sueños en español

I dreamt (sp?) in Spanish for the first time last night! It was something about getting a towel for someone, but I specifically remember asking ¿Necesita una toalla? instead of Do you need a towel? (sorry I´m not using quotation marks here by the way - once again the international keyboard has foiled my attempts at English grammar).

The World Cup is in full swing here (in fact, as I´m sitting here in the cybercafe Argentina is playing another country on a TV right behind me.) It´s too bad that soccer is the one sport in the States that people really don´t watch as much, while the rest of the world does - it can be a really fun game (Pistons basketball is still high on my list though...too bad they´ve been eliminated). One of my coworkers, Alejandra, brought in a little 5 inch b&w TV that we watch during lunch time - and I've learned the ¡Que vive Mexico! cheer from the commercials that are on TV. Mexican World Cup commercials are comparable to Superbowl commercials in the U.S. - they generate lots of money and are pretty hilarious to watch in and of themselves (even, I would say, if you don´t know Spanish).
There's this one where this kid climbs into bed between his parents while they're sleeping. The dad rolls over and tells the wife ^It happened again.^ He picks up the kid, but we soon discover that the kid is not his son - it's his neighbor's son, and he returns the kid in the middle of the night, telling his neigbor ^It happened again^. The kid looks wistfully back at the Pontiac car that sits in his neigbor's driveway...and then you hear the catchphrase ^Everyone's going to want to be a part of your family.^ Kinda cute...sorry you can´t see it and had to suffer through my explanation instead :)

We got to send off our Principal Officer (the Consulate head) on Thursday night as his tour of duty in Nuevo Laredo was over - he moves on to Hawaii next to work on something with international trade with East Asia. Way to suffer :) I got to see some traditional Mexican dances at the farewell party - some local high schoolers came dressed in some amazingly bright colors. The particular dances that I saw were from Jalisco (a city farther south I think), and there was a lot of footwork with tap/clog like shoes - kind of a mix between Irish dancing (without the high kicks) and tap dancing, but with couples instead of solo. It was great!

I´m trying to get connected with a college Christian group over at the Texas A&M branch over in Laredo - please pray for that, as I am really craving fellowship with people who are my age (although maybe this is a place where God is wanting to stretch me a little bit...hmmmm).

¡Que les vaya bien! Les extraño a todos... (I hope all´s well, and I miss you all)