Catch-up: Days 8, 9 y 10

So, to keep things entertaining and because I've fallen behind, I'm not going to list every moment of my day but I'll do things a little differently.

Foods/Drinks:
-moon pies (just like in America)
-homemade double cheeseburgers and fries (just like in America)
-jugo de jamaica (juice made out of hibiscus)
-jamoncillo (rich candy, some are dark pink and sugary and some are pecan/toffee)
-quesadillas with ham and corn inside (and yall should be proud, I even attempted a little hot sauce on them)
-authentic churros - the real stuff! so good! I won't be able to go back to Taco Bell after this trip.
-chilaquiles - fried pieces of tortillas, tomatoes, seasoning. good breakfast food, kind of like hash browns
-rollos de primavera con lechuga y zanahorias - spring rolls, better than Chinese take out
-jugo de mango (mango juice)
-arroz con leche y pasas - rice pudding dessert with cinnamon on top
-pollo con limon, arroz blanco con maiz (lemon chicken and white rice with corn, because I told Blanca we eat a lot of white rice at home. She's so thoughtful!)
-jugo de horchata - rice water with some kind of pink coloring. very sweet
-gelatina de cereza - cherry jello straight from the box
-there's one more interesting food... I'll put that one at the end...


Embarrassing Things:
-One night, the dog pooped on the floor and I didn't know how to clean it up, so I asked Eli (one of the guys in the house), or tried to at least. I didn't know how to say "poop" or "brown" in Spanish, so I tried "When you use the bathroom and it's not yellow," "it's not liquid," and I even pointed to my rear end but he didn't get it. So I searched "crap" online and the google images were disgusting, but I got my point across. The word is "popo."

-I didn't do my homework one day (it's already the 2nd week of school, time for a break) but made the mistake of saying so before class. I figured hey, I'm speaking in English, it's fine... forgetting that though Olga can't speak English, she understands it perfectly. So, she called on me for answer after answer, none of which I knew.

-I found out the window in the bathroom opens up inside the house. And sound travels.

-Blanca was taking our laundry out of the washer and I asked, "Do you need help?" When she looked at me puzzled, I said again, louder, "Do you need help??" Daisy had to remind me that no, Blanca does not speak English and I should try saying it again, in Spanish this time.

Events & Adventures:
-Acortar Distancias is all figured out. We went 4-6 Tuesday and Wednesday and will start going 4-8 next week. I'm with the 7-10 year old girls and they are all so loving and fun and fast-talking! They are almost in that catty stage, they love to dance, and they love to show off their English (numbers 1-20, mom, dad, car) and ask for new words (moustache, underwear). There's a lot of running around and and I should be in bikini-ready shape by time I get back! The kids speak so quickly that it really tests my Spanish, which is definitely a good thing!!

-There's a woman volunteering at A.D. like us, from Texas, who's working to get a water purification system installed, because bottled water for 100 kids can get pretty expensive.

-We made it on our own 2 days in a row on the bus!! (By the way, it will cost $2 a day for at least 40 days.) Thankfully Daisy remembered which one was our stop the first day... and the 2nd day we took several sketchy "short cuts." This took us through a really sad neighborhood just down the mountain from million-dollar mansions- there were houses without electricity, running water, real roofs (and this area gets tropical storms almost nightly), and had sheets of aluminum paneling for doors. And this is the area near Acortar Distancias, so many of the sweet girls I'm working with probably live there. I really need to be more thankful for what I have, not just here (a washing machine, a roof over my head, hot food), but at home too (a dryer, a car, air conditioning/heating, safe water). I am safe to come and go as I please here and at home, but I would not want to walk there in daylight by myself. I am so blessed to lead the life I do.

-Martha, the program director, is a life saver and helps us with any and everything! Except when men were calling at us on the bus (the usual stream of tacky compliments), she stopped talking and pretended not to know us American girls because we were so embarrassing! Ha ha!

-People here are very honest. Sometimes passengers get on the bus from the back if it's packed, and everyone will pass the money up without stealing it, and pass the ticket to the back. Also, at a street vendor we went to, everyone ordered multiple dishes, grabbed drinks, and gave an honest count of what they got when they paid after they ate, even though the street was chaos and they could have gotten away without doing so. Then again, they will also be too honest and tell you if you have bad acne, if you're fat, or if you're white.

-The amount of smoking in the house has increased incredibly and I'm starting to not like it so much. The younger son and his friends smoke "occasionally" but I think it's more like several packs a week. The day we lost to Uruguay (people still celebrated a ton because Mexico's moving on to the next round), he had a group come over and the air was awful to breathe even with the window open.

-This is Mexico's bicentennial anniversary of independence from Spain and 100th anniversary of the Mexican Revolution... there are new dollar bills (peso bills?) and really cool commercials advertising the "natural beauty" of the country.

-Accomplishment: I'm learning to roll my r's (it's about time!)

-Daisy, my roommate, told Alfredo, the older son, that a classmate of hers tried cow tongue the other day. Of course Alfredo was not surprised, of course he asked if we were full from dinner, and of course Alfredo, Joakin, Blanca, Daisy and I got in the car and headed immediately to a street vendor (yes, you can see where this is going). Near el centro, in an incredibly dark and sketchy neighborhood, is a corner, brightly lit and alive with activity. In the center is a small street vendor that cooks every part of the cow. Alfredo ordered 1 cow tongue taco (tacos de la lengua de vaca) for Daisy and I to share. It came chopped up in little pieces and looked edible, so we braved up, each took a bite... and... it was good. It was really good. Like, we argued over the last bite of taco. So, Alfredo ordered us some more, but this time he made us watch them cut the slabs of tongue and they put hot sauce on it. That taco was not so appetizing, but I can still say I tried and liked cow tongue!!! Sick...