Sweaty Sunday.

Blogging is like writing a message in a bottle. Someone may read it, maybe nobody will ever see it, but I sure get a kick out of it.

First off. I miss Bart. I promised this won't be an "I miss Bart" blog. But let's be real. I love that man, he's pretty wonderful. I'm so grateful for Skype and the chance it gives us to still talk. Although his letters are possibly the greatest things I could ever ask for. He's such a great support to me and I am the luckiest girl alive.

Secondly. I don't know what it is about being in Mexico, but only certain of my music is playable in my iTunes. Also, Pandora doesn't work in Mexico either. So my music for the past three weeks has consisted of Disney and Christmas music. For some reason that is pretty much the only music on my iTunes. I'm a little outraged. But hey, life moves on, right?

Have I mentioned how sticky hot it is here? I woke up from a nap sweaty. I haven't done that for a real long time, and it's disgusting.

Spanish is coming along. Slowly but surely I'm gleaning a little bit here and there, words and phrases are starting to come together. I would say I understand about 85% of what is said around me. But some people just talk so fast. I think everyone does, just some people slow it down for us gringos. I love listening to Elisa talk to us after dinner or lunch. We usually have sweet discussions on education or marriage and family or morals. Our host family aren't members of the church, but they are such rock stars. They have such high values and they just get it. They get how we're supposed to live our lives. She always has such good insights and I love it when she just starts talking and we just get to sit and listen. One of my favorite things she has told us was the first night we were here (I'm almost halfway through already, crazy). We asked her why they decided to host exchange students, this is their 7th time hosting extranjeros, her answer blew my mind. She said it was to teach her girls, Elisa and Ximena, that there are different people everywhere you go, but they are all good people. She wanted her girls to see that from all parts of the world there are good people and they don't need to be afraid of people that are different from them. I love it. She also said she has adopted family all over the world, well most of the students she has hosted have come from the U.S. or Canada. She still keeps in contact with most of them and she always tells us that when we start having kids, we need to come back and visit so she can meet our babies and spouses. She always tells us to say hi to our family and boyfriends for her. She is just such a great person and I hope to uphold the things she has taught us: marinating chicken and pork is the best way to prepare it. No, I've definitely learned more than that from her. She's just a great lady, real nice. Maybe one day I'll write a blog just on the fam. They are all so great and I love them all.

We went to the Zoo on Friday.

A. It's FREE. I asked how they are able to take care of the animals and everything if it's free. Apparently the government is in charge of zoo upkeeps. Pretty cool.

B. When they told us it would be free, I wasn't expecting a whole lot. But it was sweet. They had jaguars, Bengal tigers and hippos, oh my. They had all sorts of awesome animals. I was wondering if they would have any animals that threw me off by being in the Zoo. And boy did it. Raccoons. They had raccoons in the zoo. We all had to laugh. Those things aren't only not rare in the states, but they're impossible to get rid of. I was telling Elisa about how they would come and eat our cat's food then wash their mangy little hands in her water dish. Elisa thought it was crazy. The ones they had in the exhibit were just as shifty as the ones back home. Their cage things was only about 4 feet high, easily escapable. They kept looking up at us with those scheming eyes of theirs and they just looked pissed. They wanted to rob me, I just know it.

C. I stayed outside the snake exhibit. There was no way I was going in a 6 foot tall 4 foot wide enclosed tunnel lined with glass cages of snakes on both sides. I'll hang outside and look at the cute turtles and birdies, thank you very much.

I was missing my family hard core today. In church today there were a couple of little kids that were cuh-razy. It made me miss my dad because I know he would have gone nuts. Crazy as in playing the piano during Sacrament meeting and a drum set during Relief Society. I'm not saying my nieces and nephews are like that at all, on the contrary. I love how great they are. Eva, Whitney, Annabelle and Emily. Man those girls are precious. And the boys of course. All of them. Man. I can't wait till I get to see them again.

Is it sweaty here?

Even though I'm not feeling particularly witty this morning, I figured I should write about my adventures this weekend. I'm sure my sarcasm will be sure to make someone laugh. And if not, I get a kick out of it. So don't mind if I do.

We went to some more sweet Mayan ruins this weekend. A little place called Uxmal. First sarcastic remark. Uxmal is not small. It's about 1,200 square meters. And the entire place is covered with Tolocs.

Tolocs, as you can see by Audrey clearly indicating, are iguanas. They're actually all over Mérida too, but a little more prominently at Uxmal. 

Let's have a little pronunciation lesson before we get too ahead of ourselves. Uxmal=Ooshmaul.

Moving on. 

The most famous thing (since I'm an ignorant American, that's all I care about. Clearly.) is a temple that is known by a couple different names. Most prominently "The Pyramid of the Sorcerer". There is a pretty sweet myth behind it. One of the girls in our group, Marie, studied Mayan culture before we came on this study abroad and wrote out the legend for us before we went to Uxmal. 

"There was an old woman who lived in a hut that was located on the exact spot where the finished pyramid now stands. This old woman was a witch who one day went into mourning that she had no children. One day, she took an egg and wrapped it in cloth and placed it in a corner of her small hut. Every day she went to look at the egg until one day it hatched and a small creature, closely resembling a baby, came from the enchanted egg.

The old woman was delighted and called the baby her son. She provided it with a nurse and took good care of it so that within a year it was walking and talking like a man. It stopped growing after a year and the old woman was very proud of her son and told him that one day he would be a great Lord or King.
One day, she told her son to go the House of the Governor and challenge the King to a trial of strength. The dwarf didn't want to go at first but the old woman insisted and so to see the King he went. The guards let him in and he threw down his challenge to the King. The King smiled, and told the dwarf to lift a stone that weighed three arrobas (75 pounds). At this the dwarf cried and ran back to his mother. The witch was wise, and told her son to tell the King that if the King would lift the stone first, then he would lift it also. The dwarf returned and told the King what his mother told him to say. The king lifted the stone and the dwarf did the same. The King was impressed, and a little nervous, and tested the dwarf for the rest of the day with other feats of strength. Each time the King performed an act, the dwarf was able to match it.The King became enraged that he was being matched by a dwarf, and told the dwarf that in one night he must build a house higher than any other in the city or he would be killed. The dwarf again returned crying to his mother who told him to not lose hope, and that he should go straight to bed. The next morning the city awoke to see the Pyramid of the Dwarf in its finished state, taller than any other building in the city.The King saw this building from his palace and was again enraged. He summoned the dwarf and ordered one final test of strength. The dwarf had to collect two bundles of Cogoil wood, a very strong and heavy wood, and the king would break the wood over the head of the dwarf, and after that the dwarf could have his turn to break the wood over the King's head.The dwarf again ran to his mother for help. She told him not to worry and placed an enchanted tortilla on his head for protection. The trial was to be performed in front of all the great men of the city. The King proceeded to break the whole of his bundle over the dwarf’s head, one stick at a time. The King failed to injure the dwarf and then tried to bow out of his challenge. In full view of the town’s great men, though, he knew he had no choice but to go ahead and let the dwarf have his turn.The second stick of the dwarf’s bundle broke the Kings skull into pieces and he fell dead at the foot of the dwarf, who was hailed as the new King (Ranney 80-1)."

It really is an amazing sight to see. Though most of these buildings were reconstructions, we were not able to climb them.....There goes my interest. Obviously I'm kidding. It was an amazing experience and we had a tour guide that has studied these sights extensively and he was telling us all about the significance. Most of the representations on the facades and on the frieze (you can thank Humanities 101 for those handy terms) were of the Mayan rain god, Chaac. There were many sacrifices to him pleading for the blessing of rain. 

The reason we couldn't climb to the top of the temple was it is just too dangerous. The stairs you can see in this picture up the middle of the temple are probably about 6 inches deep and 10-12 inches tall. This was so when people would climb to the top they could not look up directly to the top into the eyes of the gods. And when they were coming down, they could not turn their backs directly to the gods either. You have to go down those suckers sideways. We did get to climb to the top of another building, but it was a little intimidating coming back down. 

I'm living with a couple of 6 year olds.

After exploring, then having some lunch/dinner and swimming a bit in the restaurant pool, we went back to the Nunnery Quadrangle and watched what is called "Luz y Sonido". It's a killer light show (sarcastic comment alert). Not so hot. It would have been cool, if you could understand what was being said. The narration was played over some speakers you would likely find playing Blink 182 at a middle school dance and the lights just faded from green, to blue, to red. When we got real lucky, the lights outlined the serpent along the wall of one of the buildings. That actually was pretty cool. Overall the coolest thing about that was there were fireflies all over the courtyard. I had never seen a firefly in real life. Cute little things. 

Life continues to be wonderful. I laid out in the sun for a solid half hour today after a quick dip in the pool. I was telling Morgan, that's the first time I've done that since I found out about my chronic disease that limits my sun exposure. Experts like to call it "fair skin". It's a hard life. But sometimes I like to live life on the edge. I'll only put on SPF 55 instead of 70. And I'll only reapply ONCE. There's no stopping me, I do what I want. 

Yep, here´s one of those "feeling" posts.

This past couple of days has been so good for me. The four of us girls have had some great experiences that make me realize the real reason I came down here. It wasn´t just to learn Spanish, eat delectable food, and sleep in a hammock (as much as I would like to think I could just do those three things all day every day), but to grow spiritually as well as intellectually (let´s hope not physically as well, Elisa just cooks too much good food!).

I have come to understand how blesed my life has been, and continues to be. I was born into an outstanding family who loves me and has always been there for me. Especially my parents. I don´t think I could ever thank them enough for everything they have given me and more importantly what they´ve taught me. I owe them everything and maybe one day I will be able to sufficiently express my gratitude to them.

I have been able to receive an education. A lot of people cannot finish high school for one reason or another and I have not only been blessed to do that, but also continue on to a university. This is something I am truly coming to cherish. In college you learn more than what is taught in the classroom, but you learn about the basis of who you are. Being out on your own forces you to figure out what you stand for and what you won´t put up with.

And let´s face it, as much as we complain about American government, and the economy, and Provo police pulling you over...nope, that one is still valid, I hate those guys...we are truly blessed to be born into a country where we experience freedom. During the Mexican elections we have been talking with Elisa about politics a little bit. I know, who knew I would be talking about politics? She was telling us how The U.S. has a bit of say in who wins the elections. We had no idea. She just went on to talk about how it isn´t really a matter of who the best politician is, but the least bad. The conversation kind of boiled down to Americans believe in their government. We trust it has the people´s best interest in mind. That may not always be the case, but for the most part it´s true. I´m not trying to start some political debate or anything of the sort. It´s just a couple of experiences I´ve had in the past few days. (This means I´m an ignorant American and if you post anything involving politics, I will not respond. Ignorance is bliss, right?)

And most of all, I am so blessed to have the gospel in my life. I was telling Bart (that handsome devil) how crazy it is the difference you can feel in your life when you are diligent in your faithfulness versus when you are just casual or not even doing the day to day things. The first couple days of this trip, I was pretty bummy. I just felt lost and like the upcoming 7 weeks were going to be so hard. I honestly wanted to go home, I just didn´t feel like it would be worth it and that I wouldn´t be able to hack it. After a couple of days of moping, I changed my attitude thanks to years of my mother´s words resounding in my ears. Who knew I would be admitting my mom´s advice to change my face actually worked. I started being more diligent with my scripture study and prayers and things just got brighter. We´ve had a couple experiences in the past few days that have just rocked my testimony, in a good way. It´s been as simple as having the faith that a simple prayer can help us exactly in the way we need it. I know the Lord is waiting to bless us with anything and everything, but we need to ask. I just love having a bigger picture in mind. I´m not just praying that we make it home safely, I´m building my testimony that will be the foundation of what I believe and in turn who I wish to become.

Props to you if you´re still reading, this has turned into a longy long post. This trip has just given me great time to think. We ride the bus for at least a half hour total each day to and from school. When I´m not trying to have a conversation with the poor soul next to me (I set a goal to talk to someone every time I get on the bus), I just have unlimited access to thinking. That sounds dumb, but when your mind is so focused all day on understanding what you´re reading or hearing, you don´t have much room for transcendentalism. Speaking and listening to Spanish all the time really messes with your head. When you go back to using English, your brain has a hard time translating and pretty soon you can´t find the English equivalent so you just say it in Spanish. I´m turning into one of those pretentious return missionaries that says something along the lines of, "Oh, I can´t explain it in English. You just wouldn´t get it.".