Because I'm Time Conscious

I've decided to copy and paste an email I sent to Meckenzie and use it as a post for this here blog.  I've been meaning to blog about it, but now it's been a month, so it just wouldn't be the same.  Thus, the email directed at mi hermanita, sent on June 5, 2011 at 9:35 p.m. with only minor edits...

Here's the low down on what I did today:

I went to church at 8:00 a.m. as I do every Sunday.  I was so ridiculously tired because I went to bed at like 1:30 because yesterday was Elvira's 25th bday and we party hardied all night long.  Also, I was the only teacher who came because everyone went on a little vacation this weekend to some freakishly beautiful city or something.

And as you know, it was fast Sunday so I didn't eat anything this morning so I was hungry.  And then I got home from church and played some games con la familia and then at 2:30 I went to a birthday party for Elvira's friend named Jose Luis.  I don't know how old he turned, but he was probably older than Elvira.  So it wasn't like a party you were probably imagining when I said I went to a party.  No, it was like this nice dinner party with weird food.  Probably the weirdest looking food I've had since being here.  The plate had this little stack of white rice mixed with corn and a little green leaf on top and something orange next to the green leaf.  And next to the little stack of rice was this a mysterious item wrapped in tinfoil.  So I opened the tinfoil to find some part of a pig cooked in an unknown way in an unknown red sauce.  And the skin of a plant was wrapped around it, kind of lining the tinfoil (that's what Elvira called it "the skin of a plant") and then there were two random little fruit things that were about the size of a grape and they were green, and they are called "atun" in Spanish.  They taste like olives, but they have a pit in the middle.  And here's the strange thing.  The pig in the sauce tasted like spaghetti and the rice tasted like garlic bread.  Spaghetti and garlic bread.  Obviously they were not the texture of those items, but the flavor was the same.  Weirdest thing ever.  But the sauce didn't taste exactly like spaghetti, it just tasted like weird spaghetti.  Weird.

But it gets weirder.  Since I was at an adult party, with adult Mexicans all over, there was beer.  But really, this was a classy party.  It's not like it was dirty and everyone was drunk and what not.  It was like a classy thing where they ask if you want something to drink and you say yes and tell them what you want and they bring it to you, you know?  Well the guy sitting across from me was a tad drunk.  At least that was Elvira's excuse for him, but he was weird before he even had one drink, so I don't blame the alcohol.  First of all, he was old, and his girlfriend who came along was young and beautiful and a model.  For real, she's a model.  And her good looks are actually fake, come to find out.  Anyway, he would not stop talking to me and he was saying the stupidest things and I was so sick of him like two seconds after he sat down.  And then we got talking about Mormons and things (when I say we, I mean he, his girlfriend, and Elvira, because I obviously do not speak Spanish).  And then he takes his virgen Mary keychain off his keys and hands it to me, so I look at it with obligated interest, and then attempt to hand it back, and he's like, "No it's yours."  And you know how we must not accept anything from Mexican men, so I was like, "Oh no, no, no, no thanks."  And I continue to hold it out to him and he's like "Yes, yes, it's a gift."  And I'm like freak no I'm not accepting a gift from you, but I didn't really say that I just said, "Really, no thanks."  And he said, "It's a gift from my heart...(and then he turns to his girlfriend the model and motions connecting his heart to hers and says)...from our hearts to you."

So I'm like, "Fine."

Jk I really said, "Gracias."

So now I have this keychain from a drunk Mexican man.  My life is awesome.

Anyway, as you could probably tell from the above description, that food did not suffice to break a fast.  So when we got home I ate a plum and an orange and some jello and then me and Elvira played homemade pictionary.  Then the fam got home from wherever they went and me, Elvira, Miguel, and Jorge went to the park and played basketball and let me just say:  BEST TIME OF MY LIFE.  It was so fun!  I freaking love this family!  We four played for a while and of course everyone was watching us.  Number one, we were having so much fun, so how could they not?  Number two, I was with them so HOW COULD THEY NOT?!?  I am the center of attention everywhere we go.  Everywhere, Meckenzie.  Even public events.  All because I am white and American and freaking awesome.  Jk.  It's strictly the skin/nationality.  Sadly, I know this to be true.  ANYWAY.  Then this man with a crippled foot and a little boy came to join us and it was ridiculously fun.  I was running around and playing my heart out and sweating and it felt so so so so good.  It was so so so fun.  So fun.  

Then we went home and it was like 8 and we ate pizza and cereal and then Elvira did my nails as she often does.  

Now the day is over.

But really, you should have seen the party we had for Elvira.  It was at the gparents with all the fam and it was so fun!  I love how they do birthdays here.  And I freaking love this family!  I can't get over it!  Like, extended family and all.  They are so awesome.  I feel so comfortable around them and they are so fun and so hilarious.  If I could understand everything they said, I would probably never stop laughing when I'm around them, because they are always laughing, and what little I do understand/what little they say in English to me, is so funny!  They are just so cool and awesome and nice and I love love love them and I am going to miss them so so so so much when I come home.  I just might cry.  They are awesome!  Can you believe that all my life I had a family here in Mexico and I never even knew it?!  It shocks me.  It took me 19 years to find them!  Really, I was sitting there at the table yesterday during the party just watching everyone and looking at everyone and I kind of wanted to cry.  They are so me.  It's awesome.

Okay, that's it.  Peace out.

Love, Brittan