My Initial Thoughts about Life in Merida

once upon a warm january's night, a young maiden named rachel was doing homework {it's that ugly type called reading where you don't necessarily have to do it right this minute buuuut when you're sitting on the computer facebook stalking your friends it suddenly hangs over your head, taunting you like a dark thundercloud}. why yes, reading. this so-called reading was of the science type - about a man named charles darwin to be exact. for those of you who are familiar with darwin {and even for those of you who aren't}, you know it's some dry stuff. darwin, tired eyes, and a current temperature of 82 degrees are the perfect recipe for a big batch of mind wandering. so my antsy thoughts started a-drifting, and while my eyes skimmed the words of sir darwin, my mind conjured up a plethora of more important topics: food, blogging, things to google, food, my outfit schedule for the rest of the week, words in spanish, my itchy bug bites, sleep, and food {and that uncomfortable encounter i just had with my host brother when i attempted to tell him i hope he felt better in the morning and it turned into a bunch of jibberish and ended in my saying... "yeah." and him walking away chuckling?}{i'm sure my incapability to formulate sentences is endearing!}.

it's at the most inconvenient of times that i come up with these things, i tell you what. and this thing being a {i survived week one! oh my yes!} recap on my initial thoughts about life in merida.

• the food is {surprisingly} not spicy. in a lot of restaurants {okay, the two i've been to so far anyways} and in the central house, the food is fairly bland, but accompanied with a variety of hot sauces for you to add on your own. an enter-at-your-own-risk type of set-up, if you will.
• throwing my toilet paper in the toilet might be one of the hardest habits i've ever had to break. yep, that's right, for the past week {and two days, to be exact} i have been un-potty training and retraining myself to drop my soiled toilet paper {could i have not used a more awkward phrase for that?} in the trash can located next to the toilet. and yep, that's right, a trash can right in yo face full of mounds of used toilet paper. but really it's not as bad as it sounds. and it beats toilet overflowsion.
• it is quickly morphing me into one of the grossest, uncleanliest human beings {i prefer the phrase: embracing my body's natural capabilities}. honestly, i was probably a little too uptight about my appearance/smell/cleanliness before {now having to use bottled water every time i brush my teeth - which is quite a process! - makes the 4-5 times i used to do it daily seem a wee bit excessive}. i'm sticky, my feet are dirty, i now have so many bug bites on my legs that i can no longer find a path to shave around them {and i am an EVERY DAY SHAVER people}, and my sweat 'stache hasn't disappeared since i arrived. and if we're being completely open here {since i didn't totally overstep those boundaries moons ago}, i'm actually sweating less than i ever do during a summer in the united states. three cheers for sweat gland adaptation!
• everything is in spanish. this is one of those little details that didn't cross my mind pre-departure - every sign, label, menu, product, ad is in spanish. i don't want to blame my surprise on ignorance, because looking back it seems so obvious, but i just hadn't given thought to the fact that every piece of writing would be in their official language. duh! it definitely made realize how much i took for granted the ease of getting around in the united states.

it's wednesday! have a good one!

i'm so envious of those of you {safely} stuck in a snowstorm right now. the temperature is expected to drop to a high of 77/low of 66 here tomorrow, which is practically the dramatic equivalence to a snowstorm in iowa. it's as close to freezing as it gets in my neck of the tropics.

adios!