Jan. 12th

Angela (my roommate) and I went to Los Reyes this weekend- it is a town about 20 minutes from here. Los Reyes is about 4 times the size of Periban so we went to enjoy a little nightlife since it doesn't exist in Periban! There is another school there with 4 guys who teach in Los Reyes- three of them are from Canada and the fourth is from North Carolina. They are very interesting guys, two of them spent the last six years teaching in Korea and traveling the world, one has been to 26 countries and is 29 years old and the other is mid-thirties and has been to over 40 countries! I told them I wanted their lives. It would be amazing to be able to tell the stories they have! In Korea, they were also teaching English but over there you can make $75 an hour teaching at a university or business. Native speakers are in high demand and you usually get your flights reimbursed and free housing on top of a great salary. Needless to say they had plenty of money to go travel with their paid vacations and 2 months paid vacation over the summers. If only Mexico was like that... haha. Los Reyes was fun though, we went to a club after having a small party at the house and danced up a storm. The people in this area of Mexico are definitely not used to seeing gringos walking around, much less a group of six of them! We definitely caught some glances. The guys say they have seen people drop their phones or run into things because they stare at them! Angela told me she recieves a lot more attention walking around with me. She has dark hair so although she stands out it isn't as much as my now blonde hair! If only I hadn't been switched a birth and had dark hair like my parents!!! :)
I am still adjusting to some parts of Mexico- all we have to cook with is a coleman camping stove- a two burner gas stove that sits on the counter. No oven, no microwave. It has definitely been a challenge- Angela gets a lot of tacos from little restaurants near our house but as I don't like meat I have to get creative with cooking. I have been eating a lot of bean and cheese quesadillas because they are easy to throw on a pan for 5 minutes and go. Once I get used to the town I'll be able to explore the markets a little more. The fruit here of course is amazing and cheap. I was addicted to mangos last summer when I lived in Guadalajara and that was the first thing I bought at the market here! So hard to find good ones at home!
On Mondays in Periban they have an open market in the Plaza (the town square) where they sell fruits and vegetables, CDs and DVDs, clothes- anything. Angela and I are going to explore it a little bit when her class gets done at 2. Should be exciting!
All for now!
Nikki