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Published: August 16th 2006
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The final week…*dun dun dun* As mentioned briefly yesterday, this week is jam-packed with last minute activities and lessons to do and cakes to consume! And I’m making the very unsubtle reference to cake mainly because I want to say that I ate THE BEST Tres Leches cake last Friday night at a restaurant called Casa Hidalgo. It was basically heaven in a bowl. The ONLY cake that I would give 2nd place status to…behind a cake from Renee’s, of course!!! Max, I know the reference to “the perfect dinner” should put a giant smile on your face!! Good times!
I had Rosanna as my teacher last week and I really feel like I made big strides. In fact, we made so much progress that yesterday I graduated to Book 3! Woo-woo! I started at the beginning of book 2 when I arrived, so I’m happy to have at least made it to a new book. Now I’m working on the Future and Conditional tenses. Always fun.
Anne and I traveled out of town again this past weekend. We hopped on a bus early Saturday morning and arrived in Puebla about 3 hours later. And let me tell you…we
were HAPPY to get off that bus because there were so many topes (speed bumps) and the road was so windy that with another 15 minutes on the bus we would’ve seen our breakfast again!
Puebla is an awesome city! It’s located in a valley surrounded by three of Mexico’s tallest volcanoes—Pico de Orizaba, Popocatépetl, and Iztaccíhautla. As I’ve mentioned before, I’m obsessed with Popo now, so I spent the majority of the weekend trying to catch glimpses of him. Puebla is most famous for its Talavera tile and Mole Poblano. It was so fun walking around the city all day, checking out the ceramics in stores about every two feet! The catedral in the zócalo, Catedral de la Inmaculada Conception, was very impressive! It has massive twin towers and a large gated area in front of it, making anyone peering in through the gates feel small. The main altar inside is made of gold, marble, and onyx, something else that Puebla is known for. After leisurely walking around the majority of the day, Anne and I decided to head back to our hostel for a nap. However, our “nap” ended up being 13 hours…so I guess we were
both a little behind on our sleep!!! Don’t worry, Mom, I don’t have mono….. J
But because we had such a good night of sleep, we were both rearing to go bright and early Sunday morning. We hit up a pastelería long enough to get enough pastries and sandwiches to get us through the day before hopping on a bus to nearby Cholula. Cholula has more churches than I’ve ever seen before in one city. However, one specific church had our attention when we hopped off the bus…the bright yellow Nuestra Señora de los Remedios. The church was built by the Spaniards in the 16th-century and provides an AMAZING view of Popo and Izta. And the reason why it provides such a great view?! It sits atop a 230-foot structure, which is actually the remains of the biggest pyramid in Mesoamerica!!! The Gran Pirámide de Tepanapa was constructed in 1,000 years between 300 B.C. and A.D. 700, but was abandoned by the times the Spaniards arrived. However, it was such a massive structure that it was just too difficult to dismantle….so the Spaniards essentially “covered it up” as best as they could and placed their church on top. These
days tourists can walk through a small portion of the dark, dusty tunnels that have existed for thousands of years!! ¡Qué padre!
Since this is my last entry before I return to the great state of Kansas for 10 days, I’m going to try to sum up my thoughts about my 5 weeks here at language school. First, as mentioned before, I couldn’t think of a better environment in which one can learn a foreign language. The teachers are incredibly patient and understanding, as well as knowledgeable. They understand the common frustrations of their students and work their hardest to help ease and correct those. Also, the physical setting of the school is so incredibly gorgeous that often I forget that I’m in “school” and not a luxurious resort. The opportunity to learn a language in the actual country of that language is invaluable. I learned a lot in my classes, but I learned just as much outside of school. Between interactions in the zócalo, in a taxi, or with the neighbors while walking to school, I learned many formalities and daily rituals that will help me while in Mexico the next year. I was also able to learn
Yay I started a new book!
Yeah, I'm a nerd and felt the need to document the event.... the history of this amazing country and gain an understanding for where it is now and where it’s going.
I’m really going to miss my host family and their never-ending pieces of advice. I don’t think there was one time that I told them I was going somewhere to see something that they weren’t able to rattle off 10 tips for having the best experience possible. Even when we went to La Luncha Libre last week, Señora Erica was able to forewarn me of food to stay clear of! Guess that’s how knowledgeable a family becomes after hosting international students for 12 years!!!
Finally, Dave Thomas mentioned in a message a couple weeks ago that I was not only stepping out of my comfort zone, but also stepping INTO my comfort zone. And that thought has stuck with me since and I can acknowledge that he was right on target. These 5 weeks have confirmed that this is the country I want to serve in for the next year. I can’t seem to get enough of the culture and the people and I’m SO excited to be a representative of Mexico for visiting mission teams, as well as a representative of the US for the Mexicans that I’ll work with and meet. I feel like I’ve been blessed with an awesome responsibility!!! I feel more and more at home here every day and am so excited to know that my time here in Cuernavaca is just the starting point for the adventure I’ll be starting on very soon!!
With that said….I’ll see many of you very quickly! My flight lands in KC Friday night!!!
Paz,
Elizabeth
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