Leaving on a Jet Plane!

What a week and a bit this has been!

So, life got crazy for me. We will touch on this and then talk about all the awesomeness I have stuffed into my last week here.

So, I have lived in Mexico for the last three months and loved it to death. Originally I had planned to come home on December 11 and then spend Christmas with my family before jumping on a plane to explore the awesomeness that Europe is rumoured to hold. Before I booked my flights I made a bunch of calls to make sure I gave myself enough time to come home, send my passport to Toronto to get my visa for Spain and get it back in time to head out. About a week ago, I was online putting together some documents for my visa when, long story short, I realized that the timeline they originally gave me had changed. So, I am coming home tomorrow!! Haha!

I am REALLY excited to come home. I have missed my family like crazy and I am soooo excited to see all of my friends and snow and Christmas lights and everything. But, oh dang am I going to miss Mexico. Seriously, I have had some crappy times, it is true. There are times when I wanted to throw things and times where I have cried but those moments are definitely overpowered by the fabulous experience I have had, the amazing friends I have made, and the awesome adventures I have had. Tears for leaving….

So, my three weeks until I came home rapidly changed to 8 days so clearly I have jammed as much awesome fun as possible into those 8 days. I jumped on a bus and went out to sit on the beach in Puerto Vallarta for a couple of days. Day one was cloudy and blah so I spent the day shopping in the markets and wandering the city. Day two was GORGEOUS!! And I have the worst sunburn of my life to prove it. Seriously, I will never learn.

That day, I jumped on a bus and came back to Guadalajara just in time to head off to the church dance. I am going to miss salsa sooooooo much!! I was super excited to spend the entire night dancing away. But the DJ was a little lame, I was burnt to a crisp, and my shoe was broken. Don’t get me wrong, I got my dance on, but let’s just say it was an awkward evening.

On Saturday I spent the majority of the day with my roommate. Apparently, every year one country in the world puts together these GIANT marionettes. This year, Mexico was selected and they picked Guadalajara as the city that it would take place in. This was the COOLEST thing EVER!!! Seriously! There were three of these giant puppets. One was a 9.5 meter tall man with the Mexican hat and clothing and the moustache. Then there was a little girl and a dog. There is a Mexican story that goes along with this that was told over the span of the week. Ask me about it if you want to hear. But yes, we went and watched them walk by. It was RIDICULOUS!! It took 30 men to operate this giant man. I have videos I will post on Facebook, it was that cool. After playing there for awhile we went out for dinner and had a blast. Mmmmmm…. Food.

On Sunday we had a final FHE at our place. It was really good. We talked about friends and friendships and played Do You Love Your Neighbour until our neighbours came over to tell us they didn’t love us and to quit playing. Haha! So, we switched to charades. This was hands down THE most intense game of charades I have ever witnessed. Seriously. I laughed soooooo hard. Man, we were ridiculously loud. At the end of the night, the entire group took turns telling me that they loved me and why and all of this and I just sat there trying not to cry and I did really good until Laura’s turn and then I was done for. There was no chance I was making it through that one.

Monday I spent with my little group of friends I have developed. I have spent the last couple of weeks hanging out and traveling with Laura and her boyfriend Gabriel and their friend Alejandro. I am more grateful for this group than I will ever be able to express. They have been little angels for me. We went shopping and went to see the city from the lookout and ate some good old traditional Mexican food. Seriously, I am going to miss the food sooooo much! Mexican food in Canada does not even come close to touching the real stuff.

Tuesday was a blast. There is a girl at my work named Veronica or Vero. She is a hoot and one of my favourite people. She lived in the States with a Mormon family for a couple of summers and one day as we sat and talked about her experience we started talking about food she had while she was there. In that conversation we decided we were going to have a night of baking. And a month and a half later and 2 days before I leave, we finally got around to it!! We made some awesome raspberry jello dessert stuff and an angel food cake to put it on top of. I have to say, we didn’t do too bad! Haha! Sooo good!! It was such a blast though. We went out shopping for ingredients and she started showing me all of the stuff I had to buy and the sauces and the mole and the pans to cook them on and everything. Ohhhh we had a good time. I love that girl and will miss her oh so very much.

And today is my last day here. I am at work right now, working very hard clearly. I am going to take off right away to make my final purchases, pack up my bags and get ready to go. I will have one last dinner with my boss, sleep, and then get on a plane to come home. Where everyone can hug me and tell me how much they missed me and love me.

See you all soon!!!

Ps…. Don’t forget about Taco Night – December 12!!!! Soooooo stoked!!!

My Mexican Snowstorm

I sat through a snow storm last night...in Mexico... with clowns. It was RIDICULOUS!!!! So, here is the story.

A couple days ago, the Consul came up to me and told me we had been given six free tickets to go and see this show, Slava’s Snowshow, at one of the theatres here. So, I agreed to go. Who wouldn’t take advantage of the perks of this job?! Haha! So, I started looking up the show and what it is about and all of that and turns out, I was going to a clown show. Hahahahahaahahahahhaahahaha!!!!

IT WAS SOOOOO AWESOME!!! This wasn’t one of those beat each other over the heads and spray water out of plastic flowers kind of clown shows. It was more of an artsy-fartsy-interpretive work. It was soooooo interesting. We all walked away going, “I have NO idea what that was all about but it was pretty cool!” The music and the costumes and the humour were just all so endearing. Their movements were very slow and subtle but those miniscule movements portrayed so much emotion and such a storyline. It was awesome. Anyways, part of the show was this focus on snow. There was fake, tissue-paper snow EVERYWHERE!!!!!!!!!!! We got front row seats so there were many times where clowns would come up and pour buckets of “snow” all over the front row or sweep snow at us or other random stuff. It was so cool and really, I can tell as I am writing this that my description doesn’t give it even a particle of the justice it deserves. Let’s just say, if you ever get the chance to go and see this show, GO!!!!! cuz it is super awesome.

Anyways, at the end of the show there is this amazing snow storm that was portrayed. They have these HUGGGGGEEEE fans that were blowing at us soooo hard that everyone instinctively threw their hands up to protect their face. And then on top of that there was the fake snow blowing at our face in an excessive quantity and there was this blinding light shining right at us so everyone was looking away, in the same way you do during a huge snow storm. Seriously, it was RIDICULOUS how similar it was to a heavy blizzard. It was a nice little reminder of home – minus the cold! Luckily it is still 25 degrees here. Hallelujah!

After, we were able to meet the main clown who was Canadian and had given us the tickets. We got a group photo with him and then went back stage to talk for awhile. It was an awesome experience. Quite excellent. Then we finished the night off by going out for food and drinks where I had the most delicious nachos I have had in a LONG time. Seriously, awesome ending. And of course, the night wouldn’t be complete without my boss being a goof. He stuffed his pockets full of fake snow before leaving the theatre and continued to throw it at us as the night went on. We were all finding snow for the rest of the evening. I opened my jacket and an entire snowman fell out!

Yup. Still loving it here. I am super sad that the end is drawing near. That being said, it will be SOOOO nice to come home and see family and friends! Yay! Taco Night – December 12^th! Soooo soon!

My Run in with the Law

Alright, cop story.

So, there is this rule in Mexico City that cars with out of state licence plates can’t drive in Mexico City between 5 and 11 to cut down on pollution and the number of cars etc, etc. So, we decided that we would leave Mexico City to head home at 4:30 so we could be outside the city by 5. Well, problem was that the highway exit we were supposed to take was closed. Oops. So, we tried to find another route. As we drove right past the exit, which apparently I was the only one to notice, we passed a cop. At this time it was 4:55 ish and the cop proceeded to follow us until exactly 5:01 at which time the sirens came on and we got pulled over. Joy.

So, from my point of view things went like this. Alex got out of the car, talked to the cop for quite awhile and then got back in the car muttered something about the cop wanting 3600 pesos from us and got back out. He talked some more, got back in and started following the cop. Then the cop signalled us over again. Alex got out and talked a bunch more, got back in and then we followed the cop to the highway where he told us how to get out of the city and then we left. I was sooooo confused. Alex told the whole story at that point, but it was 5 in the morning. My Spanish doesn’t work at 5 in the morning. Or when I am hungry. Or after midnight. Haha. Just ask Alex. He’ll confirm.

So, when he got out the first time, he talked to the cop and turns out he had broke the law in three different ways. A) We were driving after 5am, B) he didn’t have this sticker on his car like he really should have and C) his license had expired. So, needless to say we were kinda screwed. The cop demanded 3600 pesos which is about 2 or 3 times more than what it really should have been. So, Alex refused to pay it. The cop then told him, “Well, the only choice you have is to pay it or I am taking you to the pound.” So, Alex was like, “Okay, take me to the pound.” The cop was then like, “Your car will be there until Friday you know. So, what do you want to do?” Alex, calling his bluff because he knew we would only be stuck one more day was like, “We can handle it. Take me to the pound.” The cop was then like, “No, what do you want to do.” Alex again, “Take us to the pound.” This happened like five times and finally Alex was like, “I can’t be any clearer, just take me to the pound.”

So, he got back into the car and we started to follow the cop to go to the pound. This is when he pulled us over again. Alex got out and the cop was like, “Listen. You can pay me the fine, and then I will give you a get out of Mexico City for free pass and give you an escort to the highway. How much do you want to pay?” Alex looked at him and was like, “The highest I am paying is 500 pesos.” Then they argued some more and finally the cop was like “1000.” Alex said “Nope, 500.” Cop says “1500”. Alex says “Nope. 500 or just take me to the pound.” So, in the end, we paid off the cop with 500 pesos, (or less than 50 bucks) got the escort and the note. It was RIDICULOUS!!!!

Oh also, the whole time I was freaking out cuz I didn’t have my passport with me. And Alex also asked the cop if he realized he had pulled us over at exactly 5:01 and the cop was like, yup, I know. Ohhhh and the icing on the cake!!!!!! This note that we got from the cop…….. It was a yellow post it note with a stamp and a signature. A STINKIN’ POST IT NOTE!!!!!!!!!!!!! Seriously. I freaking love this country!!!! I tried to get a picture of the note but Alex was too embarrassed about it so instead I will just blog about it to the whole world. Haha!

Mexico City Take Two

Ohhhhh so many stories! Where do I even begin?!

So, I got invited to go on a road trip this weekend which, not gonna lie, I was pretty stoked about. Cuz A) It means I have friends to invite me to go on a trip with them and B) its a trip to Mexico City, who wouldn’t want to go!? So, I talked to my boss, got some time off work and the adventures began!

Oh wait. So, on Thursday night, before I went to DF, a huge group of people all went to a have a little party in a grave yard. At around 11:00 at night when it was pitch dark, we all met up at this grave yard to have a nice, friendly, completely freaky tour of the graveyard. Seriously, it was ridiculous. When we first got there, I was like, pshhhhh this isn’t scary. Grow up and quit screaming... and jumping... Babies. And then we reached the middle of the graveyard and this dude jumped out which kinda scared me but not really and then from the basement of this grave, tower thing they had someone bang on this metal door and ohhhhhhh I was totally done for. Not a chance of calming down after that.  My heart was racing for the rest of the tour. All in all, it was a really cool experience though. Granted, my Spanish wasn’t functioning and I didn’t catch most of what was said but what I did catch was super interesting. For instance, there is this lady down here who practises black magic and has predicted her own death. So, she prepped her grave with the date of June something-ish 2011 on the headstone. Also, all graves have these little window things on the side so that the dead people can breathe. Seriously. It was pretty cool.

So, yes. Graveyard tour on Thursday night. After that, we got up super early (7:00---haha) to head out to DF. Well, in true laid back, awesome Mexican fashion, we didn’t actually end up leaving the city until around 10:30. Hahaha! Awesome, oh so awesome. Friday was mostly spent in the car. Traffic was terrible and the roads were blocked for construction in some places but hey, we had a good time rocking out to some good old Mexican music. Sometimes I just don’t get Mexican music. I was sitting shotgun almost all weekend so I was in charge of the music, which ps... I failed at. Sometimes a song would come on and I would be like, wow, this sounds like something my great grandpa would enjoy but meanwhile, EVERYONE is singing every word and loving it. And then at other times I hear a song that I am like, hmmm this is pretty good, but nope, I was wrong and it actually sucks. Haha!

When we finally got into Mexico City we met up with Alan. This was really the whole reason we were heading down. Nidia, a girl from Guadalajara, is engaged to Alan, so we were going to see him. This guy was hilarious! Seriously, him and his twin brother. They were IDENTICAL in their looks and their actions and the way they talked. It was soooo much fun. So, we met up with Alan and his friends and cousins and sisters and everything and we went out dancing. We had two options. 1) Go to a church dance somewhere in DF which was a ways away and no one really knew exactly where it was or 2) Go to this club... no, sorry, what did they call it?... restaurant where they drink alcohol and dance as if it is a club. I voted church dance. I didn’t win. Hahaha! It was an interesting night. I don’t like clubs. I don’t like how they feel. I don’t like the lighting or the atmosphere or anything about them really. But, we made the best of it that we could. In the middle they had this group come out and perform some salsa and banda. It was RIDICULOUS!!!! Seriously sooooo cool. I love dancing. And I love salsa. Yuppp...

Saturday was super awesome. We slept in, ate, and then went out to play. We were going to head out to the Teotihuacán pyramids but traffic was RIDICULOUS!!! Seriously, you have not experienced traffic until you have driven in Mexico City. This place has something like 20 – 23 million people living in it (depending on who you talk to) and it is nuts. Mexican drivers are nuts, the way the roads are set up is nuts and that many cars on the road is nuts. So, we changed our plans and headed down to Capillo de Chapultapec – it’s a castle, a big awesome castle. I love, love, love the Victorian era style of decorating. I love the patterns and the elegance and everything about it so this was a real treat. We got there a little late so we didn’t get to go on the roof to see the gardens but hey, it was still an awesome afternoon.

After that, we went down to Zócalo to see the light show they were putting on in front of the government buildings. We parked the car and started walking into the center of the city. When we were about 10 or so blocks away Gabriel was like, “Did anyone look to see where we parked?” Of course, no one had. So, logically, we shrugged it off and continued on. Haha! Ohhhhh I love this country. We went out for dinner and walked around the market and watched the light show and had many a good times. Finally, it was time to head back to the car. Do you think we could find it?? Of course not. Hahaha!!! Ohhhh man. It was hilarious. We sat there and discussed and debated over where it could possibly be but didn’t really actually look for it. Then we met this local guy and we sat and discussed with him. By this time it was really, really, really dark and late instead of just a little bit dark and late at which point the local says, yah, I would take a cab to drive you around because it is pretty sketchy and dangerous in this area. But hey, walk this way with me and we will look for your car! Hahahahahah!! Ohhhh man. So, we walked for awhile and didn’t find it. Finally, we jumped in a cab and by some miracle we pieced together where the car was. Such a gong show. And then we got SUPER lost getting back to the house. We didn’t have a map. We didn’t know the city. We didn’t know anything really. So, at every red light we would lean over the next car and say, “Hey, how do you get to this area of town?” At which point we would get a contradicting location or direction from the last person we asked. Finally, I gave up and slept until we got home. But, by the end of it Alex was super stressed out. I felt bad for the guy.

The next morning was Sunday. SUCH a good day. Seriously. We went to this country wide conference that was being broadcast. We were able to hear from Elder Bednar and from President Eyring. It was EXACTLY what I needed that morning. I miss church in English sometimes and the words that were spoken were so poignant and I loved it soooooooo much. After this, we jumped into the car and drove out to Cruz Azul to visit Laura’s parents. I am sooooo grateful for this family. They treated me so, so, so well. They bought us lunch and then took us out to Tula to see an archaeological site with some big tall statue dudes and pyramids. Haha. I suck at history in English. It is worse in Spanish. After we hung out there for awhile we got in the car and drove up to Pachuca. This was a ridiculous coincidence. Seriously! This is the city that Yamili lives in!! Yami is a girl who lived in Canada for a year and a half or so and who I love to death. I had planned to visit her earlier but never got the chance to until this randomly popped up!! It was crazy! We spent a couple hours wandering the city and seeing the light show at the giant clock and some traditional dancing and eating Pastes. It was such a good evening. Super relaxing and laid back but still packed with fun stuff. At the end of it all we drove back to Cruz Azul to spend the night at a hotel there.

Spending the night was completely unexpected which meant that no one was prepared for it. So, the next day when we went to see the Pyramids of Teotihuacán I was still in a skirt and heels. It is quite possible that I am the only person who has ever climbed those pyramids in heels and a skirt... for good reason. It was the most ridiculous thing ever!! Hahaha! But so hilarious and awesome. Seriously, anyone who comes to Mexico HAS to come and see this site. It is GORGEOUS and the view is ridiculous from up top. Totally worth the painful walk. That night we went and hung out and acted like goofs and made the security guards job more interesting (haha!) and ate food and just had a good time. It was a really good end to the trip. Well, I guess the next morning’s adventure was the really, really awesome end. But, I am going to start another post because the next story deserves a post of its own and this is pretty long and awesome story.  

Ode to Bofo

So, I have met some pretty fan-freakin-tastic people down here and I would like to take a moment right now to give a shout out to Bofo. The first time I saw Bofo was in Stake Conference my first weekend in Mexico. He was gave a talk about his soon approaching mission call and his expectations and his thoughts on missionary work. That's all I can really tell you about that cuz I was still trying to figure out the language at that point. But, one thing that really stuck out in his talk was his love for the gospel and his dedication to it.

Then.... I got to know Bofo in a social situation. This guy is your typical social butterfly mashed together with your energetic class clown. He knows everyone, always has a joke to tell and he is hilarious. At least I think he is. Haha! He uses so much slang and talks so fast I only understand about half of what he says to other people and next to nothing when he talks to me directly. But, even in spite of my inability to really have a conversation with him for the first month or so, I grew to love this guy soooooo fast. He is one of those people who makes everyone feel included. He can make you laugh and cry in the same instance. He reaches out to everyone and that has been a HUGE blessing to me during my time here. While he is definitely capable of being a complete goof, he can do a 180 and become a serious, humble, spiritual being with many words of wisdom to depart. Seriously, I wish I could just bring him home so everyone could experience the awesomeness that is Bofo.

Ohhh... side note. I found out today that his name actually isn't Bofo. It's Saul. Haha! I love how nicknames work down here. So awesome.

Anyways, Bofo flies out tomorrow to serve a mission for two years in Guatemala. They had a setting apart for him today and it was very different from anything I have experienced in Canada. They held it at the Stake Center and the chapel was just as full as it is on any other Sunday. They had a whole meeting dedicated to him. There were talks given by the bishop, his mom, Bofo and the stake president. Afterwards, everyone had a chance to hug him and say goodbye for the last time. There was a line up that wrapped around the room and everyone sat quietly while hugs were given and tears were shed. It was amazing to see and the feeling as the spirit enveloped the entire room lifted my spirits so much. After that, the Stake President set him apart and gave him a beautiful blessing of comfort, strength and protect. Finally, the Stake choir preformed and I joined them. We actually sounded alright-ish for once! Haha!

I am the first to admit that I really don't know Bofo very well but I can tell you right now based on what I have observed that this man will work miracles over the next two years. He is going to rock that mission like no one else could with his friendly, charismitic ways combined with his solid testimony. I am super proud of him and quite sad to see him go.

Go get him Elder!

Invitation Accepted

So, you know how when you are abroad and people mention how they are thinking about going to Canada and then you say, "Come! It is sooooo awesome! You could come and stay at my place and I will show you around!!" And you know how you say that to EVERYONE and no one ever takes you up on it?? Well, someone took me up on it. Haha!

Looks like I will be bringing home a Mexican! Hahaha! Well, I guess we still have to wait and see if she can get a visa to come, but as long as that happens, it is kinda a done deal. Woot! Looks like Taco Night will be a little bit more Mexican than I had originally planned! Yay! So, everyone brush up on your Spanglish so we can show Datil a good time!

Brrrr....

I am going to die when I come home. It is 14 degrees out today which is like 10 degrees colder than it has ever been since I got here and I am a little scared to leave the house. I am currently wearing every piece of warm clothing I brought with me and I am still cold. I am fairly certain death will come in 35 days when I get on a plane, fly for six-ish hours, and then get off. Slow painful cold death. Not my idea of fun. You guys better make it worth it!! Haha!

Oh well, I am pretty sure the Mexican that is coming home with me will be even colder so at least I will still have someone worse off than me!! Hahaha!



False alarm. It was super nice and super warm out. I have a sunburn to prove it.

Halloween!

Yay for awesome weekends of good fun! We dressed up, partied it up, and danced it up.... A LOT!! I seriously LOVE dancing down here. I am sorry, but in Canada, we kinda suck in the dancing department at times. We give it a solid effort but there just isn't the love for dancing that there is down here which means we all stand in a circle and kinda dance. Down here guys ask girls to dance and they dance Salsa and meringue and banda and anything you ask for really! Boys, take note, a guy that can really dance.... HOT! There was a church dance on Friday night. Random note: they don't turn the lights off at the dances. It is bright and you can see everyone. AND PEOPLE STILL DANCE!! Imagine that!! Moni and I went dressed as ballerinas to the dance. It was pretty awesome. We made our costumes and they were awesome. The entire night was spent dancing and laughing and taking pictures. It was super fun because I am starting to feel like the Mormon's down here are actually my friends and they actually get my personality. It has been a rough ride, but we are getting there. Plus, for some reason, I all of a sudden can keep up with their conversations!! It is seriously SOOOOOO exciting!!!!! I have really had a hard time with all of the slang and with the fact that 18 people are always talking at once. I haven't spent a whole lot of time with this group of people in the last couple weekends and I think the break did me good! I can understand now and it is great.

After the dance, of course, we went out for tacos. Hahaha! I love the little taco stores here. I am super excited to make them for everyone when I get home. You will like them. I promise. And if you don't, you are crazy. We ended up getting home at around 2 and I was in bed by 2:30 which normally isn't too bad except for the fact that as we were going home a group of us girls decided that we would go and do baptisms at the temple in the morning..... at 8.... meaning I had to be out of the house by 7. Me + 4 hours of sleep??? Hahahaha! Yah. Let's just say that didn't happen and we left late and just cabbed it. When we got to the temple, it was PACKED. We sat and waited for four hours until we were able to get in to do baptisms. It was a SUPER long wait considering I was exhausted and the stupid air conditioning made it soooo cold! But, as usual, the wait was worth it and the temple is still awesome.

After, I went home, ate, cleaned, prepped my costume for the party on Saturday evening and then had a wonderful nap! I decided to go as a Canadian hockey fan to this party. Go Canada!! Problem was that I really didn't have the things that I needed to do so. Hahaha! I don't think I did so bad though with what I had! I was pretty worried about this party. The night before had been awesome because if I didn't feel like talking to people or I was struggling with the language, I could just laugh and then dance and people were okay with it. But, this was a party..... with socializing.... and talking..... and nowhere to hide. Ugh..... Turns out it was totally alright though because, apparently, Mexicans dance no matter where they are! Hahaha! Music was playing all night and I probably spent a good hour or two dancing, which is EXHAUSTING and AWESOME! It was sooooo much fun. Some of the guys down here are complete goofs! Oh, we had a good time dancing like complete fools. After that, we had a skipping competition. Yup.... skipping as in what you did when you were ten. It was hilarious!!!! Here we were in the middle of the street late at night skipping. Oh, I love YSA. After we had had enough skipping, the next logical choice was musical chairs. Hahaha! Oh man. I seriously love little kids games and I am awesome at them! Well, mostly. I came in second both times I got to play mostly because I didn't want to squish the princess like girls I was playing against. That's my excuse and I am sticking to it! I ended up with this wicked scratch down my arms from the game though! It was pretty crazy!

Anyways. It was an awesome weekend and it isn't even done. We still have El Día de los Muertos fun to be had! We are definitely holding an FHE type night at our place and we are playing Murder in the Dark!!!! Oh, the joy of introducing awesome games from home to the crowd down here! Love it! 

The bratty twenty-something tagging along

So, this weekend has been quite excellent, quite excellent indeed. I spent this weekend getting a tour of the city. I know I have been here over two months now but I really haven’t seen a whole lot of the city. That being said, there really isn't TONS to see. I have hit some of the highlights but not all of them. So, this weekend, David has a co-worker from Mexico City in town. He was working at our office for the majority of the week but then this weekend David gave him a complete tour of the city. At the party a couple weekends ago, Dave offered to let me come along should I want to see the city highlights with them. And that is exactly what I did!

After work on Friday David, Jean, David's girlfriend Heidi and I spent the night on Chapultapec. Chapultapec is one of the main drags in Guadalajara. The entire street is lined with restaurants of all different varieties. Well, kinda. If you want to eat in Guadalajara you have 4 choices. They are Mexican, Italian, Indian or Sushi. That’s it. We went out and ate Indian at this tiny, adorable little restaurant. I really wish we still had more restaurants like this in Canada or that we took better advantage of them. It seems like anytime we want to eat we head out to one of the many franchises that dot the streets of Edmonton rather than all of the little independent restaurants that can provide some sort of variety or culture into our cookie cutter lives. Anyways, we ate, talked, laughed and then went out for drinks and bar snacks. The bars that I end up going to are really more like Cafes that serve alcohol. They serve these awesome little snack things at almost every one of them. I, for the life of me, can’t remember what they are called but they kinda look like pretzels... kinda, but they are really just flour and water and have very little taste to them. That is compensated for by smothering them with chilli sauce. Quite excellent.

Saturday was even better. Dave, Jean and I spent most of the morning in Centro Historico touring all of the important buildings and seeing all of the sites and fountains and random statues. We spent some time in San Juan de Dios as well.  I have been waiting to hit this place for quite awhile. It is a three story market that is filled with anything you could ever want a counterfeited copy of. Haha! I LOVE it! It is one of those places that you need to hang onto your money or you won’t have any anymore and the little kid next to you will be a little bit richer than he was a couple minutes earlier. It is just filled with people and noise and color and culture! I LOVE it! I think it is like the biggest market in all of Latin America or something like that. Good times.

After our tour of downtown we headed off to Tlaquepaque which I had already been to but I still got to see a lot of different things that I missed the first time through. David took us in to see the collections of some of the local artists and wow! I was amazed by some of the stuff they had there. Granted this is the kind of stuff that doesn’t have price tags because it might actually kill you to know how much they want for it but it was quite nice to look at.

Stop number three was Festival de Octubre. October is a month of celebration apparently and so the carnival came to town! It was like a giant K-Days or Capital Ex or whatever you want to call it. Good times, good times. I haven’t ridden that many rides in years. I was so proud of myself! And I am totally paying for it now with a stomach that is still upset and a splitting headache but it was super fun. Boss = Screaming like a little girl. Jean = Green. Haha! So much laughter and merriment! Jean had a great love for the little carnival games you play hoping to win the stuffed animals. It was so hilarious! He spent a good 80ish pesos or like 8ish bucks on all of these different games and ended up with a little stuffed Patrick at the end of it. He did win a stuffed hamburger toy at one point but that flew the coop while we were ridding the roller coaster. Ohhhh!!! So, they have the most RANDOM stuffed prizes here. They had any vice you could want in the form of a stuffed toy. They had hamburgers, beer, and even cigarettes!!!! Seriously!!! The cigarettes would even say things like, “You are my vice” and other such lovely phrases on them. So hilarious!

After we had had our fill of rides we went to downtown Zapopan to see the cathedral and to have dinner and drinks. The orange juice I ordered was a wonderful combination of tang and McDonald’s orange drink. Yummm. (sarcasm.) The restaurant/bar thing we were at was playing this really heartfelt Spanish music that made me laugh. Secretly I loved it but it was still hilarious to hear it in the setting we were in. I commented on it to Dave and he told me he had requested it especially for me and had dedicated this song to me. Right after he said that, the next full minute of the song was nothing but the lyrics, “I love you” which obviously led to sarcastic jokes about him proposing with a rose in his mouth which was timed wonderfully as a man then walked by selling roses. Oh, I had a good laugh over it.

All in all, it was quite an excellent day. I got to see the sites and spend time with excellent people. It was really interesting to listen to Dave and Jean talk about their jobs and the likes and dislikes and perks and everything. It was interesting to see the impact that this job has on their spouses and on the kids of the employees of DFAIT. I think that would be the only drawback of applying for a job like this. I would love, love, love to work in this position forever but that being said, it would have SUCH an impact on my family and I don’t know how I feel about that. Stupid life decisions! Haha! Interesting situation, Jean has a little one year old daughter. Turns out that she has citizenship in three countries! She was born in Mexico, has Canadian citizenship since her dad is out working on a posting, and her mom is Puerto Rican. That would be so cool! Turns out I am not even allowed to be a Canadian citizen because I get cold at night here in Mexico which clearly leads to me losing my citizenship.

Oh, one last thing. I have the best boss ever. Not only does he let the bratty little twenty-something tag along and spend the weekend touring the city with him but he also refused to let me pay for ANYTHING. I spent a grand total of ten pesos over the entire weekend when I snuck off to buy a bottle of water. That was it. I tried to pay and he refused. He said he was going to cover it since I do all his work. Therefore he was going to pay for my food and drinks and snacks and entrance into the amusement park and the cost of rides ON TOP of picking me up and driving me around and dropping me off. How is that for employee motivation??! If only all bosses could be this awesome. Seriously.

Moral of the story. This weekend = awesome times.

The Happy Worm Song

So, one of the things I appreciate most about my job is the variability. I get the opportunity to work in a number of different industries and research a crap load of different things. It keeps things interesting. So, today I was searching for Canadian companies that can supply a wide arrangement of different products to Mexican companies. Sounds dull, I know. And for awhile it kinda was.... UNTIL there was a change in tone.

I was researching compost bins when I stumbled across this website that was selling red worms for composting. I was a little grossed out by it as it has some nasty looking worm pictures on it. If you walked by my office at the moment it would have been hilarious since I actually had this look of disgust on my face. As I was reading, I saw this link talking about how one of the people who I assume works for / owns the company found a worm crawling up her door. So, what does she do? She takes a video of it and posts it on YouTube. Yup... 1 minute and 19 seconds of a worm crawling up the window. I laughed at her which was when I found out that ...... yes, she felt the need to write "a little ditty" about the situation. Totally made my day!

And then life got even better!! I found another site that was, again, selling worms. Only this time, there was a full fledged song with guitar cords and a chorus. There is even the capability to listen along to the song! AND they had worm jokes. AND (I wish I could make that even bigger than caps! Wait!) AND it just so happens that if you feel the need to spice up your child's birthday, they will come to your kid's party and you can have a worm party!!! SERIOUSLY!!!!!!!! Oh man..... Canadians are weird.....

Here are the links should you feel the need to enjoy the randomness!

http://www.redwormcomposting.com/fun-stuff/red-worm-on-my-window/
http://www.cathyscomposters.com/
http://www.marionparsons.com/Marion_Parsons_Songbook/Vermicomposting_Song.html

Joy.

Creature of Habit

I am a creature of habit. No, that is not quite true. I am just so averse to change that I fall into habits in an effort to hide from change and the unknown that is coupled with it. I am the kind of person that is completely thrown off EVERY single September, January, and May because life changes. Even something as simple as returning to school can throw me for a loop that will inevitably drive me, my roommates, and my mother crazy (since they are the ones who usually have to listen to me rant). That being said, I continue to marvel at the fact that I enjoy throwing myself into these adventures abroad. EVERYTHING about Mexico is different; the people, the culture, the language, the food, the buses, the grocery stores, the music, the social interactions, etc, etc. I come to these countries and I throw myself 10000% out of my comfort zone and then I spend the next X number of months fighting against the immense challenge this change is to me. My time abroad is inescapably a wide array of emotions. (Who am I kidding? My LIFE is a wide array of emotions.) Sometimes I do really well and I have a blast and I laugh and experience and learn and grow. Sometimes I just suck at it and I cry like a little baby for my mom... literally. Haha!

I miss my family and the comfort of a mother’s or sister’s hug. I long for my friends and for the peaceful feeling of walking into a room and feeling completely comfortable because I know I am surrounded by friends who love and support me. I miss people understanding me! Stupid language.... I love the language, I just miss that I can’t express my personality to the same degree in Spanish and I sometimes end up coming across a little bit dull.

So, I slip back into my habits to dull the change for a little bit until I am back on top of my game. I eat Canadian food, I listen to Dan Mangan’s CD (yet again), and I reminisce about home. The point is that sometimes it sucks being abroad. But, if I could rewind time and do this whole semester all over again, would I change anything? Nope, not at all, because although it sometimes sucks being abroad, the vast majority of the time is freaking awesome. If I did it all over again, I would still be here in Mexico. I would still live with a roommate who is 100% opposite of me. I would still abandon all comfort and throw myself into this situation where I can grow and salsa dance and eat tacos while speaking Spanish. I know without a doubt that at the end of it all, I will come home and I look back and I will be immeasurably glad that I abandoned everything that I cling to for comfort to have this experience. I will be better for it.

Thank heavens for the bitter to make the sweet that much more delicious!

Vegan Burgers, Work Party, and Drunk Boss

Holy crap, funnest night of my life! Seriously, so much fun that I used the word funnest. Hey! I didn't start this post with so! Go me! It is late and I am kinda all over the place if you can't tell! Haha!

Anyways, our post just got a new Consul and so we had a welcoming BBQ for her this evening at my boss' place and ohhhhh how much joy this party brought me. I found joy in a number of things.

1) Mango Pico de Gallo - I have no idea how Dave made this but dang do I need to learn because it tasted sooooo good! Throw that on your bean and chipotle burger and you have one fine vegan burger! I even ate a stuffed mushroom today! Look how adventurous I am being with foods I NEVER eat in Canada. You should be proud of me.
2) Conversations in Spanish - I sat and talked with one of the Mexican students that also works at the Consulate. The Canadian students don't really have a chance to interact with the Spanish ones so it was really nice to have the chance. We are actually going to go and see a movie tomorrow! Yay for friends that speak Spanish!
3) Mexican Feeling - I don't know what it is but Mexicans just have this different feeling when they socialize. I have no idea what it is but it is so nice to just feel this different culture and the observe how they interact and what they say and how they say it and such. It is seriously my favorite part of travelling.
4) Drunk Boss = Drunk Ted - ohhhhh my goodness. My boss got PLASTERED tonight. It was one of the most hilarious things I have ever seen. I have seen him drink before but never like he did tonight. He said he drank two bottles of wine and tequila. That being said, he was drunk when he was telling me this so who knows how much he had. But, basically, for anyone that has seen How I Met Your Mother, he was EXACTLY like drunk Ted. Brought me SOOO much joy. Good times, good times.

Basically, I really feel the most comfort when I am at work in this country and even more so after this party. It was entertaining and hilarious and I laughed and laughed and joked and spoke up and was myself and still was able to uphold my standards and actually have quite a long conversation about the church. That being said, it was with my drunk boss so I don't know if that counts :) Haha! All and all. Good times.

Day Effie (Mexico City)

So, at the beginning of October.... Do I start every one of my posts with so?? Wow... I never professed to be an amazing author. I guess that proves it! Anyways, at the beginning of October, I went to DF (Mexico City) for the weekend with my roommate. It was quite excellent!

We jumped on a bus at midnight and had quite an uncomfortable sleep for the next 7 hours. Oh, side note, these buses TOTALLY trump Greyhound buses. Seriously. This is like sitting in first class on a plane, but with more room! Still isn’t quite a bed though. I should have taken the bus that comes with a bed. Someone should invent that. Anyways, rode the bus. Got to DF. Rode the subway. Dude! This city has a subway system quite similar to New York City. It was AWESOME! I love NYC and I love anything that reminds me of NYC. Quite great. And sooooo cheap! It costs 3 pesos to ride which is like 25 cents ish. So great!

We took the subway to the temple and spent most of the day there. I LOVE the temple in DF. It is one of the most beautiful ones I have seen. It has this Aztec feeling to it. My roommate went and did a session because she is endowed while I tried to get in to do baptisms. I failed. 3 stakes in a row failed to show up. The little old men at the door were so kind to me though. We sat and talked for quite awhile and laughed and it was great. At the end I went to use the washroom and ended up walking through the baptismal area. It literally took my breath away. It is the most beautiful baptismal font I have seen in the temples I have been to. I so wish I could have done baptisms. It’s all good though. I got to spend a bunch of time in the visitor’s center. It is quite similar to Salt Lake City’s visitor’s center, just on a smaller scale. I spent a bunch of time and money in the bookstore too. I love the church bookstore! Especially when it is Mexico cheap! Ps... living in Mexico is not as cheap as you would expect.

After this, we went to Moni’s aunt’s house to drop off our stuff. We spent the evening out on the town. We went down to Centro Historico and saw all of the crazy decorations they had up for the Bicentennial, and all of the old architecture, and the Cathedral all lit up against the night sky. And then we went out dancing with some of Moni’s friends. I really dislike getting stuck in these situations. On the one hand, it is too dangerous for me to get in a taxi and go home and I could direct a taxi to Moni’s aunt’s place if I wanted to. On the other hand, I really hate going into these clubs and these bars. I thought it would be different if I were living with a member, but nope. Members down here have different standards than in Canada.

Day 2 was spent seeing the sights. We went and walked through the cathedral. I love seeing other people’s churches. It creeped Moni out but I find it fascinating to see these grand cathedrals with gold everywhere and statues and high ceilings and arches and domes. I still like our temples more, but it is interesting. After that we spent a couple hours in some Aztec ruins. Before Spain conquered Mexico, there was this huge Aztec village. After the Spanish came they literally built their Cathedral practically on top of the Aztec town. So, there is this underground Aztec museum that is right next to the Cathedral which was placed as what you could call a symbol of the Spanish dominance. Super interesting. There was also this museum with all of these different artefacts that have been recovered. After we spent tons of time there we went through the craziest market I have been in! It was sooo ridiculous and busy and filled with people.... EVERYWHERE!

That night we went to Moni’s friend’s wedding. It was in a castle. Like, literally, it was in a castle. It was quite an adventure. There was a fully catered meal and a dance and awesome wedding type games. There was this one thing they did where first all of the girls did this congo line. The bride and groom stood on chairs and made a London-Bridge-Is-Falling-Down type bridge and had two people holding onto each of them. The whole point of the congo line was to try and knock them off the chairs as you went under this bridge. The girls were dainty in their Mexican high heels and such, but when it was the guys turn, oh man was it hilarious! It was quite an excellent night.

The next day was conference in the morning and then I jumped on a bus and came home! Overall, Mexico City is a HUGE city that is hip-happening and has this feeling of energy. It has a REAL big city feel and I loved it! I don’t think I could ever live there. It is too big and wayyyyy too polluted for me. But it is a must see if you are down in Mexico. And that’s all I have to say on that.

8 Hours a Day of Awesomeness!!

Sooooo..... holy junk has a lot happened since my last post. And I shall tell you all about it right now! Probably in more than one post; it just makes more sense. Let’s start with the super, fabulous, wonderful, marvellous, awe-inspiring, enjoyable, tremendous, excellent job that I love, like a lot.

Right now I am working as an intern for the Canadian Consulate in Guadalajara. This post only offers two of the three services that Consulates can offer; the trade sector and consular services (helping Canadians who go to jail, lose their passport, etc.). I am working as a research/legwork assistant to a couple of the trade commissioners. I mainly work with David, the Vice-Consul who is from Canada, is super young for the position he has and is quite hilarious ! Basically, a super awesome boss and a lot like me in many ways. For example, the other day he walked into my office and said, “Randi, your work sucks. You need to do better.” And then he immediately started talking about how on ANTM they give feedback that really is useless and doesn’t help them at all. Haha! So much joy!

I swear I got the good end of the stick on this job. There is one other Canadian student here right now from the UofA, Peter. He got here a week later than me and I swear that week was SUCH a blessing for me. It meant that I got paired with David. This is awesome for a number of reasons. A) His sectors are more interesting to me. Right now I am mostly working with the forestry industry and I also am working on this report about the level of danger present in Guadalajara. I believe this beats the cattle sector and marbles. Haha! B) David and I get along and can relate a lot better than I can with the other trade commissioners. We have a similar sense of humour which means we joke around a lot more than I do with the other commissioners and we are closer in age than the other trade commissioners. C) I seem to get some pretty awesome activities that for some reason, Peter, just seems to miss out on for whatever reason.

For example, I got to attend the Aerospace Meetings – this giant expo about, well, Aerospace. This was a three day event and it was a BLAST. On Monday night there was a cocktail party that the Canadian Consulate and Embassy were hosting together. It was interesting to watch this networking meeting. It was really like an ant farm of people schmoozing. I felt COMPLETELY out of place because I was a student and really had no need to network with anyone but I enjoyed the free food and drinks! Hahaha! And at the end of the night, I didn’t need to catch a cab home because David drove me home! Bonus!! Day 2 was a really, really long day. I started at 8:30 at the expo. Basically my job for two days was to man the booth that we had and promote the Canadian Aerospace Industry and hand out information. It was really interesting. Something most people won’t know – Spanish in a French accent is practically impossible to understand. There were a lot of people from Quebec there so I interacted with a lot of French. I decided I need to learn that language, especially if I want to end up working for the Federal Government which I really think I want to do. So, I hung out in the booth and practised my Spanish, stumbled through French, and made a bunch of contacts. Pretty awesome. I finished up at around 6 and was going to head home, but there as this Gala Dinner and Vero convinced me that I should go and I am SOOOO glad that I did! It was awesome. I drove there with David and we just laughed and joked. Seriously, it is so nice to have at least one person here who I can joke around with. The Mexicans really don’t get my humour most of the time. The Gala Dinner was at Cabañas, which is this huge castle like building in Centro Historico. This is the same building that Obama came to when he came down to visit Calderón and they had a big catered dinner for him. When you go in, there is this gorgeous courtyard with orange trees all around. We stood around for awhile and had more alcohol. I love the looks people give you when you turn down tequila down here. (ps.... Jalisco, the state I am in, is the home of tequila.) The whole time there was a full on Mariachi band playing in their cute little outfits. So quaint! After that we went through this hall where there are tons of super famous murals on the roof. It was breath taking and the pictures really don’t do it justice. Finally, we ended up in the inner courtyard where they had DECKED out the place. This was an all on gala dinner. Nothing was held back. There was your choice of basically anything to drink and waiters in their little outfits everywhere. While we were eating the mariachi band played and we had a bunch of traditional dances. David and I made fun of their outfits basically the entire time. We mocked everything from the guy who looked like he had a ping pong paddle on his head to the person who looked like a walking piñata. Dinner was hands down THE best meal I have ever had. Seriously. We started with a bunch of appetizers. Who knew I would like a tuna stuffed/breaded chilli pepper? Then we had basil soup. I seriously wish my camera hadn’t died cuz I wish I had pictures for you. First they brought out all of the dishes that were decorated at the bottom like a little colourful garden and then they came around and poured the soup on top of it. It felt so rich and classy! Then we had a choice of fish or some kind of meat. I have given up on asking questions about the meat here. Finally we had THE BEST dessert I have ever had. It was this banana, chilled sorbet-ice cream thing that was to DIE for!! Seriously, sooooo good! We left at that point but as we were leaving they were giving you a choice of whatever coffee you would like, espressos, lattes, the whole bit. It was the coolest thing I have ever been to. Seriously, the perks of my job are awesome!

And then on Friday, Vero asked me to help her with some photocopying and such and as I finished it she said she was going to do a presentation at the University of Guadalajara and asked if I would like to come. I said sure. It beat doing research on pesticides in Guadalajara! On the way she briefed me on the purpose of the presentation and then told me that I would have 2-5 minutes to talk about my University back in Canada and tell the kids in this auditorium to take advantage of the exchange programs. At the end of her explanation I said, “So, I can do this in English right?” And everyone in the car hesitated and then said “No...... Spanish would be better.” So, here I was with about 15 minutes to prep a 2-5 minute presentation on the UofA. Turns out I really don’t know a whole lot about my school! Thank heavens for the little brochure they gave me! I totally nailed it though! It was awesome! I really didn’t think I would but it worked out soooo good! I even had the whole place laughing and got to sit and talk to some of the students after. It was so awesome! And then I got free lunch (even though I got tricked into eating sushi. Oh and I had a cucumber and lime drink. Quite good actually!) and the rest of the afternoon off to go and see the Alberta Learning Office thing that is set up here in Guadalajara.

Basically, after all of my rambling, the conclusion you should draw is that my job is awesome. It is exactly what I have been studying in University. It deals with different cultures and languages which I love. It gives people the opportunity to explore the world and travel around to different areas and get paid to learn different languages. Basically it is my dream job. So, I am now taking applications for any boys who want to be my husband and travel the world with me. Contact me if you want further information on the application process.

Love and Hate

Let's start with the hate.

I HATE this dog that I live with all the hatred I can possibly muster. Every single night I go to bed thinking how much I hate it and every morning it is the first thing I hear. For you see, night time is when my roommate gets home and the spoiled little princess gets to do whatever she wants. By the end of the night, I am going crazy. Yesterday, she ate huge chunks of my underwear. Like ate them as in they are gone. Now people who know me will simple say, Randi, you leave your clothes everywhere. It's really your fault. But no, I am super clean down here and it is not my fault. It is the little devils fault. And then, every single stinkin' morning I get woken up about an hour earlier than I need to get up by this stupid dog who won't quit yapping. BLAH!!!! And those who know me know that I am not all that happy in the morning to begin with!

Just let it be known that the little dog and I are not quite friends and we can leave it at that.

Love.

I love, love, love, love, love my job. Seriously. I am working as an intern at the Canadian Consulate as an assistant to the Trade Commissioners. Basically, that means I do whatever they tell me to do which usually ends up being the leg work they don't have time to do. I am totally alright with it though. I actually love it about 95% of the time. There are two Canadian interns working right now; Peter and myself. I arrived at the consulate a week earlier than he did and man did that week make all the difference!! I got the longer tour and the first day my boss spent almost entirely with me showing me around and walking me over to the restaurant we usually eat at and waiting while I got my food and everything. Peter got about an hour long shpeel and was left to fend for himself or come to me. Hahaha! I also got paired up with my rather attractive boss as my Trade Commissioner. Dang, I was soooooo lucky. A) His work is a tad bit more interesting that the bovine industry that Peter is working with. B) My boss is hotter than his boss. C) My boss is Canadian which means he understands my Canadian humour a little bit more. D) I am somehow getting put on some pretty awesome projects. For example, today I was informed that I am going to be a part of the Aerospace Meetings that are happening in Guadalajara. What that means is that I get to spend a couple days planning, setting up, and then hanging out at a booth pretending I speak Spanish, networking, and talking to semi-important people. I also get to go to a cocktail party and get all dressed up and I get free lunch! That should be fun. Oh!! And the building that our party is happening at is also the same place that there is some United Nations shin-dig happening which means Felipe Calderon will be in town, in the building, and might possibly stop by our function. How freaking cool would that be!! Hahaha! Yup, basically this is awesome. I love it. It is what I am good at. I love languages, I love planning things, I love working on projects, and I love learning about all of these random different industries. I am seriously considering making this a career. Yup. Tonight the love goes out to all the Trade Commissioners in the world.

Collection of Random Thoughts

Random Thoughts:

1) Some of the toilets here have this foot pedal for flushing them instead of using your hand. It is the most intelligent and awesome thing ever. One day at work I will take my camera to the bathroom with me and take a picture so everyone can see. Hahaha! Can you imagine hearing someone taking a picture in a bathroom stall? Oh man, I am totally going to be that person!

2) The movie theatres here have arm rests that you can move out of the way! Again, genius! That way they are out of the way should you feel the need to cuddle! And if the theatre is empty, you could just lift them all up and then lay down across the seats!! I should bring this back to Canada and make millions.

3) They have what is called a VIP theatre down here and I NEED to go. Apparently for the same price as a movie in Canada (or maybe it is still a little bit less) you can go to these theatres where they have Lazy-boy chairs that you sit in and there are waiters that come around and take your order and everything! I can't wait to go! Seriously! How awesome is that!!!

4) You know those cookies you can get that are pure sugar and they come in either pink or chocolate or vanilla. You know, the wafer ones? I swear, every country in the world has those cookies and it brings me so much joy!

5) The brand name for bread here is Bimbo bread. Hahaha! Love it.

6) In grocery stores they have people hired to try and sell you food. Not just like samples but people who approach you and tell you all about how awesome this brand of rice is and that if you buy it you get this plastic container with it! It scares me. I actually go out of my way to avoid them. Hahaha!

Oh! I went and saw a Mexican movie last night. I was super scared that I wasn't going to understand anything cuz it is very Mexican and it is in Spanish which I have learned I don't speak. BUT.... I wasn't completely lost! There were definitely times where everyone was laughing and I was going uuuughhhhh but overall, I survived! Go me!

That's all I've got for now.
Adios!

Bailamos Salsa!!

I had SOOOOOOOOOO MUCH FUN last night! Yup, that is right, enough to warrant capital letters. There was this stake activity yesterday which was this to celebrate Mexico. I swear the month of September is one big party celebrating Mexico's independence. I love it. So, I bussed down on my own which was quite the adventure but I made it. And seriously!! Who puts a GIANT stinky cow farm in the middle of a city of over 4 million people?!? Seriously!

So, I got there late and so I only got to see the end but basically what it was was a night of traditional dances and traditional food. So, each Stake was assigned a part of Mexico to represent and they put together a traditional dance with the outfits and everything from that area and then they put together an meal from there as well. It was sooooo fun to watch! And eat! Hahaha!

After that, we went out for Italian food with a couple of Moni's friends and then we went out DANCING! Now, I always worry when I go out dancing in these Latin-American countries. Latino boys are a lot more forward then Canadian boys and being white can sometimes make you a target. Plus, you go into the bars and whoosh there goes the Spirit and you are left to fend them off on your own. But, we were going with a group of about 15 members or so and it was a Salsa club, not a Reggaeton club, so I thought it would be alright and man was I right! SOO SOOO SOOOO much fun! We got there and after about a song this guy, Alejandro (or Fernando..... I am terrible with names in English. It is worse in Spanish. And it was loud in my defence!) asked me to dance. And then I spent the rest of the night dancing with this guy. It was a blast. I have been out Salsa dancing once or twice before but never with anyone who really knew what they were doing. And it is soooo much more fun and way simpler if you have a guy who knows how to lead! By the end I could barely catch my breath but it was so awesome! Seriously! We decided by the end of the night that I was good enough to pass for a Cuban! Hahaha! I don't know why he picked Cuban, but whatever. It was fun.

We danced until about 2:30 in the morning until the live band was finished for the night and the club was closing down. It was so much fun. Seriously. I know I have said that a lot but I had a complete blast. At the end of the night my roommate turned to me and said, I didn't know you could dance! Man, what a compliment that was!! Hahaha! I mean, I stumble around like a white girl, I know that, but she said I didn't look that terrible either! Woot! Afterwards it took us like an hour and a half to drive around and get dropped off and so we had a sing-a-long dance party in the car that was PACKED with people. Such a blast. Hahaha!

Yay for a night of awesome Mexican fun!

Family Home Evening.... en Español.

So, last Sunday was quite an excellent day. I got up and got dressed and looked super hot (of course!). I went to church with my roommate and had quite a good time. Church in Spanish is EXACTLY the same as church in English. It just hurts my head a little to focus that hard for three hours in Spanish. It can pretty intense at times. It was pretty awesome. I finally met the girl who helped me find my roommate too! I was super lucky to have an old roommate who married a guy who served his mission who knows this girl who knows my current roommate! Hahah!

Anyways, after Church, I came home with my roommate, Moni, and she told me that our house had been volunteered to host FHE that night. Yay FHE! I was really excited actually. It was exciting to have people at my house where I felt a little more comfortable than at the church or an activity where I sometimes feel super lost. Haha! So, we were in charge of everything. So, in the end, I got to plan half of the lesson (in Spanish) and pick the game we were going to play. I was super excited. I sat down and spent most of the afternoon figuring out exactly what I wanted to say in Spanish and how I would say it. I looked up scriptures in Spanish and figured it all out. I figured everything out right before it was time to leave to go to choir.

Oh yah, I joined the Stake choir. It is soooooooo funny. Seriously, Mexicans can't really sing, at all. They try, they really do. But, no one knows how to play the piano which means usually they are singing acapella which let’s face it, doesn't really work if you don't know the song and you haven't had experience singing. It is hilarious. So, we are singing Christmas carols, which I have sung before. So, I just jumped in and sang harmony and had a grand old time stumbling along with everyone else and I turned into a semi- celebrity at choir. It was hilarious! They were so amazed that I could just pick it up and especially that I could keep it up when everyone else was singing. It brought me a lot of joy!

After getting through a hymn and a half in around an hour and a half, we went back home for FHE. Now, here is where the problem began. I had put all of this prep into preparing this lesson, but I had never thought to practise saying it out loud. So, when everyone had finally arrived and it was time for the lesson, I completely froze. Seriously. It was the most frustrating thing I have ever experienced and I wanted to just fall over and cry. I love, love, love teaching. I love getting up and sharing my testimony and the things that I have learned and so I was devastated when I was suddenly unable to do that because I suddenly couldn't string a sentence together. It was terrible. Okay, it wasn't that terrible. I got my point across and people understood well enough and I didn't die but still. I felt like such a fool and all I wanted to do was flee to my room and never come out again. But I didn't!

After then lesson, I taught them how to play one of those story writing games where you write a sentence and then the next person draws a picture of that sentence and then the next person has to write a sentence about the picture without seeing the original sentence. It was quite excellent. We laughed and laughed and laughed in the end. And then they decided we should play telephone. Well, I don't like telephone in English so whoever thought I would like it is Spanish is completely wrong. Man, I messed that game up sooooooo much. And not in the funny way but in the frustrating oh why can't she speak English kind of way. But, I wasn't alone. There is this girl here from Brazil and her Spanish is imperfect just like mine. So take that world!

Anyways, by the time everyone left at around 11:30 or a little after that, I was completely wound up and still shaking. It was a fun night though. I am starting to make friends that I would feel comfortable calling my friends. Good times were had and I didn't die from giving such a terribly presented lesson! Yay for lessons learned!!

Besos a todos!

¡El Grito! ¡Vivo México!

Oh man, Mexicans are so much fun! So, Wednesday was the Bicentennial celebration of the Indepence of Mexico and the Centennial of the abolishment of slavery, so to say the least, we had quite a party!! Hahaha!

I started the day off by going to work and subsequently getting off early. Yay for short days! Peter and I then went to my place to change out of our work clothes and go and play! Peter is the other Canadian intern that is working at the Canadian Consulate with me. We jumped on a bus and headed down to Centro Historico to spend the day celebrating! It was ridiculous! We got there and the first thing we noticed was this GIANT sandwich and I mean GIANT! It stretched around the entire perimeter of the main plaza. I wish I knew exactly how long it was but just imagine the worlds largest Torte Ahogado and that is what was there. And it sat there in the sun for quite awhile before they started serving people. They easily were serving that sandwich for around an hour. It brought me so much joy! Haha!

Downtown was just full of crazy fun. They had a carnival set up in one plaza and a bunch of street vendors in another plaza. They were selling everything from face paint to mustaches to socks. We wandered around and ate a whole bunch of random food and did a lot of people watching. We also burned to a nice crisp while we were there. It made me laugh because as we walked around we naturally would stay in the sun while all of the Mexicans had this talent for finding the shade and sticking to it. Made us laugh.

Side note: Mexican children are SO cute! I just want to steal one and take it home with me!

After we spent many, many hours wandering around the different plazas and eating and looking in churches and such, we set up camp in the main plaza to wait for the main event to take place. It was the strangest event I have ever attended. Strangest is the wrong word.... It was just very different from how I would have done it. This was the evenings itinerary.

1) Opera singer with a string orchestra
2) Long break with nothing
3) Freaking awesome firework show!! The person standing two people over from me got hit in the head with a firework! Hahaha! It was hilarious.
4) More dead air time.
5) A full orchestra performance
6) More dead air time.
7) El Grito
8) Lamer fireworks

It was so weird! We constantly thought something awesome was going to happen and then it didn't. Haha! And the entire time there was a clock counting down right in front of us so we could watch the minutes of dead air time tick by!

El Grito was SOOO cool! There were a bunch of soldiers who came marching up to the Governor in a really traditional way where their feet were coming right up so they were at a 90 degree angle. Hard to explain but it brought me much joy. They brought a Mexican flag up to the Governor who then brought it out onto the balcony who looked out onto the plaza that was PACKED to the brim. The Governor then came out and made this really passionate speech about Mexico and their independence and a bunch of other stuff. He would say a sentence and then the entire crowd would scream ¡Viva! It was so awesome! Seriously! I felt so patriotic!

Anyways. It was an awesome night. My feet were killing me by the end but it was totally worth it. Such a good night! Living here is pretty great! Viva Mexico!

Random Stories from Week 1

I have decided that living in another country is like going through Make-a-Fool-of-Yourself School. Seriously! I finally think that I am starting to understand the accent here well enough that I don't like a complete idiot when I start to learn that I have been breaking EVERY social norm these people seem to have! I can't win!!! Oh well. I will get there?? Right?? Or I will just be a complete snob and kill the stereotype for all the rest of you that Canadians are nice.

So, random stories.

My Little Jail
So, I flew into Guadalajara and finally arrived at my house and it was around 6:30ish in the morning. So, I chatted with my roommate, Moni, a little and then I zonked out on the floor. Moni had told me that the lady that cleans our apartment would be coming around in the morning but I slept right through that. Turns out that was a bad idea because she was supposed to give me her keys. Which she didn't. And then she locked the deadbolt on the apartment and left me there. Little known fact, the deadbolt that I have on my apartment needs a key to be opened..... from the outside AND from inside. So, I woke up, cleaned up, unpacked and all of that and when I tried to leave to go and get some food, surprise, surprise, I was locked inside! Hahaha! So, I stayed there until 9:00 pm when my roommate finally came home. Good times, good times.

My Bus Misadventure
Guadalajara is made up of 5 different cities. I live right on the border of one of those in a city called Zapopan. On Saturday I decided to jump on a bus and go down to Centro Historico and check out all of the old buildings and the markets and things like that. I had been on this bus once before and failed to find what I was looking for but stubborn me was determined to find it this time. So, I jumped on the bus and turns out I was a little tired because next thing I knew, I woke up and I was in Tonola. This meant that somehow I had gone through Guadalajara AND Tlaquepaque to end up in Tonola. Good times! So I jumped off that bus right away and caught one heading back in the other direction. On the way I saw a market and decided I should go considering my plans to see Centro Historico weren't going so well. Turns out this market is for all your screamer-emos!! There was a very angry band playing and there were stalls selling corsets and teddy bears with sharp teeth and claws and all of those happy things you usually find at a market! Haha! I had a good laugh and then went home.

Blue Water
The water in my toilet is blue. All the time.

The Dog and my Underwear
Moni has a dog and this thing is her little baby. To the point that it has its own room. Yup. I actually like the little guy... girl?? I have no idea actually. He/she plays with me and will cuddle next to me while I watch a movie and barks ALLLL the time. It's a good little dog. The only complaint I have is that Tashi likes to eat my underwear. Now clearly I don't just leave my underwear lying around my room, that would be weird. But somehow this dog manages to get INTO my underwear draw in order to find my underwear so that it can chew on it. I have NO idea how he/she does it! It is hilarious! And not... all at the same time.

Well, that's all I have for now. Don't miss me too much! Haha!

Let's Start From the Very Beginning

As some of you may know, I like traveling. Quite a bit actually. So, over the last almost 3 years I have been itching to get out of the country. Not because I don't love Canada and all of the people in it but more so for the change and the opportunity to explore and learn and experience life in a different culture. So, after many failed attempts at running away, this trip finally fell together!

Now I can finally say, ¡Adios Canadá y hola México! It has been quite the journey but I made it. My first day in the country was quite an interesting one. I got to my apartment at about 6ish in the morning, met my roommate, and then I was out like a light. I slept until about 1:30 in the afternoon on a blanket on the tile floor. I woke up feeling refreshed and rejuvenated and ready to go! So, I jumped up, got ready and then went to leave the apartment. Sadly, when the lady who cleans the apartment left in the morning, she locked the deadbolt behind her. Now, here is a little known fact. The deadbolt on the door to my apartment needs a key to get in..... AND to get out. So, yay! I was locked in my apartment, sin comida y agua until about 9:00 that night. Haha! At least I got finish little women!

That was the start of my adventure and it just keeps getting better. Yes, I miss everyone a lot and wish I could have you all here with me. But, I can't and so I will just have to live it up without you!

Love and miss you all,
Randi

Ps... the afternoon rainstorm made the mariachi concert outside my house stop! Lame! But don't worry, the 24-hour soccer game is still going strong!