christian brought both his mom and his adorable boxer puppy, luca, along for the day. it was a really nice group. the dog didn't quite want to walk anywhere. but it was entertainment enough.
Monday, March 29, 2010
piramides
and i mean a pyramid. there were various ruins around the base of the hill under the church, downstairs passages it looked like, but this was beautifully restored. the stairs were open for walking and many people sat on them to watch a show that was taking place in the market outside the reserve.
iglesia
and it was one hell of a walk to reach the top. this maybe only a quarter of the trek up stairs and dirt hill. and walking down these stairs was a little bit horrifying at times. crowded and dizzying.
hermanos
from any point walking around the perimeter of the church where it was perched on top of the hill, you could see ahead for miles and miles. all of puebla is easily visible from this particular vantage point. these kids were just particularly adorable.
escaleras al iglesia
sunday, we went to this hot spot in cholula where there's this gorgeous church built by the spanish, iglesia de nuestra señora de los remedios, that just so happened to accidentally be built up a hill from unexcavated pyramids. pretty fun. super beautiful.
lagarto
note to my sister: i did not lie to you about these lizards.
they're everywhere. scurrying about, popping out of bushes and cracks in the sides of buildings. so much fun to look out for.
i'm determined to catch them with my camera more often.
they're everywhere. scurrying about, popping out of bushes and cracks in the sides of buildings. so much fun to look out for.
i'm determined to catch them with my camera more often.
boletos para vive latino!
purchased!
(to note: ticketmaster mexico has way more delightful looking tickets than the blue ones in the u.s.)
(to note: ticketmaster mexico has way more delightful looking tickets than the blue ones in the u.s.)
Saturday, March 27, 2010
chorizo
my host mom really is a wonderul cook.
and i'm pretty certain that chorizo with eggs is a weekend staple.
we eat almost every meal with a stack of covered tortillas and a small cup of salsa verde or some equivalent.
i have so far been looking forward to lunch time as the best part of every day.
and i'm pretty certain that chorizo with eggs is a weekend staple.
we eat almost every meal with a stack of covered tortillas and a small cup of salsa verde or some equivalent.
i have so far been looking forward to lunch time as the best part of every day.
amalfi's
after class, robin and i went to the gym and then trekked to the mexican walmart for household (as well as anti-skin scorching) necessities and she bought the closest thing to honeycrisp apples that she could find. which was a treat for both of us. a quiet and pleasant afternoon.
for dinner, robin and christian and i went to the centro and had dinner at this amazing place called amalfi's. we had pizza with prosciutto (which was misleading as it was only for thinly sliced ham, goddamit--not that i'm complaining, it was still really good) and the single most delicious vegetarian pizza i've ever eaten (eggplant, spinach, zucchini, and tomato). this all supplemented by the bottle of red wine that we shared. and flan for dessert. i can't help but think that the experience was heightened by the incredible handsome-ness of the waiters. happy birthday to me.
after, christian took us to a hotel bar not far from the restaurant, where we sat on a large balcony, warmed on the slightly chilly night by propane heaters and provided toasty blankets. i had a fancy drink with cranberry, lime and a surprise cherry at the bottom and listened to an array of ambient electro and daft punk remixes. all this while admiring the view above and over the hotel as well as the fish-tank like swimming pool that robin and i fought the urge to jump into.
and then out to cholula for a little while. just so i could see the assortment of small bars fixed into train box cars called container city. we listened to music and the array of hair metal music videos and people watched.
and then home, to sleepily think of the people that i wish could have celebrated with me... there's next year.
for dinner, robin and christian and i went to the centro and had dinner at this amazing place called amalfi's. we had pizza with prosciutto (which was misleading as it was only for thinly sliced ham, goddamit--not that i'm complaining, it was still really good) and the single most delicious vegetarian pizza i've ever eaten (eggplant, spinach, zucchini, and tomato). this all supplemented by the bottle of red wine that we shared. and flan for dessert. i can't help but think that the experience was heightened by the incredible handsome-ness of the waiters. happy birthday to me.
after, christian took us to a hotel bar not far from the restaurant, where we sat on a large balcony, warmed on the slightly chilly night by propane heaters and provided toasty blankets. i had a fancy drink with cranberry, lime and a surprise cherry at the bottom and listened to an array of ambient electro and daft punk remixes. all this while admiring the view above and over the hotel as well as the fish-tank like swimming pool that robin and i fought the urge to jump into.
and then out to cholula for a little while. just so i could see the assortment of small bars fixed into train box cars called container city. we listened to music and the array of hair metal music videos and people watched.
and then home, to sleepily think of the people that i wish could have celebrated with me... there's next year.
happy birthday
seeing as no one could properly remember 'las mañanitas', our venezuelan teacher had everyone sing the venezuelan 'happy birthday'.
then class continued in it's mind-numbing pattern for two hours more.
then class continued in it's mind-numbing pattern for two hours more.
pastel
it was my birthday yesterday.
so my teacher procured a cake for class that reminded me of the epic cake-eating sequence in matilda. it was ridiculous. maybe just a trait of mexican costco bakeries to sell cakes almost too rich too eat.
pretty excellent.
so my teacher procured a cake for class that reminded me of the epic cake-eating sequence in matilda. it was ridiculous. maybe just a trait of mexican costco bakeries to sell cakes almost too rich too eat.
pretty excellent.
gate to school
the school, which is gated, is on an absolutely gorgeous campus. that i intend to take more photos of. particularly of the random geese.
la verdad nos hara libres
the ibero's school motto and seal, which more or less is the same as "the truth will set us free."
cart o' kool-aid
there exists a mexican walmart, and it makes me feel right at home.
one of the oddest things about being here so far is the fact that my culture shock has been alleviated by the fact that puebla has an incredible amount in common with the yakima valley, right down to being stared at for doc marten boots and short hair. it's still one hell of an experience, but to some extent there is a lot of comfort in the things that are recognizable.
also, a cart full of kool aid? 30 packets for 10 pesos? that's just ridiculous.
one of the oddest things about being here so far is the fact that my culture shock has been alleviated by the fact that puebla has an incredible amount in common with the yakima valley, right down to being stared at for doc marten boots and short hair. it's still one hell of an experience, but to some extent there is a lot of comfort in the things that are recognizable.
also, a cart full of kool aid? 30 packets for 10 pesos? that's just ridiculous.
class
our classroom. pretty simple and small. there's the large sliding glass door that becomes the fourth wall of the room. we have a half-circle of chairs and listen to our teacher subject hop for three hours a day, rarely writing notes on the board, but mostly just passionately pointing at the maps. i have a lot of list-writing time on my hands.
Tuesday, March 23, 2010
parado's
oh, and did i mention the best taco's ever. courtesy of this man.
that's pineapple you see bookending the meat tower. delicious.
that's pineapple you see bookending the meat tower. delicious.
popocatépetl
one of the volcanoes that lays outside the city. ominous, but absolutely gorgeous when the sun sets.
afuera de la casa
the gorgeous patio right outside the door of our room. robin and i have what is essentially a studio apartment that is separate from the main house. two beds, bathroom, dressers, pet turtle (tito), but no unfortunately no shower. in any case. i open the door to this beautiful little corner. i am fully planning on doing a lot of reading and writing out here, especially once it starts to get hotter. as of yet, it's been very warm and sunny, but not too intense. hopefully, it never will.
centro
there was a crazy amount of people in the centro when we went. we think maybe for preemptive semana de santa celebrations. there were balloon vendors ("que globos!") and a collection of schoolkid projects where they made sculptures out of recyclable materials. really cool. and gorgeous.
cantadores del camion
sunday afternoon, coming back to our house from the centro, two guys got on the bus.
one of them announced, in a perfect radio-announcer voice, that they would be providing entertainment for the rest of our journey. they proceeded to drum and strum and sing for 10-15 minutes, sounding absolutely perfect even through their stumbling as we rounded corners and hopped over speed bumps.
absolutely amazing. it was one of those moments (series of minutes, to be honest) that doesn't quite seem true in retrospect.
it was an bizarrely wonderful way to kick of my time. it's kind of put the entire city into a perspective that's been rose-colored by the experience.
one of them announced, in a perfect radio-announcer voice, that they would be providing entertainment for the rest of our journey. they proceeded to drum and strum and sing for 10-15 minutes, sounding absolutely perfect even through their stumbling as we rounded corners and hopped over speed bumps.
absolutely amazing. it was one of those moments (series of minutes, to be honest) that doesn't quite seem true in retrospect.
it was an bizarrely wonderful way to kick of my time. it's kind of put the entire city into a perspective that's been rose-colored by the experience.
los primeros días.
alright, now that i finally have the time and the precarious internet to back me up i can finally update this thing.
i arrived here late saturday night, courtesy of a very sweet taxi driver who got a teense bit lost..
the family is absolutely wonderful. the mom and dad are sweet and funny. and the sisters (21 and 19) are quiet so far but seem incredibly nice. the brother (16) reminds me a lot of my sister, which is a good thing. and the baby son of one of the daughters, javi, is the absolute cutest thing i've ever seen. he knows my name already: "lirri" and is just adorable. reminds me a lot of my brother when he was little. except much more rambunctious, in a good way.
my roommate robin spent the first three months of the program with another girl, kristina, who was only here for winter quarter. she hadn't gone home yet, so both convinced me out with them for the evening. i dropped my stuff on in our liberally-sized bedroom and we left with robin's boyfriend to a bar in cholula (a part of town, i live in zavaleta), called bambuko's. i drank an ill-advised madonna (lots of pineapple and coconut) and ended up being louder than usual for the rest of my first evening. we left the bar and went to this taco stand called parado's. best. taco. i. have. ever. eaten. it was amazing, a suiza, and not even due to tipsiness.
the next day, sunday, we ran around the city to do some of kristina's favorite things. we went to the zocolo, the center of the city, beautiful colonial architecture and an insane amount of people. the three of us walked around an open air artesian and antique market and i managed to do some souvenir window shopping. already have a mental list of half the gifts i will be buying for people. afterwards we bought some frappes in a adorable, brightly-colored, and heavily-decorated cafe near the market--cafe milagro. i adore it. can't wait to go back.
we came back for a late lunch (my host mom cooks wonderful asada and chorizo, my favorites) and afterwards went to a shopping center and watched "alicia en el pais de las maravillosas" (the retitled movies here crack me up. i was so tired that my first 3-d movie gave me a headache, or maybe that was just the excesses of time burton... no se.
for kristina's last puebla dinner, robin's boyfriend drove us to a restaurant that specializes in posole. amazing. i ordered a tostadad "con todo"--those of my detractors will be amazed to know that i did not ask for it without beans. it was delicious anyway.
monday was the first day of class. it'll be alright. it's school. the teacher is cool, but rambles passionately, which has it's pluses and minuses. the campus of the ibero is beautiful, and only 1 15 minute walk away, which is wonderful! there is a pond and many fountains and ducks and birds wandering all over the place. the actual buildings remind me a lot of davis, though, which is interesting.
robin took me to a gym that's maybe three minutes from the house. not too expensive. it was a litle over 40 dollars (500 some pesos) for a monthly membership, but it's been so odd to already fall into a routine like working out within three days of moving to a new place.
last night (monday), we tried to go to a concert for this electro/techno/pop artist/producer named david guetta--el frances! the tickets ended up being obscenely expensive (550 pesos, when the day before they had been 400), so we went to parado's again (even better when not a teense tipsy) and then went to a house where two girls from our study program live. they had a balcony outside their room that overlooked the side of the stage. the actual middle of the stage was obscured by a giant tree, but we could hear wonderfully. robin and i didn't stay too late, only until 11, just bs-ing and watching lady gaga videos (telephone. i love it). apparently, guetta didn't take the stage until midnight, which we could hear from our house which is more than a mile away. crazy.
so, my first three (almost) days have been jam-packed and robin and i have been planning ahead for the next month already. we might go on a trip next week for semana de santa (a week off to make up for my missing spring break) to an undetermined location and are definitely going to spend a weekend in mexico city at the end of april, going to bellas artes, frida's house, and this:
http://www.vivelatino.com.mx/info_festival/vive_latino_2010%11_listado_de_bandas_por_dia/
my god! was it not my mexico fantasy that i would get to see calle 13?? and rodrigo and gabriela and empire of the sun are just amazing bonuses. i am soo excited.
but as for now, movie-watching (furia de los titanes next weekend!), e-mailing, reading and writing for class, birthday dinner planning (pizza, wine, and flan!) and a little bit of shopping.. it's already been one hell of an experience. this city, at this point, has presented itself to be just my speed.
i arrived here late saturday night, courtesy of a very sweet taxi driver who got a teense bit lost..
the family is absolutely wonderful. the mom and dad are sweet and funny. and the sisters (21 and 19) are quiet so far but seem incredibly nice. the brother (16) reminds me a lot of my sister, which is a good thing. and the baby son of one of the daughters, javi, is the absolute cutest thing i've ever seen. he knows my name already: "lirri" and is just adorable. reminds me a lot of my brother when he was little. except much more rambunctious, in a good way.
my roommate robin spent the first three months of the program with another girl, kristina, who was only here for winter quarter. she hadn't gone home yet, so both convinced me out with them for the evening. i dropped my stuff on in our liberally-sized bedroom and we left with robin's boyfriend to a bar in cholula (a part of town, i live in zavaleta), called bambuko's. i drank an ill-advised madonna (lots of pineapple and coconut) and ended up being louder than usual for the rest of my first evening. we left the bar and went to this taco stand called parado's. best. taco. i. have. ever. eaten. it was amazing, a suiza, and not even due to tipsiness.
the next day, sunday, we ran around the city to do some of kristina's favorite things. we went to the zocolo, the center of the city, beautiful colonial architecture and an insane amount of people. the three of us walked around an open air artesian and antique market and i managed to do some souvenir window shopping. already have a mental list of half the gifts i will be buying for people. afterwards we bought some frappes in a adorable, brightly-colored, and heavily-decorated cafe near the market--cafe milagro. i adore it. can't wait to go back.
we came back for a late lunch (my host mom cooks wonderful asada and chorizo, my favorites) and afterwards went to a shopping center and watched "alicia en el pais de las maravillosas" (the retitled movies here crack me up. i was so tired that my first 3-d movie gave me a headache, or maybe that was just the excesses of time burton... no se.
for kristina's last puebla dinner, robin's boyfriend drove us to a restaurant that specializes in posole. amazing. i ordered a tostadad "con todo"--those of my detractors will be amazed to know that i did not ask for it without beans. it was delicious anyway.
monday was the first day of class. it'll be alright. it's school. the teacher is cool, but rambles passionately, which has it's pluses and minuses. the campus of the ibero is beautiful, and only 1 15 minute walk away, which is wonderful! there is a pond and many fountains and ducks and birds wandering all over the place. the actual buildings remind me a lot of davis, though, which is interesting.
robin took me to a gym that's maybe three minutes from the house. not too expensive. it was a litle over 40 dollars (500 some pesos) for a monthly membership, but it's been so odd to already fall into a routine like working out within three days of moving to a new place.
last night (monday), we tried to go to a concert for this electro/techno/pop artist/producer named david guetta--el frances! the tickets ended up being obscenely expensive (550 pesos, when the day before they had been 400), so we went to parado's again (even better when not a teense tipsy) and then went to a house where two girls from our study program live. they had a balcony outside their room that overlooked the side of the stage. the actual middle of the stage was obscured by a giant tree, but we could hear wonderfully. robin and i didn't stay too late, only until 11, just bs-ing and watching lady gaga videos (telephone. i love it). apparently, guetta didn't take the stage until midnight, which we could hear from our house which is more than a mile away. crazy.
so, my first three (almost) days have been jam-packed and robin and i have been planning ahead for the next month already. we might go on a trip next week for semana de santa (a week off to make up for my missing spring break) to an undetermined location and are definitely going to spend a weekend in mexico city at the end of april, going to bellas artes, frida's house, and this:
http://www.vivelatino.com.mx/info_festival/vive_latino_2010%11_listado_de_bandas_por_dia/
my god! was it not my mexico fantasy that i would get to see calle 13?? and rodrigo and gabriela and empire of the sun are just amazing bonuses. i am soo excited.
but as for now, movie-watching (furia de los titanes next weekend!), e-mailing, reading and writing for class, birthday dinner planning (pizza, wine, and flan!) and a little bit of shopping.. it's already been one hell of an experience. this city, at this point, has presented itself to be just my speed.
monkey in a bush
this is the only productive thing that occurred during my five hours in the houston airport.
oh, bush sr....
oh, bush sr....
Thursday, March 18, 2010
antes.
was doing some research on mexican poets (because i am, at heart, a very huge nerd) and found this. just felt like it fit perfectly for the moment of nervousness before taking this particular plunge.
i'm so excited to discover more words and voices such as this one.
-----
Entre irse y quedarse
Entre irse y quedarse dude el día,
enamorado de su transparencia.La tarde circular es ya bahía:
en su quieto vaivén se mece el munco.Todo es visible y todo es elusivo,
todo está cerca y todo es intocable.Los papeles, el libro, el vaso, el lápiz
reposan a la sombra de sus nombresLatir del tiempo que en mi sien repite
la misma terca sílaba de sangre.La luz hace del muro indiferente
un espectral teatro de reflejos.En el centro de un ojo me descubro;
no me mira, me miro en su mirada.Se disipa el instante. Sin moverme,
-Octavio Paz
yo me quedo y me voy: soy una pausa.
Between Going and Staying
Between going and staying the day wavers,
in love with its own transparency.
The circular afternoon is now a bay
where the world in stillness rocks.
All is visible and all elusive,
all is near and can't be touched.
Paper, book, pencil, glass,
rest in the shade of their names.
Time throbbing in my temples repeats
the same unchanging syllable of blood.
The light turns the indifferent wall
into a ghostly theater of reflections.
I find myself in the middle of an eye,
watching myself in its blank stare.
The moment scatters. Motionless,
I stay and go: I am a pause.
Subscribe to:
Comments (Atom)
