As we were sitting eating a lovely dinner in Chiles today (same as the United States, glorious), we were discussing things that when they happen or when we see them, we just say, only in mexico, solamente in mexico. We decided to make a list of these things which will probably grow throughout the semester, but here is some of what we have so far. These things are rather hilarious to us, and you might not understand all of them, but just a taste of the differences between Mexico and the US.
-rocks in soup- this is the truth, allison ate soup with rocks in, you aren't supposed to eat the rocks, but we do not know what they are for!
-Clowns in the street- as we were waiting for the bus today a clown sang to us, painted face and all, weird
-Celine Dion- ok she was not here, but there is music constantly playing here, and we have heard celine dion many times, not quite sure why
-La Vaca-vaca=cow, and there is a man who rides a bicycle or motorcycle who sells milk and has a loudspeaker on his mode of transportation with the sound of a cow that sounds all day long...mooooo
-Remolacha- allison's first day in mexico her family gave her something to drink that looked the grape juice, much to her suprise it was horrible, so she asked what is was, remolacha, which is beet juice... disgusting!
-combi- the name of my bus, the little van that i can't stand!
- Super San Fran Assis- only in Mexico would you have a grocery store named after Saint Francis of Assisi, now I don't know much about him, but I am not sure if he would love super savings or not!
-Yill- this is more or less my name is in Spanish..pronounced yeel...oye, i do not like this!
-Helado de Eloite- corn ice-cream, i have never tried it, and dont plan on it!
- Mi Muneca esta llorando
- Larry and Paco- Paco was our friendly lizard who lived in our bathroom last week in Celestun, and Larry is the iguana Sara sees every week before class at the univesity, lizards everywhere!
-Hamburgers with Ham and Pineapple- gross
- White Trees- we do not know why they are painted white, but all trees are painted white at the bottom, we think its to keep the bugs away or something
-Gato Feo- ugly cat, there is a huge, hideous cat outside of my bedroom at night that is horrible, i wake up in the middle of the night and swear it is fighting with something, because of the sounds it makes. I looked at it once and it looks like half cat and half dog.. hideous!
-Accordians- only in Mexico, street performers who play the accordian
-Recorders- once again, who plays the recorder in church? Mexicans.
Well there you have it, oh Mexico, if anything strange happens, our excuse, we're in mexico, who knows!
Saturday, February 23, 2008
Monday, February 18, 2008
SchoolHouse and CT Duca
A few new things have happened here in good old Mexico.
First: SchoolHouse
Schoolhouse is a school run by my "aunt" that teaches English. It is somewhat similar to joy's school where the teachers all speak in English so the kids can learn. It is somewhat different in that the students may still speak spanish, however, they must try as much as they can to speak in English. Anyways, what is going on with this, is I am going ot be helping out there every Tuesday and Thursday afternoon, and I will be getting paid for it as well! I am happing with the preschool/kindergarten class. I went once last week and it was very fun, the kids are adorable, crazy but adorable, and my "cousin" is in the class. It will be a bit of an "english break" for me, but I will still be learning Spanish as many of the kids in my class cannot speak well in English yet, so they answer questions in Spanish and we have to help them out. Anyways, I am pretty excited for this because I love hanging out with kids and I will be earning a bit of spending money!
Second: CT DUCA
CT DUCA is a school for students with Downss Syndrome where I am doing my ethnographic study. This was not exactly what I had in mind, but is turning out to be interesting. I have only gone one time and sat in on the "middle ages" This consisted of a small class of 6 kids ages ranging from 6-8. Most of these students do not know how to speak quite yet so that is a main goal, to get them to talk and have them learn simple things like birds and numbers. What was most interesting to me from that one day, was not the manner of teaching, but the manner of punishment. It was perfectly fine to use physical punishment. I do not know what the other classes did for punishment, but my teacher consistently pulled a child by the ear back to their seat, or when one of the students hit another, she told them to hit back, and harder. This is something that I cannot comprehend, what are we teaching when we just tell people to hit back, certaintly not that hitting is not acceptable! I am excited to see how the other classes go!
This weekend was wonderful to say the least. More to come on that later including photos. But we went to the beach, stayed in a cute little hotel and simply relaxed and got away from the crowded city of Merida, just what we needed!
te quiero
First: SchoolHouse
Schoolhouse is a school run by my "aunt" that teaches English. It is somewhat similar to joy's school where the teachers all speak in English so the kids can learn. It is somewhat different in that the students may still speak spanish, however, they must try as much as they can to speak in English. Anyways, what is going on with this, is I am going ot be helping out there every Tuesday and Thursday afternoon, and I will be getting paid for it as well! I am happing with the preschool/kindergarten class. I went once last week and it was very fun, the kids are adorable, crazy but adorable, and my "cousin" is in the class. It will be a bit of an "english break" for me, but I will still be learning Spanish as many of the kids in my class cannot speak well in English yet, so they answer questions in Spanish and we have to help them out. Anyways, I am pretty excited for this because I love hanging out with kids and I will be earning a bit of spending money!
Second: CT DUCA
CT DUCA is a school for students with Downss Syndrome where I am doing my ethnographic study. This was not exactly what I had in mind, but is turning out to be interesting. I have only gone one time and sat in on the "middle ages" This consisted of a small class of 6 kids ages ranging from 6-8. Most of these students do not know how to speak quite yet so that is a main goal, to get them to talk and have them learn simple things like birds and numbers. What was most interesting to me from that one day, was not the manner of teaching, but the manner of punishment. It was perfectly fine to use physical punishment. I do not know what the other classes did for punishment, but my teacher consistently pulled a child by the ear back to their seat, or when one of the students hit another, she told them to hit back, and harder. This is something that I cannot comprehend, what are we teaching when we just tell people to hit back, certaintly not that hitting is not acceptable! I am excited to see how the other classes go!
This weekend was wonderful to say the least. More to come on that later including photos. But we went to the beach, stayed in a cute little hotel and simply relaxed and got away from the crowded city of Merida, just what we needed!
te quiero
Wednesday, February 13, 2008
A Glance of Life In Mexico,
Yeah the pictures finally worked! Sorry for those of you who have seen these in facebook!Waiting for the parade to start! Heather, myself, Chelsey and Sarah
A sign about Carnaval, sponsored by Sol, apparently the beer of the yucatan
Our first trip to the beach, Progresso is very close about a half hour away, not too impressive and with lots of wind, but hey it is the beach and it is warm!
My first sunday here, my family took me to the centro for Domingos en Merida (Sundays in Merida) It is kind of like our festival but it happens every sunday with lots of food, a little market type thing in the plaza and music, such as this mariachi band!
This is the cathedral in el centro (el centro is just the middle of the city). Chelsey and I walked through the cathedral the other day and it is very beautiful and ornate
This is our school that we attend monday through thursday. When we first saw it we thought it looked somewhat like a hotel!
This is my bedroom, yes I have two beds and a hammock! I generally sleep in the beds because i have found it difficult to sleep in a hammock, but to do homework or take naps, the hammock is glorious!
One of the performers at Carnaval! He was on stilts and started out the parade, he really like to pose for us!
Monday, February 11, 2008
Food and Music...oye
One thing I have found interesting so far in Mexico is the food patterns. It is incredibly different than the United States. Granted we still eat breakfast, lunch and dinner, however what we eat and when we eat it is very different than at home.
The first two weeks were pretty normal with this, fruit for breakfast, a larger lunch, and small dinner. However, things started to become a little crazy this past week. First, when you cook something here you make sure you make enough to last about 3 days for multiple meals. For instance, last week my mama made chicken noodle soup (delicious!) and we ate it for a meal or two and I thought ya (oh in spanish, or at least here in the Yucatan, ya, means done). Oh boy was I wrong. I woke up Saturday morning, got out of bed and went into the living room/dining room to eat with my family and my mom tells me we are eating the soup for breakfast. Yes, soup and sandwiches for breakfast. I said, ok, fine, it was a little wierd for me I felt like I was eating lunch, but it was only 10 in the morning. Friday, my mama goes to the market to buy a couple of things and she told me she was coming back with breakfast as well, breakfast of cochinito. Now I had no idea what this meant, and to my surprise, it was a pork sandwich, for breakfast, apparently quite common to eat sandwiches for breakfast. Sunday once again, we had tomales and soup for breakfast. This is just something I have trouble getting accostumed to, especially when I barely eat breakfast in the United States!
We will see what this week has in store!
One other comical thing that happened, or at least that I thought was comical happened on the bus ride home on saturday. I do not generally understand the words of the music here because it is incredibly fast, however, on this bus ride i understand very clearly. Here are the lyrics of almost the whole song
Tengo, Tengo, un novio
metro metro metro sexual.
I think you can get what that means but if you cannot I have a metro sexual boyfriend were the lyrics..oye
Literally... it said that over and over and over again, metro metro metro sexual. I was cracking up on the bus, I just could not help it. Everyone else probably thought I was just a crazy American, but it was just too funny to not laugh at. The other song we have understood and love to sing because it is always in our heads is
Mi Muneca esta llorando ( my doll is crying)
I have no idea why the doll is crying, but it must be crying hard because the singer repeats that line like it is nobody's business.
Oh the wierd things that happen in Mexico, yesterday my brother was singing I believe I can fly at the top of this lungs and I could not stop laughing then either.12 year old Turi, singing, in English, I BELIEVE I CAN FLY,I BELIEVE I CAN TOUCH THE SKY! oye, so funny, I wish you could have heard it!
te quiero
The first two weeks were pretty normal with this, fruit for breakfast, a larger lunch, and small dinner. However, things started to become a little crazy this past week. First, when you cook something here you make sure you make enough to last about 3 days for multiple meals. For instance, last week my mama made chicken noodle soup (delicious!) and we ate it for a meal or two and I thought ya (oh in spanish, or at least here in the Yucatan, ya, means done). Oh boy was I wrong. I woke up Saturday morning, got out of bed and went into the living room/dining room to eat with my family and my mom tells me we are eating the soup for breakfast. Yes, soup and sandwiches for breakfast. I said, ok, fine, it was a little wierd for me I felt like I was eating lunch, but it was only 10 in the morning. Friday, my mama goes to the market to buy a couple of things and she told me she was coming back with breakfast as well, breakfast of cochinito. Now I had no idea what this meant, and to my surprise, it was a pork sandwich, for breakfast, apparently quite common to eat sandwiches for breakfast. Sunday once again, we had tomales and soup for breakfast. This is just something I have trouble getting accostumed to, especially when I barely eat breakfast in the United States!
We will see what this week has in store!
One other comical thing that happened, or at least that I thought was comical happened on the bus ride home on saturday. I do not generally understand the words of the music here because it is incredibly fast, however, on this bus ride i understand very clearly. Here are the lyrics of almost the whole song
Tengo, Tengo, un novio
metro metro metro sexual.
I think you can get what that means but if you cannot I have a metro sexual boyfriend were the lyrics..oye
Literally... it said that over and over and over again, metro metro metro sexual. I was cracking up on the bus, I just could not help it. Everyone else probably thought I was just a crazy American, but it was just too funny to not laugh at. The other song we have understood and love to sing because it is always in our heads is
Mi Muneca esta llorando ( my doll is crying)
I have no idea why the doll is crying, but it must be crying hard because the singer repeats that line like it is nobody's business.
Oh the wierd things that happen in Mexico, yesterday my brother was singing I believe I can fly at the top of this lungs and I could not stop laughing then either.12 year old Turi, singing, in English, I BELIEVE I CAN FLY,I BELIEVE I CAN TOUCH THE SKY! oye, so funny, I wish you could have heard it!
te quiero
Sunday, February 10, 2008
Long Week
This week was much better than the first week. It is hard to believe that I have only been here in Mexico for 2 week when it feels like 3 months, and there are three more months to go!
This week was interesting, we had two days off of class which were wonderful, I already told you all about Carnaval and it was a great experience and there is not much more to report here. Classes are going a bit better, I successfully took some notes while listening at the same time, a big accomplishment for me!
This weekend was uneventful. A friend and I successfully found a mall with starbucks and a movie theatre. We saw Across the Universe, for a bit of an English break and it was wonderful! On Saturday we went to the centro just to do something, we ate fajitas (steak fajitas (something that is not chicken!) And ice cream which was very similar to water ice in philly, ya'll need to try it sometime!
Chelsey and I then walked around the centro, and just talked and bought some postcards. It is pretty uneventful here, I will let you know when anything else happens!
Les quiero and les extrano!
This week was interesting, we had two days off of class which were wonderful, I already told you all about Carnaval and it was a great experience and there is not much more to report here. Classes are going a bit better, I successfully took some notes while listening at the same time, a big accomplishment for me!
This weekend was uneventful. A friend and I successfully found a mall with starbucks and a movie theatre. We saw Across the Universe, for a bit of an English break and it was wonderful! On Saturday we went to the centro just to do something, we ate fajitas (steak fajitas (something that is not chicken!) And ice cream which was very similar to water ice in philly, ya'll need to try it sometime!
Chelsey and I then walked around the centro, and just talked and bought some postcards. It is pretty uneventful here, I will let you know when anything else happens!
Les quiero and les extrano!
Monday, February 4, 2008
Carnaval
There are some lovely things that occur in Merida, one being Carnaval which is similar to Mardi Gras. Carnaval is extra lovely because all of the schools close when Carnaval occurs! So we do not have class today or tomorrow!
Everyday of Carnaval there are parades (desfiles), so we decided to go one on Monday which included traditional clothes of the Yucatan. Our group met at the parada (bus stop) at four and the parade supposedly started at 7. We went to find seats and then eat a wonderful dinner of pizza. In Merida parades are not free to watch, we had to pay 26 pesos for one seat at the parade, which translates into around 2 dollars. So we bought our tickets, thus securing our seats and went to find the pizzeria that was recommended to us. We were very excited about pizza because it was something familiar and we had control over it! Needless to say the Pizza was wonderful, a bit different as sausage actually means hot dog in Spanish, but it was still delicious!
After pizza we went to our seats because we thought the parade began at 7. Here is the thing about Mexico, nothing is on time! For instance, sunday I went to church. Church technically began at 10, however we did not leave the house until 10:10. So the parade began at "7" which may have been true but it probably began late and because we were in the middle of the parade route it actually began at 8, so we sat waiting for the parade for about and hour and a half! And finally it began!
The parade itself was wonderful, there was so much traditional clothing that it got old after a while, however mixed in the the clothing were floats depicting the Seven Wonders of the World which is the theme for Carnaval this year. On these floats were various dancers and performers. It was quite extravagant. In the United States you think you will get candy thrown at you during a parade and this is also true in Mexico, but what else do they throw? Oh none other than cups and cell phone cases, in all seriousness I got a cup and a cell phone case! Also because we are all girls in our group and we look a bit different than Mexicans, hard to believe I know, all we had to do was scream and look at a male on the floats and we automatically got things thrown at us, oh the joys of being blonde. Anyways Carnaval was wonderful!
One small mishap happened after Carnaval for me, because it is so huge and covers much of the city, it just happens that the bus stops all change and I have no idea where my bus is! Thankfully there are other people also looking for my bus and a man offers to help me. Now this makes me a bit nervous because i do not know him and I do not speak the best Spanish. However I made sure i asked the questions to others asking where the bus was so he was not in charge and there were other people looking for the same bus as well, so it was alright, kind of nerve wracking, but finally I made it to the bus stop after wandering around Merida for around an half hour not knowing where the heck I was! And the nice man who helped direct me to the correct stop also paid for my fare! Kind of creepy, but ultimately nice.
I tried to put pictures on the post, but is not working, sorry, I shall try again later or send out an album!
Te quiero
Everyday of Carnaval there are parades (desfiles), so we decided to go one on Monday which included traditional clothes of the Yucatan. Our group met at the parada (bus stop) at four and the parade supposedly started at 7. We went to find seats and then eat a wonderful dinner of pizza. In Merida parades are not free to watch, we had to pay 26 pesos for one seat at the parade, which translates into around 2 dollars. So we bought our tickets, thus securing our seats and went to find the pizzeria that was recommended to us. We were very excited about pizza because it was something familiar and we had control over it! Needless to say the Pizza was wonderful, a bit different as sausage actually means hot dog in Spanish, but it was still delicious!
After pizza we went to our seats because we thought the parade began at 7. Here is the thing about Mexico, nothing is on time! For instance, sunday I went to church. Church technically began at 10, however we did not leave the house until 10:10. So the parade began at "7" which may have been true but it probably began late and because we were in the middle of the parade route it actually began at 8, so we sat waiting for the parade for about and hour and a half! And finally it began!
The parade itself was wonderful, there was so much traditional clothing that it got old after a while, however mixed in the the clothing were floats depicting the Seven Wonders of the World which is the theme for Carnaval this year. On these floats were various dancers and performers. It was quite extravagant. In the United States you think you will get candy thrown at you during a parade and this is also true in Mexico, but what else do they throw? Oh none other than cups and cell phone cases, in all seriousness I got a cup and a cell phone case! Also because we are all girls in our group and we look a bit different than Mexicans, hard to believe I know, all we had to do was scream and look at a male on the floats and we automatically got things thrown at us, oh the joys of being blonde. Anyways Carnaval was wonderful!
One small mishap happened after Carnaval for me, because it is so huge and covers much of the city, it just happens that the bus stops all change and I have no idea where my bus is! Thankfully there are other people also looking for my bus and a man offers to help me. Now this makes me a bit nervous because i do not know him and I do not speak the best Spanish. However I made sure i asked the questions to others asking where the bus was so he was not in charge and there were other people looking for the same bus as well, so it was alright, kind of nerve wracking, but finally I made it to the bus stop after wandering around Merida for around an half hour not knowing where the heck I was! And the nice man who helped direct me to the correct stop also paid for my fare! Kind of creepy, but ultimately nice.
I tried to put pictures on the post, but is not working, sorry, I shall try again later or send out an album!
Te quiero
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