felt better after it. I miss all of the people reading my blog a LOT, and after our year in Mexico I will be very happy to see your familiar faces.

   Today when I entered the classroom I sat at a group with all the girls next to Lorena and then Maya came and sat on the other side. Maya is still nice, she just doesn't hang out with me as much anymore. We had double physics that way and then I walked down to breakfast with Maya and Paola (a new girl who is very nice to me). During breakfast Lorena would come up behind me and the other girls and put her freezing fingers on our necks. After breakfast she gave me a big hug and for a moment we tapped random rhythms on each others backs as we hugged.
     I swam and it was pretty fun even if after my hair had almost the consistency of cotton candy. We played water polo after and I was on the same team as Favio,Toño and Evodio. We ended up tying 2-2 and I scored one goal for my team. I got dressed and then went and ate watermelon for my snack before we went back to class for a two-hour lesson on social intelligence. Most things I already knew but it wasn't too bad. For five minutes we went outside as the teacher explained something to two people. (Our teacher's name is Griselda and that kind of reminds me of the gristle on steak.) Lorena walked out with me and we sat down together. She asked me why I was so flexible when she recalled PE class. She asked if I took yoga or something as she made a funny arm pose.  At the end we wrote on the board things we liked and didn't like about the class. Afterwards, Griselda did her own list and one of the things she said she didn't like was that she can't communicate with me (or as she called me,  "the girl who speaks English"). She said she doesn't know how much I understand blah blah blah...... I was thinking: Lady, I understand a whole lot more than you think I do. (Okay that wasn't meant to sound so rude but you get my point). At the end of class I told her that I understood pretty much everything she said. She replied, "Oh really? Okay that's good, thanks."
   We went to a restaurant nearby and ate some food and checked about homework before we changed in the car and went to soccer practice. At first I didn't see anyone I recognized but then when I got there Fernando dos said my name and gave me a big, genuine smile. He is really friendly to me! I was kind of disappointed in my ability to play today but oh well, I will get better.
   I went home and started working on my blog entry for today! I really enjoy writing and coming back to it feels awesome!
Good Night!

     I again reluctantly woke up and climbed out of bed to eat a snack. I took a shower and got dressed in my sports uniform of a sweat suit. I was still nervous because I will probably be nervous for a while  (I am just like that).
   I got out of the car and climbed up the stairs to our classroom. There was one table full so I sat alone at the empty one. The physics teacher asked for my homework and I gave it to him. He said that I had one answer right but I needed to convert my fractions into decimals. Once I realized what he was saying, I solved the problem and got the correct answer.
       More people came in after me so soon my table was also filled. I was the first on my table to finish the problem and I had to help a third year (Maya) add fractions. Unless the problems suddenly get more difficult, I will probably have to bring my math work book from the United States so that I can keep up with my classmates at West. The whole time for double physics was used trying to help kids figure out how to solve the not-very-hard-problem.
      We ate crepes and corn tamales for breakfast though I didn't realize that after we made all the cheese crepes they would make sweet crepes instead so I forced myself to eat the whole crepe (which wasn't very good) and after, half of a corn tamale. We washed our plates and brushed our teeth before we went back to class.
     Next we had Math with a teacher that I think is really nice. The class split into the two groups A and B (A for more advanced and B for less). I was in the A group and she gave us a notebook and a math book with story problems though all she wanted us to do was one problem. I finished that rather quickly and I asked her what else I should do, she told me to go from page 8-13. She put us in pairs, Favio and Maya, Toño and Anita and Emmanuel and I. I showed Emmanuel how to solve the first problem and then we went on all the way to page 11 or 12 by the time everyone else had barely finished the first problem. I think Math time may be another time in which I can work in my workbook.
    They told us it was time for PE after Math so we went outside and I asked Maya and Emmanuel what we were meant to be doing. They said that there was no PE teacher so some kids went on the trampoline and they tried to show me the horse. The horse was nowhere to be found, but we still had fun walking around the forest. They showed me the tree house that was used occasionally by students there.
    We then had jicama with chili on it but thankfully they didn't put chili on mine because I don't really like it at all. Then I thought we were supposed to have history but instead we had double Spanish class in which we did a really cool experiment. We were told the day before to bring bandanas today, we all put the blindfolds on so that we couldn't see and got into partnerships. Maya was my partner and we had to tell each other words without talking. Since I went first, I chose the Helen Keller way and we drew it on each others hands. It was easy for me to write the message but hard for me to understand what she was meant to be telling me. The activity was to kind of understand Helen Keller's situation and I was surprised that I had never thought of that before. It is kind of a "duh why didn't I think of that before?" sort of experiment.
  We went home, and after I finished my homework, Adelaide and I made pesto, garlic bread, and scones. The pesto turned out really well and the garlic bread got a little torched but the ones on the outside were good. The scones that we had at the end were DELICIOUS; some had raisins, and some had chocolate chips. All in all, it was quite successful.
Good Night!
        

My school day could have been a lot better, but it could have been a lot worse.
      I woke up too early for comfort, ate breakfast, opened Emery's box and read the very nice notes she left. I took a shower and got dressed in my many layered uniform.
      After we got all our stuff together we left for school. I tried to think good thoughts though I was very nervous. We arrived and for the first moments there was no one there. We took a picture for the first day of school and went inside. I walked into my new classroom and sat down terrified. Everyone else was laughing and joking and I was feeling really shy. Our physics teacher gave us a story problem and had us do that for the whole time. I had to ask for a pencil as it was not on our list of items. He left to get one though it was my mom who came up to give me the pencil instead. I read the problem and was a little confused. I was so scared that I was frozen with my head on my hand and my hand shook a little as it held the mechanical pencil. A boy named Emmanuel asked me what my name was and when he heard that my voice sounded American, he said in really good English "That's a nice name," and without even thinking I replied in English, "Thank you." I went back to my confusing problem solving and stared out the window as I wondered if I was in the wrong class because everyone seemed older than me and I heard a boy say he was in his second year of Middle School. I thought I was going to have a really crappy day from then on, however I was mostly wrong.
      Our next class was Math; all we did in this class though was write the rules for the year down. The teacher was really nice even though we didn't do much. A bell rang saying that it was breakfast time. I went down to the kitchen really unsure about what was to take place. I saw people grabbing plates and I asked a teacher what I should do. She said that if I had my own plate, bowl and utensils then I should go get them. I went up to our room to get the items and was unsure how to open the door. I went down and told the same teacher my dilemma. She came up and showed me how to open the door by putting your hand through the window and opening the door that way. I got my stuff and thanked her. I went down and the principal served me the food of: tortilla chips in salsa, cheese and chicken. I sat on the same table as Oscar just not next to each other; I sat next to some of his classmates who tried the little English they knew with me. They were very nice!
      After I was done, I washed my breakfast items outside in the soapy water. I went to go get my toothbrush and toothpaste and brushed my teeth in the bathroom. After I went to the bathroom and returned to the kitchen where the rest of my class was. I sat down kind of away from everyone else until the oldest in our class, Maya, invited me over to sit with her and her friends. She asked me what kind of music and for some reason my brain stalled for a second and I replied Adele, Kelly Clarkson and the Beatles. She said she liked more hippie music like Oasis and Jesse Jay (she might have meant Jesse James). We wrote down the rules for school and then we got onto the subject of the uniforms, Emmanuel said that he didn't feel like the uniform fit what they were trying to do in school. He said that he wished they were more comfortable and modern. In the end the teachers said that we could get dress in pants instead of skirts and that we didn't have to wear the ugliest part of the uniform, the vest.
    We had English class where the teacher divided us into Group A for more advanced and Group B for less advanced. There were three people in our class that were fluent or almost fluent: Maya, Emmanuel and I. We talked in English the whole class and we learned that in our group we would read books and write papers! Our homework for the Group A+ (our group of three) was to write 5-10 books that we wanted to read during the school year. Turns out that the English teacher is Emmanuel's mom. That explains how he knows English (well, he also learned it as his first language).
      After that we had Art in which we painted nametags for our lockers. I just finger painted a big red circle on it. Turns out finger painting a big red circle is very pleasing. After, we had Spanish class. Our teacher was Karla; she is my favorite because she won't take crap from us but she also has a sense of humor and is very friendly and nice. To be honest I am not sure if I will learn much this year but I know that I will learn from at least Karla. If the math isn't hard enough for me I will ask my math teacher if I can work on my work book from the United States.
      At the end of school I went to pick up Oscar and help Oscar's friend's dad understand the teacher (their family is Canadian). After my parents picked us up, we decided not to go to soccer that day. As a treat we went to go get ice cream. Tomorrow I will have to go to soccer for another new scenario.
   We went home and after I did my homework, I played volleyball with my cousins. We ate dinner and then did a five-minute volleyball game.

First day of school

Good Night!

      Right now it is really early in the morning. I just ate a small bowl of raisin bran for a snack to tide me over until our breakfast at school. I am nervous for the school day and I am really tired. I am nervous that I will have a wrong type of item, that I will forget something, that the kids won't be nice (unlikely) or anything else. Soon I will go to take a shower!
Wish me luck!
Good Morning

Today we gave a whole new meaning to the term "black beans."
       I slept in and was the last person to wake up. I ate some food and did some back bends with Adelaide before our families parted ways to shop for different things. The DeCosse family (Sarah, Tom, Mathilda, Adelaide) went to go shop in the craft market for presents for people and our family went to shop for flowers, cleats, bags and rubber balls.
    We checked out various stores and went into the market. I chose daisies for the flowers: four red, three yellow, two pink and one orange. The flowers were for Sarah's colleague who was going to have us over for lunch. We got two mesh bags for our swim stuff I got two head bands though we were unable to buy cleats and rubber balls.
    We went home and packed our bags for school which starts TOMORROW!!!!!!! I tried on my uniform for my cousins when they came home. Soon after, we went to lunch at Miguel Angel's (Sarah's friend) house. We played cards before lunch. The lunch was DELICIOUS! We ate spaghetti and pizza; I ate a lot of it! We played on some little toy trucks and bikes and then walked home. On the way Adelaide, Oscar and I made the beginning of a new language.
Ushka=you
 Ina=me
 Ifa=want
 Bunga=bounce
We created those words only to say Me want bounce = ina ifa bunga. It was quite fun even though we weren't allowed to go bounce on the trampolines then.
    When we got home I opened the door and the house was filled with smoke. We rushed outside and told the parents. They soon found out that we had burned the beans. This is where my title relates to my day, the beans were SO burned that they had practically turned into coal. After we got the cats outside (who seemed unaffected) and opened the windows, we played volleyball with the inflated ball that we had bought for that very purpose. We had a lot of fun doing that!
Since we are going to go to sleep early tonight I have to do my blog entry sooner. So I will not be able to tell about dinner since it has not happened yet.
I will post pictures of my uniform.
Good Night!

Today was both boring and interesting.
    Yesterday, I had to get up at 8:15. Ouch, remember that we just drove back from Palenque. Anyway I rolled unwillingly out of bed and sat down at the kitchen table as I ate breakfast slowly. I took a shower and got dressed after the rest of the kids woke up. We drove to our school called DICET for a parent meeting. (I used the argument that since it was a parent meeting I shouldn't have to go, but alas I went anyway.) We walked through the gates and into a house on the school property where the principal lives. We sat down at a long table and they commenced to talk about EVERY little detail. For example, they are thinking of doing a camping trip every two months that the kids in middle school can attend. That sounded fun but then they decided that the trip had to be related to an educational principle. They decided that they should focus on water, so everyone talked about how that is a big problem here and one woman said that she doesn't have running water so her family (she thinks she's all that) collects the rain water blah, blah, blah..... The teachers seemed nice but the conversations were very dull. Once I realized that I was not needed in the translation department I stopped listening and read on my kindle. One part of the very boring meeting that surprised me was that one parent thought that meeting once every two months for 3-4 hours wasn't enough!!! Geez Louise!
   My favorite part of the whole meeting was when they gave me coffee! (Emery, I met an adult named Ricardo! Though I think my life (well that meeting anyway) was made more dull by his boring talking!)
    After the meeting we decided to ask a teacher one more time what the uniforms consisted of. She told us but then said she would get someone to show us an example. The daughter of the principal came back with uniforms from the school. So turns out we didn't have to buy everything. We got the right sizes and then went to a restaurant down the road to eat lunch. We ate and then went to Chedraui for our last school items. We went back home and then played cards before we went back out to go see a show called Palenque Rojo.
   One person got in line for seats and then the rest of us went to the plaza outside of the church to do a bungee trampoline ride. It was fun but they stretched the bungee cords to much so I couldn't push off of the trampoline to do a flip.
   We went back to the theater and sat and watched the show. The whole show was in Lacandon and Tsotsil so we had had to read the program that explained in English what the show was about. It was about the ancient Mayans. It was sometimes startling and really cool except the part with kissing and stuff. Awkward!!!
   We went to a really yummy French restaurant and played games before we ate. The food was delicious and we went home later than we had hoped!
Good Night!

Our stay in Palenque was really enjoyable.
     We went to Palenque for a couple of days which delayed my blog posts. Here are some of the highlights:
-We stayed in a really amazing hotel with  a delicious restaurant, three pools lined by rocks, some howler monkeys, nice staff and jungle atmosphere. It is literally in the jungle with palm trees, vines, beautiful flowers and native animals.
-One day Adelaide, Oscar, Mathilda and I swam ALL day. Since we went in the pool in the morning I had never been completely dry. In the end of the day we swam in a river that we had visited earlier. It had a pretty strong current and it was a workout to get up to a group of rocks. The light was fading so it was hard to see the rocks below us. We got onto the side and jumped into the water and had to immediately start swimming. We got to the farthest we could go and floated down to where my dad was waiting on another rock. But first we had to go through an odd little whirl pool. It made it harder for you to get to the rock. Adelaide even got twirled around!! Oh and I forgot to tell you the main reason we went to the river: on the bottom of the calmer part are huge groups of black fish that we call Devil Fish. They don't interact much with you but it makes you a little nervous to touch the bottom of the river.
-Now this is the secret that we had been planning for a while: we made a spa for my parents with a facial, lotion, massage and mint steam! They really liked it and they went to bed tired but relaxed.
-We went to the ruins of Palenque which were really awesome. We got a short tour through the jungle and a history of Palenque. Only 2% of the temples are uncovered! We got to go inside an ancient house that was still standing! We climbed some temples and found out that the ancient sewer system that the ancient Mayans used beats our modern one! The temples have never flooded though much of Mexico floods during the rainy season! We learned about a ball game where they used their hips to bounce a ball; whoever lost were killed! I would not want to play that game!
-We went in the river ONE more time. Oscar, Adelaide and I went first and couldn't make it up to the rock we had originally swum to because we were giggling a lot. My dad said that we were being wimpy and that if we hadn't been giggling we would have made it. Then he tried it and also couldn't make it. The river was higher and the current was a lot stronger than the day before. All we could do was float down and go across the river if we swam strongly.
-We had a very uncomfortable trip back home because this time we had two more people in our car and since our car can only fit seven people, my parents were in front, Auntie Sarah and her boyfriend Tom in the middle, and then four kids in the back. Adelaide and Mathilda had to share the middle seat. We were squished. The first half we all fought to be comfortable and I am going to decline from saying anything about anyone's behavior for fear of saying anything bad about someone that I would regret later.
-We made it home and ate dinner as quickly as possible so that we could watch Finding Nemo and eat popcorn.
Good Night!
Sorry for my delay in blog posts!
I will post pictures of the ruins later.

Adelaide and I waiting for everyone else.

Towel art that the cleaning lady did on our beds in Palenque.

Oscar in heels. He begged my parents to buy them.
Just kidding.

Monday was fun because we got to show our guests our favorite places.
     I instantly regretted asking Mathilda (my younger cousin who I was sharing a bed with) to wake me up when she woke up. However she woke me up very sweetly by gently patting my cheek. In about five minutes I decided to go back to sleep.
     I woke up when Oscar and Adelaide (who were sharing a bed on the floor) woke up hours later. (As they said, "We sleep like rocks.")  We ate pancakes and bacon which were delicious for breakfast. We got dressed and hurried out to show our guests around town. We took them to both andadors (if you have forgotten, those are streets where walking is the only mode of transportation allowed). We showed them the zocalo and a few beautiful cathedrals, and then we stopped to eat. We ate chicken, steak, chicken soup and many dips for chips while the kids drank juice and soda. (The parents chose the healthier option: water.) There was one funny moment when Mathilda ate a spicy dip that she had mistaken for one that Oscar had said wan't very spicy. ("You said it wasn't spicy!" she accused as she rubbed her tongue and drank juice.) We watched a woman hand make tortillas and she gave us each one while it was still warm. It was really good! She and the other waiters seemed to think that it was funny how much interest we took in watching her make tortillas. We especially liked it when they would puff up giving the illusion that they were flying! After lunch we went to the artisanal market and I learned some buying tips from my Auntie Sarah:
1. Never look TOO interested even if you are
2. If you buy a lot in one time ask for a discount
3. If you are unhappy with the price, be prepared to just walk away
4. Be incredibly nice
    Adelaide and Mathilda bought some friendship bracelets and my dad bought Adelaide and Mathilda a beaded key-chain each.
    We started to walk home and since Mathilda had walked such a long time on her own and her energy was getting drained so we bought some potato chips and it was my job to divide them evenly among the children.
   When we got home we played outside and had a dance party in my room while we waited for dinner to be ready. We made code names for ourselves and posted them on a paper on the inside of the door for whoever was inside. We ate spaghetti for dinner and then we played hide and seek and ghost in the graveyard. We went to sleep earlier than usual!
Good Night!
    

Today we got a lot of exercise!
     I was the last to get out of bed on Tuesday, even though I had woken up various times that morning, like when Mathilda handed me bunny (my stuffed animal that I have had since I was a baby) from off the ground (which I thought was very nice). We ate breakfast and then went to plan something secretive. I will tell you later, I am sworn to secrecy by my cousins and brother.
    We all took showers and laid out on the balcony for a while (not long enough to get burned, don't worry). We got dressed and then got a taxi to go to a kids playground with seesaws, trampolines, slides and swings. We played on the trampolines the whole time. They were really fun even though Oscar kept stealing my bounce!
      When we went home Mathilda and Adelaide had their Spanish lessons and Oscar and I read on our kindles. After their lessons Oscar, Adelaide and I went to the climbing gym and climbed for a few hours. We showed her the vault that we made up and we had a good time climbing and goofing around. Our moms came with Mathilda at the end of our lesson. Adelaide, Mathilda and Auntie Sarah went to see and old colleague of Sarah's for a bit while Oscar, my mom and I went home. We packed for Palenque that day because we were going to stay there for a couple days.
Good Night!!!

Today was a very exciting day.
     I don't remember the first part of the day, but I do remember the end. We re-arranged the rooms in anticipation for our very first guests: our Auntie Sarah and our cousins Adelaide and Mathilda. We put another bed in my room where all the kids were going to sleep.
    My parents went running before we were going to go to Tuxtla again to pick up Auntie Sarah and our cousins. We tried to do some blog posts while they were gone. We rushed out of our house and drove while listening to music. When we arrived we got a frappe at a cafe and then sat down unbelievably excited for them to come. At first when we looked at the arrivals and departures, it said that their flight was on time and then later it said that they were delayed. We realized that it meant that they were just late. We waved to them when they came off the plane. We greeted them and gave them hugs and such. I carried Mathilda for a while and on the ride home we talked and goofed around. We played around for a little while before we got odd flavored tacos for dinner.
      Oscar ate a catterpillar taco and there were other ones like broccoli and banana tacos. I told Mathilda three fairy tales before we went to bed while Oscar tried to explain Star Wars to Adelaide (whenever I would tell them it was time to go to bed, he said, "I know, it'll be quick -- I'm just telling her the Old Republic.").

Good Night!!!

On Saturday we did a variety of things and it was really fun.

      We had gone to bed really late the night before, so we rolled out of bed and sat in front of the TV with sleepies in our eyes and blankets around us as we found a channel to watch the gold medal match soccer game on. That wasn't hard seeing as how it was Mexico vs Brazil. As we watched in the 30-something second Mexico scored an amazing goal!!!! It was even before a minute had passed! We were SO excited and we cheered a lot! We ate breakfast during the first half and then got dressed VERY rapidly  so that we could go to a sports bar to watch the second half.

     We jogged to a sports bar called the Tequila Zoo. At first I was nervous that kids weren't allowed but then I saw two others. We sat down in the dim bar and faced our chairs towards one of the four TVs that they had. We ordered some eggs and settled in. A group of English people was next to us (!!!!!) who seemed more excited than some of the Mexican people. They had Mexican flags, beer cozies, hand clappers with the Mexican colors on them, sweat bands and beanies. We all clapped when the Mexican team walked back out onto the pitch after halftime. Whenever there was a save by the Mexican goalie, a close goal, or a steal we cheered, yelled, clapped and sighed in relief. When the game was over, you can't even imagine the sound and noise that the bar emitted.

    We hurried home so that we could watch the gold medal ceremony. My mom parted ways from us to go and find a hair salon where I could get my hair cut. We ran home and watched the ceremony. We cleaned for a while and then my mom and I went out to try and find a place to cut my hair and get some slippers for my mom. We didn't get either things done but we got some hot chocolate and two yellow paper lanterns to put over the bare light bulbs in our house.

     We invited our land lady Beatriz and our friends Maria-Elena and Peter. My dad had made artichoke heart pasta and garlic bread which was REALLY good. Beatriz brought with her a basket and inside was a Scottish terrier!! It had big ears, it was black, low to the ground and two months old. He was very calm, considering he was such a little dog. Beatriz decided to name him Bat on account of his huge ears. At dessert we ate chocolate-chip-oatmeal cookies that Oscar and I had made the night before while we played chat pack.

Good Night!

Today we learned some unexpected things.
       On Friday, we got up early to try and get our long-term visas in Tuxtla. It was our third time going there for that reason because we kept coming after they were closed. So we got up early ate breakfast and went on our way.
       On the drive there we listened to music of everyone's choice! We got to the correct place, signed in outside the gate, got cards to show that we were visitors. We signed up inside the building and then sat down in chairs and played the dot game. The dot game is where you make a grid solely out of dots and then each person goes around and draws one line. The object of the game is to get the most boxes by drawing the 4th line of a box. You also try not to give the opportunity of making boxes to anyone else. Once you draw the last line on a box, you have to draw another line. What generally happens towards the end of the game is that there are opportunities to finish a bunch of boxes in a large area.
      We played the dot game for a while and then an official came and asked us what is was that we came there to do. We told her that we wanted to change our current visas to long-term ones and she told us that this was not the right place to do it. We were supposed to do it in San Cristobal next to the dreaded Chedraui. We were dismayed as we had been told by the Salt Lake Consulate that we had to go to Tuxtla. We had tried three different times and then told it was in our home city. Then she asked us if we had this slip of paper that we should have gotten at the border. We had never seen that before and told her the story of how we didn't have to show anyone at the border a single paper. She seemed to understand our dilemma and she called the place in San Cristobal to see if we could still get our visas there without our slip of paper that we should have gotten at the border. It was supposed to be proof of our entering the country though we are living proof of getting across the border legally. She returned after the phone call and said that we would have to go to the border again to show that we really went across. My initial thought was that we would have to go to Texas to get the slip of paper however she meant that we would have to journey to Guatemala and cross the border to Guatemala and then return to Mexico and get the slip of paper saying we went across the border.
      We have until the end of November to get it done though we would like to make the trip in September. We trudged back to the car and ate some Lifesavers that Oscar had snuck into our shopping cart the last time we were in Tuxtla. We went to Soriana again to get some school supplies and then after my mom got some coffee at McDonalds, we went to a really good fast food grilled chicken which was made from real chicken in front of us. We went home at about 6:00 p.m and watched "Stand By Me" which I really liked, even though it was sad.
Good Night!

I am taking a break from the Classical Music and Sleep Experiment for a little bit. 

Today we got a lot of things done.
     DAY 3 IN THE CLASSICAL MUSIC AND SLEEP EXPERIMENT 
   Again I fell asleep too late to get the benefit of the classical music! I think I may have to try some other music that I don't know the melody to. Another thought is, I could start the music later and then that way I won't waste the short track of music on talking with my dad before I go to sleep!
      We got up watched an odd Olympic event called Rhythmic Gymnastics; it is a sort of dance that you do once with a ball and once with a hula hoop. It is kind of bizarre to think that it is an event. It is kind of a ballet that involves catching and rolling a hula hoop or bouncing and balancing a ball. The way I am describing it doesn't make it sound as amazing as it really is.
    Anyway, we finally got out of the house as rain drizzled around us. We walked in the rain in sandals and rain jackets. The doors to the climbing gym were closed and we knocked and peeked through the cracks and we were unable to see anyone, so we went back home and read for a while. Soon after, we went out to get our uniform clothes around town. Oscar tried on his clothes of navy blue pants and a white shirt. I think he looked like a missionary. He was offended by my comment, so he tried the same thing when I tried mine on. It didn't work for me because the women missionaries I have seen here wear pants. Here is a picture of me in my "lovely" new uniform without the required tights and sweater:

Me looking stylish as always! (Just joking! Look at the expression on my face prompted by my uniform.)

       We looked around at other store to see if we could buy any other items on our long list of necessary school supplies. We were unable to, so we hurried home to watch the Womens' Soccer final game: USA vs Japan. When we arrived we stormed into our house and threw off our jackets to properly watch the game.

       We surfed through the channels and at first, we were unable to find the game and I was very disappointed in Mexican TV for about 10 minutes until they finally (and seemingly reluctantly) showed the game. I, understandably, was overjoyed to watch the second half. The score then was 1-0, USA's advantage. We had read on the handy dandy cell phone that Carly Lloyd had scored the first goal. As we watched, Carly Lloyd scored the second goal for the U.S. Then, just to make me a nervous wreck, Japan scored a goal, making the score 2-1. At the end there were some spectacular saves by Hope Solo making the U.S. win the gold medal! I was very happy for the U.S. team because they are one of the best teams in the world (unlike the U.S. men's team) and they had worked SO hard to win this. However, the other side of me felt bad for the Japanese women who had worked equally hard and just weren't able to win this time. To make it even worse, the Japanese Olympic officials paid for their men's team to fly business class to the Games...while the women were only flown economy class EVEN though the Japanese women's team is one of the best in the WORLD and even won the last World Cup!!!! I think that is really sad (and not to mention sexist -- and you guys know that I am definitely a feminist!!)!!!

       My parents' Spanish teacher came at the very end of the game and tutored my parents and gave us tips about our journey to Palenque. I knitted for a little while and then went and drew dresses for a little bit while listening to old Sherlock Holmes stories made for the radio. They were broadcasted a long time ago so they have slightly poor quality and ads for Pettry wine and sherry (perfect for before dinner AND after dinner). I was petting Cowjie and had the idea to put him in my shawl and carry him around the way indigenous women carry their babies. Oscar helped me get him in there and then I passed Cowjie and the shawl to him. He was perfectly content that way. Here are the pictures.

The baby Cowjie!!

   

All comfortable!!!!

My parents went on a run and left us at home for a while. They made dinner and we watched some relay races while I ate cheater mac!!! Oscar then had an appointment on skype with his friend Joshua.
Good Night!!!!!

Some parts of today were very disappointing.
       DAY 2 IN THE CLASSICAL MUSIC AND SLEEP EXPERIMENT\
     I started the music track while I read before I went to sleep. I couldn't get my brain to shut off so I fell asleep after the music stopped. I had good dreams last night which is a relief! I woke up feeling more rested than I had before even though Cowjie's yowling woke me up at 8:30 am. I fell asleep after!!
     I woke up, ate breakfast, took a shower and got dressed. We were going to try to get there on time, but there was a really exciting game of team hand ball, so we stayed for another half hour and arrived late. We got there and all the mats were set up which is really unusual because we usually stretch first. Turns out Mario (another trainer, not the Mario from soccer) was there instead of Alejandro the usual trainer. My dad stayed a while reading a magazine on the steps while Mario didn't come out to teach us anything for a while. That was really odd. He eventually came out and did a game or two with us and then kind of disappeared again. We kind of goofed off for a while and then my dad left us with the instructions to give each other routes to climb. We did that for a while and then got bored with nothing new to do. So again we judged each other on our jumps and stuff like somersaults. We left earlier than we meant to because I had looked at the wrong mode on my dad's watch that he left for us.
      We came home and hung out for a while as we ate lunch. Then we packed a couple snacks and got in the car to drive to Tuxtla, as we hadn't been able to change our visas to longer term ones.
        On the drive down we listened to:

•  Foxy Shazam (I like this band a lot; the main singer has a voice that is almost like an instrument). 
• Fun (in reality we only listened to one song of theirs which is really good and catchy even if the lyrics don't make a lot of sense). 
• Weird Al (Oscar's favorite singer; he (Weird Al, not Oscar) takes songs and makes parodies out of them and this one happened to be a Star Wars themed song, imagine that). 
• Last but not least, a little Beatles (no explanation needed! They are so awesome!).

       Once we arrived, we went into a huge building that people here are really proud of. We got there, talked to some people and were directed to another building. We found it and upon arriving were informed that they had closed at 1o'clock, a half hour before we had left the house. That was VERY disappointing. We will have to try again on Friday. We went on another shopping trip at a store eerily similar to Chedraui and ate at McDonalds for some food. I mostly ate a hot fudge sundae and then headed back to San Cristobal.
      I read for a while and then we ate a very healthy dinner to make up for all the sugar and grease that we had eaten at McDonalds. Now I have to hurry and finish this post because it is time to go to sleep!!!!
Good Night!

Today was a very relaxing but interesting day.
      DAY 1 IN THE CLASSICAL MUSIC AND SLEEP EXPERIMENT
       I had a hard time getting to sleep last night because I couldn't get my mind to fall asleep. It just kept thinking of things and I kept wondering if the experiment would work, which is just a bad idea to try to get to sleep. I had no dreams last night (good or bad) but I want to keep experimenting to see if I just didn't happen to have a nightmare last night. I listened to Zoe Keating cello music. Her music is really beautiful and calming.
      We got to the climbing gym on time today. Our trainer gave me routes that were challenging but didn't make me feel extremely discouraged. I think that is a good balance for these kind of things. We were joined by an adult at the end of our lesson and he was nice. We hardly talked at all, but he let us go first a lot of times.
         We left at 11:30 am to watch the Mexico vs Japan semi-final game. It had started at 11 o'clock but we figured that wouldn't give us enough time to climb; also the last part of the game is the most exciting in my opinion. When we arrived home the score was 1-1. Mexico scored another goal  and then in the last minute or so, Mexico scored again which sealed the coffin for Japan (as my dad says). In the end it was 3-1. The Mexican team was so excited, for as they say in the commercials "never have we been so close" (to the gold they mean).
      I drew flags for made up countries and later I read for a bit and then grudgingly went with Oscar to work on the Room of Requirement for a while. We put up some pictures and talked about the room before I left to go read some more. After a short time I turned on the TV and watched some sort of bridal show thing. My dad gave me instructions  on how to help finish the stew that he was making for dinner as he left for his adult soccer game. I finished it, watched a little more TV, and then took a break from that to finish Pride and Prejudice. I read for a long time which was really fun for me. My mom was in a meeting and my dad was out playing soccer so Oscar and I just hung out around home. He played computer and I read. I finished Pride and Prejudice which had a very satisfying ending.
    My dad came home and announced that he had made three goals in soccer!! He did one header that I think sounded really impressive. I hurried back inside from opening the doors for my dad as my mom took my duty of opening them because my favorite gymnast was doing her floor piece. Alexandra Reisman, the captain of the USA team, did a really cool performance to Hava Nagila. She ended up getting 3rd place!
    My parents served up dinner and we ate while my mom surfed through channels. We ended up watching America's Next Top Model, which is extremely stupid but entertaining because it was stupid. Lately I have been listening to a lot of zen and classical music. I really think it helps you concentrate while writing. I don't normally listen to this type of music but I have found interest in it lately.
     We were just discussing why the Dutch like orange even though orange is not on their flag. Does anyone know the answer to that question? I mean sure we could look it up but it is more interesting this way!
Good Night!

Today Oscar and I made lots of interesting games and things.
       I got up and ate some more Mexican raisin bran. I had to do a speedy shower and get dressed rapidly to arrive at the gym at a respectable time (well sort of). We got there, stretched and started climbing. We climbed for a while, but at the end when the teachers didn't pay attention to us as much, we made up our own vault. Oscar was a little discouraged about not being able to get a really hard route so this was the perfect break. At the end of the wall they had a springy mattress as a climbing pad because actual pads are really expensive and too pricey for them to get another one. We would go to the concrete and take a running start, jump once on the bouncy mattress, do a somersault and then stand back up and do the typical gymnast end-pose. It was really fun and then we would take turns rating each other. I would normally get lower scores than him because I would normally crack up in the middle of my somersault and roll onto my back instead of standing up, though Oscar was very nice and gave me extra points for attitude and for trying! Apparently our mathematic skills are lacking since it is summer because we both struggled to add single digit numbers with decimals in our heads!!
   We left the climbing gym and upon arriving home, we made a list of all the things that we needed to do for the kids' room that I wrote about last month. We had to sweep and clean a bit and then we got to put in furniture. We had a big discussion about putting Jedi/Star Wars decorations all over the room. You can imagine that I was opposed to that idea. We plan to finish it tomorrow.
      We watched the Olympics and ate lunch inside and then after everyone else was doing things elsewhere I flipped between two channels. The Olympics and a really cheesy horror show with Melissa Gilbert (best known as Laura from Little House on the Prairie; she is not so little or cute anymore). I would switch back to the Olympics when it got scary. It wasn't really very scary just sometimes it was unclear what would happen next.
    My parents forced us to take a walk to go get some groceries. We weren't happy then but I am glad we went. We walked to the market for some fruits and vegetables and we were amazed by the prices. They were SO cheap. We got a bundle of chard for two pesos (thirteen pesos to a dollar)!!! We went to some other stores and then I was directed to lead everyone else back home. I purposefully took all the Andadors (streets were you are only allowed to walk) that were possible. As we were on my favorite Andador, I saw a boy that looked suspiciously like Mario, our friend from soccer. Turns out it was him! We all said hi and then realized that we live down the street from them. A couple weeks ago we had thought that a boy in a car  was Mario but we weren't sure. He had turned into a driveway down our street! Now we know that it really was him!!
     We walked home, quickly put our trash on the corner, for we had heard the trash reaper (as my mom calls him.) We went home and watched some more Olympics and as the newly set alarm for bed time went on, realized that we hadn't had dinner yet!! My dad is going to start the dinner now! Tonight I am going to conduct a sleep experiment. For the last few nights I have been having bad dreams so I am going to listen to Zen or classical music to see if I have better dreams because of that.
    By the way we watched and cheered for the USA women's soccer game against Canada. They both played SO hard and the last goal was amazing!
Good Night!!

Today not very much happened but that doesn't mean it was a bad day.
    I woke up later today though I would have been happy to sleep in even later!!! I woke up groggily and walked out into our living room. I watched some Olympics which is now becoming the norm and ate some surprisingly good Mexican raisin bran. Nearly all morning and part way into the afternoon I watched Olympics and played on the computer.
  After a long while I actually got OFF the computer, turned off the TV and read Pride and Prejudice (which I had put down for a while to read other books). It was a nice break to go back in time a couple centuries ago and read, which actually uses my brain, unlike TV and the computer. After about a half an hour or so we were called outside to be in some possible photos for the author photo for my mom's book. My mom and dad had been at it for a while and then decided for a change of pace to have us possibly in the photos. We had to do poses in front and behind my mom. If we use those photos then they will blur out our faces a little so that the focus is more on my mom. It took longer to take pictures with us in it because sometimes we would get distracted and my dad has to work with three people instead of just my mom.
    After the light faded making it impossible to do anymore photos, we walked out to go find a dinner place. We ended up eating at a place called Kabob which was a really small restaurant though the food was really good. The pita bread was the best I think because it was puffy and yummy. We walked home and that was almost the end of our not-very-interesting-day. One thing I have noticed about living here is that we walk around a lot more because it is a pain to get the car out so we use it mostly for far away places. We are also pretty centrally located so it makes it easier to get around by walking.
Good Night! Here are some pictures of the zoo we went to on Saturday:

Founder of the zoo

Taxidermy of extremely large female crocodile

Live crocodile sitting eerily still

"Please do not enter crocodile habitat"
Hopefully you understand this sign. If not.....

Two larger crocodiles in the water

Vines going up the tree in an orb-like fashion.

Ferret-like animals

Ditto

Beautiful barn owl

Homemade, actual fruit popsicles

See above for description

Toucan posing dramatically

He is giving us his good side!

Panther (which is really a black jaguar)

Prowling around

Mountain lion

Cute ocelot 

Awwww just like Cowjie

Grey hawk

Interesting fungi (thought you may like that Emery)

Vested Anteater, can you see where it got it's name?

Lizards hanging out

Creepy lizard

He even looked at us!

Pokey tree which is holy to the Mayans (ceiba)

Bamboo in the zoo

I took most of these pictures! I hope you like them!

Yesterday was a very beautiful day.
       I woke up very unwillingly at 9:45 in Tuxtla. I was SO tired but I rolled out of bed and proceeded to slowly get dressed. After packing most things up and taking a load down we walked down the street to a diner where we got some really good food. We went back to our hotel and finished packing everything away and got into the car.
      One of the other reasons we wanted to come to Tuxtla was that, according to my parents' Spanish teacher, Memo, the zoo there is really incredible so we decided to check it out. We drove to the outskirts of Tuxtla and parked in the shade. After getting a little sunscreen on and armed with a camera, we were ready to go!! We walked down a cement path and under fake rock gateway type thing. It almost immediately became darker which was an interesting contrast to the bright sun outside the portal-like arches. There were tall trees and monkeys climbing around above. Then a loud -- practically lion-like--yell came out of the trees. We were startled for a moment and then remembered that that sound was a howler monkey. It is a really cool sound, I think.
     We walked to the front desk, got tickets and a guide, and then set off to explore the zoo. We stopped first at the crocodile part; the crocodiles were very still and it was a little alarming to think that you are about 3 feet away and that they move very fast. We learned from our guide that the turtles in the same pond with the crocodiles are crocodile food. One turtle is eaten every eight days because crocodiles take a while to digest.  When a female crocodile lays eggs, she puts them in a pile. The eggs on the bottom, because of the colder temperature there, become female. The eggs on the top, where the temperature is higher, become males.
     As we went further into the park I really got to appreciate how different this zoo is from others because they only have animals in captivity that are native to that area. They also try to create life-like atmospheres for each animal according to what they are used to. Almost the whole park is shady and cool; howler monkeys can roam free and you hear the sounds of monkeys, birds and the wind through the tall trees more than the sound of human voices.
      We saw some very cool trees; one was a pepper tree though its leaves smell like cloves to me. One tree had vines growing up it like a tangled orb-like thing. We saw a beautiful barn owl (which is one of my favorite animals) that half looked at me so that I could take a photo. We learned that owls can only move their eyes up and down so that is why they have evolved to turn their heads 180 degrees--it'd be a problem if you'd couldn't look from side to side!
    We saw many cool animals; some of them looked kind of surreal. A tapir for example, which is related to the horse, resembles a large pig and has a short elephant-like trunk. This was probably the best zoo I have ever been to. We had popsicles that were homemade and had REAL fruit in them!!
    After eating lunch we set off in our unshaded car, this time to San Cristobal. We drove for what seemed like a short time and were soon home. The cats were happy to see us and we were happy to be home. We vegged out for the rest of the night and ate popcorn and cookies. We watched Seven Years in Tibet and I thought it was a sad but really good movie. We went to sleep VERY late but content.
This was Saturday by the way. I will post photos of the zoo later.
Good Night!

Today we experimented a lot and were sometimes rewarded.
      I woke up at about 9:45; I was the second to get up after my mom. We sat on the couch and watched the Olympics for a long while until Oscar and my dad woke up. We ate toast for breakfast before my parents went for a morning run around the city. While they were gone I Skyped my grandma. We call her Nana and it was really fun to talk to her. After that I had to pack my bag for the night that we were going to spend in Tuxtla.
       As we drove to Tuxtla Gutierrez I asked people different things. The thing I really love about asking people questions of opinion, are that everyone has different thoughts. I like to think about things in a different way. They tend to be random and everyone has an interesting answer.
        Once we drove into the hot, humid area of Tuxtla, we checked into the hotel that we had stayed in before. It is called La Hotel Santa Maria and it is nothing special really, just a hotel with white walls, two queen beds, a TV and a elevated bathroom. The one thing we really like about it is that it is right across from the Marimba park. It is really a nice park with lots of trees and has some stands scattered throughout. Below the hotel there are lots of great dessert places.
      We took a taxi to try and get our tourist visas converted to long term ones- which was the main reason we went there.We were told that this was not the correct place and where we needed to go was closed until Monday. We decided to make the trip another day.
      Since we were unable to convert our visas, we went to a pharmacy to try and get Quick Cast 2 for my dad's finger. We bought something similar that unfortunately didn't work. After purchasing the items we walked to a coffee shop for a blood sugar boost since we were all getting slightly grumpy. It turned out to be a Christian Coffee shop called Proverbs. Those of you that know us, know that we are not religious, so we felt a little out of place. The flat screen TV's were showing Christian bands playing music which was not all that great. We ordered a mango strawberry smoothie, two Cappuchino Mochas and a Oreo coffee drink. The mango strawberry smoothie came first and that was VERY delicious. It tasted a lot like fruit instead of a sugary drink. The Cappuchino Mochas came next and those were the BEST I have EVER tasted. There was a little coffee in it but it tasted the most like chocolate. They had whipped cream and a candy apple red maraschino cherry on top. They gave us a chocolate stick which was covered in a thin crust of delicious bread stuff. Oscar's was the same but had blended Oreos in it.  We all walked home feeling much happier. As we walked I asked some more questions like, "If you had to rename yourself and it couldn't just be a different spelling of your name what would you name yourself?" and "If you had to give yourself a nick name that had nothing to do with your name?"
    We took a small rest at our hotel room and walked out and found out it was dumping water from the sky. We got our rain jackets and walked out into the rain as all the locals stared at us like we were crazy Americans!! Can you imagine that?! We splashed through the rain and the still warm air. We walked to the restaurant where we had eaten before and ate dinner in there while lightning flashed outside.  
         After a slightly disappointing dinner we went back to the section of sidewalk under our Hotel and got some really good crepes with Nutella. We went back up to our room and read for a while before it was lights out. Just so everyone knows, if I didn't mention this previously, this was on Friday.

Good Night!!!