Just a(nother) weird day.
             Again at school we gathered in the kitchen for presentations as we seem to constantly be doing. I sat next to the projector where on my side it was letting out warm air. I put my hands up to it and sat like that through Lore and Tilo's presentation. Lore's was very nice but Eloina kept asking her these hard questions like "Why is it important to learn about Newton's laws of physics?" That had her and everyone else very stumped, so just because of that and the fact she hesitated in her explanations, Eloina gave her a temporary six and told her that if she presented again the next day, she could possibly get a ten.
            After that, Lore was really upset because she felt like Eloina was being unfair (she is her aunt) and that she didn't even let her finish her whole presentation (her dad (the physics teacher) kept telling her that she needed to add various stuff to her project and in the end she didn't even get to read it all). Another problem: she is terrified of speaking in public, it really stresses her out. Me and some other people tried to comfort and give advice to her. After a bit of talk though, I had to go present a project about GPS and time zones so I gave her a big hug and ran off to class.
            In that class, I gave my presentation and since I gave some explanations after everything I explained (Kevin did too; we are the only two in this class because we are the only ones from first year), she gave us both a ten and said that we both did much better.
            After breakfast, Eloina told us to do our cross-stitch; but, after a string of events, that never ended up happening! Well first, after brushing our teeth, we were tossing Lorena's balled-up gloves at Tilo. He in turn, was doing the same; Lore warned me that if we threw too high and it didn't hit Tilo, it would fly past the railing and onto the roof of the garage. Just after that, she threw it and it landed on the roof. We later ended up using the flag stick thingy to pull the gloves towards us. After many trials and errors, we got the gloves.
             In the next class, we practiced the escolta . At one point, Evodio pulled back on my hood and I tried to kick him and failed miserably! Then he told me, "Te quiero mucho," (I love you a lot, friend style) and that struck me as a weird way of saying that! But in the end, whatever, we are all sort of weird at this school!
             As we waited around for a bit before we started our run, Evodio called me over. He asked me if I wanted to run with him and Diego and talk like we did last time. I said sure and so I set off with them as we ran to a little field. There, the swim teacher taught us some running technique and we tried it out.
            We started again and Evodio and I ran in the lead and felt more tired than the time before! We only made it running to a little road. They bought some drinks and then we walked up the remainder of the steepest part of the hill.
            We got into the FREEZING water and jumped out just in time to rush into our clothes before class. After that, we had Spanish and we got pretty little done before I went to Biology class with Kevin while Mauricio and I stomped on each other's feet.
             I walked into the group parent meeting for Primary school in which they were watching a cheesy slideshow that had cute babies in impossible positions. There were also words that appeared on every slide that said things like, "Take a moment today to think about all the decisions you have made for them," as music played.
            When we went home, I finished my homework and then had my Spanish class with Gaby!!
Good Night!

Woo-hooo!!!! Victory is mine!

            While the class waited in the kitchen for more people to show up, Mafer and Lore explained some things about quinceñeras: "There are a lot of things to plan for your quince años:.....dress, guest list.....mementos....floral arrangements.....godparents (one for practically every thing in the quinceñera, like toasts and flowers) etc." Just to tell you: they are in the process of planning their own quinceñeras so they know a lot about it. 

             Then came the actual presentations and those are more boring than worth mentioning, so I will go to the end of Spanish class, where we played "Basta." It is a really cool game where one person starts by saying A and then says the ABC's in his head and then another person says "Basta" whenever they feel like it (basta means stop, or enough). Then, everyone starts writing things down that start with that letter on a pre-made sheet with places to put things like: Name, Last Name, Place, Flower or Fruit, Animal and Object. You write down one word beginning with that letter for each category. For example, if the letter is P, I would write: Penelope, Peterson, Panama, Papaya, Pig, Plate (all in Spanish of course). The trick is, you have to do it as fast as you can because once someone finishes all of them, they start counting like this : basta uno, basta dos, basta tres..... After that, everyone stops writing to tally up points. For an answer that no one else has, you get 100 points, for every answer that two people have, you get 50 points and for every answer that three or more people have, each person gets 25 points. In the end, when we tallied up all the points from all the rounds, I got more than Lore!!
           After our snack, we had Griselda's dreaded class!!!!!!! She split us up into groups where we chose one person to be the mom and one the dad. The others were the kids. Then we had to write up everything we had to spend money on. The final outcome of these past few classes will be to compare our lives and homes to those in an indigenous community. In my group, I was with Lina (we made her be the mom), Diego (the only guy, he had to be the dad), Mafer, Ana and I (we were the daughters). Griselda left a half hour early (THANK GOD) because we "were no longer paying attention."
          Lore and I talked for a bit and then she told me that I was the best friend she had ever had. That made me feel really great and we gave each other a big hug.
          For all PE we practiced our "escolta." That was pretty boring so after school I was sort of in a bad mood. We left school to go to Soriana to buy some things and my mood did not improve. I was not excited to go to soccer practice so I was sort of sullen.
          At practice, the first part was fine; the second part was surprisingly great! Profe split up the younger kids and the older kids. That meant that Oscar and I (who were partners before) had been split up. Some more of the older kids had come back from working with another coach. Profe then told us that we had to get into partners. Thinking that there were no other partners left, I asked Profe if I could work with Oscar. He said that I had to work with this other guy. We started working and then he waited for me to catch up to him and asked me my name. I told him, and that was the end of the conversation for that point. Then, next time we had a moment, he asked me where I was from and I told him the country and the state. I finally had the courage to ask him his name; his name is Miguel. He asked me if it was hard to learn Spanish and when I told him sort of, Rodolfo (tall skinny kid with braces) heard and said, "She speaks English, is it hard for YOU to learn English?!" Miguel then decided to practice some English with me, so he said "How are you?" I replied "Good; how are you?" He didn't respond so I suppose he didn't understand.
           While we were scrimmaging (I was on Miguel's team) he said "good job" to something I did. Then, I stole the ball from a really good older kid and sort of hurt his shin in the process. I told him "perdon" and to my surprise, he said very amiably "No te preocupes (don't worry about it)."
            After Profe had talked to us about games, Miguel came over and kissed me on the cheek! He was the first person in soccer practice (not counting the coaches) that said good-bye to me like that. That made me very pleased because I have found a sort of friend (or at least someone who is very nice and talks to me) in soccer.
Good Night!

It is worth it to come to come visit our school even if it is just to see how homenaje is done!
                    I came to school pretty late, even though it was practically half past seven (we start at seven), the teacher that we always start the day with (Doc Moi, Lore's dad) still wasn't there. It was sort of weird that he hadn't showed up so when Eloina came in to watch the presentations by my classmates, I started planning how I was going to survive the day without Lore (she was sick on Friday and didn't come).
                  Diego presented first (about pollution and waste) and took a lot longer time than I had thought he would! Then when it was about time to finish Physics to go to the next class, Doc Moi and Lore walked in!! I was extremely happy she showed up and I stayed later than eight o' clock and then scurried off to my next class.
                  Homenaje was funnier than usual because of the "escolta" had some little preschoolers in it and then the ceremony master was about three feet tall, really cute, had a funny high-pitched voice and kept saying words wrong. His name is Juan Jose (his nickname is Juan Jo); he is like the class troublemaker!
                  Breakfast was yummy and after we washed our plates (we got a new sponge!!) we had to go to Spanish class. The problem was, Karla didn't come, so, we "read" in a room with no supervision as Rosie taught the other class. We actually tossed a ball (by ball I mean tights filled with sawdust and chia seeds and tied around into a ball shape that had a face drawn on it!!). It was fun, until you got sawdust in your eye!!
                  After we ate some snack, we talked on the sunny hill before mostly everyone got recruited to playing gang-up tag (where once they tag you, you help tag everyone else) by Evodio, Kevin and Toño. In the first round, Lore and I climbed up a giant tree so that we wouldn't have to run! We were it the next time before we went to art class.
                 We grabbed our art books and pencils and climbed to the forest to do "art". Actually, I sort of disregarded my art book as Diego and Tilo asked me questions about the U.S. Then they asked me if I had tried various Mexican foods; I hadn't eaten the ones they mentioned and so they said that for my birthday to try those foods. Because, they informed me, I couldn't leave Mexico without trying them!!

I am really starting to realize how much I am going to miss this place.
          Highlights from these past weeks!
Some moments this week were just really great and fun.

The first was on Tuesday when Favio, Lore and I just sat in the tree house and talked. I told them about how the social components in the U.S. are very different than here. It was really nice to just talk like that because I used to think he (Favio) was annoying and loud (at the beginning of the year) but now I think of him more as a friend. I thought that he seemed very mature in that first moment, though that thought was pretty much discarded the next day when he started chasing the girls around with dog poop on a stick. It was pretty gross even though he didn't actually touch anyone with the stick of doom. He is fourteen but still some boys of all ages have some things in common: an odd fascination with poop.......

The second was on Wednesday when after we had finished our game of water polo. Favio, Ana, Evodio and I tried to push each other into the pool. It started out with just Ana trying to push me into pool and then I tried to do likewise (to her that is). Then Evodio joined in and then there were no teams, we just tried to get each other dunked! Then Favio started in also and we just laughed, got dunked and laughed some more. It was a bunch of fun!

Primary made a rappel in the forest; they knotted a long yellow rope and then tied it to a tree. Eloina said that Secundary should also make one so we made a long rappel on a steep hill!!

We made one and after a lot of labor, it was ready to climb!

Our most recent adventure (not with Eloina's knowledge or supervision) was carrying a ladder to a section in the adobe wall where we climbed over. The next day when I finally decided to do it, they thought it would be funny to leave me and Toño on the other side with no way to get back. We got across because he hoisted me up and I jumped over.

During swimming time, we trained for a running competition in March with the teacher. We left the school grounds and ran and walked five kilometers. During the last bit of English class and practically the whole run, Evodio and Diego questioned me all about the U.S.! It was pretty fun. At the end, they bought a bunch of coke to drink to refresh ourselves. Training Mexican style! Diego and Evodio said that I should go to the movies with them sometime (it is not a date.....don't get the wrong idea!!). They said that if I wanted, I could invite Lorena (probably so that I wouldn't feel uncomfortable). They said that I won't remember them after this year (which is not true). I am going to miss all this so much though at the same time I will love to go back. The last day of school, I am going to try not to cry; I bet I will fail miserably!

Christmas, a blockade, an extremely loud concert and all that jazz!
                 The first thing related to Christmas that my school did, was put on a big Christmas program.
                Each group of grades put on their own special part of the show:
Preschool: Did a dance to Jingle Bell Rock clad in red.

Primary (elementary school): Did a play about Nestor the long-eared donkey whom everyone teased (sort of like Rudolph) but, in the end he got to be the donkey that carried Mary to Bethlehem.

Secundary (middle school): Did a dance in which everyone was dressed as different life-size toys or dolls. I was a Tinkerbell doll and Lore was a ballerina doll.

           Here is how it went: For many days, we hadn't done much else besides make "hojuelas" (thin, deep fried pieces of dough covered in cinnamon sugar, YUM!), make our own piñatas and practice our dance.
           Making hojuelas was actually pretty fun. First some women in the kitchen spread out a thing of dough so thin it was just barely thicker than a piece of construction paper. Then they would put the pieces (cut into rectangles) on the arms of kids who would then carefully run to hang the dough over a white string going from one side of the toddler playground to the other. Then once the dough had dried a bit, they took the dough and stuck it in a deep fryer that is essentially a pot of hot oil over an actual coal fire!! They fried it and after it cooled a bit, they rolled it in cinnamon sugar. The hardest part of this whole process for me (besides stretching the dough) was keeping track of how many we had sugared!
         In the hour or so before the event took place, we practiced the dance, got dressed and wandered around aimlessly. Mafer did my makeup and most everyone was there so as she was doing my eyeliner as I sat on one of the blue wood tables, Toño kept saying: "Now we know who Walt Disney based TinkerBell on!!" I was sort of surprised that everyone thought that I was just like Tinkerbell because I don't even have blond hair. But, nonetheless, it was probably a compliment and everyone kept saying that I looked great even though I felt kind of weird in borrowed ballet shoes, black tights and a one-sleeved green dress!
        Our part of the show was first so we did our dance (which went well) as various little kids (dressed in various animal costumes) looked on from the second floor of the school with their legs dangling through the railing! After, a photographer (this time not my dad) took out pictures and then my dad did. After that, Lore and I helped some teachers and Favio man the white curtains (it was windy so it was hard to hold the curtains together).
       After the show, we didn't stay very long but I had a lot of fun in the whole thing!

        Our Christmas was really great;we spent the day together as a family (with my grandma: Nana) and played games!! I got a lot of great things and one of my favorites was a purse with eyes from ElektroVoodoo that was styled off the one that I showed a picture of earlier on!
        The next day we started our drive to Mexico City, we were met first with a mini-blockade when there was a car crash but got around it without losing too much time. Then just as we were considering bypassing Puebla and just keeping going (because we were making good time), we ran into a blockade, this time a truck carrying pigs got into a car crash so we inched forward for two or three hours. We thought that since we kept moving a little at a time that it meant that is was clearing up. Clearly not--because after three hours, it just stopped. It was already dark and we were SO close to Puebla, we decided to take a nap until the traffic cleared. But, just as we were drifting off, all the other lights on the cars who probably had the same initial plan as we did (sleeping in their cars in the middle of the highway) and we moved forward!!!!!!! We drove past a truck with pigs laying down; the sad thing was that they were not sleeping.
        We checked into a surprisingly roomy hotel that also was pretty cheap. For little money we got a room with three beds (two for our family and one for Nana) that included coffee maker and a pretty decent-sized living room! Though we all felt like falling right into bed then and there, we went out to a yummy Italian restaurant right off the center square. The walls at the restaurant had grape trees painted around the top!! It made it look a little fancy and comfortable at the same time. As we were eating, we looked at the clock and it was half-past midnight!!! We did go to sleep pretty much upon arriving in our hotel rooms.
        The next day after breakfast we started our drive to our final destination: Mexico City. We could tell once we were in it by the confusing signs vaguely showing which road to take to go anywhere. It took us a SURPRISINGLY long time to get our way around to our hotel even though it was not too far away. That was mostly due to the one way streets (that seemed to almost always go the opposite direction we hoped to go!) and slow traffic (the whole center was packed with people).
       We met Dana and Lewis (or as we dubbed them in a giggle fest through Mexico City, Lana and Dewis)! We ate a yummy dinner and went off to explore the city. Around the center square, the buildings were covered in lights that joined up to make pictures they said things like "Happy 2013" and showed pictures of a nativity scene and flowers.
        During our visit, we walked all over the city. Most every day, my feet got tired out by the end but it was a nice way to see different parts of the city! We went to many different neighborhoods that seemed to be parts of a different city.
       Every day, we would get up and walk around the center to find a breakfast, lunch, or dinner place to eat at. Not a single one that we went to was bad! One breakfast place had beautiful paintings on the entryways and window bookshelves. At that same place, two people sang Christmas carols, one had a very sweet voice and while the other one probably did too, but he was not singing in his normal pitch so he was off tune. Nevertheless,  it was nice music. At another breakfast place called Sanborns the people had to dress in a traditional Mexican dress and the juice was freshly made. The orange juice was the best I have ever had in my life!! It was so fresh, that every time I didn't drink it for a while,  the pulp and juice would separate. One day, we ate at a very nice restaurant that was SO old, Pancho Villa shot a whole in the ceiling to stop a fight from breaking out!!
      We went inside the national palace to see a huge mural by Diego Rivera, It was very immpressive!! One of the none highlights was when we went to see an exhibit of the inquisition and a part of the medical museum. The medical part was closed so we went to the inquisition part and were not expecting the horrifying sounds (came with an mp3 so listen to screams and explanations), disturbing images (from the movies) and the awful mannequins that showed the different torture instruments and how they were used.

My class's dance; Andres is behind me and Lina is in the red leggings

Awesome piñata one class made for the celebration.

Me being Tinkerbell and Lore being a ballerina doll.

Little kid dancing to Jingle Bell Rock.

Don't mess with the fuzzy chicken.

Their cute little dance.

Lore and I on the little hill.

One day, we heard there was going to be a zapatista demonstration. We had heard plenty about them but we had never seen them before.

They moved in the shape of a snail; the snail meant something that is neverending for the Mayas.

At one point, they walked over a homemade ramp past the Mexican and Zapatista flags.

It was set up in front of the cathedral.

There were so many of them!!

Many of the women were carrying babies in shawls as they walked through the rain.

Some of them wore their traditional clothing.

They gathered here to wait a bit before they moved on.

They did this in silence.

We happened to run into a member of my soccer team (Octavio or Tonatiuh I am not sure which) while we were here (he is not shown).

The outside of the ice-skating place that they set up in front of the cathedral. People gathered outside to watch.

With the shaved ice on the top, we threw snowballs.

Our cute little tree.

Our stockings stuffed with fireworks.

Two baby fireworks.

Fourth king: Oscar's soldier watching over baby Jesus.

My stack of presents.

We covered the tree in origami....

and popcorn garlands.

Magic happening here!

Wow, don't mess around with this guy.

My genius purse on Christmas day.

Purse head!

The only picture my dad could get of me with the sparkler as close to my head as it was!

Qué bonito!

Our one night stay in Puebla.

The old fountain.

Electric candles in which you put some pesos in to turn one or more on!

It is really tall and from this picture you can look at the cool wood carvings! (This is in the Puebla church.)

WARNING: This is the first of many pictures of the beautiful domed ceiling in Puebla!

Lord of the Rings ladder. (What are you doing here?!!)

He does not look in good shape.

Is that gold?

I warned you!

No comment.

Spectacular carvings in a door!!

Hey, is that the symbol that we have on our money?

----

The main part.

You got to admit, this one picture is really awesome!!

I want that lock in my room.

I won't force you to look at any more ceiling photos because this is the last!!

The outside of the ancient church.

A ginormous crowd in the main square of Mexico City.

Lights covered a bunch of the buildings around it!

"Happy New Year!"

I found Frida (in Diego Rivera's mural in the National Palace).

The conquista part of the three-wall mural.

Showing the theory that the vikings came to the Pre-Hispanic civilizations before the conquista.

This whole thing (including the other walls) took six years.

The eagle on the cactus with a snake in its beak showing the legend of how the Aztecs knew where they were going to make their new city (the gods told them to look for it).

The war goddess.....Nice arm.

An Aztec king.

My type of fountain!! Even the army guys like pegasi!!

This is the Mexico City Church.

Family portrait in the National Palace.

The back of the huge organ.

We think the one in Puebla is actually prettier!

Though that is impressive!

Nativity scene.

Whoops....wasn't me...No really it wasn't!

That is so awesome.

On a confessionary.

That is pretty sweet! All of that for a chair!

Mmmmm....Great....remains!

That must have an impressive sound.

People write their wishes on the ribbons or wrap the message around a lock and stick it on. The whole thing must weigh a ton!

A cake display shop.

Frosting stalactites .

FOOTBALL!

I like that one! A nice little present!

Wow, a seven layer cake.

How many people would that feed I wonder?

Oh cute basket!.....of edible flowers!!!!!! MINE!!

Try playing chess with this cake!

A Mad Hatter street performer.

Elegant walkway in a restaurant.

It was very nice!

Yep, that little spot is where Pancho Villa shot!! (It's that little dot on the ceiling.)

Even Mexico has a stature to Beethoven! Connie would be proud.

Oh Yeah!

At a breakfast place.

Paint my room please!!!! 

Seriously!

Errr.....Ummmmm (these are in the anthropology museum).

That almost looks Asian.

Cool colors!

Ouch!

Ancient mustaches...Out of stone!

Some sort of sacrifice thing.

Dramatic lighting!

Model of city!

What Mexico City looked like a VERY long time ago.

Cool shadows!

That is a lot of skulls.

Nice nose.

That looks heavy!

That face doesn't creep me out so much!

AHHHHHH...Imagine this in front of your face when you wake up!

What the!?

Representation of an Aztec home.

I love their writing.

Where do you think this is......Wrong! The anthropology museum!

This kid started reading this rock in a language that was not Spanish. We were wondering if he could really read it, When he got to that big gash in the rock, he just paused, shrugged and moved on!!

Is that the atom sign I see?

A very large fountain in the middle of the anthropology museum!

These guys did a representation of an old Aztec tradition!! 

How dizzy you must feel after!

I didn't get a close look at their heads when they came down, but, I imagine they would be very red!

I can't imagine this in the US! Can you?

In the Four Seasons hotel (where Dana and Lewis stayed).

Hello!

Oscar's dragon face.

Ewww....A fountain.

Oscar trying to fly in the water.

Dewis' dragon face.

Yeah, it didn't work.

Keeping cool.

Cool!

Bubbly.

In Xochimilco (a neighborhood). It's major attraction is one of the last canals from the Aztec times in Mexico City.

You would hook onto the other boats whose services you wanted. Their were cooker boats, photo boats, food boats, and mariachi boats!

Mexico, Queen of Hearts.

On the front of our boat (our boat's name was Elizabeth).

A nursery on the side of the canal.

Trying out the new style of photography.

My pretty Xochimilco.

In front of the ever-present shrines.

What most of them look like!

On the way to the Metro.

Oscar and I outside of Frida Kahlo's house (named the blue house, I wonder why)!

After our great trip to Mexico City, we drove a little more to a ranch out in the desert. It was such an amazing experience with GREAT food, fantastic riding, great experiences and a cold swimming pool.

Walking out of the ranch on our second ride!

At the gate.

Through the cacti.

I am riding the sometimes-cranky horse that has the best canter ever!

That is what I call remote!

On one of Palomo's good days!

My mom on Apache: The high-spirited but extremely fast horse (the prettiest one ever).

Oscar on Aragon the sweet horse that Oscar deems is worth it even if his canter is a little rough.

The freezing pool.

It looks nice in black and white.

Looking towards the main building.

Prickly!

Me doing some cantering.

The fellowship of the ring.

Yee-haw!

That is some serious dust-kicking!

In the groove.

One of the few pictures of my dad as he is always behind the camera.

That is some good speed.

Oscar vs. Cactus....Who wins?

Of course, Apache in the lead.

Close second.

Me bringing up the behind.

Oscar and I switched for a bit but then decided we liked the horse we had before more!

Stream crossing.

On a short break.

Nice glasses, Oscar!

Nana, on her own. She is riding Mariachi, the slow but willing horse

Oscar with three of the five boxers at the ranch. These ones are: (from right to left) Kyla (I think), Sasquia and Nicki.

Me chilling with Chispa.

This is Chispa close up. She is my favorite!

Look at that face.

As we stopped for a picnic.

That is a good picture of you Nana!

Climbing a small cliff.

Well, medium-sized.

As the heavens open.

That cowboy hat is not mine (thank goodness).

Just before we left.

The foggy city we stayed the night in on our way back to San Cristobal.

Some dancers in a restaurant.

That is one big Christmas tree.

Yeah, it is always foggy I think.

The church on the plaza (we are in Cordoba).

Lights are sort of a big part of the decorations here, I guess!

A rosca de reyes, the cake they make to celebrate the three kings day. If you find the baby, then you have to bring tamales for everyone on some day in February.

Oscar got it in our house. At school, if you got the baby then you don't have to make tamales (the reverse); I got it there!!