23

I forgot to say in my last post that I am now 23, and will be for the next three years. Just to let everyone know.
Thanks

Today Rocks

Do you ever have one of those days where everything seems to be good, even if it all doesn't quite fit into place? That's today. I don't even have anything particular to write about. crazy. Well maybe I do, but I'm not going to.
I managed to run a 2:38 this morning at the 1000m time trial. Not quite as fast as I wanted, but I'm pretty sure I could have managed a 2:35 if there was a pacer, or some competition on the final lap. By the end of the season it better be below 2:30. I can tell the legs are still a little heavy from the 18k run and 1.5hr bike ride Saturday... I'll have to take it a bit easier next time. My resting heart rate is somewhere around 50 bpm right now, about the same as it was in the middle of last season. I hope we're in for some big results this year.
Here's another pic from Vancouver Island:

This one's for my grandma and grandpa because they're my biggest fans, and I likewise am their biggest fan.

PS. thanks for helping me with my german homework... the exam's next week, ah!

PPS. Ryan, in regards to a repeat of the hangman, it's not the entrance, it's the exit I'm worried about. ;)

I think this picture is awesome, so I had to put it up on this blog. It's not from Mexico, but rather from Vancouver Island.

Enough said about that...

Things in Mexico are trudging right along. Next week are the first partial exams. It's hard to believe we're already four weeks into courses. It seems like I should have time to get enough studying in, but it's the 10 page paper on the history of the conflict between the liberals and conservatives in 19th century mexico... in Spanish... that worries me.

Tomorrow is the time trial for the 1000m. I'm hoping to pull out a 2:35, which seems pretty reasonable for this time of season, but I haven't been running very well this week. It's been pretty hard to keep hydrated.

The cellphone culture here has been really bothering me. To start with, I'm totally anti-cellphone, but it's nuts here. Today a guy answered his phone in class, and walked out of the room to talk, making the professor move out of his way without saying a word of excuse in the process. Somehow, that's acceptable here because the professor let him back into class without saying a word.

I should end off on a positive note, so this is a shout out to fresh mangos, la botanera salsa, and enerflakes... what would I do without you enerflakes?

Land of Contrasts

Mexico is definitely a land of contrasts. Now, this may be mainly from my perspective, since I tend to stick out pretty bad. Pretty much everyone calls me guero (blondy) except the track team which calls me tlacuache (possum - long story). Today these contrasts just seemed a bit more apparent though. For instance, in the parking lot parked beside a new VW was, no jokes, a wooden cart, complete with donkey to pull it. Then there's also the food... jalapeños to burn your mouth and horchata to sooth it.
In a much less funny sense, there is also always the contrast of class or wealth. It is difficult to go from within the campus, where everyone, including me, has more than enough, to just outside the campus where children beg for money.

Today was a pretty good day, I moved to a new residence, right in the middle of campus with the track team. I'm still not quite in the right room yet as they are going to shuffle a bunch of us around tomorrow. I also received a food allowance from the track team that will pretty much cover my entire food budget! My classes are ok this semester, they don't seem too heavy yet. I accidentally registered for a course in English, which makes Tuesdays and Thursdays a little tough because I now have courses in English, Spanish and German on those days. By the end I'm not really sure what language to speak. Ironically I've found that I'm having trouble saying in English some things that I say in Spanish all the time, like explaining to people why I came back or how long I'm staying. Kind of funny when the Mexican students help me finish my English sentences.

I'M BACK!

I can't believe the summer went by so quickly! Still, it is great to be back in Mexico, with all of my friends from last semester, and class and training just about to start tomorrow. It's at least 35 C here right now, which is a bit of a shock to the system considering it was 12 C in Lloydminster the day I left. The Spanish is coming back rather quickly, but there are definitely moments when I have no idea what's going on again. I forgot how hard it was to always speak Spanish. The good thing is that I think this semester I should be able to advance to the point where I think in Spanish.
Right now I'm living in the same dorm as last semester, but tomorrow they're moving me to the dorm where the track team is, which happens to be right in the middle of campus :) . It's kind of a pain right now though, because I can't unpack, but oh well. I also had a problem registering for courses, but tomorrow morning my coach is coming with me to sort all of that out.
Last night Sigi (my coach) picked me up at the airport and then a few hours later we went to his house for a goodbye party for his sister. They had a ton of Mexican food there and I dove right in... and just like the heat, that was a shock to the system too.
Well, I already went out and bought shampoo, a pillow, and my notebooks for the courses that I don't have so all that's left is to hit the gym and kill some time till tomorrow, when the adventure really begins again.