My Mexican Adventure
   
Thursday, October 26, 2006
Travel Plans
I can't believe it.....
35 more days till we leave Mexico!!!

Noooooooooooo.............................
:( I'm really gonna miss this place.
Margaritas. Spanish. Tacos. Siestas. Fiestas. Cute Mexican guys and all... haiz.

of the 35 days... 17 will be spent travelling!

Important Dates:
Oct 27 Spanish Midterm 3
Oct 31 Intro. to Mex. Culture Presentation / Intercultural Communication Midterm 3
Nov 1-Nov 5 Travel to Michoacan for Day of the Dead celebrations /Go to the Beach (Puerta Vallarta or Tampico) /Shop at Guadalajara!
Nov 7 Intro to Mex. Culture Midterm 3 /Intercultural Communication Final Project Presentation
Nov 16 Intro. to Mex. Culture Final Exam
Nov 17-Nov 21 Bahamas (maybe meet Jane)
Nov 22 Spanish Exam
Nov 23 Intercultural Communication Exam
Nov 24 International Negotiation Exam
Nov 24-Nov28 Belize/Guatemala/El Salvador
Nov 29 Fly home to Fresno, CA
Nov 29-Dec 14 Fresno/LA/San Francisco
Dec 14-Dec 31 Vancouver, Canada (skiing at Whistler Mountain)
Dec 31 Fly home to SG
Jan 2 Home Sweet Home!
posted by debz @ 12:38 PM   0 comments
Wednesday, October 25, 2006
Intercultural Communication-Making a Stand
There comes a point in every person's life where they have to make a stand for what they believe in. I never expected that point in my life to be during a class on Intercultural Communication!

Yesterday, our ICC prof. was talking about the need to open our minds to the views of others... about the need to listen even when you don't agree... yadayadayada. He then brought us to an open area and did an activity to prove his point.

The game was called "Make a Stand". Basically, he'd ask a question... and you HAD to choose one of the options (no sitting on the fence). The people who chose opposite answers would stand on opposite sides and he'd ask some to explain their viewpoint.

First Question: Pepsi or Coke?
(3 pple Pepsi. 20+ pple Coke.)

Second Question: Would you consider marrying someone of another religion? Yes or no?

In a predominantly "Catholic" country like Mexico, it really saddened me that only THREE of us said "no". And their reasons? "There are some things more important than religion". "All that matters is love". And there I had to stand in front of the whole class and explain that I could not imagine marrying and spending my life with someone who operated on a different belief system than I did. How can you compromise that?

(side point: of the three of us-one said the reason was cos she was an atheist. she didnt wanna marry anyone who HAD a religion.)
(3 pple No. 20+ pple Yes.)

Third Question: Do you have gay friends?
Fourth Question: Should gays be allowed to get married?
Fifth Question: Should they be allowed to have kids?
Sixth Question: Would you consider putting your parents in a nursing home?
Seventh Question: Do you approve of euthanasia?
.....

Where do YOU stand on these issues?
posted by debz @ 2:00 AM   0 comments
Wednesday, October 18, 2006
Lucha Libre
Over the weekend the frisbee guys brought us to watch Lucha Libre. Lucha Libre is basically the Mexican form of wrestling-much like WWF (or issit WWE now?) Some differences are that costumes are more... amusing and there are specified "Good guys" and "Bad guys". There are also good and bad referees....and everyone plays up their roles to make the match more entertaining than anything else (it's not SO much about the violence... althought that is still a big part of the event)

Furthermore, the Mask is not just part of the costume.... it encompasses the wrestler's whole identity. In the past, the best wrestlers didn't even reveal their identity till they retired. Read the wikipedia article-it's REALLY quite interesting. (e.g. masked wrestler vs wrestler w/o mask. if masked one loses, he's unmasked. if other loses, he shaves his head. etc) Anyway, this was more in the past than now.

**on our way to guadalajara, we met a lucha libre wrestler on our flight. he was wearing a suit and his mask! took a pic with him.... but as ya'll know... my cam got stolen. :'( supposedly, he's a really famous wrestler. haiz.

The current champion: Conan BigAn example of Lucha Libre as entertainment- the FUNNIEST fight ever!
A "gay" donkey (seen in pink) called Burrico, an old hag dressed in lingerie* and a supposed hunk*
*cant remember the names
v.s.
El Burro(the donkey), Mini Burro (mini donkey) and Dulce Poly (Sweet Polly)
Also interesting to see that it's a co-ed fight!
More pics of us with the guys, the ring, the guys playing in the ring b4 the event started...and us in the masks. I was Mistico and Ansen was Huracan Ramirez.

posted by debz @ 12:12 AM   0 comments
Tuesday, October 17, 2006
Huaraches Tutorial...
:) We finally made our first authentic mexican meal a few wks back...

Step 1:
Mix Blue Corn Flour with water until you create a firm dough
Step 2:
Roll the dough into a ball
Step 3:
Place in a tortilla maker. In our case, line a round-bottomed pan with plastic wrap. Put some wrap on the tabletop too.
Step 4:
Place the ball under the pan and..... SQUISH it

Step 5:Heat a frying pan and place the tortilla over it.
Step 6:When slightly brown on both sides, top the open tortilla (huaraches) with onions and Oaxaca cheese. Wait till cheese is melted.
Step 7: Top the huaraches with meat (in our case, minced beef w onions) and aguacate(avocado)
Step 8: Add some salsa and.....
Step 9: EAT!!!!!!!!!!

YUM. Believe me, it ain't as easy as it looks... :)

posted by debz @ 11:54 PM   0 comments
Random Stuff...
I know I know... still gotta update the Guadalajara/Food/Antonio's party posts... but hey... managed to finish the rest so go and read!....

on to some random stuff....

did i mention, i *heart* margaritas?


and more.....................
(Row 1 L-R) Vampire margarita/tiny cacti/complained I never get any flowers anymore.... so he bought me a cactus with tiny flowers!
(Row 2 L-R)
Peacocks/Finally caught a pic of one of the deers on campus... (always don't have my camera on me when i see them... )/ducks warming up the young 'un
(Row 3 L-R)
Getting ready for halloween/Went bowling with the french kids and bobby.... /Went to the SHAKIRA concert! don't really know her songs but went along for the experience. weren't allowed to bring cameras... so here's joyce,venessa and i with our tix. quite a night... twas raining so we were drenched. great view from the mosh pit tho! and she rocks!

posted by debz @ 11:30 PM   0 comments
"Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things that you didn't do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails.
Explore. Dream. Discover."

-- Mark Twain

About Me
[ name :: debz ]
[ age :: 20 ]
[ bday :: 04/ 12/ 1985 ]
[ :: blessed child of God ::]
[ :: smu kid ::]
[ :: happy daughter n sis ::]
[ :: pampered gf :: ]

I wanna travel the world someday..
*wistful grin*

This is just another step in my journey...

I'm currently in Mexico right now (Tec de Monterrey to be exact).. on exchange.
So feel free to share in my adventure... :)

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