"The Ups and the Downs"

Sorry, it has been a while... After this post you will understand the delay.

So, last weekend (actually two weekends ago) was Caro's Birthday! Yay! Little did I know that the weekend was going to be so jam packed full of celebration. Friday night, our friend Ricardo, (whose older brother went to school with Jess in Mexico City a couple years ago), took us out to a bar. We went to this random place and finally got to see El Centro (the center) of Mexico City. The bar was really fun and played a mix of Spanish and English songs. We had a lot of fun and had a night mixed with Spanish and English communicating. There was even a funny little retro band dressed like they were from the 50s with greased back hair playing Elvis songs all night. For a second I wasn't sure, am I in Mexico or the U.S.? We ate some street tacos and danced and didn't get home until 4 am! Then the next day we had youth group and went to the market and ended up going out, yet again with Ricardo. He took us to a bar in a touristy part of town and we had a lower key night drinking some beer in a place called The Attic. It looked and felt like an Attic, I had to duck when I stood up so that I didn't hit my head on the ceiling. We ate some really delicious Churros on the street with different flavored fillings. Yumm.

Then the next morning Caro woke up to a treasure hunt throughout the house. My very creative roommates and I created little rhymes that led Caro around the house to find her presents. We also made a cake without any dairy products or refined sugars. (Caro hates those...) Then after mass we had a little party at the parish. It ended up being a lot of fun! It was also the 477th anniversary of Santa Fe so many of the women at the parish were in traditional dress. Padre Salvador pulled out his guitar and saranaded us! He has a great voice and is a very normal fun guy. It wasn't too long after the cake and Las Mananitas (the happy birthday song, which is much prettier than happy birthday) that we all ended up dancing. Slowly, I am catching on to how to dance around here, turns out my arm flailing jumping isn't the norm. Even after the fun party at the Parish, some more friends came over and we continued the party. It was a very fun weekend and exactly what Caro deserved.

However, apparently it was a little too much fun, because my cold turned into me not having a voice for most of the weekend. Then during work monday I became super sick and had to go home. My cold turned into the chills and a fever and then the body aches... I was in bed from Monday until Thursday. Unfortunately, I missed out on all of Independence Day. We had been planning to go to the President's Grito (yell:Viva Mexico!) in the Center. The other girls reluctantly went without me, and I stayed in bed and decided to start a book. This week was the first time that I wished we had a TV, however I did read a 500 page book (with a horrible ending) and slept all day long and every night. By Thursday I was sick of being sick in bed and finally went to the Doctor. Which was definitely interesting, we decided to go to a local doctor since it was just a bad cold and most other doctors are a half an hour or more away. The Doctor opened sometime between 6:30 and 7:30. Since standing or walking was a task for me, Caro was nice enough to stand in line out front of the Doctors office until it opened. Then when we were next she called me and I made the big block treck to the doctor. At this doctor you do not need an appointment, you just show up, ask who was last and then wait until that person goes in and go in after. However, you may have to wait longer in case drug representatives stop in to meet with the doctor (of course, doctors are doctors no matter what country). When I got in there, my spanish pulled through and I was able to explain my sickness to the Doc. He looked in my throat, weighed me and listened to my lungs and then promptly told me I had an infection and wrote me a prescription for 3 medications. Normally I would frown upon receiving medicine so easily, but I was happy to get something to make me feel better. This doctor only cost $5 to go to, and once he found out we were Missionaries he didn't make us pay.

So, since, I have been on an Antiobiotic, similar to Penicillin, and have been feeling significantly better. I can walk around! And nothing hurts anymore yay! But it was a hard week. I was sad to miss Independence Day, and laying in bed made me wish I could call up friends and chat and whine about being sick. Today I went back to work at the Guarderia and the kids were great and asked if I was sick and even one kept asking for me while I was gone! These kids bring me a lot of Joy and although my stomach has been a bit sick the past few days, because of the kids and Arianna I was able to make it through the day! I just wanted to give a little update about my last couple weeks. Im going to post a blog on my typical day later on this week, so be looking out.

Also, don't forget to keep me updated on your life! Love.