10 Things

So today is March 10th... wow. I guess that means my time here is drawing to a close. I have ten more days until my work is done and I move out of my house forever :( I am sad about this, but I am also excited to go back to the United States. I miss my family and friends SO much (and a certain someone who will go unnamed at this time). Because a few people have asked me, I have compiled a list of things that I miss about the United States. (Family and friends don't count!) These are in no particular order, either, because I can't decide which I miss
most!

1. Pizza Salad. There is a shortage of good pizza here, and lettuce is not a good idea to eat, not to mention the fact that it is rather scarce.
2. Kettle Corn. Where is it?! They have every other kind here! Chile, caramel, butter, natural... everything EXCEPT the one I love most!
3. My bed. My bed at home is so comfortable and my bed here... not so much.
4. English. Enough said on that point.
5. Timliness. Americans have it! We get places quickly, do things on time, aren't late for appointments and we walk at a rate that is quicker than a few feet per hour ;)
6. Green. I bet you guys miss it too, actually, it being winter. But I am ready to see green landscape again, and I am coming back just in time!
7. School. Crazy huh? This whole experience of working and not taking any classes has made me appreciate what little time I have left at the university.
8. Clean water. It isn't that they don't have it here, because they have it in abundance... but I miss not having to check everywhere I go to make sure the water AND the ice is purified.
9. Playing outside. Here, they just don't do that sort of thing. We go and play games outside at school in the fall and spring, and I really miss that a lot.
10. Peace. I miss being able to walk down the street without the honks, whistles and cat calls! It gets really old, especially when they do it for... well, anything female.

Now, for your reading pleasure, I have also drawn up a list of things that I will miss in Mexico. Again, family does not count, because I will really miss my mama! Note the similarities and differences in these lists. I think sometimes great assets can also be a source of
great frustration... some of the things on my lists are the EXACT opposite... read on :)

1. Weekend Adventure. I love getting on a bus and wondering what the road will bring me each weekend.
2. ALL THE FOOD! Every last bit of it. Mostly I will lament the loss of fresh avocados and horchata. Those cannot be aquired in the USA.
3. My hammock. I already miss it because Miguel used it when he was sick and it is broken now, which I am super bummed about. I LOVE sleeping in that thing!
4. Spanish. It is soooooooooo pretty! And interesting. And fun, when you aren't accidentally calling people bad names.
5. The quiet. Their lifestyle here is so laid back and tranquil, and that I will miss a lot.
6. Lunchtime. Food excluded (see #2 over and over again) I will really miss that time when you get to relax, kick back and just talk for an hour or two in the middle of the day.
7. Work. My job here has been really exciting, educational and fun. I feel like I wouldn't mind hanging out and doing this till my kids kids have kids.
8. THE BEACH! Bwaaaaaaaaa! (that was me crying) I don't ever want to leave it ever ever ever!
9. Palm trees. I know it will sound stupid, but there is something about palm trees that just does my heart good to see. I really want a palm tree someday.
10. Dancing. Everyone here can and does. I am not just talking about clubs and stuff, I am talking about... if there is music at a restaurant or in a shop or in the street... people stop
and dance!

Meh, it gives you an idea anyway. Leaving is always a bittersweet thing. The good thing is that I get to stay here for spring break... six more days and no work?! I am pumped!

No, I Didn't Fall of the Face of the Earth

All I have to say is that Mexican illness will do a number on you. I won't go into details, but.... Imagine sick. Then multiply that by, say, 50 gajillion. That's me :) And I always have these creepy Tim Burton-esque dreams when I get sick. Just Nightmare Before Christmas, Beatlejuice kind of dreams that creep me out. Hopefully, that is done with!

The good thing is that... I AM FINALLY FEELING BETTER TODAY! I think I might be able to eat something besides gatorade and a half a piece of toast! I am soooo excited! I am going to the beach with Elizabeth, Molly, Emily and her friend Linda, who is in town visiting for spring break. Maybe my little spots will tan over! It is going to be a good day. Even if I pass out on the beach it will be a good day... as long as I wake my pathetic self up to flip myself over and tan my tummy... it's gonna be good.

Also, you may have been wondering... where are all my cartoons? If you are asking that, you are asking a good question that I often ask myself. I hope to put another one in this week, but I just feel like things here have been so crazy busy that I haven't made a lot of time for it! So this week's goal is to do two more for the last few weeks here.

I will be working for less than two weeks, and that is a really weird feeling, because I feel like I am just getting rolling. I designed a page for my trip to Calakmul that they will be publishing... I even helped write some of it! Unfortunately, I have to accomodate their style, so I don't really like it that much, haha, but OH WELL!

How is Ohio/Minnesota/Wherever you are reading this from? (HAHAH WEATHER IS PERFECT HERE nah nah nah nah nah nah!!)

Plan B Layout

Below is a design that I did for the 200th anniversary of the magazine. I did the graphics also... hope you enjoy it. This might give you some idea of what I spend my days doing. I usually don´t have much in the way of flexibility with the design... this is probably the most Carolyn-ish design I have done thus far... ENJOY!

Also, here a cartoon I did for the Post!

Plans for the Weekend

Okay so here are the travel plans for this coming weekend... Dr. Indiana Jones is back in business!

Tomorrow we are planning on hopping a bus to Ticul, where will base ourselves for the weekend. With luck, I will be seeing everything from ruins to churches... to mummies :D

I am really excited to see the ruins on the Puuc Route that I missed last time.

Work is good, everything is good... I am supposed to try on a bunch of clothes for my photo shoot on Tuesday the next time I go to work, so that should be pretty fun. I am going to be published in a MAGAZINE! I am really nervous, but it should be really fun. I am not doing anything too cool... it is for the Levis campaigne. I will be sure to bring a stack of 'zines home and sign them all so that you all can be rich someday ;)

Cover Design

I almost forgot! I designed the cover for an annual review that is published with the newspaper, but print was delayed because they hadn´t quite finished yet.

Posted here my design... it looked a lot different and changed in all sorts of ways, but I learned a lot. This job has a lot of good things coming, methinks! Please note the prominent presence of American people on this cover... my boss chose every single picture. Take a look!

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!

CRIT

Today went famously! Minus the fact that I still don’t speak Spanish. I ended up getting up early and going to see a new complex called CRIT, which is a school for children with disabilities. I guess the paper is doing a story and my boss thought it would be good if I went. This place was posh to say the least… indoor pools with special handrails, jungle gyms, special rooms with special desks, and their own personal training center. Mom, you would not have liked one of the rooms there: it was dedicated to teaching children everyday skills such as making the bed and (believe it or not) hanging up a hammock. Among these skills is unlocking locks. There were two boards filled with different types of locks that they helped the children learn to use. Can you imagine Googly obtaining that secret knowledge?!

The workout facility was particularly cool. They had a special machine there that taught disabled children how to walk by training their muscle memory. The computers analyze each individual child and walk for them so that they muscles will develop “memory” of the movement. It was fascinating.

After that, I went and finished my cover proposal. I am trying to post it on this blog, but it seems I am not having much luck.

I am SO busy! I am somewhat frustrated, though because I feel like there is too much English in my life, so I am trying to remedy it as best as I can. Fellow students and coworkers want to use their English, but I don’t want to, it is too hard to switch from one language to the other.

I hope all is well. So far, the adventures have not begun yet because the weekend hasn’t arrived. I am probably going to Cozumel, however, which is a place I have never been. It will kind of be a touristy, beach-type trip, but I can’t possibly leave the Yucatan without having gone there!

See you all soon!

Day 2: Much Better!

I absolutely love my job... and absolutely hate computers. I spent all day at work working on a proposal for the 2008 Review that they publish annually. There will be a number of proposals that are to be turned in, and the group will select the one that they like best. It is difficult to use the Adobe programs because they are in Spanish (at least, Photoshop is) and the keys are in different places, making it difficult for me to use the key commands that I am so familiar with. The good thing is that this is exactly the kind of work that I would not mind doing the rest of my life. I had so much fun today clicking away on Photoshop :) When I am finished with my proposal, I will definitely be sure to post it on this blog for all to see.

Also, don't forget: I will continue my cartooning for The Post here in Merida. Check on the site to see it, if you want!

I will try to write more about the whole experience tomorrow... I am working on this project and frantically trying to finish... hasta luego!