Ok, a little more info on the Festival of the Black Christ. I'll obviously know a lot more when I get back, but apparently there was an era in Mexico in which the governing body was opposed to anything religious(surprising with how Catholic Mexico has always been). But during this period the government would destroy religious buildings of any kind. Well the church is Campeche was burned and all that remained was a statue of Christ that had turned black from the fire. The fact that it remained intact calls for celebration every year (still unsure how long it has been) since.

I thought it would be cool to have a word of the day that we could all celebrate together in three languages since my class of the Mayan language is so awesome. The words will obviously be very simplistic seeing as I will probably never be able to use complicated words in Mayan. So today's is:

Maya: Ki'ichpam
Español: guapa
English: pretty (in the attractive sense)

Used in a sentence....Ashley is very Ki'ichpam.

Hasta

I went to a restaurant called "La Musa" tonight to watch the Mexico vs Brazil soccer game. Talk about intense. They sure do love their soccer in Mexico and, even though we lost, it was one of the most fun things that I've ever done.

This weekend, Saturday to be exact, is Mexican Independence day. I'm definitely going to buy a huge Mexican flag. And also this weekend is the Festival of the Black Christ in a little town called Campeche on the west coast of the Yucatan. Now, just to make things clear, there is nothing racist OR sac religious about this Festival. Apparently there is just this statue of Christ that is in black iron and they celebrate it every year. So a few of us from the program are going on Friday to experience whatever the Festival of the Black Christ might entail. Both of these events have tons of tradition built into them, especially the whole independence thing as you can imagine. Check back for pictures and stories. I can't wait to share them with you.

Viva México

Definitely not adjusted yet to whole waking up at 6 after studying till 1 thing...

Still making small observations:

-The same loud German shepherd jumps out and scares the daylights out of me every morning as I walk by his fence on my way to the bus stop...you'd think I'd see it coming after 2 weeks.

-You know those girls that talk really fast and use words like "like" and "whatever" too much, and despite the fact that they are trying to communicate something you can never tell just exactly what that is...well they have those here in Mexico too and it's even harder to understand the point they're trying to make in a second language.

-I brought my American study habits with me to Mexico and they're just not going to cut it. I have to get used to reading all of the material, something no one does in the US. A normal Mexican class involves about an hour of discussion over the reading from the night before, and when you don't read the material, well let's just say I've got to be a little more intentional with my time.

-I saw the world's tallest tower of tequila when I walked into Wal-Mart today. Yes they have Wal-Mart here. But literally from the floor to almost the ceiling was this huge tower of tequila. I don't think they can get away with that in the states. And just how in the world would someone be able to purchase a bottle without that bad boy toppling over and killing them?

-Mole is a type of sauce that is fairly common in Mexico and even in parts of Texas. But here in the Yucatan they eat Mole soup which is made out of tomatoes, chilies, and chocolate. Chocolate soup? You're darn right.

Well that's all I've got for today because I've got to get back to that whole reading thing we just talked about.

Mexicans really know how to throw parties. Last night was my host brother's birthday so he had a little shindig. I helped him get the house ready to have company as we were expecting about 60 people (all of which showed up). But then I was really impressed when the rock band showed up. How many people in the states have live music at their parties? Not to mention they played full blast in the back yard from 12-2:30. I guess there is no law against disturbing the peace in Mexico. And for food...he definitely had a taco stand come and set up in our front yard. All the free tacos you could want. I personally went easy on the tacos as to be careful not to repeat the hospital episode, but it was awesome never the less. So I hung out at the party till about 3 and met new people, discussed Bush and Iraq, offered my opinions on the Felipe Calderon situation, learned new slang, and when I was exhausted (and no one was leaving yet) I decided to go ahead and go to my room and sleep. The party rocked on until about 6:30 in the morning, music full blast. And of course I woke up at 9:30 this morning completely unable to fall back asleep so I watched 6 episodes of scrubs and made myself some eggs and coffee as my host parents went to the beach house for the night. I say all of this really just to stress the same thing that I've stressed before...we don't know how to celebrate in America. Everything here is cause for celebration with friends and family. If there is one slice of Mexico that I want to bring back home with me, other than the salsa (not the dance), it is this.

These are 3 terrible pictures of last night, but in them you'll see the back yard full of people, the band, and the taco stand...all at my house.