Two months in Mexico

I think my dad might have sent this around on email, but I wanted to post it here too, man the blog is lacking these days!!!...Miss and love you all.
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I've been in Mexico for over two months now so it's probably about time I wrote something to share with you all. I've been adding to this letter for a couple weeks now, so hopefully you'll get two months worth of news.

To start off I feel so so lucky to be here. I'm having more fun than I've ever had and learning more at the same time. I've never felt so relaxed and carefree and happy-- and I wish I could write this whole thing in Espanol so that you can see how much I've improved! I've gotten really comfortable speaking--once you get that part it's much easier to get better..but the more I learn the more questions I have, but isn't that the case with everything in life...

Contrary to popular belief of many people in the US, English is definitely one of the easiest languages on the planet. We don't have two verbs for "to be" (ser, estar), two words for "for" (por, para), formals and informals, masculine and feminine, a different verb form for each person, and all of this subjunctive and imperfect subjunctive verb business. Despite all of that I am getting the hang of it, time and practice is all it takes. Another thing I've noticed about the language is that a lot of things, especially questions, seem much more abrupt. Example, instead of asking, "Could I have a piece of gum?" they just say, "Dame chicle"..."Gimme gum," and rarely with a please. But I guess that's just what happens with our weird-English-polite-question-word-order. Also what they say about forgetting your native tongue is true. Difficult words especially, but at times I have to think for a bit about how to say simple words too (i.e. traffic light...that was the other day...ha). They also have two (or many more!) words for one thing (one masculine, one feminine), while we sometimes use one word sound for a few different things but spell it differently. What I do love is that they only have one vowel sound for each vowel. At least I can be sure I am pronoucing it right even if I have no idea what I'm saying. I could go on about the language for hours......moving on:

My family here is incredibly nice and my mom, Licha, makes the best food--gorditas, chilaquiles, cemitas, sopas, and eggs, frijoles and tortillas for breakfast always with fresh-squeezed orange juice.

In the university we have a profesora mexicana, Martha. She is really clear with her words and the readings she chooses always provoke interesting conversations. We can talk about any topic that comes up but only in Spanish-- we've had discussions on the Zapatista movement in the state of Chiapas, the "indigenous problem" in Mexico, socialism and NAFTA. Last week we talked about gender roles of males and females in Mexico vs. the US and how changing attitudes toward women being independent and having their own careers is a more recent movement here than in the US. We also touched on how homosexuality differs here than in the US. What surprised me is that homosexuality is more naturally accepted in smaller towns and shunned in the bigger cities in Mexico, which is exactly the opposite of the US, where there exists more homophobia in the more conservative smaller towns than in the more liberal, bigger cities.

This week we've been learning about Latin American women, like SorJuana Ines de le Cruz, a 16th-century nun and poet, Isabel Allende, the Chilean novelist, Eva Peron, the Argentinian political icon (Evita), and of course, Frida Kahlo. Today I gave a presentation in class about Frida and Martha told me that Eamonn talked about the same topic when he was in the program last year...weird....well I guess we are brother and sister, and we've got the same artsy mama.

About a month ago I went to Mexico City for a week. I went with my class to Teotihuacan, an ancient city with two gigantic and majestic pyramids among countless other ruins. We went to the house of Frida Kahlo, the Palace of Fine Arts, The Zocalo and Cathedral and Templo Mayor (Ruins of an old Aztec Temple), Chapultepec Park, The National Anthropology Museum, and the Museum of History... After that I was ready to spend some time NOT doing anything important, so I spent four more days in the city alone... walking, eating and riding the metro to random destinations just because I could.

Another weekend I went to Veracruz with a bunch of other exchange students (from Germany, Brasil, Austria, the US, Mexico and Greece) for Carnaval. It was quite the spectacle...with mainly lots and lots of drunk and/or otherwise influenced people. It was cold and windy, so the next day we went to a beach called Chachalacas and hung out in the sun for hours--it was a really typical small town beach on the Gulf of Mexico (the water wasn't too pretty).

I just got back from Oaxaca on Sunday after a long weekend there and I loved it. It's smaller than Puebla, really relaxed and they produce the most beautiful textiles...and a lot of Mezcal (alcohol made from the same plant (agave) as tequila). We went to the ancient ruins at Monte Alban just outside the city too, which aren't as impressive as Teotihuacan in an architectural sense but it is built on top of a mountain which makes the view incredible. Also went to a mezcal factory where we threw back the worms from the agave plant along with the mezcal, yummmm.

The food here is my biggest downfall...you won't be able to recognize me when I come home because I've probably gained at least 30 pounds. Not (well, we'll see when June comes around), but the tacos are more numerous and delicious than any taco truck in Pasco (I hope an obvious fact? No offense to Pasco). And now I understand why Christian and Eamonn came back from Mexico liking hot sauce...I'm liking all the spicy food more and more and I can eat spicier than my Mexican sister...ha!

Speaking of my Mexican sister, she is 33 years old and still lives in the house. She is finishing her masters in textile design and doesn't work-- it's something really different from the US, but I'm not totally opposed to it, I mean why figure out how to pay your own bills until you actually have to? Haha, Dad's probably cringing at that idea. But anyway, it's really common here; lots of the young adults keep living with their parents throughout college and until they get married, and if they don't get hitched, they just keep on livin' there. The speed bumps and the dogs are another big difference...they are both everywhere...stray dogs own the streets and speed bumps occupy them...every 20 yards or so it seems. It's probably good though cause the drivers are kind of nuts, but you probably would be too if you didn't have to take a class or a test.

Everything is relaxed, nothing's on time (except my homework!), it's a constant fiesta. That's all I have for now. Next week is my spring break, then one more week after that ends, my mom and Uncle Peter arrive!!! Hope all is well with all of you and that it's not too chilly up north.

Besos, Tacos, Paz y Amor,
sonja