Little bit o' this, little bit o' that

So for this blog I'm just going to copy and paste the little blurbs I've been putting on to Word....seems easier than trying to rewrite everything in some special way. I'll start each day's entries with the day's name, so I guess it'll be a bit like one of those (some times cheesy) little diary books.... Anyhoo, here goes

MondayPicture from Independence Day past....just to illustrate the idea of fireworks (:

Off in the distance fireworks keep going off. I heard them early this morning, when it still basically counted as night. Today afternoon I was standing in the kitchen and heard some go off, and asked D what they were. She explained that, as the Virgin of Guadalupe appeared on December 12^th, all of the really religious people celebrate in some way on the 12^th of every month, and a part of that celebration includes fireworks

Picture of the Soriana in Reynosa, 'cause I don't yet have one of Tc's. The one here in Tc has a less colourful sign.

I didn’t really do much of anything on Monday….went to Soriana with D, as well as a pan (bread) place which was absolutely delightful…got a little pastry, and she and I both got her favourite, rolls that are so fluffy (and were still warm-she said it was the best she’d had them), and a bit sweet, so quite nice. We talked about the change from Gigante to Soriana, which apparently started in the north and then moved throughout the country.

She said Soriana is worse quality, so she doesn’t like the change. Next time I go I’m going to take a picture, just to put along with my ones from Reynosa…

Tuesday-Tenís y cumpleaños

One of C's friends from school

Today I sat around doing computery stuff until around 4, when C was actually pretty prompt in calling me, as promised yesterday, for tennis. Turns out she has a class in the Parque that starts at 4:30, so I reckon that’s part of why we were so on time. So we went to the class, everyone’s still just beginning, and after a while it ended and most left, but we stayed and played, and eventually some guys she knows came, and the two courts needed to be shared by eight people.

Guy on the right we didn't know. When we played doubles, I was on his team. He was pretty nice, and patient to make sure I understood the rules (and the Spanish haha). Guy in the background is one of C's friends, and quite good at tennis.

So the two who had been there a while just kept playing on the other side, but us who had been discussing split up, and the boys played at first, and then after a while we girls split onto different teams and the boys walked us through the real rules. My teammate, Nacho (not some one that C knows, just a random person, though she knows the girl who came later and I’m assuming is his novia), had to repeat a lot for me, since I’m not familiar with rules in Spanish. But he was a really good player, and we won. Like, every time. It was fun.

Then after C and I came back we got ready to go to L’s fiesta para su cumpleaños. I went with D, who had made the cake. There were only a few at first, and they platicado (chatted) for a while, some times to each other, which I understood some what, and some times to me, asking about things, and repeating stuff for me, and helping me with some words and stuff. It was nice to have D there, so that I didn’t have to describe everything, but could merely ask. More people came after a while, there were tostadas, eventually cake. I went and played with the kids for a while, took pictures (partly because Dad wanted me to since he didn’t come), changed my batteries so I could actually use the flash (it stops working when it's low batteried), and then we left. Tomorrow I’m getting up early to go to the university with C. Yay!

These next several were taken, as you might be able to tell, in a row. I wanted a picture with the kids, and they started gettin' rowdy and these great pictures are the result. The next to last one was right after some one threw a stuffed animal at D (did I mention we had been throwing animals at each other a few minutes before? See video...) and my face shows my amusement mixed with a little bit of surprise.

Wednesday-escuela? Pero ya empece mis vacaciones! (School? But I'm already on break!)

Taking morning pictures before C was ready to leave for the tecnico

So I got up at 6:30 this morning. I dressed quickly, refreshed my makeup (which I had pretty much left on from the night before), and then had 20 minutes to eat breakfast before 7, when C had told me to be outside. I went out at seven, took some pictures of the ivy, and eventually her dad invited me into the house. She was running a bit late (which seems to be her norm haha), and we got to the university a bit late. Her mom drove us, and it took a decent amount of time. So we went right into the first class, derecho (law), where the maestro was reading out of some book, and his voice was extremely soporific. As in, if I had him on tape I would turn it on to make me fall asleep. Then there was administración, and there was an oral exam. When she asked, most students straight up told the maestra, who seemed like she must be friendly and cool but strict with rules and work, that they hadn’t studied, so she said they could take it on Monday (I didn’t understand whether they lose any points or not). C and four boys had studied, so they stayed. She did her part 2^nd, so then we left. She told a couple of people who asked that she had said a ton of stuff and the maestra finally said she could get a 90 (out of 100) if she brought an ensayo (essay) in on Monday "dije un montón, y me dijo que si trajo un ensayo el lunes va a darme una noventa, y lo dijo a los otros, también:. . The prof also apparently told the boys the same thing. In between classes, we met people. There were the two boys from tennis, and a guy I remembered from when she had stopped to say hi to several people on the way out of the concert.

Making stuff for Teacher's Day

Tomorrow is El Día de los Maestros (Teacher’s Day), when people celebrate their teachers, and there isn’t school. A bunch of the girls had bought little plastic Bibles (because there were no plain old book shapes) and put little letter stickers on them, and rhinestones, and bows made of ribbons…I was on the ribbon-making crew. Fifty-one white, and then a mix of blue and pink. I guess there must have been one coloured and one white on each. We desayuno-d (ate lunch) at one point before that, and then after C and B and I took a bus to this place on the opposite edge of town from where she lives, that was basically like a smallish American mall.

On the bus

On the bus again, laughing at the difficulty of taking pictures with bumps on the road and no shocks on the bus

Waiting to cross the street...mall in the background

There were these weird mannequins... So of course, we had to take pictures with them (until some one told us that even though she didn't care the rule was that we couldn't take pictures in the store)

It’s still under construction, but there was a Sams Club whose building honestly didn’t look different from American ones at all. Then the main area had a Liverpool, Sears (seh-ahhrs), and C&A (ad some restaurant). Between the Sears and C&A is under construction so we got to walk between them in the heat. I was extremely thirsty, so I bought a water (for 500 ml? ~$0.45 American), and the icee machine in Sears wasn’t working so we went to the C&A and got mango smoothies (Dad was sooooo jealous that I got one without him….and I haven’t even showed him the pictures yet).

I wanted to take an incognito picture of the construction, mostly because it seemed so funny to me that US malls would generally wait until it was all finished to let people come in, but they just let people walk through the completely unfinished drywall and construction and stuff...

They started joking about freaking out about the light, "Mom says not to look at the light!! Augh!!" So that's what the hand is about.

Seriously, am I still in mexico?

mmm, mango smoothies!

We took a taxi back to the house, and arrived a bit before 4. Not having gotten enough sleep last night, and then being awake so early, I was pretty exhausted and went to descansar (rest). I tried using my computer, loaded the pictures, but then Word froze up so I just turned it off. I lay down, and after a while fell asleep. I woke up a couple of times, but other than turning to my other side at those occasions, I didn’t move. I conked out for three hours, with like all-out dreams and stuff. I woke up for dinner; and afterwards Dad and I went on a walk, out to the main road and back. We’ve been going on walks several evenings and just talking, which has been quite nice.