This is what I have been doing

When I started this blog, my idea was to have at minimum weekly posts. I wanted to have anecdotal stories and thoughtful pictures of my life here.

I still have general idea, but I have gotten quite busy these past few weeks. So I will give all an update of my happenings here.

As I mentioned in the last post, a team from Minnesota came down to spend a week. I really enjoyed having them here, seeing God work in and through them, and seeing the church members come together and work to make the week happen.

Right on the heels of that team, came my mom and my sister! (yay!) We had a really fun 8 days together. As my dad pointed out, on seeing a schedule of what we had done a certain day, many of our activities revolved around eating. Hospitality and feeding your guests are important markers of Mexican culture, and we had many invitations to eat, as well as a healthy sampling of Fresnillo's restuarants. We had mole and gorditas and Chiles rellenos and pozole. We also spent a day making tamales with my friends Gloria and Johana, an activity that had been planned since I first made tamales with them in October. We spent the night in the state capital, enjoying the colonial Spanish feel, and we bought silver rings and beaded jewelry. It was the first time I'd seen Mom and my sister since I'd left, back in June.

Since that week, I've been working hard with my club girls. We've had a couple of group outings, making cookies or going to the park. We've also started a piano class for members of the church, and I am helping teach that. In addition to that, I'm also giving individual saxophone lessons to three people, and my ears hurt afterwards but it's fun. I've been part of one of the music teams, playing guitar, even though guitar is not my strongest instrument. So I've been playing a little bit with some of my friends, picking up tips on rhythm and new ways to form chords. I often feel exhiliarated after playing guitar like that.

Now, I'm about to embark on my vacations! yay! I haven't taken vacation yet this year, and it feels quite overdue. My vacation comes in three parts. First, I am traveling to the state of Michoacán, about 6 hours south of Zacatecas. There is a young couple from the church who are working there. Michoacán is said to be a very beautiful place in Mexico, and it is where the Monarch butterflies spend the winter. I do not know if the butterflies will still be there, but I am excited for this chance to rest.

After that, I am flying up to the States. I have been looking at different graduate programs, and will be visiting Notre Dame, checking out their sociology department. Then, I'm headed to Chicago for a few days, going to see my sister and some friends. It's not going to be a long visit, but I already my ticket for May, to see my sister graduate, and that visit should be longer.

I'm fighting a cold and have been on the tired side, but I'm super excited for my vacation. I have a lot of my in depth, interesting blog posts floating around my head, so I'll look for time to compose them.

Thanks for reading.