My first Quinceañera and Mexican style hot chocolate

ahhh yes it's time for another post and I am just brimming with things to say about this crazy Mexican culture I am living in...

I went to my first Quinceañera last weekend (for those of you who don't know this is, it is a Mexican celebration for a girls fifteenth birthday which according to them means they have come of age) and what a Quinceañera it was. Katy tutors the children of the mayor of Tuxtla and this was for one of his children so to say that it was posh would be the understatement of the century. We were told the festivities began at 8:30 and were running pretty late so we didn't end up getting there until a little after 9:30. In America this might be considered rude and unacceptable to show up to a party over an hour late but in Mexico we were right on time and one of the first party guests to arrive. The venue was located at the highest point in Tuxtla so it was quite a beautiful view of all the city lights and the inside was decorated to the nines, resembling a celebrity wedding straight from the pages of us weekly. It was quite a sight to watch the hoards of Tuxtla's finest fifteen year-olds parade through in there fanciest attire. We frequently found ourselves saying things like "I cant believe there mother let them out of the house in that!" and trust me you would too, lets just say I have never seen dresses so short and heels so high. Katy and I sat and took it all in for a bit and it wasn't until 11:00 that the guest of honor even arrived. At this point we joined the adults for some delicious food and beverages. Luckily there was a table open so we didn't have to do any spanish hob nob-ing but got to just enjoy each others company at our fanciest Mexican adventure yet, so fun!

I have also recently started tutoring for one of the families at my school. There are three girls and they are all really sweet so it is a very easy job. Last night I was over at there house for our bi-weekly session and it was a particularly hot evening here in Tuxtla. Were just going along reading a book when the families "muchacha" (the mexican hybrid of a cleaning lady, cook, and nanny, most semi-wealthy families have them) came in the kitchen. She started making something on the stove that suspiciously resembled Hot Chocolate but I couldn't believe my eyes considering the 90 degree weather. A las it was true and she cooked up some gourmet hot chocolate for two girls and one melting american. I took a sip of the hot beverage and somehow was able to overlook the extreme temperature confusion because of the incredible taste. it was a crazy experience that would definitely only happen here in Mexico.

School is going pretty well, although everyday is exhausting in a brand new way there are always silver linings to get me through the day. I have a little chuckle whenever I look back at the time when I interviewed and they told me that my minimal spanish skills would be no problem. While it is not the end of the world it definitely makes things much more challenging considering that the majority of the staff at the school speaks only super speedy spanish and not a lick of english. So whenever someone comes to my classroom to deliver a message or get a student or something it usually turns in to a pretty funny guessing game where my first guess is usually lice checks (we have those ones a week). This happened last week where someone came in my room and asked to tell the students something so they came in and were rambling on to the students about something I couldn't understand which then caused the students to start messing with their hair so I assumed it was the weekly lice check but then as he took the kids out of the classroom and we started walking across the school I realized maybe this was something different. To my surprise it was picture day and the students were fixing there hair for there pictures, it's moments like these when I wish i could fast forward my brain and become fluent tomorrow, we'll see about that. Until then I will just keep pretending I know what's going on in this crazy country.

Speaking of this country, Mexican Independence Day is next week and we have tuesday, wednesday, thursday, and friday off of school because it is the bi-centenial celebration. Katy and I are planning a trip to Oaxaca and Puerto Escondido so I am so so so excited about, should be pretty amazing!