This weekend I went to another city in Puebla called Cuetla or something. The cool thing about it is it has the highest mountains in the state. It was beautiful, humid and a little cold but actually the water from the waterfalls was really warm. I forgot my jacket so thus the picture of me with the scarf on my head! Haha. It was crazy to see the surrounding city though- there was actually plowing his field behind a horse-how different America is. I felt like I was traveling backwards in time a little. I dont know though, I might trade the crop dusters for the amazingness that is Mexico.

Some funny things from school- the little kids I teach make up English phrases all the time to communicate what they want- the favorite one is to precede every word with ¨and the¨... so the kids always say things like änd the bathroom, and the me, and the go¨! Haha its really cute!

Right now I am teaching kitchen class-which basically means we cook something with the kids and teach them all the words associated with the recipe and the process of making it. For part of one recipe I was using cinnamon, and typical for me I gave them each a tiny bit of cinnamon on their hands to taste. Haha two of the boys didnt like it so they just turned around and spit on the floor! Haha... I was in total shock I had no idea what to say, but not like it mattered since I cant speak enough Spanish to say what I wanted to...so I just laughed instead. That was a dumb idea because then all the kids turned around and started spitting all over the floor! I love Mexico.

Valentines Day in Cholula Mexico

I have never had a weirder/crazier/hilarious-er Valentines day and weekend. So we arent allowed to date as part of the ILP program but we got special permission for this weekend. We wanted to go to a dance but in order to go you had to have a date so the coordinators gave us permission.

Normally on the weekends, we hang out with a group of three guys from Institute. The other teachers each kind of have a favorite guy and so of course that makes me the fourth wheel. I dont really mind though. I have sort of enjoyed keeping out of the relationship drama that isnt supposed to happen anyway. However, I needed a date. This guy in my stake that I have danced with for the last couple of weeks asked me to go which was great minus the fact that the other three guys didnt know he asked me.

So they other three guys found me another date. Haha, for some reason they didnt mention that to me. So, when Alenjandro (my date who by the way is like 30 or something and speaks nada English) came to pick me up so did another guy! Holy Cow. Imagine trying to reconcile that when you dont speak Spanish and neither of your dates speak English. It was a mess. So me, my two dates, and the other three teachers and their dates all went to the dance together.

Then when we got there, the boys hadnt made a reservation for the dance so they wouldnt let us in. Irresponsible boys exists all over the world I guess. So instead we went to this institute activity! Which was amazingly funny and lame! It was a huge karioke party. At home like two people would have showed up, but here the entire gym was filled with people.

Oh and I should mention that the dance we were supposed to go to, mandated that the girls make dinner for the boys. So of course we had prepared this elaborate meal for our dates. I made rolls, (thank you Ashley!) and Cheesecake (thank you Nanny). The other girls made salad, and russian meatballs, and a potato something or other. So needless to say, we were hauling all of this stuff around Mexico without a dance to go to.

So once we got to the karoake place we just dished out all our food right there. Everyone else was eating Pizza but no we had a five course meal! People were starring at us. But im sure most of that was because we were white girls. Its very intersting being a minority here. People cant stop starring at you all the time! And what do you know but randomely like five other guys show up and want to be fed at our table...something like friends of friends of friends...whatever. It was weird. Especially because most of them were probably around their late 20s also. guys are desperate all over the world too!

So at one point I got up to use the bathroom. When I was coming out, my real date Alejandro pulled me up to the front of the gym, near the stage where a bunch of kids were singing some Mexican love song. Yeah so he grabbed my hand and started seranading me Opera style except he was totally serious. Oh my gosh I hope you can feel the awkwardness. It was amazing. one of those moments that you know your grandchildren will hear about! Absolutely priceless! Haha.

When we finally left, the other girls walked out with their dates and I walked out with seven. No joke. I dont know why all the desperate guys are attracted to me. talk about robbing the cradle. So while Alejandro is trying to salsa with me in the parking lot, another guy whose name I never knew comes up to me and hands me a small boquet of flowers and kisses me on the cheek. It is pretty customary to kiss someone lightly on the cheek when you meet, but this guy soaked my face.Haha I thought I was gonna die.

So then my other date Fernando ended up taking me home. Okay and Im serious that was the short version of the best awkward night in the world. But then Fernando drops me off (at 2:30 am) and the security guard of my apartment hands me this little valentine! It says on it and I quote:

My Dear Kyrstin,
Happy San Valentris Day! You are very special! Love ya! Your smile is beautiful and youreyes are soo charming. Now theres a look in you´re eyes like black holes in the sky. Come and make it all right! forever yours... Andres haha!

Haha! It was burnt around the edges and had a rose taped to the corner. Andres is my 15 year old neighbor! Haha. I dont know whats wrong with me. I either get the 30 year olds or the 15 year olds. I was hoping for somewhere in the middle. Anyway what a night!

However since it was already 2:30 i didnt go to bed because my host family and I were leaving to go to the Mexico city temple at 4:30. So I figured there was no point. I just stayed up and talked to my host mom Alejandra! We had a good laugh about my date. We got to the temple around 7 and by some miracle I got to go in with a youth group to do baptisms! It was amazing! What a way to spend Valentines day! What a great experience. I was in awe-seeing Heavenly Father´s work moving forward in another country. I mean of course I knew there were temples other places but its a whole different thing to be there and be a part of it! The only funny part was they couldnt say my name. They called my Hermana Armstraw! We spent most of the day there so that my host parents sam and ale could both go to a session. We had all four kids so it was crazy! But fun crazy! I loved it!