Wednesday, December 19, 2007

American food never tasted so good!


So, I am officially living with Janae in the Vitali Suites on campus at Kukulcan. She is the only one living here at school, so its kinda scary, plus it is more convenient for us to hang out and do stuff together when we live together as opposed to having to call each other on the cell phone (and hope that the call goes through) and me take cabs from the school to my host family’s house and back by myself, etc… So, here I am.

On Monday we had classes and after that, with map in hand, we walked our dirty clothes to the Laundromat. After that we went to Wal-Mart (yes! There is a Wal-Mart here) to get some grub and some snacks for our lunch break at school and for breakfast in the mornings. We bought Honey Bunches of Oats, bread, milk, cream cheese, pineapple, tomatoes, cucumbers, diet Pepsi, macaroni and cheese, and Lean Cuisines. Before we stocked the kitchen, we would walk to a nearby store (there are 2 of them) to buy chips and diet coke, at least now we can eat at our convenience.

On Tuesday we picked up our laundry and what an experience that was! We got to the place and our stuff was not done drying yet so we said that we would come back. We went across the street to get some diet cokes and were asked to take a picture with the daughter of the store owner, who was like 5. The older woman and her daughter were just so excited to see Americans. She asked where we were from and what we were doing here, etc. I mean, we feel like celebrities everywhere we go. Especially when random people yell at us and take pictures. The whole time we were trying to have a convo with the woman, this guy across the street was snapping away and waving us down. We were like “really?” After we were done chit chatting we went next door to a thrift shop and it was full of junk. I mean, I know that’s what thrift stores are, but it was tiny and it had the most random things! Anyways though, we got our clothes and came home and ventured to Plaza Galerias, which is a “nice” mall here in Cuernavaca and we ate at Chili’s!!! This mall was really clean and had some American stores and a food court with like Burger King and Dominos. The big department store there was Liverpool, but it was weird because there were no doors to it, it was like just a huge entrance that stretched out along the wall and there was like a Krispie Kreme store next to it with no doors also, so you just walk in and out as you please. Hope that made sense. We wanted to compare the Chili’s in Mexico with American Chili’s and the food tasted exactly the same, if not better, maybe that was because we were craving it so much though. We had chips and queso and delicious margaritas, and of course I ordered my usual Turkey sandwich and Janae ate a chicken sandwich. The waiters were so friendly and all wanted to know where we were from and why we were eating there instead of eating local food and we explained that we missed it. After eating, we walked around a bit and bought some really cute heels for $40! We found that to be a great deal. We also went into “Pull and Bear,” which was set up like Abercrombie & Fitch with dim lights and loud music, but the style of clothing was different. Like on the men’s side, right as you walked in, there was a display of t-shirts that were bright colors with Sesame Street characters on them. I mean, I don’t know what guys in the U.S. would wear things like that, and they were for kids our age. They had trendy, cute things though for girls and prices were about the same. We bought sweaters for $30. We left the mall and came home to do our homework (we are such the good students) and got ready to go out. We heard from the staff at school that “Harry’s Bar” is great on Tuesday nights because its “International night” and students from other schools around the area gather there. So, we got there around 10 and it was free bar till 12. (But you would all be proud that we did not take advantage of that as much as you would think!) When we first got there the place was dead, there was like one group of local guys who were trashed and they were singing loudly to the songs in Spanish and dancing around, they were entertaining to watch. We met some friends from school there and hung out till about 1. We met a guy who had lived in New York and knew very good English, but it was hard to hear him over the music. I don’t know how “International” it was, but there were certainly some people of other origins there. The music that they played was what they meant by “International,” like they played Fergie, The Cranberries and other American songs and there was a screen where the music videos were being projected on. It was a cool place, and when we left it seemed to be really “happening.”

Today at school wasn’t bad, the days go by fast when you think about it because there are so many breaks, but the Spanish is tiring. It literally wears my brain out, its grammar for 3 hours, then conversation class for 2. Conversation classes are the more fun ones because we just talk about different topics. I have the same 2 people in both my classes, Barbara, who is a mom from Colorado, and Sonia who is here for a 12-week program, she’s from Houston. Yesterday in conversation class the teacher just had Barbara and I (because Sonia was out with E-coli) talk to each other and ask questions to get to know each other, I asked her what she liked to do, where she has lived, what she is studying, how many kids, their names, etc and she did the same minus the kids part. Today we read “en voz alto” a little background about tattoos and then there were questions that we read aloud and we just got to talk about how we felt, what we thought, our opinions. After school we made some mac & cheese and it has never tasted so good! I think tonight we plan to go to the movies, Wednesday is 2-for-1 tickets, and we’ve been told it’s a pretty cool experience because you can sit in a “VIP” area and lounge in a lazy boy and be served food and drinks. So, we’ll see!

4 comments:

CJJ said...

Hi, Miyan. Watch out for the E. coli! Yikes! Be sure to scrub those cucumbers! We all miss you so much! It seems like you have been gone FOREVER! But your pictures and the blog are terrific! What a great way to share your journey! Be safe and know that we love you and miss you! -C

mom said...

no kidding - what's this e-coli stuff. watch out kid and don't drink the watta! love u

kobi Benita said...

I wish I could go to the movies with you. This reminds me when I went to an Chinese acrobatic show in Bejing and set at the VIP section and was also served with drinks and cheap cookies. The ticket cost me around $15 when regular Chinese people paid $1 or $2 per ticket. I gues that the drinks and cookies where expensive...Miyan, I hope that your spanish is improving however you will have to continue and practice the language when you return as this is importnat if you want to maintain and improve. Continue to have fun as you only have 2 more days now...Love/Dad

Anonymous said...

I can't wait until you and Janae return with all of your wonderful stories and pictures. We need to have a "welcome back Bateman buddies" gathering very soon! :)