Maya's birthday was very fun for me even though it wasn't my birthday!!
---            Monday was nothing very special but that doesn't mean it was a very bad day. Lorena didn't come to school, so that was a little saddening, but at least I have Mafer, Maya, Paola and Ana.
---            Again on Tuesday, Lorena didn't come but I had more fun this day than the day before. Tuesday was Maya's fifteenth birthday and for most traditional Mexicans, that is a big deal. When a girl turns fifteen, they generally throw a big party because it is considered when a girl becomes a woman. Many people gave her flowers and chocolate and she gave everyone a little red candle shaped like a rose. I thought it was very generous of her to give people something when it was HER birthday to begin with.
                Before breakfast, Maya (who we all call Masha), Ana, Paola, Mafer and I went to the forest to do a little celebration for Maya. Ana and Mafer smuggled out a little ding-dong-like thing for her and lit a match so that she could blow it out like a candle. Maya gave us each a bite of her little birthday treat and then Ana (I think it was) shoved it in her face so she had sweet white sugar cream on the right side of her face. Pao took pictures of us with her camera (she wants to be a photographer when she grows up) and then we went for another photo location at the treehouse. We walked down back to the school and barely avoided missing breakfast even though Lucerito threatened!! Yair (Mariana's best friend) who is a sixth grader gave me chocolates; when I asked him why he was giving them to me he just replied "They're just for you." They were very good I may add!!
                  Over the course of the day, I gave Maya many hugs and said Happy Birthday three times. We got into a disagreement that started when I said I loved her; then she said "I love you more" then of course I had to counter that my saying "No, I love you more." Now that sounds like a fight a lesbian couple would have, but I think in general, people here are more lovey with their friends.
             The best part about soccer practice was when I beat all the boys (in my age group) three times in a row in a running race. I could hear them saying "no mames" and laughing in disbelief!! In your faces!!!
---        Wednesday, we accidentally went to breakfast early after sitting in the sun as the Math teacher pulled small groups out for math.  Our swim teacher told us about a race that we are going to do. It is a race where we run these two laps around the school grounds, then take off our sweats under which we will have our wet suits. We will dive into the water and do 16 laps. Then we will get out, do one more lap and that's where it will end. I am going to enter the race y tengo ganas de ganar (exact translation is unknown but it roughly means and I really want to win). I plan to train a little on the weekends. My advantage will be in the water (I may be the fastest swimmer in the class). I am not too bad a runner but I am nervous that with the laps first, I won't pace myself and will be very tired by the time we get to swimming.
            We did a practice circuit and even though he said jog lightly, from the moment he said go, I knew this would be no light jog. By the end of the running I was in third place. Judging by that, the transition (where we take off our sweats and shoes to get into the water will be crucial. After a run through of the race, we sat on the grassy hill with Mariano (who is filling in for Karla while she is on Maternity leave) and he read our palms. I will do a summary of what he said for me: I will get a nine out of ten in money; I will have a job in design or natural sciences (I highly doubt that). When he was telling everyone about how love would go for them he looked at my palm, stared up at me and goes ohhhhhh you should talk with me later (he didn't specify so I don't know what he was implying exactly). He also said that when I get sick it will generally be stomach problems and that I am very sensitive so I need to do some sort of art to balance it out otherwise it will cause me harm. I doubt the probability of most of this stuff but it was fun to hear about anyhoodle!
---       On Friday we worked like crazy for another festival (we are practically doing one every week!). For and hour or more, Pao and Toño would pass us banana leaves they had just heated on the stove, then I would pull off the coarse fiber then pass it to Lorena who would wipe it off with a towel. Lore whispered something to Toño and then he turns to me and goes "que si" restarting a disagreement that Lore and I had concerning Evodio's relationship with me. As I mentioned earlier, she thinks Evodio likes me and I disagree. Lore now has Toño on her side and then they call Evodio over and say "que si verdad" (trying to get him to agree with them even though he has no original knowledge of our little "disagreement"). He looks at me as I tell him to say no and after a brief talk in which he asks us which would be better for him he throws his hands up and walks away, sick of not getting any previous information. Then Toño pulls him to the side and tells him what it's about. Upon hearing this, Evodio says "no, solo somos amigos" (no, we're just friends). He says to Toño and Lore, "Like you guys, just friends," then whispers to me on a side note "Well, not them" because we both agree that they like each other though they won't admit it!
          We worked a bit more before we started eating because we were famished. In addition to eating tortillas with mole we also ate a noodle-vegetable-broth soup that tasted even better than it probably was because of our empty stomachs. I sort of love it when your taste buds--so hungry for taste--fool you into thinking this is food from the heavens!
         For the festival, most of the kids from primary stood up and talked about a character from the Mexican Revolution. Maya, Lore and I (unwilling to put on skirts) drew mustaches over our lips for our costume. The teachers and parents lit mini-campfires on sheets of metal to give the atmosphere of a camp where rebel soldiers lived. In this festival they were especially celebrating the women of the revolution who (as Eloina told me) "traveled from camp to camp making tortillas for the soldiers." Okay fine, she also told me that they acted as nurses and cooks but that part of what she told me sounded the funniest when telling why women were so important to the revolution.
        The middle school kids (aka me and my class mates) served food and ran games after the presentation. We drove Ana and her family home and then they invited us for some coffee. The kids played Clue and Monopoly before we went home to get some sleep.
---       My family had to get up earlier than we had wished for to stand at some inauguration for a little soccer field. No one on my team payed attention for more than 2 minutes so once it was over we went home and didn't think much more about it.
---      On Sunday, I did my homework and stayed in my pajamas all day; note to self: follow Emery's advice next time and get out of your pajamas before eleven am.
---      Today we didn't have school because of the anniversary of the Mexican Revolution, so we went to a tea shop that reminds me of Butterfly Herbs (in Missoula, Montana) and is really nice. We were going to try to check my math book but because the computer kept going really slow, we barely got any work done. That was frustrating but oh well... For everyone reading this, you guys know that I have had a pixie cut for about a year now.... well I recently decided to grow my hair out again because:
a) everyone in my class thinks I would look better with long hair
b) I am now wishing for a pony tail
c) maybe if I don't sort of look like a boy I will be more accepted on my soccer team as a girl.
Most of you who read that are probably thinking something along the lines of "She shouldn't do something just because other people want her to..." but I don't mind that. I could use a change of pace. Now, my game plan: AVOID THE MULLET AT ALL COSTS. Therefore at 4 o'clock, I went to get a trim at a hair salon.
           Really soon we will watch an episode of Heroes (both of my parents have very little energy and feel sick) before we go to sleep!!
Good Night!