Heyy.. I'm Still Alive!

In case any of you were worried, as I'm suree you were all on the edges of your seats, biting your nails, waiting to hear from me--well, de verdad, I think Kathryn might have been lol--yes, I'm still alive. The landslide in Oaxaca was actually in the state of Oaxaca but not the city. It was something like 50 miles from where we are so we really haven't been affected at all.  But thank you for the well wishes and all of your concern. Now on to bigger and better things. I guess it's been a couple days since I've updated so I thought I'd give you a quick resumen before bed.  Things got kind of busy this week. We started our real classes on Monday. Normally we'll have class Monday and Tuesday from 10am-1pm and then clinic rotations Wednesday-Friday from 8am-12pm, depending on the clinic. It's a pretty sweet schedule if you ask me. Tomorrow will be my first day venturing out to the clinic in the middle of nowhere. After asking about a million people, I finally got an email response a couple hours ago from the doctor in charge of our clinic rotations. Apparently the best way to get there is by taxi colectivo which is basically a taxi you share with a bunch of strangers going to the same place as you. Weird concept if you ask me but we'll give it a go. I'm really really excited to start clinic rotations tomorrow. My white lab coat is already hanging by the door, planchado y todo.  I feel so professional. Hehe

I didn't get to write much about this weekend, but I wanted to mention that on Sunday our host mom and grandma took Maria, Leslie, and I out for lunch. We went to this pueblo really close by which is famous for El Tule, this huge 2000 year old tree in the town's center. 

El Tule de Santa María del Tule

It was really neat to walk around a different part of town that we hadn't seen before, and of course there's nothing like standing under a tree that's about a thousand times bigger than you are, but my favorite part of the outing by far was where we went to lunch. It was this little mercado that had a bunch of different food stations, each run by one or two women.  Apparently this is a place our host mom and grandma come to fairly frequently and so they already had a favorite station (which was of course, the one farthest from the entrance).  As you walk through the market the women come and stand next to the walkway and literally scream at you, without you even having to inquire, all the food they serve at their station: "Tacos, enchiladas, tlayudas, empanadas..."  More or less, they were all screaming the same things at the same time which I thought was kind of funny. Anyways we finally made our way to the back where we sat down at these long picnic tables covered with table cloths.  I ordered a tlayuda which is a crispy tortilla with beans, cheese, some sort of meat, tomatoes, avocado, and sometimes a little lettuce.

TLAYUDA!

They make the food right in front of you which was cool to watch and I can assure you it was probably one of the best meals I've had here thus far. I also ordered a little hot chocolate for dessert/drink. (Hot chocolate here is the bestest!!)

One last note before bed, today was Skye's 20th birthday so we all met up for dinner at this restaurant called La Olla. The food was good though a little pricier than some places (yet still way cheaper than American restaurants). I think Skye enjoyed herself and I'm so glad we're all still hanging out and bonding as a group.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY SKYE! :)