Well it's another Monday here in Mexico and it's just a little hot and by that I mean it hasn't dropped below 95 for the past week. Although it sounds brutal, it's usually not too bad if you can hide in the shade somewhere. However when you have to be active or out in the sun it feels a bit like you are actually walking on the sun.
This weekend had the perfect mix of fun and relaxation. Friday night I ventured out with the roomies to a friends mom's birthday party. It was a wonderfully intimate Mexican gathering filled with delicious dishes and even a mariachi band. I think my favorite part was when the family sang the Mexican birthday song and then did this really lovely birthday ritual where they gave the birthday lady a blessing, crowned her with a beautiful wreath of red flowers, and then proceeded to take an excessive amount of group pictures (very typical for a birthday or wedding celebration). It was a great night and by the end I had yet another excuse to use my most recently acquired spanish phrase, "Estoy llena" (google translate it).
I also made the wise and productive decision to devote approximately 6 hours of my weekend to the very high-quality television program "The Bachelor". Yes, I finally gave in and got all caught up on the latest season and couldn't be happier that I took the semi-embarrassing plunge to watch 7 episodes in two days. Although it started out as a shameful endeavor, I quickly roped in my housemates which made it much more respectable since it was in a group setting. So basically I cannot wait for to watch tonights episode tomorrow and see my new good friends fall in love in one of my favorite countries in the world, South Africa.
That's all for now, wish I could send some of this intense heat to those of you in colder places!
Monday, February 28, 2011
Saturday, February 19, 2011
updated address
I have had some requests for my address lately so here is the updated address where you can send me mail. The best way to do it is just through the regular postal service (NOT DHL or UPS). As long as you don't send me anything like a diamond ring or flat screen TV, it really should get here just fine.
Kat Bramley
American School Foundation of Chiapas, A.C.
Boulevard Belisario Dominguéz 5580-F
Box 5
Col. Cinco Plumas, Tuxtla Gutiérrez,
Chiapas, México
CP 29052
There is nothing quite like getting mail when you are away from home, any and all letters, cards or care packages would be mucho appreciated!
Kat Bramley
American School Foundation of Chiapas, A.C.
Boulevard Belisario Dominguéz 5580-F
Box 5
Col. Cinco Plumas, Tuxtla Gutiérrez,
Chiapas, México
CP 29052
There is nothing quite like getting mail when you are away from home, any and all letters, cards or care packages would be mucho appreciated!
Wednesday, February 16, 2011
Winter highlights (can we really call this winter?)
I am four days away from it being 2 months since my last post...yikes
Sorry blog world, my deepest apologies.
Where do I even begin...
My Christmas vacation was absolutely delightful, I had an incredible time visiting with family and friends and felt like it was the perfect amount of time to see everyone and get a big enough dose of home to make it through another 7 months of Mexico.
Since I have been back, school has been crazy busy but really good. It was great to come back and jump right back in to things and feel so comfortable. Life seems to be in a much easier rhythm than it was during the first half of the year which is really nice.
Here are some highlights from my first month back in Mexico:
1. Hosting a bachelorette party for our friend Jessica and then attending my second amazing Mexican-American wedding. Seriously, Mexicans really know how to do a wedding, it is like a broadway show. Every hour the band will introduce a new costume and prop for everyone to play with or try on and the crowd goes wild. At one point the groom and groomsmen came out in hip-hop space suits circa 1998 and sang "Backstreets Back" to the bride, it was quite a sight. I also enjoyed the conga line complete with maracas and glowsticks. Oh and by the way, the mariachi band didn't even enter the picture until 3am, incredible!
2. Overnight trip to Comitan, Chifflon, Lagos de Montebello with Katy and seeing the biggest waterfall and some of the bluest lakes I have ever seen. These places were amazing and could not have been more different from our current city of residence. We first arrived in Comitan where we arranged for a delightful Mexican man to chauffeur us around in his minivan to all of the tourist attractions in the area. Our first stop was a Mayan ruin overlooking a very tranquil lake, then we went to Lagos de Montebello which is a group of lakes nestled in a very wisconsin-esque forest. Seriously, we got out of the car and both felt like were at home in the northwoods, so crazy! So we got to see about 3 or 4 lakes of varying royal blue and turquise colors which were all completely breathtaking and then top it off with a quick swim in the last one. After the Lagos we headed for Chifflon which is a series of waterfalls outside of Comitan. Our friendly chauffeur told us it would take about 30 minutes to hike to the top which made me wonder just how grand this waterfall was. I was definitely not disappointed when we got to the top and were quite literally blown away by the largest and most powerful waterfall I have ever seen. We were able to go up to a viewing tower which was literally right up in the fall and feel completely dominated by it's strength whilst getting a nice little spray down, it was righteous. By the time we were on our way home we definitely felt like we had seized the day.
3. Attending Mexican Zumba class. So I thought that I knew what zumba was about after attending a class in chicago at my old gym but it turns out authentic zumba is a little different. I went to a class at the gym that we joined after break and it was me and like 5 other women ages ranging from 40 to 60. The teacher was a very mexican, very muscle-ey and very flamboyant gentlemen who clearly had not prepared any choreography but rather had us follow him through various pelvic thrusting and hip gyrating movements and excersises which felt far from natural. At one point I was in push up-ish position with one leg in the air being told to whirl my hips and when I looked over at the elderly women next to me I just had to laugh. All in all it was a hilarious workout and quite a cultural experience.
4. Our neighbor/friend's very birthday party. We have a lovely neighbor (Montse) who invited us over for her 27th birthday party last friday night. She told us to come over at 8 so in true Mexican style we arrive at about 9:30 and the party was just getting warmed up. The party guests consisted of cousins, aunts, uncles, grandparents and us two bright eyed Americans. It was a blast to be invited in to such a intimate and authentic Mexican celebration. Everyone was super friendly and while Katy did most of the talking I was understanding about 70% of what people were saying and was able to throw a few words in here and there. The food was INCREDIBLE, honestly the best Mexican food I have had since I have been here- fresh guacomole, tostadas, chickeny tomato goodness, beans, spinach and chicken crepes, pasta salad, and bottomless tequila. The highlight was when Montse's mom offered to have us come over for cooking lessons so we could learn how to create these culinary masterpieces, we will hopefully be taking her up on that one soon!
3. Hosting a delightful cross-cultural Barbecue Fiesta complete with both cheeseburgers and carne asada.
It was our good friend sarah's birthday a few days ago so we decided to host a bbq for all of our friends. We included all the American staples like cheeseburgers, hot dogs, and watermelon and were treated to some delicious carne asada, cooked by the guys.
The comida was delicous and the company was delightful. We will definitely be having another fiesta shortly.
I will leave you with this salivating picture of the chocolatey goodness cupcakes that I made for the bbq, enjoy...
How strange that there was only one left at the end of the night, I guess they tasted pretty good
Sorry blog world, my deepest apologies.
Where do I even begin...
My Christmas vacation was absolutely delightful, I had an incredible time visiting with family and friends and felt like it was the perfect amount of time to see everyone and get a big enough dose of home to make it through another 7 months of Mexico.
Since I have been back, school has been crazy busy but really good. It was great to come back and jump right back in to things and feel so comfortable. Life seems to be in a much easier rhythm than it was during the first half of the year which is really nice.
Here are some highlights from my first month back in Mexico:
1. Hosting a bachelorette party for our friend Jessica and then attending my second amazing Mexican-American wedding. Seriously, Mexicans really know how to do a wedding, it is like a broadway show. Every hour the band will introduce a new costume and prop for everyone to play with or try on and the crowd goes wild. At one point the groom and groomsmen came out in hip-hop space suits circa 1998 and sang "Backstreets Back" to the bride, it was quite a sight. I also enjoyed the conga line complete with maracas and glowsticks. Oh and by the way, the mariachi band didn't even enter the picture until 3am, incredible!
2. Overnight trip to Comitan, Chifflon, Lagos de Montebello with Katy and seeing the biggest waterfall and some of the bluest lakes I have ever seen. These places were amazing and could not have been more different from our current city of residence. We first arrived in Comitan where we arranged for a delightful Mexican man to chauffeur us around in his minivan to all of the tourist attractions in the area. Our first stop was a Mayan ruin overlooking a very tranquil lake, then we went to Lagos de Montebello which is a group of lakes nestled in a very wisconsin-esque forest. Seriously, we got out of the car and both felt like were at home in the northwoods, so crazy! So we got to see about 3 or 4 lakes of varying royal blue and turquise colors which were all completely breathtaking and then top it off with a quick swim in the last one. After the Lagos we headed for Chifflon which is a series of waterfalls outside of Comitan. Our friendly chauffeur told us it would take about 30 minutes to hike to the top which made me wonder just how grand this waterfall was. I was definitely not disappointed when we got to the top and were quite literally blown away by the largest and most powerful waterfall I have ever seen. We were able to go up to a viewing tower which was literally right up in the fall and feel completely dominated by it's strength whilst getting a nice little spray down, it was righteous. By the time we were on our way home we definitely felt like we had seized the day. 3. Attending Mexican Zumba class. So I thought that I knew what zumba was about after attending a class in chicago at my old gym but it turns out authentic zumba is a little different. I went to a class at the gym that we joined after break and it was me and like 5 other women ages ranging from 40 to 60. The teacher was a very mexican, very muscle-ey and very flamboyant gentlemen who clearly had not prepared any choreography but rather had us follow him through various pelvic thrusting and hip gyrating movements and excersises which felt far from natural. At one point I was in push up-ish position with one leg in the air being told to whirl my hips and when I looked over at the elderly women next to me I just had to laugh. All in all it was a hilarious workout and quite a cultural experience.
4. Our neighbor/friend's very birthday party. We have a lovely neighbor (Montse) who invited us over for her 27th birthday party last friday night. She told us to come over at 8 so in true Mexican style we arrive at about 9:30 and the party was just getting warmed up. The party guests consisted of cousins, aunts, uncles, grandparents and us two bright eyed Americans. It was a blast to be invited in to such a intimate and authentic Mexican celebration. Everyone was super friendly and while Katy did most of the talking I was understanding about 70% of what people were saying and was able to throw a few words in here and there. The food was INCREDIBLE, honestly the best Mexican food I have had since I have been here- fresh guacomole, tostadas, chickeny tomato goodness, beans, spinach and chicken crepes, pasta salad, and bottomless tequila. The highlight was when Montse's mom offered to have us come over for cooking lessons so we could learn how to create these culinary masterpieces, we will hopefully be taking her up on that one soon!
3. Hosting a delightful cross-cultural Barbecue Fiesta complete with both cheeseburgers and carne asada.
It was our good friend sarah's birthday a few days ago so we decided to host a bbq for all of our friends. We included all the American staples like cheeseburgers, hot dogs, and watermelon and were treated to some delicious carne asada, cooked by the guys. 
The comida was delicous and the company was delightful. We will definitely be having another fiesta shortly.
I will leave you with this salivating picture of the chocolatey goodness cupcakes that I made for the bbq, enjoy...
How strange that there was only one left at the end of the night, I guess they tasted pretty good
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