¡Viva los homebodies!

"Me gusta estar en la casa. ¡Pero, soy vieja! says our host mother Ruth. "I like to stay at home, but I'm old!" She continues, "You're so young. You need to be out, enjoying yourselves, seeing things. You never know if you'll ever be able to return here in the future. Take advantage of the time. Get to know the culture. Go see things." After 5 weeks Ruth still does not know us.

She carried on like this for perhaps twenty minutes, all the while my blood pressure rising. Since we've been here, not a day has passed without us being invited somewhere or pressured to go somewhere. Don't get me wrong. I like to go out and see things and do things. I like to get out of my comfort zone. After all, if I didn't I wouldn't be here to begin with.

Even living a routine, boring life in a different country is a cultural experience. I don't need to see every last landmark. I haven't even seen most famous landmarks in my own state. I haven't been to Churchill Downs. I haven't been to Cumberland Falls. These places certainly have merit and I would like to visit them someday, but do I think my life is less rich for not knowing them? No.

Give me a break people. Going to drop my clothes off at the laundromat is a cultural experience here. I've been here for 5 weeks and I've already visited 5 cities outside of Oaxaca. We've seen ex-convents, cathedrals, ruins. We've visited museums, natural wonders. We've attended cooking classes. Quantity does not equal quality. No wonder so many exchange students are sick so often. Take a break!

Now any of you who know David and I, know that we are home-bodies. But we're homebodies with gusto! We're homebodies in Mexico!

All we did Saturday was walk around the neighborhood and look at the different plants.

Oh the horror of a wasted existence!