LOS DELFINES! : part 2

as promised, here is part 2!

that night.....i met up with the "non-delfin" and we rode the bus to the house of delfin 3. "non-delfin" and i had a great chat, i enjoyed it immensely, plus he is the only that doesn't speak in english (or try to) so i'm forced to speak spanish. thank you "non-delfin", i am forever indebted to you!

we arrived at delfin 3's house and listened to some awesome technoyish music. delfin 3 turned on his black light and we started raving! well, they did....and i watched! they were very impressed (or surprised!) when they found out that my sister and i own 4 black lights! TECHNO TWINS!!!!!!!!

then we started walking to the party, only to call some guy to pick us up. he picked us up in the most awesome VW beetle from straight outta the 50's! it was awesome. once inside we were blown away by the ridiculously loud stereo system he had. it was probably put in their by the gang from pimp my ride! no joke!

we arrived at the party. no one was there. we chatted outside when the rest of the delfines (including the one who wasn't at the previous party) arrived. we all proceeded to get in our cars and buy booze.....and jammin' to belanova the entire way there!

the party was in full swing when we got back. i was really tired and nervous so i didn't do a whole lot. i talked a little, but most of the night i was just an observer. i didn't mind to much because i didn't want to think in spanish! but, unfortunately my wallflower phase came to an end when they decided to play calle 13's atrevete-te-te AGAIN!!!! no joke, everyone, i mean everyone, started hooting and hollering because they wanted me to "rap" again! they were so enthusiastically loud that i didn't hear the lyrics start. once i felt comfortable to jump in, i did! they loooooooovvvvvvvveeeeeddddd it. i was happy i could entertain them.
after that everyone wanted to take a picture of me shaking hands with "obama". the whole time "obama" was saying "MY FELLOW AMERICANS!!!!!" and "take a picture of me meeting with my fellow citizens of WISCONSIN!!!!" it was hilarious.

after things settled down, delfin 1, 2, "non-delfin" and i went to buy cigarettes. "non-delfin" was driving somebody else's car that had problems driving over the speed bumps. in mazatlan, there are random speed bumps everywhere. the car we were driving in had a "kit" (i don't know all these random car terms!!!!!) that made the front of the car appear lower to the ground. only problem was that it always hit the ground after going over a speed bump. so "non-delfin" was driving so slow and very "angularly" over the speed bumps to try and prevent this. he wasn't very good at it. but it sure was fun to yell "ooooooohhhhh" when the car hit the ground!

we returned to the party to find the door closed and most of the party goers outside. turns out the party was over! we talked outside for about an hour before i finally convinced the guys to take me home. on the way home we had to stop by the infamous dolphin fountain, which was where they were christened "LOS DELFINES!!!!"

delfin 3 got out his phone to take a picture when i told them all to wait. i went back to the car and whipped out my awesome camera. "AAAWWWW delfin 6!!!!!!!!!!" they all shouted at me, very happy to have a properly functioning picture taking device. from there we went on a picture taking frenzy. we climbed into the monument and took lots of pictures and had lots of fun!! then delfin 3 jokingly said we should go to el faro (the lighthouse) since were up and pretty close to it. i agreed. he didn't believe me. i said yes, again. soooooooo off we went to el faro at 4 AM!!!!!

walking up that hill was the worst idea ever! we were so tired! it was so hottttt!!!! it was torture! but then we arrived at the top and it was all worth it! we started taking more pictures, this time though, the guys were shirtless! (they had all magically lost their shirts on the way up the hill.....hmmmmm....? :P ) at 5 AM we decided that we should go home and get some rest. at the bottom of the hill i couldn't stop my legs from trembling! i was so tired and hungry!!!!!!

i arrived home and we bid our farewells with promises of seeing each other some time soon.
turns out it was sooner than i thought because on tuesday i went to the beach with delfin 3 and we ended up seeing "non-delfin" working at a restaurant close to beach we went to, so we stopped by to talk to him. he gave us free drinks and made us an espresso! (again for free). while we were there i got invited to go to delfin 3's house to watch movies with them today! (wednesday!)


crazy! yay! i have friends! you guys were right, things do get better! i shall no longer complain about being lonely! although, i still miss you guys! can't wait to get back and see you all!


p.s. most of the pictures are on facebook.....*smiles mischievously*

LOS DELFINES! : part 1

where to begin? there was just so much awesomeness that occurred this weekend! i guess it all started with being invited to a party....i met this guy on my school bus and we became fast friends so he invited me to his birthday party. on friday he picked me up, because i didn't know where the party was even though he explained it to me. we arrived at his grandpa's house, where the party was being held. it was huge!!!!! there were like 4 stories....maybe not, but it seemed like it. there was really nice marble everywhere and compared to the other homes i have seen here in mazatlan i knew these people were rich.

it was a bit awkward at first because i was the only one at the party and we were just waiting for everyone. there was a huge table dedicated to soda and booze and a table with different meats and fillings for tacos, complete with 2 serving ladies!!!! in the backyard, where the party was held, there was a swimming pool, huge patio area, and a very large grassy area....which means you have it made here in mazatlan. :P the first people arrived. 4 guys with beers already in hand. i became really nervous because it now sunk in that i had to speak spanish. (i don't speak spanish with my school friend because i need a friend who speaks english....!) my spanish skills started out slow and i mostly listened to what the guys were saying, i didn't get most of it. :( then more and more people started coming and i met some more people. the ones i met were all really nice and helped me with my spanish and spoke relatively slowly for me....thanks guys!...then i noticed one of the original four guys wasn't talking to anyone. so i decided to come out of my shell and start talking to him. apparently everyone went to secondary school together except for him so he didn't know anyone....except for the other 3 guys. well neither did i, so we got to talking and stuff.

then a guy who supposedly looks like obama came. they introduced me to him as my president. he asked me if i had voted for him. (i didn't :O) and we had a good time joking about that. then the original party goers came back to talk to us. they told me a story about one of them being really drunk and stripping and waving his underwear around in the air until the police came. that story led them to tell me another story....about dolphins! okay, not really but dolphins are in there somewhere....

one day they were all drunk (except for one of them, but there had been another guy with them that do, so the guy at the party substituted for him....) and it was raining. their clothes got wet so they decided to take all their clothes off except for their boxers. then they started running along the sidewalk along the ocean. they ran to a dolphin fountain, where they may have begun to swim..or maybe not, and people were looking at them like they were crazy. well they were, but we won't get into that. from that day on they became known as dolphins. there is dolphin 1, dolphin2, dolphin 3, and dolphin 4.

it was probably one of the funniest stories i had ever heard in my life. the whole time the guy who wasn't a dolphin kept on translating some of the words into english and used hand motions to explain the story better.....even though they knew i understood the story.
after the story the cd that i had given the host for his birthday started playing. all of the guys loved the songs and thought it was sooooo cool that i liked all of those songs. they said they didn't know any girls who liked listening to dance/techno.

after my cd was done playing, calle 13's song atrevete-te-te came on. "obama's" girlfriend starting singing along, so i started to. everyone stopped what they were doing to look and listen to me. they couldn't believe i knew the words. everyone was hooting and hollering and wanted me to continue. only i didn't know all of the words and i was becoming shy because they were all looking at me. so, after they really wanted me to start singing again, i did....because fortunately it was part of the song that i actually knew!!!!!

after that they raised their glasses and everyone cheered because i knew the lyrics. then they started shouting "chug, chug, chug, chug!!!!" i tried, but couldn't....has anyone tried chugging strawberry fanta? not easy. after that i suddenly became known as dolphin 6. that's when i knew i had now gained 4 more friends!

the rest of the night i chatted away and had a great time. finally it was time to go and the 4 guys offered me a ride home. as i was getting ready to leave, my school friend who was slightly intoxicated, introduced me to another student who goes to tec. his name is yoshi!!!!!! i couldn't help but laugh. and my friend asked me if i knew about mario kart.....duh! that's why i was laughing! yoshi didn't think it was that funny, so i told him i liked his name.....i do, but it's still funny! YOSHI!!!!!!!!!!

on the way home i was extremely excited to find out that they loved BELANOVA!!!!! we sang along to belanova the entire way home, with random shouts of DELFIN 6!!!! and their hands patting the top of my head and messing up my hair. who would have thought that i would have met 4 guys who love belanova just as much as me?!?!?!?! and we actually get along great!!!

at 4am i arrived home and went to sleep only to wake up at 7:30. after i woke up i couldn't get back to sleep. so i spent my day watching amor y tesoro.....or fool's gold. (in english) that movie with matthew mcconaughey and kate hudson finding treasure and love....like the spanish name indicates! after that i chatted with delfin 3 on messenger and was invited to another party that night......


but, you'll have to wait until tomorrow for the dramatic finish to my crazy weekend!!! i like to keep my very loyal, but few readers in suspense!!!!

p.s. somewhere in there a professional photographer took our pictures with the host and i had to write my name on a sheet of paper with everyone else so they knew where we were in the picture.......because it was for a MAGAZINE!!!! or something.....i'm not sure really, but that's pretty awesome. i'm gonna be famous now! jajajajajaj :P

lazy bum

so, i realize i haven't posted in a while. i do have a lot to write about, but i'm lazy. once i recuperate from my crazy weekend and i feel inspired to write an award winning blog entry, i will. most likely tomorrow sometime. maybe not, as i'm going to beach! because it's warm and sunny here!!!!!!!!!! suckas!

have fun freezing up there! i miss you all!

What really happened

alright, i lied. my life doesn't suck. after all i am in mexico people! now i'll tell you what really went down...excluding the 3 incidents that made me go into self destruct mode.

my advanced spanish class started like it does every other day. about 3/4 of the way through this huge flying bug appeared out of thin air! no joke. the french girls were freakin' out. it was great! then one of the french girls got up from her chair to escape the wrath of this creature. as she neared the door, so did the bug. she then tried going to back to her seat only to have the bug practically stick to her back! finally she escaped and ran out the door! one of the guys also went out the classroom and "hid" behind the the door.

two guys, both hailing from southern states, were trying to catch it. one was using his hat and the other was using his folder. it was a spectacle. they were really close to getting the bug when it got a little too close for comfort and the guy with the folder flinched and the folder flew through the air!

finally the two managed to get it into the hat and released it into the wild by means of the open window. the two students who were hiding out of the room came back in. we were giving the guy a hard time....he said he had gone out of the room because it was too hot. plus he was a man, so he couldn't have possible been scared.

that was awesome.

the next epic moment in my day was riding the bus. i hate riding the bus home because there are no markings on the bus to tell you which one goes where. usually there are 3 buses. today there were 4. the 3rd bus is usually mine. but alas, the 4th was mine today. i always ask the bus driver if it's the right bus. i'm sure he thinks i'm the most retarded person on the planet, but it's better to be safe than sorry, right? i also dislike the bus on the way home because it's the oldest of all the buses. it's really small and my knees are always bumping into the sheet of metal in front of me. i've never trusted this bus and now i have reason to.

about 5 minutes into the ride we stopped at one of the very few stoplights in mazatlan. the light turned green, the driver had some problem with shifting gears. once we finally starting going, we didn't go anywhere very fast. i think we maybe glided through the intersection at a whopping 3 mph. needless to say everyone was honking at us. all of the high school girls started giggling, they're so annoying!

the bus driver got out of the bus and climbed into the engine! when i say climb, i mean it! he was crawling around and hanging over the entire front of the bus. it was very entertaining. then the bus driver asked if anyone had a phone he could use to call the school. after waiting for about 15 minutes or so, a van arrived. there were just enough seats for everyone. it was awkward.

i sat next to a girl who had eyed me on the bus. you know those looks that you share with someone and you know what their saying without anybody having said anything? well, that's what we had shared and she had "told" me that she knew it must be weird for me to be the white kid on a broken down mexican school bus......well, that's what i would like to think she wanted to say, but who knows. the girl saw my ipod and showed me hers. it was the new nano ipod just like mine, except it was purple. i turned mine over to show her it was a 16GB, she only had 8 GB. after that, we sat in silence. well, not really. the driver had some really bad romantic station on. it was so loud that i couldn't even hear my ipod, so i stopped trying to listen to my ipod.

after everyone got out, except for another boy and me, the driver asked if i lived in playa sur. i said yes. he then said he would just drive us there instead of taking the "official" route, that always seems to be changing.....the boy and i live on the same street, so i didn't have to say anything to get the bus driver to stop. crisis averted!

after i got home, i struggled to read a 3 page story about a retarded boy who had to sit near the sewers to kill the frogs, who were making too much noise, so that his god mother could sleep. he also happened to like the breast milk of felipa, a servant girl. the boy was also struggling with demons and darkness and thought he was going to hell..... and i thought all the stories i had to read in my english classes were strange!

well, thanks for all the kind words. it definitely turned my day around and inspired me to write a more enthralling post!

Ugghh...

my life is boring and has no meaning. i don't even know how i mustered enough energy to write this. all i do is wake up at 6:30. shower/eat. go to school. go to class. try to do homework. come home from school. try to do homework. find all the things the internet (and life at the moment for that matter.....) has to offer are boring. maybe eat dinner. go to sleep.

friends are non-existent. i seem to be the alternate friend or the alternate to an alternate friend. am i really that boring? i know this post probably makes me seem like the most depressing person on the planet....but i mean really? it sucks being rejected over and over again.

whatev.

p.s. sorry for being such a negative nelly.

Isla de la Piedra

on saturday a couple of us, well most of us, went to stone island (isla de la piedra). the plan was that a couple of peeps were going to go horseback riding on saturday while many other people were going to go on a so called "booze cruise". being the straight edge, hardcore person that i am, i opted to go horseback riding. as the two "groups" started conversing on the days leading up the saturday, we were all starting to wonder if we were doing the same thing. both groups were taking a boat to stone island, open bar and a meal was included, etc. my horseback riding group thought that if it turned out to be the same thing, cool. if not, oh well.

after declining an invitation to go out to bora bora (a club) on friday night, i woke up on saturday very refreshed and ready to have a wonderful day. after a lovely breakfast of fruit and pineapple juice i started walking to catch a cab. it turns out that it is very hard to find some sort of transportation, other than public buses (which i have yet to figure out), on a saturday morning. finally, i grabbed the attention of a no-door pulmonia, they tend to be cheaper. i got to our meeting place earlier than everyone else. like usual. my phone then started ringing off the hook! one girl called to ask if she was at the right place, but since she was doing the "booze cruise" i wasn't really much help. then this guy called me to see if we were still doing the horseback riding, i said yes. and told him to hustle on over. then while i was talking to someone, i missed a call from someone else! after the four of us "responsible" people got our ticket we went across the street to take a ride on a truck that has seats in the bed...i forgot what they were called. i think we fit 12 people in the back though.

as we started driving, i realized we were going south, very close to where i lived. i decided to explain to my friends where i lived so they would understand how hard it was for me to get to all the hip-hopping places that they went. i pointed out a monument that indicated where i needed to turn to get to my house. soon after, the truck turned at that exact spot. then i said, once we pass a certain store, my house would be down the street. what would you know, the truck turned down that street. i then showed them my house as we passed it and told them that they had better visit me. i don't they will. *tear* at the end of the street, i showed them where the city bus driver had "kicked me off" the bus.

after arriving to the dock, we got on the boat and sailed away. we ended up going past all these rock formations and i got to take a picture of where i usually take pictures on the coast. we then stopped by a "white" rock covered with bird excrement. later we visited a little rock where sea lions liked to sun bathe. there will be a funny video floating around facebook sometime in the near future about an ill fated sea lion.

on the way to the sea lion rock, a boat going in the opposite direction passed us. it was the other international kids!!!!!!! no me digas! (you don't say!) maybe we were going to the same place after all...

we then turned around and went back to basically the same place we had left from, except this time we were at stone island. we received red strips of plastic to put around our wrists to access the open bar. from there we hopped onto a mexican limo. it was actually a huge wagon with wooden seats being pulled by a tractor.according to the boat mc, it had air conditioning, HBO, and showtime. he was funny. plus he had the sweetest hat ever. (more about the hat can be read later in this post!!!!!!)

once arriving to our destination we were immediately taken to go horseback riding. our horseback riding group included four of us "international" kids and a chinese couple. after getting on my horse it was time for the chinese lady. she started freaking out because the horse's tail was swinging back and forth, hitting her arm. she tried getting up, but wasn't really sure how to do it. so i moved my horse to the other side of her horse and held out my hand for her to grab while the horseback ringleader helped her from the other side. once she got on, she seemed ok. then a couple of horses in front of here got a little "crazy" and she kept on saying she wanted to get off. her husband (i assume) tried to comfort her and convince her to stay on, but it was to no avail. she said again that she wanted to get off, but the horse guy didn't really understand so i said in the best spanish i could muster, "ella no quiere montar" which was understood by the ringleader correctly. so he helped her off. the chinese guy then got on and off we went.

the horses walked super slow except when they didn't get along with each other, but then the guy whistled and shouted at them to stop, so they did. *sadness* i tried to encourage mine to go faster. it did, but not nearly as fast as it could have gone. the horse ride was quite pathetic actually. i felt sorry for the horses, you could tell they were old and tired because of tourists like me. i felt like such a cruel person at that moment......but life goes on!

once we got back, we went straight to kayaking. i got a double kayak. it sucked. it's hard to control a kayak when both people are noobs. as we kayaked all over the place, i saw a group of people a little further down the beach. my kayak buddy and i went over to investigate. at first we saw a naked woman, at least i hope it was a woman, getting out of the water. then i saw the rest of our international students!!!!!!

we kayaked pretty close to the beach and had a little chat with some of them. i was instantly glad i hadn't done the booze cruise. i would have been awkward.

we kayaked back. our shorts and shirts were wet so we decided to lay them out on the sun bathing chairs and i went swimming. oh how i miss swimming. i must promise myself to do it more often.

after swimming, we ate and sunbathed. i got burned. at least i'm not as white as a ghost anymore! my nickname for that day was casper. i kinda like it!
we then headed back to the mainland. the boat mc guy came around collection tips and we asked if he could take our picture. he said sure, why not! then, with some sort of new found bravery, i asked him if i could wear his hat in the picture. HE LET ME!!!!!!!!! i was so excited. i can't wait until those pics are on facebook. TAG!

we got back on our truck thingy-ma-bobbers and i asked the driver to stop close to my house. he asked if i had been on the boat tour.....since i was, he said it was ok.

after getting home, i did nothing. nothing for 8 or so hours. i had been invited to go to the beach at joe's after i got home, but since i had just gotten off of a free truck that would have taken me really close to that beach in order to get to my house instead of passing it and paying $50 pesos to get back, i declined. life's funny that way isn't it....

the joys of returning to school...

so, the first week of school is over with! i have a total of 3 classes, but it's 12 credits. i am also doing an internship but i haven't gotten any information on that yet. i am taking a business spanish class, advanced spanish 1, and introduction to mexican culture (in english). i only have class with international students, so i don't feel stupid if i make a mistake, because they are learning too! the campus has wireless internet, which took a while for the computer "helpers" to figure out. they had to do something extra special to get my computer to work. it was a hassle, but at least i can use the internet now!

homework isn't too intense now, but i have a feeling it will get a little more hairy in the future. i have a one page summary of a story (in spanish, both to read and to write!) due on monday. i'm not looking forward to writing that.

the buses to and from school are tricky to figure out. it turns out the bus passes right by my street so i don't have to search for it, but others aren't so lucky. apparently they changed the bus routes and didn't tell us exchange students.....nice! besides the school symbol, there are no markings on the bus, so when you want to go home, you have to ask the bus driver which route it is. i think they line up the same way after school so i don't think it will be a problem anymore. i bought the bus pass, it was $2700 pesos!!!!! that's roughly $200 USD. the only "problem" is that i need to put a sticker on the back of my school i.d., but i won't get that until i get to school on monday, but i need to take the bus to school! (it's only free for the first week and next monday is in the 2nd week......obviously) i have the receipt, so hopefully all will work out ok.

on the way home, one of the mexican students tapped me on my shoulder. we ended up chatting the whole way home. i got his number and stuff. he told me that he would show me the ropes and help get me acquainted with mazatlan. he doesn't live too far away from me, so i won't have to pay a million dollars to go hang out with someone for once!

i told him i didn't know how to get off the bus because they don't really have specific stops. so when he got off the bus, he told the bus driver where to stop for me! that was really nice of him!
on saturday, i'm planning on going to rock island and go horseback riding and kayaking! i'm so excited! i've always wanted to go horseback riding on the beach, it's so romantic!



p.s. i heard about the plane "crashing" into the hudson. it was a u.s. airways plane. guess what plane i used to get here and am going to use when i go back?......u.s. airways. wish me luck everyone!

Nueva York

here are the details as promised...

my night started at 8pm when i started walking to find a taxi/pulmonia. i was nervous because it was dark, i am white, and i was alone. after maybe 3 minutes of walking, a pulmonia (white golf cart looking thing) drove up to me and i got in. you have to agree on a price before you get in or they will charge you double the amount. i met kristy and we headed towards valentino's. as we walked by we realized it wasn't open yet...it was 9pm.

kristy and i just started walking around hoping to find something to do. we had heard of a place called joe's so we decided to check it out. when we arrived, about 7 waiters were trying to get us to sit in a million different places. it was very confusing but we eventually made our way to the bar. then our server started shouting out all these drinks at us. i got a sex on the beach because according to kristy, it tasted like juice. that was my first legal drink in a bar, anywhere! kristy thought that it was so awesome that she got to share this momentous occasion with me that she bought my drink! we chatted and listened to some strange yet awesome techno remix of random 90's songs, it reminded us of the good 'ole days...they even played some britney spears and n'sync!

then this guy pedro came up to us. he was older, like 30, so it was kinda awkward/creeper-like for me. after semi-dancing with him, i told him i was shy and i really didn't want to dance. it was so weird!!!!!!!!!! kristy and i decided to head back to valentino's despite protests from pedro and his brother.

there are 3 clubs at valentino's, we decided to check out el nivel. it wasn't very awesome. after getting a beer, we went to sit on the patio. there was a group of guys all huddled close together. it looked like a meeting of some sort or a sausage fest...

then some random guy started talking to us. he was 35!!! since kristy is older, i'll be nice and not reveal her age, we i guess we were a targeted by all of the older peeps. it was just uncomfortable for me. after a few minutes of talking, we skedaddled back to joe's.

at joe's we had to pay a cover, which we hadn't done before. they gave us a ticket and when kristy ordered a beer(for some strange reason, whenever kristy ordered 1 beer she got 2...so i always got the 2nd one) we used the ticket to get 2 shots of tequila popper. shots down and beers in hand we meandered through the crowd.

as we walked some guy asked me where i was from. i said wisconsin, but since kristy had kept on walking so did i. i did hear that he was from new york though. after talking for a bit, kristy noticed some white guys sitting at a table being boring. she bet me $10 pesos that i wouldn't go over there and ask them where they were from. since being in mazatlan is all about becoming more independent and less shy, i went over to them. they were from massachusetts. they asked where i was from. once they heard wisconsin they started saying wiscaaaawwwwsin. i humored them by saying wisconsin once more, with the accent that i don't have ;) i also learned of their fondness for cheese curds.

after returning to kristy, we started walking toward the more heavily crowded area. then all of a sudden i heard WISCONSIN! it was the guy from new york! turns out he was really from mazatlan and had only lived in new york for 6 months. we spent the rest of the night with him and his brother.

all i will say about our time spent with nueva york is that it was harmless fun spent with a crazy drunk guy but to go into detail would not really be that, how would you say.... important. a good time was had by all and nothing scandalous occurred, well at least not on my part.
after that we headed back to valentino's. this time we went to bora bora. it's an outside dance club that has some seating overlooking the beach/ocean. it was filled with youngens! i know i'm only 20, but most of those kids were in high school which means that there is a huge gap in the maturity level to say the least.

after getting yet another beer we headed in a random direction. after planting ourselves near an empty bar we observed. i then was asked to dance by an even drunker guy, he was probably 18. after many refusals, i finally said yes. he asked me where i was going, but i later found out he was trying to ask me where i was from. why does everyone have to try and speak english to me?!?!?! i don't want to hear random people mumbling in bad english! i tried to get him to speak in spanish but to no avail. pity.

kristy and i then went to sit near the beach when we were grabbed by none other than nueva york. he dragged us all the way back to the entrance where more beer was awaiting us. kristy and i were tired so we sat down while nueva york was "dancing" with us while we were sitting. it was entertaining. as the crowds began to thin, kristy and i tried to leave. it didn't work out so well because nueva york had already ordered another bucket of beer. after a few sips we finally managed to get away with many fond memories.

i caught a ride with 1 of the 50 or so pulmonias sitting outside of the club. i arrived home at 5am. i never thought i would be such a party animal!!!! who knew!

in summary. i had 1 sex on the beach and at least 6 beer bottles passed through my hands, (don't worry, i didn't drink anywhere near the entire contents of all 6 beers) yet i didn't pay for a single drink! amazing. it pays to be a white girl celebrating her first legal night of drinking and clubbing.



p.s. about an hour into our first endeavor at joe's 2 guys got arrested! aaaahhh, memories.....

p.p.s. we also saw pedro at bora bora near the end of the night, needles to say we didn't say hi

Valentino's

so, i'm getting ready to go to my first club ever! i'm so excited, yet so scared! the last time i walked around mazatlan in anything shorter than jeans i got hooted and hollered at! i was even told i have nice legs! i'm pretty sure it was because they were so white!

i'm also scared to walk alone at night....tonight will also be the first time i catch a taxi! i haven't even done that in the states!

please God, help me have enough courage!

wish me luck!

i'll divulge all the "wild" details later!

ROSCA!!!!!!!!!

the best way to describe wednesday is boring. after waking up i perused the internet, which was boring also. for breakfast i had two pieces of toasted bread with cheese and a brown sauce. i'm not too sure what is was and i didn't ask because i am still nervous about initiating conversations in spanish....i should work on that.

after breakfast ivonne drove me, her friend, and her friend's grandson to the market. i really wish i knew her friend's name because she comes over all the time. i should work on figuring that out too. at the market place we went to one of the many meat stalls. it turns out that ivonne's friend's husband worked there. while they were talking, i took time to look at my surroundings. none of the butchers used gloves, on their cut fingers was electric tape, and cutting boards that were made out of wood. these so called cutting boards probably hadn't been changed since the day the stand was built...yum. i also saw the husband cut a whole pig head in half with this sting-like electrical saw cutter thing. the only thought that ran through my head when i saw that was that if i was trying to do that, i wouldn't have any fingers. shudder.

after waiting for ivonne to pick us up, we went home. i of course went straight to my room to hide. i really need to work on becoming less shy....an hour later, ivonne's son and his family came over. we ate soup with meat in it. apparently it was a VERY mexican dish. i liked it.
for dessert we had the sweet bread again, i think it's called rosca, but i could be wrong. ivonne's daughter-in-law explained to me that it was a special treat for day of the kings. which is a holiday that celebrates the arrival of the 3 wise men to Jesus' manger. inside of the cake are little dolls, they call them monos, which means monkeys in spanish, but somehow i don't think that's the meaning in this context. if you get a piece with a mono in it you have to make tamales for everybody on february 2, which is another holiday.

the daughter-in-law had a piece with 2 monos in it! she gave them to her son so he could lick them off. when nobody was looking, except for me, her son put back the mono into her piece of rosca. he looked at me and i knew to keep quiet and i smiled at him. a bit later, longer than i had anticipated, she found the "3rd" mono. she couldn't believe it and everyone was laughing. then her son told her that he had put it in there. the look on her face was priceless. good memory....
after they left i drove around the city with ivonne. she was telling me where i could catch the bus, how to get back to the house, and how to get to the market. i didn't get any of it. a few things that i do remember is seeing a restaurant named Te Amo Lucy's, which means i love lucy's! i think i saw a glimpse of i love lucy episodes playing on the tv. i will have to check that out. i also saw a building for alcoholics anonymous. that made me smile, although i don't know why.

after arriving home i forced myself to "talk" to ivonne. it was mostly me listening and awkward silences. i somehow managed to excuse myself so that i could go to bed because the next day i had to get up earlier because i was going to orientation for my new school!!!!!! i'm excited, but nervous because the bus is going to drop us off near our homes....i hope i will be able to find my way back!

flying and arriving in mexico

culture shock!!!! that's the best way to describe my first day in mazatlan. after 2 safe and normal flights i arrived in mazatlan, very tired and nervous.

i was extremely nervous about customs. since i am studying in mexico i need a student visa. i don't have one. my advisor said many students get them once in mexico. but since i tend to freak out a lot i was still nervous. i was afraid that the customs officer would ask me the purpose of my visit. in my dreams i pictured him saying that i had the wrong form. i would then try to explain that my school would arrange it, but everything got lost in translation. well, in reality it went nothing like that! i gave the officer my officer the forms and my passport. he stamped my form and shouted NEXT! without even opening my passport! crisis averted!

my host "mom's" nephew, ruben, picked me up at the airport and we chatted all the way to my new home. and yes, we chatted in spanish...that was hard! but he said my spanish was better than his english.....this, i doubt.

i met my host mom, ivonne, and she maybe said a couple of words before some neighbor came into the house and there was already another friend in the house. they were chatting away and saying "this is kristeen, the student!" it was a whirlwind of craziness!

for dinner she had ordered chicken from 'Puro Pollo'. It was like KFC, well not really but close enough. i even had mashed potatoes with gravy. there was also some noodle thing with a sauce i didn't really like. to drink, i had coca-cola! after eating i went to bed. i had woken up at 7:30am the day before i left, slept for 2 hours the night before leaving, left my house for o'hare at 3:30am and my first flight was at 7:15am. i was exhausted.

i couldn't fall asleep. an hour later, i heard gunshots... it wasn't like crazy gun slinging shooting, just one shot here and there, very random yet somehow organized. the gun shots progressively got closer and closer...then i started to hear a whole lot of police sirens. those too got closer and closer. then i started to hear loud music. my heart was beating so fast. all i could think about was why the police hadn't caught these people yet. i called my mommy. she said to ask my host about it, seeing as she hadn't come into my room to warn or comfort me. i knocked on her bedroom door. i asked her what was going on! she told me that it was a parade to determine the king of carnaval. carnaval is kind of like a really huge street party that is held in february....(we actually get 2 days off of school so that we can go to it!) relieved and feeling a little bit stupid, i went to bed.

i got up a little later to unpack. that's when more people came over! i met ivonne's sister's two daughters. after i was done unpacking they asked me to come eat. i had some sort of sweet bread thing. i wasn't too fond of it, but i ate it. to drink we had this chocolate drink...which was hot! i had had this before, it tastes pretty much like hot chocolate, but what shocked me was that it was 70 degrees outside and we were drinking hot chocolate! besides the hot chocolate, all of them were wearing long sleeves or light sweaters! crazy!

while i was eating and drinking, ivonne asked me a question that her nephew had asked me in the car ride. why are your hands red? i don't know the answer to that question, but i think it's my hands defrosting...

after "dessert" i was shown how to use the internet and where the clean water was! i have been drinking so much water! i was super excited about the internet, because in an e-mail i had received i was told i wasn't allowed to use the internet....sshhh. don't tell anyone.

at 9 pm (10pm milwaukee time and my body time) i went to bed. it felt good. i zonked out right away. and what seemed like 20 seconds later, i heard church bells ringing. it was 6am! after that i couldn't get back to sleep. and on went my day.


details of how my day went will be posted soon. take care everyone! i miss you all!

first post

well, i arrived in mazatlan yesterday and everything is going good. i'm keeping this super short because i'm hungry and i need to take a shower! just letting everyone know that all is well with kristin. this is also how i will be communicating with everyone. so if you want to know what's going on with me, just check out this blog. if you want to ask me specifics, go ahead and e-mail me. so, yeah! life is good, peace out!