This last week I have done everything from going to a organic market to helping host a dinner party to climbing on rock and playing soccer with a kid who looks like a hedgehog!
         Holy crud, a lot has happened since I last wrote. Sorry for the delay and this will be a very long post just to warn you. Okay: the highlights of the past week are below.
                                                                SATURDAY
---- I woke up and attempted to do my homework before I had to set up for the dinner party that we had later on. I begged to go to the organic market before we started setting up. We finally left and I was content to hang around there for a while. It is in the courtyard of someone's house and it reminds me of the Missoula Farmers Market (which by the way, I love). Among other things we bought some organic Mexican rainforest gum which is very yummy even if it was kind of expensive and it loses the flavor fast. It was good while it lasted anyway!
---- After we walked home we set up for the dinner party; we had invited Doña Lesvia and her family over for dinner for the first time. We made shepard's pie and set three tables up outside to hopefully accommodate everyone. Gaby came which was a surprise but we were able to fit her and she and her baby were very welcome.
----I think the dinner was kind of awkward (well, for me because there were kids my age at the other table talking but I didn't feel like I could join) but afterwards when Carlos temporarily left and Lorena went to hang out with her friends, only Juan Pablo was left (of the older kids). Then we had an epic nerf battle and even though I am not obsessed as Oscar, I still had a lot of fun and shot some Mexican (well, and American) butt!! Then when it got dark, we played soccer (Oscar and I against Juan Pablo). That was also very enjoyable!
----Carlos returned with his X-box and so the boys played with that while I hung out with Daniela. Before everyone left (note that the time we started was around 2:45 p.m they left at 9:00 p.m!) they took pictures of the kids.
----Later that night Coki came back because she had left her keys and phone at our house!
                                                            SUNDAY
----We woke up criminally early (in my opinion) at 8:00--okay fine, it wasn't that bad, but hey! I was tired!
----After the whole morning routine we drove over to the climbing gym to meet up with everyone that was going to go on the outdoor rock climbing tour. Besides my family, Alejandro and Mario, there was a guy named Camilo who spoke a little English and was nice enough, Guillermo (who until recently we called "the French Dude") who was very nice and one of Oscar's favorite climbing characters, and then Victor who was my favorite person on the trip. (He is Dutch and lives in London!!!!!)
----After a relatively short drive we parked our car along with another SUV type of car in the gravel parking lot of some spiritual leader who owned the property that we were going to climb on. Then, armed with our backpacks, we started a hike that was very uphill and tiring. The sky was very nice and was a true blue color partially filled with fluffy white clouds that I always dream about jumping on.
----We then saw a very undercut cliff with many plants clinging on to the face of it. That was the mountain that we were meant to climb. (Gulp! Just kidding--I wasn't very scared leading up to it.)
----The professional people started to set up. Oscar decided to climb first and after a very impressive climb, he came back down. Then it was my turn to don the "Bob the Builder" type hat and get all harnessed up. I did pretty well and I got up rather quickly; the view was very nice and I liked it when the wind blew against me and kind of reminded me in a un-scary way that I was on a cliff alone with only a rope between me and the unforgiving ground. To be perfectly honest I was not scared very much. I am not saying that to make me sound tougher that I am--I really had very little fear.
----I made it to the top of the top rope gear thing and then came back down. Ironically, going down was scarier then going up. I really did not like the idea of exposing my vulnerable back to the rocks below. That was kind of a nerve-wracking time for me, but I got to the ground safe and sound.
----Oscar then decided that since it was his turn to climb that he was going to try the same route one more time to see if he could make it to the top. He started out well but then after a five minute pause he just couldn't make it. He came down very disappointed but he quickly turned his mood around (thankfully).
----I decided when it was my turn to do the next difficult route. The first part looked easier than it was. I had a really difficult time at this one point but I got passed it. I kept saying "toma" which is telling the person top-roping you to pull it tighter. I probably said "toma" at least once every minute. It got really hard and Alejandro said once you stand up I will pull it tighter but I just got very scared by the looseness of the rope that I felt like I would fall, which is just a scary feeling nonetheless, so I said it again, even though he had just told me when he would do it. My mom repeated what he said and I kind of snapped back "I don't care" because it just terrified me to feel like I was going to fall. I decided to go back down after that, though I learned later "had gotten passed the hardest part."
----I had a conversation with Victor and then I asked him why Dutch people liked orange. Who better to ask that then a Dutch person! He told me in his very cool English accent that the person who liberated the Dutch people from an occupation was some kind of French royalty with the name of Orange (which is a place in France), so when he became their king, all the royalty after him had the name of Orange, like Queen Wilhelmina of Orange!
----We left earlier than everyone else because of some homework I needed to finish.

[   The problem with thinking a joint blog post would be as good as a blog post every day is that I forget the everyday occurrences, so here is what I remember about Thursday and Friday.     ]
                                           
                                                              THURSDAY 
----This was the first day that the weather was actually good enough to have soccer practice so as nervous as I was, I begrudgingly headed out of the car after changing to go to soccer practice. Juan Pablo, who I mentioned earlier in this extremely long post, was also there, though he took the cool approach and didn't acknowledge that we were there. To torture him (not literally) my dad said very politely"Hola Juan Pablo!" Juan Pablo did say hi then but that was mostly it. The first part I had the hardest time to just forget what everyone else thought of me. I don't do this because I like thinking about it but because I can't help it. I couldn't get my brain to just shut up about it already. When we did scrimmage Profe split us up into two groups; I was in one and Oscar was in the other. It was divided by age. At first I didn't realize that Fernando (the one who is very nice and smiled at me the other practice) was also in my group. I was dismayed at first but then got a little happier as Fernando was placed on my team. He doesn't speak really but just by smiling he comforts me. Somehow, everyone knew my name, even this guy who looked like a hedgehog that I had never met before. And even curiouser was that he said my name as Guillermina instead of the twisted-warped version of my name in soccer "Yurmina."
----It wasn't as bad as it could have been so I think it will get better as I go to more practices.
                                                             FRIDAY
----A new girl came to school on Friday and she is in my grade!! Her name is Azul which literally means Blue; she seems shy and nice. I hope that through our geography project in which she, Kevin and I will have to work together, that I will get to know her and become her friend.
----For dinner we went out to eat at our new favorite restaurant called Entropia which is a perfect mix of unique and homemade--and clean and neat. After we watched a episode of Heroes which was very good.
                                                             SATURDAY
----Besides doing homework, we also went to Zinacantan. It is a very close indigenous village that is prided for their flowers. This is one of the only places that the men also where the traditional clothing. The men were normal clothes but then over it they put an embroidered tunic. The tunic is covered in flowers and though they all have flowers on them, you can see the differences in them. Some were more chaotic with lots of different flowers all competing for your attention, and some were more simple with flowers still but one type all working in a sort of harmony. The men's tunics also have brightly colored tassles that hang down under the arms and on the back. The tunics and tassles are normally dark purple, dark blue and sometimes dark green or pink. The women's clothing was the same style but they wore long dark-colored skirts and tunics without tassels. They also wore shawls that were stiff so that they stayed in sort of a triangle shape.
----We got there and parked next to a church, there was a wedding and several baptisms happening so we just gathered around like the rest of the people there and watched the procession of various celebrations. There were some big speaker sets with some very very loud music. I was surprised that the little kids who were walking past them seemed unaffected. I think they all may have hearing damage by the age of three!!
----We ate at a restaurant with pretty good quesadillas. When Oscar and I asked for a coke they pulled out two half liters!! My parents said that it was a LOT of soda. Needless to say, my parents used that excuse to steal it occasionally for a sip or two (or three or four).
                                                             SUNDAY
---- After a morning homework session, we went to Maria Elena and Peter's 20th anniversary party at their house. It was a potluck so there were many new foods to try. I was told to sit at the teenager table. For some reason I kind of had a bad feeling about that. While we ate I didn't really say anything and neither did the other girl.
----After a slightly awkward dinner, Renata (the girl I met at the party) and Oscar started throwing the football. I decided to join in. Renate plays touch football so she is really good at throwing and catching. We ended up out-playing Oscar (meaning we played longer than he did because he stopped and we just kept going).
----After a Thai ritual we headed home. Upon arriving home we did a quick clean-up and then finished the rest of the homework.