Schools Out For 'Winter'

Apparently, it`s winter here, but this idea seems totally absurd to me, considering that today its about 70 degrees outside. Last night it was chilly enough to wear a corderoy jacket and socks with boots!! Anyway, with winter comes Christmas, and with Christmas comes lazy vacations and the famous Posadas.

Posada really just means 'hotel' or 'accomodation', and it is the name of Christmas parties in Mexico for reasons I am about to explain. I went to my first Posada ever on tuesday night. The tradition is that half the people go outside the house gate with sparklers (yes, the fireworks) and sing an incredibly long song whose lyrics no one can remember so they have to write them down. Essentially, to sum it up:

the people outside sing `we are Mary and Joseph, let us stay in your house, we can`t find a house, we have a baby, he is God, please let us in, oh please, begging, groveling...etc.`

the people inside sing `why should we let you in, who are you, theres no room, im not convinced, whos yo baby daddy, oh is that so, `really! hmmmm, ok come on in holy pilgrim saints!!!!!

the song is repeated twice, once in front of the gate and another time in front of the real front door. Then everyone comes in happily and dances together and gives hugs and says `merry christmas!!!`

After this, we ate delicious tamales, drank homemade fruit punch with liquor and listened to chrismas music.

The best part of the night was the Piñata. Let me just clarify that the Piñata was the shape of Santa Claus, nose like a cherry, cheeks like roses, the whole shebang. I said `let me get this straight, we are going to hit santa claus with a bat? This has to be unethical. Let me get my camera!` At which point I proceeded to photograph the brutal beating of a historically loved children`s hero. Paper-mache Santa was photographed flying to the right, to the left, getting bashed in the face, loosing his right leg, and finally forfeiting his entire torso to the delight of the candy gathering partygoers. At the end of the night, Santa`s poor corpse laid, montionless, god rest his soul, in perfect position for a merciless photo. Bwahahaha!!!

So I have vacations for yet another 3 weeks, and I`m not sure what to do with myself. Watch movies, go to the park, play on the internet, go to parties every night. And again the next day. It`s quite silly, really.

I`m going to start yoga classes tomorrow. Ommmmmmmmmm.