Sunday, September 10, 2006


Today I'm writing from an internet cafe called the "All Day Cafe." It's a cafe in the center of the city, with comfortable chairs, good music, and best of all, wireless internet.

While it says my last post was made on Saturday, it was actually written on Thursday, but my internet connection at my house isn't that good, so saturday was the first time I was able to connect to blogger.com.

It my last post, I wrote that I was a little skeptical about my outfit for the fiesta, but it turned out to be really great. We had our "monitores" there helping us get ready, and they just turned my top sideways and it made all the differene in the world. The dresses are used in the ballet folklorico and are from different parts of Mexico- my dress was from Oaxaca. It was so much fun to play dress up. It was like getting ready for a themed party at smith, but even more fun!

The fiesta turned out to be really great. At first I felt a little silly in my dress, especially when Patricia called us all up to stand on display in front of everyone. After introductions, the BUAP Ballet Folklorico performed, then we ate, and then came the dancing. My host parents were so cute dancing together. It seems like everyone here is born an excellent dancer. All the salsa skill I thought I had before I came, apparently, isn't quite so hot. But I am learning.

Yesterday was another fiesta, but of a different sort. Saturday morning my mom told me that we were going to eat at the house of Santiago's other grandmother. Santiago, to reacap, is my host nephew, so his other grandmother is his father's mother. I'm pretty sure his father and mother (my sister) are divorced, but I'm not quite sure. Anyways, it's kind of sad becuase the granmother has cancer, so this may be one of her last birthdays, so it turns out it wasn't a small family meal like I was expecting, but instead a huge catered event in her backyard. Not long after we got there, my host parents went about socializing, and I was left standing awkwardly in the midst of people I didn't know. Luckily, my host grandmother on my moms side was also there, and she came and sat with me and when I asked her if she knew anyone, she said no and that I shouldn't worry- we were equal in that respect. I felt much better after that. But I did actually meet a lot of nice people at my table. There was one women who spoke english very well, and was very interested and getting to know me. It was funny becuase she kept translating for me, but it was always the things that were pretty easy to understand. She kept trying to get her 13 year old son to practice english with me. So in the end, it was a really nice afternoon.

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