I'm back!

I have returned from Mexico City a changed woman. Well, not really - I mean, come on people, I was only there for a week. But it seemed like a lot longer.

To begin, the flight there was pretty hard for me. I almost got sick - the flight was pretty bumpy. I was glad to get off of the plane. Once there, we checked into our hotel, then walked around to get a feel for the city. We ate at a restaurant and then walked to our professor's apartment to talk about what our plans were going to be for the week.

The next day, we went to the Archives. I was so nervous! I mean, my Spanish is not up to par at all, and I discovered this hard-core on this trip. Ah well, I managed. We had to get ID cards to do work in the Archives, so that took a while...actually, many things seemed to take a while in Mexico...but I digress. Anyway, the professors each had their own projects to work on, so they pretty much left us to fend for ourselves in the reference room. I attempted to get some help from one of the reference librarians, but he could not find anything on my topic, which was curanderismo (Mexican folk healing) in the 20th century. I spent most of the day looking through documents on the Revolution, not on my topic. And that was the first day.

The next day I had more of a direction after talking to my professor the day before, so I started out doing research in Gallery 3. There are 7 galleries in the archives, each one containing documents on different time periods and special collections. The guys in Gallery 3 were helpful, but after a while, it became apparent that I was not going to find anything on my subject. Thus, with a heavy heart, I decided at the end of the day on Thursday to change my subject to something that I knew would be easy to research and that the archives would have a lot of material on - relations between the US and Mexico. I stuck with the time period that I had been looking up before, the 1920s under the administrations of Mexican presidents Obregon and Calles. That afternoon, a group of us went to the renowned Museum of Anthropology and it was really cool. There are a lot of ancient statues and relics from Pre-Colombian civilizations there. They even had "Lucy" the ancient skeleton that was discovered in Africa! I was amazed.

Friday I started off with my new topic, eagerly requesting docuements to look up. I had a productive day, then at 3:00 (that is when the Archives closed everyday - I love this country!), our group went to the Zocolo, which is like the main town plaza. It is huge. On one side is the Palacio Nacional, kind of like the White House, on which there are murals painted by the famous Diego Rivera. On another side of the Zocolo is the GIGANTIC and ANCIENT Catholic church built in like 1530 or something crazy like that. I was awed by the immense size of it. When we went inside, they were having mass, but we went to the back alter, which was under construction, to look around. It was very intricate and elaborate. After that, we walked around some more, then ate dinner at a restaurant where the revolutionaries once plotted in the early 1900s, a place called Cafe de Tacuba.

Saturday we went to a market in a nice part of town called San Angel. There, painters and artisans sold their wares on the weekends. I didn't buy much, but I had a great time looking. Sunday a few of us went on a tour that we booked through our hotel of several tourist sites, including the Basilica of Guadalupe, in which can be seen the cloak of Juan Diego that has the imprint of the Virgen of Guadalupe still on it. That place was nuts, especially because we went on a Sunday. Then we went to the Plaza de Tres Culturas, in which Aztec ruins, another old church, and modern buildings encircle a main square. Finally, we drove outside of the city to Teotihuacan to visit the famed pyramids. Us three girls climed the Pyramid of the Sun, which was no small feat.

Monday came and went fast. It was our last day at the archives, so we had to get everything done that we needed to before it got too late. I went through a lot more documents, requested all of my copies, and even got a picture with the guy who had helped me all week. I told him I would make doubles and send one back with Dr. NF, who is returning there in July. He seemed very happy with that. After leaving the Archives for the last time, we went to another mercado, this one closer to our hotel, and walked around for several hours, buying last-minute souveniors and eating a dinner.

Tuesday flew by and before I knew it, I was back in San Antonio last night, in the arms of my honey! Write me back with any questions you might have about Mexico - I'm sure I won't be able to answer them!

Overdrive

Well, this has been a very hectic last couple of weeks. As you know, we packed up our apartment last week and moved everything this week into our new one. In between that, Derek and I drove to Abilene for Mark's graduation (yea!) last weekend, and then drove back on Sunday to begin the move. His family had already taken several loads to the new place by the time we got there, so there was a lot less to do than we thought. Also, Monday morning several people from church came by to help us and we finished moving everything in by noon. However, unpacking has been a different story...

On top of the continued mess in our house (which is driving me crazy), I've been working 8 to 5 everyday at my two jobs and trying to stay afloat of the rushing I have to do between them (I only get half an hour to drive from one to the other and eat lunch at the same time). I really like my new job at the law office (it's so easy - I get to read when there's nothing to do, so I've knocked out a lot of The DaVinci Code already!). However, I had forgotten how stressful it can be to work from 8 to 5 everyday and then fight traffic to get home.

And, to top it all off, my Mexico trip is coming up in like three days (yipe!) and I feel so unprepared for it. Our group had our final meeting last Thursday night, and I am so surprised at how quickly this trip has snuck up on me. I hope I don't forget what little spanish I know and I hope I don't get too lonely while we're there. I'm still a kid when it comes to sleeping away from home, and now that my home is with Derek, it will be hard to be away from him for a week in a strange place. At least I will not be alone - Philis, Corina and Nydia are good girls who have become my friends over the past semester, and I know that we will have a good time together south of the border.

Well, this may be the last time I write on here...before I leave on Tuesday. I hope you all have a great week and I will be back on June 13th!!!