So the juxtaposition of this post and the previous post may or may not be significant (ATTENTION JOURNALISM AND ENGLISH MAJORS: I realize that there is more than a small chance that I just used juxtaposition incorrectly. No me importa.) Either as a side affect of the 17 various animal parts I ate last weekend, the tap water I've been using to rinse my toothbrush (whoops), or my own cooking, I have been suffering from unfortunate but not completely unexpected Digestive Distress this week. I don't know if it's exactly the infamous Monteczuma's Revenge but someone/something besides me is Definitely getting the last laugh. Darn. Anyways, I think I'm finally on the mend but it was not the greatest week I ever had...
Despite the above mentioned undertones of the week, it was overall successful. I went on my first solo public transit adventure to visit my semi-host family in a nearby neighborhood. After a confused conversation with the bus driver, I successfully unloaded at the correct bus stop, walked the short distance to the neighborhood and even remembered at which gate I should ring the bell. I had a lovely comida with my host mom and siblings and admired the newly born chihuahua puppies. After a coffee with Mama Olivia, I decided it was probably a good idea to head back to UDLAP before the daily monsoon. I will not go into travel desmadre details for the sake of my mother's nerves, but I will say GRACIAS A DIOS for the friendly, helpful, and better oriented UDLAP exchange students sitting behind me on what turned out to be the wrong bus! What the bus driver described as "a bus stop close to UDLAP" turned out to be at least 8 blocks walking on an unfamiliar street. Aw well, live and learn.
This afternoon we had our weekly pre-internship conference with a doctor from a local hospital. Today's presentation was about the process of becoming a doctor in Mexico. The thing that surprised me the most was that every medical school and nursing school graduate is required to spend a year doing some kind of social service. Even if you go to a private university, you are not licensed to practice medicine until you have completed your year of service to the community. While this program is a little reminiscent of the "required community service" from my middle school years, I think it's an excellent idea. I'm sure it's not a perfect system, but imagine if every university graduate gave a year of their time and enthusiasm for their new career to the community.
Eeeentonces...(i picked up this Spanish equivalent of sooo/ummm from Mama Olivia) I think I'll end here to go spend some quality time with Harry Potter y la camara secreta. Embarrassing? Maybe. This weekend we're taking a daytrip to Tepoztlan, which is a little-ish town near Cuernavaca. Check it out!
Tepoztlan
Friday, August 20, 2010
Monday, August 16, 2010
Waste Not, Want Not
After my adventures this weekend, I have decided that this phrase definitely originated in the Mexican kitchen. I've always heard that Americans are relatively uncreative with their use of animal products (thanks Upton) but i didn't really believe it until coming to Mexico. I spent the weekend with my host family and they are all about making sure that I am exposed to new foods, places, and words which is excellent and definitely leads to some interesting experiences.
Here's the list of new foods that I tried this weekend:
nana (it has something to do with udders, maybe pig?)- the sign language involved to explain this one was FANTASTIC
some variety of cooked pig skin (like chicherrones but soft)
sesos de borrago (lamb brain)
lengua de borrago (lamb tongue)
panza (related to a lamb's digestive tract- maybe stomach?)
mezcal (liquor similar to tequila that I sampled *host mom approved* at a market stand)
tuna (fruit from nopal cactus plant)- NOT the fish
pan dulce con queso- sweet bread with cream cheese-ish stuff inside
amaranto/alegria- amaranth is a type of grain, the second name literally means happiness. It's really popular in ricecake looking things made with honey, I think.
homemade coconut paleta (popsicle, also used for lollipop)
guanabana- sweet fruit that looks like an avocado-pineapple hybrid
As you might have noticed, there's a general theme of "I don't know what this is but I'll just eat it anyways" in my current diet. This might not be the best idea I've ever had, but I'm doing it anyways! My general philosophy is that as long as the establishment isn't too sketchy and the food is local-ish/prepared fresh, it can't be that bad. And so far it's working out pretty well for me.
And that brings me to the other aspect of Mexican food that's really exciting- everything is locally sourced! The lamb barbecue place re visited slaughters their lambs on the spot and barbecues them right there where you can see it. Roadside taco stands start the tortillas from scratch after you order. Fresh produce(WalMart doesn't count) is all grown in Mexico and is super cheap and tastes 100x's better than store-bought. Barbara would be so proud!* Obviously, I've given up on the vegetarian thing I was trying for a while, partially because it's easier, partially for the adventure, and in large part because I trust the source more here than I trust McDonald's meat source. Again, that might not be completely valid, but from what I've seen restaurants process their own meat and have large animal parts in the fridge, not Styrofoam trays.
Anyways, it was a very satisfying, if not strange, weekend of culinary ventures and I had a great time getting to know my host family better. Here's a photo:
*Animal, Vegetable, Miracle reference- read it!
Here's the list of new foods that I tried this weekend:
nana (it has something to do with udders, maybe pig?)- the sign language involved to explain this one was FANTASTIC
some variety of cooked pig skin (like chicherrones but soft)
sesos de borrago (lamb brain)
lengua de borrago (lamb tongue)
panza (related to a lamb's digestive tract- maybe stomach?)
mezcal (liquor similar to tequila that I sampled *host mom approved* at a market stand)
tuna (fruit from nopal cactus plant)- NOT the fish
pan dulce con queso- sweet bread with cream cheese-ish stuff inside
amaranto/alegria- amaranth is a type of grain, the second name literally means happiness. It's really popular in ricecake looking things made with honey, I think.
homemade coconut paleta (popsicle, also used for lollipop)
guanabana- sweet fruit that looks like an avocado-pineapple hybrid
As you might have noticed, there's a general theme of "I don't know what this is but I'll just eat it anyways" in my current diet. This might not be the best idea I've ever had, but I'm doing it anyways! My general philosophy is that as long as the establishment isn't too sketchy and the food is local-ish/prepared fresh, it can't be that bad. And so far it's working out pretty well for me.
And that brings me to the other aspect of Mexican food that's really exciting- everything is locally sourced! The lamb barbecue place re visited slaughters their lambs on the spot and barbecues them right there where you can see it. Roadside taco stands start the tortillas from scratch after you order. Fresh produce(WalMart doesn't count) is all grown in Mexico and is super cheap and tastes 100x's better than store-bought. Barbara would be so proud!* Obviously, I've given up on the vegetarian thing I was trying for a while, partially because it's easier, partially for the adventure, and in large part because I trust the source more here than I trust McDonald's meat source. Again, that might not be completely valid, but from what I've seen restaurants process their own meat and have large animal parts in the fridge, not Styrofoam trays.
Anyways, it was a very satisfying, if not strange, weekend of culinary ventures and I had a great time getting to know my host family better. Here's a photo:
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Wednesday, August 11, 2010
The Rain in Spain Falls Mainly on the Plain
But in Puebla it just falls everywhere. Every day. A lot. After a week and some odd days of being here (DIOS MIO has it only been a week?!?! it feels like a lifetime), I have almost mastered the skill of packing an umbrella every day. Sidenote vocab lesson: umBRElla= paraguas. I'm not sure what UMbrella is in Spanish, however. Anyways, today I was sitting in the library, reading my homework and waiting out the rain, and reminiscing about the first week of freshman year when IN got hit by the edge of a hurricane or something equally as ridiculous. We ran around campus stomping in puddles and ended up Slip N'Sliding on the South Quad swamp. That is about what happens here every day between the hours of about 4PM and 8PM. Minus the abnormal weather patterns and childhood throwbacks.
Speaking of classes, my schedule is FINALLY finalized. I won't go into details because it will just give everyone migraines and emotional breakdowns. Again. The International Office definitely caused some problems and tried to win back our affection with free t-shirts. It worked for me!
Anyways, I have successfully attended all of my classes in all the right classrooms at all the right times. Win.
Here's the rundown:
Fisica General & Laboratorio General Physics and Lab
This is going to be painful- 50 min class EVERY DAY
Literatura espanola del Siglo de Oro Spanish Literature of the Golden Age
I'm not that excited for the subject matter but the professor is fantastically European!
Cultura mexicana Mexican culture (why did I translate that for you?)
This will be really helpful and super interesante as well.
Medicina familiar y comunitaria Family & Community Medicine
This class is in the Medical School technically which is a little intimidating but all the students are 19 or 20.
Overall, I have had a very good first impression of my classes and professors, should be a good semester (understatement? I think so.)
The other great success of the day was really a two-part adventure. A friend of a suitemate told me about a secret little grocery store near campus so I went on an adventure with an ND/Puebla friend. We scored fresh fruit and veggies, eggs, fresh mozzarella (think huge roll of string cheese but better), tortillas, and rice. So suck it WalMart! We're supporting small local business!
Anyways, on the way back, after admiring a sidewalk shrine for Our Lady of Guadalupe, we stopped at a taco stand for comida. We figured any neighbor of our friends at Tacos Israel is a friend of ours and man, was that a good assumption! We had tacos with blue corn tortillas and ended up ordering seconds. Secretly I think there was some small-child-mentality making me think it was better because it was blue but I don't care. It was heavenly.
So in reality this post was mostly about not-rain. But it secretly controls a good part of the day's schedule, wardrobe and accessories. So in a way it's everything. I guess it'll keep me inside with my homework...
Campus is beautiful, here are some more pictures!
Speaking of classes, my schedule is FINALLY finalized. I won't go into details because it will just give everyone migraines and emotional breakdowns. Again. The International Office definitely caused some problems and tried to win back our affection with free t-shirts. It worked for me!
Anyways, I have successfully attended all of my classes in all the right classrooms at all the right times. Win.
Here's the rundown:
Fisica General & Laboratorio General Physics and Lab
This is going to be painful- 50 min class EVERY DAY
Literatura espanola del Siglo de Oro Spanish Literature of the Golden Age
I'm not that excited for the subject matter but the professor is fantastically European!
Cultura mexicana Mexican culture (why did I translate that for you?)
This will be really helpful and super interesante as well.
Medicina familiar y comunitaria Family & Community Medicine
This class is in the Medical School technically which is a little intimidating but all the students are 19 or 20.
Overall, I have had a very good first impression of my classes and professors, should be a good semester (understatement? I think so.)
The other great success of the day was really a two-part adventure. A friend of a suitemate told me about a secret little grocery store near campus so I went on an adventure with an ND/Puebla friend. We scored fresh fruit and veggies, eggs, fresh mozzarella (think huge roll of string cheese but better), tortillas, and rice. So suck it WalMart! We're supporting small local business!
Anyways, on the way back, after admiring a sidewalk shrine for Our Lady of Guadalupe, we stopped at a taco stand for comida. We figured any neighbor of our friends at Tacos Israel is a friend of ours and man, was that a good assumption! We had tacos with blue corn tortillas and ended up ordering seconds. Secretly I think there was some small-child-mentality making me think it was better because it was blue but I don't care. It was heavenly.
So in reality this post was mostly about not-rain. But it secretly controls a good part of the day's schedule, wardrobe and accessories. So in a way it's everything. I guess it'll keep me inside with my homework...
Campus is beautiful, here are some more pictures!
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Tuesday, August 10, 2010
The naked roommate
So like I mentioned before, I'm living in an apartment-style dorm on campus and have one roommate and 5 suitemates. We have 4 bedrooms and 1 bathroom with several toilet and shower stalls. All of my roommates take their towels into the toilet stall, undress, sneak to the shower in their towel, shower, return to the stall, redress, and return to their room.
I do not.
After a whole year of wandering down the Lewis 1N hallway in a towel, past Father Flash's room (affectionate nickname for the Lewis resident priest and no relevance to the naked theme as far as I know), I do not have the patience for all of this modesty and there is no way that I am getting dressed in a bathroom stall for the next 150-some days. Therefore, I am the scandalous roommate scampering through the living room/kitchen in a towel and dressing in my own room.
So not exactly naked, but I needed a title.
I do not.
After a whole year of wandering down the Lewis 1N hallway in a towel, past Father Flash's room (affectionate nickname for the Lewis resident priest and no relevance to the naked theme as far as I know), I do not have the patience for all of this modesty and there is no way that I am getting dressed in a bathroom stall for the next 150-some days. Therefore, I am the scandalous roommate scampering through the living room/kitchen in a towel and dressing in my own room.
So not exactly naked, but I needed a title.
Saturday, August 7, 2010
Mi familia mexicana
Today we met our intended host families! Even though the homestay program through UDLAP was cancelled (financial reasons?) our coordinator, Lisette was nice enough to organize some activities so that we are still able to meet and spend time with Mexican families. We took taxis from UDLAP to a fancyshmancy hotel in Puebla (the taxi cost $15MEX or about $1 each. win.) and had buffet breakfast with our mamas. My big FIRST of the day is eating chicarrones which are fried (?) pork skins covered with cheese and salsa.
NOTE: Salsa in Mexico is not necessarily what we would eat with tortilla chips but just sauce.
After breakfast we went with our respective host moms for the day. We ended up going to WalMart to get soap, food, etc before going to my host family’s home. Mexican WalMarts are interesting because they carry a lot of the same things as American WalMarts but also have different clothing styles, food brands and FREE SAMPLES. As far as I understand, companies hire people to wander around with little table carts offering samples of anything from ice cream to rice & shrimp. While we were there they played not one but TWO Michael Jackson songs, "Ven conmigo" by Cristina Aguilera, and "I've gotta feelin". So successful WalMart adventure.
THE BEST THINGS ABOUT MY HOST FAMILY:
1. My host mom's name is Olivia and today she was wearing pink and orange (favorites!)
2. Within 5 minutes of meeting Olivia I accidentally told her that I have 3 sons instead of 3 brothers. And she took me home with her anyways.
3. La familia breeds chihuahuas and currently has 5 (3 adults and 2 puppies) in the house. If I wasn't sure whether I was in Mexico before, this solidified it.
4. In addition to the chihuahuas, they also own a boxer who is known to accidentally maul small creatures (kittens, chihuahua puppies, the neighbor's dog) in friendly play. Also, a half-blind cat and a Xoloitzcuintli, a Mexican hairless dog, Petra (see source photo below).
5. It turns out that my host brother works at a restaurant/pub close to UDLAP called Tiki and was our waiter the other night.
6. My host dad is the most precious person ever for the following reasons:
a. He told me a joke in Spanish and I understood it and laughed for real.
b. calls his favorite Chihuahua la reina, the queen.
c. He memorized my new cell phone number in order to give me pop quizzes all day about it.
7. In addition to some other little things, my host mom sent me home with a full salt shaker because "you can use salt with everything."
They are marvelous.
NOTE: Salsa in Mexico is not necessarily what we would eat with tortilla chips but just sauce.
After breakfast we went with our respective host moms for the day. We ended up going to WalMart to get soap, food, etc before going to my host family’s home. Mexican WalMarts are interesting because they carry a lot of the same things as American WalMarts but also have different clothing styles, food brands and FREE SAMPLES. As far as I understand, companies hire people to wander around with little table carts offering samples of anything from ice cream to rice & shrimp. While we were there they played not one but TWO Michael Jackson songs, "Ven conmigo" by Cristina Aguilera, and "I've gotta feelin". So successful WalMart adventure.
THE BEST THINGS ABOUT MY HOST FAMILY:
1. My host mom's name is Olivia and today she was wearing pink and orange (favorites!)
2. Within 5 minutes of meeting Olivia I accidentally told her that I have 3 sons instead of 3 brothers. And she took me home with her anyways.
3. La familia breeds chihuahuas and currently has 5 (3 adults and 2 puppies) in the house. If I wasn't sure whether I was in Mexico before, this solidified it.
4. In addition to the chihuahuas, they also own a boxer who is known to accidentally maul small creatures (kittens, chihuahua puppies, the neighbor's dog) in friendly play. Also, a half-blind cat and a Xoloitzcuintli, a Mexican hairless dog, Petra (see source photo below).
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6. My host dad is the most precious person ever for the following reasons:
a. He told me a joke in Spanish and I understood it and laughed for real.
b. calls his favorite Chihuahua la reina, the queen.
c. He memorized my new cell phone number in order to give me pop quizzes all day about it.
7. In addition to some other little things, my host mom sent me home with a full salt shaker because "you can use salt with everything."
They are marvelous.
Friday, August 6, 2010
De Colores
It's a strong possibility that my favorite thing about Mexico at the moment is the use of color. Nothing is painted white when it could be painted robin's-egg-blue, Pepto Bismol pink tangerine orange or a mixture of all of the above. Even walls near the roads that were at one point whitewashed are covered with what we might consider well executed grafitti in the US. In reality, it's advertisements for clubs, stores, and political candidates.
Not only are all the buildings painted exciting colors but they are in combinations that would normally be avoided as ridiculous. The large majority of the walls in the UDLAP library are painted bright pink and complemented by purple couches and red arm chairs. LOVE. I've always been a fan of what many consider to be excessively bright colors and I have finally found kindred spirits. Also, Katie Buetow might be secretly Mexican.
Life is so much more exciting in color!
P.S. Language update: I started writing this is Spanish then realized that which is bad news for all y'all but good news for my progress towards being fluent. I'm settling with Spanglish. Chao!
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P.S. Language update: I started writing this is Spanish then realized that which is bad news for all y'all but good news for my progress towards being fluent. I'm settling with Spanglish. Chao!
Tuesday, August 3, 2010
In the words of Shakira: Estoy aquí.
So, where to start?
We left home earlyEARLYearly yesterday morning (I can't believe that was only yesterday) so I could catch my 6:15AM flight. Despite all of Delta Airline's efforts to load us at the wrong gate, with the wrong plane and to leave at anytime but the RIGHT time, we somehow made it to Salt Lake City on schedule and I had plenty of time to catch my connecting flight to Mexico City. The flight itself was pretty uneventful although every announcement took twice as long since it had to be said in English followed by an abridged Spanish version. It's a good thing that we didn't have any emergency situations because the non-English speakers definitely didn't get all the details...
It is mind-boggling to fly into Mexico City. It goes on as far as you can see (a tribute to both it's enormity and the size of it's smog cloud) but is interrupted by large hills/small mountains that have simply been incorporated into the city. Customs was a breeze with the only glitch being the expired declaration form that we got on the plane (thanks Delta). I (eventually) met up with a group of other international students going to Puebla and some volunteer students from UDLAP (the university) who led us to the bus. I meant to sleep on the bus but ended up spending most of the ride looking at Mexico City and the beautiful countryside between Mexico City and Puebla- it's surprisingly green! Other students met us at the bus stop and set us up with taxis to UDLAP.
I got into school at about 6:30PM local time and was able to unpack, meet some people, and get dessert with my roommates. I'm living in an apartment-style 7-man dorm (maybe 8 if another one shows up???? yo no sé)that has a living room/kitchen, 4 bedrooms and a bathroom. Five of my roommates are Mexican freshman and one is a junior from N. Carolina.
I was so exhausted from traveling and speaking Spanish yesterday that I didn't really take the time to appreciate how beautiful everything is here and how lucky I am to be here. Everyone is extremely friendly and patient which helps a lot in the language department. It also helps that the natural pace is much slower here. One international coordinator today reassured us that "Hay una solucion para todo" there's a solution for everything. You just have to find it. There's still a lot to figure out but it's nice to have met other international students in addition to the ND crew so we can share problems and solutions.
This afternoon we had a marvelous welcome comida after orientation and campus tours. I think EVERYONE was in a better mood after fresh tortillas, horchata and other delicious dishes.
My main goal for this week is to be patient and not worry too much about the details. Qué será será!!
We left home earlyEARLYearly yesterday morning (I can't believe that was only yesterday) so I could catch my 6:15AM flight. Despite all of Delta Airline's efforts to load us at the wrong gate, with the wrong plane and to leave at anytime but the RIGHT time, we somehow made it to Salt Lake City on schedule and I had plenty of time to catch my connecting flight to Mexico City. The flight itself was pretty uneventful although every announcement took twice as long since it had to be said in English followed by an abridged Spanish version. It's a good thing that we didn't have any emergency situations because the non-English speakers definitely didn't get all the details...
It is mind-boggling to fly into Mexico City. It goes on as far as you can see (a tribute to both it's enormity and the size of it's smog cloud) but is interrupted by large hills/small mountains that have simply been incorporated into the city. Customs was a breeze with the only glitch being the expired declaration form that we got on the plane (thanks Delta). I (eventually) met up with a group of other international students going to Puebla and some volunteer students from UDLAP (the university) who led us to the bus. I meant to sleep on the bus but ended up spending most of the ride looking at Mexico City and the beautiful countryside between Mexico City and Puebla- it's surprisingly green! Other students met us at the bus stop and set us up with taxis to UDLAP.
I got into school at about 6:30PM local time and was able to unpack, meet some people, and get dessert with my roommates. I'm living in an apartment-style 7-man dorm (maybe 8 if another one shows up???? yo no sé)that has a living room/kitchen, 4 bedrooms and a bathroom. Five of my roommates are Mexican freshman and one is a junior from N. Carolina.
I was so exhausted from traveling and speaking Spanish yesterday that I didn't really take the time to appreciate how beautiful everything is here and how lucky I am to be here. Everyone is extremely friendly and patient which helps a lot in the language department. It also helps that the natural pace is much slower here. One international coordinator today reassured us that "Hay una solucion para todo" there's a solution for everything. You just have to find it. There's still a lot to figure out but it's nice to have met other international students in addition to the ND crew so we can share problems and solutions.
This afternoon we had a marvelous welcome comida after orientation and campus tours. I think EVERYONE was in a better mood after fresh tortillas, horchata and other delicious dishes.
My main goal for this week is to be patient and not worry too much about the details. Qué será será!!
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