Balloons, pig blood and enchiladas

Somehow I skipped over writing about all of these things last week. This weekend hasn’t been extraordinarily exciting but the week before was a little more eventful. The school hosted a really super fancy lunch for the foreign kids that cost us about 3 USD and it was really nice. They had a mariachi band come in and play for us and men that were all dressed up serve us and take our plates and we had fancy little desserts (mostly consisting of coconut or chile powder). The food was amazing. And then they gave us balloons. So, three dollars got us quite a bit, and got a few of us out of class for a couple hours. We had fun.

Asami won a shirt that is super cool but like 8 sizes too big for her

 The Saturday before last, we had the opportunity to go with Ely to the indoor mercado (market) in La Cruz to pick up some ingredients that she needed to make enchiladas. It was a definite cultural focal point in my time here. When you first walk in, there are so many people and so many smells, its hard not to get taken away in the excitement of the place if you don’t initially remember why you came. Thankfully, Ely knew exactly what she wanted. We first went and bought chiles, as you can see in the picture, they had quite a selection, as well as dried shrimp, which were huge! I had never seen dried shrimp before.

Next we ventured over to this smorgasbord mountain of fruits and vegetables that towered above us. We had to look up, past the mass of delicious fruit to talk to the people to tell them what we wanted. It felt like a dream. There were so many different kinds of fruits that I had never even seen before. The US is missing out, I’m telling you.

Huge shrimp!

Indoor market

So much fruit!!

But as we walked around getting the ingredients that we needed, we kept passing meat vendors that had scores of meat that was just hanging from their stands, out in the open without any refrigeration. The smell of it was so strong it made my stomach drop. With some of it, you could pretty easily tell what kind of animal it came from. They had a lamb hanging, fully in tact, eyes and all, hanging by its feet at one of the stands. I think the only difference between where I saw it and what it looked like alive was that it was skinned. It was pretty disturbing. But nobody really thinks anything of it. It’s just one of the ways people buy meat down there. I didn’t really feel like eating meat the rest of the day. When I mentioned it to one of my professors, he looked a little embarrassed, or hurt, maybe and said that the meat isn’t hanging there for more than a day. It’s fresh. But still. It was a little gross.

If you guessed these were pig heads and pig feet...you were right.

Pigs.

This butcher really wanted to pose for me. haha

Thankfully, the enchiladas that Ely and her mom made were meatless. They were incredibly good and incredibly traditional. They used the chiles to dye the tortillas, so the tortillas have this mild spice to them that was so tasty. We filled the enchiladas with cheese and onions and used mashed potatoes, lettuce carrots as a base to eat them with. SO GOOD. I really just can’t stop talking about the food here. I’ve never eaten so well in my entire life.

Ely and I cutting up carrots for enchiladas! Yum!

20 cool things they have in Mexico that we should have in America.

So I know I've only been here for 2 weeks. And I haven't visited all of Mexico or even all of Querétaro or every home or talked with that many Mexicans that aren't students. But. I don't think it ever hurts to just be grateful for a few things. And thus far, this is what I have observed-just a few things that make Mexico (and Mexicans) great. Please ignore the fact that about 30% of this list consists of food.

20 Cool things they have in Mexico that we should have in America:

Basketball court a block or two away from where I live.

1. Tile floors that keep your house cooler.
2.  Pre-toasted toast (no toaster needed; use the money you were going to buy a toaster with to buy churros.)
3. Soup before dinner. Its light and you won’t eat as much for dinner.
4. Better granola bars.
5. A really inexpensive bus system.
6. Chile flavored everything.
7. Humble people.
   
8.  Music played LOUD
9. Little tiendas (stores) every few blocks.
10. That being friendly is expected.
11. So much color.
12. People that are happy with a lot less than you and I have.
13. REAL tacos, tamales and burritos. I don’t think Taco Bell even exists here. And I don’t miss it.
14. Kissing people on the cheek when you meet (air kisses, usually, but still, so nice)
15. Cuter babies.
16. How romantic the men are and how many of them stick around to take care of the cute babies (it seems).
17.  Relationships are more important than schedules (they are a polychromic people. Learned about this in cultural paradigms last semester. Pretty cool.)
18. Like 304 different of varieties of fruit that are delicious.
19. Being late to things often isn’t a problem, unless its to work or school. Everything else it’s totally fine. So I fit in incredibly well.
20. People that love God.

Week 2

Update from the last couple of days:

 This week we started classes! Yaaaaay…............. They actually have been great. It has been fun to see how the school here is different than BYU-Idaho. Some classes last 3 hours. Some last till 10 pm (really-my roommate has an 8:30-10pm class. Intense.) The professors care a little less about you, but some try and know your name. Some dress up to teach and some dress in a t-shirt and jeans to come to class. Some don’t care if you’re late, and others will close the door five minutes after class starts and won’t let anyone else in. So it will be a fun semester, I think! We’ll see how this whole being–on-time-to-class thing goes ;)

Shanequa and I also ventured out of our little house yesterday to get a couple things. She needed contact lenses, I needed chocolate, so we decided they were both important enough to take the bus out after. We went out to this place called Soriana (which is kind of like an older version of Wal-Mart, K-Mart and Target combined) and picked up what we needed. We found treasures there. Also-Queretaro, Mexico is hiding ALL of the Tang. 

 Who knew there were this many flavors?!

You know you want some.

Gold mine.

First Sunday

Happy Sunday!

It has been a great weekend. Yesterday, our BYU-Idaho group and Shanequa and Ely (my roommate and host sister) and I went downtown and saw Querétaro and its beautiful sites!

 We had a great time looking at all of the detail in the historical Catholic churches (some built in the 1600’s). They were HUGE, like cathedrals, and had so much character. There is nothing like it in the United States. 

This church was built in the 1600's!

We also went through the outdoor markets and wanted to buy everything; had lunch at an Oxaccan restaurant (a few of us ate grasshoppers for the first time) and some of the best ice cream at “Bendigas Frio” (cold blessings) haha. 

Ely eating grasshoppers like a pro

We also got stuck in a crazy rainstorm that felt like a flash flood, but its still monsoon season here so it was sort of normal. Shaniqua was the only one who had an umbrella and Grayson had a sweatshirt but the rest of us weren’t even a little prepared. We huddled under outdoor umbrellas and took shelter in a little shop but finally decided that the rain wasn’t about to let up anytime soon and we needed to go find the bus. So we stood outside for about 2 hours in pouring rain until we found the right bus to take us home. It was a long time and we were soaked to the bone by the time we got home. But we had a blast!

Shanequa and I. SO wet

Our little band of BYU-Idaho students in front of the church today. Asami and I look like missionaries!

Today our BYU-Idaho group went to church with Ely and Shanequa (their first time at church!) and we had a wonderful time. Everyone was so friendly and welcoming. They wanted to know if we would be back and where we were from and why we were there. Even though I didn’t understand all of the service, the Spirit was strong and I felt like I was learning despite the language barrier. It was wonderful to be in that environment again. Can't wait for next week!

Hot sauce and recycling in the same place.

They fed us Subway yesterday at the school during our orientation and the served the potato chips with HOT SAUCE!

The view from where I live

Where I live!!

One of the buildings at the Tec. Beautiful school.

Today wasn't too interesting but I did get some pictures. One day I will take pictures of people! haha. I am meeting a lot of really kind, wonderful friends from all over. I'm learning that kissing once on the cheek is a really sweet gesture (in Spain they "kiss" you twice). And that people want to talk to you even if your Spanish is bad. It forces me to be better. Actually, it may be reinforcing my mistakes but I'm getting practice in. Hopefully someone will correct me somewhere down the line.

My roommate and I are also getting used to:
1. dogs barking all night
2. a man selling and yelling "tamales" at 7 in the morning-loudly. And roosters. But they don't yell things.
3. crowded buses
4. being stared at
5. brushing our teeth via water bottle
6. rarely understanding what people are saying
7. eating the best food we've ever had

 They recycle in Mexico. I think I'm going to like it here.

8. becoming friends with some of the most kind and most humble people in the world.

Day 2: Orientation

Hola amigos!

Well, it's official. I love Mexico. I love Mexican people, Mexican food, Mexican weather, Mexican manners and maybe by this time next week I'll love Mexican school, too. We'll see.

Our orientation was today. We took the bus and that was a definite culturally enriching experience. There are no bus stops. Just corners. We walked over to the corner that runs closest to our house and waited and were some of the first people on the bus and could sit down. A few feet later, the bus stopped again. 100 feet later, the bus stopped again. And again. And again. Its a good thing I don't mind close physical contact. I kept thinking we were maxed out in capacity but.. we never were. It was a magic bus. It fit everyone. And the only way to get the bus driver to stop is to get up, squeeze your way over to the back door and yell at the bus driver to stop. And he does. Everyone was smiling at us. My roommate is black. And I am very white. So we stood out a little. I was just grateful they didn't pack us in the bus like this: 
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FjJ3g_wv8H0&safe=active

We were at orientation for 8 hours today. I fell asleep during part of it and couldn't feel my legs during the other part. But the food was amazing. They fed us a gordita (Taco bell does it all wrong), a taco, a sandwich that was amazing and a little corn tostada with refried beans, cheese and lettuce. They also gave us three drinks. One was horchata (the real deal), some limón agua (super yummy and is supposed to be soothing for your stomach) and some red juice that was really mild and supposed to be from some kind of flower. It was all sooo delicious. 

YUM!

I also had the chance to meet some of the other students here in the international program. It is way cool. There are people here from South Korea, Spain, the UK, GERMANY (no joke, like half the kids in the program are German) Brazil, the Netherlands and a ton of other places. The German kids speak English really well. They were going over things in the presentation about alcohol and drug use (which they mentioned is totally illegal and pleaded with everyone not to get involved in any kind of drug use while they were here). They kept telling us that if we choose to do drugs, that we are becoming part of the corruption in Mexico and that we should never, ever again complain about Mexico and its corruption. Instead, we should choose to obey the laws of the land and help Mexico become better. It was really insightful. It made me realize that places like Mexico get blown up in the media for having this reputation of being the land of drug cartels and violence and eternal imprisonment and lazy people.. but that is simply just not true. There is bad in every city and country on earth. But there is also so. much. good. In every city and country of the world. It also made me realize that I really am not at BYU-Idaho anymore and it made me grateful for the experiences that I had there. It also means I have a lot of missionary work to do. :)

I met up with my group from BYU-Idaho and they gave us a tour of the campus. I love our little group. There's just four of us but we all get a long really well. We signed housing contracts with our host family today, too and then went to Walmart (which is way cooler in Mexico, by the way. I loved seeing everything in Spanish and the food just looks so much more appealing.) I also needed bottled water and chocolate (maybe I'm the one with the drug problem.?) This was especially cool. Coca Cola does it all. (all of my pictures are of food today. This food really is the best.)

Love all of the Spanish names

Family and friends in Spanish. :) 

It was a really cool day. I'm learning so much already and my roommate and I just keep saying how grateful and blessed we are to be here. So grateful!! Hasta maña!