pastel y gelatin

This past weekend we started our homestays in Cuernavaca, and I'm moving into a new stage of the program where I'm living in a working class neighborhood and taking the bus to my internships and classes. Its actually really nice to take the buses because I feel like more a part of the city rather than an outside observer. although they can get pretty hot..

This past weekend I went to two little kid's parties. On Saturday it was the 10th birthday of one of Erika's (my host mom) nephews. We had hamburgers and french fries, the kids broke open a pinata, and I listed to all the adults talking really fast about people I don't know about. It was fun though.. and at the end of the party the kids danced to reggaeton music and asked me to judge them. so I'd say: hmmmmmm...... 10! and they'd be really happy.

then on Sunday I went back to Amatlan for the day to go to the baptism of Damian, the grandson of my host parents. It was really nice to be there for that family event, and I accepted the role of photographer to try and document everything. I also accepted the role of writer, because after the baptism we went back to the church and there was a party, and the mom made tortilla cloths for all of the tortilla baskests and on each one I wrote "Mi Bautizo, Damian, 06/04/2008." So now there is hard evidence of my existance in that family :)... We ate traditional Mexican food: they killed their hog for the event, so we had barbacoa, rice, beans, tortillas, and tamales. the food was really different at the two parties, except for the desert. apparantly at Mexican kid's parties, you eat cake with jello. I don't know why, but I sure did get my fill over the past weekend.