I think I am going to go to Cedar Point when I get back.

Hola otra vez!!

Wow.. I really haven´t written in a while... I´m very sorry, but I have been VERY busy. It´s incredible. I can´t believe I only have 13 days left!! It´s happy and sad all at the same time. I can´t wait to come home to Martinsville, but I don´t want to leave the relaxed life here. Ugh, why is life so difficult? I think I´m just going to buy a private jet or a jetpack and fly here whenever I need a break. If you can´t tell, I´m feeling magnificent. I have had two WONDERFUL weeks. Let´s recount...

I TURNED 18 JULY 6th!

I am now legally an adult in the U.S. It´s weird to think about, and I still don´t want to grow up. I like being a kid, so I´m probably still going to enjoy kid-hood. Haha.
Anyway, my birthday was incredible. I woke up to a boquet of pink roses, a card, and a balloon from my family, and they all hugged me and told me Happy Birthday. They sang too. Lol. I also always wondered what it would be like to go to school on my birthday...now I know! I don´t like it. Lol. I feel bad for all of those people with birthdays August through May... Oh well. School wasn´t all bad. My classmates sang to me ¨Las Mañanitas¨ which is the song for happy birthday down here. It was great. I had two dance classes that day too. My teacher of arabic let me wear her jingly hip scarf!! It was sooooo cool!! It was actually so cool that I bought a pink one for myself today... Lol. I also got to pick the song that we danced to in my hip hop class with Oscar, AJ, Hailey, and Jilly that day. It was RAD!

The next day was my FIESTA!! There were more than 40 people in my house. I invited my cousins, my friends from here, and my friends from school. It was great! My cousins and sisters helped my mom and I make the snacks beforehand. Then, everyone else showed up, and we all talked and danced and had a blast! And Lasho shoved my face in my cake because apparently that´s a tradition here. I think we should observe the tradition in the U.S. too because it was funny. Haha. All-in-all, it was a great two days.

I would also like to thank my family and friends for the multitudes of birthday cards i have received. I have loved every single one. :-)

My sister, Euge, finally came home for good 2 days before my birthday too!! She is wonderful, and I love her. She´s young and loca like me. Hahaha. We´re perfect for each other. I´m pretty sure I have a friend for life there. =)

Hm... We learned an EXTREMELY cool dance in my hiphop/reggaeton class. It was really demanding, but by far the best one yet. It was a combination of hiphop, reggaeton, and crumping. Oh my gosh. As they say here, it was FREGON! Fregon is really really extremely awesome to the max. I can´t wait to find out what´s going to happen tomorrow.
We also went to Mexico City this past weekend, and it was long, but awesome. I´m going to write a separate entry about that trip.

Today, I was visiting the hippies here, and I heard someone talking in Spanish. Normal, right? Yes, but this was said with the accent of a student who doesn´t have much practice and has just been thrown into a city full of Spanish-speakers. It was someone from Iowa who is here in San Luis for a mission trip. I talked to him and his dad (in Spanish) for a while. It wasn´t anything huge, but it made me realize how much I have improved. This boy had studied Spanish for 4 years, and I had to speak really slowly so that he could understand me. I asked my sister afterward if it was because my grammar was incorrect, and she said no. There were no problems with my grammar. I just about jumped in the air I was so happy. I can see progress. There is cold-hard evidence!! I have to say thank you again, to everyone in the Martinsville High School Spanish Department. Thank you Mr. Maxwell, Mrs. Martin, and Mrs. Uebel. If I did not have you guys, I would not still be here. THANK YOU!!!

I don´t have ANY mosquito bites at the moment. The Raid plug-in and screen are working wonders.

I tried enchiladas potosinas. Those are enchiladas that were created in and native to San Luis Potosí. They are surprisingly delicious. They are made with a small, orange tortilla, cheese, various chiles, and usually eaten with aguacate. I don´t really like aguacate, but with these, it´s perfect.

For now, that´s all I have because I don´t want to use up too much of my hour right now. I need to save some for my Mexico City excursion.

Thanks again to all of you who have supported me and are continuing to support and pray for me. I really appreciate it.

Overall, I love it here. It´s great. My speaking has improved, my mood has improved and stabilized, and I´m just in love with this place. I haven´t had a bad day in a long time.

This is my dance (arabic/traditional polka/salsa) teacher, Michelle. On my birthday, she let me wear her jingly scarf. I was sooooo excited. Lol.

On our walk from one dance class to the other, we saw HERBIE! He was just chillin in the street! It was totally awesome. lol

This is my hip-hop/reggaeton dance class and one of our teachers, Oscar. AJ and Hailey are on the right. I had to wear the wizard´s hat because it was my birthday. I think. Lol. I´m actually not sure what the hat had to do with my birthday. Lol

This is what usually happens during a class... It´s kinda wild. Lol.

Once again, this is a glimpse into a normal class for us. Haha.

18 years old and chocolate cake!! Muy Mexican, no? Haha. All of the other birthdays had traditional Mexican cakes, tres leches, etc. But my family loves me sooo much that I got CHOCOLATE!! Hehehe. Thanks Maru!!

My WONDERFUL sister, Euge, and I were finally together on my birthday!

My wonderful chocolate cake was in my nose on my birthday. This is a tradition I think we should start in the States. =)

Self-explanatory. Haha.