Mexico Fun!

Ok gang, so it's been a long while once again. The road trip was great! We saw soo fricken much. I'm still working on getting pictures up on facebook. If you don't have access to facebook let me know and I'll try to put some up here. Spent a lot of time in the car, but it was sooo worth it. Let me see if I can give the really brief summery of major events. Startedout with the car in DF (that's Mexico City for you unmexican people) and from there we hit Veracruz (almost), La Venta, Villahermosa, Edzna, Uxmal, Mérida, Chichen-Itza, Ek-Balam (with a 2 hour detour thru the most horrible roads ever), Cobá, met up with the others for 2 days of relaxation on the beach in Tulum, Punto Allen, Chetumal, Becan, Calakmul, Palenque, Yachilan, Bonampak, took a bath in a river, back thru the city of Palenque for groceries, Misal-Ha, Agua Azul, San Cristobal de las Casas where we saw a big cave and a cool indigenous church and ate homemade tunafish and jalpiño sanwiches with cerveza in the Zocolo, Tuxtla Gutierez, Puerto Arista, Peurto Escondido, Tehuacan, and back thru Puebla to DF to return the car. 17 days of adventure with Christina and Matt. Yeah! And we discovered that some of the cheepest food in Mexico can also be some of the best. On Día del Taco we found a little restaurant where the had a special of a taco for 3 pesos. The entire meal including drinks and tip for the 3 of us cost less than 6 dollars. And I'm bringing back a hammock from San Cristobal to hang in the backyard of my new house! And for the record, the entirety of Mexico is covered in speedbumps (topes). We always tried to have an extra person on tope watch since they weren't always labled. *our poor car!* :(
Got back to Puebla and had a week to catch up with my schoolwork before we headed out for our trip to Mexico City. Which was fun, but I really learned that I prefer the country and small towns to the city. And we had to stay with a guide all the time and weren't allowed any time to explore on our own which was a little disappointing. Especially at Teutihuacan, which if you don't know is the biggest archaological site in Mexico. But also a huge tourist attraction. sigh... What i did really like was the Ballet Folklorico that we got to see. Basically a large group of folk dances from all over Mexico put together into a show and performed by a professional group. Really interesting and lots of fun. Beautiful really. I took lots of videos. What I also liked was the location of our hotel. It was smack dab in the middle of the alternative lifestyle district. Chris and I got some really really good hamburgers at a small stand on the corner. And you could see homosexual couples making out on the benches which I thought was really cute. There was a gay club down the street that we didn't end up checking out because we were so tired.
But we did find a really cool tattoo and piercing shop. We talked to the guys there and they seemed really nice. And suddenly a bunch of us decided to go for it. Lindsay was the first to make up her mind. She wanted a tattoo of a really pretty phrase in spanish. And she got it on her butt. It's gorgeous. Christina was #2 with the ever faithfull, "well if you do I will too." She wanted her lip pierced and I went with her to hold her hand. Unfortunately, she proved to be much stronger about it than i was. The woman had a little trouble getting the ring thru her lip and after about 3 minutes of standing there watching her struggle, I had to sit down or I was going to pass out. Chris told me later that my face had turned white and my lips purple. Go figure. Soleil jumped in next with "hey you know I've always wanted... what do you think?" She took Samantha with her and got her bellybutton pierced. It looks beautful. And then she got to surprise the heck out of her boyfriend when he caught up with us a half hour later. But he did arrive in time to hold my hand for a little while while I was getting MY TATTOO! I decided last with "well I need to see what kind of design he comes up with." So i helped the tattoo artist (who was really great btw, muy muy amable) modify a drawing from his book and decided to go for it. It's a bird in flight on my ankle done in black and white with blue eyes. And he's beautiful. I've wanted this tattoo for a really long time, and the blue eyes are my little tribute to Ryan (but also cause i like them). Yes it did hurt, but I had my all my friends around me to distract me and to hold my hands. I do think I turned Christina's fingers blue at one point tho cause I was squeezing so hard. He's still healing right now, but I'm really happy with him.
So right now we're back in Cholula waiting for our next trip to Veracruz this weekend. and we only have like 2 and a half more weeks of school. How scary is that? And then I come home and try to figure out how to buy a car and move to DE and start my summer research. Wow. But right now it's still homework and Spanish. Spent the weekend with my host family which was great. But I still can't understand them when they talk fast. grrrrrr.

We just booked a rental car for our EPIC MEXICAN ROAD TRIP ADVENTURE. Yes that is it's official name and Matt has told us we're not allowed to call it anything else. Me and Matt and Christina on the road for a little more than 2 weeks. We had to go thru a lot of red tape, but we're finally making it all happen and the 3 of us are sooooooo excited. The other kids on the trip still don't know what they're doing yet. They have their own red tape to deal with. I figure we got the better deal. It;s a hard week to plan because all of the mexican schools have spring break at the same time. So everyone's on vacation. And it's a holiday week. So a lot of families are also traveling. So all of the prices of the hotels are jacked thru the roof. Trips that we thought we were going to be able to book for $200 are now over $1000. It's amazing.
I'm liking my new classes a lot. Good professors. Tho my 326 prof talks amazingly fast. Clearly tho so we can understand her.
I'm sitting here on the patio. At dusk. Listening to the birds go crazy. They're always amazingly loud at around this time. Comes from having the cafeteria next to the duck pond. If you haven't checked out the facebook group "UDLA Ducks are Evil" you should. It's amusing. I went out with my family last night to a great bar. The owner is friends with my host mom and he sings live at his clubs. Great Mexican music. I want to see if Karla can dig some up for me. I don't really have any Mexican music and I want some.

Yeah. So I suck at this keeping up with my livejournal thing. Shoot me. Our second trip was to Taxco and Tepotzlan (somebody please tell me I spelled that right). More archaeological sites and cool towns to visit. We got to hike this really cool trail up the mountain to this one temple trhu really cool looking rock structures that are formed by volcanic lava. Up at the top was the temple and we got to sit on the edge and look out over the valley. Beautiful views. While we were up there we could hear the church bells from the town far down below. and then, chrystal clear, the sound of a tuba. We couldn't figure out why until we went back down the mountain to visit the church. Just as we arrived, a funeral procession was leaving. The coffin was a beautiful silver with a worn coyboy hat restnig on top. Crouds of people followed holding bunches of white flowers. And then, in the very back of the procession, playing cheerfully was a ragged marching band! Looked like just a couple villagers who had picked up instruments and were trailing along behind. Some trumpets, trombones, a couple clarinets, and 1 single souzaphone! We were able to hear him all the way up on the mountainside! I thought that was pretty cool. To site at an anchient temple and hear drifting out of nowhere, 1 cheerful tuba.
Taxco is pretty cool too. It's built on a hillside and most of the houses are painted white. AKA when we stood on the roof of our beautiful hotel (it had a tree in the courtyard!) we were standing even with the street next door! Looming over the whole city is a huge statue of Christ with his arms extended to his sides. So he stands in the shape of a cross even tho he isn't actually on the cross. Our second day there, Matt, Christina and I decided to try to hike up to him. Essentially this means that we hiked up a mountain even tho we never left the city. As we got higher and higher tho, we left the tourist area and at some points we were passing thru the mountain ghettos and going past private property estates. We stopped for a little bit to watch a soccer game that was in progress and a little boy came up to us offering his services as a guide to lead us to the Christ statue. "Are you looking for Christ?" he asked us. Laughing, Christina mutters under her breath, "I never thought i'd answer yes to that question..." When we finally got to the top, (which involved leaving the road and going straight up the hill under branches and over barbed wire fences) we looked at each other and said, "We found Christ!" hehe
Taxco is also a big silver town and we were able to buy some really nice silver at a cheep price. I bought a new chain for my necklace that Ry brought me back from the Southwest. Unfortunately, my pendant won't fit over the end. So I'm still using the old chain. It hasn't broken in a while tho, so I'm hoping it stays together for a little while longer.
I'm going to go eat lunch, but hopefully I'll be back soon with updates from this weekend in Acapulco!

Ok. I know I haven{t posted in a while, but it's been soooo insanely busy here. I've been working for the last 4 days on my research proposal for summer research. Apparently a very tricky business. And now I'm headning home to catch up on all the other work I've been putting off. Went to the Insituto de Hinojosa again today. A public school that we've been visiting. Basically meaning the parents can't afford to send the kids to private school. On sunday we went and painted all of their benches (and the paint won't come off my arms!!!) and took all the barbed wire off the fences. Cause the kids climb those fences and go right through the barbed wire! And no one tells them not to. I would also like to try to do something about the bathrooms before we leave. They're hideous. AKA poop in 5 out of 5 toilets and no doors on the stalls. Today we just went and played with the kids. I hung out with 2 girls most of the day. They gave me the grand tour. Fantama is 7 and Thelma is 9. The other event of interest was a couple of twelve year old girls asked me, "Que significa puta en ingles?" If you don't know, it's not all that important that you find out. It is hard to hang with a bunch of kids for an extended period of time tho when you don't understand 95%of what they say. The birthday season is almost past. As usuall we had the rush in the past week. We've been to some clubs, but nothing all that exciting. We've discovered that the taco stand down the road from my house serves the BEST Tacos in the world. And i think tomorrow night we american girls are having a ladys night and getting dinner and a movie. But now I'm going home for dinner. I think I'm having sushi. Can'¿t wqait to see what sushi is like in Mexico. missing you all.

Smiles and peace

We went to Oaxaca over the weekend. I loved it. Well, I had a hard time on my birthday and cried a little but that's ok. I'm officially 21 btw.
Oaxaca is a very artistic town and has lots of workshops, venders, hand-made items, etc. We went to three workshops. The first was a wool workshop. The family there was really nice. There were three of them, a mother and two grown children. They spoke Zapotec to each other and Spanish to us. They buy the wool from the nearby herders. Then they clean it, let it dry, and start spinning it. We got to try. It's harder than it looks. Sam had it mostly figured out. Soleil and I had issues. Then they dye the wool. They use all local natural plants and minerals. They grind them up using 2 rocks and then cook the result for an hour over an open fire with the wool and lemon leaves to make the dye stick. The ratio of dye to lemon changes the color of the wool. Finally they can start the weaving process. The son showed us a piece he has been working on for 8 months. Everything takes so long and it's so beautiful. I love it. Usually spinning and dyeing are associated as women's work while weaving is a man's job. Sometimes a woman's ability as a housewife is judged based on these skills. I was told that I would make a good Zapotec housewife. Go figure.
Next came the wood carving shop where the hand carved and painted animals were just as pretty but not as interesting.
The guy who showed us about pottery was also really good. He talked fast though so I didn't understand him. But he was really friendly and open to questions. It can take up to 30 days to make a pot. Between every step the pot has to dry so the whole process takes a while. I bought a pretty flower pot.
My favorite place in Oaxaca was Monte Alban. It's this huge archaeological site. They have a building there with artifacts found. There were skulls and other stuff there. I stated babbling about trepination, metopic sutres, and logographic languages while the others looked at me like I had grown to heads. I think I took over 100 pictures. Check out some of them on facebook. I was going round like a kid in a candy shop. It was soooo cool.

Well, I guess it's about time I got back to this. This has been i think the worst week of my life. My best friend, Ryan O'Hara was killed in a car crash Monday night, February 12th. As far as we can tell, the other car ran a red light and crashed into the drivers side door. Ry was taking my other good friend Emily I think to pick up her car. Em is physically fine. I got a text message from my parents at 2 in the morning and I think I cried until 4 or 5. Went to classes the next day cause I didn't know what else to do and started planning a trip back to the US. I flew into Boston on Wednesday and drove down to New Jersey on Thursday. Spent as much time as I could with the O'Haras as I could before, after and during the viewings, service and funeral. The O'Haras are like a second family to me. Have been since probably halfway through my freshman year. I love them so and I'm worried about them now, so anyone who is actually in the US and can give them hugs for me, I'd really appreciate it. I flew back to Mexico on Tuesday the 20th. There is definetely a hole in me where Ry used to be and the hole still hurts. I think of him often and I've stopped taking off the necklace he brought me from the southwest. I'm terrified the chain is going to break cause ry was the only person who knew how to fix the chain. I wish I had so much more time with him. There were so many things we were going to do. He was going to come visit me in Mexico. We were going to go camping and vacation in Myrtle beach this summer. We were going to live together and have a blast in our new house. Learn how to cook, and pay electric bills. lol. I wanted to see Hidelberg. Oh so many little things. He was my adopted brother, my best friend, and we were talking about dating. Now I'll never know. I love you ry.
Now I'm back in Mexico and there's almost no time to be sad. there's make up work to do, classes to take, loose ends to tie up, places to see, spanish to learn. We're going to Oaxaca this weekend. I'll be there for my birthday tomorrow and I'm going to try my hardest not to be sad. Samantha showed me the meditation garden on campus today. It this beautiful, secluded place. I loved it immediately. WE went to the market in Cholula yesterday. Pretty dusty, but oh so many things to see. I got a foamy chocolate drink that I liked. I'll post again about Oaxaca on monday

Love, peace, and happiness,
Julie

I had my first day of classes today. They were great. I have a great professor for 201. Her name is Martha. She talks very slowly and clearly and takes the time to explain words and phrases we don't know. Right now it's kind of a general overview of literature (narrator, what is literature, scene, problem, conclusion, etc.) But I'msure we'll actually be reading stuff by the end of the week. In 200 it's just me and my reseident director, Norma. She's great. But she's going to give me a lot of work to do. I have all these copys to make and put in folders and I have reading and excercises to do. I also have to write a page on what I did this weekend. By the end of the sessionion I have to do a 6-10 min presentation on a topic of my choice. A lot to do!
I went out with Katilin an Lindsey yesterday. WE explored the street that runs behind UDLA and bought cards to refill credit on our cell phones at a little convenience store called OXXO. They're all over the place. Then had a great conversation with Kaitlin's family. Talked about possible places to go for spring break. The Chiapas area looks really interesting. Let me know what all you guys think.
I'm gunna head out now and try to get some of this work done.

Muchos besos.

I am soo sorry that I haven´t been able to post sooner. I don´t have an internet connection in my house. Only one of the girls that lives close by me has internet at her house, but it´s dial-up and i just haven´t found a time when both of us are free that I could go over there and use it. So that means I have to go to UDLA (the university) to use the computer and it´s too far to walk and I don´t know how the public buses work yet. It will be easier next week when I am here for classes and I can get here without help.
Mail is tricky here. If you have to mail me something tho you shouldn´t send it to my home address. Please send it to the post office at UDLA. It´s more reliable.

Universidad de las Americas - Puebla
Julie Babcock
Centro International de Lengua y Cultura
HU - 216 Modulo E
Santa Catarina Martir S/N
Cholula, Puebla CP 72820
Mexico

And you have to tell me if you sent something so I can go to the postoffice and pick it up. They don´t tell you if they have something for you. I have a cell phone. Text messages are only 10 cents per message (1 peso). My cell phone number is 011521 2224353726. I haven´t figured out how i´m going to manage skype yet, so that will have to wait for the time being. Parts of campus are wireless, but I don´t know which parts.
My family is great. Although the family dynamics are much more complicated than the family profile said. My mother is divored from her husband Carlos. She has not one, but two children with him: Karla and Sebastian. It took me a while to learn I had a 16 year old brother because he lives with his father during the week and only lives with his mother Patricia on the weekends. Guillermo was the name of her boyfriend at the time that she filled out the family profile but since then they have broken up and she is now dating a very nice man named Luis. It´s taken me literally the last 5 days to piece all of this together. I´ve had some really nice conversations with my host mother. Not so much with my sister. Most of the time when I see her she is with her friends and they have a tendancy to talk quickly in spanish together and i get lost. Karla speaks really good English and she has a tendancy to just speak English to me because it´s easier.
I´ve gotten to know the other kids on the trip and they´re all really really nice. I´ve had some nice conversations with some people at parties too, but those tend to run slowly because of the language barriar. Soliel, Cristina, Samantha and I all live really close together. Aka, I can walk to any one of there houses in less than a minute. Soleil has a mexican boyfriend from her last trip to mexico and his family is her homestay family this year. His name is Carlos but everyone calls him Charlie to differentiate him from his father. He´s an absolute sweetheart. His younger brother Adrian is very good friends with my younger brother Sebastian. But I haven´t really talked much with either Adrian or Sebastian because I´m shy. It was Adrian´s 17th birthday yesteray and there was a party at his house to celebrate. I danced for a while with one of his friends named Beto. He was really nice and a great dancer.
Because everyone in my family went out yesterday I went with Kaitlin´s family to a movie. It only cost 45 pesos. Like $4.50. We saw Apocalypto. Which was very well done. Saib, if you´re reading this I think you should see it. They acting is great and the filming is very good. Interesting dramatic camera angles etc. I almost didn´t need the subtitles because the story was clearly told. Which is good because it's a little odd to be watching a movie in ancient Mayan with Spanish subtitles. Mom, if you're reading this, NEVER see this movie. I've never seen so much blood and violence in a movie before. Leave it to Mel Gibson. Sigh.
The weather is beautiful here. Short sleeves during the day and a sweater at night. The campus is beautiful. Very green with multi-colored buildings. I'm still struggling to find my way around but that will get better with time. I passed the library twice before I found it today when I was looking for a computer. There's a big grassy area kind of like the green with a fountain in the middle. And the student center with the cafeteria is right next to a big pond. When we ate lunch here on friday we had ducks and peacocks bothering us throughout the meal looking for food.
On friday we went to the pyramids in Cholula. It was really interesting. You could see the different levels of excavation and the different sytles of pyramid. Different cultures built pyramids on top of each other. We were walking through the excavation tunnells under ground. There are 5 miles of tunnells that the anthropologists made. They are trying to find the money to restor the 1t pyramid (built a few hundred years BC). We had a great tour guide. then above ground you could see the mail courtyard outside the pyramids and the huge stone tablets that they would make human sacrifices on. Kinda interesting to see Apocalypo after that. They had also restored a section of pyramid that you could climb up. Great fun and wonderfull scenery. Kaitlin didn´t make it to the top. She got a quarter of the way up and turned back. It was too steep and she felt like she was going got fall. There was a man selling artwork. They were little pictures made from pressing different colored straw into waxed paper. I bought one.
It is still very hard to communicate. I definately notice a huge difference in my ability though even after 5 days. I know that after clases start it will be even easier.
I'll keep updating and I hope you all keep reading. I miss you all.

Sending much love, peace, and happiness,

Julie

I can't believe that I leave for Mexico in less than a week. In some ways I feel so prepared and in others I feel like I've run out of time. I have my passport, got my visa, got an mp3 player for Christmas, and just started this account to name a few. I still have to buy a nice pair of sandles which I never realized was so hard to do in January, figure out how many suitcases I'm taking, hear back from my host family so I know they're alive, and oh yeah, learn spanish. I'm sooo excited (as everyone keeps reminding me, "Oh Julie aren't you sooo excited?") and really looking forward to this adventure. I am a little worried about my ability to communicate. I wasn't really able to communicate when I went to Peru 2 years ago and I really don't want to do that again. It's frustrating. And I know that once I get there I'll be emersed in Spanish and I'm going to get better very fast, but there's still that little voice in the back of my head that whispers, "maybe not." But except for that, I really can't wait. Well, I'll miss all of you that I won't get to see for the next four months too. I guess we'll have to be satisfied with emails and livejournal posts. And ya know what? If I send you all lots of pictures, maybe I want you to send me some too!!!