Shopping, Conference, Parks and Baking Cookies

I had a fun but calm weekend. Saturday Norman and I went shopping all day! He got some cool new clothes and we ate a delicious cinnamon roll from Cinnabon.

Saturday night I went over to sister Cotrells and we watched Relief Society General Conference and had homemade bread and a delicious dinner. I am so thankful for my ward and the gospel in my life!
We played at a park close to our house with all the little kids from the neighborhood. Brandon and Booth played basketball and I played on the merry-go-round, see-saws, and swings.They are the cutest little kids. We played a funny game where you have to kick off your shoe and see who can kick it the farthest. haha Kept us entertained for a while.
I was so excited to make chocolate chip cookies becasue you cant get all the ingredients here (like brown sugar) so sister Cotrell gave me the ingredients (how nice!) that shed bought last time she went to Texas. So me, brandon and booth were excited to have some homemade cookies!
But turns out.......that Im a horrible cook.
Plus we didnt have a Pan, measuring cups, or beaters, etc etc haha
So we made a cake and it actually tasted pretty good, but i was still disappointed
Booth showing his cooking skills

so so fun Crazy Hair Party!

On Thursday night we went to a crazy hair party at the German boys´ house and it was fun!

We had fun getting ready and then having a dance party!

the boys went all out and even shaved their heads crazy!

Sushi Night!

Since I`ve been here I dare to try so many new foods and so many new things. We went out for sushi on saturday night and it was pretty good. Not my favorite but good. We had fun then I went to a party after with Alex and it was really fun!

Eating with my favorite girls- Vale, Andrea, Jessica, Me
I got sushi with crab. My favorite was sushi with shrimp.

its all about WHO you know

GOOD NEWS!! I applied for an internship at a spanish marketing firm called Mercadotecnia Inteligente Consultores (aka Marketing Integrated Corporation MIC) and I GOT IT!! Im so excited. Almost every job I have gotten is becasue of networking and who you know. So its important to have good relationships with people and make good friendships. Thanks to Alex I got this job, and my amazing skill and grace when speaking spanish. haha. I had my interview Friday and started on Monday! how awesome huh. I work with powerpoint, word, photoshop, make demos for companies we market and advertise for, whatever they need that day. Its cool and in spanish so Im learning a lot!

Breaking Dawn

I love this book!!! I just finished last night and it is so good. Thank you Stephanie Meyer. I cant wait til Twilight the movie comes out on November 21. So excited!

Breaking Dawn

Book Four in the Twilight Series

If you have not read any of the books GO start RIGHT NOW!! They are amazing and will get you hooked. I love to read and have finished a few good books since I´ve been down here- Breaking Dawn (obviously...the best and I love Edward Cullen), A Bend in the Road by Nicholas Sparks, As Always, Dave by Jack Weyland, and now Im reading Memoirs of Geisha. Sabrina told me a read-a-holic and I guess I need the entertainment when I dont have a tv hahaha.

I´d love some book suggestions for my next read- any ideas or suggestions??

VIVA MEXICO

Today is Independence Day for Mexico! So last night we had a PARTY! It is so much more logical to party on the day before (aka morning of the holiday) in a way...becasue you usually get the 3rd and 4th of July off but stay up way late on the 4th and have to return back to work on the 5th of July. Here in mexico people get the 15th and 16th off (the 16th is Independence day) so everyone stays out late on the 15th. Anyways...enough about my stupid rambling theory. A little more about what the Mexican Traditions are- they have "El Grito" (the independence yell) and say VIVA MEXICO! to remember the day Mexico declared independence from Spain on Sept 16, 1810.

Janice, little girl, Andrea, Me, Valeria, Monica, Paulina

During the day we went bowling and it was fun. Then we went to a house party and had a BBQ, danced, laughed, and had fun! We went to the centro of San Pedro and there was a big clebration...like a fair type thing. Fun night! We danced to a band and acted like crazies running around. Then we had a sleepover at Dorthys and it was a blast! So you guys can stop worrying- I finally have a good group of mexican GIRLfriends that I adore!! (and I learn LOTS of spanish!!)

Dancing

I love these girls- Me, Jessica, Andrea! I met andrea on the first day of orientation cuz we are both studying marketing. i met all her best friends and their group reminds me of my best friends and Im so thankful for them. More good times to come...

Karaoke night and more

So normally i get SO embarassed to sing in front of people because
1. I sound terrible
2. I dont know the words (even if they are on the screen.....its hard)
3. Even though I like to be center of attention, NOT when singing or dancing, I turn red and its weird

But last night I dont know what happened- it was SO fun!
I sang a few songs with a group of friends IN SPANISH and it was the first time I´d ever heard those songs. Maybe because it was in spanish i didnt feel any pressure...and it was a small place- with people I´ll probably never see again.




It was fun dancing and hanging out. I drove Alex´s car! driving in monterrey is....kinda scary. I think everyone in the car was holding their breath the entire way but we made it safe and sound. Jeez I think Im kinda a good driver and it was so nice to drive again. I miss my car! The police were stopping every car leaving this one street and breathalizing every single driver- it was the first time I had to blow in a breathalizer thing. I passed. haha (just in case you were wondering)

Friday Miia and I hung out. We went shopping with Vanessa to the mall and for groceries. I lost my cell phone but luckily it was just in Vanessas boyfriends car- Miia and I walked like 1 mile around monterrey at like 2 in the morning to get my phone back cuz it was nice weather and we didnt feel like taking a taxi. We had a sleepover!I learned a lot about Finland. We showed each other pictures and talked forever. So fun!
Sunday- church was good! I love primary. The songs in Spanish are so fun. I think karaoke boosted my self esteem for singing in spanish. I teach the valiant 8-11 year olds in English. I love my ward and all the nice people.

I just have to take a moment to brag... I got my partials back a week ago...I got 100% on my Spanish grammar (thank goodness for mexican study buddies), 95 on my Spanish vocab/communication, 84 on consumer analysis, and 96 on international business! I guess studying does pay off sometimes. I need to study more...

New Calling!

Thursday night I was at institute- which i Love my class- teachings of the living prophets- and a member of my bishop ric walked in and wanted to talk. I knew I was going to get a calling because I talked to him on the phone but I didnt now what...Primary Teacher!! I dont know if it´ll be in Enlglish or Spanish but I get officially called tomorrow and get started.



I´m excited and nervous at the same time. It´ll be good! I´ll keep you updated on what age group I teach and how it goes.

Thursday was fun- after institute class we played ping-pong and got tacos for dinner. Fun people in my class. Reading scriptures in spanish = super hard haha

Quintas!

I had a fun weekend! Friday we went to a birthday party and the theme was bling bling and we had a dance party- it was fun. Then Saturday we went to a quinta all day! It was so beautiful and fun! My camera was on a weird setting and my pictures turned out kinda blury...but this is us- Alex, Me, Rafa, and Grecia.
Pool PartyAlex and Chilango are so sexy...haha dorks!
I got ATTACKED by the mosquitoes, horrible i know
i found a little baby lizard in my house and had to catch him for a closer look. he is so cute and i wanted to make him our pet but i decided against it and let him go outside

International Fair

There are so many exchange students here at UdeM from all over the world! There are about 70 from France, 25 from Germany, 6 from Belgium, 1 from Hong Kong, people from Canada, Switerzland, Finland, Poland, Brazil, Argentina, and more! So the school organized a little fair so we could show a little bit about each country.

Representing the United States! There are about 16 of us

The people from Belgium are my FAVORITE and they won first place with thier booth because of their delcious belgian waffles

Some people did dances to show thier culture and it was super bien!

Taxi vs. Bus

Okay so let me tell you about my day on thursday... (sorry my posts are SO long...i just miss talking to you guys on the phone and texting...and you love it- i love giving details) so i woke up took a shower, had to use Normans tiny half towel because all of mine were hanging out on the clothes line dripping wet from the rain. (note to self: dont wait til all my towels are dirty to wash them, I miss having a dryer...) Then i had classes all day- 2 tests, not too hard and i hope i did okay. I have institute on Thursday nights and i´ve only been one time so i decided i wanted to go again.

A taxi is about $6 to go to my church and takes about 25 minutes, a bus on the other hand costs only $0.55. I knew a bus would take longer but at 12 times cheaper i decided it might be worth it. This guy in my ward said bus #130 has a stop right in front of our church so i thought- oh how perfect. As i stepped onto bus 130 I was a little nervous going by myself so far and everything but i took the bus on monday to family night with no problems at all. I knew it would take longer than 25 minutes so i just sat patiently in the bus hoping to see something familiar. About 45 minutes later I realized that if this bus truely was going to go by my church it passed the area and was going the other direction!! tried not to panic... so i called my friend to see where to get off and he said are you on bus 130-3? MINOR detail! no i was of course on bus 130-2 (I didnt know there was a difference, it was #130...what was i thinking) I didnt want to get off the bus in an area i wasnt familiar with, by myself, especially in the pouring rain. So i just stayed ON and took about a 2 hour tour of San Pedro- the city i live in. How wonderful haha. I waited til the bus did its whole route and got back to the beginning where i got on. Little did I know, that this was the buses last time around for the night and pulled into the bus station. well...i had one option- get off the bus here. So i got off and walked a few blocks to my house. what a day!
So is it worth it to go 15 extra minutes on bus and save $5.50 twice a week, and its safer than going with a taxi driver alone? I think so...as long as i get on the RIGHT bus!! man I feel like an idiot. So I didnt make it to institute and was kinda bummed, just had to do personal study haha.

Luckily that night Alex took me to dinner and it was soo good! There are tons of taco stands and restaurants. It was pouring rain so the rest of our plans were canceled but the tacos tasted great!
We are holding a bottle of the HOTTEST sauce- salsa de chile habanero. Alex made me try it and i thought my lips were going to tingle right off. My mouth was on fire and I probably looked like an idiot. haha. Just to show that im not that much of a wuss, when the waiter brought out the sauce he was holding a napkin so the hottness of the sauce wouldnt get on his fingers. haha. Its even hot for mexicans and i tried it! it was a Fun night!

Miia´s Day!

This is one of my best friends that i have met down here in mexico- Miia from finalnd! She just turned 21! (same day as you Mel...so i celebrated a little for you) We went to a restaurant called manhatten for dinner and i felt like i was at home, with all american decorations and food. it was so delicious!!

We went with all my roommates, Edith, and Leave. Fun night!

Monterrey Temple Trip and Mexican Birthday Party/ Waterfall Adventure

Saturday was one of the best days I´ve had since I got here! I had the opportunity to go to the Monterrey Temple! It is so pretty and it was so good. It is small and each person gets to do way more ordinances. The people here are so friendly. Im thankful I have the temple and church even though Im here in mexico. The church is true! It was a very rainy morningHere is the temple! I went with this guy Adrian from my ward.Afterwards the weather cleared up and I went to the funnest Mexican bithday party! It was at a quinta- with a pavillion, swimming pool, park, swingset, tennis courts, horses, river, waterfalls, so much fun! The theme was Hawaiian and decorated so cute. It was Majo´s birthday and I met all their group of friends and LOVE them! Oscar, Barbara, Me and Alex
The beautiful waterfalls!
We hiked up the river and went on a trail. It was so beautiful and a fun adventure!

I love Mexico!