Lots of Updates!

Llevo un rato sin escribir. Well, maybe it hasn't been that long but it sure feels like it.  Actually, I've been pretty busy with school work lately.  (Crazy, I know. Why bother with school work when I should be out enjoying Mexico right?!)  As I mentioned last week, our professor handed out our first midterms (a couple of essay questions) which are due this Friday.  I just about have a complete rough draft for them now. I'm hoping to finish it up tonight and spend all of tomorrow editing.  As much as I normally hate writing, this actually hasn't been that bad. I'm glad I started early.

This past weekend was really relaxed. Lots of studying/hanging around in cafes.  Friday night I went out dancing for the first time in a couple weeks.  That was a lot of fun.  On Saturday, Serene, Alyssa, Sarah and I took a break from studying and went to get hairwraps from the lady next to Santo Domingo.  I haven't had a hair wrap since like 2nd grade. Haha. Yeah, I feel pretty cool (though it's now a pain in the neck to brush my hair when I get out of the shower).  Sunday morning our host mom prepared a brunch for all of us.  It really reminded me of the family brunches we have at home with most of my aunts, uncles, and cousins on my mom's side.  Both our host mom's son and daughter came and brought their kids.  The kids played while we ate.  We had all kinds of tamales, fruit and yogurt, fresh squeezed orange juice, and jello. Oh, and of course coffee--my fav.  Everyone was in such a great mood and the food was deliciosa!  I was sorry to have to excuse myself to go work on the midterm.

Monday was back to classes.  This week we focused on diabetes and obesity among Latinos in both the U.S. and in Mexico.  Though the reading for this week was rather dry (lots of obesity studies and statistics), I found the lectures to be pretty interesting.  I've always believed that one's eating/exercise habits are a direct result of what one learns/observes in the home as a child.  Therefore, I feel like parents carry a lot of responsibility for their child's health and habits.  I'm not sure if I can say that I believe much differently now, but what I did realize is that sometimes, because of the situation, it is practically impossible for a parent to impart good eating/exercise habits to their kids.  Take for example, a family that is so poor they are struggling to feed their kids day to day.  They don't have the money to buy fruits, vegetables, and other nutrient rich foods. Instead, they must buy very calorie dense foods, which are obviously not the healthiest, just to keep their kids full.  Also, our professor presented the case of a family with two working parents.  If when the kids come home from school, they must feed themselves, there's no one there to educate them on healthy choices.  The kids are going to choose the foods they know and like (ie high fat and high sugar). Obviously these are extreme cases but it was a real eye opener into just how difficult it can be to combat childhood obesity and diabetes.

Yesterday, instead of having lecture we had a field trip to a traditional Mexican restaurant out in the middle of nowhere.  Although it was supposed to be a lesson in how to prepare "light" Mexican dishes, I'm not so sure how "light" the dishes we prepared actually were. The menu: black mole and chicken, sopa de guias (squash soup), quesadillas and empanadas with hand made tortillas, calabasa dulce (sweet squash), arroz con leche, and horchata de pitaya.  I helped make the tortillas, quesadillas, and empanadas which was so SO neat.  The lady showed us how to press the masa (dough) into tortillas and how to use the comal.

Showing us how to make empanadas on the comal

The quesadillas and empanadas ended up being a big hit. Most of them didn't even make it to the buffet table.  Also, I sort of fell in love with the arroz con leche.  I had two full servings plus I ate half of Helen's.  Thank goodness they gave us the recipe. I think I might be making that one at home! ;)

After our cooking class we had a short excursion to Mitla, where we got to see some more Zapotec ruins similar to the ones we saw in Monte Albán the first week.

The cool thing about the ruins in Mitla is that a lot of the stones have these really pretty carved designs in them (which you can kinda see in the photo). I can't even imagine how the Zapotecs managed that, way back when.  Also, we got to go down into some tombs.  The entry way was really small (I had to basically crawl on my hands and knees just to get in) and it was really moldy and musky in there but it was so worth it.  I kinda felt like I was part of Indiana Jones.

Anyways, that just about catches you all up.  In other notes, it's started to get warmer during the nights here so the mosquitoes have been crazy vicious.  I have bites everywhere.  Also, I started at Dr. Tenorio's pediatric clinic today.  He's known for being kind of late so I planned to arrive at about 10:20, 20 minutes after the clinic is supposed to open.  Turned out he didn't get there until 11:30.  Now that's fashionably late! Haha. Also, since Tenorio hardly had any patients, I ended up following the allergist around.  Basically I spent all morning looking at sniffly coughing kids. I refuse to ever be an allergist. SO boring.