Sun and Sand

This past weekend, I went to Acapulco on a retreat with Casa Verde, the Christian group that I have been going to down here. Before I tell you about my weekend, I suppose I out to tell a bit about Casa Verde (since it's a pretty big part of my life here). Basically, it's run by a bunch of gringos, which is hilarious, because when students first come, they're usually a bit hesitant (one woman who is now a full time worker at Casa Verde, when she first came as an UDLA student, flat out told the leaders that she hated gringos!) As you can imagine, we gringos don't always have the best reputation, since a lot of people's stereotypes of "Americans" come from what they see and hear on TV about spring break. Anyway, I found out about Casa Verde from Kati Richards before I even came, so I was planning on checking it out. The funny thing is, I went the first week of school, before they actually had a meeting. And that actually turned out to be a good thing, because when I showed up, some people were there just playing Wii and invited my friend Abbie and I to join them. So we did, and I started making friends with some of the people there right away.
Anyway, I just kept going back every week.. and it's been a huge blessing in my life. I feel like I've actually grown a lot more spiritually here than I have in awhile; I've met a few people at Casa Verde who have really challenged me and are helping to rekindle a passion in my heart for my relationship with Jesus. It's also been awesome because it's a place where I can always go if I need help with something or have a question (which tends to happen quite often being away from home), or if I'm just bored. There are always people hanging out there, and if I'm looking for someone to go to lunch with or do whatever, I can usually find someone there. The third reason why it has been awesome is because I have made more Mexican friends there than anywhere else. It's kind of hard to make friends in class since we're pretty much lectured to the whole time... but between the meals that Casa Verde serves on Tuesday nights and Thursday afternoons, going out with the people after the Tuesday night "pozo" (which is a bit like a church service), playing board games with people Thursday afternoons, and (more recently) being a part of a Bible study, I've had a ton of opportunities not only to get to know some Mexican people and practice my Spanish, but to develop a couple of good friendships with Mexican students. So, I am very thankful for Casa Verde, and I'm going to miss it a lot when I leave.
Anyway, now that you're up to date on that part of my life, this past weekend... we took a tour bus on Friday night and got there pretty late. Saturday we spent all day being lazy, laying in the sun, jumping in the waves, washing the sand out of our bathing suits, going in the pool, eating, watching (or playing! but of course I didn't play) soccer, building sand castles, worshipping God, having bonfires, eating s'mores, telling stupid jokes, etc. One of the couples that works at Casa Verde brought their kids along, who are adorable, so I got to play with them a bit, which was also fun. We didn't actually do anything in the city; we were staying at a hostel on the beach just outside of the city, and it was nice not to do the tourist thing for once but just relax and enjoy a day off. Then, on Sunday some of our friends were baptized in the pool before we left. The only sad part of the weekend was that I started getting a cold : ( But other than that, it was great. It was my first, and possibly last beach experience in Mexico, and it was well spent.

Chocolate and Cheese

This weekend was quite an adventure. It started out with none other than THE BACKSTREET BOYS. That's right, I am just that cool. I went to a BSB concert on Friday night. In my defense, I would never have gone to see them if they'd come to Michigan in concert. However, for some reason the fact that they were coming to Puebla, Mexico was just to hilarious to pass up. I mean, to go to their concert 10 years after they're actually big, and in Mexico of all places.. it's just such a unique experience! Anyway the concert was hilarious from the first moment they stepped on stage dressed as boxers. The first number involved them dancing/"fighting" inside a boxing ring they set up in the middle of the stage. It was probably one of the cheesiest things I've ever experienced. And it was also fun just singing and dancing to the old songs and reliving a bit of my junior high years.
ANYWAY, the really exceptionally fun part of my weekend was a trip to Oaxaca with some friends. We waited until the last minute to decide where to go (but were set on going somewhere since we had today off.. woohoo!! Today is Benito Juarez's birthday. He is the most famous and beloved president of Mexico. Basically, he's their Abe Lincoln. But there I go on a tangent trying to educate everyone about Mexico! Sorry.) So, Friday morning my friend Abbie said they'd decided on Oaxaca, and even though mom and Caitlin and I are going there for a few days during Spring Break, I decided to go with them rather than stay here. And I don't regret going at all. Actually, I can't wait to go back; there are still several cool things there I didn't get to do, and I just loved the ambiente.. I can't think of how to say it in english.. I guess I'll just say the feel of the place. It's very pretty and relaxed.. and its famous for its chocolate and cheese.. need I say more? Yesterday we went on a tour which included seeing the world's widest tree!!! (actually, that part was the most boring), going to a place where we watched and learned how people make Oaxacan rugs (which was really cool. they use plants and such to dye the wool!), checking out some ruins (where people dressed up as Aztecs were performing dances in honor of the equinox), hiking to a petrified waterfall where I got to swim in a pool formed by a natural spring (the deal here is that the water from the spring has a lot of calcium and salt in it, so through the years the calcium deposits from the water built up as the water tricked down the mountainside.. even though there is extremely little water flowing down the "waterfall" at any given time, the build-up looks like a ginormous waterfall), and finally going to a Mezcal factory to take some free samples (Mezcal is an ancient drink here.. you may be familiar with the most popular variety, Tequila.) Anyway, the stuff we tried was disgusting.. apparently they add stuff to tequila which makes it taste better. So, imagine stuff that tastes a lot worse than tequila, and you've got mezcal! Anyway, we'd learned about it in my Mexican Culture class, so even though it was awful, it was cool to actually try it. I love having so many opportunities here to actually experience and see the things that I learn about in class! It makes me really happy. I feel like I'm going to be an expert in Mexican culture by the time I leave. : ) But anyway, the tour was really cool. My favorite part was the waterfall. It was just really unique, and the view of the mountains was gorgeous. Other fun parts of the weekend were going to the markets here, and on Saturday night, going to the restaurant in a nice hotel that overlooks the city. The view was gorgeous, and the strawberry daquiri I had was made with fresh strawberries. That's something you don't get in the states! Another great thing about the weekend was how sweet the owners of the hostel we stayed in were. The husband made a very sincere effort to learn all of our names, asked us what kind of music we like (when I said old stuff like Frank Sinatra, he proceeded to bring down a DVD of "Frankie boy" (his words) for us to watch), and when we asked for the number of a pizza place, he let us use their phone to call, even helping me give them the address of the hostel. They couldn't have been nicer. So yea, that was quite a detailed description of my weekend. It was just really great and definitely one of the best experiences I've had so far!

Fondue

I don't have it in me to write much of a post; I've had a really hard week between homesickness finally catching up to me, being physically sick, exams, and just frustrating things that are out of my control. However, I know I haven't written a fun or entertaining post in awhile, so I'm at least going to put some pictures up. I went out to dinner last night with a big group for my friend
Brianna's birthday, and we went to a really nice fondue place (which was still cheaper than the Melting Pot - where I've wanted to go for forever). So, here are some pictures of that: