Unfortunate Similarities

Ah, so it turns out that Mexico and Guatemala are a lot more similar than I'd have liked to admit back when I created this blog. Not to fear, only the best things about these countries are the same.
A short list, shall we?
1. The sexual harrassment continues. Walking down the street involves listening to countless men evaluate your sex appeal, as though you are just another flavor of ice cream in a cooler at Beal's.
2. Unreliable Internet access. Always charming.
3. Gringo parades.

Now for some important distinctions.
1. Have not yet located a toilet without a seat.
2. Guatemala tends to put retried beans in bags, not boxes. (see previous post entitled 'foods are different in Mexico)
3. The smell of burning toilet paper. (as opposed to straight up shit, smell Puebla.)

That is all for my first day in Guate. Spanish is holding up quite well, but bilingual can be biconfusing.

Con amor,
Liz

Back in the EEUU

OH HEY. Just back in the good old US of A. I am thinking about turning this blog into a "what have I learned today?" blog. Today I learned that cheddar dill bagels at City Market (Shitty Markup, if you will) are an olfactory delight. Also, that they burn rapidly if caught in a toaster.

Tune in later this week for a more comprehensive learning experience, as I will be returning to Anore Horton's class, in which I usually cry about social justice.

BLUE FINGAZ.

Up until today I'd been residing here semi-illegally. Take that Arizona. It goes both ways... paperwork is hard and expensive. Also, today I got fingerprinted for the first time ever!

updates

erin's feet smell absolutely horrible today. i am going to throw her converse away and buy her socks.

erryday

Los Milagros

Been spending a lot of time here. They make a mean pizza. And an even meaner Iced Chai.

Man, let me just cuentate a little bit about my life. On a normal MTW, I have class 12-1 and 4-6. On THFS&SUN, I just wander down to the centro, have a beer or a coffee.. eat something delish, maybe go into a few shops, visit the market on weekends, people watch, eat an ice cream... maybe go listen to some bad live music and drink two beers for 25 pesos in the artists 'hood. Really, it may sound lovely, BUT IT'S GETTING OLD! I want to take a class that challenges me, I want to argue with my professors, I WANT TO WORK!!!

Tay is home. I want to be in my bed at East Ave.

FOOD

Tonight Erin and I had an absolutely lovely 2.5 hour meal for about 17 dollars.

You may find yourself asking: What made this meal so lovely? What did they eat? Was there wine involved?

PICTURE: 2 beautiful women, a gurgling fountain, impeccable service (napkin laid on my lap for me, door held open at the bathroom), and lots of delicious food.

I had ravioli with ricotta and prosciutto. Erin had a caprese salad. Mmm mmm mozzarella. We started dinner off with some crazy bread, oil and vinegar, herb-y butter, and some sort of delectable pesto sauce. Also present, a bottle of cabernet sauvignon.... and for desert? Volcanic chocolate cake, a scoop o' vanilla, and strawberries.

All of this, for roughly 380 pesos. That is like 17 dollars each.

Next up: la casa de espejos. Supah fancy, gonna buy a dress.

Love & Amoebas.

Reliability

No matter how developed Mexico may be, things are not always as they appear. For instance, you can have full bars of internet connection and somehow not be able to load your e-mail.

So, in honor of the TERRIBLE INTERNET at the dorms this week, this blog post is going to be a list of what IS reliable in Mexico these days.

1. You can ALWAYS buy takis at every miscelánea.

2. You WILL get sexually harassed if you leave your home.

3. Valet parking at Starbucks.

les amo.

Picnics are hard, y'know?

Since my 3rd Amoeba-like affliction I've become kind of insane about eating. Therefore, what does one bring to a picnic? Every self-respecting lunch has at least one refrigerated item, right? So what, you go on a hike with a cooler? NO! Your food spoils and gets amoebas!!

CUIDALES

lucky me

I knew naming this blog after that horrible ailment would come back and bite me in the ass. Currently sick again, not a laughing matter.

Chiapas.

Just spent another lovely night on a bus. But don't worry, not only was the bus 3 hours late to arrive to Villa(notso)hermosa, it therefore arrived 3 hours late to Puebla, making it so I missed class..... again. SO, the fun is over. I have been on a continuous vacation pretty much since Zoe got here on March 6. I have been to Veracruz, Oaxaca, Cancun, Tulum, Merida, Chichen Itzá, Palenque, Villa(notso)hermosa, and San Cristobal all in one month. It's a little bit sad to realize I have to go back to my not so great classes, but I am less than 2 months away from being back in Burlington. AND...... dundundunnnnnn, I GOT ACCEPTED TO TOWER!!!! So I have many things to look forward to upon my arrival to the great US of A.
More later, I have to hunt down some comida, shower, and GO TO CLASS!

Tulum.
Cancun.
Chichen Itzá.

Conclusions:
Tulum is one of the most beautiful places I've ever been.
Cancun is part of the United States.
Chichen Itzá is not as cool as Teotihuacan,

So many words that I don't feel like typing.
But long story short, if there is one thing I love Puebla for it's the lack of harassment. I just don't understand who told these people that if you harass women they'll buy your products...

Love y'all

18 hours

ON A BUS.
looking cute, don't worry.
more comprehensive summary of the weirdest week of my life to come.

foods are different in mexico.

beans in a box.
that is all.

I don't wanna blog right now. But I am alive, and here are some pictures from Oaxaca.

Update: many toilets in Mexico are still without seats.

LIZ

radioactive.

So. Conclusion number one - Veracruz is one of the more trashy destinations in Mexico. But let me tell you, it was great to dip my body into the great Atlantic. I've missed that guy.

Funniest moment? Walking to the water with Zoe on day 2, about an hour into our lazing in the sun.
Lifeguard: Ummm, can I talk to you for a second?
Me: Sure
Lifeguard: It's just that... well, you are very burned and that is very dangerous for your type of skin.

I live in the frozen tundra that is Vermont and I am not ashamed. Just let me tomar some sol!!

I think equally hilarious, however, was an interaction we had with one of the more annoying beach vendors. He first asked if Zoe was from China and proceeded to explain that he thought this because her eyes were slanty, which he demonstrated for us on his own face. Not politically incorrect at all. And then proceeded to try to sell me cheetos, when I denied he said "Yeah, you wouldn't want to get fat." and I proceeded to tell him I wanted to get fat, and he said "Nooo, but you're so beautiful!" COME ON DUDE I CAN BE FAT AND BEAUTIFUL!

Anyway, gonna go enjoy the Mex with the friends. Love y'all.
Liz

lo hecho esta hecho

Speaking of things that are cool... I bought blue shoes!

and the marching continues

Well, teaching went better today, BUT it seemed to be Día de la Bandera parte dos. Why? Why is your salute still so much like Hitler's? I mean, I feel like I'm disrespecting my best friend every time we sing the Mexican Anthem... which apparently is going to be quite frequently.

Song of the day? Why not? Tegan and Sara - Living Room

More on the DF. It's really, really big. And it grows so fast. Driving out of the city at night provided a great view of GLOBAL WARMING in action. I've never seen so many lights in my life. It legitimately lit up the sky to the point that you could see the clouds. 21.2 million people. Seriously? like, no, really? Like, that just doesn't even make sense to me. How the hell is the poor Earth supposed to sustain that many people in one place?

All in all, I was completely surprised. I thought I was going to be disgusted, but it really is a beautiful, clean, and very historic city. I would totally live there.

paz
liz

DF

Let us begin with some fun facts about this fabulous city. Mexico City is the capital of Mexico, the largest city in the Americas, and the 3rd largest agglomeration in the world. 21.2 million people live there. IT'S ENORMOUS.

Highlights: we ate some of the most delicious sushi I've ever eaten. Drove from Mexico City to Teotihuacan in a convertible VW bug, and took a turibus around the city. The picture above is the Cathedral, we all know being Catholic isn't really my cup of tea, but I can still appreciate an amazing iglesia, right?

So basically the city is beautiful, super clean, and full of crazy things to do. I need to go back for a longer period of time to visit all the museums, continue to stare at the beautiful old buildings, and eat all the amazing food.

My main conclusion about this mystical place, however, is that it is like a sea of concrete. As previously stated, it's just huge in a way that you can't even comprehend without seeing it, and when you're driving out of it the buildings start to spread onto the hills and it looks like waves.

Also, Mexican flag at ancient Aztec site? Gloating much?


I just really wanna get these pictures up, so more later.
Love,
Liz

D-I-S-C-O

Erin sings 80's songs into her beer bottle. We found a pretty sketchy place to sit above the Zocalo - Service: less than satisfactory, View: Fabulous!

A note on Bilingual-ism

EVERYONE SHOULD SPEAK SPANISH AND ENGLISH.
A. it is not hard
B. it opens up a lot of new venues for cracking jokes
C. bilingual conversations are more fun

and let's face it, Mexicans and Estadounidenses (those of us from the good old US of A, not "Americans", we're all Americans, thank you) aren't going to be able to avoid each other much longer. As my Ciencias Politicas Profesora was kind enough to point out, Mexico is taking back what it lost to the US in the Mexican American War. (hahaha, no, but seriously.)

In other news, I'm going to Mexico City this weekend, whereeee... GAY MARRIAGE IS LEGAL! matrimonio homoseuxal. Even sounds sexier in Spanish (see how fun it is to be bilingual?!) So, shame on you Maine, the capital of a country where women can't even dance together in clubs LEGALIZED GAY MARRIAGE AND YOU DIDN'T. Anyway, I found the only rainbow flag in the state of Puebla today, it's painted on the side of a sketchy building that's seemingly always closed. Nothing like a thriving, open gay community, right?

A picture of said lovely bandera is at the top. It's over on the right hand side. Might have to zoom in.

peace amorcitas

meebs

AMOEBAS!
These little buggers will destroy your life.
BUT ALL I EVER WANT TO DO IS EAT STREET FOOD!!



And the top photo is the school I'm teaching at, yo.

lovelovelove
liz

Maestra Liz

Whoever decided that I am qualified to teach children is doing a great disservice to the children of Puebla. Today I forced the kiddies to tell me their name and where they're from in English, it was like pulling teeth. It's like... I will never be like that in a Spanish class again, no one cares if you screw up!

In other news, today is my day off from class so I think I'm gonna head down to the Zocalo (central park area... with the big ass church and beautiful government building) and tomar some sol and a couple of micheladas. A michelada is beer, lime juice, salt and spicy tomato-y stuff. Definitely Mexican, they even spice up their beer.

Looking forward to ZOE AND MYANI'S VISIT! In like 8 days and 17 hours! We're going to spend their first couple days in Veracruz on the beach (I will get Myani in the ocean, mark my words), and then come back here so I can do some boring school work, and finally head to OAXACA to see TAYY!!!

les amo,
maestra liz

Mexiho

So we learn something new everyday here in Mexico. Today I learned a couple of interesting facts about this great country because it's EL DIA DE BANDERA! (Flag Day!)

1. The Mexican salute is strikingly similar to that of Hitler (See Plutarco Calles -->)

2. Marching is big here.

Anyway, today I started teaching English in a public school in Puebla. I will be teaching to 1st-6th grade students... UHHH, can 1st graders even read?? I feel as though there will be a lot of singing in that class.

Last night Erin, Eva, and I went to a Jazz concert in search of some cultural stimulation. Afterwards, we got McFlurries. Welcome to our Globalized World!

¡hasta luego, pendejos!