anika in mexico

Tooosday. School annoyed the crap out of me today. I suppose that’s fitting for the last actual day of class. Tomorrow’s just the test, then I’m done!

My professor went over a few last lessons in the last chapter, but to me they seemed like some of the hardest grammar rules, and I was surprised that they were left to the last day. I had a hard time not getting really snippy with my professor. She also reviewed a lot of stuff from previous chapters, and somehow I was left utterly confused by the end of class. Everything I’d learned over the 3 weeks seemed jumbled up into one confusing ball of grammar that was heading right toward me, it’s only purpose to squash me flat. At the end of class she said, “well we have 5 minutes left. Any other questions, or is something not clear?” I just kind of laughed and said that I think it would be better if I just went home and studied and tried to straighten everything out.

Sigrid and I went to Jenny’s for lunch. We had some odd pasta dish that was so so. We ate outside in the sun though. Sigrid and I went home after lunch, just ahead of a huge storm that was brewing.

Sometimes when a big storm comes in, I get really sleepy. That’s what happened this afternoon, so I went upstairs and lay down. I only slept for 20 minutes, but it was refreshing. As I was lying in bed, waking back up, a vague idea for a pattern popped into my head. I jumped up and started sketching my ideas. What I ended up with wasn’t exactly what I imagined while I was semi-awake, but it turned out nice.

Jenny came to pick us up to go to the healer that my family here all really like. Yup, I finally went. I figured I’d just go with the flow. I saw the guy give a healing to Sigrid, and it seemed ok, so I went with it too. He pinpointed my problem very quickly, even though I hadn’t told him anything. He gave me some exercises and other advice to try, and said that it should help a lot, and that if I wanted to come back, I could do that too.

I felt pretty good about the whole thing in the end. Not to say that I’m feeling incredible afterwards, but I did seem to have a bit more energy after the session, and a positive outlook. It’s good to have his suggestions for exercises, because now I feel like there is something I can do to start help myself.

Back home, I played a nice game of 4 aces with Sigrid, who re-taught it to me because she didn’t remember that we’d already played. It was a really fun game, and she won!

Afterwards I slinked upstairs to finally start on my homework (it was just a bit past 9pm). I went through the last three chapters, just reviewing all the main grammar lessons once. All in all I spent an hour studying, and then I was itching to finish my pattern, so I abandoned my Spanish books and continued my drawing. I didn’t quite finish, but I got a good start.

Today was the day of parties. It’s the eve of the Mexican Independence day, so everyone gets into a festive mood.

Before party time (2pm) I spent the early afternoon finishing up a pattern, and was ready just at 2pm, but of course everyone else was late. But soon people were arriving. I met my grandmother’s brother, his wife, all his children, and their children! He’s really great too, and he looks so much like my grandmother, it’s funny. I was really blown away by how easy going and friendly everyone is. Each of the kids, Gerardo, Walter, and Ani, all invited me to meet up with them again.

Walter is trained as an industrial designer, and now has a photo studio. I showed him the stuff I’ve been working on (at Karin’s prompting), and he and his wife were both very interested in what tools I used to make the patterns. I showed them the markers I use, and they were impressed. They’ve invited me to visit to check out their studio and also see their work (his wife, Angeles, is also an artist who does a lot of photo collage).

Ani invited me to come visit her in Toluca, and Gerardo also invited me to their house at somepoint.

After the delicious lunch of Mole de Ollo (a tasty soup with lots of stuff in it), we all played some card games which was great fun. We played “Cucharas” which is a great game for a large group of people. You constantly pass one card to your right and the goal is to get 4 of a kind. If and when you do, you have to discreetly take one of the spoons (there is one less spoon than there are people). If you notice that someone has taken a spoon, you also take one, and the one left without a spoon has to sing a song. It was really hilarious. Especially because I discovered that I know the german song “O Tannenbaum!” and the Mexican song, “La Cucuracha” better than my own National Anthem. Ah well.

Overall I also enjoyed the party because I spoke only in Spanish, and was able to understand and be understood very well.

Everyone left by 8pm, but that was by no means the end of the night for me. I had to run to the Supermarket and get “botanas” which is basically appetizers/snacks for the party at Fernandos. Saskia agreed to pick me up at 9pm, so I didn’t have too much time to get ready. But I painted my eyes with bright green eyeshadow, donned my brightest red t-shirt, wore my white pants, my dingy green camo tennis shoes, and of course red lipstick. Red Green and White in honor of the Mexican Independence Day.

I arrived and Carlos was going to make me a Paloma which is basically a tequila with Squirt, but then Pancho insisted, no, I’d be better off just having a straight tequila, with a lime on the side. So that’s what I drank. And then I had another, and a little while later another. Then everyone had a shot together, and then Siggy wanted to a shot with me “al fondo” or “to the floor/bottom”–theoretically of the glass, but it almost had the more literal effect on me because after that, then I was drunk.

I had a lot of fun though. I danced a lot with Santiago, learned a little Russian from Fernando’s dad (he actually told me you could make any word Russian by adding “uski” or “iski” or “aski” to the end of it. I was speaking perfect Russian within 10 minutes), who also assembled a tostada especially for me, played with Fernando’s dog Rex, laughed a lot, took a lot of silly pictures, ate a lot of cheese and Rancherito chips, passed out on the couch for a bit, and then woke back up to chat with Pancho, Chucho and the German girls.

Chucho drove me and the Germans home and I got to bed by 4:30am.

Today I rested for most of the morning, reading “Memories of My Melancholy Whores” by Gabriel Garcia Marquez. Siggy and Karin came over for lunch, then Sigs and I went to the little area where there are some shops and a Starbucks nearby where I could check my email. I also went to office depot and got some tape and scissors.

I played cards with Sigrid and she complained that I kept “blowing” air on her; she’s concerned that I will get her sick again. But I wasn’t really meaning to do it. I was just breathing, but I couldn’t breathe through my nose, so I guess it was a more directed flow of air that she could feel. As if it made a difference.

They are so superstitious about what causes illness over here. It’s not that you just catch a bug or a parasite, but there are certain foods that will surely make you ill, no matter what you do. If you have Tacos al Pastor, then you’ll get sick. If you have the chicharrones from the vendors in the park, you’ll get sick. If you are outside without a sweater and one cold breeze gives you goosebumps, your throat will definitely hurt the next day. It has to have a concrete, if not far-out reason why you get sick. It couldn’t possibly be because every other person in their family got sick after they all hung out together for a week.

Most recently Siggy got sick with fever and all, and instead of just a flu, it had to be the sinister pork in the tacos that did her wrong. And instead of me catching the virus Siggy had (I pretty much had all the same symptoms), of course I was ill because of the chicharrones I indulged in. When I had a sore throat the second day it was because I don’t bring sweaters with me and I let myself get cold. Sigrid swears this is the case, and even though I actually always do bring a sweater with me, I didn’t want to push the point and instead just nodded and smiled, agreeing with her old-wives tale.

Playing cards with Sigrid is kind of fun because I get to learn some new games which are pretty good ones, both solitaires and multiple player games. It’s funny though because she really has a hard time seeing, and sometimes she’s just so pleased with a moved she’s made, even though it’s actually the wrong card, I let her do it anyway. What difference does it make in the long run?