actualización breve

So brief update:

Friday: Went to the city of Santa Ana in the state of Tlaxcala (a very VERY small state neighboring Puebla) with my friends. We basically wandered around, browsed local artesanías, ate a TON of food (more on that in a moment), looked at some churches, and started conversations with strangers. Favorite foods of the trip: muéganos (a typical sweet which consists of a sort of fried cookie covered in a very sticky coating of a honey-like cinnamon/brown sugar concoction) and ponche (basically home-made fruit punch, served hot with pieces of cooked fruit and sugar cane). Least favorite food: tortitas de camarón (patties consisting of dried shrimp powder mixed with egg and fried), which taste like rotten fish and have the consistency of sand. I made the mistake of ordering this distasteful little dish, and upon being unable to eat more than a single bite, I hit the street for some good ol' molotes de tinga (tortillas filled with a chicken/tomato mixture and deep-fried). Street food to the rescue once again!

Saturday: Went with the group to Cholula, a small city that runs together with Puebla. We were forced to spend several hours looking at and learning in great nuance about churches, and then were finally released to eat and wander around. My friend Joelle and I were both in a bad mood because of the rather tedious beginning to the trip, but we cheered up with some fried food and some freedom! Later that evening I went with my friend Roberto to see Avatar for a second time. Despite the bad social messages it apparently sends, it has to be the best movie I've seen in quite a while.

Sunday: I was awakened at 5 AM by a knock on my door and the family's housekeeper (Clemen, a girl about my age who I get along with really well) asking me if I wanted to come listen to "la serenata de Rebeca." In my half-asleep state and with no idea what was going on, I agreed. Turns out Rebeca's boyfriend, Roy, had arranged a serenata for her, a time-honored tradition in which the suitor hires a mariachi band to come sing outside the bedroom window of his beloved very early in the morning. We basically all piled into the kitchen and listened to a full hour of romantic music, then all retreated back to our beds for some more sleep!

Monday: Very full day of classes, from 8 AM to 6 PM. I have since changed my schedule to avoid that sort of madness. In the evening I went with my biology friends to the Lucha libre in Puebla. A friend has a friend who works there, so we got in for free, then sat in the stands and yelled, cheered, winced, drank beer, and ate cemitas (served special at the luchas: the usual mixture of quesillo, avocado, fried meat, ham, chiles, and tomatoes is layered with fried potatoes) until we could manage no more.

Today: Awesome classes today, with awesome classmates. I think I have my final schedule figured out: Ethnomusicology, Ethnography of Mexico, Social Thought in Latin America, and Theory of Rituals. Awesome? Definitely. I'm excited because these are all classes in which I am sure I will actually learn, but I'm also scared that I will have a ton of work. Why? See the note about actually learning... :P