food!

Ok, so just a quick post to talk about how delicioso the food is here...and the answer to that is VERY!! I went with a friend last night to a little corner taqueria and had something like we would call fajitas...they give you the cooked meat and vegetables on your plate and tortillas and you make your own. They have 5 different little bowls on the table with limes (which are like .50 a kilo here) pico de gallo, and 3 different salsas...all nice and spicy. it was the most delicious mexican food i´ve ever had.
One other interesting thing...while i was waiting for this guy to pick me up in front of the cathedral, there were these guys standing there next to white cars, one suv and two cars. they started talking with me and we chatted away about what i like to do here and what music i listen to, etc...and then they started talking about what they do--which they said was like 'state security' so i didn´t really understand what they were doing (there are like 15 different types of police here i´ve figured) until a family came out of the cathedral and they were like, ok, gotta go...and they ushered the family into the cars and off they drove. so basically, private security for government officials that is provided by the government...i thought it was great.

speed bump(s)!

Alright, well so per the title of this blog i am going to talk ( and rant a bit ) about speed bumps. First--they are EVERYWHERE in Cuernavaca! and i don´t mean in residential areas or near schools...they are literaly on every street in the city. sometimes it seems like a smart idea...like before those intersections that have no signal nor stop sign nor mirror to see around the buildings on each corner (and these are not wide streets) so the speed bumps make people slow down so they don´t bash into each other...however, when you are in a bus to Tepotzlan (more on this later) going UP a hill and there are speed bumps, which the driver often ignores, and i can´t blame him cause they are annoying (hint: never sit in the back of a bus here, you´ll be bruised) these on the hill weren´t too large so it wasn´t earth-shaking to go over them. However, in the city there are some that are MOUNTAINOUS and furthermore, what it encourages is cars slamming on their brakes, going over the bump, and then accelerating pell-mell to the next one. And Mexican traffic is anything but orderly, but somehow things work alright. So...
Tepotzlan:
it is about 45 min from Cuernavaca by bus and is in the mountains. It is a great little town in a beautiful setting with the mtns all around it...awesome views. The thing I want to do most is climb up somewhere--there´s got to be trails, but i didn´t bring the right shoes so that will have to wait til later.
I also went to the massive market where the bus station for Tepotzlan is. The place is so big you could really get lost in it. For sale there is everything from fruit and vegetables to clothes to kitchen utensils to dvds and cds. it is fascinating.
The girl I´m staying with is great...her name is Isadora and she runs the university art galleries. She is so helpful and generous and she lives really close to the center but in a gated place that once you get in her apt you can´t hardly hear anything of the city noise...just the kids at the school nearby in the morning. it is a great place.
she has a cat too...and its loco. truly. it makes me laugh all the time
today i´m going to walk uptown and see some different parts of the city and then have dinner with another friend. pretty relaxed, which is great!

Fresas

So they guy I'm staying with is apparently a 'fresa' as they say here in mexico--i guess the equivalent phrase is 'privileged' or just kind of one of those rich kids. but this is different than what we might think...
Cuernavaca is a great city, but highly confusing--it's in the mtns and so all the roads are like this labyrinth that never ends. i'll probably get lost many times during my stay here...which i find fun usually. i went to el centro yesterday and there were lots of people. i went into the palacio de cortes where there's a mural by diego rivera--it was pretty sweet. I also went into several markets and you know, they are the same here as pretty much everywhere else i've been--just selling different stuff. While I was walking around two separate groups of students (high school age) came up to me and interviewed me on camera--they were so cute because they had to speak in english (it was for a class) and they didn't want to make mistakes and such. It was fun, and it confirmed that no matter how hard i try, there's no use, everyone knows i'm american, or foreign at least =)
And this last event is just for Stephen and Smeal, if they read this....last night i played Guitar Hero! yes, you thought i would be deprived of it, nope. it was fun!
So, life here in Mexico right now is pretty lazy and laid back, which is a great thing in my opinion. we'll see how that changes when classes start. The campus is freakin far away and so i don't know how much time that will take out of the day....anyway, hope it's not as hot wherever you are as it is here =)

Viva Mexico!

Well, I have had an amazing time here already and it's only been 1 day! I almost missed my plane because Continental is silly but the nice guy at the ticket counter called general manager and got me on the plane. From then on, everything went really smoothly. I had an uneventful flight to Houston and then a great flight to Mexico City because I was sitting in between two really cool people. Sara is from Denver, a member of the church of Scientology and a really nice person. Ivar was on my right, from Veracruz, returning from Minneapolis where he was studying architecture. He and I talked a lot about Mexico and things I should do (mostly food I should eat!) He was wonderful company and very encouraging about my trip. I got off the plane and waited about an hour through passport check listening to these poor people talk about how horrible their vacation had started off because of storms and complaining that they weren't going to have as many days in Cabo or wherever they were going, poor guys ;) They I caught a bus to Cuernavaca and the first hour was major traffic--Mexico City is pretty much the biggest mish mash of people I have ever seen. There was also a football (soccer) game going on so that made for interesting scenery--the guys in the backs of trucks with their mexican masks and flags trailing from cars and cars with pretty much as many people in them as possible. Then we got out of there and went through the mountains south. It was really gorgeous and green. I got here and Alessandro picked me up. He is an real gentleman and has been a wonderful host. We went shopping because he wanted to cook for me and while we were driving I found out he is a software engineer and he won a contest for a software application for blackberry--obviously very intelligent. He made me something like quesadillas last night except with two tortillas, cheese and ham, then we spread fresh avocado on top and some chipotle chilis---oh man, you don't know how good that was! Then we went and played poker and blackjack with some friends of his til after 1 am cause it was so fun. His friend had this massive Weimeraner dog that was really beautiful but a bit excitable. Ok, I think that's all for now and don't expect future blogs to be so detailed but since he has a laptop and his own computer I have good access to the internet now, but maybe not in the future (he's leaving for New York in 3 days)
Hasta luego,

to ski is to be.....sore?

Well, ski trip is over and so begins another countdown to the next. We had some AMAZING snow...it was powder all four days and just gorgeous. I have never had such good skiing, and to make it even better, I had great people to ski with as well!! It was fun having my whole family there too.
School starts in 2 days. I didn't get anything done over the break that I said i would, but i'm not worried about it. This semester is going to be better than last, i have decided and KT agrees, which just about settles it ;)
Matthew had this podcast on his iPod that was this guy talking about friendship from a philosopher's point of view...it made me think about my friendships and how they change, but how they don't change as well. I am really blessed to have the friends that I do, even if sometimes our friendship doesn't make sense, even to the philosophers.
I have an interview at the Hog Haus on monday, and it would be great to work there--close to campus and I think I could make some good money there. If i'm going to pay for next semester and travel this summer, i'm going to need it! Alright, the packers play in about an hour so i need to get to a TV =)

what has Christmas become?

truly, I am flabbergasted at the degradation of Christmas that has happened. i'm disappointed in people! Christmas is supposed to be a time of being with family, enjoying each others' company and growing closer, but it seems that we have gotten into this mindset that the way we show our love and appreciation for each other is by getting each other gifts...RIDICULOUS!! I would rather have NO gifts given to me, and have one good conversation with each person and a hug. That would satisfy me completely. i'm saddened by what i see in people in stores these days--a harried look, cutthroat attitude and a miserable lack of christmas spirit. The spirit still exists, but not when you are trying to buy a Wii or some other 'valuable' commodity. what would the world be like without malls and wal-marts and online shopping?
enough of that rant, i guess that if i was an employee in one of those areas i wouldn't mind at all...

I am going to New York City in 5 days! One of my friend's brothers lives there and he invited me to come along with another guy. We are going to be there for New Years and I'm looking forward to it tremendously! The drive up there will be long, but hopefully interesting and the company is good so at least i won't feel like bashing my head through the window ;)

We come back and a day later we leave for Colorado! so much excitement in so little time. skiing is so wonderful and i wish everyone loved it as much as i do, seriously. my whole family is coming on this trip too...it's gonna be crazy and all the rfcs are now going to understand why i am the way i am...lol. i just hope no one gets hurt and we all have a great time.

It is amazing how humbling some experiences can be. i thought that i was a pretty understanding person and not prone to judgments or prejudices, but i'm seeing that i have looked down on people, even if in a more pitying way (which is sometimes the worst way, i admit). i'm realizing that i have the potential to be just like any one of those people that i have judged, and i'm understanding how to change that but it is also shocking me into humility...a good thing, but sometime painful. i'm also realizing how miserable life can be without God, but also how difficult it can be to draw closer to him while pursuing selfish goals and forgetting what life was like with him. the trough is a dark place indeed.

quintessential...nice word

Well, the Packers lost, Favre got hurt, geez....but it's all gonna be ok, cause one game doesn't mean that much. The Packers are still going to have an awesome season!
Today was the last church service at North Street, and the first service at Mt. Comfort. It was interesting moving in the middle, police escort and everything (i thought that was a little over the top but i guess moving that many people at once might be hazardous--i heard about one near-wreck =) Something happened today that made me think about how wonderfully and confusingly complex human relationships are. As a Christian, we are supposed to be examples to the people around us of what a life with Christ is like. When I fail to do that, I feel like sometimes its something I can never get back--i feel that with some people, i will never be able to really talk about Christ with them without knowing that they are smirking, inwardly if not outwardly, because they know how imperfect i am.
That's kind of depressing, at least to me, but then the other side of that, or at least adjacent to it, is the fact that people influence each others' lives everyday in different ways, often without knowing it. This influence can be for good, even if that person isn't doing 'good' at the moment. Sometimes I wonder if it all just cancels out or if there's actually any accumulation of good or evil relative to one another in the world. I hope i'm not becoming a nihilist.
Anyway, I'm grateful for a certain person in my life right now, though he doesn't know it, because he's the only friend i feel i haven't disappointed or betrayed right now. funny thing is, some of my other friends don't know this. Like i said, human relationships...incredibly complex and...verrueckt...sometimes.
i really should be finishing my paper and starting on another, but i'm intensely apathetic right now...hopefully it will get done anyway.