So I really love it here... but unfortunately, I am having some homesickness issues. I think that part of the reason is that my family just came to visit, and I am sad that they are gone. I don't
ever recall experiencing homesickness last year, but I think last year felt more like taking classes while on vacation, while this year feels a lot more like the real world. I do not miss the food, but for pizza and lettuce, both of which are sadly lacking here... but I really do miss all of my family and friends a great deal. It makes me wonder how families can function if a loved one is away for long periods of time. I remember thinking last year that I wanted to come back and live in Mexico for a time, but I do not feel the same way this year. I WOULD LOVE to live here because of the weather, so perhaps we can just plop Ohio on the Gulf Coast as an addition to the Yucatan peninsula... but I don't really think I could be so far away from family and friends for a super long time.
Also... I miss the farm. I think that silly bull at the hacienda made me realize how homesick I am for the farm. I feel so lucky to have grown up there, and my life here is VERY urban. I try not to think about the fact that I won't be home this summer!
Don't take the wrong idea from this... I am having a great time here. This weekend I am going to the BIGGEST archeological excavation in Mexico... Calakmul. I have wanted to go there for ages, and now I am biting the bullet despite the distance. I am very pumped!! It will be a good way to distract me from my sudden attack of homesickness!
Friday, February 27, 2009
Thursday, February 26, 2009
Very Naughty Language
So here is what I learned from my family... do you recall that I accidentally called my boss a bad name? I was told after the incident be the people I work with that it means something along the lines of $#!?#% or &9$#&, or even as bad as #%7)!$. BUT DO YOU WANT TO KNOW WHAT THAT TERRIBLE NO GOOD VERY BAD WORD MEANS???? (I know this thanks to my mama!)
Are you ready for this?
Cuticle.
Yes. Here in Mexico, it is a huge insult to call someone... a cuticle. GASP! Great. I am bringing that right back to the United States. Next time I get in an argument with someone, I might just whip it out: "You, you, you... CUTICLE! You don't even deserve to be manicured!" Good grief. There are some moments where I would just love to throw things at the cuticle (whoever he or she is) that invented Spanish. I think I can safely say that I am the first person in American history who risked her job by calling her boss a cuticle.
Are you ready for this?
Cuticle.
Yes. Here in Mexico, it is a huge insult to call someone... a cuticle. GASP! Great. I am bringing that right back to the United States. Next time I get in an argument with someone, I might just whip it out: "You, you, you... CUTICLE! You don't even deserve to be manicured!" Good grief. There are some moments where I would just love to throw things at the cuticle (whoever he or she is) that invented Spanish. I think I can safely say that I am the first person in American history who risked her job by calling her boss a cuticle.
A Week with the FAMILY :)
Sooo... where to start? Mom and gang left from Merida this morning, and they will pretty much be traveling all day. Send some prayers that they have gotten home safely! We had a great week. I think we hit just about every sort of activity there is to do here, although I will confess that they did not eat at El Colon, which is an excellent ice cream shop born here in Merida.
Saturday was Progreso. I think it was good for those Ohio ladies to kick back on the beach and relax. There is also some really good shopping there, so that of course happened as well. It was a perfect day, and everyone was gutsy enough to get in the water except me... I think it is a bit on the chilly side right now, but if I were coming directly from Ohio, I would have gone swimming too. We went to Pancho's that night, which is one of the best restaurants in the city. While the prices are quite high for Merida, when converted to dollars, it would be akin to eating at Applebee's. All of the restaurants we went to were lovely actually... we could really eat well because prices are pretty reasonable... and let's be honest... food is a big part of the experience here. Poor Mary Claire, who had been sick on the bus on the way to Merida took it like a trooper. Her poor stomach went from American Mode to Revolt Mode to Mexican Food Mode... and that had to have been a bit rough.
Sunday was Merida. The main plaza area was FILLED with people because of Carnaval. Usually, Merida closes up the plaza on Sundays and vendors set up stalls. They did that this past Sunday as well but there were even MORE because it was Carnaval! We went to mass in the Cathedral and spent the day wandering around Merida. I wanted them to get a chance to see the city I live in. Unfortunately the crowds were extreme and there was a lot of junk around because of so many people. While they perhaps didn't see Merida at its lovliest, they did see it at its busiest... and of course Carnaval is very fun.
Monday was the haul to Chichen Itza. We went on the second class bus, which takes a bit longer because it weaves in and out of little pueblos along the way. I think it was interesting to Grandma, Mary and Laura because they got the opportunity to see pueblos what Mexican pueblos are like, even though we didn't get a chance to stop in one. We arrived at Chichen Itza and bombed around there for a while. Interesting note: Chichen has a lot of vendors selling souvenirs for visitors, and last year while I was there, some commitee or other decided that they were a distraction and kicked them out. They eventually got permission to come back in however... which seems ok. Most of them are Mayan... and it WAS their city to begin with, right? Anyway, we got to see the ruins and the cenote there, which is kind of ugly. The excavated it in the 1950's looking for remains. They found everything from human bones to pottery to gold all the way from Columbia. Unfortunatly, they plugged up the natural drain in the cenote, so no water moves in or out... and now it looks pretty gnarly. The ruins themselves were really interesting. I had been there last year, but it was nice to go back because it is, after all, a world wonder. They are also reeeeeeeeeeaaaaaaally big, so I thought it would be a good place to take Mary Claire and Laura for their very first experience of Mayan ruins.
Tuesday was really fun... we were off to Campeche, which is the capital city of the state Campeche. Of course we saw the colored buildings and the walls... unfortunately, the museums were closed for Carnaval... which was little in Campeche! BUT... now I can reveal the secret that I have so diligently kept about Campeche since my last trip.
Yon about noon, we went over to the coast to see the Gulf. The water was beautiful, and we were sitting on the dyke right next to two giant, rusted cannons. Looking out to sea, Laura pointed and shouted: 'LOOK! It looks like a pirate ship!' Sure enough, out on the sea in the distance was a very pirate-ish looking ship sailing along the coast. I kept quiet... well not quiet really. Mary and I played Pirates and pretended to be defending the city of Campeche with our cannons. It was funny because after we began 'shooting' at it... it turned around and went back!
I had told everyone that we had an appointment at 5, but I didn't tell them where we were going. We grabbed taxis out to the city's edge and walked into a restaurant... and out the other side onto a pierre. There at the end of the pierre was a pirate ship! We got to ride on a pirate ship called 'Lorencillo' after a famous French pirate that attacked Campeche hundreds of years ago. Mary Claire and I had a blast. We were dual captains of the ship.. she was the Dread Marina Silver and I was Captain Redsword of the Gulf Coast. We were ship captains that became blood sisters and we raided, pillaged and plundered towns on the Gulf Coast. Laura (or should I say Black Sonya) joined in and became our third captain. Luckily, we managed to get a snapshot of the three of us captaining the Lorencillo pirate-style... hats, swords, pistol and everything. It was a blast. The voyage lasted about an hour, and we went out to eat after at a restaurant that overlooks the main plaza of Campeche. We caught a bus home that night, so we got home pretty late.
Yesterday, we took an excursion from the hotel. We went to two haciendas and two cenotes. One of the haciendas was completely restored and the other only partially. I managed to make a bull-friend at the first. There was a random bull tethered in the lawn in fron of the first hacienda. It was a Brahmen (is that how you spell it?) which I think is one of the cutest breeds of cattle that exist, so I went up to in and we made fast friends. I was sad when I found out that he was supposed to be someone's dinner that vvery night. After the first hacienda, we went to the two cenotes. One was partially covered, and that one was pretty shallow. You could feel an oh-so gentle current. We had quite the time splashing around in there. The first cenote was nothing compared to the second, though. The second was deep in the ground but open to the sunlight. Tree roots and branches hung down from the walls, and we had to climb down a long ladder to get down to the eerily clear, blue water. The cenote was as deep as a football field is long... and you could still see the bottom as clear as if it were a foot in front of you. We floated and talked with the people in our tour group (a couple from D.C. and a Mexican girl from Mexico City.)
After we pulled ourselves away from the second cenote, we went to eat lunch at a working sisal plantation (the second hacienda). The hacienda has a dried up cenote behind it that the owners are currently turning into an amphitheater for tourists. We got to see all of the machines that are used to separate and dry henequen. There was no friendly bull... but I liked it just the same! We ate a wonderful lunch there and Mom, Grandma and I spent the whole lunch talking to Jesica (the girl from Mexico City). She didn't speak any English, so I had to translate all of lunch... a hard task sometimes, but it was a lot of fun. We talked to her about all sorts of political issues, including illegal immigration. It was very interesting to hear what she had to say about all of it. We ended up swapping information so that we can stay in touch.
After all of that, Laura and I decided to go get our nails done. I actually had to go to work and type things today, so I didn't get false nails... just painted. LAURA, though, got some serious nails. Hers are lovely and long right now... very elegant and quite fun. The only problem that we ran into was that the girl who did Laura's nails accidently glued Laura's fingers together... yay for Mexican manicures!!!
After all of that monkeyshine, we went to Mama's for dinner. I had not seen her since Friday, so it was good to see her once again. It was really fun to have my family from the USA meet my host family here!
All in all... a fabulous week. The only problem now is that I have to make up the hours at work. I missed 2 days, which isn't that bad... but can't be made up this week, so I guess I will have to work on that in the week to come...!
Saturday was Progreso. I think it was good for those Ohio ladies to kick back on the beach and relax. There is also some really good shopping there, so that of course happened as well. It was a perfect day, and everyone was gutsy enough to get in the water except me... I think it is a bit on the chilly side right now, but if I were coming directly from Ohio, I would have gone swimming too. We went to Pancho's that night, which is one of the best restaurants in the city. While the prices are quite high for Merida, when converted to dollars, it would be akin to eating at Applebee's. All of the restaurants we went to were lovely actually... we could really eat well because prices are pretty reasonable... and let's be honest... food is a big part of the experience here. Poor Mary Claire, who had been sick on the bus on the way to Merida took it like a trooper. Her poor stomach went from American Mode to Revolt Mode to Mexican Food Mode... and that had to have been a bit rough.
Sunday was Merida. The main plaza area was FILLED with people because of Carnaval. Usually, Merida closes up the plaza on Sundays and vendors set up stalls. They did that this past Sunday as well but there were even MORE because it was Carnaval! We went to mass in the Cathedral and spent the day wandering around Merida. I wanted them to get a chance to see the city I live in. Unfortunately the crowds were extreme and there was a lot of junk around because of so many people. While they perhaps didn't see Merida at its lovliest, they did see it at its busiest... and of course Carnaval is very fun.
Monday was the haul to Chichen Itza. We went on the second class bus, which takes a bit longer because it weaves in and out of little pueblos along the way. I think it was interesting to Grandma, Mary and Laura because they got the opportunity to see pueblos what Mexican pueblos are like, even though we didn't get a chance to stop in one. We arrived at Chichen Itza and bombed around there for a while. Interesting note: Chichen has a lot of vendors selling souvenirs for visitors, and last year while I was there, some commitee or other decided that they were a distraction and kicked them out. They eventually got permission to come back in however... which seems ok. Most of them are Mayan... and it WAS their city to begin with, right? Anyway, we got to see the ruins and the cenote there, which is kind of ugly. The excavated it in the 1950's looking for remains. They found everything from human bones to pottery to gold all the way from Columbia. Unfortunatly, they plugged up the natural drain in the cenote, so no water moves in or out... and now it looks pretty gnarly. The ruins themselves were really interesting. I had been there last year, but it was nice to go back because it is, after all, a world wonder. They are also reeeeeeeeeeaaaaaaally big, so I thought it would be a good place to take Mary Claire and Laura for their very first experience of Mayan ruins.
Tuesday was really fun... we were off to Campeche, which is the capital city of the state Campeche. Of course we saw the colored buildings and the walls... unfortunately, the museums were closed for Carnaval... which was little in Campeche! BUT... now I can reveal the secret that I have so diligently kept about Campeche since my last trip.
Yon about noon, we went over to the coast to see the Gulf. The water was beautiful, and we were sitting on the dyke right next to two giant, rusted cannons. Looking out to sea, Laura pointed and shouted: 'LOOK! It looks like a pirate ship!' Sure enough, out on the sea in the distance was a very pirate-ish looking ship sailing along the coast. I kept quiet... well not quiet really. Mary and I played Pirates and pretended to be defending the city of Campeche with our cannons. It was funny because after we began 'shooting' at it... it turned around and went back!
I had told everyone that we had an appointment at 5, but I didn't tell them where we were going. We grabbed taxis out to the city's edge and walked into a restaurant... and out the other side onto a pierre. There at the end of the pierre was a pirate ship! We got to ride on a pirate ship called 'Lorencillo' after a famous French pirate that attacked Campeche hundreds of years ago. Mary Claire and I had a blast. We were dual captains of the ship.. she was the Dread Marina Silver and I was Captain Redsword of the Gulf Coast. We were ship captains that became blood sisters and we raided, pillaged and plundered towns on the Gulf Coast. Laura (or should I say Black Sonya) joined in and became our third captain. Luckily, we managed to get a snapshot of the three of us captaining the Lorencillo pirate-style... hats, swords, pistol and everything. It was a blast. The voyage lasted about an hour, and we went out to eat after at a restaurant that overlooks the main plaza of Campeche. We caught a bus home that night, so we got home pretty late.
Yesterday, we took an excursion from the hotel. We went to two haciendas and two cenotes. One of the haciendas was completely restored and the other only partially. I managed to make a bull-friend at the first. There was a random bull tethered in the lawn in fron of the first hacienda. It was a Brahmen (is that how you spell it?) which I think is one of the cutest breeds of cattle that exist, so I went up to in and we made fast friends. I was sad when I found out that he was supposed to be someone's dinner that vvery night. After the first hacienda, we went to the two cenotes. One was partially covered, and that one was pretty shallow. You could feel an oh-so gentle current. We had quite the time splashing around in there. The first cenote was nothing compared to the second, though. The second was deep in the ground but open to the sunlight. Tree roots and branches hung down from the walls, and we had to climb down a long ladder to get down to the eerily clear, blue water. The cenote was as deep as a football field is long... and you could still see the bottom as clear as if it were a foot in front of you. We floated and talked with the people in our tour group (a couple from D.C. and a Mexican girl from Mexico City.)
After we pulled ourselves away from the second cenote, we went to eat lunch at a working sisal plantation (the second hacienda). The hacienda has a dried up cenote behind it that the owners are currently turning into an amphitheater for tourists. We got to see all of the machines that are used to separate and dry henequen. There was no friendly bull... but I liked it just the same! We ate a wonderful lunch there and Mom, Grandma and I spent the whole lunch talking to Jesica (the girl from Mexico City). She didn't speak any English, so I had to translate all of lunch... a hard task sometimes, but it was a lot of fun. We talked to her about all sorts of political issues, including illegal immigration. It was very interesting to hear what she had to say about all of it. We ended up swapping information so that we can stay in touch.
After all of that, Laura and I decided to go get our nails done. I actually had to go to work and type things today, so I didn't get false nails... just painted. LAURA, though, got some serious nails. Hers are lovely and long right now... very elegant and quite fun. The only problem that we ran into was that the girl who did Laura's nails accidently glued Laura's fingers together... yay for Mexican manicures!!!
After all of that monkeyshine, we went to Mama's for dinner. I had not seen her since Friday, so it was good to see her once again. It was really fun to have my family from the USA meet my host family here!
All in all... a fabulous week. The only problem now is that I have to make up the hours at work. I missed 2 days, which isn't that bad... but can't be made up this week, so I guess I will have to work on that in the week to come...!
Tuesday, February 24, 2009
A Family Visit!
I should probably make mention of the fact that my family is here to visit me. This group consists of three generations of my family: my grandmother (nearing 78), my mom(ageless), my older sister Laura (22) and my little sister Mary Claire (13). Mary Claire is no longer so little... she now has several inches on me :(
ANYWAY, they came down during Laura's spring break to visit me and arrived on Friday. We have been preeeeeeeeetty busy since they got here Friday Night. They are staying in a hotel in the centro, so we have been basing ourselves there for day trips. Saturday we went to Progreso, which is the beach just north of hear on the Gulf. It was a perfect day, if not a bit breezy, but we had a great time. Sunday we stayed in Merida, did a lot of shopping and a lot of eating. We ended up going to Mass in the Cathedral, which I had never done before... and the sound there is terrible!! Yesterday was Chichen Itza, which of course is a World Wonder, and today we went to Campeche, which is on the UN list of Heritage Destinations.
Once they leave, I will have to do a little bit more justice to Chichen Itza and Campeche!
Tomorrow, we are off to see cenotes and haciendas. So they will have done cenotes, haciendas, ruins, forts, beach... the whole Mexican experience!! I hope that they are enjoying it as much as I am. More on all of this later... I would love to start now, but I have been pulling 18-hour days what with travel and all, so sleep is sounding pretty good right now!
ANYWAY, they came down during Laura's spring break to visit me and arrived on Friday. We have been preeeeeeeeetty busy since they got here Friday Night. They are staying in a hotel in the centro, so we have been basing ourselves there for day trips. Saturday we went to Progreso, which is the beach just north of hear on the Gulf. It was a perfect day, if not a bit breezy, but we had a great time. Sunday we stayed in Merida, did a lot of shopping and a lot of eating. We ended up going to Mass in the Cathedral, which I had never done before... and the sound there is terrible!! Yesterday was Chichen Itza, which of course is a World Wonder, and today we went to Campeche, which is on the UN list of Heritage Destinations.
Once they leave, I will have to do a little bit more justice to Chichen Itza and Campeche!
Tomorrow, we are off to see cenotes and haciendas. So they will have done cenotes, haciendas, ruins, forts, beach... the whole Mexican experience!! I hope that they are enjoying it as much as I am. More on all of this later... I would love to start now, but I have been pulling 18-hour days what with travel and all, so sleep is sounding pretty good right now!
Monday, February 23, 2009
Plan B TV
Ok, so I know this doesn't look like me what with the big hair and the out-to-there eye makeup, but there I am! And yes, that is all my own hair. It is just a video that the peeps at Plan B put together so that readers feel like they are getting a behind-the-scenes look at what goes on. (Hey, Mrs. Quinlan, if you are reading this... check out my purse!)
http://www.planbmerida.com.mx/planbtv.php?f=20090223
http://www.planbmerida.com.mx/planbtv.php?f=20090223
Friday, February 20, 2009
Plan B Website- GRAND OPENING!
We have all been working really hard to open Plan B's website. With the publication of our 200th issue yesterday, we opened Plan B's website. If you want to look at the most recent issue, click on "Revistas." I did page three, and also 12-20. I usually do more than one design section, but I had other stuff I was working on too. Also, in a week or so, a video will go up under "Plan B TV" of the Levi's shoot, so I will be certain to let you all know when that goes up!
Visit www.planbmerida.com.mx
Visit www.planbmerida.com.mx
A Giant Starfish, A Broken Shoe and a Very Red Face
Well, much that is random and humiliating has transpired since Monday….
First off, I was walking on my way to work (nearly sleeping), when I suddenly looked up, and there in front of me stood a giant, fuzzy blue starfish. It was maybe six feet tall, had big googly eyes, and was dancing up and down in front of me.
“Hola,” I said shyly, and began to walk past the spastic starfish.
“Wait!” I heard someone call as I was walking away. The giant starfish was frolicking in pursuit of me with a small stick of bamboo planted in a shot-glass full of green jelly.
I am not sure it gets any more random than that.
In any case, the bamboo is now happily sitting on my window sill, soaking up the sun… and whatever is in that green jelly.
Also, I face-planted in the centro. I was wearing my new wedges, which are all the rage here, and I was walking down the sidewalk of the centro. One minute, I was upright, and the next minute, I was in the ground with a very red face and a very broken shoe. I spent about a half an hour hobbling to a shoe store where I bought a pair of flip flops.
Finally, and perhaps most embarrassing… I told off my boss without even knowing I did it. Now that takes skill. The people I work with are very young, and they happen to use a lot… gross terms. I have been pretty good about keeping up with the degree of crudeness associated with each particular word. Unfortunately, something fell through. We all tease each other a lot, so when my boss feigned being nerdy, I called him a loser. Only I didn’t call him a loser, I called him… something very bad. Very bad indeed. His jaw dropped. At first he thought it was funny, but then he seemed really offended. I spent the rest of the day buried in InDesign projects, hoping that no one would notice that my face never turned back to the normal color. John-Curtiss congratulated me, telling me that it takes most people 10 YEARS to tell off their bosses. I only needed 10 weeks!
First off, I was walking on my way to work (nearly sleeping), when I suddenly looked up, and there in front of me stood a giant, fuzzy blue starfish. It was maybe six feet tall, had big googly eyes, and was dancing up and down in front of me.
“Hola,” I said shyly, and began to walk past the spastic starfish.
“Wait!” I heard someone call as I was walking away. The giant starfish was frolicking in pursuit of me with a small stick of bamboo planted in a shot-glass full of green jelly.
I am not sure it gets any more random than that.
In any case, the bamboo is now happily sitting on my window sill, soaking up the sun… and whatever is in that green jelly.
Also, I face-planted in the centro. I was wearing my new wedges, which are all the rage here, and I was walking down the sidewalk of the centro. One minute, I was upright, and the next minute, I was in the ground with a very red face and a very broken shoe. I spent about a half an hour hobbling to a shoe store where I bought a pair of flip flops.
Finally, and perhaps most embarrassing… I told off my boss without even knowing I did it. Now that takes skill. The people I work with are very young, and they happen to use a lot… gross terms. I have been pretty good about keeping up with the degree of crudeness associated with each particular word. Unfortunately, something fell through. We all tease each other a lot, so when my boss feigned being nerdy, I called him a loser. Only I didn’t call him a loser, I called him… something very bad. Very bad indeed. His jaw dropped. At first he thought it was funny, but then he seemed really offended. I spent the rest of the day buried in InDesign projects, hoping that no one would notice that my face never turned back to the normal color. John-Curtiss congratulated me, telling me that it takes most people 10 YEARS to tell off their bosses. I only needed 10 weeks!
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