party favors!

Our lazy Saturday ended up being one of the best days I've had here! We met and went out to brunch at a very American restaurant called Sandy's (its a chain in the area). It was good food but we had a mishap with the bill. They gave us English menus (which really offends me) and I ordered the "Plate of fruit" which, directly translated, is "Plato de fruta". So I got this HUGE plate of fruit and I was like "Wow all this for just 24 pesos!". Then the bill came and I was charged $65 MXN for it. And I told the waiter and he said that I had ordered that one. He brought me the Spanish menu and, indeed, "Fruit Salad" (the expensive one) was called "Plato de fruta". Well, I explained that it wasn't my fault becuase the menu was mistranslated but I wasn't going to pay. And then he told me that since they had brought me the big plate, it was my fault for not recognizing it. And I argued that, since I hadn't been here and they had assumed I was a tourist (English menu) I shouldn't have known that it was too big. At the end, I got it taken off the bill and was happy. Then we walked around and caught wind of a gay pride parade that was about to take place. We walked down Hidalgo (big street) until we found a nice shady spot and watched the most amazing parade. We ended up joining in with the march at the very end, but took amazing pictures before (check Facebook... they will be up in the next few days). Part of it was a "protest" of sorts and part of it was a hot tranny mess. It was so much fun!!!! And they were really excited to see Americans and they waved to us from the floats and yelled "Hello girls!" and loved speaking English. It was a great day. Then we wandered around some more, saw an indigenous dancing group, and then ate dinner at a small café next to a church. There was a wedding going on there so we got to see the couple leave the church (adorable!) and then we went home.

Sunday was also a very fun day. We told Heather about the giant Americanized mall near the park where Emily runs, so we took the bus and went there because Heather is a shopaholic. Thankfully I had left my credit card at home and did not buy anything but lunch, but had I had it with me, I would have done some serious damage. We tried to eat at the Applebees (yes, there was one! There was also a Chili's, Outback, and Hooter's on the same wing) but it was too crowded so we went to an Italian place instead. The food was good, but what excited us most was the FREE REFILLS. That is the first time we had seen it in this country, so we all took advantage of it. The pasta was good. The waiter was excited to speak English with us and then they forgot that I had ordered mine without mushrooms (we all know how I feel about fungus) and he felt really bad and took it back. I offered to just pick them out myself, but I'm fairly sure he went in the back and painstakingly picked them all out. We tipped him well. After the shopping was over, we walked 2 km to Parque Metropolitano where Emily runs and where I had gone once before with her. We walked around it and stopped at a snack stand to get drinks. They have this amazing stuff here called "Agua Fresca". Now, you Spanish speakers are probably thinking "Fresh Water"? Well juice here is like 100% juice, no water. So Agua Fresca is flavored water (Agua Natural is real water). But "flavored" implies giant chunks of said fruit in the water. So I had Agua Fresca de Fresa (of strawberry) and it was AMAZING. It was pure water and strawberries. For $14 MXN ($1.40 USD) I got a massive styrofoam cup of it and it was heaven. After my Agua Fresca high, we walked back to the bus and went back to our house. Concha hadn't gotten back from Sunday evening mass yet, so we set up my laptop and watched a movie (with Heather). As she was started to leave the massive thunderstorm started (they are nightly) so she got soaked trying to get home. Poor thing.

Today we went back to work, finally! We were feeling well enough and were excited to go in for busy Monday. However it was unnaturally calm today and not even half of the chairs were full. But I really enjoy days like that where it isn't as hectic. And since we've been here so long, we know almost all the patients every day. Most of them are on a biweekly treatment or come one day every week, so we get to see them regularly. It is fun to just hang out with them. When we walk in and a kid sees us, their face just lights up and it really makes me feel like I am having a postive impact on their treatment. If for 5 minutes they can get their mind off of cancer and the pain of chemo, I know I have made a difference. And the smiles... seeing those kids smiles really makes my day. I don't think I will ever forget the strength that these children have and the positive attitude. One minute they are throwing up and crying because of the pain, and then we show up and they can't wait to talk to us or play a game or have us read to them. It is amazing.

After work today we went to the PA office and talked to Marco about the public heath project. It is definitely possible to keep going to the chemo center 2 or 3 times a week while going to the new project the other days. I was excited to hear that. There are several projects we can join with the public health nurses, the most exciting is field work. We are going to be trained in how to administer vaccinations and we are going to travel all over the city and give children vaccinations. We are going to visit the site late this week or early next week and hopefully start soon. There are so many exciting things we can do there, and we don't even have to leave our chemo kids who we are in love with!

Tonight we are just hanging out and lying low, but tomorrow PA is taking us out to Lucha Libre, which is the Mexican version of wrestling. It is going to be an EXPERIENCE. And I will have awesome pictures. PA is paying for our $70 MXN ticket ($7.00 USD) and 1 drink, so it is a free trip. I think we just have to pay for the bus ride over? We haven't been given that detail yet. We are meeting tomorrow at 8p to go over. So all day at work tomorrow, I will get to think about sweet Mexican wrestling!

We are going to Morelia this weekend, so all week I'll be excited about that. It's the capital of the state of Michocán (another state bordering Jalisco) and a lot of our patients are from there. I have already been asking around for places to go and things to do, so this week at work will be Morelia research. We are also going to try to visit the ruins at Patzacuaro, which is 1 hour away from Morelia.