Last week was quite a week, there were many great things that happened during my last week of being 31 that almost made up for one really bad thing - my camera getting stolen from the park (thus my pictures may be a bit subpar for a little while). But hey a girl can't stay sad for long, especially when she gets to celebrate her birthday for three days (and if you think about it even more than that because I know I have a couple birthday cards in the mail).
Sunday January 6th
This is a day that isn't really celebrated in the US, it is the day when the Three Wise Men (Reyes Magos) arrived to meet baby Jesus. Here in Mexico it is huge and in fact it is they and not Santa Clause who bring the kids presents. Thus, the night of the 5th it is very important for kids to go to bed early so the three kings will bring them presents. From what I understand instead of leaving cookies for Santa they put there shoes outside with hay/grass in them for the wisemen's animals. Thus, the morning of the 6th is spent opening presents and playing with all the new toys. A tradition associated with this day is eating los roscas de reyes (pictured below), which is a very old tradition that comes from Spain. Inside the bread there are plastic babies, which represent Baby Jesus and if you find one in your piece (or one falls out while you are cutting your piece) it means that you are blessed. It also means that you are supposed to throw a party February 2nd and/or provide tamales and atole for everyone. And of course who found a baby in here piece, this girl. Thus, I will be bringing tamales to work on the 2nd to share with my coworkers.
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| Los Roscas de Reyes |
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| Guess who's bringing Tamales to work February 2nd? This girl! |
Tuesday January 8th
I can't remember the last time I played soccer, it could very well be back when I was in high school which was quite a while ago. Well, Tuesday some of my coworkers invited me to play soccer after work and despite many misgivings/doubts I thought why not, the worse that can happen is that I make a complete ass of myself. However, it turned out okay I think they were a little surprised that I could kind of play and I even surprised myself by making a few goals. However, this old lady is definitely out of shape and I'm pretty sure I would have passed out if we had used the whole field instead of a shortened one. The best part of playing soccer with the boys wasn't realizing how out of shape I am or even having beers (though beers are always great) with a few of them afterward or even teaching them a bit of english while I learned a few new Spanish words. Instead, it was the next day when people I normally only say good morning to, chatted with me about the fact that I could play soccer, where I was living, why I was here, etc. Yeah for integration!
Thursday January 10th Celebration Day 1
Birthday Cake!!! All week long we've been preparing for the new Secretary of the Environment for the state of Puebla's (the ultimate boss of everyone who works in the park) visit on Saturday, thus because Friday was going to be super crazy with last minute things and I had my actual birthday off my co-workers got together and bought me a birthday cake. I will have to say that the birthday song in Mexico (check out the words and tune here) is way more cool than singing Happy Birthday.
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| Birthday Cake!!! |
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| Getting the first "bite" |
Friday January 11th Celebration Day 2
Normally my host sister Talia and I both have Saturdays off so before we found out the Secretary changed his visit from Friday to Saturday we made plans to celebrate my birthday Friday night so we could sleep it off Saturday morning. Unfortunately, the Secretary changed the date of his visit and my coworkers had to actually go to work earlier than normal on Saturday, but yet still came out to help me celebrate until the wee hours. We grabbed a few beers in the center of Puebla and then headed over to a salsa club. Many years ago I learned how to salsa, unfortunately I didn't remember and after you've had a few celebratory drinks is not the time to learn. However, I somehow managed to learn a little so I could keep up with all the great salsa dancers I didn't know I knew and had a blast! Can't wait to learn for real and go dancing some other time. Here's a group shot from the end of the night (although one of my coworkers Luis was nowhere to be found). And of course because I'm Shayna and deep down don't want to believe I'm 32, the night didn't end there several of us continued the party at a coworkers house until ????? All in all it was a great night that reinforced how lucky and blessed I am to have made so many new friends in such a short time! |
| Mis amigos! |
Saturday January 12th
My actual birthday was pretty low key, I did not continue the party as one of my coworkers suggested I should do. Instead I slept most of the morning (to make up for not sleeping hardly at all the night before). Chatted with my parents, read lots of fun birthday messages on my Facebook, and just relaxed. The highlight of the day was when I finally decided to get dressed and head into the center to have a birthday lunch with my fellow volunteers Chelsea and Neal. Then to top it all off my host mom fixed one of my favorite meals, which we ate for dinner that night! All in all I have to say turning 32 turned out not to be so bad, can't wait to see what my 33rd year (thanks Chelsea for making me feel even older) has in store for me.
P.S. Most important Spanish I learned (or rather relearned) this week the huge different between using the phrase tener calor (have hot) and estar calor (be hot). The proper way to say I am hot is to say Yo tengo calor, however I was a little mixed up Friday and asked my coworker (because it was freakin hot in the club and they were wearing jackets/sweatshirts) "Tu estas caliente" which doesn't mean are you hot, instead it means are you horny. Thank goodness someone corrected and I'm pretty sure I will never forget the difference again. Also thank goodness the room was really dark because I'm sure I blushed a deep, deep red. Oh Spanish, how you trip me up and make me laugh!
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