Recap of Gringolándia

I just about peed my pants when I found I could do this -- make a photo slideshow instead of posting pictures individually and making you wait 20 minutes for the site to load.

The pictures advance automatically, but if you really hate the one you´re looking at you can press the arrow keys. And to see captions, just click on the photo and it will sort of minimize. Go ahead, try it.

BTW....if anyone has pictures of Jason and Carrie´s wedding, you should e´mail them to me....thanks...

Shoutout to Fifi -- Happy Birthday!!!! And Isaac and Ashley happy birthday tomorrow!!!!



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I´m getting seriously lazy with these blog posts. It´d be better if I wrote a little bit each day instead of putting it all off, telling myself I´ll make a massive post, but then forget everything. *Sigh.*

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Thursday, 21 Sept. 2006

The night before I came back to the US I went to a lucha libre, or Mexican wrestling. A unique combination of American wrestling, gymnastics, martial arts, The Three Stooges and of course theatrics. In one match, two sumo-like wrestlers were on the same team and one rolled of the ring, landing flat on his back. It sounded like a watermelon being dropped. A kind of wet thud. He just layed there for a few minutes, specators crowding around him. Even the paramedics came with the stretcher, and everyone thought he had broken something major. But then his partner came up and kicked him the stomach. He got up as if nothing had happened and the began luchando for more time. In another instance, a wrestler was pushed into the audience, sending people running in all directions because the ring was so close. Then the wrestler stood up, grabbed a seat, and smashed over his opponent´s head. Seeing shards of wood and plastic, a bloody eye, and wrestlers flying through the air like gymnasts is an entertaining way to pass a night.


Friday, 22 Sept. 2006

There´s something about the number 22 and I. I arrived in Mexico the 22 of August, left the 22 of September. During the five-hour bus ride from Xalapa to Mexico City I sat in seat 22. Going from Mexico City to Chicago I sat in seat 22F. From Chicago to Minneapolis I had seat 11A (half of 22), and it took me 22 hours to get from Xalapa to Minneapolis. No joke! I´m guessing something major will happen to me at 10:22:22 on March 30, 2008, my 22nd birthday. Or maybe I just might realize that my fascination with numbers is a waste of time.

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When I got to Chicago´s airport, I didn´t know until passing through customs that nearly every flight to and from the city had been delayed due to bad weather. That meant chaos: angry passengers everywhere, yelling and crying and sleeping. I waited in line about an hour just to check my luggage, but in the meantime I met a Dutchman going to Minneapolis to do work for his hearing aid company, a grad student from Chicago going to Las Vegas on holiday with her family and a 45-year-old grandmother returning to Las Vegas who is a card dealer in a very fancy casino (it has some Italian name, I forgot). What formed was a strange, breif friendship, which reminded me of The Terminal, that airport movie with Tom Hanks. I think it may have been a combination of excessive caffeine, no sleep, a return from extremely high altitude, jet lag and reverse culture shock that left me so...oddly happy? ...I don´t know, it´s like one of those dreams you have when you wake up the next morning and just ask yourself, ¨What the hell was I smoking last night? Did I really dream that? I must´ve....but it was a pretty good dream.´´

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I didn´t know how I was getting from Minneapolis airport to Mankato until I was in Chicago, at about 11 p.m. I put off until the last minute looking for a ride, but Nirish and Abid went through more hell than I did that day to find a car...shoutout to you guys.

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By the way...I know that I saw a lot of people in only a week , but if I didn´t get to hang out with you that doesn´t mean I hate you. I actually would´ve liked to hang out with you, but I was a limited edition Gringo on a short visit. But if you want some Mexican fun, you know how to get a hold of me ; }

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I read in nearly all the travel and study abroad books that one of the most difficult phases, surpringly, is reverse culture shock (that is, when you return to your home country after some time and find the way of life shocking). For me, that phase came in the form of

THE FOLLOWING OBSCENITIES HAVE BEEN WRI TTEN IN SMALL TYPE, SO IF YOU WANT TO READ THEN INCREASE THE TEXT SIZE BY GOING TO VIEW > TEXT SIZE > INCREASE. OTHERWISE, IT IS STRONGLY URGED THAT YOU SKIP TO THE NEXT PARAGRAPH IF YOU HAVE A WEAK STOMACH AND/OR YOU HAVE JUST EATEN.

explosive diarrhea that lasted the whole week, excessive vomiting, stomach cramps, bloating, overactive flatulance, and hypersensitivy to the cold weather.. It may be a result of what I ate -- I had a slimy tamale right before I left Xalapa, and I had some suspiciously delicious tacos in Mexico....but I also returned to the US, where preservatives and additives are everything. I may have possibly contracted intesinal worms or gotten food poisoning, but yes, I did take pepto bismal, and no, it didn´t work. Neither did Tums.

But I still don´t understand why I got so sick then and there...it should ´ve been during my month in Mexico...sharing drinks and food with acquaintances, not washing my hands frequently enough due to a lack of public bathrooms, and eating from street vendors almost daily. The sickness lasted even until Sunday, the day I left, when I had some of the worst five hours of my life....if you want to know why, see the above details and multiply them by the altitude (about 10, 000 feet) and the number of bathrooms on the airplane (2) and the number of passengers (about 100). Times infinity.


Saturday, 23 Sept.

I hung with my Mankatoan friends: Nepalis, fellow Reporter editors and A-4 homeys. And a few things I realized: Domino´s Pizza still doesn´t taste any better after a month. And don´t mix too many alcoholic beverages. EVER. And September in Minnesota can be warm enough to go to the beach or freezing cold enough that you need a sweater and a jacket (for me, it was the latter when I returned).

Sunday, 24 Sept.

The fam came to pick me up and we, along with Nirish, went to Tonn´s, the best restaurant in Mankato and possibly Minnesota. Mmmmm, Thai food. Then it was time to say goodbye to the Mankatoans for possibly up to 8 months. :(

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Later that day I saw the grandparents and hung out with my Austin Homeys, Tuan and Eric and Jenna (for two minutes).

Monday, 25 Sept. - Wednesday, 26 Sept.

Those very few days I was home I chilled, cast my absentee ballot (you better win, DFL, or I´m starting my own party), took care of some financial business, spent time with the g´pas and siblings, bought a coffee pot to take back to Mexico, hung out with Baxter the tailless wonder, went to a movie (IN ENGLISH!), killed ladybugs (I haven´t seen any in Mexico yet) and ate some delicious steak and mashed potatoes.


Thursday, 27 Sept. - Saturday, 29 Sept.

We left for Wisconsin Wednesday morning. It took about 6 hours to get to Appleton, but then we got lost. Wisconsin, listen to me: you seriously need to get your road architecture right. How do you people get around without getting lost? And please, consider using numbers to label your highway instead of letters. What is that crap, huh, cheeseheads?

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Coming back for the wedding was completely worth it, despite 24 hours of transit, a week of sickness and $500. I played paintball and realized that I´m never joining the army; I legally entered a bar and legally drank (see above photo of my little brother nursing a cool one); hung out with family and friends, whom I realized I missed much more than I had thought; and was king shit at the wedding, when I got my own table (along with the other bridesmen and groomsmaids).

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I´m waiting to get more photos of the wedding, when I´ll make a more detailed post. Plus, I´m starving right now and am sick of writing.