Today is June 18^th. The day the second of my lifelong best friends was born. My little Noah.

I love my two boys with all of my existence.

Sometimes life is hard, and then, it gets harder. But all Ive ever prayed for is that my two little lights will grow up understanding humanity. I hope that they will always see that we all are family, every one of us, and we are connected mentally, physically, and spiritually.

Today, a family that is not ours, became our own. That is humanity. That is beauty, and that is why I came here. To show my hijos of an life that is very different than theirs, culturally, physically, and still understand the one universal.. a smile. 

Smiles were abound this evening. Here is how the day went:

School was good today. I saw a few parrots during my outdoor conversation class. That was pretty neat-o. I was exceptionally tired today, I think the weekend was catching up with me. Classes today were good but boring… we discussed Frida and Diego, and also Frida’s importance in art. 

In our second class we discussed drug use among minors and possible solutions. I learned of a program in mexico “operation backpack” in which children are searched before and after school for drugs.

During my cultural class, we learned the words to “cielito lindo” and sang for a few hours, then danced to shakira.

It was a pretty good day at school, despite my tiredness.

I felt pretty good about my spanish today as well. We went to pick up the piñata at a small piñata store next to our school. I bought noah a huge Spongebob piñata and filled it with dulces.  We stopped in at Wal-Mart to grab extras for the party. The one here has underground parking with a taxi service. Then we made our way to a  ‘pasteleria’ where we purchased the cake for noah. There were so many beautiful cakes there and it was difficult to choose, but we settled for chocolate. They threw in helatino for us as well, which is a type of jello but with leche and blueberries. For birthdays here, they prepare Mexican hot chocolate to drink with the cake.

The piñata was so much fun. The abuelo stood on the balcony and pulled the string as the kids swang their best to break it open.  Luckily the storm didn’t start until after the party when we were all inside painting faces.

Things Ive noticed recently in mexico:

People have small businesses in garages around the city and they are all specialized in something.. radios, refrigerators, toys, ect.

They have escalators in walmart to take your carts down to the parking area

There are no seatbelts in the taxis

They drink coca-cola like it is water here

There is graffiti everywhere, its hard to tell la tiendas from the graffiti

People really know how to dance here.. seriously… salsa for reals

No one takes visa, and the lines to get cash are ridiculous

There are so many different types of plants here, like huge ferns and cactus

Cars honk constantly.. basically any time someone starts, or goes.

Now I must do work. I am waiting patiently for the sun to come back out. Its been cloudy and rainy for at least 4 days now.. 4 days too many.  I didn’t want to bring the  rain with me!!

Adios!