Lynn feels better now!!!
              For breakfast today, we ate pancakes. Shen and Lynn came over and we left to go watch a parade in honor of the Virgen of Guadalupe. We walked to the place where the parade was supposed to pass and their were lots of people on the sidewalks waiting for the parade just like we planned to do. Shen bought some bottles of water and we sat down and watched the show. Aztec warriors danced throughout the street and behind them came floats and the disturbing "para chicos."
              After the parade passed us, we followed behind and asked when the ice skating rink would open. It was supposed to open today, but when we asked, they said it would open on Wednesday. We went to the cathedral and even though I was mostly full, we went to the French Bakery Oh La La and ate pastries and drank coffee. We went to some stores and then went home. Lynn took a nap in my bed before everyone except Oscar and I went to Chamula. Then we went to El Punto for dinner!

On Saturday, we spent a little more time at home.
                   Too early, we had to get up to be ready for Oscar's nine o'clock soccer game. We picked only Shen up because Lynn was violently ill. Oscar played what I thought of as a great game! His team won!
                   I unhappily trudged over to the other side of the bleachers where my team was waiting. For the first half, I was placed in my normal position of right mid-fielder, the first half went very well for my team and for me. I had some good moves and all together, we made four goals or so with them not scoring at all on us.
                  In the second half, I was placed in the same position but this time Profe expected me to try and get goals more. He told me where to position myself and at one point I had an assist!!!!!! A guy came at me and I passed it ahead. I thought it was going to be worthless because it seemed like the other team would get it but, Juan Pablo hoofed it and got a goal!! I was astonished as that was the closest thing I have ever gotten to a goal!!
                  There was a hand ball or foul in the box and so we got a penalty. Profe told me to kick it and I told him I didn't want to but he didn't give me a choice!! My whole team told me that I could do it and other nice things!! I was really nervous but not as nervous as I thought I would be!!!! I took a deep breath and just ran for the ball; I almost got it in but the goalie blocked it. I was disappointed but all my teammates were really nice about it by smiling at me, saying it was okay and that it didn't matter. We ended up winning by seven points. I think the score was 7-0. I was pretty happy about how I played but the game would have been complete for me if I had gotten the penalty!
                  After the game Profe told me that if he told me I was going to take a penalty, I was going to take it and I couldn't say no. I then had a feeling that he was going to force me to take more shots like that in later games.......oh great. He also told me that I am getting much better!!!! YAY!!!!
                After the game, we shopped for a chair for Dr. Jesus (Jesus in doctor-baby form). We bought a wooden one and then went home. We hung out at home for a while and then we played hearts with Shen. It was very fun!!! 

I guess it was kind of good we didn't go to school on Friday! That way we could show the godmothers around!!
                     Throughout the day, we shopped a whole lot!!! I find it really fun to just tag along and walk around the city. We chilled at our house for a bit before we went back out to go to the Virgen of Guadalupe's festival and then eat dinner.
                      Every saint's festival is different and quirky, but this one is by far the most celebrated one and it was really fun. We started to walk up the steps to reach the church at the very top when we bought some churros for a snack. We marveled at the way people had set up stands with bricks under one side of the stand to level it out! We made it up there and mass was underway, so we walked around outside and ate some tamales and drank some punch that was given to us. We walked down some stairs when my mom and I remembered to do a prayer to "la Virgen," so we stopped and said a prayer that went something like this:
"Dear Virgen,
I don't really believe you exist 
but on the off chance you do
I would love it if you would complete this wish for us
Please give us good luck for our soccer games tomorrow
Thanks"
If she really exists I have no idea why she would grant us this wish since we don't believe in her but it was worth a try!!
                   It was freezing (every night seems to get colder and colder!!) and we talked with Maya and Pao (who we saw on the andador). Maya kept asking me to give her hugs because she was so cold!! We ate dinner and then walked home.

This is the closest thing I have been to a war zone.
              Near the end of the day, the clash between the invaders and the police got close to us. Parents started to collect their children early because the police started to block off roads. Lore and I ran Vanessa's kids to the car and buckled them in as fast as we could. The teachers were all nervous and they canceled PE because all the kids were leaving.
              Evodio was joking around and told me that I have pretty eyes. I thanked him and then he said "like a cat." I play-shoved him and then he gave me a new nickname "Meow." Later on, he asked me if he could call me "Cat" (in English)! I said it was fine because to be perfectly honest, I don't mind either of those nicknames! I really wish that in Salt Lake it wasn't such a big deal to have friends that are boys (Toño and Evodio are some of my good friends) and I wish it wasn't such a big deal if a boy or girl gave a compliment to the opposite gender. In Salt Lake, if any of those things happen, people automatically think there is romantic interest involved when there is not!
              Lucerito thought she heard gunshots and ran to see what was going on. There weren't gunshots but something did happen. Wicho cried because his parents were near to where all the craziness was happening. Ana's parents drove us home after school and stopped at some roadblocks to talk to the police and tell them that they had to let some people through because there were still kids at school and some people have houses up there. We stopped at the local government office and Ricardo Sr. jumped out to tell them about that issue. They dropped us off at our house and advised my parents not to take us to school the next day.
             We skipped practice that day just like the week before this time so that we could pick up my godmothers Shen and Lynn from the airport in Tuxtla!! We packed a small overnight bag just in case the police blocked off the road back to San Cristobal! It didn't happen and we enjoyed a nice ride with my godmothers!!!
            

 Wednesday was sort of crazy!!
                  All the training that I hadn't done came down to this....... the one time to prove I could win this thing.......just kidding; it was only the day that I was going to do the Biathlon.
                  I changed into my wet suit and put on my unflattering blue swim cap to make the transition from running to swimming easier. We lined up at the starting line and then a man who did the Iron Man, shot the actual starting gun!!!! We were off. I think I was first for a few seconds before Evodio rushed past me. Favio and I kept together for the first bit but then he pulled away and I was in third. Lore was in fourth, Ana in fifth and Kevin in sixth. It stayed that way during the whole two laps we ran. I was second in the pool (because of my fast transition) followed closely by Favio who shared a lane with me. I started to do my sixteen laps and maybe around the eighth lap, Evodio asks me to "give him a chance," I gave a slight shake of my head and kept going. I was kind of insulted by the fact that he even dared to ask me. I am so competitive and I believe that the fastest should win, I was not about to slow down to "give him a chance" just to make the race more interesting. Okay, moving on, I was the first out of the pool and put my sneakers on halfway so as not to lose my chance of winning this thing. I raced out the door and tore my cap off. I finished the last lap first with second place a lap behind me!!
                   I was really happy but nervous that Evodio was going to take it too hard (I mean he is still my friend). He didn't and I got dressed and put my soaking shoes on to go get snack. While I was there, I learned that indigenous people were mad at the government for arresting ten of their leaders so, to be able to bargain with them, they kidnapped people at a city office and burned documents. It was rumored that the invaders (some indigenous people) came from Chamula. That was what got the teachers really worried, since Chamula is really close to our school. So for that reason they put padlocks on the gates and advised the kids to stay in their rooms. It was kind of exciting because there was a feeling of urgency in the air and nothing happened to us!

Soccer practice was actually sort of fun.
               I wasn't excited to go to soccer practice because of the sort of lame soccer practice the week before. It turned out to be great!!! Michel (the girl) was there and it turns out she just didn't show up the other times I came. Only two older kids showed up and that made my whole practice more enjoyable. Oscar and I had a big disagreement about if I was to be his partner or the Michel's partner. In the end it didn't matter because Profe put us into twos and threes. I feel like I played well and I felt less self-concious than the week before! I give it a nine out of ten!

A day when I talk about the Christmas tree.
                 During "homenaje" on Monday, I had to recite a memorized piece on the history of the Christmas tree that went mostly seamlessly (besides an awkward pause were I totally forgot what I had to say).
                After breakfast, first and second years took a math test. Next we had Spanish but in that time we presented our projects for History...or at least that was the plan. But it quickly changed when Eloina found out that one group hadn't done the assigned project of a movie. She told them that she expected a movie in an hour and that all the costumes they needed were in her house. The whole class except me (I was in the other group) ran to her house for last minute costumes. Karla had me present my project to her while everyone else was gone and I felt so much more comfortable that way!! She told me after I was done that as a minimum I would get a nine and maximum a ten!!! I was pleased that it wasn't hard or embarrassing at all!
               They came back soon and changed into their costumes and Karla painted their mustaches on based on how each person involved in the Mexican Independence had one. I only learned that day that the people in the Mexican Indepence (where they fought to rid themselves of the Spanish rulers) like Miguel Hidalgo and Vicente Guerrero are different from people who were involved in the Mexican Revolution (where they fought to rid themselves of a dictator) like Pancho Villa and Emiliano Zapata.
               I filmed the movie (where they talk about the characters that they are impersonating) on Andres' Ipod.
               After that was over, Pao and Lore still had to finish their math test, so I talked with Karla and Lucy (and brought them fruit) while they took the test. 

When we have to say goodbye to Mariana.
            Thursday during school was normal except for the fact that it was Mariana's last day at school. She was going to return to Mexico City because her mom finished some course she was taking for anthropology.
            The day before, Mariana and her mother invited us to their house after school the next day. My parents offered to drive Oscar, Yair, Mariana and I to Mariana's house. So that is where we were after Mariana said many countless goodbyes as three boys in her class cried (those were the ones that had a crush on her because besides of how awesome she is, was the only girl in an all-boy class.)
            My parents dropped us off at her house and we ate a delicious lunch of macaroni and chicken. We walked to her neighbor's house to play in his backyard; it is bigger than our backyard in Salt Lake!! The guy who owns it has many animals and a mini-farm back there. We spent our time exploring, playing secret agents, carrying Mariana, and me protecting Yair from the over-hyper dog Pearl (Yair is scared of all dogs bigger than his chihuahua).
            We took some pictures on photo booth and then walked back to Mariana's house to bake a cake. In the end, the cake was delicious but we did something wrong so it was more like Budin (an Argentinian dessert). My parents came and the kids played a game similar to exquisite corpse as we laughed and listened to music.
            None of us wanted to say goodbye. Mariana and I hugged for something like ten minutes and she told me that I was one of her best friends. She almost cried then and I almost cried while we walked back to the car. I think of her as my little sister and I was very sad to see her go.

When I get tired of thinking.
                    On Wednesday I arrived at school in my fancy-shmansy uniform so that at 8 o'clock (in Mexican time: 8:30) Monica could take Emma, Ricardo (Ana's little brother), Yair and I to the Math Olympics. We ate quesadillas and then after a while of saying good-bye to friends and standing around, we finally left in Monica's red sedan.
                   We arrived there cold and more than a little confused; as Monica registered us we stood around and talked. We ate a sandwich, some juice and a banana while everyone else sang the anthem and listened to a speech. Then we walked around in circles trying to find out where all of us were going to take the test. There were too many kids to fit into the number of rooms they thought they would need, so they opened another and that is where Emma, a bunch of other kids and I took our test.
                  We were given four hours to take a test of four questions that were not easy!!! At one point, I was trying to solve this problem that asked how many numbers there were between 1 and 2012 that were divisible by two but not by three! I started a list of numbers divisible by two and and then crossed out every third number (those were the ones divisible by three). I made it all the way to one thousand and as I paused to take a break, the teacher saw my work and said, "Oh that is too long!! There is a shorter way; try using numbers." I thought,  'Lady, I am using numbers' and as much as I wanted to just keep going, those words burst my bubble in which I thought I could really write over a thousand numbers. I later figured out another way to solve the problem. In the end I solved three out of four (the fourth I just left blank).
                During the test, I looked out the open door and saw Ricardo wandering around aimlessly and for some reason that made me speed up and try to finish everything faster. I finished soon and after turning my test in, I walked out and found Ricardo. When he saw me he gave me a big hug and asked me how it went. Evidently, I was the second of our group of four to finish. We walked around in the weather that seemed to show signs of an oncoming rain. Yair came out next and felt a little less sure about the test than Ricardo (who seemed to think it was easy).
              We waited around before Emma finally came out, and remembering Monica's promise to let us leave after the four of us finished, we set out with the goal of finding Monica and leaving. That hope was swiftly deemed as un-likely because she thought Emma was going to take a long time, so she went into a teacher room to grade exams.  We were waved away by other teachers every time we tried to reach Monica. We stood outside the room and fantasized about how we could buy food (we were starving) and leave this cold place. The suggestions were anywhere from: Asking a teacher if we could borrow money (Yair's suggestion); to stealing Monica's car, selling it and then with the money, buying food and getting a taxi back to school (my idea). We never went through with any of these ideas and when Eloina came to pick us up, Ricardo and Yair ran to her and gave her a big hug because she was our ride home.
               We arrived back at school and my class was going to have math and after I claimed that I was tired of thinking, they let me sit and knit instead!!!

On Tuesday, I found out that I was to participate in the Math Olympics the next day.
                      The title is about the only thing I remember from school that day, but, soccer practice is still vivid in my mind!
                      After getting suited up in the car, we walked across the field and we started practicing. This time, Profe split us up into groups of age so that Oscar and I are in different groups and we start to do some drills. At one point, we were running backwards and I caught the bottom of my cleats into the loop of my other shoelace and I fell on my butt!!!! How embarrassing!!! I felt so stupid but I just clenched my teeth, got up and tried to keep going! Out of ten, my practice was probably a six just because of that awkward mess-up, the feeling of not playing well and the possible fact that I am the reason some boys on my team have learned to swear in English (oh goody goody).