A Day in the Life

     Today was another beautiful day in Puebla.  I got up at 6am, as I do every weekday, in order to catch the bus to UDLAP.  When I arrived, I savored a cup of the world renowned Mexican coffee: Nescafe.  Why anyone would drink that horrible, horrible coffee in Mexico, the world's 8th largest coffee producer, I have yet to find out.  After I cleansed my palate of Nescafe, it was time for class.  We spent the entirety of my first class learning about the Huichole people, proud and religious (literally) users of peyote.  When a fellow student asked if a typical Huichole drink mentioned in a video we were watching contains alcohol, the professor responded with "Well, yes, a bit. But the Huicholes are of the mindset:  why get drunk when you have peyote?" 
  

Classic Huichole Art - I think the peyote may come into play on the Huichole art scene.

After my second class of the day, I had four hours between classes to go exploring in Cholula.  Sam and I decided to walk up past the pyramid, about a 30 minute walk, to try eating at a place she had heard was good.  I arrived to find two older women with a grill and a cooler offering gorditas and quesadillas in several flavors.  Sam and I could scarcely understand the various fillings so, as all good Americans would, we jumped on the item with chicken in its name.  We were surprised to find that, whatever the name of this quesadilla actually was, it basically meant a chicken parm quesadilla.  Nonetheless, we cheerily enjoyed our chicken parm quesadillas with a bit of salsa verde which automatically ordained our meal as a typical Mexican dish.  Once we finished up there, Sam insisted that we visit her "favorite" candy shop to get some candied peanuts.  I maintain that it is impossible to have a favorite anything within three weeks of living in a city, especially if that is the only candy shop you have ever actually entered.  I must admit, the candy was delicious.  

On our way back to school we stopped into a bunch of local artisans' shops just to take a look around and get an idea of what we might like to bring back to the States with us. Most of the shops have the same generic touristy items, but the Talavera (a local style of pottery) is always beautiful.  

To top of my charming day in Cholula, I made it back to class only to find that it would be cut an hour short due to a scheduling conflict for the professor.  So, I listened to him rant about the fact that everything I know about Native American culture is contrived nonsense created by government anthropologists in the 19th century for the sake of categorizing indians and stealing their land for an hour less than I usually have to.  "For gods sake, the Native Americans don't even know anything about their culture before 1500!"  If I manage one day like this per week for the rest of my semester, I'm not sure I'll be able to leave.

Adventures in Cholula

Now that I have gotten settled into my classes and schedule, I have taken some time to do some exploring of the funky town we live in: Cholula.  Remember when Jake talked about Hernan Cortez coming to Mexico and building churches everywhere? Well, since the indigenous people and the Spanish didn't like mixing (no wonder, they built churches on top of all of their pyramids and killed a good number of them), Cholula became the indigenous town, and Puebla the Spanish town.  Cholula is a really cool and very easy to navigate, because the streets are laid out in a grid pattern, with the two zocalos (central plazas--one in San Andres Cholula and one in San Pedro Cholula) acting as the (0,0) coordinate.  The intersections act like points on the graph.  1st quadrant intersections are (Calle # Oriente, Avenida # Norte), 2nd quadrant is (Calle # Poniente, Avenida # Norte) , 3rd quadrant is (Calle # Poniente, Avenida # Sur), and the 4th quadrant is (Calle # Oriente, Avenida # Sur).

Yeah I just used math.  Pretty proud.

So anyway, with the easy to navigate roads and my trusty steed "Carcancha" (slang for a crappy, rusty car) I have been exploring my new home with many adventures included.

My Carchancha

I have no classes on Fridays, so I took advantage of my free time and biked to the Jardin Etnobotanico of Cholula (Etno-botanic Garden) where I will be doing some volunteer work.  The garden is really gorgeous, with lots of native plants and useful herbs and other plants.  I haven't quite figured out what I will be doing usually, but yesterday I helped the designer put together some things for the shop. This included upcycling old cereal boxes into gift boxes, folding pamphlets, and cutting out instruction booklets.  I can't wait to get to know the people there more and to familiarize myself with the garden.  It seems like a really awesome place.

From there, I went out to lunch for my first "cemita": a giant sandwitch the size of my head that usually has pork, cheese, onions, avocado, peppers, and beans on it.  I will discuss them more in detail when I get around to writing a post strictly about all the amazing food I have been eating.

Explorin' 

To work off my giant food baby, I walked/biked around Cholula some more.  I strolled around the market, eyed the crafts for potential presents, and then met a really nice woman who makes jewelry and sells it outside a store.  I also make jewelry, so I chatted with her for a while about it.  She invited me back to work with her whenever I want and use her tools and supplies!  Like many other locals I have met, she was incredibly friendly and kind.  I fully plan on taking her up on her offer.  More on that later!

Classes? What are those?

Because our first week was full of fun activities planned for us everyday, beautiful weather, and no work, it seemed more like a vacation than a studying abroad program.  On Monday we had our first classes, and we suddenly remembered that we were, in fact, here to learn things.  For some strange reason, UDLAP has a very short Drop/Add period: 3 days.  That's right. Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, and that's it.  Unfortunately, Jake and I have had some problems with the person who decides our course equivalencies at University of Delaware, who, as we say in Mexico, a total mamón.  However, I was able to finalize my schedule after only three trips to the international office.

But, YAY MEXICO! 

I am now taking 3 Spanish language classes, an Art History class, and a Contemporary World History class (all in Spanish).  It's a bit overwhelming.  I had to switch out of the first Art History class I tried to take because the professor was speaking Spanish with a French accent, and from what I could gather, was speaking about Kant in regards to art.  I KANT UNDERSTAND ANYTHING SHE'S SAYING! I thought cleverly to myself.  But seriously, I cannot wait until I can understand when people talk at a normal rate.  I can tell that my History professor is funny because everyone in my class laughs a lot, but I have no idea what he's saying, so I just laugh quietly and hope he doesn't ever call on me.

See the American flag? I speak American.

Anyway, aside from classes making me want to cry a little on the inside, life is good here in Mexico.  My host family is great and lives very close to UDLAP, so I get to walk to school.  Continuing the tradition!  Their house is also very yellow, which makes me happy.

My host family consists of Arcelia (my mamá), Guillermo (my papá), Alejandro (or Ale, 23 year old brother), and Daniel (or Dani, my 21 year old brother).  I have also met Guillermo's mother and his brother's family, all of whom are also very nice.  Arcelia loves to chat, so I get plenty of practice with my speaking when I'm with her.  I still have trouble with some words, so I tend to take about 5 minutes to say something that should take 10 seconds.  This morning, I was trying to say that I heard a bird whose call sounded just like the whistle guys make for pretty girls.  Here's the approximate translation: I was walking and I heard a bird that had a noise...that made noises, what's that called? Song! Right. Ok I heard a bird that had a song and it was very similar to...(don't know how to say whistle)...the noises that men make with their mouth when they see a girl who is pretty on the street.  Like (insert whistle).  

They got it eventually.

Also in big news, I bought a bike! A neighbor was selling some for reasonable prices so I decided to get one.  I have yet to buy a bike lock though, so currently my bike is just hanging out at my house.  Once I get a chain and a HELMET (love you Mumsy) I will be ready to take on the world.

WHERE ARE YOUR HELMETS CRAZY DANCERS?

        

Week 1

     This week, we began our life in Mexico.  So far, it has been great.  On day number one we arrived at the Mexico City airport where some "Amigos Internacionales" helped us catch a bus to Puebla, the city I will be living in for the next few months.  My host mom, Aurora, picked me up at the school and immediately asked if I had eaten. Shocked and dismayed by the fact that I had not eaten for nearly 12 hours, she immediately called home to Angeles, the maid, to make me some pasta.  Little did I know, dinner would be forthcoming only an hour later.  However, dinner here is more like lunch at home, while the biggest meal of the day is eaten around 3pm.  The next day we had our first true day of orientation.  We received all of the information we need about the program and took a tour of the campus, which is extremely beautiful. 

One of the many gardens/green areas on the campus.  It's more like a park than a school campus.

   On Wednesday, we registered for classes which was a process. Things don't run quite so smoothly here as a result of the laid-back attitude, but I got a full schedule in the end.  After that, Sam and I went with some other international students to a taqueria and had Tacos al Pastores.  I don't know exactly what is in a Taco al Pastor, but they were delicious.  I am confident they have pork, pineapple, onions, cilantro, and chiles.  Then, we played soccer with some local students. Unfortunately for me, an average player here is like a superstar in the U.S.  

     Thursday, we took a tour of Puebla, the major city here, which is only 10 minutes away from UDLAP.  In fact, I am living in Puebla even though the school is in Cholula.  The zocalo, the main plaza in the center of the city, is beautiful.  We got to see a few beautiful churches, but there is one in particular that I want to return to.  Near the zocalo is the Capilla del Rosario, supposedly the eighth wonder of the world.  It was closed when we got there so we weren't able to go inside, but apparently everything inside is made of gold.  That day, I had my first taste of Mole Poblano, but the local students told me that the restaurant we ate at is very commercial and not really traditional. At night, Aurora and her friend Charo took me out for taquitos which were .... also delicious.

The Zócalo

     On Thursday some students took us on a tour of Cholula, which they call a small town even though there are 95,000 inhabitants.  We walked to the top of Tlachihualtepetl, the pyramid with the largest base in the world.  It was buried by the Spaniards when they conquered Mexico. Then, to add insult to injury, they built a church on top of the pyramid.  From there, we had a a nice view of the volcano, but it was a bit hazy out so the pictures aren't very clear. After that, they took us to get lunch and eventually to a big indoor market with everything you could possibly want.  The fruit and vegetables were about five times less expensive there than they are in the States.  

     The weekend has been low-key, just hanging out with the host family and relaxing.  The first week has been amazing.  More updates next week!