Danza a la Matanza

This week is really special in Mexican Culture. Not only is the Panamericana coming into town tomorrow (to which I am going--- YAY!), but they have a special ritual called the Matanza this time of year. Mexicans consider the goat as one of the cleanest meats around. For this reason, they take the utmost care of these creatures. They walk for an entire year in these pastures where the goats can only eat a certain type of cactus and drink cactus water- nothing else. They are really special. So this time of year, the goats are sufficiently grown to be eaten--and that they do. For like 300 pesos a plate. These goats are SOOO expensive. The dish is called Mole de Cadenza (or something like that...), and honestly I hope they don't buy me any because I don't really like Mole (Moh-ley). Mole... ugh. Well, some is good. I had this Mole soup one time and it was SUPER good, but the other stuff is really gross. Regular Mole is like saying, "Here, let me pour really fake, disgusting chocolate on your meat. Would you like to add sugar to that?" Blech. Really, they dump sugar on it. Anyway, if it tastes anything like regular Mole, no thank you. But apparently it is a delicacy, and you can only get it this time of year.

Because of the significance of these goats, they have a party to go with it called the Danza a la Matanza, or the Dance at the Slaughtering. Yeah, rather gruesome. I totally thought they were going to slaughter the goat on the stage. They didn't--at least not the day I went. They have another ceremony where they kill all of them, and I chose not to attend that one. Anyway, we watched this really cool presentation where they dance with a goat on their shoulders like a mink.

The goat had a bunch of leis around its neck. He was fit to meet the queen.

Ay, blasted woman with a basket who danced into my shot at the last second.

Anyway, so this poor goat had to sit there and be carried around by some guy, and it bleated a few times as if to say, "Get me down!" Poor thing. Oh well, all is good and fun in Mexico. The other weird thing was that they were dancing around with Tamales and Tequila too. We decided the three T's of an awesome Mexican party are Tamales, Tequila, and Turkeys. Yes, they do the same thing with a turkey.

This guy was really into it, and he kinda flailed the turkey around a bit, but hey, at least it looked cool. The first time I saw it, it looked like it was dead. The second time, it looked like it was fake. The final time, I saw it move of its own accord, thus making it a live turkey. I have excellent skills of deduction.

We had a great time. The people in front of us did not have a great time because of the Americans with long legs digging into their backs. Yeah, totally not my fault. I felt so bad. Being tall and white here makes you stand out BIG time. I am about a foot taller than most Mexicans. It kinda bites when all the teachers are together because we can't sit anywhere for more than 30 minutes without getting talked to about "a business arrangement to get into the states" or something like that. Honestly, some people. Being white, however, gets you on TV and in the Newspaper. Yeah, we were totally on TV. They took our pictures for the Newspaper (we looked to see if they had a badge, not just some random person taking our picture and asking us for our name), and we're watching to get a copy of the paper here that we are in. They said it should come out in the next few days, so we'll see.

Overall, it has been a good week. It's been weird though- this lady that was sitting behind me in church last Sunday grabbed a lock of my hair and held it for a while. I turned around, and she said, "You have such beautiful hair, Sister." I thanked her, of course, but it was weird. Then the very next day, 2 of my kids touched my hair and said, "So beautiful." I just don't really know how to react to that. I'm glad my hair pleases you. My Spanish teacher taught me how to gratefully thank a person and politely tell them not to touch my hair. That may come in handy someday.

Well, this is hump week for my being here- only 2 months left to go. I am incredibly saddened by this fact. I feel like I need to sit down and analyze my time here and see what I feel like I'm missing. I don't want to leave this place with any regrets, so I better make sure I do everything I can. One thing is for sure- I really want to go to a Luchador match. Better make that happen quick.

Are you a MexiCAN, or a MexiCAN'T?

I've pretty much decided that I am going to base the remainder of my time in Mexico on this video:

Yeah, changed my life :)

You sold it for HOW MUCH?!

Today has been such a good day. It's the first in a long time that I haven't been forced to break the Sabbath. Let me begin by telling you that human beings need Sundays. It is a fact of life. And not just to be able to go have fun and party at the Disco Techs, it's a day for deep thought, meditation, and growth. I hope to be able to have more Sundays like this one while I'm here because it has been so wonderful. I was able to bear my testimony today, and it didn't go so bad. It's hard to express things that I feel in Spanish because it doesn't flow naturally out of my mouth yet. With time, I hope it will. But I wanted to share what I talked about here because it has consumed my thoughts. I would also like to point out right now that I am in no way judging anyone who is reading this because who am I, a sinner, to judge someone else? I am merely commenting on my own life, which is, I believe, the point of a blog. Therefore, don't think for one minute that I am talking directly to any of you.

Here in Mexico, it is really easy to get pirated movies very cheaply. Like it's on the sidewalk on every road in the city of Tehuacán. They are only 10-20 pesos which is like a dollar. Sweet deal, right? I will admit that I have purchased many of these movies, and the quality is actually really great. It's just like a regular movie! But everytime I buy one, I kill myself a little inside. I know it's wrong. I would never steal a movie out of a store or download one off the internet, why is buying pirated movies any different? I found that I was trying to justify it to myself, and that is when I knew I had a problem. There was no way around it. Buying pirated movies is stealing, and that's the end of it.

While I was thinking about this predicament I was in, I remembered a talk given in one of my Young Women's classes. 'How much would you sell your integrity for?' they said. I wouldn't sell it for anything, of course! It's my integrity! I can withstand watching R rated movies and crazy boys. But I sold my integrity for 20 pesos the day I bought a pirated movie. You'd think my integrity would be worth more than 20 pesos!

Another thought that came to mind is that you need to be who you want to marry. Okay, it's true, I like boys. And I can't wait to be married to one of them. I just want to be really awesome for him, okay? He deserves it. Whoever he is. That includes throwing out/giving away my pirated movies. I don't want a husband who justifies bad behavior, so I can't do it either.

The straw that broke the camel's back, however, was the thought of Lamoni's father when Aaron was teaching him about the gospel. 'I would give away all my sins to know thee...' How powerful those words are. Am I willing to give up buying movies really cheaply in order to know my Heavenly Father better? What else am I doing that is preventing me from knowing Him? What else am I doing that is preventing Him from blessing me? How much happier could I be? Let me tell you, I'm pretty dang happy. But could I do something that would provide greater happiness? More prolonged happiness?

Ah, the things to think about on a Sunday.

Expectations

Going somewhere new forces you to have expectations. Okay, at least in my life, whenever I move onto the next stage of my life or do something I've never done before, I always expect certain things. There was no exception in my coming to Mexico. I've learned that when you expect things, you can almost always count on them to fail you. And yes, Mexico was no exception to that one either. Let me explain.

When I was planning to come to Mexico, they told us that we would be living with families that would most likely have children. These families wanted their children to learn English, so having a native English speaker in the house is conducive to that very outcome. I also imagined that my family would be cooking a lot and would want me to help them cook. I thought I would become an expert at Mexican-food cooking by the time I got finished. I imagined finally having little brothers and sisters, of which, being the youngest, I never got to experience. I was so excited for this.

When I got to Mexico, things were so different from what I had expected. My 'parents' (if you could really call them my parents) are 27 years old. We live with Martha's parents, but Martha and Toño are my providers. They are young, have their own friends, and do cool stuff like skydiving and repelling. Heck yeah! So sure, it wasn't what I had expected, but it was still awesome. But then that means they do these kinds of things on Sundays. Not... the... greatest... Man, it has been difficult. It's just interesting because I had imagined this cute little family with little kids and going to church together, and it's like I'm being thrown back into high school. I have to defend my standards often. We hang out with Toño's friends, and they are not the best people in the world. All I'm saying is that I'm glad I don't know Spanish bad words because I think they're saying them a lot. Luckily I was able to go to the Distribution Center in Oaxaca and get a picture of Christ visiting the Nephites, so that brings a bit of home back. Anyway, it's just different than what I had expected. I was not expecting to have to deal with hungover Mexicans. I was not expecting to go to weddings and watch everyone drink and smoke and wonder why I wasn't. I was not expecting to have to tell someone I couldn't hold a bottle of beer 'just for a picture'. Can you imagine what people would have thought if that picture got out? I, of course, would not drink any, but she wanted to get a picture with me holding the bottle, just for picture's sake. She kept insisting, and there was no way I was giving in. I'm about 85 percent sure I offended her. But I didn't take it. It's a whole new world here.

Bottom line, however, is that even though I am not being put in the same situations, I am still having the same feelings of growth and adventure that I thought I would. I am experiencing Mexico to its fullest, and that is exactly what I had expected. I expected to be growing spiritually, and that is happening too. The Lord had something for me to gain here, and He is giving it to me in a way I never would have thought. Not only that, I'm getting some experience on the side. It's nice to know I'm being taken care of by Someone who knows everything. Isn't that a wonderful feeling?