Week 3.5: Los Mejores Tacos del Mundo. Punto.

The rest of my Monday was pretty relaxed. FHE, went home, watched 10 Things I Hate About You, and went to bed. :)

Oh! Also on Monday, our mamá hired a maid. It seems really weird to me to have a maid… I feel bad making her clean all our dishes and clean up our rooms and whatnot. The cool thing is that she lives with us though! Her name is Elisa and she’s 17 years old. She’s so tiny and really sweet! I’m excited to get to know her better! And now we can practice even more Spanish with another native! Yaaay! :)

Tuesday was a fun day! After getting home and finishing homework, Emilio and Eric came by to go out for some fun. Emilio had asked us a couple times if we wanted to get some Arab tacos, but every time he asked we had already eaten dinner.

The taco place isn’t open til around 8 o’clock, so we decided to kill some time at the mall before heading out for dinner. We went to the same place that has the pet store with the puppies!! Oh gosh, I was so happy again! :) We mostly just window shopped, but it was still fun!

At 8 o’clock we headed over to the taco place. And, GOOD GRACIOUS, those tacos we delicious!

They were so good I even had 2 ghosts behind me trying to steal a bite! Hehehe just kidding, the picture just took weird :)

It had this delicious garlic sauce on it, so yummy… I’m drooling right now, just thinking about it…

After eating, we decided we wanted to get ice cream! So you know that place I told you about in Centro that has the yummy mango ice cream? It’s called Colón. There’s a couple of them, so we went to one that was closer. This time I got coconut! It was soooo good!

While we were there, we started have staring contests. I would say I was okay at that! But since I have contacts, my eyes starting drying out and my vision went all blurry… And then I couldn’t help but blink!

Next we had a contest of not smiling. Oh my goodness, I was the worst at that. Especially when people started making funny noises or moving their eyebrows all weird. NOT FAIR! 

I'd start out strong, but after about 5 seconds I end up like this:

And then two seconds after that, I'd start laughing, but trying to contain myself:

And of course shortly after I'd break and just burst out laughing.

I guess my face wasn’t made to go without a smile for an extended amount of time! Hahaha.

Wednesday once we got to school, Kelsey and I found out our first class of the day had been cancelled since our teacher wasn’t feeling very well :( Normally that would be great, but we still had another class that day, so we couldn’t go home, and we didn’t have really anything to do... So I watched Step Up on Netflix! Hahaha. I seriously love that movie. The music and dancing... It's all so great! And let's not forget Channing Tatum ;)

Later that day, we went to go see Despicable Me 2! Or also known as “Mi Villano Favorito 2.”

Gosh that movie is hilarious! And I just adore Agnes!! She and I would get along really well! We both love unicorns, we both love sweets, and we both love fiestas! :)

After that, we went to go clean the church building that we go to church in. Afterward our group practiced singing a hymn because the Bishop here asked us to sing something in Sacrament Meeting this Sunday. We got home about 10, ate dinner, did homework, then went to bed!

As of yesterday, I only have 4 weeks left here until I leave :( It’s hard to believe I’ve been here just over 3 weeks already! It feels like I’ve been here forever, but also like I just got here two days ago… I'm just going to enjoy it while I can!

760 Days Left! :)

Week Three: ¡Encontré la casa de Jaws!

This week has been busy and very itchy! I am, no joke, COVERED in mosquito bites. I even have one on the bottom of my foot. WHY?! The mosquitos here just adore American blood, because the Mexicans here never EVER get bitten! I don't understand!

Okay, I’ll start with Thursday evening!

Thursday evening our group went to the temple. Oh my gosh, the temple here is so beautiful. It's small, but it's really gorgeous, inside and out! And the Spirit there is as strong as any other temple!

So since I’m in Mexico and all, all the ordinances were performed in Spanish. It was my first time hearing them in Spanish, and it was really amazing! I really loved it. Everything in the Church really is the same throughout the entire world, huh? :)

Afterward, we went out to eat dinner at a restaurant called Los Trompos. I shared a delicious, TO-DIE-FOR pizza pastorera! That’s basically tacos al pastor, but in pizza form! SO GOOD.

Just drool at it’s deliciousness:

NOM NOM NOM.

Friday morning our group went to the Mayan Museum that’s here in Merida. It was super cool! AND IT IS HUGE.

This guy right here was my favorite:

Hehehe :)

After lunch, my roommates and I went to Progreso for a couple hours. Yep, we've been to Progreso every week so far!

After we got back, we headed out to Centro to see a performance of the Mayan ball game (y’know, the one in the Road to El Dorado!). Unfortunately though, right when we arrived they announced the end of it. I was so bummed! We found out that they’ll be there every Friday night, though, so I REALLY wanna go and see it sometime this next month!

Saturday we went to a place called Celestun! It's a place on the coast where they take you out into the ocean on boats called “lanchas”. We saw a bunch of birds, including flamingos! We went down a river that leads to Campeche, when the water started turning red.

Yep, we found Jaws’ home.

We were fighting him off with the few weapons we had aboard our lanchas. We were spraying him with our insect repellent, shooting him with harpoons... We would not be taken down by the nautical monster!

Just kiiiidding :)

The color leeches from the bark of the trees that grow in the water, so the water is a dark red like blood. It was cool!

We stopped at something called an “ojo de agua”… And I don’t exactly know what it is. I think it’s a spring of water that connects into the ocean or something. Anyway, some of us swam in it, but it smelled gross and I got some of the water in my mouth. It tasted absolutely disgusting! 

Typical me, oblivious to the picture being taken! 

As we arrived back on the beach, a huge thunderstorm started! It was POURING, there was rumbling thunder and big cracks of lightning… IT WAS AWESOME! 

After it let up a little bit, a few of us decided to go swim in the ocean… Yeah, not a bright idea, but there was only one strike of lightning off in the horizon at that point. Then we noticed that some of our hair was sticking up from static electricity. But the water was so warm and we were having fun...

Yeah, not so smart looking back on it.

Sunday was a nice day of relaxation, as usual :) Well... for the most part hahaha.

I Skyped my family for a half hour before some of the boys came over to make Oreo truffles with us and to play some card games. It was so much fun! 

Normally I’m really bad at card games, but when we played spoons, I WAS BEAST! The second round we played I WON! The problem is I get super worked up about intense games like that, so I was still shaking a good five minutes afterward...

There were two different reactions after seeing my manic behavior. Pascal and Flynn:

Today for our Conversation class we got to go out to breakfast for class!! Do they ever do that in Spanish classes for the United States? I THINK NOT! It was so awesome. We had a traditional breakfast food here in Yucatan called “lechón.” It’s a type of meat. We had it as a sandwich and it was so YUMMY! I loved it!

Kelsey and our teacher Lilia :)

After eating, we walked around a mercado (market) and learned a bunch of names of different foods and fruits. Our teacher bought us huaya, a type of fruit that only grows here in the Peninsula! It tastes really good, but it’s nearly impossible to eat because… Well, it’s really hard to describe. It’s squishy and doesn’t like to come off of the seed… Anyway, it’s a little dangerous to eat because it has a big seed that a lot of people choke on, so we made sure to be careful!

OKAY OKAY OKAY!

Gosh I love Mondays so much. It means I get to talk about Elder Gibby!!!!!!

He is doing SUPERB! This weekend he got two baptisms! They were his first ones that he got to do so far on his mission. He was getting down because he hadn’t gotten a baptism yet, so I’m really glad he got two after all his hard work!

After the baptism he went to the hospital because he was sick. Pobrecito!! :(

But other than that (and having an experience of eating cow blood), things seem to be going well for Elder Gibby! I’m so so happy for him! It’s always great when things start to look up :)

763 Days Left! :)

Week 2.5: Quiero todos los perros...

It’s July 11^th! Which means free Slurpees at 7-11! I’m not sure if they do that here in Mexico though… And Slurpees are called Frozts. Weird, right?

So this last few days have been fun!

Monday night for FHE two people, a brother and a sister, came to perform some traditional Yucatecan dances for us! It was so cool!

Look! SHE HAD A WHOLE TRAY ON HER HEAD. WHILE SHE’S DANCING. So crazy!

 But then of course they had some people from our group come up and attempt to do the dance without any instruction. It was hilarious!!

Except unfortunately then it was time to switch partners. The brother asked me to dance... So I was making a fool out of myself in front of a pro… Oh well, it happens!

Week Two: Burger King es un gran palacio en México

Before coming here, I have never heard someone try to speak English who doesn’t know it very well. It’s so funny!! In Progreso the vendors always call out, “Hey girls, check it out!” Then when we walk past them, they say, “Don’t miss me!”

There’s a guy who’s a member of the Church that hangs out with our group, Emilio. He doesn’t know very much English, but it’s so funny to hear some of the phrases he’s said, like, “I am boss.” It’s hilarious!!!

On Saturday our group went to ruins called Uxmal, and our tour guide told us during dinner that he went to England to learn English. British people hardly pronounce their “r”s, as is commonly known, so that was how he spoke. One day when going to a restaurant, he wanted a fork, so, as not being super proficient in speaking English, he said, “Can I have a fork on the table, please?” Now that would have been totally fine, except that without pronouncing the “r”, it sounded like a different word… And the meaning of his sentence was changed completely.

It's like, what do you even do in that situation when you realize what you've said?

He also explained that “beach” was difficult for non-native English speakers to say without sounding like another bad word. In addition, “sheet” is a no-go too. They all just sound too much alike if you didn’t grow up with English! Hahahaha.

Anyway, that was sort of off-topic... But now it's basically my favorite thing to hear Spanish-speakers say things in English! It's the best!

Okay, my activities of the week!

So we ended up going to Dairy Queen and Burger Queen to celebrate the Fourth of July down here in Mexico. Very American, yeah? :)

Of course we ate our dessert first though! Delicious Mini Blizzards. Just the cutest! :)

 We walked from DQ to Burger King, and WOW. Let me tell you, that’s the fanciest dang BK I’ve ever seen in my life! It was huge, super clean, it had a play place, there were flat screen TVs, even their hand sanitizer machine had a screen on it!

And check it out! The Burger King himself beside a Mayan temple (which I think is Chichen Itzu):

Our celebratory American dinner:

Oh, and I forgot to tell you, BURGER KING CAN DELIVER TO YOUR HOUSE WITH THEIR OWN DANG MOTORCYCLES.

  

Say whaaat? 

Why aren’t there Burger Kings like this in the US?! I’d never have them deliver, but that’s definitely something! Hahaha.

Friday our whole group took another trip to Progreso! It was super sunny out, and as you could probably guess, I got a nasty sunburn. Gaaaah. Totally worth it though! We were out in the ocean for a good amount of time, came out and drank yummy limeade, played beach volleyball (which I really am terrible at! … I’m afraid of the ball), went to the market, and got these delicious coconut desserts called Pay de Coco. Yum!

Saturday was Uxmal! Oh my goodness it is awesome and super pretty!! There’s a ton of symbolism in all the buildings, there were butterflies everywhere, and it was SO GREEN. 

My roommates and I!

 Sitting on a little chair thing… That kind of looked like a tiny toilet for some reason hahaha

They even had the game goal thingy from the Road to El Dorado!!!!!! 

SO COOL.

While Gabi and I were exploring, we started walking down this aisle way talking a laughing and whatnot. Then out of NOWHERE we see this swarm of bugs.

I'm not kidding, this is exactly what we did:

There was bugs completely covering part of this plant, so the entire leaf was BLACK. Gross!

(Courtesy of zooming! I was probably a good 15 feet away haha)

Also, there were iguanas EVERYWHERE. They’re basically the squirrels of Mexico. They kind of look majestic…

After exploring the ruins we watched a show they put on at night called Luz y Sonido. They used different colored lights to light up all the buildings and narrated the history/folklore of the Mayans who lived there.

Sunday we went to Church and just relaxed afterward. It was my roommate Kate’s birthday, so we had a small celebration. It was fun! Mamá had bought a tres leche cake, we sang Happy Birthday to Kate in both English and Spanish, and mamá even bought a present for Kate! How nice is that??

And today is Monday, so guess what that meaaaaans?

YES, I GOT AN E-MAIL FROM MY MISSIONARY :)

He got the package I sent him! Yaaay!

Adam said he’s making the cheesecake TONIGHT! Hahaha that boy really likes his cheesecake, huh? :)

He said he already read the letter that was “when you need a laugh” with his companion. He said it was really funny and that they really needed it. I'm so glad!

Also, Elder Gibby’s companion got my letter and card I put in there for him with the Chihuahua with a sombrero! He e-mailed me and said thanks and that it made him laugh. He also said that Elder Gibby is a great missionary, which of course the response in my head was:

Yep, I know. :)

The weather’s cooled down in Elder Gibby's area, so now it’s 105 instead of 120+. Which is still incredibly hot. I just about died at Uxmal with 100 degrees and 87% humidity. I’ll pass on 5 degrees more!

Anyway, you could say I'm the happiest girl in the world. I'm in Mexico having a blast, and I have the best missionary ever who is always there for me. LIFE IS FANTASTIC :)

770 Days Left! :)