December 11th: but really this is all of November and then some

HEEYY! Long time no see. I guess thats my fault but whatever.. So last time I wrote on here it was October and I have no idea what I was talking about. A lot has happened since then. Who knew that there was so much to do in such a small, small country. Anyway, I'm going to start with Halloween. I went to Chinese class and came home and spent all day at home.. We forgot to buy candy so when the one group that came to our house rang the doorbell, we sent them away empty handed :( I planed on watching Halloween Town or something but I ended up watching American Horror Story instead.
November was relatively uneventful. I hung out with my Chinese teacher a lot and we went to this vegetarian Taiwanese restaurant that her friends owned and it was DELICIOUS. Wow, I ate so much food there and it was only like $2.50 for a plate so full I thought it was going to spill off the sides. Around November 7th, my Chinese classes through the Academy ended so my teacher and I ended up just having our classes at a Starbucks at the mall 2-3 times a week. They were more "let's make sure you can remember all the thing's you've learned" type of classes instead of "let's cram your brain with more Chinese language goodness" type classes. I enjoyed them and had fun hanging out with Hui Lin (my teacher).
Another perk to classes being at the mall was that I could people watch all day long since most days, I didn't get picked up until Nine got off work at 6pm. I tried perfecting my spanish listening skills by listening in on some weird conversations, I hunted cute boys, and I drank lots and lots of coffee. I also got a lot of my online schooling done but that's not as exciting as the other stuff. That's basically how all of November passed for me, it was the same nice routine every day. On thanksgiving, I ate mashed potaters and a store bought pumpkin pie (pie is not easy to come by down here, it's something of a rarity).
With December came a heat that was so nice but also made you feel like a vampire jumping out of the sun every time it's rays hit your skin. Let's just say that if you stood directly in its light for 10 minutes you would be nice and tan (or if you're my dad or Jordyn; you'd be burnt to a crisp). Within the first week of December, I met 3 different groups of really rad people. First was a group of boys that worked at sears and happened to see me at Starbucks on their break. We ended up talking for about and hour and they were super nice. Before they left for work, they literally got into a single file line to have their pictures taken with 'the american they met' like I was Goofy and we were at Disney. I didn't mind too much, I was feeling really confident in my overalls. The next day, I met a pastor and his missionary daughter. They are from Oklahoma and are some of the nicest people I have ever met. We talked for about an hour before my Chinese class started and I had to go, but not before we managed to exchange numbers so we could keep in touch. The third group I met was a group of college/church students who are studying abroad here. They were so nice and invited me to a Christmas party (I couldn't go because I didn't have a ride) and we are going to be making plans to hang out soon.
I am so glad that I am outgoing and am not afraid to strike up a conversation with random people at Starbucks because this past Tuesday, I ended up going to a beach house with the Pastor, his daughter, Katie, and her friends. It was so much fun! We went swimming in the pool and the ocean and took some stellar pictures (not with my camera because while I remembered the camera, I forgot its battery). One of Katies friends was a boy named Chad who is 18 making him the closest person to my age that I have met. Katie is 23 and most of her other friends were around her age too. Unfortunately Katie is leaving in a week to spend Christmas with her family, but Chad will be staying here until May, so we're going to hang out more.
Today I watched some Supernatural, ate lots of fruit and enjoyed the wonderful Climate here in El Salvador. I have less than a month left here and I fully intend to make the most out of every day! Let's see if I decide to keep writing in this thing more often. Who knows, I might even add a few pictures. Tata for now, I hope everyone in Minnesota is enjoy the nice icy cold snow :-)

October: whoops Katie was right, I stopped blogging in October

I've fallen into a routine here, I wake up at  6:30 during the week so I can eat, shower and drop Ari off before chinese. After class, Idalia and I drive around running errands for Ari's 3rd birthday party (it's Frozen themed and they may or may not be trying to dress me up as Elsa..) it's going to be fancy and I'm actually really excited for it. after class, we go home to be treated my Estella and whatever food she made for lunch that day. It varies between vegetables, rice, beans, and salads. I normally do my homework, watch some tv (I started and finished Baby Daddy and last night I started American Horror Story (Katie don't try watching it, you'll freak)) and sometimes I go for walks. I found a little cliff area where I can see the ocean from on a clear day. It's my new happy place; I can see everything and I feel like I'm on the top of the world.

Ari and I have fun playing together everyday. It's weird taking care of someone everyday. Being the youngest, I never knew what I was missing out on, and as tiring as it may be keeping 2 girls under the age of 3 happy, I'm having a blast. We have played pirates,

we danced at my homecoming away from home,

she tries on my things,

even things that aren't clothes,

and we have fun playing with her toys.

I love that we eat typical dinners like rice and beans with fried plantains

and guisquil filled with cheese and tortillas with peanut butter (okay so maybe the peanut butter part is my american twist on this meal).

I still go running at least 3 times a week (the other nights it rains so much I would be carried away by the rivers in the streets). I like finding high spots at night so I can see all the lights and the stars at night.

On the weekends, we normally go grocery shopping, go to church and every once in a while we hit up the mall. I love the sights, the city, the mountains and the ocean. Everything about this place is amazing. I made a habit of stopping by a fruit stand to get coconut water and the meat for 50 cents. 

I miss my friends and family but I'm so glad I decided to come here and explore parts of the world. 

October 3rd, 4th & 5th: The Weekend

    This weekend was all grocery shopping, going to church and having dinner with Nine's grandma and uncle. I finished the Divergent trilogy in under a week and I'm really regretting reading them so fast. On the bright side now I have one less distraction when it comes to school. Too bad I still have 3405978 other distractions so I'm still not on track. I'm getting there thankfully.
    Today on the way to church I brought my camera and took pictures of most of the things that have become a part of my everyday life here. The views, the buildings, the people. I forgot how different it is here compared to the USA. Seeing people walk along all the streets, jump on and off moving busses, selling things in the roundabouts, and having the signs be in spanish have all become normal for me now. I don't give any of them a second thought; that doesn't stop me from thirstily taking in every view of the country when we drive places. I look like a lunatic staring out the window with a wide grin, squinting to read things, gasping at the new things, and 'aww'ing when I see yet another stray dog wandering the streets. My favorite part of the city is the graffiti and the people. Grandma and grandpa would love some of the graffiti here. They have bible verses everywhere and walls saying "Dios venga, alabado sea su nombre" which is their version of "Christ is coming, glory be his name". I'll post pictures when I'm not ready to collapse over my laptop at any given moment.

October 2nd: Gelato and a Bat

    I got ice cream today. After class, Idalia did't have any errands to run so I suggested we go the Gelato Factory next to Ari's kindergarden. I got coconut and berry mixed and I enjoyed every last bit of it. After we got Ari, we went home where I took a chair outside a read until I finished Insurgent (the second book in the Divergent trilogy; it only took me two days to read the 450 page book). I ended up burning like crazy. Who knew that Minnesotan skin didn't do well in El Salvadorian sun? Oh well, at least I won't come back as pale as everyone in Minnesota now.
    I didn't run today. Instead, I helped Estela make pupusas and I worked on art stuff until we heard Ari scream. We ran to the living room to find her curled up on the couch hiding from the baby bat that was right outside. I thought it was the cutest thing in the world so I ran to get my camera and went into the small enclosed square with it earning myself a shocked look from Estelita who hates bats. I got some cute pictures of it and then turned the light off and went inside so it could fly away in peace.  Now I plan on going to bed. It's only 8:31 but I am dying of exhaustion and I think a long night of sleep will do me some good.  Good night, sleep tight, don't let the bed bugs bite.

October 1st: I ran again

I didn't have Chinese today because it's Wednesday so I got to sleep in. When I did finally get up, I made a list of all the things I needed to do today and set off to get them done. First was Econ; I took a quiz and did a practice assignment. Next I had to do Psych but Google Docs froze so instead I started reading Insurgent. I read all day until 8 when I decided to run. It wasn't as long as my normal runs but 25 minutes is better than nothing at all. 

    I have grown to love running. At first I did it to even out all the new foods I was trying but now I do it for fun. It's not the same fun as playing a game or hanging out with friends, it's a satisfying type of fun. It fills me with a sense of accomplishment when I run without stopping. I can't run until my legs hurt, but I run until I know that my lungs will give way if I take one more step and for me, that's the same thing. I still don't have the neighborhood memorized but I can find my home easily from almost anywhere now. Going home in the winter is hard because I won't be able to leave every night to lose my self; treadmills aren't the same. 

    I should probably sleep so that I don't fall asleep during class tomorrow. Here's a picture of Ari from when she got into some of my stuff today. Enjoy

September 29th & 30th: The mall, the mall, and the birthday

    These past two days have been more on the active side. Monday, I got up at 6:40 so I could be ready to leave by 7:35 to take Ari to kindergarden. After we dropped her off, Idalia and I went to the Academy to practice her English and my Chinese before our classes started. I really think I'm getting the hang of Chinese and I hope I'm learning enough to be able to join the class half way through the school year when I get back.
    After both our classes were over, we went to the bank where I sat and read Divergent for an hour as Idalia did whatever it was that she needed to do. Once we left, we had to go directly to pick up Ari so we weren't late. After we picked her up we went to the mall to change the batteries on the car remote opener thing. While Idalia went to Radio Shack, I went to hunt sown a coffee shop. After 5 minutes of not finding one, I ducked into a chocolate and gelato shop and got some mango/berry goodness. Finally, it was time to head home. On the way home, I read my book in piece until we hit a small bump in the road and when I looked up, I saw PEOPLE PUTED A FULL GROWN COW INTO THE BED OF A PICKUP TRUCK. It wasn't a trailer, it wasn't a few cows, it was one single cow hearing the bed with like 5 other guys and I still don't know what to make of it. It was crazy.
    I got home and did some school stuff and watched the Friends finale and for the first time since I got here, I cried like a baby. Wow that was such a good series. After I finished it, I ate some dinner and called it a night.
    Yesterday started out the same, I got up early, dropped off Ari, went to class, picked up Ari and went the mall. The only  difference was this time, when we went to the mall, Idalia's husband was there waiting for us. I had never met him before and he seemed nice enough. We bought Idalia'a plane ticket for the states this November (she's going to spend the month with Doris; Luis Edwardo's mom). Then we headed off the the food court where I ate some new things. I went to a restaurant where everything was made from or with corn and boy oh boy was it good.

The crepe looking thing is rigua and it is a corn crepe filled with chess and beans. The patty thing is a tortita de elote (corn tortilla) and it is a corn and plantain bases batter that was fried and it tasted a bit like a hush puppy. The drink thing is called atole and it's actually a soup that is made from grounds corn, vanilla extract and some cinnamon with corn sprinkled on it. It was all so crazy good and I devoured it in minutes.

After lunch we did the El Salvadorian thing and went to a coffee shop for coffee and donuts. I didn't get any donuts but everyone else did and they looked amazing. Here, they most common donut shop is Mister Donut. It's basically a Dunkin' Donuts but they also serve breakfast lunch and dinner and they are as common as a McDonalds. After donuts, we went to Idalia's husbands car and got bins and boxes full of fruits and vegetables. Apparently he gives us fruits and veggies every time he see's Idalia. I love it because that means I get all the bananas I can eat. 

    On the way home, we stopped by the grocery store to order sushi, then we went to a bakery to get a cake and stopped by la Neveria for ice cream. Let's talk about the bakery. It was filled with all different sorts of sets and breads and crumbs of heaven. 

Last night was Nine's birthday and we. ate. good. As soon as Luis Edwardo and her got home from work, we dove into the sushi (vegetarian for me and crab and something else for the others). After we gorged ourselves with sushi, we brought out the cake. Let me tell you a little something about cake here. They take it seriously. You will never find people eating boxed cake unless they are more on the poor side. They cakes are divine and I want to learn how to make them so badly. It was a vanilla cake with a caramel type layer in the middle and almond slivers scattered throughout it, with vanilla and caramel frosting and nuts sprinkled on it. I was in my happy place while eating that cake. For the ice-cream, it was chocolate and vanilla cookie and I had my fair share of that too. 

    I know I should have ran last night after eating so much but instead I sat down on the couch and finished reading Divergent. If you haven't read that book, stop what you're doing, got to your nearest bookstore and get it. I don't care how old you are, that book is a godsend. It is so good and it's really interesting to see how Veronica Roth created it. She was studying exposure therapy in the treatment of phobia (confronting a person with the thing that scares them repeatedly, in a safe environment until their brain rewires and they aren't afraid of it anymore). That was where she got the idea for the dauntless faction. 

     After almost falling asleep on the couch, I dragged myself to my room where I collapsed in my bed and slept a sound sleep until this morning.

September 28th: The Party

    Today started out dull (me doing school stuff) but turned interesting when Nines brother came over with his girlfriends and her sisters. They stayed for lunch (Pollo Campero chicken, rice and celery) and O got some weird looks when I whipped out the peanut butter for my celery. They were really nice and we talked a lot about  lots of things. After lunch, they headed home and Ari, Nine, Luis and I got ready to go to a two year old birthday party.

    I know what you're thinking.

"A two year olds birthday party, wow that's boring" but holy poop, they go all out here. Thankfully I brought my camera because this was probably more well decorated and better planned than most people's 21th birthday. The theme was the Wild West and so upon arrival, all the little kids got sheriff badges. I immediately went to go check out the cake and what not in the back. It was so cute and fancy. 

They had piles of party favors and cute mini bottles of water for all the kids. 

After a half an hour, a clown showed up. I get the feeling he was more for adult entertainment because he was telling jokes that went straight over the kids' heads (and mine). 

He had a few games for the kids to play all planned out and the winners got prizes. 

They also had a bouncy house. Maybe it's just me but I thought the party was absolutly amazing and a bit much for a two year old. 

They served us a dinner of (they had waiters come out with trays of food) pizza for kids and burgers for adults. I didn't mind that it wasn't vegitarian because I had already filled myself on popcorn and candy from the center pieces.

After dinner, it was piñata time. The clown lowered it down from the ceiling and gave made sure all the kids got a chance to whack it before picking an older girl (around 7 years old) to break it open. 

The kids went ham and the floor was cleared of any trace of candy within a minute. 

Finally the time had come to sing happy birthday (suprisingly they sang it in English not spanish) and cut the cake. In the end I ate two pieces which was more than enough because it was extra sweet but boy oh boy was it good. After spending 3 1/2 hours at the party, we said our goodbyes, prayed Ari away from her friends (and the bouncy house) and left to go home where I spent the rest of the night studying Art (and watching 2 episodes of friends).

September 27th: Well the sunset was pretty

Today was filled with school and food. I didn't leave the house and it rained all day. I hope tomorrow is sunny so I can go for walk.

September 26th: Typical

I was graced with the ability to finally sleep in this morning. I didn't wake up until 8:30. I quickly drank my coffee and ate my toast with peanut butter, got dressed and hopped in the car to head off to Chinese class. Idalia never has class on fridays so she dropped me off at the front at 10 and I walked up the driveway and got to go straight to class. As always, I loved my lesson and my teacher and I had a lot of fun. We found out that both of us are vegetarians and she told me about a great Korean restaurant that sells vegetarian food. After class, I had to wait for 45 minutes until Idalia picked me up so I whipped out Divergent and started reading. I got to page 72 before Idalia came up and honked for me. We then went to the salon so she could get her hair cut and then we went home.
    I had told Estelita not to worry about making me luck because I had wanted to make myself a grilled cheese sandwich with tomatoes and avocados. When we got home, I wasn't all that hungry so instead I did some homework and watched half of an episode of Friends while snacking on tortillas and peanut butter. At around 3pm I decided I was hungry enough to eat so I made my grilled sandwich and ate it as I finished Friends. The rest of the day was spent in the kitchen scavenging for food, doing homework (psychology is so interesting and crazy to learn about but wow it is not smart to try to take in 3 lessons in one day), helping out with Ari and face timing my mom. Time flew by and before I knew it Nine and Luis Edwardo were home. I got up to go get ready to go on a run but I got distracted in the kitchen (as always) and started talking to Estelita. We talked about her english skills, my spanish skills, her daughters (11 and 17) and their interests. Her 17 year old has learned French, English and Mandarin Chinese just like me so I thought that was cool. Her 11 year old wants to learn how to dance and cook so Estelita is going to put her in dance classes in November and Teach her how to cook on the weekends when she is home. I also found out that Estelita lives 2 hours away and has to take 3 busses to get here every week. No wonder she stays all week and only goes home on the weekends. It was a really nice conversation and I'm so thankful to be staying in a home with such an amazing person.  
    Tomorrow I might go on a run  but then again I might not, we'll see.

September 25th: I feel so clean

    I just got out of the shower an I feel like a new person. Living here is the equivalent to living in a jar of honey, pleasant but sticky. I showered this morning, ate breakfast and headed out to my Chinese classes at 9:15. We got to leave the house late because Idalia had to bring Ximena to the doctor so she didn't go to class. As always, class was fantastic. I relearned a lot from last year and she help me learn the small things that make sentences like saying, 'a little' or describing how something tasted or looked. She is an extraordinary teacher, and I think she likes having me as a student. Every once in a while I'll catch myself saying something in english, then in a panic I'll speak some french before I finally get around to spanish or Chinese. It's hard to train myself to default to a different language but I'm getting there.
    When I got home, I actually did school stuff. I worked a lot on psychology and let me tell you, if you have never taken a psych class, I suggest you do. It is so insightful and amazing to find out how our bodies work. Right now for intense I'm using my somatic nervous system to type up my blog. How cool is that, theres a word for that. Anyways, for lunch, I chowed down on some vegetables and rice. Estelita can find the most basic ingredients and has this power to turn them into a gourmet meal. She told me she never took a cooking class in her life, everything she knows she has learned from cooking shows and stuff on the tv. AND YOU THOUGHT THE TV WOULD MAKE YOU DUMB. Fun fact, it can teach you stuff if you're on the right channels.
     I gave in and watched an episode of friends but it was raining so the quality was so poor that I gave up after that first episode. At around 5 I wandered into the kitchen to find Estelita starting dinner and I decided to help her. We made empenada's and they were splendid. First, we  boiled plantains so they were soft enough to turn into mush, then we strained them and let them sit for a while. As theses were drying out, I went back to my handy dandy laptop and texted Abbie and Jordyn and watch youtube videos with Abbie (we were watching them at the same time so it counts as watching them together). I also did a bit of my school stuff again. At around 6, Estelita fed Mena and Ari while I started on the empenada's. She had the beans, plantain mixture and another banana mixtures all ready so all I had to do was roll some cheese into strip so they were easier to put in the food. I had to get my hands white with flour before I could even touch the plantain stuff or it would be a sticky mess. Estelita came into the kitchen at that time to show me the drill, first we made the plantains into patties then I filled mine with beans and cheese and she filled hers with the banana mixture. We had a nice system going on. When we were done rolling them, we put them into a pan with oil to fry them. Once they were done, we split one of each in half and tried them and it was so crazy good. The bean and cheese ones were like a dinner taste and the banana filled one were more dessert tasting.

    Once Nine got home, she put down Ximena and I went for a run. It was only 25 minutes but I got lost and it was weird. I ran for 10 minutes then I was really close to home so I took a turn that I had never ran and it took me away from home and after fish minutes of running it turned into a dead end so I turned around and ran back home. I knocked on the door and as soon as they let me in, I hit the shower. I have gotten used to taking cold showers and they are so refreshing. I probably won't feel that way when I get back to Antarctica but for now they're nice. By the time I got out, the whole house was dark and everyone was asleep. I got my pi's on and went to the living room where I'm not blogging and jamming out to Jesse McCartney's Beautiful Soul.

September 24th: I went for a run again

    I'll start off by saying that I am a professional procrastinator. At first I wanted to be a linguist when I'm older but now I'm thinking that if there is a way to get money from procrastinating, that's where I'll be. Now for the real thing. The blog of all blogs. I woke up this morning (at 7:forty-something, I don't have an alarm but I have been waking up before 8 almost every single day. I think it has something to do with Ari and her tendency to leave the bedroom door open then scream all over the house) thinking I was going to get TONS accomplished; and I did. First I started off my day the exact same way I have been for the past week; black coffee and bread with extra crunchy peanut butter. I think they are all awestruck by how fast I go through peanut butter. It is my go to breakfast, snack, lunch, snack, dinner, and of course, snack. Since I didn't have Chinese class today as it's my day off, I had all day to either slack off or get stuff done so naturally I did a bit of both.
    I sat down with my trusty computer and began my studies . I took one art quiz, did two assignments, and took a test. It may not sound like a lot but that is a solid 3 hours of art. Through out that 3 hour period, I drank 4 water bottle of 3/4 water, 1/4 apple juice. The apple juice is way too sweet on its own and I like a bit of flavor with my liquids and Ari always has it and it just looked so good. After all that art, I decided I earned an episode of or two of Friends so I opened a new tab and before I knew it I was looking at wedding decorations on Pinterest.. On the bright side, I found the perfect hair, dress options and decided on a theme, then for the reception I'll have a subtle Harry Potter theme going on because the ideas were fantastic. After an hour and a half on Pinterest I went to my Friends tab.
    5 hours later, I had finished season 9 and was forcing myself not to start season 10 (the last season). During those joyous 5 hours, I stopped to eat lunch; spicy rice sent straight from heaven and bread. It was so good I ended up eating 3 servings. I also ate around 5 bananas with (extra crunchy) peanut butter. In my defense, the bananas that they have are the size of a three year-olds shoe. I also ate like 5 lychees (Thank you dad for posting the ENTIRE wikipedia page correcting my spelling on my last blog post that I mentioned 'leeches') and I picked at some strawberries. I had all the choices in the world thanks to the wonderful 'order your groceries online and have them delivered to you' system that Nine and Luis Edwardo use, we got the mother load today.
    As I sat at the dinner table eating, I noticed that they had an unknown gust living with them

 

Meet Lady Frucha. She's a cray spider who lives on their ceiling fixture. At first I wasn't too fond of here but we warmed up to each other and now I don't cringe every time I see her. 

    Whenever the sun set, Estelita ran over to tell me to get my camera and we watched the sun set from the backyard together with Ari jumping around.

At around 8:30 I went on a nice long run around the neighborhood. I saw a line of ants carrying leaves, a cat and lots of guards with big guns. Overall it was a great day, and I hope tomorrow it just as productive.

September 23rd: The short post due to my lack of sleep

Today I had chinese class again which I loved, followed by a trip to the mall. One of these day I'm going to show you how the malls look and how weird the walmarts look and I will go into explicit detail on how AMAZING the walmarts smell ((IM ONLY CHEATING ON TARGET BECAUSE THERE ARE NO TARGETS HERE)). When I got home I actually did some school, talked to some friends and you guessed it, I watched Friends. Tomorrow I will have such a great post with pictures and everything I promise, I'm really tired.

PS I MADE PUPUSAS AND THEU WERE CIRCLES AND IM SO PROUD (((OKAY AND I MADE A HEART ONE))

September 22nd: Happy Birthday Tom Felton

I love Chinese. It is such a great language and it's so easy to learn when you have an amazing teacher like mine. Since neither of us are from El Salvador, we both talked a lot about the way of the people here. Actually we just complained about the fact that neither of us can make round pupusas.. Anyways, she is so nice and I can wait to see how much I improve in the next few months.
   When my class was over, I had to wait an hour for Idalia to pick me up because she took Ari to the doctor and it took longer than expected. On the way home, we stopped at the pharmacy, and a road side stand to get some coconuts which I dug into the moment I stepped through the front door. I whipped out my laptop, opened up my school work page and promptly closed it to watch some friends. During my mini marathon, Estela brought me lunch (vegetables with cheese) which I devoured. I took a shower this morning and this afternoon because living here is like living in a sauna and I decided "hey lets wear some jeans today" which was stupid. I have no idea how all the girls that live here do it. Women are looked at like objects here so they can't dress in any sort of revealing manner without men trying to take advantage of them. It is a sick sick place down here and most women wear jeans every day. I cannot wait for the day when girl everywhere can wear whatever they want without other people getting the impression that they are "asking for it".
   So Friends is getting crazy intense and I just started season 9 if anyone was wondering. I think I'm going to start reading Divergent tomorrow so that should be fun. Tonight after dinner, I plan on going for a run. I haven't ran in over a week. First I was sick, then I was actually doing school, then it was pouring all the time. No more excuses for me though, I am going to run run run tonight and find that magical place where I can see everything and I feel like I'm invincible.



P.S. It's Tom Felton's (he actor who plays Draco Malfoy) birthday today so it was bound to be a good day

September 21st: The Internet

Turns out Ari was still sick today so I spent it at home again. I watched a lot of Friends, did some research on Emma Watson (if you have not seen/read her speech on the he for she UN campaign, go now. If you are a male that is all for feminism go here heforshe.org . Do not make you decision before reading/watching her speech it really is inspirational.) I'd say it was relatively productive. I can't wait for Chinese classes to re-start tomorrow! Alos I'll try to post my blogs earlier than midnight from now on..

September 20th: The Last Two Days

   Yesterday was a day entirely with our wifi. I finished the first book I brought and started reading the book I bought here. The spanish one. Overall, it was relatively dull. Today I woke up thinking we were going out and about because that was the plan. Turns out with Ari still being sick, Nine wasn't too fond of that idea which I agreed with. I started cracking down on school for 20 minutes then Idalia said she would watch the girls and Nine and I should head out. It only took me about 30 minutes to shower and get ready. At around 9 o'clock, we headed out dropping Luis Edwardo off at work before going to run some errands. We decided that both of us needed new phone cases so we went to the mall to try and scavenge for some nice ones. We had no such luck, so instead we bought some Starbucks and tried heading over to the other mall. There we never even left the parking lot. It was a total zoo. Independence day was last Monday and due to the rain, apparently the parades and much of the festivities were postponed until today. After what felt like years trying to get out of the parking garage, we made it.
   On our way home, we stopped by Wendy's to get lunch for everyone exempt me because they don't have vegetarian options. So we went home, I made myself a PB&J and we gorged ourselves. Finally I began my studies. Whilst working on art, I started texting Abbie about colleges until my mom face timed me and we started talking for a few minutes which turned into an hour. When we were done I went back to doing school and talking to Katie and Robbie via snapchat until dinner. I had cheesy rice. After that we started watching Divergent and now we are almost done with it. Tomorrow we are leaving the house again and I can't wait to see what we do.

September 18th: The more Friends the merrier

Another day another 15 episodes of Friends. It may not seem like I'm doing much, but I helped Estelita in the kitchen and tried perfecting my tortilla making skills again. Im not a pro but they are kindergarden circles instead of squares so I'm making improvement. After that, I put an Jessie twist on the tortillas and ate some of them with extra crunchy peanut butter. It was really something magical.
   For lunch, we had a salad and steamed vegetables. Not the ones that come in a bag either, they were freshly cut and steamed right there in the kitchen. I'm telling you guys, Estela a goddess. At around mid day I took a shower because if you don't take one everyday, you're just begging for people to give you a 10 foot bubble. After I did some school work and watched more Friends, Idalia came to tell me that I'll be getting my preferred Chinese teacher and my classes start on monday so thats exciting.
   Dinner was quesadillas with cheese, rice, and beans. They were absolutely delightful and I devoured them right before callusing on the couch to watch a final episode of Friends (I'm on season 8 episode 4) and then I went off to bed where I'm writing my blog and trying to help a crying Ari find her shoes.

September 17th: The Gecko, The Academy & The School Work

Today, like many of my previous day here was spent doing school stuff. I'm 100% caught up in Econ, I only have 1 test to take in psychology and I couldn't take it because it was locked? Then I went to work on art. After 15 minutes of learning about greek art, I got bored and started watching Friends and never stopped. I think I have a problem..
I took 1 break to shower (and shave my legs, a con of living in year round shorts weather), another break to have a lunch that consisted of cheesy vegetables wrapped in a rice roll,

and my last break to eat a dinner of fired plantains with rice and beans. The whole language class thing is a fiasco that Idalia is ever so graciously dealing with by way of many phone calls to the academy. The whole learning Chinese thing down here may not pan out as I had hoped. I might see about just doing the italian if this doesn't work out. Any who, last night was a nightmare. I saw a gecko on the floor on my way to bed and that spooked my, then when i went bed I saw A GECKO CHILLING OUT ON MY WALL BY MY BED. So I spent the next 10 minutes thinking of the movie where Lindsay Lohan plays herself and her twin and she has divorced parents and the dad want to marry some gold digger that the girls hate and the mom to be ends up with a gecko in her mouth on a camping trip. If you aren't yelling 'Parent Trap' at the computer right now then you had a very sad life circa the early 2000s. Sorry, the truth hurts. I'm not sure when I actually went to bed and I don't think the gecko stayed close to me when I finally did sleep (I move a lot when I sleep, like kicking and smacking everything and everyone within my reach.. I'm not sure why I agreed to a top bunk). Tomorrow I should have the language thing figured out and I plan on getting caught up on my Art stuff and if I don't then that's a good thing because that means that I finished Friends and can be distraction free. Until I start up Baby Daddy again. Sorry this was jumbled welcome to Jessie's World.

September 16th: The Chinese class

Yesterday was a busy busy day. I had my first Chinese lesson at the Language Academy and it was terrible. The demonstration I had gotten a few days prior was phenomenal but when I got to class today, it was a whole new teacher. He looked to be 23 years old, he badly spoke english, spoke no spanish and spoke mandarin very fast. His teaching method was crap, all he did was ask me questions that I didn't know and when I told him I had no idea what he was saying, he moved on instead of explaining them to me. He then spent the next 45 minutes teaching me 'grammar' all he did was say (in mandarin) "I.....am going to.....eat the apple" and he used actions and then he did something with a skit with him being two people that I understood but didn't quite catch what he was trying to teach me with it. Then he made me repeat what ever he said like 87 times until he deemed it good enough and every time I didn't know a word, he would write the Chinese character on the board along with the pin yin without telling me the english word. Needless to say, after the lesson I went to the front desk and told them that I signed up for classes with the other lady and I was no at all fond of the way this guy taught. They said they would try to get me back to lessons with the first girl from the demonstration. Idalia and Nine said they would help me out if they couldn't get my girl teacher back. They agreed that I should get a refund because this was not what I signed up for.
   On the way home, Idalia and I went to a walmart so i could get a shnazzy burn phone to call people in El Salvador while I'm here without paying an arm and a leg for every minute. Then we went to the Pharmacy because not only is Ari sick, so am I and so is Ximena. Thankfully we went to the pharmacy next to La Neveria so I could indulge in my little guilty pleasure. I got triple berry and mango. Big surprise. I also got Idalia a cone with berry ice-cream. It was an enjoyable ride back.
   At home I started doing some homework but then decided to take a break which I never should have done. I watched 1 episode of friends which turned into a short marathon of 14 episodes. If you have seen Friends, you would understand. I watched the last half of season 6 and the first half of season 7. I COULDN'T STOP MYSELF. The only break I had was for dinner which was my favorite. Fried tortilla strips and rice and beans.

 

September 15th: Work

Today was independence day here in El Salvador. I don't know what I was expecting, I guess I thought there would be a party of some sorts like 4th of July but reality fell short of my expectations. Instead of going to some extravagant festival, I went to work with Luis Edwardo. He works for a company that is like a Best Buy/furniture store mix. He goes around to all the different stores in E.S and makes sure they are up to par. We only went to 3 stores but it took us from 10am-3pm. The first two stores were standalone and I just found the most comfortable chair and sat down and read while Luis talked to the manager. The third store was in a mall so before going inside, we went to get some lunch at a restaurant that resembled a Denny's diner.I had the only thing on the menu that was vegetarian friendly:mozzarella sticks. Some of them were mysteriously lacking cheese but I kept eating them because I was hungry and didn't want to wait for more. Finally when we were finished eating, we went to the last store. The manager was insanely nice and so I stayed with Luis Edwardo and talked with them instead of reading. Near the end of our visit, we walked around and found ourselves each sitting on a different piece of furniture from a matching set. Me on a chair, Luis on the couch and Lizabeth (the manager) on the love seat, all hugging a pillow. We got into a heated discussion about movies. It started with super hero movies, then I smoothly guided it towards Harry Potter. I talked about how the movies missed so many key points that JK snuck into the books and they listened intently. Then we talked about the matrix, Lord of the Rings and Game of Thrones. Finally the time came to say our good byes (Not before I was offered a job for black friday) and we left the mall. On the way home, we stopped at a grocery store to pick up a few things and upon my request, we went to La Neveria so I could snuff out my ice cream craving. Once home, I cranked out a few hours of school, ate mac and cheese, showed Ari the wonders of slinkies and stairs and I plan on going to bed early so I'm well rested for my first Chinese lesson tomorrow.

September 14th: nothing but school

I did 12 hours straight of Art, Psychology, and Econ. I'm not completely caught up but I'm 3 assignments away. I took 1 test and 8 quizzes today and learned more than most people learn in a month so that was fun. I also drank about 11 bottles of water and peed 7 times. I'm living the dream down here.

Lunch: not sure what it is, Nine made it for me and it was splendid

September 14th: So I forgot to post this last night..

Yesterday was long and dull with not much to do. I stayed home all day with Nine and Ari and we watched some movies and I did a lot of school work. I'm starting to really like my online art class and I'm psyched for my final project. As for Econ and Psychology, I haven't gotten into those as much.. I'm actually really mad about taking psych online because I know it's a good class and really interesting it's just hard to get into it when there is no fun to it. It's all learning terms and I don't get to interact with anyone but I'll survive. I wasn't feeling my best so I didn't go for a walk or a run and that bummed me out. Nine made some really good rice noodles for lunch and for dinner we ordered pupusas. It's weird because here, they order pupusas like we order pizza. I hope today brings more adventures with it!

September 12: La Neveria

Last night I did not sleep well. Ari started crying at 12am and I went to comfort her until she fell asleep then she had to go pee at around 3am and woke me up to help her. Today I woke up tired, took a shower, ate bananas and cinnamon for breakfast then went to sign up for mandarin Chinese classes and found out that the tax on everything here is 13%. That's more than it is in California. Anyways, the teacher is super nice and said that we could work on whatever I needed help with so that I'll be on the right track when I go back to FL. Then we went to the doctor for Ari because she has had a nasty cough and a runny nose for the past few days. The doc prescribed her some antibiotics that we had to pick up at a strip mall that had a La Neveria! La Neveria is the best ice-cream place in all the Americas. It's not soft serve or over priced. I got a waffle cone with a scoop of mango ice-cream and a scoop of strawberry cheesecake ice-cream. It was only $1.35 and it was crazy good. I ate it on the way back home as I talked to Idalia about taxes and robbers.
When we got back it was already 1:30 and Estela had prepared tortillas and rice for lunch. I watched friends and snap chatted CiCi, Robbie and Maia until it was dark outside. Later I plan on chowing down on dinner then going for another run around the neighborhood.

September 11: Lowkey

I had to get up early again so I could go with Idalia to drop off Ari at kindergarden. During the 4.5 hours we had until we had to pick her up again, we went to the language academy where I'm going to be taking Chinese lessons. Then we went shopping at a fun store that I forgot the name of where I found really cute heels for $9 but I didn't buy them because where would a 5'11" girl where heels? Next we went to the market where people sell fun things like bags and pens and all this artsy hand made stuff that I love. I ended up buying 3 things as gifts and couldn't make up my mind about what else to get. Good thing I have 4 moths to help me decide.
At 11:45, we went to pick up Ari then started off towards home. Idalia and I were so hungry, we called Estelita to make sure she would have some food waiting for us. On the way home, we stopped to buy 2 coconuts from a street vendor because we both adore coconut. Once home and fed, I settled down to do some online school. Later we took a walk to get some bread from vendors right outside our condominiums. On the way back we stopped by the park which had a mango tree so Estelita and I started throwing things at it to try to knock down some heavenly fruit. 20 minutes later we happily walked away with 5 mangos. At home, we ate some food, I watched some friends and then got ready for bed. I didn't run today because all my muscles ache from the last 3 nights and I wanted to give them a break so I had some homemade ice-cream instead.

September 10th: The Great Outdoors

Today I went for a walk. I was wondering about the neighborhood with my book and my music for over an hour. It started out as a hunt for the spot I found last night but it ended up being a relaxing pastime (and it was the first time I touched a book this whole trip).

When I got back I found Idalia on her way to her car with her keys, she was planning on driving around to look for me. The family I'm staying with is always like this. They are kind, caring, loving, and I couldn't have asked for a better opportunity. After she made sure I was okay, she gave me new fruit to try. It's called a anona.
I stayed outside to read a bit more and take in the fresh air before I finally gave in to the welcoming air-conditioned house. When I went to the kitchen, I found an abundance of fruits, new and old. Idalias husband had given her about 30 mini bananas,

a bin full of leeches,

more anona

and a papaya.

I tried some of all of them. Another thing I love about This house is that its never lacking in the fruits and vegetables department.
    After doing some homework, watching Friends, and playing with Ari, Estela and I decided to make dinner. Estelita is amazing, she knows how to make just about everything. We made a homemade pizza, crust and all. For the toppings, we cut up some tomatoes, zucchini, carrots, and celery. While we were preparing it, Nine and Luis Edwardo came home. Once the pizza was in the oven, I went to go sit down on the couch and Ari came over and we played and laughed and I think I'm sarting to know what it's like to have a younger sibling. Finally, the pizza was ready and we all sat down and ate, everyone loved it. It wasn't greasy or too cheesy or anything. It was perfect. So perfect that I had 4 pieces.

Finally, I went on my run. I was out for 30 minutes and even ran into Idalia, Ari, and Estelita walking the dog! After getting list on the way back, I eventually made it and rinsed off before I went to bed.

September 9th: The City

Today I woke up early so that I could go with Idalia (Nines mom) to drop off Ari and then we went shopping. First we went to this cute little boutique where I got two cute new shits. Next the boutique was a shoe store where we found nada, except a super cute purse that we both loved but neither of us wanted to spend money on. Next we went to one of the many malls in town (there's the main one, the Muli Plaza, next to that is Los Cascadas, and next to that is the Galeria, where we went). We went to Starbucks where I ordered both of us drinks and shared a recipe with the cute barista boy that took my order (a strawberry smoothie with a scoop of berries and 2 pumps of blackberry syrup). Next we went on a hunt for the hair salon so I could chop off all my hair. Kidding, I only got the two inches of dry dead split ends cut off. IT WAS ONLY $6. It turned out really nice and healthy and I like it lots.

    After the mall, we went to pick up Ari from kindergarden but on the way we stopped at a shoe store where we found nothing of interest. The drive back was nice, I talked with Idalia about how crappy the drivers are here and all the stray dogs we saw. There is a stray dog for every leaf on the ground here. They run all over the place and get hit by cars and killed by people and it's awful. When we were only a few minutes from home, we saw a stand on the side of the road and decided to get some fresh coconuts (it was $1 for 2).  For lunch, Estelita made something AMAZING. She took fried vegetable and rolled them up in rice tortillas then fried the tortillas. After lunch I tried getting some homework done and then for dinner I had a rice and cheese burrito.
    Estelita and I took Ari and Mena out for a walk at around 6. The sun was shining but not shedding heat and there was a light breeze which made it perfect. We walked to the nearest park, then migrated toward the next closest and much better park where we found all sorts of kids and their moms/sisters/nannies/maids. Ari went to play on the swings and had me push her until she got bored and wanted to play on the iron hoops (the things in mens gymnastics except these looked like they could be used to commit a gruesome crime). I lifter her up and held her because there was no way she would be able to hold herself. In less than a minute, she managed to whack herself on the head and she started crying like crazy which made EVERYONE look at us. I put her on the ground and she ran away toward a gazebo and tripped on the step making her fall and cry even harder. After a few minutes, she saw a dog and forgot why she way crying in the first place. Eventually, we found ourselves on the teeter-totter. This wasn't any teeter-totter, no it was the loudest, creakiest, most obnoxious teeter tooter in Central America, but Ari wanted to go on it, so we did. Well, she went on it and I pushed it down and gently let go. Over. And. Over. Again. And. Again.  This went on for roughly 7 minutes and by the end of those 7 minutes, every muscle in my arms had ceased working. Thankfully after that, we started our trek back home where I drank a few sips of water and left for a run.
    It got dark real fast and before I knew it the only light I had was being provided by the streetlights. With the night came an eerie calm feeling. I couldn't help but think that I shouldn't be out at night but at the same time I knew it was a safe neighborhood. I ran up to the top of all the condos and found a cute picnic area and a great view of the country. I could see the city lights, the ocean, the volcano and a few people walking their dogs. It was the type of scenery that made you jump up on the picnic table, throw your arms in the air and take it all in. Thats exactly what I did.

I started my way back home and took every detour I could which was hard considering I didn't know how to get back home so I didn't know if I was heading in the right direction or not. After 10 minutes of running/walking/jogging/looking at my surroundings to try to get an idea of where I was, I found myself in my driveway. I quickly entered, took a shower, watched friends and I hope to fall into a restless sleep in a few minutes.

September 8th: The one with all the cooking

Today was so relaxing, I stayed home and cooked like a 1950's housewife. For breakfast, Estelita and I made pupusas, a traditional El Salvadorenian meal (homemade tortillas filled with cheese, beans, meat or anything you want). it was so nice to make them and Eatelita was a pro because she used to work at a pupuseria. she taught me all the good techniques so they don't turn out as squares as mine have a tendency to do.

 Next I went for a run. I got to use my new tennis shoes which are super compfertable. I ran up a hill and couldn't breathe for the next 2 minutes. Needless to say I'm not much of a runner and my asthma doesn't help. I ended up running for a song walking for a song all over the neighborhood (getting completely and miserably lost) until I found my way back home after 15 minutes of torture. 

 

Upon my return, Estelita was ready for me to teach her how to make a smoothie. We added frozen bananas, papayas, strawberries and apple juice. it was super good and Estelita loved it! 

For lunch, we made a lasagna with vegetables instead of pasta. Estelita boiled guisquil, pipian, carrots and potatoes then cut them up and we used those to make layers, in between the layers we put 3 types of cheese (Motzerella, quesillo, and a type of quesillo with chili). We put it in the over and 10 minutes later we had a veggi lasagna that filled me up like crazy. We paired it with a rice salad which was served cold (Thank god because it felt like 100 degrees today)

Later in the day we had a snack of homade tortillas. Estelita and I were in the kitchen and she was giving me more lessons on how to make them look their best. Ari ate hers with a cheese spread and I ate mine with penut butter. Next Nines mom and I made Banana Pie. We made the crust and she taught me the words for things like yolk, crust, filling and pie. the filling was bananas, sugar, cinnamon and some flour so it was less liquidy. We put that baby in the oven and in under an hour we had this master piece. 

As for dinner we are making that right now. Beans, fried plantains, corn and tortillas a typical meal in my little paradise. 

September 7th: THE MALL

I woke up at 7:45 and started getting ready for the day. Today was the first day that I left the security of my safe neighborhood and ventured out into the city. It wasn't that bad, I mean there were plenty of peoe with guns and machetes but it's the same in the US but they don't concele them here. first we went to church, I was shocked to find that the pastor remembered me from 3 years ago when I came here the last time. I understood roughly every 5 concept they discussed and missed all the jokes but I laughed with them so I felt included in the fun. Back home, I normally don't go to church so I didn't really care to much that everything was over my head and I couldn't grasp much. After that, we drove partway up the volcanoe (yes there's a volcanoe here, no I don't know if it's active) to eat dinner at an amazing restraunt that served pizza. They had a zip line (that I didn't go on) and a crazy rope bridge (that I never want to go on). once we finished eating, it was off to the mall. Fun fact: El Salvador has a stARBUCKS!! I didn't get any because I had just eaten a whole pizza but it was nice to find another piece of home. I got new tennis shoes which was a bad idea as they are crazy expensive here because there imported. Next I bought a book that I forgot the name (I think it's 'Por Eso Rompimos') I'm still not sure what it's about. The point of the trip was for me to get those things and due to my cheape nature, I have to force myself to run and read so I don't waste money. Back at home, Estela returned and she made us ramen noodles for dinner which I didn't touch because it had meat in it and they keep forgetting that small detail about me. But I plan on making a smoothie later and then learning some Arabic and resting up for tomorrow when I plan to take my first run in my new purple shoes. 

September 6th: I got donuts

Apparently, Estelita doesn't work on the weekends which makes me really happy. She has a family of her own and kids and when ever she's here cooking for me, I wonder who is at her house cooking for her own kids. Anyways I woke up at a normal time (9:05 am) and got my own cup of coffee, made toast, and cut myself a slice of the cake bread stuff that goes oh so well with my coffee. I took shower which was very much needed. I decided that I need to shower everyday but wash my hair every other day because it's hot and humid here and I get sweaty and sticky fast. After 5 minutes in a freezing shower I discovered how to get the hot water working. Once I was dressed I brushed my teeth. Let me tell you something about the brushing of the teeth down here, I know I said this before but I cannot express how weird it is to not use the sink. You have to use the clean water from the water purifier thing and rinse your mouth and toothbrush with that. Also, when showering you can't let water in your mouth. The water is filled with bacteria and after 17 years of being pampered with good pure water, it would mess with my body and I would vomit. A lot.
We had plans to go to the mall today but those were cancelled when Nine remembered that her grandma was coming to visit us today. To my surprise, Nine is an amazing chef. She made pasta with vegetables and a salad. It sounds super ehh but they were absolutely amazing. Soon after, Luis came home and with him, Nines grandma! She was super nice and brought us donuts so that was a plus (I took a coconut one). Every one talked and it was fun. When they left, they took Nines mom with them to go out to dinner. I needed the day trying to learn more arabic and face timing my sister.

September 5th: Afternoon-Night

Estelita walked Ariella and I to the park then she kept walking to the grocery store a few minutes away. Ari and I went down the slide and played on the monkey bars and walked around in the grass until we found a small plant that has many long leaves the close together when you touch them and we toughed ALL of them. We stayed there until Estella came back and we all walked home together. Once we got home, Estelita went straight to the kitchen to start preparing lunch (a salad and pasta pizza). I watched t.v. and played with Ari until it was time to eat. at lunch, Nines mom and I discussed more fruits and vegetables exchanging their names when we came across some that we din't know in the others language. For desert I had more zapote ice cream (I looked it up and it's called sapote in english and it's not in america but it should be because I love it).

Ari and Himena took naps while I busied myself on my computer for a while doing online school stuff (I was actually just on youtube the whole time...).

After a while I face timed my mom, tried to FaceTime my sister and friends and ended up snap chatting Maia. L.E. came home and Nine followed soon after. I face timed my mom and dad followed by Meg and another attempt with Abbie (she has no wifi at her house so it didn't work). I showed everyone Ari and Himena and the wonderful meal being prepared for me. It was nice to see familiar (pale) faces again. Once Meg and I hung up, I went into the kitchen to help Estelita finish cooking diner (which turned out splendid). Later I gave Nine and L.E. the set of matching he/she mugs with Minnesota facts on them as a 'Thank you from the bottom of my heart for agreeing to put up with me for the next 4 months, you have no idea what you got yourself into' gift along with some marmalade. 

Ari and Mena finished off the night riding around the house on their bikes (Mena had help from Nine) and playing house with Nine. After a while, I cranked out a few emails and hit the hay sack.

September 5th: Dinner

It's so strange not to have to think about making your own food and just being able to sit down at a table and have food placed in front of you. Estelita makes my breakfast, lunch, and dinner. She almost never asks me what I want and almost always gives me what I'm craving. Tonight it was guisquil with cheese (the green and brown thing), a cheese filled baked potatoes with a side of cream with tomatoes and pipiano. Needless to say cheese is something of a staple here.

September 5th: La Mañana

I gave in and woke up early (7am) when I heard Ariella crying for something. She had gotten up at around 6:30 and her mom came to get her and she was crabby the whole morning. We watched part of Dumbo and most of Bolt. I could understand what was happening only when I was paying attention and watching the watching the screen. For breakfast Estella made me a tamale and it was crazy good. She brought me my morning coffee and some sweet, moist bread that was delectable and paired well with the coffee. Nine left at around 7:30 and Luis woke up at 8:15ish. He took his time getting ready and eating resulting in him being too late to bring Ariella to kindergarden so she's staying home today.
When I went to brush my teeth (which is weird because i can't use the sink to do so due to the bad quality of the water so I have to get a cup of water to use) I realized my middle triple forward helix eating was missing and I had a mini panic attack. The back was still there but the gem was gone. I quickly went to my jewelry box to grab an extra one that I luckily brought and went to have Estala put it in. Then I went to look for the microscopic gem and by some miracle I found it so I'll put that in later..
Right now we are watching Phineas & Ferb and I sang the whole theme song in english even though it's in spanish here and Nines mom told me I should try to learn it in spanish so that's my goal for my stay here. Learn the theme song in spanish. I'm hoping to take Ariella to the park later on today and maybe if Estella comes, she'll bring Ximena who has been very quiet today.

September 4th, Nothing special

Technically, I woke up to Ariella screaming for her mom, but I went straight back to bed because I was insanely tired. At 10:15 I finally dragged myself out of bed in time to wish Ariella a good day at kindergarden and L.E a good day at work. Nine had already left far too early for me to wake up and say bye. Once they left, I went straight to the kitchen to ask Estelita for some coffee. She made me the best cup I have ever had (This was when I decided that it was going to be pretty great staying here as long as I could have this coffee whenever I please). The only people home were a crying Ximena (Hee-meh-na), Nine's mom and Estelita and soon the latter was asking me what I wanted for breakfast. I had no idea as to what I wanted so I said the first thing that came to my mind. Pancakes. She set off to the kitchen to start making them and soon she realized that they were out of milk so she ran off to the nearest grocery store (1 block away from the condos). 20 minutes later, I was sitting at the table devouring the best pancakes I had every had and downing more coffee with Nine's mom. We talked for a while about shoes, height, why she was glad I didn't bring heels, and my friends. Next thing I knew I was running to my room to grab the pictures of my friends that I had brought and I was showing her all of them and explaining who everyone was. I think that was all more for my sake than hers because I already miss everyone. When I had finished ranting on about my friends, we went to my new room and she started helping me unpack which took 3 hours due to me having 3 suitcases and the many distractions I encountered.  After rearranging everything in my closet 7 times, I decided it would work well enough and I went to go eat lunch. Estellita made Nine's (pronounced Knee-neh) mom and I a really good salad with corn and other vegetables and she put an alcoholic drink mixer on it as a topping? I really liked it? Then we started talking about different food which in evolved a lot of confusion because I don't know all the foods in spanish and Nine's mom doesn't know a lot in english which resulted in a lot of drawing things and playing a guessing game. Then they brought out a fruit called a 'zapote' which we don't have in the big MN and I still haven't looked up the english name for it. It. was. so. good. Then I told her I really liked it but I was full so she brought me out a homemade popsicle made of sapote, milk, vanilla extract and sugar. It was like heaven found its way into my mouth. Then I went and took a strongly needed shower. The water pressure was super soft and I couldn't figure out how to get the hot water working so it was a cold shower..

After I got dressed, Nine's mom left for somewhere, and Estelita and I tried feeding a crying Ximena. I also went on the internet machine to do inline school stuff but it said I had no classes so I had to email my teacher and he hasn't responded yet so I went on youtube and watched an array of video before settling on Grace Helbigs channel and in honor of Abbie, I decided to watch them all from start to finish. Right now I'm still watching the vintage grace stuff (She's house sitting and I'm on day 6). Estelita is cooking something that is filling the house with the most amazing mix of smells and I'm sitting on the couch in this weird room that is lacking a wall (It's not supposed to have a wall) so I'm basically in the same room as the out doors. Speaking of outside, all the doors (excluding the front door which is always locked) are open. All of them. Always. I'm in bed at the moment and my window that goes straight outside. No screen. No nothing. I can stick my hand right out of it. And it's open. Same for all the doors and this is normal? Ayye Ariella and Nine just came home.
Anyways, I had dinner and it was splendid. Estela made crêpes but they weren't made like crêpes because she only used flour, water and some green leaf that adds flavor that she WENT OUT SIDE INTO THE BACKYARD PICKED IT AND PUT IT IN THE FOOD. Dear mother, if you're reading this, I want a garden in our backyard because let me tell you, it would be handy dandy. Inside the crêpes was cheese. Lots and lots of cheese. Also I got one of whatever Estela made Nine. It was some vegetable that I don't know the name of (turns out its called pipiano) and she took out most of its innards and mixed them with cheese and tomatoes and them put them back in and topped it off with some cheese and that was the best thing I have ever had. Ever. Sorry Grandma. L.E. got home soon after and we all talked and then I went to my room to finish blogging and watch more Vintage Grace. Buenas Noches