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Published: June 13th 2006
Family Picnic
Classic! Marta, Meghan and I having ourselves a little picnic.The International Student Office has planned all sorts of activities and trips for us while we are here. For our first weekend, we had a Mexican dinner fiesta, complete with a mariachi band and salsa dancing. Afterwards, they reserved a club, or un antro, an optional activity for us to attend. The music there was hilarious: a lot of Brittany Spears, Ashley Simpson, and old school Jock Jams stuff. They also played a rendition of ¨Hey...Hey Baby...I wanna know...if you´ll be my girl.¨ As it got later, and more people were dancing, the music was techno. The thing about techno music is the songs never really end, so there is no convenient time to leave the dance floor. Fun but exhausting.
The next day we had a picnic with our host families at the school. We each took our own food, but to drink they provided many flavored waters and Horchata! Horchata is quite possibly my favorite drink ever: a rice milk flavored with vanilla and cinnamon. Here they serve it cold with ice, but the US I have only had it hot. Anyhow, there were games and chattering at the picnic. Fun, fun.
Our host mother, know referred
La Plaza de los perritos
Here is the fountain that gives La Plaza de los perritos it´s name to as Marta, took Meghan and I to the Centro which is full of tiny shops and street venders, as well as home to many old churches and cultural plazas and statues. We romped about, had some Mexican ice cream (yes, I found a flavor that resembles coffee called ´Beso de Angel´or ´kiss from an angel´ We didn´t buy anything, but did take some pictures. My favorite plaza is called La Plaza de Indpendencia, but everyone refers to it as La Plaza de los Perritos because of a fountain with small dogs that shoot water out of their mouths. There are a lot of restaurants in the Centro as well.
When we returned to the house, Marta announced she needed to pick up a few things from her sister. Meghan and I, as well as our sister Karina, went with along with her. This was absolutely hilarious and I am including it especially for all of the women in my family. The things that she needed to pick up turned out to be furniture because her sister was moving. Marta is one of nine children, and three of her sisters were at the house when we arrived, plus her
Un perrito
And here is a close up of a perrito (little dog) neice. So, six Mexican women getting together with one moving = all of them picking through things and claiming them for themselves. The sister who was moving, Guadalupe, was trying to talk Karina into taking sofa cushions, claiming with six of them thrown on the floor, she would have a bed. One sister emerged from the kitchen with a pot and a skillet, while another lugged away a small coffee table and some table clothes. Marta decided she needed pretty much everything, while her daughter kept asking her where she would put it, and what her plan was. Oh what a hoot! After we took the picture, the sofa needed to be loaded into a truck. Some guys lifted it to reveal some scrap wood hidden beneath it. Guadalupe was yelling ¨¡Basura! ¡Basura!¨(which means trash) while Marta was yelling ¨¡Espera, lo necesito!¨(Wait, I need it) while her daughter was yelling ¨¡No!´(that´s pretty universal). Marta did end up with the wood and in fact used it the next day to fix a table.
Stay tuned for more from Sunday and my experience at the Centro after Mexico won the first game of the World Cup!
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Dana
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Sher-i-dan
Hey there! I love that you have this blog. It's fun to see what you are up to. I'm glad you are taking lots of pictures.... Love it! Miss you here in Manhattan! Take care. -Dana P.S. By the way, I got my Humboldt Cubs graduation scrapbook kit. It was definitely perfect. Thanks!