Girls Only

This past weekend, Ie Mei and I went on a little girls trip with some ladies from the English-speaking ward. 

Just a heads up, this is kind of lengthy, so feel free to just look at the pictures. We embarked on our adventure to Puebla at about 8:30 AM on Friday and arrived at our destination around 11:00.

We ate at the most delicious sandwich shop for lunch. If you're ever in Puebla, Mexico, I highly recommend you go and eat here. Cemitas Las Poblanitas.

You see those spicy looking things? I put those in my sandwich. They were delicious, but I did work up quite a sweat eating them.

Puebla is famous for a type of pottery called Talavera, so after lunch we visited a workshop where they showed us the whole process.

 It's amazing how these artists paint everything freehand. Everything was beautiful. Later that day we walked through a lot of different Talavera shops and Ie Mei bought me a serving plate for my late birthday present. I may be biased, but I think my plate is the most beautiful piece that came home in our van.

Puebla has the most beautiful colored buildings with these cute stone sidewalks. This is my favorite picture of the trip. I just love my sister. She is beautiful.

Right after this beautiful picture was taken, we had a crazy hail storm. 

Being a Californian, and it being spring and all, I was of course wearing flip flops, but it eventually died down and we were able to visit some churches and go to dinner at an Italian/Poblano restaurant. Puebla is also famous for its mole which is a chocolate chili sauce. I figured I had to try it. Not my favorite, but I'm glad I tried something new. The churches on the other hand were lovely and I really did like those. 

By the time we were back at our hotel we were ready to pass out. The next morning we ate breakfast and we were on our way to Tecali, the Onix capital of the world. Ok, I made that up, but we shopped for hours and hours looking at all these different shops with all the same things made of onix. I found some good finds though. 

After all the shopping, I was glad to take a break and take a look at the church. I love this picture of this cute church with the bright blue sky. 

We walked down the street to the convent which is now ruins and it was really cool. It hasn't had a roof in I don't know how many years so now instead of an interior floor with stone, it is a beautiful grassy field. 

It was such a nice weekend with my sister and I'm glad I was able to visit so many interesting sites. The only down side is the sickness that Ie Mei and I have been experiencing all last night and today, but other than that it was a delightful, delicious, de-lovely trip. Thank you Ie Mei Lynn for a wonderful weekend!

Cutie Ailee

Jackson, Lance, and Mylee leave for the bus stop at 7:00 AM, so I'm rarely ever awake to hang out with them before school starts. Ailee, however, gets up after I do and therefore I get to pretend she's my little dolly and help her get dressed. And being a hair enthusiast, I love doing her hair. 

Some days she lets me, and some days she doesn't. But it's getting easier because I am brainwashing her little by little. In the mornings we just like to repeat to each other: "Ponytails don't hurt. They're just pretty." This isn't evil, is it? I mean, it can't be a crime if you get a cute girl looking like this every day:

right?

She fell asleep when Ie Mei was reading to her the other night.

I'm a Warrior.

At least I feel like one after posing like one for so long. 

Mondays and Wednesdays in Mexico City include a yoga session in Bosques de Las Lomas. For some reason when I was younger I imagined yoga as a meditation rather than a form of exercise. Last Monday was my first session and I was surprised by how hard it was and how sore I was for days and days afterwards. After 10 minutes I was sweating, wondering when the pain was going to end, but I couldn't ask because everyone is silent during yoga. However, I have lived to write about it and it turns out yoga is 2 hours long.

Today was my second time at yoga and once again, I was dying.

Downward facing dog. Upward facing dog. Warrior 1. Warrior 2. Warrior 3. Flow. High Plank. Low Plank. Triangle. Airplane. Crow. 

And those are just the ones I remember off the top of my head right now. As much as it hurts, yoga is amazing because you get to work all these muscles you didn't even know existed. 

The last thing we do in our sessions is Savasana. I just looked it up on Wikipedia and it's apparently also called the corpse pose, in which you lay on your back on your mat and close your eyes as you listen to music and slowly release the tension in all your body parts. The instructor, Lisa, then comes around and places a washcloth over your eyes and then drapes a blanket over your body all the way up to your neck and it is the most amazing feeling. Ie Mei and I agreed that it only feels so good because we worked our bodies so hard. It turns out I can get through 2 hours of yoga a lot better when I know Savasana is coming.

Ailee joined us for yoga today and copied some of the poses on her own mat. She is a really cute warrior.

More adventures

Today was a wonderful day full of new adventures. Ie Mei is part of a club here in Mexico City for people who are not native to Mexico. They get together for luncheons and activities and have various charities that they help out with. Ie Mei has been involved with making baby blankets for a hospital in Mexico that delivers 25-30 babies a day. I don't know too much about it, but Ie Mei does!

Today was baby blanket day! We went to a woman's house and made 119 blankets that we get to deliver later this month! It was such a fun and rewarding experience and I'm excited that I get to go deliver them with Ie Mei and see the people that will benefit from them.

So giving service is another thing I'm loving in Mexico. One thing I am not falling in love with is the traffic. I've never seen anything like it and I'm from LA!! It is absolutely ridiculous. I dread getting in the car because after 10 minutes I feel like I've been at sea for hours.

No one follows traffic laws here. Brother Medrano was driving us around Polanco and I saw the words "ALTA" on a sign which means stop in Spanish. I got my body all ready for the stop, but it never came. You pretty much get to pick and choose which driving laws to follow.

Ie Mei gave Mexican driving a try and she's really good at it. We ran a red light on our way to the church for our Relief Society activity. I'm partially joking. She is very good at driving amongst all the chaos here. I don't know that I could ever do it unless I was forced to.

Other than the worse than usual traffic, today was yet again, a wonderful day. Ailee and I had a photo shoot:

Me Encanta Polanco

I'm starting my second week in Mexico City with the Taylors and I'm having a blast. This past week the boys went on a fathers & sons camp-out so we did nails on Friday night and took a day trip to Polanco on Saturday.



The boys took the Tahoe, so we took a little taxi. It was my first time in a taxi and it wasn't one of the yellow taxis you see in the movies in NYC, but still a fun adventure. Ie Mei is so brave. She is new to the Spanish language but was able to have a full-on conversation with the taxi driver about his religious beliefs after she saw his Bible. So brave.



If I haven't mentioned this already, the weather here is beautiful. Look at these cute streets with all the outdoor seating!



I'm one of the most indecisive people, so it took us a while to decide on a place to eat, but I narrowed it down a little when I decided eating outside was a must. We decided to eat at an Argentine restaurant and I got arrechera which is basically steak. I didn't see anything too different, but it was delicious. I forgot to take a picture until I was halfway done, but you get the picture, right?



In the center of Polanco is a park, Parque Lincon, with an awesome playground for kids. If there weren't so many kids around I would be playing on it myself. That was short lived, however when Ailee decided she needed to find a bathroom. So, we stopped at La Neveria Roxy and used the facilities and got some cones for the girls.

 

We took a taxi back home and awaited the arrival of the boys. It was a wonderful girls' day out and I am still loving Mexico, especially Polanco.

I'm in Mexico!

My adventures in Mexico City began on Friday when I woke up at 3 AM to get to the airport at 4:00. I realized later that this wasn't necessary for a morning flight, but they said that for international flights I should be 3 to 4 hours early. Ie Mei and the little girls picked me up right on time and we made our way home to unload my stuff and picked up Lance from school.

Friday night we went to an event at the children's museum for Mead Johnson and it was way fun. We watched a 3D movie and played.

The clowns (payasos) made things out of balloons for the kids. Flowers for the girls and swords and belts for the boys. After they finished with Ailee's, she said, "Muchas gracias, clown!" 

We got free yummy snacks and took a picture with Pancho Pantera, a mascot for Mead Johnson. The popcorn was no good. Pizza was no good. My crepe on a stick, delicious. And that spiral thing that Ie Mei has, it's potato with ketchup and hot sauce. I liked that one too, but it would've been better warm.

Saturday we made a little trip to the temple to look around and then headed to Coyoacan. It only took us a couple hours to get there because we got lost, but we made it eventually. It was a really picturesque place. There were so many vendors along the streets and places to buy ice cream and candy. My first meal out in Mexico was at Cafe Kowloon, a Chinese restaurant. I think I will stick to my Golden China in South Pasadena, CA, but it wasn't the worst thing. If you zoom in and see that middle dish, it's Kung Pao Chicken. It was very different than the stuff I get in the states and once again, not my fav. 

Sunday I went to Ie Mei and Brad's ward. They go to the Palmas ward which is a Spanish ward. I took 4 years of Spanish in high school, but it's been a few years since I've used it except for a little conversation with Jonathan. The talks were harder to understand except when Elder Olson spoke because he's American and spoke slowly and clearly. He is the man that introduced my mom to the church and baptized her and is now on a mission with his wife in Mexico City.

Understanding Sunday school and Relief Society was a little better and I was able to converse with some people after church. The Mexican people are extremely kind and very eager to make everyone feel welcome and loved.

After church we went and visited El Castillo. It was lovely indeed. It reminded me of my time in Spain and France when we would tour lovely castles. The gardens on the roof were my favorite. 

Mother's Day in Mexico is celebrated every year on May 10, so Ie Mei decided that we would have all the missionary couples over for dinner since they weren't able to be with their kids. Brad went to the flower market and bought a beautiful array of gerber daisies and fillers and we made several bouquets. I felt like we had our own little flower shop in the kitchen. I wish I had some of Jennica's flower arranging skills, but I think we did a pretty good job.

I was so impressed by Ie Mei's willingness to host 6 people despite her already full house. She is always thinking of others and I'm so glad I get to spend all this time with her. She is such a good example to me. 

And since I didn't get a chance to post about my mom on Mother's day, I'll include a little something about her. My mom is amazing. She is so hard-working and tender-hearted. Always willing to help anyone in need. She teaches me so much still and I love her so much. She is beautiful. Inside and out. I am striving every day to be more like her. 

Catching up

I need to make a separate post for my little weekend get away to California a month ago.

Jonathan and I are intramural champions. I am so glad that I have a cool t-shirt, but most of all I'm glad I got one with my brother. 

Blake and I went to a baseball game and dyed eggs with his little brother, Mason. Blake knows everything about baseball. I just really enjoy the food. We had a hot dog and cracker jacks and I had my very first cougar tail =). I haven't dyed eggs in such a long time and I'm glad I finally got around to it this year. 

It's wedding season. I did Cassie's hair on Friday night for a wedding and she was able to salvage it for a wedding she was in on Saturday. Is it ok to say that I'm quite proud of my creation? I'm so excited to go to hair school when I graduate. 

Speaking of hair, I did a project in my Services Management class about a salon. I worked with a girl in my class, Maranda. 

This semester we had the option of taking a final exam or doing a project with a 20 page paper and 20-30 minute presentation. I didn't want to study a lot so I opted for the project. I had attended a Women in Business luncheon last spring and Maranda was also in attendance and we went around the room saying what we wanted to do with our business degree. I mentioned I wanted to go to hair school and maybe open a salon one day and she mentioned that she was a stylist and wanted to get a degree and maybe own her own salon one day. 

So, I noticed she was in my class this semester and thought maybe we could team up and talk hair and it wouldn't feel like work but more like fun. 

I was super nervous for my presentation 2 weeks ago and was ready to be done with it. By the end of the presentation, I thought we had done ok and I survived. Turns out my professor really liked it and asked us to do it again so he could film it and use it for future semesters as an example of what a good presentation is. So, we presented it again last week and were filmed. I'll let you all know when it's available for viewing =)

So, back to hair, Maranda, being the awesome stylist that she is, cut my hair this week. I love it.  

Tomorrow I'm leaving for La Ciudad de Mexico para visitar mi hermana y su familia! Estoy muy emocionada!