Whirlwind week

This last week has been super great. My sister Maria came to visit before she enters the MTC on October 12th to go to Hawaii as a missionary, and we had a blast together. We took the weekend off from work and homework, and played as much as we possible could. We started off Thursday night after she arrived going out for some authentic tacos, and then heading downtown to check out the lights and the fountains, and the atmosphere. This is a generally safe city, and it was nice to feel comfortable walking around the streets in the evening without having to worry. Friday we made our way to a market and bought a few exciting Mexican items, but mostly just took in the Mexican-ness of it all. We were getting pretty hungry when our lunch decision was made for us by a waiter who wouldn't take no for an answer. He persuaded us into his restaurant where he proceeded to bring us more food than we could possibly eat, and sang and danced to go along with it all. We discovered a couple of great artsy streets where we took in the sight, and then headed home, dragging our newly purchased hammock with us on the bus. We rested up and then got ready for a dance at the institute building. True to Mexican policy, our ride arrived about an hour late, but we didn't mind too much, because we used the time to have our own gringo-style dance along with VH1. Upon arrival at the dance, we experienced a bout of culture shock. It was completely different than any church dance we had ever been to. Everyone danced in pairs for slow and fast songs, and more surprising than that, every actually knew how to dance (I mean, I guess I expected it, but what do they do, start teaching them as little children?). We were absolutely the only blond haired, blue eyed, white girls in the entire place, and as if we weren't conspicuous enough, the lights were left completely on. I felt like everyone was watching every mistake I made as I tried my best to salsa. I got used to it though, and we had a good time.
Saturday morning, our friend Fernando came by to take us downtown again where we got an insiders perspective of the area. We went to this gorgeous park, crossed above the city on a bridge, saw all the good artisan market areas, and just tried to soak in Mexico. It was really beautiful. After lunch of cemitas (typical to Puebla) we hopped a bus to Cholula, a small town outside of Puebla that is home to an ancient pyramid with a Catholic church built on top. Interestingly symbolic of Mexico's history. It was gorgeous! Probably my favorite of all the places I've been so far. We hiked up a hill to the church, and then went back down to duck our way through the ancient tunnels that wind around under the pyramid, and then emerged to hike the pyramid itself. We also saw an alter where small children were sacrificed, and climbed up to try it out. It was a glorious, and tiring day. We ended with a bit of a sunburn, but a lot more memories for it. Sunday was relaxing, and Monday was sad to see Maria go.
We haven't had too much time to mope around missing her though, because this week has been crazy! We have been travelling around to different stakes to teach the workshop, and have put in well over 20 hours. That on top of homework, and trying to squeeze in the season premiere or Smallville, our new favorite show (having appendicitis and being stuck at home for weeks can cure even the most avid TV avoider) has made this a week to remember. Last night after teaching the workshop at a stake center, we were whisked away to a single adult activity where we played games, ate corn on the cob, and got almost the entire group dancing like gringos. It was quite a sight...we were pretty proud of ourselves. :) Today we are enjoying General Conference, and getting geared up for another busy week.

*Going to catch conference...post pictures later*