brillant ideas....

1. Buy an ugly Mexican bag as a present and then us it as my carry-on bag when I fly home, full of all my heavy stuff.

2. Today, Carly and I decided to get to know Puebla really well so we rode 7A all around the city. What we didn't know was that it doesn't do a complete circuit. We found this out as we arrived at the bus depo. Actually it was just some sketchy ally way. The bus drivers just laughted at us. So we had to get off the bus and get on another. 20 pesos and three hours later, we arrived back home. We are pretty proud of the fact that we are so brillant. We had good conversation and got so see our beauiful city and get down with the Mexican people.

3. We got milkshakes at McDondals.

4. Skipping out on going out with our friends for a girl's night

5. Arriving early at the dance...not a brillant idea. But getting Paper Planes...Good Idea.

6. Five pinatas at the YSA dance. 20+ year olds literally maled each other candy.

7. Using a plastic bag to fit Carly's oversized instep into a leather boot. That didn't protect the zippper. And then sneaking out when the lady left to get a bigger size.

week in Puebla...

Sunday: Church from 9 A.M.-12 P.M. Home for food. Typically go somewhere with the family. Skype with the family.

Monday: Spanish class...I never go. FHE with the family after school.

Tuesday: Culture class. Market day.

Wednesday: Training, Com Stands, Sweets Day...that when out the window. Every day is sweets day. Pratice for the Program

Thursday: Dance class, muffin day

Friday: Mail day, YSA dances, typically go get fun after class

Saturday: Shopping

typical day in Puebla....

7:30 A.M.-Get up, shower, dress, get ready

8:30 A.M.-Breakfast. Typically Ham, avodado, tomato sandwich, fruit and juice. Im going to miss fresh squeezed OJ and carrot juice

9 A.M.-Leave for school, check email, facebook, etc

10 A.M.-Culutre, Spanish, Dance, Community Standards or Training

11 A.M.-Get ready for classes

11:20 A.M.-Start waiting for our ride

11:45 A.M.-Leave for Galilie

12:05 P.M.-Arrive at Galilie, five minutes late

12:00-2 P.M.-Teach at Galilie

2-2:30 P.M.-Wait for our ride home

2:45 P.M.-Get home

2:45-4 P.M.-Comida. The biggest meal of the day here. Typically torillas are involved. Before food, I typically read scriptures, sleep and listen to music.

4-5 P.M.-Back at school, check email, facebook, blog, get ready for ILP

5-7 P.M.-Teach at ILP

7-10 P.M.-Go get food, shopping, volleyball, skype, dance class etc

10 P.M.-Home, for small dinner and family time

11 P.M.-Bed

the couple of days

Friday: We went to a super lame YSA dance. I started crying. Stupid. I know. How I am ever going to get married if not even Mexican boys find me attractive. Come on...I am exotic here. I should have boys flocking me. Rediculous...I know.

Saturday: Carly Laga and I went shopping and ran into our friends from Tehuacan. It was great to see them. We ended up going to dinner with them. It was fun to socailze with other American.

Sunday: It was the primary program at Church. All I have to say is that it was so sweet and the Spirit was so strong.

The rest of week has just been a typical week here. Nothing too exciting. Volleyball was on Wednesday. That keeps me sane. Tonight is an other YSA dance. Hopefully it will be better.

sleeptalking...

My roomie sleep talks on a regular basis. I can have conversations with her. Here is my favorite one....
Carly Tai: "Where is it?....The Bathroom?
Me: "No...The boys came over tonight"
Carly Tai: "No they didn't"
Me: "Yes, they did. You kissed Moroni."
Carly Tai: "No, I didn't!"
Me: "Yes, you did. I have a picture. I'll show you in the morning."
Carly Tai: "It's probably crappy."

"I think that we should be the Pilgrams and they should be the Indians..."

For Thanksgiving, the other teachers and I had a great day filled of mashed potatoes and fun. We started off the day by having dance lessons with Moroni. After failing to learn bonda, we tried to teach him some American dance moves. That failed too. So then we had a good old American dance party. Then we departed for a Thanksgiving feast at the private school we teach at. It was fun. All the kids where dressed up as Pilgrims and Indians. We had "turkey" AKA chicken, cranberry sauce, pumpkin pie, mashed potatoes, corn and cranberry juice. The pumpkin pie was rockin'. Totally made my day. We had to crave the "turkey" with a plastic The kids where so excited to have us there, and the Spanish teachers where so gracious to us. It was the prefect mix of Mexico and home. I also got to talk to my whole family at Thanksgiving. Jake mooned me. Lovely. Then we gave ourselves pedicures. Great day.

angels we have heard on high

Last night all the teacher, my mexican family and I went to our little sisters music concert. It was incrediable. Three of our students from Galilei where in it to. It was held at a beautiful cathedral in the center of Puebla. They all looked like angels. Six and seven years olds singing the hallelujah chorus and the Messiah. Amazing.

P.S. Happy Thanksgiving.

do and donts

Here is my do and dont list for Puebla. Hope that it is helpful

Dont

1. Bring more then one pair of shorts. No one wears them. You look stupid, even when it is hot. They are fine for traveling in and hanging out, but not for teaching or walking around town.

2. Eat anything you dont want to. You will be miserable.

3. Eat off the streets. You will get ambias. I had to spend the night at the hospital. Another girl spent three days.

4. Drink the water.

5. Hang out with Gibran. He may speak English. He may speak English, but he is trouble.

6. Bring your computer to school. Mine got stolen.

7. Bring paper or glue.

8. Bring white shirts. They turn grey.

9. Trust the police

10. Bring bathroom supplies...you can find everything and every brand at Walmart.

11. Get a pedicure from Monicas friend

12. Buy bus tickets online or with a credit card. Go to the bus station and use cash.

13. be afraid to speak spanish

14. be afraid to get a blessing in spanish

Do

1. Bring a hymn and Book of Mormon in Spanish

2. Put your cell phone on lock

3.Bring lots of peanut butter

4.Bring Drama stuff

5.Bring lots of pens

6.Bring your favorite laundry soap

7.Go to Taxco. Its a magical city

8. Bring CTR rings to five to the street kids

9. Eat at Alex Burgers

10. Go to the YSA Dances

11. Go to volleyball on Friday

12. Make native friends, but be careful with the boys

13.Introduce all your friends to your host family

14.Communicate with your roomie what you consider family time

15.take time for yourself

16.Travel with toliet paper

17. Eat tacos el pastor everytime you get the chance

18. Bring lots of nice jeans. They are perfect to teach in.

19. Bring flip flops. They are fine to teach in and you always have to wear shoes

20.Eat everything with chile y limon

21.bring your favorite candy. its the best pick me up. you can find snicker, milky ways and m&m down here. not much less.

22. try manzanita lift and coke

23.bring lots of cold weather stuff. bring my northface was the best decision ever.

24.have american food night with all the teachers once a week

25.bring materials to read during church. three hours is a long time

26. Have a mexican boyfriend. Emiliano (he is three) and the family bird are mine.

27.Bring lots of undies and bras

28.write in your planner everyday what you did.

29.go to the luchas. sit in the middle section.

30.go to a futbol game with mexicans.

31. barter

32. love every minute of it.

bedazzled bum and happenings...

So this past weekend was a three day weekend. We spent the weekend relaxing and playing in Puebla. We headed off to some cool muesums. And I bought jeans. They are Mexican. They are bedazzled. So now I sport a Mexican bum...bedazzled and all. We have a new Wednesday activity...VOLLEYBALL! I love it. I started to cry because I was so happy. It was full of cute boys and fun times. We learned so sweet Mexican chants. We won! It was a big deal. It was Tournament. We have a game on Friday too! On Saturday, we went to another soccer game with our Mexican friends. It was intense. Cruz Azul vs Puebla: Semi Finals. It ended in a tie game. Getting into the game was crazy. Our friend paid off the police to let us cut in line. It was something from a movie. If you are ever in Mexico, I suggest going to a futbol game with a Mexican. So much fun. I dyed my hair yesterday. Its black with red undertones. love it!

My computer got stolen from the school on Friday. The robbers sure made off with a steal...a three year old laptop that doesnt stay charged, missing the space bar and the x key. Hope they are happy. Lucky I had just back up everything on my harddrive.

fancy footwork

This past weekend I got the opportunity to patake in the favorite Mexican past time...futbol. AMAZING! I got to support my team...Puebla! The statium was packed with over 30,000 crazy fans. We sat in the cheap seats with all of the true fans. It was one big party. We ended up losing 0-2...which I was grateful for because I did not want to see how they celebrated a win.

Let's Play a Lovegame, Play a Lovegame

Had another YSA dance on Friday night. I'm telling you they are the best thing ever. Everyone dance and really dances. I love Latin dancing. Cumbia and this one that you pop your hips are my favorites. Embarrassing story...I was wearing a new dress and I didn't realize how much it spun up when I turned. A guy I was dancing with told me to be careful because I had been showing off my turquoise undies off to everyone in the room. Half way through they played "Lovegame" by Lady Gaga. Never have been so happy to hear a song in English. It was funny, literally everyone stopped dancing and formed a circle around the six white girls dancing. Speaking of a Love game...My roommate and I got serenaded at one in the morning for her birthday on Saturday night. They showed up and started singing. We didn't know what to do. I just started laughing. Soon realizing that they were going to wake our sleeping Mexican family, we told them to leave. Not to mention, our Papa is really protective of us and was sure not to be happy in the morning when he realized that four boys where singing to his "daughters." Best part was that Gibran's car didn't start and they had to push start it. The next morning we were awaken with an hour lecture about what serenades mean and the boys inappropriate song choice. In Mexican cultures, serenades are used to express extreme love for a person of the opposite sex. Papa was very concerned that the boys sang us that song. Turns out it was the only song they knew how to sing.

mexican love

My heart belongs to three Mexicans...Omner, Benjamin and Emiliano (He is three). The End.

dias de los muertos

November 1st and 2nd, the Catholic Mexicans celebrate Dias de los Muertos. Day of the Dead. They believe that their loved ones come and visit them for 24 hours. They are greeted by olferenda (alters) with there favorite foods and pastimes. Trails of marigold peddles lead the way for the dead. A family spends up to $5,000 on the alters to honor the dead. They invite you in their homes to celebrate their love ones lives. We didn't have school, so Carly, Ameila and I headed off to Huaquechula to see the alters with their family. It was really differant then I thought that it would be. I was expecting

a big party, but it was a hoilday of mourning. They people that this is the only connection that they have with dead. I'm so grateful for the Gospel of Christ and the knowledge that I will see my loved ones again. After seeing all of the alters, we went and got mole. The gross kind. Then I ate a grasshopper. Dead. Tasted like sheep stomach. People love them here. They are a special treat. Afterwards we went to Metapec, a vacation resort. We spent the afternoon swimming, playing soccer, basketball and volleyball. It was great to get back into a pool.

Day of the Dead Bread. It tastes like Swedish Christmas Bread.

A small portion of an alter

Twinners. Didn't even plan it.

You have got to be kidding me...

Over our last three day weekend, Carly, Amelia and I stayed in Puebla to celebrate their Papa's birthday. We started Saturday with a trip to our favorite place to see Americans...Walmart. After our friend Moroni invited us over to his house for a Mexican baraque. He tried to make all the food by himself, but failed. His Mom stepped in and saved the day. I love her. She kept on yelling at him in Spanish to get the fire started because we were hungry. I just love her. We gourged ourselves with barbaqued beef, chorizo (a bright orange susage) and day of the dead bread. Yummy!

After that we straight to the party of my Tio. I am using a Spanish keyboard so it is easier not to use contrations and to structure my sentence the Spanish way. They do not have apostrophes on the keyboard. There we ate more food and yummy cake. I love Mexican parties. They know how to do it up real big. Every party includes dancing. We taught them the Cha Cha Slide. We headed to bed around 11 and the party was just starting. Tio had just busted our the taquila. At about three in the morning, I was woken up by a mariachi band. I sat up and yelled "You have got to be kidding me!" They partied till I got for church at six. Seriously, they know how to party. When we got home from church, they were still partying. They then moved the party to ranch of my abuelo. I ate sheep stomach. For the first and last time. Gross! It was a serious twenty four hours of partying.

tamera's birthday

One of our students at Galilei invited all of the teachers to her birthday party. It was so fun to see all of our kids in their "natural" habit. Pizza, pop and play. Life could not be any better for a five year old. We got to learn the pinata song.

Pirate Week

This week was Pirate week in my drama class. So fun. We had sword fights and treasure hunts. In the words of my Dad "..wait till word gets out in the simple country village of Puebla that Tall Skinny Gringo Girl teaching the village kids to be thieves and murderers. That will go over well." My kids are so cute. I love them.

Templo de Ciudad de Mexico

Last weekend, my roommate Carly and I went to the Mexico City Temple for baptisms. It was wonderful. I love going to the temple here in Mexico. Its the same everywhere. Its such a feeling of being at home. After we went through the Visitor Center and walked around the Temple ground. We ran into our friend, Iberfranz and his sister. Their older sister was getting married, so we got to see her come out of the temple. We also ran into Emanuel and Julia. We wondered off the temple grounds and bought some amazing coco ice cream. Funny story...our Papa doesn't like our Mexican friends. So after he tried to introduce us to some boys he found acceptable. It was awkward for all parties involved because we all realized what he was doing.

San Francisco...the mall

For culture class we went to this awesome mall. It was use to be a monastery. They converted half into a mall and the other half into gardens. It was beautiful. Defiantly a place where you "chupa la pina." And we got Krispy Kream Donuts. Somethings never change, even in Mexico.

I got a package!

My parents love me..they sent me a package. I literally screamed because I was sooo happy! I got Salt n' Vinegar Chips, gum, Swedish Fish, Reese's Peanut Butter Cups and Family Pictures. Life is good here in Mexico!

comida: its a love/hate relationship

Today: Carly and I walk into the dinning room for comida (aka food aka lunch). Its the biggest meal here in Mexico. We find not one but two hamburgers on our plates, lemonade, french fries and spaghetti. Our Mexican Mama constantly over feeds us. It doesn't matter how many times that I tell her that I don't want to eat that much. Here you have to finish everything that is put on your plate. Everything. When we don't come home to eat...they have food waiting for us. Last Thursday night, we didn't eat. So instead of eating we just sat at with the family at the table. They were so worried about us. They thought that we were anorexic. The next morning, Mama made us our normal breakfast of fruit and OJ. She then brought out cereal and bananas because she was so worried because we didn't eat the night the night before. I poured a small bowl of dry cereal to be polite. Then Papa brought us a surprise. Tamales. While no one was looking, I poured my cereal back in the box. Basically when I get back I will be fat. Thank you Mexico!

and the Gimmie goes to....

Today we did mock award between all of the teachers at American food night (Which was amazing--mashed potatoes, lemon pepper chicken and steamed veggies) I was voted the following:

• Richest (Tied with the other Lauren)
• Most likely to stay in touch (With Carly Laga)
• Most likely to marry a Mexican
• Most likely to come back and live in Mexico
• Most likely to be famous
• Cutest Mom Clothes
• Spend the Most Money in Mexico

mole and chocolate

For the weekend, Carly Tai, Emily, Lauren and I headed off to Oaxaca for a weekend. We took a midnight from Puebla and arrived in Oaxaca at four in the morning. After trying to sleep in the bus station for awhile, we decided to head to our hostel with the hope that the owner would lets us in early. He did. Our hostel was awesome. The guy was super nice and thought that I spoke fluent Spanish. I loved going to Oaxaca...it gave me a huge confident boast with my Spanish. I was able to handle all of the problems that arose. I booked the hostel for the wrong day, forgot our bus tickets, etc. I was able to deal with it all! After sleeping for a few hours at the hostel we went to the Oaxaca Temple. It was wonderful. It looks just like the Detroit Temple. When I was doing baptisms, I had this overwhelming feeling of being at home. It was perfect. We spent the rest of the day shopping. We hit up the largest market in Mexico. They says if you can't find it in Oaxaca, you don't need it. I had a freak out. I tried to pull money of my account, but the bus company overcharged me $500, so I had no money the rest of the trip. Lucky I had already paid for my hostel and my bus ticket home. Carly Tai lent me money so I could eat the rest of the time we where in Oaxaca. That night we went to an ethnic dance show...boring. Emily and I ended up leaving it early and wondered around the Zocalo. There was a random parade and this guys danced up on us. He was dressed in a funky chicken outfit. On Sunday, we got up and went to the chocolate shop. Oaxaca is known for it chocolate. They melt it in milk or agua and then use a frother. I also bought mole. Mole is a traditional Mexican dish that contains chocolate, peanuts, chiles, etc. Every State has their own version of it. I don't like Puebla's black mole...but I loved Oaxaca's red mole. I'm excited for my family to try it. We spent that day in the Zocalo. We met a super nice lady and some cute little boys. We played with the boys for while. I pretended to throw them into the fountain and they loved it. They drew pictures for us. We ended up walking up this pretty cool street. We saw some cool building and churches. I ended up going into this really cool art gallery that was similar to Body Worlds but more artistic. In the end I loved Oaxaca.

Nacho Libre

I went to the Luchadora on Monday night...I liked it but never need to go back in my whole life. It was straight out of Nacho Libre. The arena was filled with smoke...love America for the no smoking rules. It was a family activity...people brought their kids and babies.

You look so HAPPY!

So on Sunday I went to another ward because two of the other teachers were singing. We arrived late and sat behind the missionaries. The whole time I was thinking that one of them looked exactly like Nick Taufer. He was a really good friend of mine during my Freshmen year. We where in the same ward during summer semester and lived in the same apartment complex during fall. He means the world to me. But I thought that he was serving his mission in Mexico City...not Puebla. I finally whispered "Elder Taufer, Elder Taufer." He turned around and had this look a surprise on his face. It was him! I was super excited to see him. Turns out he was accompanying Lauren and Emily. Afterward I got to talk to him for awhile. It was great to have a little taste of home in Mexico. I was leaving he turned to me and said "Lauren...you look so happy!" This made me even happier. I love this kid.

The Last Two Weeks

With being sick and all I've had the chance to write. As of now I'm 95% better. I ended up going to the hospital. It turns out that I have a intestinal and severe sinus infection. Lucky I had a docter that spoke English...a HUGE blessing. Here are the highlights of the past two weeks. Here is some of the happening over the past two weeks.

Tia's Birthday: Carly Laga's Mama had a Birthday. Its was tons of fun. We danced the night away and eat yummy food! They taught us Mexican line dances and we taught them the YMCA and the Cha-Cha slide. We also showed them typical American dance...they loved it.

Horse Show: We got VIP tickets to a horse show...I guess it was a big deal. Before we walked around and ate Hamburgers. The actual show was pretty boring. I tried to order a Vitamin Water and they brought me nasty salty lime water. It was gross. We ended up leaving early. We had to push start the Cav in the rain. It was an adventure.

Saturday Night: We went out with some boys, Emanuel, Moroni and Julio, in our ward. They speak English and are great friends. We went to the Center of Puebla and drank hot chocolate. They then brought us to this hill that over looks the whole city. Beautiful.

Sick: I was sick for a whole week. At first I thought that it was just a sinus infection so I just tried to sleep through it. But then I started throwing up, diarrhea, horrible headaches and a fever. I tried to teach on Tuesday but ended up throwing up in the middle of class. I thought that I had swine flu. I ended up going to the hospital. I had a intestinal and throat infection. I was put on four different medicines and all is well now. I was SOOOOO thankful for a bilingual doctor. At first I tried to act it out and us my broken Spanish. He then said to me "This would be easier if we did it in English." He even wrote my prescription in English.

YSA Dance: Went to another YSA dance and had tons of fun. More fun then the first one. I actually knew how to dance and held my own with my Spanish.

General Conference: Carly Laga and I spent the whole weekend in her room. We didn't spend more then 2 hours outside for two day. Conference was amazing...so was Mac and Cheese, Ice Cream and Candy. Carly wrote this on my Facebook wall "LJ: We have eaten nothing but junk these last two days, nor have we left our bedroom for more than 2 hours at a time. Together, within the last 24 hours, we've eaten 2 magnum bars, 2 twix bars, 1 snicker's bar (soon to be 2), 1 box of maccoroni and cheese, a bag of popcorn, a box of wheat thins, 3 bowls of cereal, nearly a package of grahm crackers, and 3 glasses of tamarindo. Outlook for tomorrow? RUNNING!" Our school into on Sunday. Our computer and MagicJack was stolen. Bummer.

Moroni and Julio's Soccer Game: The Carlys and I went to our friends' Moroni and Julio soccer game. Moroni is three inches shorter then me and was the biggest person on the field. Their team got a kick out of the three American girls there. Moroni's cousins are practicing their English for the game. Afterwards we went to a park and played soccer. I'm really bad. I mean really really bad.

I'm too lazy to post pictures here so if you want to see them check out Facebook or Picasa.

sick.

I've been sick the past three day. Not going to lie...being sick in another country sucks. Coughing, fever and congestion. I get it every year and normally just take Mucinex for it, but I couldn't find it anywhere down here. Today the director of ILP from Utah came to check up on our school. Guess what he had with him...Mucinex and Reese's. Thank goodness!

American Dinner

I love Mexico...but every once in a while I get the craving for some American food. So after school last week all of the Teachers stayed after school and we made mac and cheese, lemonade and cake batter cookies. We even had pepper. It was heaven. Lauren made us cute name cards. So much fun.

Mexico would be perfect if...

1. They believed in Reese's Peanut Butter Cups and Swedish Fish
2. I didn't have a curfew
3. I had more alone time
4. I know where a pool was
5. I could call anyone I wanted, when ever I wanted to
6. I could communitcate with who I wanted to...not just the English speakers

Other then that Mexico is perfect. I love it here.

Birthday

So last week I exited my teenaged years and entered into the wonderful life of adulthood. Friday night was so fun! We went over to our friends Gibran's house and watched an aweful Mexican movie. But it turned out to be fun...The girls got me a pineapple upside down cake and cheesecake. Carly had been looking for a pumkin pie for me and got all excited when she found the cheesecake (Its differant down here...it actually looks like pumpkin pie). It was so sweet of them to do that for me. Saturday (My actual birthday) Carly and I went to Pachuca. Its a town about two hours away from Puebla. Gibran drove us. It turned out to be a bust of a day filled with a Mexican boy confusing his love for a teacher, nasty smells and lame shopping. On the brightside we got to sit on the grass and tan for a while and I bought a cool jersey. I was really homesick because my whole family was together for my cousins wedding and I really wanted to be there. Carly was such a dear and made me my favorite American dinner--Mac and Cheese. I love her soooo much!

Flores por Tu?

Last night on the way home from the store some boys where trying to sell me flowers. In perfect Spanish I told them "No necesito floras porque tengo un novio." Translation: I don't need flowers because I have a boyfriend. I was pretty proud of myself. They got a kick out of it and my Tia thinks I'm pretty funny.

Hosptial

So once realizing how sick Carly Laga was we decided that we needed to get her to a hospital as soon as possible. Carly Tai said an amazing prayer asking that we would know what to do and how to communicate. I went to the bus station and bought the ticket to for our first leg of our trip. Even though the bus station was only a five minute walk away, we had to take a taxi because she couldn't walk. The first bus ride was miserable...Carly was throwing up. It was really curvy and narrow. Carly was such a trooper. Being sick...away from home, in a different country and not knowing where to find a doctor...would been the last of me. We arrived in Cuernavaca, at the wrong bus station. We took the a taxi to the right station, only to find out that we had a four hour wait. It was a crappy day, so I went to the grocery store to find American food to make me happy. Once getting back into Puebla, Monica's brother (a doctor), told us to take her to the hospital ASAP. We spend the next two days at the hospital. Turns out that she had giardia and a tapeworm. She is better now.

Taxco--A Magic Town

We got five days off of school...so the Carlys and I decided to go to the magic town of Taxco. It is truly the jem of Mexico. Words can describe how beautiful it was. Its built into the side of a mountain so the streets have so much character. Cobblestone, steep and narrow. Its about a four hour bus ride from Puebla. Its know for its silver mines, so it was one of the first areas to fall to Spanish rule. The town looks like something from Europe. Every morning the fog rolls and every afternoon it rains...actually more like it pours. They don't have a good drainage system so the streets turn in rivers. We where there for Dia de Independencia (Mexico's version of 4th of July) so it was light with red, green and white lights everywhere. The first day we got there, we did some major silver shopping. Every Saturday, the streets turn into one of the biggest silver markets in the world. 3,000 silversmiths come to town to show off their work. I got some really cool pieces. My favorite is a simple silver band. That night we ate tacos el pastor with pineapple. This is the only way to eat tacos...trust me. Then we headed back to our hostel and ate ice cream and had some serious girl talk. Sunday we got up and walked to the Zocalo...my favorite place in the city. There we had the best Mexican breakfast, Arroz con Leche and Narajarade (Basically OJ with a lot more sugar). We spent that day shopping, going to cathedrals and eating. Carly Laga bought some sweet kicks at the Black Market...it was legit. I even saw some drug deals. We met this awesome women, Martha. We bought Mexican blankets from her. We told her that Mexican people are so happy...she let us in on their secret... TEQUILA! She would have invited us to drink with her, but we told her that we didn't like it. I also got some cool jewelry for my cousins, a really cool serving plate for me and lot of other fun treasures. That night we head back to the Zocalo for dinner. We ate at this cute restaurant that over looked the square. I ordered a pina colada sin liquor. Our waiter was so funny...when he brought it to me he told me that it had double rum. Then we got ice cream and sat in the center and talked. I can't tell you how much I love the center. It gives the city such a sense of community. It brings together all kinds of people. I really wish that American cities had them. We then head back to our hostel and sat on the roof that over looked the main cathedral in Taxco. The next day we got up and just walked around Taxco. Mid afternoon it started to downpour. The streets where literally rivers. After the rain stopped, we went back to the hostel and tanned on the roof. That night was my favorite memory of Mexico. We went late night restaurant hopping. We ended up at the local teen hang out for hot chocolate and cheesecake. It overlooked the whole city...it was beautiful! In the word of Carly Laga "There may or may not have been wedding planning involved." We got up on Tuesday morning, Carly Laga was sick. We didn't realize how sick she was, so Carly Tai and I left her at the hostel while we went on a gonadal ride up the mountain. It was gorgeous! I'm telling you that Taxco is the city of love. When we got back to the hostel, we realized how sick Carly L was. She passed out in the shower. Thus our new adventure begins.

Rewind

I totally forgot to blog about our weekend in Tehucan. Friday day, Teo came and took us to Pizza at Costco. I have never been so happy to see toliet seat covers in my whole entire life.

Carly Tai, Me, Carly Laga, Amelia, and Teo

After ILP , Teo and Alfredo, taught us the cumbia! I loved it. Its my favorite. Plus I love dancing with Teo...he is dang good! He even told me that I have good rhythm (Super funny to anyone who has seen medance). Then Teo, the Carlys and I departed to Tehuacan. During the two hours in the car we just talked. It was wonderful! Teo asked each of us to tell us him our stories. Not going to lie, it was had to cram my twenty years of living into five minutes.

The next morning we work up and went to the market with Teo. Then we went to back to his house to make food of a baraque with all of the Tehuacan teachers. It was so fun to see everyone again. I love Dusty and Kami. It was wonderful to seem them again. Teo and Rachel made us some rockin awesome tacos and horchata. Afterward we danced in the Luna`s studio. Loved it!

Amigas reunited

Carly Laga, Me and Kami

After food we decided to venture to Tehuacan's zocalo. There we made did some fun shopping and ate way too much. My Spanish was awful that day. I kept calling women misters and men misses. I acciendely told the cute boy in the ice cream shop to go fondel himself. While wondering around, a guy selling bugs came up to us and asked if we wanted to try some. He said that they were free for American girls. I put on my brave face and ate one. It wasn't bad at first, but then I realized what I was eating and spat it out.
That evening Carly L. cut my hair...YEAH! And then we ended up at Teo and Rachel's house to watch the Mexico vs. Costa Rica futbal game. Carly L. was cheering for Costa Rica and Teo responded with "Carly...why you no have feeling?" It was a good laugh. We spent Sunday with Teo and his family. We went to Church. It was wonderful!

Tres Americanos Negros

Last week after school, Carly Laga invited me to come to her house to watch a Basketball game (Her Papa is a coach and her brothers are way into it). Little did we know that we where going to the actual game. On the way there, Gibran told us that they had to import American for size. When we got there Carly's Papa said "Miran, tres Americanos negros." Translation--"Look, three black Americans." People here have no filter...they just say what they want, wither it is politically correct or not. The game was fun, we ate arroz con leche (Rice Pudding) and talked. We where talking with Gibran (Carly's older brother) about holding hands. I said that I had held hands with 8 people. Later in that night he grabbed my hand and told me "Now, its 9!" I was so confused about what was going on. He kept saying "How many Mexicans? How many Mexicans?"After the game we went down on the court, took pictures with the players and talked. As we where walking out, three Mexican boys came up and asked us if we where Mormons? It turns out that they had recognized us from the dance.

Carly and Me

Carly and Me in la Zocola de Taxco

Carly is my favorite person in Mexico. We met the her first day and hit it off. She is from Idaho, goes to BYU. She is majoring in English and Spanish. We have lots of fun together. Pretty much everyday we get ice cream before class. We love naming things. We have matching wallets and blankets. In January we are going live together. I love her. She keeps me sane her in Mexico. She helps me with my Spanish. I love my Carly Laga!