One More Apple In the Basket

I packed my backpack, said bye and closed the door of 438 Guadalupe Victoria behind me for the last time. It was easier than I had thought. Feeling tired and happy at the same time I took a microbus to the bus station.

Now I am in Mexico City. Went to bed at five in the morning after more than 24 hours of mingling with UWC applicants and Mexican ex-students and thereafter taking decisions on who is eliminated and who can continue in the application process. I enjoyed it all, but at 3 am I could not care less who is eliminated and who not. Our discussion was an experiment on what sleep deprivation turns intelligent, young people into madly laughing, conflictive, mindless adolescents, who cannot take the simplest decision. Unforgettable moments of madness!

Tomorrow I will be in the beautiful City of Oaxaca buying handycrafts and chocolate. Two days after that, on the beaches of Oaxaca, sleeping in a hammock, listening to the waves of the Pacific ocean. Life is like a wave with highs and lows.

Keeping in touch, Tiina

Becoming a Buddhist

Last night, lying in my bed shivering because of the freezing wind that intruded into my room through the walls and the doors, I almost cried because life is so beautiful.

I am in Mexico, more or less alone amongst the 100 million strange Mexicans, working in a street kid home where they do not really need me, trying to avoid the kids a lot of times because they are so energetic they make me feel like a tired old woman, sleeping 12 h a night, eating and happily growing the fat reserves in my muscleless body, but still feeling very happy. I have an innate feeling of luck and happiness that follow me whereever I go, in my ups and downs. I feel so lucky!

In Mexico City, I walked by a street dog in the biggest religious site dedicated to Virgin Mary - the dog lay there, in the middle of thousands of people passing by, sleeping calmly on the pavement. What a sight of inner peace, tranquility, happiness.. The black, dirty, old dog moced me, dont you dare laugh you readers out there! Similarly, I have fallen in love with many street dogs who dont ask for anything, who just enjoy sniffing and poo-pooing on the streets. I

have also fallen in love with the kids I work with. They are crazy, insane, but cute like hell. Now that I know them and understand them a lot better, I appreciate them. They have taught me a loooot of things without them knowing it. I will tell it to them once I say goodbye (in 3 weeks!)

In 3 weeks I will start my extensive Mexico Adventure Tour consisting of deserted beaches, tequila, sleeping in a tent in the wilderness, touring all the southern Mexican states. Alejandro promised to come along, but who knows if the pendejo (a local, lovable word for a bastard) will have money or not. I want to see sea turtles and Chiapas and its indigenous villages, jungle, endless autopistas, sunshine and moonlit waves of the Pacific and the Carribbean sea. Aaaah.... I have so many plans and so little time...

Life is an Adventure Tour, depends on you how much you decide to enjoy it. At the moment, in all my ups and downs, I love life. Shit, its the only one I have, and a good one!
With Love and Peace of Mind, Tiina