Feliz Cumpleaños A Mi!!

So, last thursday was my 25th birthday!! I got phone calls from my mom and Apryl, and had a party at Global Grounds (the coffee shop we run here in Queretaro). The picture is of me taking my "mordida," it is traditional for the birthday person to take a bite out of the whole birthday cake before it is cut. It is also a tradition for people to shove you face into the cake as you take a bite! In the background is Lluvia trying to prevent her husband Justin from pushing my face into the cake. It didn't work! hahaha! I had a good birthday!!

More Photos of GTO...

Although I am now in Queretaro, I wanted to post my last pictures of my time in Guanajuato:

This is Pepe and Gloria, my Guanajuato parents

Here we have Toño and Alejandra (in the back), Claudia, Mariana, and Pepe. They are five of the six children who live in the house in GTO.

Here are most of the people who attended Don Quijote spanish school the last week I was there.

Here is a view down a mine shaft near GTO that I entered.

This is the street that I lived on in GTO, my window is on the right with the white bars on it. Notice the pizza delivery motorcycle, in front of my window... the building across the street from my home is a pizza place!!

This is Plaza Barratillo, where I passed through almost every day.

And, for those of you who don't speak spanish, this sign says "hell street." It is the street next to my house! hehe!

I Am Here!!

Hi! I have arrived in Queretaro! I don't have internet at home yet though, and I have no idea when I will get it, so I may be a little bit unavailable for the next couple of weeks. But I will check my email a few times a week. While you're thinking about me, if you could remember to pray for my finances, that would be great. My financial support account is looking fine, but I am unable to access my bank account and credit card for the past few days, and those are my ONLY two forms of recieving money! So I'm a bit stressed about that!

Not Again...

December 12th, 2005 - try to fit everything I own in a suitcase.

December 13-Jan 15 - Store almost everything I own in a suitcase, leaving a few pieces of clothing out to wear in Central America and Mexico.

January 16th 2006 - UNPACK everything I own! What a relief!!

February 16th 2006 - Fit everything in own in a suitcase AGAIN.

Can you tell that I'm really looking forward to packing all my junk this evening?!

Another Weekend In Mexico!

Here are some pictures of my second venture to Mexico City!

This is the Palacio Nacional, or the Capitol Building of Mexico

This is inside the Capitol Building, in the room where the Dipultados (like the House of Representatives) meet.

Here is me in the courtyard area of the Capitol

This is some of the remains of Tenochitlan, Aztec civilization that was where Mexico City is today. The Spaniards took apart the Aztec buildings and used the stones to build their own buildings. These ruins are right in the middle of Mexico City, next to the Capitol building. Underneath the Capitol is the remains of the governmental building of the Aztecs. Underneath the National Cathedral are the remains of the Aztec religous center. There are a few visible remains of Aztec ruins in the Capitol, but none is left in the church. The structure behind me used to be the main temple of Tenochitlan.

Here is what Tenochitlan looks like today. The Capitol building is at the left of the picture. The plaza behind me is called the Zocalo - most large cities in Mexico have a plaza called the Zocalo, it is the main plaza of the city where cultural events take place.

This is the Fine Arts building in Mexico City.

Here are the Central Americans and I at Parque Hundido (the sunken park) in Mexico City. We are: Raul & Nury (Hondurans), Ronald & MariaLuisa (Costa Ricans), and me (not sure what nationality I am! haha!)

Me, Nury, and MaLuisa with the "Valentine flowers" given to us as propaganda to vote for Beatriz for Mayor of Mexico City. The joke's on the people giving out the flowers - none of us can vote! hehe!

Emil and Kania (from Dominican Republic) with their prized U2 concert tickets for the concert in Mexico City. It's amazing that they got tickets, as they sold out in 3 hours after they went on sale! Getting the ticktes may have been a stretch to call it legal, but hey, they get to go!

Seattle

Nice effort my friends...
Maybe there will be a next year...

Fun People and Dead People

Here is my class at the language school here in Guanajuato! We are (back row): Roman (from Leon MX, one of our teachers); Katarina (from Helsinki Finland); Alice (from Prague Czech Republic); me; Michael (from Nashville, TN); Rojelio (from Cuernavaca MX, our grammar teacher); and Alice (from Brasilia Brasil) I LOVE my class!! We are crazy!

This is the view from the roof of my home here in Guanajuato, the statue is called the Pìpila, it is the image of a man who helped further the independence of Mexico from Spain.

And here we have one of the 100 mummies that are in a museum here. Something strange, all the americans and europeans I talked to who had gone to the museum said it was gross or horrible to see all the mummies. The Mexicans and Central Americans who have gone said I must see the mummy museum. So I went. I'm not easily grossed out, but it was pretty intense, most of the mummies are not clothed. The non-latinos in the museum were gasping a commenting on how awful it is to see the mummies, while the Latinos were posing the children in front of the mummy cases to take pictures of them. Just one more cultural observation from me. :-)

Football Fans...

Yes, I will be watching the Super Bowl on TV in Mexico this weekend. People here tell me that they really are interested in American football, and that they especially like the Super Bowl. We've got a little ways to go with NFL in this country though...

A lot of restaurants here have signs advertizing that you should come watch the Super Bowl at their establishment. And what a game it will be! One ice cream shop will be showing the Super Bowl between the Pittsburg Steelers and the Seatle Falcons. Another restaruant wants football fans to come and cheer on Detroit as the win the Bowl. I suppose it would be the same if gringos in the States were advertizing Mexican Soccer... But it made me laguh!

A Weekend in Pictures

I got to go to Mexico City this weekend, as well as some other places nearby Mexico City... Here are some pictures of the weekend!
Here we are at the Central Plaza of Coyoacan, a part of Mexico City. The people in the picture are: Emil, me, Raul, Nury, MariaLuisa, Ingrid, and William. Emil is my friend from Honduras who lives in Mex., the rest are his co-workers. Raul, Nury, and William are also from Honduras, MaLuisa and her husband (the one taking the foto) are from Costa Rica, and Ingrid is from Dominican Republic. How nice it was to be able to speak Honduran spanish this weekend! Although my language teacher didn't think so when I got back to school... hehe!

Here I am in Puebla Mexico at the fortress where the battle of 5 de Mayo was fought. Pretty cool to be there!

Jose (Emil's little brother who is visiting Mexico) and Emil wearing their Rey Mistico masks from the Mexican version of WWF wrestling.

The Aztec ruins of Teotihuacan!

I am in front of the gigantic Pyramid of the Sun in Teotihuacan

And here I am climbing down the steeeeep stairs of the Pyramid os the Moon

Jose and I in Teotihuacan

So yes, I had a rather eventful weekend! I LOOOVE being able to travel around Mexico for cheap!

Classes are going well, I am in the middle of my third week of classes. I'll be here in Guanajuato studying next week as well, and possible for a fifth week too.

Have a good one!