Los Arcos de Vida

News

2011-05-09T19:01:00.001-07:00

Unfortunately, I will have to do this post without photos. I have the cable and the camera with me, but they are in my room and I don't have internet in my room. As I currently have the time and the drive to post, I figured I would take my chance, even though there are no pictures.

A few things have happened since my last post. Classes closed up shop on Wednesday the 4th of May. At Tec de Monterrey, finals then last until the 18th of May. Luckily, I had two tests on the 5th, turned in a paper on the 6th, did a project early, and a friend is turning a paper in for us tomorrow.

My Tec de Monterrey days are officially over.

According to Hugo, there is a Mexican saying that basically says that anything more than 70 or 80% is vanity. I don't mean to be vain, but it appears as if I have landed very securely in the vanity arena.

I am currently spending some time at the beach in Ixtapa. I figured that I needed to make it to a Mexican beach at some point in time before leaving and this just seemed to work out. This little beach fairy tale will be over at the end of the week, and then this weekend, we have the semi-finals for flag football. My team wishes that I could change my flight so as to stay for the final game, but changing a ticket is pricy and plans have already been made. They will do fine without me.

My official departure from the beautiful land of Mexico is the 19th of May. You can look for me in Bluffton as soon as Saturday if you so wish.

I'll try to find some photos to put up as soon as possible so that you can see me enjoying my final days in Mexico.

Raros y Locos, Pero Divertido

2011-04-25T10:36:00.000-07:00

I have my days all mixed up but I do believe that what I am about to write happened on Saturday. I have had my brain turned off for the past week and had to retrieve it from my book bag this morning, re-install, and boot back up before class. Luckily, I had some time this morning before I had to be in class.

Now, on to this past Saturday's events. First, some background information. Hugo is part of a family with 11 children. I don't know if I have written of it as of yet, but Hugo's father just recently turned 80 and they threw an extremely large shindig. Hugo was looking forward to it as my first debut with his family, but unfortunately, I believe I may have been back in the states that weekend. Needless to say, I didn't get to have my family debut.

This past Saturday, I got my chance. We drove to San Juan del Rio to the house of Hugo's brother Jose Luis. The entire trip, Carlo was talking about someone called Cooper. The night before we left, Hugo was prepping me for meeting his family, he told me that they say some very funny things and that I was going to die from laughing/smiling so much. I told him I just hoped I would be able to understand everything. When we first arrived, we walked around back and Jose Luis's daughter was swimming in a round inflatable pool, he was getting ready to grill, and things were in full out cookout mode. Jose Luis introduced himself to me as Hugo's brother--the most "Chingon" of the family. I was going to include a brief cuss word lecture but have decided to cut it out. The word Chingon stems from the word chingar--considered to this day one of the strongest words in the Mexican vocabulary. Chingon means more or less "the man". Jose Luis was telling me he was the coolest of the whole family. I through in a common saying about life using the word chingar (learned it in culture class) and was immediately Jose Luis's best friend.

I spent the afternoon in between Jose Luis grilling and talking to me about "real life" and Carla, Ale, and Gina. Jose Luis was insisting that "Tec life" or any Queretaro life is not "real life" and Gina was telling him how bad he had it. There was more food at the cookout that a normal Kaehr get together. He really had it bad off. He works for General Electric, designing airplane engines. I somehow doubt that he is the picture of "real Mexico". In a discussion about my preferences for women, he did reveal that the prettiest Mexican girls live in San Juan del Rio (everybody has their own idea of where the prettiest women are).

It was quite the experience, I definitely laughed a lot, and we had a lot of fun. On the way back to Queretaro, Carla and Hugo asked me what I thought. I told them that Hugo's whole family was strange and crazy (every one) but a lot of fun. It reminded me of my family.

Back to Cooper. He turned out to be a beautiful golden retriever. You see a picture of Carlo and Cooper together somewhere up top. The picture of me and two people are Jose Luis and Norma, his wife.

The Long Awaited Part 2

2011-04-21T19:08:00.001-07:00

Well, I feel as if I have waited quite long enough to post thesecond part to my day last Friday. A lot has happened since then. I haven't had school (Holy Week) and we have beenchilling about all week. In all the laziness, I haven't had the gumption to post anything. I don't think anything has really changed except for the fact that I'm not hungry and the timing seems a right (although a little late).After menudo and the train station. Carla, Hugo, and I went

back to the house and I took a fantastic nap (that may have been part of the past post). After my nap, we went, gassed up the van,

got some drinks, (insert of a picture of the Mexican version of Arnold Palmer). Down here, they apparently haven't heard about Arnold (his golfing prowess or his drink mixing abilities), and therefore, the drink is simply Iced Tea with Lemonade. Go figure.

We then picked up Ale and took off for the countryside. We actually drove past the place that Tadd bought his boots (ask Tadd for a private showing). On the way, I saw a stand that

sold a drink called Tepache. It is a drink made from pineapple peels and raw, unrefined sugar. You just put the two together (apparently in some secret fraction) let it ferment, and you have tepache. I have heard about it from a couple different sources and have been on the lookout for the past few months. I got close one day but couldn't get off of the bus. So I bought myself a liter of iced down tepache for 15 pesos.

We made it to a ranch and I played football with some kids for a little while. I have so far forgot to mention that it was hotter than I have ever been. We had the windows in the van open, I was drinking ice cold tepache, and was still dying of the heat. I tried to stay in the shade as much as possible once we got to the ranch.

The idea behind us being at the ranch is that Carla's school hosted a camp out for all the kids to kick off their vacation. They kids slept in tents (I helping set them up) while the adults and teachers that stayed slept in cabins (probably fair).

After everything had been set up, Hugo and I took off (Carla and Ale spent the night). We had a bachelor's/man night and later went out and I

had another Guajalote. I went to sleep and woke up in the morning feeling like I got hit by a truck. In fact, Hugo came in to get me at 11:00 because we had to leave before noon. I had a headache, my stomach was doing somersaults, by arms and legs ached, to sum it all up, I was sick. (For those of you who may recognize the symtoms, the only alcohol I had the day before was the tepache and it is very low in alcohol content.)

Hugo took me to a taco stand to have breakfast and I couldn't put down my two tacos. I drank some coke on the way to the camp but all around felt awful. When we made it to the camp, there were hundred of screaming kids running around being chased by their parents. It was fun to watch. After all the activities were over, the parents and kids left, and we stayed with some of the teachers to have la comida. It was quite the process with more food coming out of the

kitchen every couple minutes. As I was sick, I only had a little bit of food. I ended up laying on the couch with a cold wet rag on my forehead (thanks Claudia).

Ale was making fun of me. She kept on saying that after 4 months of eating whatever I wanted, my stomach finally had enough and turned on me. I told everyone I was weak (with the mandatory dejected facial expressions) and that made them all laugh.

What I didn't know, is that the Pandas Gigantes had a football game on Saturday (my flag

football team). It ended up that Paco, Hugo, Franco, and I took off early (not that early) to get ready for the game. We made it to the game 45 minutes late but the other team was late too. Hopped up on meds, I played and we smoked the pants off of the other team. They were in their twenties, should have been a lot faster, but couldn't play football worth poop. It was embarrassing for them.

I was feeling better after that but of course was hopped up on meds. Sunday was more of the same just a little less severe. But more on that later, this is getting long. To sum some things up, I don't think I will be eating Guajalotes or drinking Tepache for the remainder of my time here.

Menudo and Trains

2011-04-15T20:06:00.000-07:00

I have no idea what is going on with me and this blog. I guess I can't be that out of sorts, this is the first time anything like this has happened. Basically, this is my second time doing this post. My fist one got lost somehow. When it says that the draft is automatically saved, I assumed that you could find it if you lost it. Isn't that the point of saving in the first place?

With that behind me, I am going to try to make the second telling of my day as eloquent and heart felt as possible. Some points may have changed and I apologize if this gets a little rushed. It is like the retelling of a joke to someone who only heard the punch line.

I apologize to everyone for being so boring lately. I have had exactly zero interesting things happen to me that were worthy to blog about. That all changed yesterday with a controversial (inner conflict only) call to go out with Ale and her friends last night knowing full-well that I had an exam this morning at 7.

It was a good night. I beat some Mexican's at pool, listened to a live band do covers of American songs (Are You Going to Be My Girl included), and had a nice chat with some people. If by chatting I mean yelling and saying "Que?" or "What?", then yes, it was chatting.

I had grand plans for getting up early this morning, do some last minute studying, and make my self dippy-eggs on top of a tortilla (I just saw Carla do it), but that all fell to pieces when I unconsciously turned of my early alarm, and woke up on my own at the normal time. I did have time however to shower and grab my normal breakfast, so that was a start.

The test went incredibly well, I made it out of class in under thirty minutes. I spent the next hour or so researching things that interest me and trying to stay plugged in to current events. I have a long way to go.

I was then picked up by Carla and Hugo and we went to the market. This one is called the Tepe market and I think it is the oldest one in Queretaro. That could be wrong but I definitely heard that said about some market today. I was granted the opportunity to try a dish called menudo. It is a hearty soup that the main ingredient is the chopped up pieces of all four of cows' stomachs. The smell is slightly different, the texture is slightly disturbing, the thought isn't entirely pleasing, but the taste isn't bad when you get past the three previous points. I ate my whole bowl and would eat it again.

On the way out, we saw a particularly appetizing sight of boiling octopus. I have decided to share the picture with all of your for maximum appetizing affect.

From the market, we went to the old train station. It has been turned into some type of culture center or something but still has some cool train stuff. They had do not touch signs everywhere. The second floor reminds me of the Ag Admin building at Purdue. It even has a ladder that leads to a trapdoor to the attic. Unfortunately, I didn't have the opportunity to explore.

From there, we went home, and I took a nap. Not particularly interesting but relaxing. Stay tuned for part 2.

Guajolotes y Cerveza

2011-04-09T18:32:00.001-07:00

Guajolote is the word for turkey. Pavo also means turkey but for some reason, using pavo has a taboo on it. I think it makes you uneducated or something. I don't really know. Most people know what cerveza means but for those who don't, it is a very important word here that means beer. Those of you who have seen The Three Amigos know that back in the day, tequila was far more prominent than beer. I haven't seen the stats for today's alcohol preferences.

Apart from simply meaning turkey, apparently there is a food that has nothing to do with turkey that is called a guajolote. As you can see, it is a bread-based food that is filled with something else. I have taken a few different photos from different viewpoints for better comparing to turkey form. The back of the piece of bread is left in tact, so essentially, it is like a giant different shaped hot dog bun. They then put in potatoes, lettuce, salsa, cheese, cream, and whatever meat you want. The bread is interesting because I believe it is dipped in a red salsa, and then fried. It is absolutely delicious but makes your fingers incredibly greasy and dirty. Delicious.

On another note, Hugo recently went somewhere and there was a little boutique beer shop with novelty beers. He brought me back some presents. The first beer on the left is a beer called Cerveza Queretaro. How appropriate. It seems to be its own label. The one in the center is called Chili Beer. It is a Tecate product and actually has a chili pepper inside. Impressive, I know. The last beer on the left is a beer called Catrina. It comes from a brewery in Hidalgo (the next state over--not the horse). This is interesting because Catrina is very Mexican drawing. Its full name means the elegant skull. The first print of it is a skull with a very ornate hat for the time. The idea behind the drawing is that death doesn't discriminate between rich and poor. We are all going to die. Catrina is very representative of Dias de los muertos (Days of the dead).

Tolantongo

2011-04-05T12:55:00.000-07:00

I had an exciting weekend! Starting on Saturday morning, I got up early (5:00), taxied to tec, hopped on a bus with a bunch of foreign kids, headed east, and arrived at paradise.

As far as the pictures are concerned, I really don't know how to make them flow so they are slightly out of order.

Paradise happened to be a place called Tolantongo in the state of Hidalgo (the Mexican state, not the horse). It is famous for its hot springs.

We started the trip out by eating a delicious breakfast. All the fruit was fresh and the orange juice was legitimately fresh squeezed oranges. In a word--awesome. Top that off with some delicious coffee and chilaquiles verdes (spelled wrong but is basically fried tortilla, chicken, and green salsa).

We then trekked down to the launch pad for the zip line. It was my first time and it was awesome! Notice the picture with all the zipline get-up.

There were two main caves that the hot water came from. The top one was dark, hot, and reminded me a lot of a temascal. We only lacked a chaman and a whole lot more heat. It was great. The other cave was bigger and had another cave inside it. There was a current that you could jump into and get spit out 15 feet later. It was really cool.

After that, it rained and we ate lunch. I thought it was that much cooler for the rain but there were a lot of whiners on the trip. We swam in the river (warm water), sat in its waterfalls, etc.

After that, team games were planned (we were in teams based upon our bandanna color. (I usually don't wear a yellow bandanna around my neck.) But we skipped game time to chill in a series of pools that cascaded down into the other ones. It was glorious.

We had a bonfire minus smores (huge downer) and then went to bed. Sunday, we went to another hot springs. It was a pool about 20 feet deep. We spent our time climbing up on the rock wall and jumping in from various heights with water skill we possessed. I actually ranked in the top 3 for aerial tricks. It felt good to be good at something--I should spend more time with these people.

We walked some more, ate some more, and then got shipped back to Queretaro.

Good weekend!

Meet Melissa

2011-04-01T11:23:00.000-07:00

I have been waiting to reveal for the pain of having to re-explain after it all fell apart. However, things have gotten slightly more serious and it seems to make sense to let you guys know.

I realize that some of your greatest fears has been that I would meet someone down here and never return. Part of that fear has been realized and I am still coming home this summer (you do the math).

In fact, I have met many, many people and have an entirely difficult time remembering their names when I talk to them. However, some people that I have met, I have developed some good friendships with and can remember their name on a fairly regular basis.

One of those people is a girl named Melissa. (No picture because I couldn't find one to do her justice.) Don't worry everyone, she speaks English. Well, she speaks Australian but I think that's pretty close. She also speaks Afrikon (could be spelled incorrectly), the language spoken in South Africa. She didn't know Spanish when she came but she is doing surprisingly well and like most women (or any other person in my life) can most likely communicate much better than I.

Our relationship has developed to the point that I hope she can come visit and meet everyone this summer sometime. As she is from Australia and will be returning this summer, if she does make it to visit everyone, we may have to do some good coordinating getting everyone to meet her. I would hate for her to make the trip and only meet a few people. We need to drown this girl with family. You know, just overwhelm her.

I'm running out of good ideas and the joke is running thin, so....April Fool's! I thought about doing a much more in-depth post without saying April Fool's until a later post, but hey, I didn't want to worry you too bad.

In all reality, I am still very single. Single and searching...But having a great time doing it!

I'm still alive

2011-03-30T08:19:00.000-07:00

I have some really good news and some really bad news...

Firstly, I haven't been blogging because I have been extremely busy having adventures and living out some really crazy stories.

Secondly, I have always had a camera guy or gal with me over the past few weeks and there are many pictures available to tell the story.

The bad news, I currently don't have access to those pictures and the procedure for uploading a Facebook photo from someone else's page to my blog is time consuming and a hassle. Unless there is an easier way that I haven't discovered yet--very likely.

Therefore, I will be doing this post completely photo-less. I do apologize.

So, starting from going home. I got back on a Tuesday and lived out the rest of the week fairly normal. I ate, slept, went to class, all the normal things. The weekend is when things started to get interesting. On Saturday, I had another field trip to the same place to talk about the same things. Only this time, we talked about soil sampling, dug some holes in some rock hard Mexican dirt, and counted stems of wheat in a meter of row to compare conventional tillage to no-till. Basically the same idea.

On Sunday, I just kind of chilled. The Pandas Gigantes had a football game sometime in the afternoon and I spent all morning in pre-game mental preparations. One more thing I should mention, Chad, Brent, Tadd, and Alex were on there way to Mexico to see me starting from very early Sunday morning.

I found out that they were in Mexico City and looking for a bus to come up to Queretaro somewhere around 11 in the morning. It takes about 3 hours to ride the bus from the airport to Queretaro. The game started at 2 or something like that and so I went to play. The rest of the fam went to the bus station to see if they could locate 4 gringos looking slightly lost. I wasn't there personally, but I have heard some first-hand accounts that it apparently wasn't too hard to spot them. The Panda's won (I had a crucial 4th down knock the ball down play) and then we all ate. All the ladies had brought food. I think it was a great reception for the guys. We played some very confused football with some of the kids and when completely wore out, we went home.

They all stayed in Carla and Hugo's house with us. Carla and Hugo thought is was ridiculous to even think about being in a hotel that long. We spent the week being a spectacle to most passerby's, eating delicious Mexican food, and just having a good time. I didn't have school on Tuesday so we all made another bus trip to Guanajuato. It is a city known for its mines and mummy museum. We didn't go to the mummy museum but it is a funny story if you want to ask us about it sometime. Also ask us about what we think of van tours...now that's a good story.

We continued eating, touring Queretaro, eating. All of this culimnated into Friday. We went to Carla's school, talked English with all of the kids (shocked them all with our size), went to a legendary torta stand with Claudia, went to a small town outside of Queretaro (San Jose del Tomate according to Paco) to buy boots and other leather goods (ask Tadd to show you his boots), then went back to Queretaro to the market. We bought fresh fruit, had some delicious smoothies, etc. But the day wasn't over yet. We then all wound up at a really nice Brazilian restuarants where the servers carry around huge swords with meat on them and you just tell them whether or not you want that specific meat. We ate way to much.

Then we went back to the house, the guys left to go to a panaderia (a bakery) to buy sweet bread for supper and I packed my bag. Few of us could actually eat anything at that point. We then traveled to the bus station, and hopped on an 11 o-clock headed for Reynosa. There were some slight difficulties on the way but nothing my broken Spanish translations and out good-natured North American charm couldn't handle. (At one point, a very sleepy Chad told a Mexican security guard that he was "looking for his trash". In all reality, he was exiting the bus to show his bag to another security guard outside. Way to use Spanish, sleepy-Chad.)

We made it to Reynosa and Kim Kaiser picked us up at the bus station and took us to the legendary Casa Verde of Isaiah 55 mission. We arrived before the team and so we took some showers to wash off the trip, read some books in comfortable clothes, ate some delicious north-Mexico gorditas, and filled up some water coolers for the team. (The cook was persistent with Kate that we shouldn't work until after we had eaten.)

Speaking of Kate, we weren't there for more than 10 minutes when Kate showed up. She took one look at me and said "Man you look like your dad". She later claimed that she could have spotted me from across a crowded market (or some place that is crowded and something about distance).

Mom, Dad, Jeff, and Denis arrived before the team as well. We had a good time talking for a while before the team got there. The team was a U of I group that has been at Reynosa the exact same week for the past 3+ years. They were great to get to know. However, before I could get to know them, my visitors took off from McAllen after church on Sunday. I then proceeded to skip an entire week of school to hang out in Reynosa. It was a blast! You can probably ask anyone on the trip and they'll have some story to tell you.

The team took off on Friday night after a slide show, share time, and some other fun stuff.

Mom, Dad, Jeff, and Denis crossed the border Saturday morning to catch their flights. I was taken back to the bus station by Moises and got a ticket headed for San Luis Potosi. The problem with that bus was that all the sound for the movies played over the loud speaker. I couldn't sleep. I did finish my book but ended up watching movies dubbed over in Spanish. What a treat! The last movie to come on before arriving to San Luis Potosi was the first movie of the Twilight series. Yes, it has been dubbed over in Spanish and has penetrated this far south already! Luckily, we arrived before I too was sucked into the masses of 12 year old girls who adore Twilight.

I then bought a ticket on my preferred bus line (yes, I have been here long enough to have preferences in buses) and with a hop, skip, and jump, was back in Queretaro.

So far, this week has consisted of me doing homework and trying to get back on top of my life here. I have also been trying to apply some of the things we talked about on the work team. It has been an interesting week.

Oh, I almost forgot. Last night, there was a large dance show at Tec. Of course my Salsa class was one of the performing groups and so naturally, I danced. I wouldn't believed me if you told me, but apparently somewhere between the coca-cola, tacos, chiles, and Mexican music, I have learned how to move my hips. I haven't seen the movie yet but I soon will and then we can verify if I can indeed move my hips. I await in breathless anticipation as I am sure you all are as well.

I think I may try to do some more homework. We'll see if I can get some pictures into the next one.

Three Amigos Throwback

2011-03-10T13:01:00.001-08:00

Being in Mexico has only brought me closer to the movies I used to watch as a child. One of the classics of course, is the Three Amigos. These actors (Dusty Bottoms, Ned Needlander, and Lucky Day) are down on their luck after being fired from their jobs as the Three Amigos--three wealthy Spanish landholders that fight for the right of peasants.

They recieve a telegraph as they are being booted out of the studio. Someone in Mexico want them to put on a "show" and stop the "infamous" "El Guapo". Obviously, they take this to mean that "El Guapo" is more than just famous--he is in-famous. And believe they have struck it big in Mexican show biz.

They show up to the town and find out that "El Guapo" is a man who actually wants to kill them. After some run ins with the local beverages (tequila), the Mexican women, and a few bullets, they become the three amigos for real and fight for the right of peasants.

I bring this up because I just learned about a possible root word for the word infamous. Back in colonial days here in Mexico, Africans were very scarce. They could use indians as slave labor for free and only the richest of the rich bought a black slave as a status simbol. Often times, this slave would not work but would accompany his master in his daily travels to show everyone how wealthy that guy was.

The Africans could be bought and sold as slaves because the Catholic church had decided they they didn't have souls. The word for this is "infame". Since that time, I believe the Catholic church changed their minds and realized that we are all equal.

I think we can all see the correlation here. The true meaning of infamous is someone absolutely horrible, without morals, without concience, dare I say it, without a soul.

Quick Trip Home

2011-03-08T18:14:00.001-08:00

It has been a really long time since I have updated. I do apologize but I feel like I have been really busy. As I type, I am thinking about the two tests that I have tomorrow that I have yet to study for. I thought you guys were more important and should have something to read.

I recently made an extremely brief trip to the states. I left Friday after class, took the taxi to the bus station, road the bus to the Mexico City airport (very intimidating), hopped on a plane to Houston, had the pleasure of going through customs and back through security, hopped on another plane to Indianapolis, only to be delayed because there was a "dirty seat" in the back. We ended up leaving without it fixed.

I watched two million+ mile travelers get bumped to first class--for free! I then was picked up by Mom, Dad, and Jeff, and carted back home. I spent the weekend hanging out with family, friends, etc. On Saturday night, Mom and Dad invited over any of my friends that loved me enough to come see me when I was home. We had a great time. The music room got some great action as an impromptu concert spontaneously started.

Dad took me down to Indy Monday night, I got to hang out with Kristen and Katie a little bit, and then Kris took me to the airport in the morning. This time I flew to Charlotte, then to Mexico City, bused to Queretaro, and Taxied home. I have been doing homework ever since (with an occasional break).

I had better get to studying.

Random Happenings

2011-02-25T21:24:00.000-08:00

It has been an interesting week. Not particularly eventful, but it seems now as I look back that a lot happened. I once again have failed with the whole pictures area, but I do have some sources of where to find some great pictures.

I pulled a first in my Skyping career and played a card game with my friends at Purdue. I just played the first round but totally won. It was pretty epic. I haven't lost the heat!

I will most definitely be posting more as soon as I can repossess some pictures from the dark archive corners that they are hiding in.

On a side note, Mom and Dad are planning on coming down to visit. They plan on arriving a little before noon on Tuesday. It should be a great week!

Another side note, I think the phrase "Random Happenings" is the name of a someone's Facebook albums. I'm thinking Ti's.

Friday Adventures with Jay. Ep 2

2011-02-20T13:17:00.000-08:00

I must apologize to all of you. I really haven't been doing as good of a job posting as before. In a way, that is a good thing, it means that I am busy and have no time to post. Or it means that I have nothing to post about because I am not busy enough. I'll let you guys think about that for a minute.

The second reason why I must apologize is a complete lack of photo documentation for this post and for others that may come. I try to carry my camera as much as possible, but sometimes I just don't want to have something else in my pockets. I don't always wear cargo shorts.

This Friday, I did not have my 7:00 class. Thank goodness. Because we had the field trip last Saturday that took up our personal time, the professor gave us a gift of Friday freedom. I think it is probably in the rules of the school, we are only supposed to spend so much time in class.

So Friday, I went with Carla to her school and waited for Paco to drop off Paulina. I then went with Paco to work.

We went to a workshop, picked up tools, picked up another guy, Cristobal, picked up a 3 liter of coke, and set off. The building Paco is working in is a 5 story building in a new residential area to the north of Queretaro (judging by the location of the sun). It is the first building of a large project that includes a gymnasium and other cool stuff. Paco got the contract to do the kitchen cabinets, doors, closets, and assorted other wood work.

I spent the day learning how to install doors into completely cement/stucco door openings. Needless to say, it included a masonry bit on a hammer drill. We put in a bar and fixed some other small issues.

In one apartment, the flooring wasn't done very well and we had to take all the doors down. That was a pain. It turns out that there is no need to worry about a door coming down. I think we got done early so we headed into town (there currently are no stores or taco stands in the residential area) to get some food. We ate tacos. They were delicious.
This is a candy shop in Mexico City. I had to take a picture of it for proof that is was closed. Otherwise, there would have been a family revolt against Pablo because he didn't stop.

Dia de Amor y Amistad

2011-02-17T12:56:00.001-08:00

So in Mexico, Valentines Day is similar but not quite the same as in the states. While we put so much attention and importance on being in a relationship, being in love, and buying really expensive jewels and meals for the one we love, Mexicans have extended the holiday to include friendship.

Throughout the day, you give candy, chocolate, whatever small gift you desire, to all of your friends. Granted, this only includes your friends of the opposite sex. If you try to give a gift to a friend of the same sex, they look at you very funny. I find the inclusion of friendship a very welcome addition. Instead of singles awareness day, those without an amorous counterpart may still partake in the candy giving, receiving, and celebrating their ability to have really good friends.

I wish I would have taken a picture and I actually thought about taking a picture but didn't of all the booths set up selling crap to give to your friends. It was almost as bad as the street fair. Only picture that all the booths are actually tables, all the food was a lot cheaper, and their was a whole lot more peer pressure (each student group had their own table of wares and pressured everyone to partake of their goods). In the midst of all the fanfare, I was goaded into buying a paleta de hielo (icicle), and then was pressured into taking the above photo.

I think I was taken advantage of because I'm foreign. But at least now I have a great picture of me as Barbie. I wish they would have told me to tilt my head. They have a lot to learn about taking these types of photos.

The below photo was taken of one of my fellow Salsa class peers in the middle of the carnival fanfare. I think he was a little surprised. I feel like this photo really captures the essence of the day and I highly doubt he will ever find out that his picture is on my blog unless Ale knows him and uses it as a leverage technique to get something from him in some circumstance in the future. I really don't know this kid at all. Therefore, if he knew, he would probably be freaked out. The beauty of being foreign!

Field Trip

2011-02-14T13:37:00.001-08:00

This past Saturday, I had the opportunity to go on a field trip with my Biorrecursos class. Translated, it is simply Bio Resources. It is about the soil, nutrients, things like that. I will mention that with this opportunity came opportunity cost. I lost the opportunity to go on fun trips outside of Queretaro that were planned by the international programs office. (That's the economist in me. Thanks Dr. Dooley.) This trip was mandatory.

We made a trek out of the city to the south and I believe we ended up either in the state of Mexico or very close. The trip only took an hour and we were in a very comfortable bus (it was only 15 of us in an entire charter bus--awesome!

We ended up at a testing ground for crops. The idea is to demonstrate to producers that modern techniques work better than old ones and they actually save money, time, and resources. He talked our ears off about everything that was going on and then we all got to take soil samples for moisture and use a tool (I forget it's name) to see the resistance to penetration. The idea is to see how compacted the soil is at different depths.

The picture of the hole is to illustrate what kind of topsoil they are dealing with the see what kind of water retention they have and how much room the roots have to grow. Looks like this stuff is a little rough to me. The professor was out off sorts as well when they bought the parcel for experimentation. He has since adopted the thought process that if it works in really bad ground, it should work better in good ground. I would agree to a point. But I won't tell him that, I want to pass the class.

I took some pictures of some gated pipe for the benefit of my Nebraskan brethren. I doubt they read my blog but I thought it was cool.

We hopped back in the bus, stopped at a super market (a really small gas station) to buy coke and pistachios, and eventually arrived at Tec. I then made the journey home, ate some street tacos de barbacoa (a special way to cook lamb), and finally made it home.

Friday Adventures with Jay

2011-02-12T14:14:00.000-08:00

As most of you probably know, I only have one class on Fridays. The rest of the day, I have time to explore. So far, I have only explored on one Friday (the Cerrito blog).

The bus back home goes past 3 or 4 things that I have wanted to stop at and check out. As of yet, I haven't had the guts to hop out, check it out, and then seek another bus to return home in.

I had finally decided to stop at the aqueduct to take pictures. However, as we were driving past the aqueduct, I chickened out. If it wasn't for an unavoidable stop that the bus made and I decided I might as well hop out, I wouldn't have seen any of this stuff on Friday.

First was the aqueduct. I took two pictures and the batteries in my camera died. I chatted with a very nice couple with a very small store about whether or not they had batteries and where I could get some. I really didn't need to ask, I should have known that they would direct me to an Oxxo. I bought a water and asked for the cheapest batteries they had. This started a discussion in more or less English about how much things cost. The lady knew quite a bit.

I then bought some delicious breakfast tacos from a lady set up right outside the store. I then walked the bus route, and found this awesome fountain in the middle of a round about that I have been wanting to photograph. I then proceeded further and found the huge park that I have been wanting to check out.

Within this park, I found these sweet stores set up. You walk through them and it feels like you're in a jungle. The statues of the man and woman depict for me how Mexico should be. Men playing love songs on their guitars for beautiful women. I am thinking about buying a guitar.

I then waited for my bus. I took another one that I knew would eventually get me back home. It took longer than the other bus, but I finally did make it.

Good day.

Part 3

2011-02-11T09:34:00.001-08:00

After Teotihuacan, we hopped back into the Tahoe, and headed to the center of Mexico City. It was great, Pablo's opinion was that we could cover more ground and I could see more things from the passenger seat in the car. Well, I definitely saw a lot, that's for sure. I was snapping pictures out the window the entire time and Pablo kept on explaining things to me.

They told me that it was empty. Monday was a holiday and only some people worked. Knowing that all the shops weren't open, apparently less people were walking around than usual. For me, it was still more people than I usually see on Purdue campus. I decided to take a picture of "empty".

I snapped enough pictures for Pablo to tell me that it was almost as bad as if I were Japanese.

We went through the poor part of town, the center of town, many streets with shops on them, etc. Apparently the center of Mexico City is the place to go to buy things cheap. Every street has a different niche market. There is a street just for engine parts, for ice cream, for anything dealing with lights, and there are a lot of streets.

All the buildings in the center are leaning in one way or another. It is like the Tower of Pisa but hundreds of buildings over. Mexico City was a large lake back in Aztec days. They built canals and other such drainage devices to drain the lake. Then they built things on top. To correct the leaning buildings, they have to inject concrete beneath the buildings to raise them up. Very interesting.

We ended up going to a taco place in the upscale part of town. As Pablo told me, we were going to eat "nice" tacos. It was really nice and they tasted great. After that culinary experience, we returned to Pablo's house. Franco and I played Guitar Hero on Wii (I sang on expert), and then we had to leave. We got back to Queretaro somewhere around 8-9:00. And that was the weekend.

Part 2

2011-02-10T05:07:00.001-08:00

From eating trucha...

We all got into different vehicles and went back home. Not directly of course, we needed chips and coke for the Super Bowl party. We made it back just in time to see the Steelers score just before half-time. The cousins were there until after half time. They really weren't interested in watching the game and to be honest, I wasn't too impressed with the half-time show. The light up suits and people dancing where awesome.

We went to bed and woke up early to get a good start on the day. We ended up leaving just a little before 9. I'm assuming we were supposed to leave earlier. Regardless, we drove to Teotihuacan to check out the pyramids. We arrived but were informed that we were going to have to wait to enter. Apparently the President was making a visit and we weren't allowed to enter for security reasons. We were continually sent to different gates, being told that they were actually open. We ended up spending some time in some shops, and a lot of time listening to music from various iPods.

The President took off in some white SUVs and ended up flying over in his helicopter. I took a picture. Even after he left, we had to wait for a completely inordinate amount of time for all the soldiers to leave. Once again, I took a picture.

We finally made it inside. Ale, Elisa, Franco, and I all climbed up the Pyramid of the Sun (its the biggest one). I took a photo for an Asian couple at the top, took some of our own photos, and generally looked at the surrounding area. There are a bunch of ruins and it is really impressive. There is another big pyramid, the Pyramid of the Moon, but it is still in restoration and can't be climbed to the top. We climbed down, checked out some of the shops on the site, and headed off for the rest of our journey.

More to come...

Mexico City: Part 1

2011-02-08T13:04:00.001-08:00

I have had quite the weekend. On Friday, you clearly saw that I had a very productive day, what with hanging out with archeological site security guards, taking photos of pyramids, etc. The madness continued on Saturday. I woke up late, ate some breakfast, generally chilled, and waited for Ale to return from a field trip. Upon her return, we all went to a really nice restaurant for Claudia's birthday. I ate too well, and we convinced Franco to come to Mexico City with us.

We purchased bus tickets, hopped on the bus, and headed south at about 7:00. We arrived in Mexico somewhere around 9:00 and Pablo picked us up from the bus station. On the way back, we stopped at the main convent in Mexico City and I took pictures of the cathedral. It was really pretty and my pictures don't do it much justice. Apparently if the outside impresses you, wait until you go inside. Apparently everything is covered in gold and very elaborate. (I didn't go inside.)

Upon our arrival to Pablo's house, we spent time with them as well as some of their cousins from the other side. The following day, we went out to eat in a little restaurant somewhere in the mountains after driving for a very long time on rutty, bumpy, dirt roads. It was sweet. I think we got lost but they claimed they just wanted me to see the terrain. It was super cool.

The restaurant was awesome! It was really open, had motorcycles and four-wheelers parked out front (there was a motorcycle track that we passed equipped with an ambulance--they were serious). I was told that the sopes and quesadillas were good so I ordered a sope and a quesadilla. I got two sopes instead. I ate those, ordered a quesadilla, ate that, etc. When I first looked at the menu, there was something called trucha. I asked Ale about it and all I got was that it was some type of animal. That sounded kind of suspect so I opted out. Trucha ended up being entire cooked fish. Head, tail, fins, everything. I ate about a third of the mom's on the other side (the tail third). It was delicious. Had I known it was going to be that good, I would have went with trucha off the start. Way to blow it Ale.

Too be continued...

El Cerrito

2011-02-04T14:41:00.001-08:00

I'm sure I have told most of you, but I live right next to a pyramid. It isn't anything to fancy, I doubt that Gru or Vector have ever thought about stealing it. However, it is something to call my own.

With that being said, I finally made it over to check it out. To my great disappointment, I will not be able to climb this pyramid while I'm here. (I had grand Rocky-like visions of running up the pyramid and watching the sunset as I drank an ice-cold Coke out of a glass bottle.) Alas, these dreams will not come to fruition (on this pyramid).

With my Tec ID, I can get into any museum, archeological site, etc. for free. It is pretty nifty. After being whistled at and directed in the correct direction by some construction workers (it wasn't sexual, they were just trying to get me attention to tell me where to go). Apparently I look a little lost everywhere I go. Go figure.

There was only one guide and he was off giving a tour when I arrived. I therefore read some of the literature available about the site and proceeded to the next bench over from the security guard in the shade. He was a good ol' boy, most like 60+ years old and was a great time to talk to. I didn't talk to him at all in English and I don't know if he spoke any. I asked him a lot of questions about plants, liquor, etc. (It makes sense actually, the plants are used to make the liquor.) The Maguey is in the agave family. It is the extremely large plant to the left of the one with yellow stripes. What you do is cut off the stem that is going to bloom, wait for sugar water to collect in the basin that is left, scoop it out, allow it to ferment naturally, and then drink it. It is called pulque. It is a poor man's drink and is quickly dying out as a common drink. We had a great time talking.

A couple from north of Boston showed up and it was fun talking to them too. We went on the tour, saw the sights, and chatted.

Amy, I did what you told me. Do I look goofy enough?

I threw in a picture of an Aztec pyramid sculpted from the finest of Alabama's sands. We got it pretty close if I dare say so.

Bernal Part 2

2011-02-04T09:39:00.000-08:00

This guy was awesome. I think he was selling stuff at the base of the rock but somehow decided it was a good idea to follow all of the foreign college kids to the top. He performed many songs, most sounded the same, but we loved every one. There was no small amount of peer pressure to have him continue. I think you can see Martino in this video. I don't know if he decided to buy himself a drum or not. Look out Italy, this may be coming to an area near you!

Domingo Comida

2011-02-01T13:26:00.000-08:00

Here in Mexico, the main meal of the day is some time between 2 and 4 o-clock in the afternoon. This meal is called Comida and it literally means "food". Domingo means Sunday.

Knowing that it was my birthday, Carla told me I could invite some friends over and we could all eat Comida together in honor of my birthday.

She made invitations, maps, and the food. All I had to do was to invite people. I haven't changed that much since coming to Mexico. I didn't get people invited until Saturday (the party was Sunday). I know, you are saying that I am so spoiled and I need to learn how to plan my life. I will tell you that you are right. However, contrary to popular belief, I do have what could seem to be a plan. It is more of a point in the future that I can see and I really don't care how I get there.

I went to Lalo and Silvia's house for a Bible study before the party. They are a couple with ties to Apostolics and are doing a lot in the form of reaching out to people about Christ in Queretaro. I was going to return home on the bus but ended up waiting for one of the people I had invited for a while before waiting for the bus. We then waited for the bus for an extraordinarily long time and then rode the bus for another hour.

Never in this process did I think that I should have taken the taxi until I got to the house (the bus is so cheap). I ended up being over an hour late for my own party.

I forgot to take pictures (once again--proof that I haven't changed much). Therefore, I have found some pictures on Google to help illustrate my point.

Carla prepared enchiladas with black mole for us. It was way too delicious. I had leftovers last night and it was like I was reliving a dream. My guests ended up being two guys from Michigan (Seth and Eric), Jirka (featured in the Bernal post), and a girl from Australia named Melissa. Melissa's roommates were also invited but did homework instead of coming to comida. After Melissa's return home and her exuberant praises about the food, they immediately regretted their decisions.

Seth, Eric, and Jirka bought and presented me a birthday gift! Because I so needed them, they purchased me some adult diapers! This was clearly a plan hatched by Eric. However, it has been reported that Jirka was on the way over to talk to employees about where to find adult diapers before the other guys had a chance to finish telling him their plan.

It was hilarious and a great time! I of course tried on a pair (over my clothes) and modeled them for my friends. I do believe that picture will end up being used is some nefarious plot against me some day. If I had it, I wouldn't be too far from posting it myself. Hopefully I can get it and we'll save it for a rainy day.

Bernal

2011-01-31T05:05:00.001-08:00

Readers, its seems like it has been a little while since I last posted. There is obviously more than one interpretation as to why. Maybe I got hooked on a new website that shows me random sites that I am interested in. Or maybe I have simply had a full plate and didn't have the time to post.

On Saturday, I went on a trip with a group of students from Tec (many many foreign exchange students), to the 3rd largest rock in the world. It is only an hour north of Queretaro. At the base of the rock, there is a town. Obviously, the town was there before the rock. No wait, that the other way around. I was thinking about someone from Bernal giving someone directions to their place--"Just go north until you see the big rock, you can't miss it." How handy.

Obviously we were at the site of the world's 3rd largest rock. The only logical thing to do is to climb it. Ismael and myself were the first to reach the first point that we stopped at. Give it up for team America! (I should have taken the French guys up on their bet.)

Obviously, we weren't going to simply stop, we had to push the limits a bit. If you look in this picture, you can see Jirka (half human from Czeck Republic, half mountain goat). This picture gives you some perspective of how much higher this rock is. I decided to live to die another day and just chilled for a bit.

We got back down, walked into town, and ate black corn gorditas. A gordita is kind of like a tortilla in the shape of a pita bread. They are hollow and then you put whatever you want inside. They were way to delicious. I could have stayed and continued eating gorditas, but service was a little slow and I wanted to see the rest of the town.

We walked around and there was a cool church, a really cool garden, and some cool shops. I have some pictures and actually thought I had uploaded at least one. Looks like I failed. After we got done, we hopped on the bus and headed back home. Bernal conquered!

January 26th

2011-01-27T05:33:00.000-08:00

My plan is to have these pictures in more or less chronological order. I have progressed in my blogging skills to maybe being able to get this done.

I started out the day by sleeping in a little late. I stayed up late so I got around 9 hours of sleep. I ate some cheerios, had a banana, etc. We got to school at around 11:20 and I worked on some stuff/talked with some people until a 12:15 meeting with a professor.

After I got done with that, I decided to go for a stroll outside of the Tec de Monterrey perimeter. The whole idea was to look for tacos but I didn't really find what I wanted. The street tacos are usually the best at night. I kept walking around, got slightly disoriented, self-corrected, talked with a couple cashiers at a Super Q about whether or not I am still young, etc.

I made it back to school in plenty of time for my 4:00 class. After class got over, I went with a couple friends to a local taco stand. It was awesome. We parted ways and I bought myself a coke. My plan was to try to catch a bus back to the house for the first time. I asked a security guard where to wait for the bus I needed. He told me one place so I went their. I kept asking people which bus they were waiting for but they were never waiting for the same one. I was directed to a couple of other bus stops before finding a guy headed somewhat in the same direction. I ended up taking his bus, riding until the end of the route, and being (I found out later) very far from home.

I didn't exactly have any idea of where buses would be and I didn't really want to pay for a taxi, so against all the wishes of everyone who has told me about Mexico, I began to walk home. I would walk in a direction for a while, ask someone if they knew where I was going, get new directions, do that for a while, ask again, etc. By the end, I found a road I was familiar with and made it back. The whole fiasco of getting home took close to an hour and a half. Next time I am getting on the correct bus. That is, if I figure out where it stops.

I made it back home and I found this banner on my mirror, and this little cake on my dresser. I proceeded to get ready for bed, slightly sad that my day was going to end. However, I got into a Facebook chat with some of my friends, which turned into a Skype chat. I couldn't always here what they were saying but via Skype, hand motions, head shakes, and yet more Facebook chat, I feel like we had a decent conversation. I ended up ending my day less than a half hour short of 12:00. I am now a little tired but it was definitely worth it.

Thanks everybody and I look forward to getting late birthday hugs from all of you.

Birthday Party

2011-01-25T19:46:00.001-08:00

I'm not entirely sure what day's I'm dealing with here. I believe that these pictures are from Saturday evening. Anyway, it is the day following the first go-kart adventure. I threw in some new go-kart footage for viewing pleasure.

Bottom line, all of us ended up in the house again. Carla's sisters Gina and Claudia, and this time her brother came up from Mexico (the state but also the city) with his family to celebrate birthdays and collect their dog. Yes, Pixi is now gone from this household and has returned to live with her true owners.

We all kind of chilled for a while until someone decided it was time to dig into the deserts. Franco was really pushing hard to get something done because he wanted to go karting again. The candle on my cake says "veinte y tantos". This just means twenty and some. It is a joke to be used on much older people but I like it.

I more or less got my face pushed into the cake. But only marred a small piece of it. I ate the marred piece even though someone had taken a bite out of it. I threw in a picture of the flan as well. It was delicious too.

I share my birthday with Paulina. We put in her candle for her picture but put them both in to blow out the candles. We each only had one candle so it was much easier to put out than any sort of spacing of 21 candles. Even a 21 candle torch would have been much harder to put out than my one candle. My wish should be coming true this year. Finally!

After we got done karting, Ale told me that I'm the "Peor". That is to say that I am the worst. My interpretation is that I am actually the best and she is simply awed by my dominance on the go-kart track.

I met two more cousins, Elisa and Estafania. I was coming up behind Elisa on the track and she promptly tried to ramp the tire wall out of the track. It must have really been cramping her style and she simply wanted some freedom by driving in the parking lot. She didn't make it that far. (For those of you who are pointing fingers, I didn't touch her kart at all.)

My Characticture

2011-01-25T11:26:00.000-08:00

Last night we went to a small restaurant and I ate one of Queretaro's specialties, Enchiladas Queretanos. They were very good. I had some the first week but they had a much more bitter taste. I am definitely a fan.

Ale was tired and was venting by being silly. Her and Hugo got into a huge drawing battle and it was actually really impressive. (I was in the corner drawing misshaped cubes.)

One of the products of this madness was a characticture (I am not sure if this is a word) representing my life in Queretaro. It is actually quite impressive the amount of subtle details that went into this picture. On the left side of the picture, you see me saying that I'm a ninja. I do so enjoy speaking very bad Spanish every now and then to get a reaction so I've become a "Merican". Say it to yourself in a southern accent. Soy Merican.

You may notice three girls peaking out from behind my head (they must be back some distance). The overall reaction is extremely positive to my appearance from the girls.

On the left side of the picture by my legs, I have been labeled as "El Coqueton". The flirt.

Obviously this is the artists interpretation of my life.

Skype

2011-01-24T13:35:00.000-08:00

Due to the fact that I have no idea what it would cost to call home with my loaned Mexican sell phone, and having the information that Skype is completely free, I have been getting more and more familiar and comfortable with talking with my loved ones via Skype.

This is a screen shot of what I believe was last Saturday morning. This has to rank in my top ten for good communication (I am a very poor communicator). I have since forgotten how to take a screen shot. If anyone wants to chat via Skype, just look for Jay Fiechter, I believe I'm the only one. Give me a call if you catch me on. This goes for everyone except for my stalkers--you know who you are.

Night out with Cousins

2011-01-22T11:57:00.000-08:00

I had just gotten back from school last night and was very tired. I was actually supposed to be sleeping but I hadn't quite gotten there yet. Carla's sister showed up with her kids and so I went down to see what was up.

I was promptly invited to go go-karting. Like a good American, I accepted the invitation. How could I refuse go-karting?

After waiting a while to leave (and talking with the family on Skype while supposedly getting my wallet, we headed out. We had to go to Claudia's house to change. Her kids were still in their school uniforms. After a while, we finally made it to the karts.

In the first picture, you can see most of the crew. Paulina was still driving in this picture. The girl in front of Franco is Miriam, Paulina's friend. This was the first time that Paulina was big enough to drive a kart by herself. Miriam was too small and they thought Giancarlo would drive too crazy.

Carlo rode with me and Miriam rode with Franco. Oh, Franco thought it was important that I had a hat so I borrowed one from him. He has hundreds. I introduced the family to almost 21-year-old-male-American go-karting.

Before leaving to go karting, I had asked Franco if we were allowed to bump. He said that we weren't technically allowed to (frowned upon). Needless to say, I may have gotten a little too bumpy on the track. I came up behind Paulina (in first) and Franco (in second) and was trying to pass Franco. I tapped him in a corner and he proceeded to crush Paulina into the corner. She hit the wall of tires hard enough to move half of the track. It was hilarious!

Everyone thought it was funny except for the track owners. Carlo loved going fast. We got done and he ran back onto the track and hopped into another kart. It was a riot.

We proceeded to go to a night market and I sampled some of Mexico's delicacies. Everything was fried and sugared heavily. How can you go wrong?

You have to love Mariachi

2011-01-21T11:16:00.000-08:00

So. Last Friday, the International Programs office hosted a big welcome lunch. We did have to buy tickets but they were only 20 pesos. I ate a lot more than 20 pesos worth.

They had been telling us that there was going to be a big surprise for us if we went. We were pretty much done eating when low and behold, in comes a complete Mariachi band!

It was awesome. There may be a video of us all dancing on stage instead of this picture. We'll save that for a later post.

Chad, they are singing Guadalajara in this clip. I had to stop filming to join the massive train that is getting started in the end of this clip. After the train, we all got on stage and danced (pictured above).

Laundry Day

2011-01-18T15:37:00.001-08:00

So, I thought long and hard about this post. I was trying to decide whether or not I should do it. The funny thing is, this is my blog, I'm willing to share, and if I lose any readership over the controversy, they didn't belong among my readers. Anyone who knows me at all should be okay with this post...I think.

I did not get my delicates in with the main bulk of my laundry. Carla did all the laundry on Saturday. I didn't know what batch to throw them down in and therefore, my delicates stayed dirty.

Today, I threw them in the washer and did things myself. After they were washed, I hung them on the laundry line. (Carla doesn't have a dryer but her sister does. She took all the clothes washed on Saturday to her sisters to dry.) I was amazed at how much space they took up on the line. This is clearly indication of the size of a certain nether region of my body.

I was taking them down when I realized how funny a picture of them hanging there would be. I went and grabbed my camera, put my clothing back on the line, and took a picture.

For those of you who didn't know before, I am clearly a boxer-brief kind of guy. I threw in a picture of my socks to show the difference in line space used. Everything felt very crispy coming off the line but they loosened up pretty well as I folded them.

Amy, I didn't think about a picture with me in it until just now. I thought about taking another picture and loading it but decided it wasn't worth it.

For any of you who are now emotionally scarred, tough.

A Day in Kindergarten

2011-01-18T12:44:00.000-08:00

I had no picture for the subject of this post. Thus said, I chose a picture of my fellow exchange students. This is by far and large not near all of them. However, you can see the confusion, excitement, comradeship, and food that I share with these people. We have people from all over the world. Australia, France, Germany, Finland, Czech Republic, Hong Kong, Italy, Canada, US, Argentina, Colombia, etc. They are great fun.

On to the subject of this post. On Tuesdays, I have only one class. That class happens to be at 7:00 in the morning. There are people who question my judgement when it comes to a 7:00 in the morning class. Believe me when I say that I have reasons for taking the class but when it comes to getting up to go to school, I have a hard time remembering them.

Regardless, I have the class and then I have all day to do whatever. Today, I went to school with Carla (my host mom). She is the coordinator for all the English taught in a bilingual school. It is considered a Kindergarten but encompasses 2-4/5 year olds. We walked into every classroom and Carla introduced me as her friend from the United States that wants to learn Spanish. She would then proceed to ask them if they thought they could help me. It was quite comical.

Every classroom played a song in English and sang it for me. I don't think I have ever had that many people sing for me in one day. The energy of young children is amazing. It is also amazing how shy they can become for no apparent reason. I probably need to realize that I am most likely bigger than most of their dads and that could be somewhat intimidating.

I walked into one class (most likely 3 year olds) and was immediately greeted by a little girl that blurted out "Que quapo!". For those of you who don't speak Spanish, that means "how handsome". I was asked about my favorite colors, movies, Indiana, the cold, etc. It is hilarious to hear what is important to children. In one classroom, 6 kids wanted to be astronauts, 5 wanted to be doctors, there was a policeman, a teacher, a ballerina, and Justin Bieber. They have big dreams.

Oh, and a kid invited me to his house to eat with him and his parents. I didn't go but I wasn't opposed. He was pretty cool.

Football Flag

2011-01-17T06:03:00.001-08:00

A few of you (probably just Mom and Dad) know that I was invited to play flag football with Ale's uncle Paco this Sunday. I feel like I am a poor representation of American's in the fact that I'm not super good and I don't know every player on every team. Regardless, I was excited to play. On the way, I was really hoping that we weren't going to be playing on just bare dirt, I really didn't want to run around in the dust. I walked over a small rise to get to the field and this is what I saw...

Probably the nicest field I have ever played on! I don't believe I have ever had the opportunity to play on astro turf. Go figure, I would find some in Mexico.
This is Ale's uncle Paco (I think his real name is Federico--don't ask me). Our team name is the Pandas Gigantes. Paco said it is because everyone on the team has a big belly.
I borrowed some gloves from Franco (Paco's son). He is in the top photo, along with Spikey, the dog.
And here's the team. Funny thing, I'm not sure if we won or lost. There were a lot of maybe they scored, oh wait, something else happened, that went on. I played right linebacker. It was zone except for one play that we played mano y mano. I was on my guy like white on rice.

La Casa

2011-01-16T16:43:00.000-08:00

Once again, my pictures are in a very peculiar order. However, I will make do with what I have. Pictured above is a site that has been started since I have been here. Until this week, it was just a built up plateau of new dirt. They must have been letting it sit to settle. I'm thinking that it has been sitting for a while. This crew looks like they know what they are doing and everything looks very ship shape. (Check out their bathroom.)
This area is what you see when you first come through the gates. It is a large triangle of grass with a swing set etc. in the middle. It is surrounded on two sides by houses and on the third, a large concrete--yet pretty--wall. The concrete squares you see in the grass are for parking cars. It must be cheaper than pouring a full patio. I think that these parking spots are event parking.
This beautiful villa is attached to one that is currently being worked on. Directly to its right is the new lot from the first picture. To the left--actually attached--is current construction that is actually progressing. This feels very Mexico.
This is the new construction that is progressing. Notice the red brick house to its right? The second story walls were not up when I got here. I just walked through this house and it is very Mexican construction. Nothing pretty about it. (Check out their bathroom.)
Lastly, this is the house (casita) that I live in. It is set up like a duplex, attached to a house that looks identical. It is very comfortable, is always cool (so far) and is very modern. This entire community is gated in. I have a picture of the gate but I didn't have room in the upload page and I feel like I overloaded you guys with pictures of Tec. (Check out the palm tree right outside my window.)

Tec de Monterrey

2011-01-15T09:39:00.001-08:00

I took a bunch of pictures of the campus so you guys could see what I am dealing with. I don't know where the pictures will end up but whatever. There is a picture of some bleachers, a statue of a ram and building 9. Building 9 is the gym, the bleachers are for taking group pictures, and I think our mascot is a Silver Ram.

There is another picture with the letters "ongresos." This is the cyber cafe area. It is open air, has picnic tables, and outlets everywhere. It is covered by a steel tent type thing and is really nice to work under.

One of these pictures shows a gate. The entire campus is fenced off and security guards stand by the gates 24/7 watching people go in and out. I still haven't figured out the system. Sometimes you just wave at the guy and other times he wants to see your id. I don't know whats going on.

The rest of the pictures are either self explanatory or a mystery to even me. I just thought they were cool.

Tacos!

2011-01-14T15:49:00.000-08:00

There is something so beautiful about going to a taco stand. Kristen, I don't know how well those tacos would ship but I hope this tides you over for a while. He threw in some fancy knife-work just for you guys.

En el Centro

2011-01-11T10:07:00.000-08:00

I think it was Saturday that we went to the center of the city and walked around. The city is beautiful. Downtown has a very European feel about it (Churches, cobblestone or brick streets, etc).
Hugo has been very involved in Queretaro since he was born. Directly across from this building is where his Grandpa's watch making shop was. It is across a plaza/garden. There is a clock on the smaller second tower if you can see it. Hugo's Grandpa was the watch maker that the government contracted to make the clock. Hugo and his cousin's were in charge of rewinding the clock once a week. He said they would take their friends up there right before the bell rang just to mess with them. He also said that one of his cousins has a picture of himself hanging off of the cross at the top of the tall tower.
Listed in order of visibility (of their backs) Ale, Carla, Hugo. This is a garden in the middle of the Gran Hotel. It was awesome.
This too was taken by a fountain in the garden at the hotel. Way to beautiful!

2011-01-09T10:05:00.000-08:00

I am most definitely not sure how to operate the blog creating program. Pictures are a pain in the butt. I can't get them in order, they take forever to put up, etc. But that's ok.

Last Wednesday night, Carla's (my host mom) sister Claudia came over with her two kids. We all wrote down what we wanted on small pieces of paper, tied them to helium-filled balloons and released them into the atmosphere, to be picked up by the 3 Wise Men.

Thursday morning, we all received gifts from the Wise Men. The day is called Dia de los Reyes or Day of the Kings (Wise Men). It is surprising how well the balloon messenger service worked. The US government should disband snail mail and sublease to the geniuses behind the balloon service.

I got a sweet new sweater--pictured somewhere--I wore it to school and felt very Mexican.

One of the pictures around here shows Hugo (my host dad) and Giuancarlo (Juan-Carlo). Carlito is the kid of one of Carla's sisters. He is a riot. He got a toy guitar and he gets very serious when playing it.

Oh, Pixi is pictured in the picture of my new sweater. She is a Taco Bell dog and belongs to one of Ale's cousins.

2011-01-08T09:00:00.000-08:00

So...this photo was taken hastily out the back of the van (camioneta). Therefore, it is not that great of picture. Once I get a better picture, I want to put it up top like the pictures of the girls on Treasures. Amy, I might need some help.

This is a bit of a soft opening, I am not exactly set on the name yet but I needed to do something. I have a bunch of pictures to post and a bunch of stories to tell (I know...you're asking yourself how I could have so many stories in such little time.) The people may move slow here in Mexico but the time seems to go faster.

On to the subject of the post. The name. All lives have their defining moments--reasons why people are who they are, do what they do--my life is no different.

This may be a bit of a stretch and may be more corny than any metaphor or simile ever told me, but I am going to equate life to an aqueduct. The aqueduct must have pillars to stand on. Most of the aqueducts I have seen have been supported by pillars that are part of an arch. This is what holds them up and what allows them to do what they do.

So whether or not living in Mexico for 5 months is one pillar, a full arch, or a set of arches, I expect it to define me as a person and help me to carry whatever message I am to carry or support whatever needs supported.

Por eso, presento Los Arcos de Vida.