Work!

Well, it has been a LONG and crazy week. I feel like I am floundering a little bit with my schedule, but I am sure that I will eventually get it down pat. My job is great, no lies there, I adore it... but I feel like that is all I have written about, so.....

I love my family, of course. I am staying with the same family that I stayed with last year, but Luis is married off and living somewhere else, now. Mama seems really glad to have me back, and it feels like coming home in its very own way. There is none of that awkwardness that there was last year. I am so glad to be back with all of them. Mama is living alone now, so Margarita (her daughter) has been coming over and sleeping with her in the guest bed at night so that she won´t be alone. She seems infinitely glad to have company in the house once again. I am kind of bummed because I have been missing lunch every day with the family because I am having trouble getting home from work on time... hopefully I will get it all figured out once again and be home on time next week!

I can´t even TELL you all how much I have eaten this week. I adore everything here. I have already spent countelss dollars on horchata (my favorite milk-like rice and almond drink that is a favorite here) and Yucatec candy, as many of you might imagine. I have gone to all of my favorite places in the city and gotten panuchos and salbutes and taquillas and charritos and you-name-it. I missed it all so much! The beautiful thing is that it is all 1.) cheap and 2.) so good for you! I had forgotten how fresh and healthy everything tastes. It is very different from the states... everthing we eat is basically packaged trans-fat. In short: I am like a little piglet, eating her days away, yet it is wonderful.

The economy is ouching here, badly. So many places I used to go are now closed because they aren´t making money. Bus prices and taxi prices are higher than last year because of the gas and the bad economy, so life is not always so cheap. My friend Martin told me that his business is pretty much hanging by a string... he is in the auto industry. Everyone mourns the sharp decrease in value of the peso... 13.5 pesos to the dollar.

This brings me to my next thought: Obama. They are all so hopeful that Obama will turn things around. There is a buzz of excitement whenever his name is mentioned. It is amazing to me that the president-elect of our nation could be so dearly loved by the majority of the people here. I made the cover for the annual review of the past year, and the first thing that my boss told me was, "Obama tiene que estar" (Obama must be there). Their hope for the new president is overwhelming indeed.

What else? All I have done this week is work, eat and sleep. I am trying very hard to finish my applications fo the summer, so that has kind of been weighing down my explorations. Between all of my work, I have made plans to go to Playa del Carmen this weekend... kind of lame for Indiana Jones, but I needed a weekend to relax. Also, there is something so beautiful about the Caribbean. I hardly spent any time there last year, so I thought it was definitely worth the effort to relax there. Miguel, Margarita´s husband, is taking us there, and then we will probably grab a bus back on Sunday night. I will try not to fry my skin to a crisp.

So far, this experience feels quite different from that of last year. It feels much less exotic and much more like day-to-day life. That DOES NOT mean I love it any less, though! I am having a wildly fun time, just in a very different way. I know the ropes a little better, so I feel somwhere between visitor and resident. I still stick out like a sore thumb... my little ponytail is like a "blonde" flag announcing that the Gringa of Merida has arrived! Oh well... what can you do, right?

I hope all is going well back in the States for everyone. I will certainly have more to tell once I get back on Monday because my life will have definitely gotten interesting!

¡Hasta proto!