a new boyfriend, a new piercing, and a lost phone...

It´s hard to stay updated when so much happens everyday. I think I have some weird tendency to always be followed around by interesting stories that could only happen to me. I realize I left off at Xico, but I think I´m going to continue with a list of things I´ve discovered.

1) My french accent is better than my Spanish accent. I have been told this by many people here, I´m beginning to think that I should be taking french, or that they just don´t know what it should sound like.
2) I took a bus to a pueblo called Naolinco. It was the scariest bus ride of my life. To describe it in two words: Velocity and Curves. I was so unsettled at the top, I thought that perhaps I´d just stay there and found a lovely house to buy. Later I´ll share pics.
3) When I gained my bravery back (2 beers at lunch in Naolinco) we took the bus back to Xalapa and they have this cool system of ´pool boys.´ I realize that doesn´t make sense. I´ll explain, halfway down the dangerous cliff filled mountain, the bus stops and these boys (maybe 18 or 19 in tight jeans and cowboy hats) get on the bus and sell donuts and sweet breads. They are like pool boys that bring you tropical drinks, but instead of drinks, it´s delicious carbs and instead of a pool, a bus careening down a mountain at what was probably 100 mph. So, fairly similar.
4) I keep getting lost. But while lost, I find things. Like a track to run on and a marathon runner friend. However, earlier I was going to write how excited I was about my new friend, but she failed to show the next morn at 8 am for our scheduled run. Alas, she gains no fame in my blog. I woke up at 6:50 to get to the other side of the town, and waited and waited. Ran a bit, then got lost again. New vocab: Ella me dejó plantada (she stood me up)
5) Mojitos are the medicine of the gods. The secret is BOTH mint and yerba buena. I don´t know what yerba buena is, but I´m guessing it´s spearamint since my gum is flavored : yerba buena.
6) I got my noce pierced. I know. Some may be against it, but Bixler did it. And my roommate too. I´ll probably take it out when I feel more mature. Or when I have to teach.
7) NEW BOYFRIEND!!! I am now dating Rafa Marquez. google him. When I say Rafa is my new boyfriend, it´s kind of like when I said I was dating Mos Def and Wyclef was my best friend. ie, clearly not true, but on the list of options (mexican options that still include Gael Garcia Bernal y Diego Luna).
8) Dinah (the roommate) and I have 2 new theme phrases for the trip. La frase de Dinah: Tienes que dejar de pensar en el dolor. (you need to stop thinking about the pain...this was in reference to the piercings, but I thought it fit well with life). Mine: Vida, Hay que vivirla (Life: you need to live it...clearly stolen from Celia Cruz, however, Carnival is a good song and Celia´s a smart woman).
9) Gym Gold is still my favorite place, today I discovered that is is one of the only places I know here where you can actually throw the toilet paper in the toilet and not in a trash can. You have no idea what unique and special thing that is, specifically in a public bathroom.
10) I´m a good dancer now, this is too long a story to share here, but just believe me that it´s true.

Ok, which brings us to today. So, sadly on Sunday my friend who lives here, Mariel, was in a car crash. It was raining, and a car infront of her flipped into her lane and her car is totaled. Anyway, she didn´t break anything, but she has to wear a neck brace and rest in the house for 2 weeks. (ie, she won´t be able to come to strip tease class with me). Today, I decided to go visit her, and bring the paper because her car and the story was on the front page of the Policia section. She lives out a bit, so I took a taxi. I had specific, word for word directions from Bixler about what to say to the driver about how to get there. A plan that couldn´t fail. It did, the taxi driver and I were confused but eventually we found the place. I get out of the car, tip the driver (fairly well because we were lost for a bit) and go visit. When, I notice, Chin! (cheen, the mex word for shoot) I left my phone in the car. So, I´m concerned because my phone is kind of my life line, one of the only ways to communicate here between me and everyone (how else do i schedule mojito meetings?) so we keep trying to call it. Eventually the taxi guy answers and says that he´s busy right now, the phone is dying, he´s going to turn it off and turn it back on at 6 and I should call. (it´s 5 to 6 now... so I still dont know). Please everyone, have blind faith and trust that this taxi guy will return my phone to me. Some of them aren´t too trustworthy. So, I leave Mariel´s house, and begin to walk. I keep trying to get a taxi, but it´s 2:30, which is the worst time to get a taxi because they are switching shifts. So, I keep walking. It´s a pretty neighborhood (ritzy) when all of a sudden I´m acosted by (no not a gang of unruley youths) but by jehovah´s witnesses. They kept yelling at me in english, ¨hey you , you speak english, hey you, i have a book for you to read to show you the way to the path of righteousness¨I stop to talk to them, as to not make a scene in the street, and they want to know my address so that we can talk about this alleged path. I told them I had my path, thanked them, and started to walk away fast. They followed for a bit, but got distracted by another gringa. Anyway, of course, I got lost. When I asked a nice señora where my street was, she just laughed and said far, far away.

Eventually I made it. I´m waiting to hear about my phone. My madre here is going to call because I have a test at 6, which, as time would have it, is now. So, I realize my english is poor and my stories may not be interesting, and even though my new boyfriend and his team lost the copa de oro on sunday, I´m staying positive and I have faith in the goodness of taxi drivers in Xalapa and all over the world.