Ella está al límite de la obsesión.

Listening To: “Life, in a Nutshell” – Barenaked Ladies, Rock Spectacle (Live)

This week I had/have four tests and one 5-page paper that turned into a 10-page paper. So you know, I’ve been a little busy. But I have also been busy obsessing over three things that have completely overtaken my life since coming to Mexico, so I thought I would take a break from work and tell you all about them. I present to you the three most important things in my Mexican life:

1. Speaking Spanish.

This one is pretty convenient, I like to think, because I am in a predominantly Spanish-speaking country, and almost everyone I work with is a native Spanish speaker and have limited English abilities. But it turns out that I was made to speak Spanish. I have been here less than three weeks days and I am now able to hold extensive conversations with native Spanish speakers, and I have been adopted as the translator in many cases when someone who speaks only Spanish and someone who speaks only English need to communicate. I indicate that I was made to speak Spanish because I have never taken a formal Spanish class before coming to Mexico (although I did have a couple very informal lessons this summer, and I have studied Italian and French pretty extensively and they are very similar grammatically to Spanish). Learning Spanish is the most fun I have ever had learning a foreign language, and I have discovered that I really have an affinity for learning it – probably because I am incredibly motivated to be able to speak and understand the language in order to survive here in Mexico, and also in order to use it for my future career. Anyway, obsessed.

2. Eating bread. And pastries.

For anyone who didn’t already know, the bread and baked goods in Mexico are INCREDIBLE and I spend most of my day thinking of reasons why it would be acceptable for me to have another piece of bread. Sometimes I will eat it with peanut butter or regular butter, and I have seen other people eat it with honey, but I usually just eat it plain…because it really doesn’t need anything to make it better. And every morning a nice man from down the street comes to our house and gives us freshly baked pastries that are still warm. I have been working out at least twice a day every day, but also eating enough pastries and bread that I am probably actually gaining weight. So yeah, obsessed.

3. El Salvador, and more specifically, Archbishop Oscar Romero.

I will be going to El Salvador in five days and I have discovered upon coming to Mexico and spending a very significant amount of my time learning about the political history of Latin America and U.S. foreign policy in Latin America that El Salvador is one of the most important countries to both of those topics, and that it is a country with a history full of absolute devastation and decimation, but it is also a country full of hope.  And that, my friends, is where Monseñor Romero comes in. I could honestly talk about him and El Salvador for hours so I will stop for now. But I am seriously, seriously obsessed. You should research the Monseñor.

And now, back to work.

a-Dios

-E