My Space Cadette Life

blogging from texas

1. It seems like people are nicer here than back home, on the whole. Or at least in certain situations. I met all of Klinton's grandparents, all three sets of them, and they were INCREDIBLY sweet to me. Usually those exchanges I've found are so awkward and the family is usually on the fence about how to act because they don't know how long you're going to be around. But all of Klinton's family was very warm and welcoming to me from the start, "welcome to the family!" But even non-family people are so kind in regular exchanges, always saying "thank you, ma'am" and "y'all have a nice day." It seems like this happens every time. I don't feel like this happens as much back home. I just love seeing people that are generally happy, and actually want to be nice to other people, just for the sake of being nice and polite.
   
2. Food portions are not generally bigger, which was the opposite of what I imagined, but you do get a ton more salsa at the table here than at home. A ton. They'll just bring you salsa and chips and tortillas until you burst. Which brings me to another thing: they bring you tortillas and butter at Mexican restaurants here. You roll them kind of like a cigarette, and then dip them in butter (or salsa) and eat them. It's so interesting--I've never seen that done at Mexican restaurants at home. I wonder why this process is completely different here than at home.
   
3. I actually went to a yoga class with Klinton's mother, which was preceded by a Pilates class. I was a little scared, because Pilates has always been difficult for me, and I've never actually taken a real class before, but I did okay. And it was so much fun. It was a different method than the class that I just finished at home so I learned a lot of new little tricks. AND I got complimented on one of my poses. If you will remember my post complaining about the crow pose (the pose that kills your wrists), it's pretty difficult, but I've been working on it all semester and I'm getting okay at it. But I just tried my best in the class and just tried to focus on what I was doing, and suddenly I found that everyone was looking at me doing the pose, and the teacher said, "That's just beautiful. Look at her arms...they're so straight. You've learned this before, haven't you?" :D At least all of my pain paid off in the end. Yessssssssss!

posted by siobhan @ 7:53 PM