am i in springfield?

k so i came really close to catching a mullet today. there were like 4 or 5 high school boys that all came out the front door of the school at the same time, ALL with mullets. i had my camera and everything. but i couldn't get a shot!!! i am kind of reminded of high school, when bored on friday nights, we'd drive down to springfield to go to meijer and see how many mullets we could find. fairborn kids, do you do this? or maybe you have a similar yet geographically appropriate thing to hunt? perhaps you go to yellow springs and count guys with bob marley hats? well that's neither here nor there.

have i mentioned the excessive amount of caramel spread they consume in chile? it's called "manjar," and it is on our table at breakfast, lunch, and dinner. i'm not really sure if i'm supposed to put it on my toast, or my lasagna, or what, but the kids freakin love it. my sister, ignacia, honestly handed me a spoon of it the first day i arrived. like, as soon as we got in the house. "te gusta manjar? conoces manjar? aqui, pruebalo." big fat spoon. i had to be like "mmm, good!" in mexico, similarly, they have what they call "cajeta," which is a caramel spread that my mexican family would offer to us, with cookies, after every meal. i dont know what the deal is. i mean it's tasty, but.. like does each country have its own version of caramel spread about which they are crazy? i want to know.

also, while i'm on food, allow me to say that the instant nescafe is not that bad here. my mexican family always had instant coffee, but i'd never try it. so when i returned to the u.s., i decided i'd give it a shot, and bought some instant coffee at meijer. it tasted mainly like gasoline, with an aftertaste of dirt. hence my strong aversion to instant coffee of any variety. i was unwilling to give it a try down here either until one of the girls, jenny, told me that it's not that bad. it actually tastes a little bit like coffee! i douse it with sugar or aspartame and i'm good to go.

and speaking of the aspartame- it comes in the funniest little package! do any of you remember smints? the tiny white mints that came in a flat package? (ben [heckman] if you're reading this, i know you do! i know exactly who you're thinking of right now too!! "would you like a smint?") like, their fake sugar comes in a package, smaller than a cigarette box, and you squeeze the side, and out poops a tiny little white tablet of aspartame! i am so amused by it every time.

ah, pardon the rambling, but speaking of cigarettes, my friend bought a package of cigarettes the other day half the size of the ones they sell in the u.s. they sell packs of just 10 down here! i don't know why they don't do that in the u.s. it'd be better for people trying to quit (ahem, smokers, you need to quit!) one time when i was working at udf, this guy was like, "hi, i'd like to buy one cigarette, please." haha. and then he had to buy a whole pack. the mini pack is smart! oh, and they also glue a disgusting picture of the most yellow, messed up teeth you've ever seen (dont worry ben i'm saving it so you can share with your dental class!), as well as these really morbid messages like "these kill you more and more by the day!!" and i'm like yipes, get that thing away from me! had to ask my friend if i could unglue the little pic tho and keep it, which i did.

looks like i'm running out of things to ramble about. carlitos and his little friend are watching "the incredibles" in spanish here in me & ignacia's room (they don't have a common tv. how weird is that.) it's pretty funny. leaving for the weekend tomorrow, so i better have some more comments by the time i get back!!!! (spanish III's, don't think i haven't noticed how poorly underrespresented you've been in my comments!!)