Cannot wait until this week is over

So this week is going by slowly. I think it is because I am ready for Christmas break. We get out of school next week. Our students last day is Wednesday and mine is Friday. We have almost a whole month off so it will be so nice. I have been planning what I am going to do. Chamron is coming to visit on the 22nd and I am so excited!

This week has been so long. It all started on Tuesday when my car broke. On Tuesday morning the battery light in my car was on. I thought that it was because my iPod had been charging. However, when I went to the post office after school my car would not start. I had run there quickly to mail something and it ended up turning into a three hour trip. I did not even have my cell phone or wallet with me. There was a man sitting in his car, and I asked him if he had jumper cable. He did not, but he still got out to help me. He messed around with it, then told me I needed a new battery and maybe something else which he only new the word for in Spanish.

So then I was thinking, "Great! Okay, hmm...I do not have my phone or anything so I guess I can walk (it would not be that far of a walk)."

The man was so nice (okay, I know I should not go with strangers, but I did!). He took me to my house to get my wallet, took me to the auto store, we got jumper cables, went back to my car, tried to start it, and it did not work. Then he took me back to the auto store to buy a battery, back to my car, put the battery in, and followed me back to the auto store to make sure I got there okay. I ended up having to get a new alternator too. I thanked the man so much and told him how people in PR are so nice and helpful. I do not think anyone would have done that for me at home. What a nice man.Hopefully my car is fine now and it will not break anymore.

Mom & Angela's Visit

At souls with my friends

Thanksgiving in Puerto Rico. It was so nice to have my mom and sister here on Thanksgiving. For Thanksgiving we ate dinner at the Mudd's house. It was so nice being able to eat dinner outside. The weather has been so nice lately. I love it!

Mom, Me, and Angela

Getting ready to go out

Me in San Cristobal Fort in Old San Juan

This picture was taken in front of the governor's house in Old San Juan. We were taking pictures of the house and the police officer said, "Take a picture with me." We thought it would be funny if my mom did.

View of the ocean from the fort in Old San Juan

San Cristobal

San Cristobal

Waiting for the ferry boat back to the mainland

Crystal clear water in Culebra

Me, mom, and Angela in Culebra. Culebra is an island located off of Puerto Rico. There is a ferry boat that comes to Fajardo and it is about a 1 hour 15 min. boat ride to the island. The whole trip was awesome. There is a campground on Flamenco Beach that we stayed at overnight. We got there around 11 and set out tent up. Then we spent the rest of the day on the beach. The water was so beautiful. The sand was white and the water was so blue and clear. We also took a trail to a beach on the other side of the island to snorkel. I could not believe what I saw when I put my head under water. It was so awesome. There were so many colorful plants, coral, and fish under the water. It was so cool. It was also a little scary to think what else could be under the coral.

At night we went to a fun outdoor restuarant called Mamacitas. The next day we swam and laid on the beach all day again. Then got the ferry back at 4. It was so amazing in Culebra. It was the most beautiful beach I have ever seen.

Morning in Culebra

Culebra

Our campground was right behind the trees. It was awesome. At night we laid on the beach and looked at the stars. The stars were so bright and there were so many.

Mamacita's in Culebra

Flamenco Beach, Culebra

On the ferry boat to Culebra

Mandi, Mariella, me, Angela

Picture of my mom with her horse in Isabella.

View from the top of a cave in Isabella. We took a break from horseback riding and hiked up here because the guide said it was an awesome view. It really was too.

Horses waiting for us to get on. They were all really good horses. I would love to have one of my own one day. We went horseback riding through Tropical Trail Rides. It was really awesome. I have always wanted to go horseback riding on the beach, so I had to take my mom and sis when they came here. It was a two hour tour and worth every penny. The only complaint I have is the soreness I felt the next day. I feel like I worked out every part of my body, especially my butt.

Angela and me

The last few weekends

These two pictures in the mountains were taken from a restaurant in Aibonita. It is a town in the mountains. The restaurant was awesome. It was made out of wood imported from Canada. There is a dining room and then a deck that is enclosed by windows that you can slide open. We sat on the deck part. The view is amazing!

Last weekend we went on a boat with some of our friends. Near our house the are a bunch of islands made from Mangrove trees. People drive their boats to them and hangout. It was so much fun. The water was really clear and the prettiest blue ever. I even saw a sting ray in the water. The funniest part of the day was when this younger boy who was with us caught a fish. This one guy was holding it and I was swimming next to him. Then he was kind of playing around with it and he threw it on the boat. Silly me did not know that they were keeping the fish to eat later. I jumped on the boat, picked up the fish, and threw it back in the water. Everyone was like "No

!" Then I realized that they had planned on keeping the fish, oops.

Mandi, and some of our friends

Hanging out in the water

Our friends Jose & Jose (there are lots of Jose's) being silly

This picture was taken in Guavate. This is a town about 30 minutes from Guayama. It is famous for the Lechon (pig). There are a bunch of restaurants who roast pigs. People are dancing to salsa music, drinking, and shopping at the souvenir shops. It was a good time, but I kind of felt bad for all of the pigs. I ate pollo y arroz (chicken and rice), which was very good. It was also wierd to see the Christmas decorations that were up there. It does not even seem like that time of year yet.

Out at Soul's again. Our favorite local bar

This week Mandi and I also put up our Christmas tree. It is a little early, but we were excited and my mom is coming this weekend so I wanted it to be up when she came. We decorated it with sand dollars and blue lights for the water. It is really cute. We also put lights on the bushes in our front yard. We were both sweating while we put the tree up, and I said, "This is the first time I have ever put up a Christmas tree and complained about being hot!" It's great! I love the weather here. It has been so nice lately. Middle 80's everyday and high 70's at night.

Halloween...beginning of November

Souls with friends

At the election Party

The flag is for Fortuno, the man who won Governor of PR

Election Party



Rally for the red party

This is actually a huge speaker that drives around the town and plays LOUD music!

Me & Mandi

Calderon Vs. Juanma

Mandi, Mariela, Me

POW!

So for Halloween Mandi and I decided to be Puerto Rican boxers. Boxing is really big down here so we thought it would be fun. I dressed up as Ivan Calderon and she was some guy names Juanma. The reason the back of my robe says, "Iron Boy" is because that is the nickname of Calderon. It was great because everyone here knows who these people are so they thought it was great that these two American girls dressed up like them. We started the night out at our house. We wanted to pass out candy to the trick-or-treaters, but we did not have anyone really. We only had the boy next door, a student from school, and two other little girls. After that we went over to Casa Benny, where the boys live. We played some fun drinking games. We keep saying that we want to have an American drinking games night here so we can teach our PR friends how we do it. Haha. We did make our friends Frances and Mariela shot gun a beer. They thought we were crazy of course. After that we went out to our favorite spot here in Guayama, Soul's. I was happy to see that a lot of people were dressed up in costumes. I was not sure what to expect. There was also a reggae band playing that was awesome. It was a fun night and I was recovering all the next day!

Now to election day. Well first let's rewind about three months to when I got here. When I got to PR and stayed a couple of nights in my house, I noticed how these trucks with huge ten foot speakers in the back would drive through my neighborhood and anywhere else you went. I thought it was the funniest thing ever. I asked someone what those things were and what was their purpose. I was told that those trucks are used as advertisements and also as a campaign tool for the election. Well let me just say that you have never seen any group of people get into politics more that Puerto Ricans. For the past three months this is all you hear about. What the people do is called caravan. It is basically the came thing as a parade. These parades are miles of cars and trucks following each other around town with flags of the person they want to vote for. It is crazy. There are people hanging out of the windows of cars, people piled into the back of trucks, loud music, and a lot of drinking beer. Yes, drinking beer while driving. It is a pretty popular thing here as well. It does not seem like anyone is too worried about getting a DUI since I see people all the time going up to the bar to grab a drink to go. A little bit scary too. The most annoying thing about these parades is that you get stuck behind them if you are not so lucky. Okay, so now to the night before elections. Because the election is so big down here, we do not have school on election day. For one I am sure no one would show up since voting is an all day thing and one big party. If you ask a PR person what they are doing on Election Day, they say, "voting." And we say, "All day?" And they reply, "Yes." It takes all day because after they vote the caravan all day and then have parties. So since we did not have school Tuesday, on Monday night we decided to go caravaning. It was Mandi, the Mudd's, and Me. The two popular parties here have the colors of red and blue. We did not know which party we would find so we all brought a red shirt and a blue shirt. We started driving and found a caravan in the plaza of Guayama, which ended in the plaza and led to a huge rally. People had tiki torches, flags, signs, and of course there were those trucks with those speakers. The party we found was the red party, so of course we put our red shirts on and fit right in. It was hillarious. The man who was running for mayor of our town was there speaking. Then they had other people get up and speak about him. People we cheering, singing, and having a good ol' time. It was fun for us to see something like this because we would never see this in the U.S. I think the PR people appreciated us Americans taking part as well. We got a lot of compliments and smiles. We stick out like a sore thumb; especially, Mandi and the Mudd's with their blonde hair and blue eyes. On election day we cannot vote here so we celebrated by going to the beach! It was a beautiful day too. Barbara bought herself and I a banana colada, and named it a "Barack colada." Later that night we were invited to an election party. These people really know how to party here. I think they have a party for everything, which is fine with me. There was a lot of drinking and food. Good times. I was thinking, "Don't these people have to work in the morning??" They do but it is an exciting day for them, as it was for us Americans too. I could tell that everyone was up late celebrating because all of my students were extremely tired on Wednesday. It was a great experience to witness. It was even more exciting to wake up and see that Barack Obama Had won President of the United States!!!! I was so excited! I showed all of my classes his speech. It was so awesome! And I must say that I really do love the PR way of getting into the elections. I believe they have over a 90% voter turnout here! Wow! Even if I have to wake up to the sound of "Buenos Dias Puerto Rico" at 5 a.m, I still appreciate their dedication.

25th birthday

Me and my friend Juan

Our PR pumpkins
Flowers from my birthday

Fruit from my birthday

At school in the cafeteria where the students brought me cakes

Teacher's lounge sharing my cake and fruit

Barbara and I in my class

Me

I am now a quarter of a century old! I would have to say that this was one of the best birthdays I have ever had. Birthdays are a big thing here, especially for the students. All day long they were singing to me, hugging me, giving me things, and they were just so sweet to me. One class brought me two birthday cakes. They had Mandi bring me out to the cafeteria at lunch, and the whole cafeteria sang “Happy Birthday” to me. It was so cool. My homeroom class sang about ten different songs in Spanish for me. It was hilarious. I had a couple students even bring me gifts. My teacher friends did stuff for me too. One PR teacher had her daughter, who makes cakes, bake me a carrot cake. It was sooo good. After school my friend Andy took me to Rex cream, the best ice cream in PR. I had pina (pineapple). The parcha (passion fruit) is also really good. Later that night I went to dinner with my American friends. By the time I got home, I was so tired from school and everything else I just wanted to go to sleep. It was only 9. I thought to myself, “I cannot go to bed at 9 when it is my birthday!” I ended up going over to my friend Andy’s house and played dominoes with some friends. I also got beautiful flowers from Pat, my friend from home, and an awesome fruit bouquet from an admirer here in PR. Such a great day!

On Wednesday we hear about a man who was selling pumpkins. We were so excited because we have not seen any pumpkins in Puerto Rico. The man actually has a small fruit stand in our downtown area. The pumpkins are actually green. I think they might actually be squash, but the inside is just like a pumpkin. When Mandi asked him if he had pumpkin, he got one and chopped it in half before we could say anything. We were like, "No! We want the whole thing!" He laughed and said, "Oh! For Halloween. You are going to carve them." Of course this was all in Spanish. He thought we were buying it to eat it like most people here would do. Not us crazy Americans!