New House New Friend

Thursday...

Pancakes with caramel spread for breakfast.  Yum!!

Two new students, both from outside of the U.S.!  One girl my age from Saint Lucia named Charlene.  We'll call her 22.  One new guy in his early 30's from Taiwan named Rafael.  They start classes on Monday I believe.  

I invited Janine (the really nice new lady) and Charlene to go to the movies after lunch.  We took a bus to the mall, which had A/C!!  First time I've been in A/C since I've been here.  The mall was super American.  The movie we watched was "The Place Beyond the Pines".  It was really good.

Bradley has been ready to go home for about a week.  I can't decide if I want to stay longer or not.  I would like to take advantage of this opportunity the most that I can but I might be kind of over it at the same time.  Speaking of Bradley, he told me a super funny story about Ming.  When Ming first came to the U.S. he barely spoke any English.  He was invited to a wedding and asked to give a toast.  His English teacher gave him a cheat sheet to help him out.  At the end of the toast he raised his glass and said to the bride and groom "Up your bottoms!"  instead of "Bottoms up!".  Hilarious.



Friday...

Friday afternoon class was again, a test of patience, but I did get to hear Ming sing in Chinese and it was so beautiful.  He is an amazing singer.

After school I moved into a new house.  I moved into a house that before, I had taken pictures of the outside because I thought it was such a pretty home.  It's very large, nice, and authentic.  My room is upstairs off of the main house with its own bathroom which gives it a sort of an apartment feel.  The lady who owns the house is older but seems very nice.  She has a nephew my age that just moved in with her about a week ago.  His name is Augustin and we'll call him 28.  I think I will like living here a lot.

In the evening I went to downtown Guadalajara to meet with the conversation exchange guy I met with before named Isais, the postal worker.  We stayed down in Guadalajara for a little bit and then came back to Tlaquepaque and enjoyed some night life. We got drunk. Who needs to speak the same language when you've had a few too many?

Saturday...

Sick day. Let's be honest, hung over.  I felt really guilty when I came to eat lunch with my new family today because everything I ate I couldn't keep down.  So at lunch, after she worked hard in the kitchen cooking, I only had about two bites.  She told me she can make something different if I don't like it and I had to try to assure her it wasn't that and it was just that I was nauseous. It was not a good situation.

There was a party at night that a lot of people from the school were going to go to.  Here a party isn't necessarily at a house but includes going out to the bar.  The school owner and his wife like to party hard on the weekends and stay out until the sun rises.  I had enough of that the night before and so I just ended up resting a lot and hanging out with Augustin a little bit in the house.  He's super nice and he speaks in English very well.  He moved here from a city 40 minutes outside of Mexico City, 5 hours from here, to find work.  He, like me, also has a degree in Business Administration but he has experience in purchasing of which I know very little.


Sunday...

Today I woke up early feeling much better.  I was starving my face off, obviously, so I walked to El Centro but not much was open that early on a Sunday.  I got a chicken sandwich and some iced Chai Tea.  When I returned to the house Augustin was up and about and asked if I wanted to do something today.  Yes Please!  So we went to the town of Tequila which was about an hour away.  It was a fun adventure.  We did it the "cheap" way, because it wasn't already cheap enough or anything.  We took a bus to the downtown bus station in Guadalajara.  Apparently the yellow seats on the bus are for old people only.  Even if all the seats are taken but some yellow ones are open, you're not supposed to sit there.  Good to know!  A little late, but oh well.  The bus station was of course super ghetto, as are most bus terminals, right?  On the outside there was an old man, a bag of bones, laying passed out on the sidewalk with his pants down.  He had defecated himself.  It was smelly and gross but no one seemed to take notice of him.  I was surprised.

The drive to Tequila was really pretty.  We passed a lot of mountains and we got to ride on a super comfortable tour bus.  Tequila is the town where Tequila is made.  We did a tour in the oldest tequila distillery in Latin America, the Jose Cuervo distillery.  They try to get you to taste the different stages of the tequila process but smelling it was enough for me.  So gross.  Before and after the tour we walked around the town a lot.  I got an Horchata afterwards which is my favorite drink ever.  I had a lot of fun today.


Monday...

Breakfast: Eggs, beans, fruit, tortilla.  Lunch: beans, hamburger toppings (I see this served a lot on lunch plates - onion, tomato and lettuce), tortillas of course, juice (the juice here hasn't been chewy! and you can tell it's not from concentrate - delicious!), soup like spaghetti-o's but letters instead and with chunks of tofu, and fried breaded chicken.

School was good.  I got to play a board game similar to Monopoly in my first class, and the second one was good too.  After school my built-in friend at my house and I went for a walk to the mall so I could look at dresses.  While we were walking, a couple of times he would stop and literally, physically move me to the inside of the street.  I forget that it's not OK for me to walk on the outside of the street.  Unfortunately it started to rain, a lot!  We were completely soaked by the time we got to the mall but it was a lot of fun!  We were completely soaked on our legs and feet walking back home too.


Things I've Noticed/Learned:
-PDAs (public displays of affection) are totally normal here.  I see people making out all over the place.  Of course there is no groping but it is really refreshing to see people not be ashamed of showing each other affection.  And people walking by of course don't take notice and make a spectacle of it.
-Rumors have been confirmed.  Taco stands on the streets sell dog in their tacos.
-Lunch breaks are about 2 hours here for businesses.  It's much more laid back. 

Week 3

It's like a giant insect Apocalypse lately.  If you know me, you know this means I'm in a living nightmare.  (It's not really THAT bad, but there has been a lot more mosquitoes and BIG insects around lately.)  There was a GIANT dead cockroach in the kitchen sink at school all day.  Whenever I went to wash my hands I was sure it was going to come back alive and attack.

Other than bugs, it's been a pretty simple week.  Seems like just another school week like in college except I'm in Mexico.

Monday....

Breakfast: eggs and tomato     Lunch: meat and rice     Dinner: cereal

The handle for the hot water on the bathroom sink hasn't been working for a few days so I've been washing my face with cold water.  Recently I started brushing my teeth using tap water and so far I've remained healthy. 

There was a new lady in my class today named Janine.  She is 50 yrs old and super duper nice.  I like her a lot.  Unfortunately, she knows a lot less Spanish than I which prevented me from learning anything new today. After classes I asked the school owner, Wouter, to please sign me up for one-on-one classes instead.  He said he would.  It's more expensive but I think it will be worth it. 

After lunch I went to a cafe with the two new girls who arrived this week, both 50 yrs old, and just like Janine, Nancy is very nice.  She's from Canada but is only here for one week.  I think she is just trying it out and if she likes it she'll come back for longer another time.  We each studied our own things and drank coffee and talked.  The interesting thing is that it seems the majority of people who come to learn Spanish are ESL teachers.  I'm in the minority. 

I take refuge in hanging out with dogs and watching sports.  Both don't require that we speak the same language and so it's a nice rest from reality.  I watched a documentary about the 2006 NFC championship game between the Colts & Patriots with Brady vs. Manning.  It was a good conclusion to another good day in Mexico. 


Tuesday....

Bug infestation has risen its stakes.  There are now giant flying bug/wasp things.  It's not looking good for my survival here.  One landed on my back and another one I had to get out of the shower before I could get clean.

Today I still had group classes.  My one-on-one classes start again tomorrow.  

This bed is killing my back.  I cannot wait to be back in a normal bed again.  One that doesn't feel as though I'm sleeping directly on a box-spring covered by merely a sheet. 

Tonight I went to the cafeteria in El Centro to have chips with guacamole for dinner and I ran into Bradley, the guy who arrived the same week I did.  It was nice to hang out and talk.  He was a pastor for a Vineyard church for 32 years and so we got to have some good conversation and I really enjoyed my evening. 


Wednesday...

Some kind of bug has eaten a hole all the way through my roll of toilet-paper.  What kind of forsaken creature does that!  Blech!

I think my head might explode for over-learning today.  All circuits are on the verge of being fried.  Today was definitely a take-a-nap-after-school kind of day.  I'm very happy about being able to learn so much information.  I look forward to being able to master the lessons once I get time back in the states.  I think I'll sign up for a Spanish class at a local college/university and then join some sort of group that meets and chats a couple of times a week.   I might have to take an English class once I am finished also because I cannot spell in English at all anymore   (Thank goodness for spell-check!) and grammar is quickly falling in line.  Basically what is happening is my English words are getting said with an accent, getting spelled phonetically and adjectives are switching positions with nouns.  It's silly. 

Tonight, I plan to Skype with my little sister in California and so I am happy to say that it will be another great conclusion to another good day in Mexico.


Things I've Noticed/Learned:
-The observance of which side of a man a lady needs to walk on to be considered "not for sale" is still practiced at night in certain areas of Guadalajara.  (FYI:  Ladies on the inside, hookers street-side.)

Hasta luego!

Sunday Fun Day Dos!

Sunday...

The Sunday morning church bell ringer needs to be fired.  It's not a pretty sound, at all.

I'm always the first one awake in this house but today I was by far and I didn't get up until 9 a.m..  I think everyone must have partied a little too hard last night.  I had cereal for breakfast because I was feeding myself today.  Unfortunately, today there was no purified water in the house.

I really enjoyed myself today!  I studied all morning and then went to a park all afternoon.  I had heard about  a big park from one of the English teachers at my school.  It was exactly 30 minutes walking distance from my house.  You have to pay 4 pesos to get into the park which is nice because it keeps a lot of bums out and people who are up to no good.  The park itself was pretty cool.  It had a 717 meter (.44 mile) low impact track that is mostly shaded by trees.  Needless to say, I was in running heaven.  After I ran for some time I went to watch a soccer game that was going on.  It was fun.  A couple of players got into a shoving match that lead to several players fighting which lead to a couple of mothers shoving each other.  I got to practice listening to lots of bad words again, but this time they all made sense to me.  Mexicans are like pit bulls, they just don't back down.  It made me miss summer basketball when games were intense.  The park also had a BMX course, a soccer field both indoor and one outdoor, four wall-ball courts that a lot of people were waiting in line to use, a few basketball courts that were used for soccer (not cool man), three pitching nets, and several slides and lots of playground equipment.

The walk to the park was interesting.  It's so dangerous crossing streets here.  It's definitely not a place for my step-mom to go running.  Just kidding, but seriously it's not a place for people to run which could help explain why I haven't seen a single runner.  Also, there were no street signs on the way to the park except at major intersections.  I don't understand how people know where they are going unless they all have a global positioning system which I doubt.  Guadalajara quickly gets pretty dirty and ghetto and a little sketchy as soon as you are outside of downtown Taquepaque.  There is trash everywhere, graffiti on EVERYthing, and bad smells wafting up in my face every several yards.  It's a fun experience for me though.

For the rest of the night I plan to study and chill out.

Things I've noticed/learned:
-There are a lot of fairly decent cars here because they are easier and cheaper to get.
-People don't stop at stop-signs, ever.
-People keep their dogs on their roofs because there are no yards.
-Apparently the sewage doesn't flow much at night and kind of settles in the pipes so every morning when I walk into the bathroom it is almost unbearable.  I don't know if that's something a person could ever get used to.

Que te vaya bien!  (Have a good one!)

The Simple Life

I like living in Mexico because it is so simple for me.  I'm sure if I lived here for more than a few months things would become regular again, but for now my life is very basic.  I wake up, shower, eat breakfast, go to school, eat lunch, nap, work out, shower, study/work, dinner, study, bed.  Repeat.  Throw in a couple exploration adventures here and there, and that's my simple life.  I think not knowing a ton of people or having any real substantial relationships helps keep it simple, also not owning a phone helps a lot.  As nice and necessary as simple is sometimes, I don't doubt that I'll be ready to get back to "real-life" when the time comes.

When I go out at night or when I stay in, my preferred perfume is bug-spay. The mosquitoes can get kinda bad here.  Last night was fun.  I was glad I had something to dress up for finally.  We stayed out until about 11:30.  It was less like a concert and more like a band playing in a bar.  Actually, it was exactly like a band playing in a bar...  because we went to a bar and that's where the band was playing.  They were very good and I really enjoyed it.  They were a cover-band and played American classical rock songs like Hotel California.  Some songs they sung in Spanish, some were in English, some were in both.  The best part of the night was that I made a female friend!  And she is close to my age!   She's only 20 actually, but the way she acts, we'll call her 24.  She teaches English at my school.  Her name is Megan.  Megan from Manchester.  Her English accent rubs off easily.  All English accents rub off easily, I think.  We plan to go shopping next week sometime and I will be on a mission to buy a dress and some sandals.

For breakfast I had sliced fruit.  I was relieved to find my plate under a screen cover so the flies couldn't get to it.  It is very disgusting to me that they leave food sitting out, not covered.  I'm sure this has to be some sort of health hazard especially with all of the flies.  They don't leave food out because they are lazy or unsanitary, because they are very sanitary people and Claudia mops and cleans daily; I think it's just different.  Also, there hasn't been any ice in the freezer for several days now which makes drinking water not as refreshing.  For lunch (and dinner because I didn't finish it) was tuna salad with crackers.

I didn't do a lot today.  Went out in the morning after breakfast and then studied ALL day.  No nap even.  I think I'm studying more now than I ever did in college. 

Hasta luego!  (Until next time!)

In the Routine

Thursday...

I've been trying very hard not to compare Mexico to the United States and to just accept it for what it is.  Same thing with the language.  When I don't compare Spanish to English, I comprehend the rules much faster and easier.  I enjoy learning Spanish a lot.  I also enjoy experiencing this culture, but at the end of the day I sure am glad that after my trip, I get to go back and live in the United States.  I'm very blessed to be one of the (few?) people that has many different opportunities to become successful in life.  Living in a "Third-World" or "developing" or "newly industrialized" country (whichever term meets your political correctness needs)  makes me even more grateful for the opportunities given to me. 

The fires back home have made the news here apparently, because both Claudia and Wouter talked to me about it. 

Mexican time:  I thought I would have a hard time adjusting to Mexican time but I've come to enjoy it.  It's much more laid back.  For example, class starts at 9 a.m. officially, but I kind of just go upstairs when I feel ready, teachers trickle in and get coffee around 9 a.m..  There is never a rush to start something right on time.  Except food, Claudia has been very prompt about when meals are served. 

Speaking of food, for breakfast I had quesadillas.  Lunch was gorditas and veggie soup with Squirt.  Gorditas are my new favorite Mexican food.  I've adjusted to the timing and size of the meals.  I'm no longer starving my face off by 2 p.m. lunch time, or super hungry for dinner. 

Today was super calm.  Not much to report.  School, nap, exercise, shower, study/work, dinner (which was cereal of course) and more sleep.  This is my normal routine here and I kind of dig it

Things I've noticed/learned:
-Children are permitted by their parents to stay up MUCH later here.  I'm pretty sure I go to bed before most of the children ages 6 and up.
-Ming said you aren't supposed to tip the taxi drivers but are supposed to tip at restaurants.  I'm going to need to consult a second source to verify this.


Friday...

Breakfast was normal food: eggs and hash browns.  Lunch was steak tacos with avocado and bean soup.  Chewy light brown juice to drink.

School was good.  I'm clicking much better with my afternoon teacher now.  Friday afternoon class was less fun this time.  Dealing with personalities is sometimes a hard thing to do.  Next week a new lady will be in my class.  She doesn't seem to know as much Spanish as I do, and I'm worried it will hold me back.  I've been developing my skills rapidly and I'd like to continue.  Possibly I will sign up for one-on-one tutoring if this is the case, but I'll give it a go on Monday to see.  Anyhow, I plan to study a lot this weekend.

I took a 3 hour nap this afternoon.  Back in the U.S. I very rarely nap but it's exhausting here.  Tonight I'm going to a concert in El Centro with some people at 9 p.m..  Isaias, my speaking partner, invited me to go.  I'm not sure if it was supposed to be just us, but I invited 3 people from my school who would like to go.  I say the more the merrier.

Things I've noticed/learned:
-I don't think I've mentioned, but there is no microwave in the house.  I would starve to death if there was no microwave in my house.
-All the food here is natural.  Very healthy, no additives or any of that junk.  I am super observant of this with my food and so in that manner, I'm in food heaven.
-There is a lot of gay people in Guadalajara which I was surprised about because this country is so traditional.  (It's like the San Fransisco of Mexico.)  Afterall, it is the second largest city in Mexico, it makes sense that it would be a little more modern.
-There are no dumpsters here and there and no one has an outside trash can.  Every morning people with a bell ringing walk on by pushing a big trashcan.  When you hear the bell you know it's time to take your trash out and give it to them.  It's 7 days a week. 

Que tengen un buen fin de la semana!  (Everyone have a good weekend!)

Hard to be a White Girl in Guadalajara

(Warning - this blog contains several Spanish cuss-words.  If you take offense to this, don't Google their meanings.  ...and also a couple in English.)


Tuesday...

Pancakes with caramel sauce for breakfast! Yumm.  A different form of chicken noodle soup for lunch: less soup, more noodle.  Snacks for dinner on the go.

Luz was my teacher in the morning.  She is my favorite teacher because she is young, and energized and has a huge personality.  It's fun to talk to her and hear her stories.  I had another new teacher in the afternoon too.

After lunch I met Ming at the school at 3:30.  We took a bus to downtown Guadalajara.  We had a poorly printed out map with us that was super faded and useless, so basically we didn't have a map.  We got a lot of practice asking for directions so that's good.  (Like 4 or 5 different times).  Ming is funny.  He's very, very nice and very, very Chinese.  Picture the most stereotypical Asian tourist you can.  Tivas, khakis, unaware of other people's personal space, sort of oblivious, taking pictures everywhere...  that is Ming.  He's been in America for 4 years I think.  Two for grad-school in CA, and two in KS. 

Guadalajara is cool, I guess.  It's just a giant Tlaquepaque but they sell more things in the same manner as boarder towns;  a little in your face at times.  For example, at stoplights there are people selling gum in the median and they walk right up to your car and put a pack resting on your driver's side window hoping you'll roll your window down.  They also wash your windshield, even if you say not to, in hopes of receiving a tip.

Lucha Libre was interesting.  Certainly not a place for blonde white girls, apparently.  (Which I wish Wouter would have warned me about, but if he did I wouldn't have gone.)  Lucha Libre is Mexican professional wresting similar to WWE.  They dress up in costumes and put on masks and fake fight.  The people get crazy and roudy and yell and scream obscenities the entire time.  Chants break out of "Chingue su madre" and "puta" and lots and LOTS of very bad words the entire time along with plenty of hand gestures.  There are workers walking around selling nachos, Coronas, fruit, pop-corn with hot sauce on top and other Mexican foods that I have no idea what they were.  It was good entertainment,  HOWEVER!... There were 4 of us guerras (white girls with blond hair) in all of the stadium.  About 5 times that night the whole audience would pick out one of us girls and all point and then would start chanting "Guerra! Veulta!" (Which means they wanted the girl they were pointing at to stand up and turn in a circle to show off their body.)  Keep in mind they ONLY do this to the few of us guerras in the stands.  And as if that weren't bad enough, if you don't stand up you get chanted at that you're a "puta" (Bitch).  And if you do stand up and turn around (which not a single one of us did) you get chanted at that you're a "puta" (whore).  How fun, right?!  I would be extremely offended had I known for sure that was what was going on the entire time but I wasn't totally sure and just thought I was being paranoid or hearing them wrong... that is until Wouter confirmed my suspicions and explained it to me the next day.  Before the show started a really pretty white lady with blonde hair (a guerra) walked in with her Mexican husband to take their seats.  A lot of people were whistling at her and making remarks.  Also, one of the times while they were chanting one guerra stood up to go to the bathroom and everyone was like "ohhhh!!! Puta, puta, puta!"  My hatred for getting "hit" on by groups of Mexican men (like when "my kind" walk by a construction zone in America and get whistled at and made remarks to) has been completely and utterly solidified.  I think I'm scarred for life and if it happens when I get back home I will probably not handle it well.  Luckily, I am armed with plenty of offensive come-backs now.  I asked Wouter the next day why they do this to white girls all the time and he said it's because guerras are naturally pretty and sort of exotic for them.  I asked Luz, my favorite teacher, why this happens all the time and she said it's because they're men and especially at Lucha Libre it's a place for men to express their power and aggression and whatever else needs expressing I suppose.  Luz then began to go over all of the cuss-words I heard while I was there and equip me with several more.  Yet another reason she is my favorite teacher.  I'm not quite sure how to process all of that experience but it sure was an experience.


Wednesday...

Thankfully uneventful.  Eggs and tomatoes for breakfast, soup containing meatballs and veggies with white chewy juice to drink.  Cereal for dinner.  School, laundry, and work (preparing things for my business back home).  Then homework and sleep.

Things I've learned/noticed:
-Driving in other countries is super dangerous it seems.  They are crazy, uncourteous drivers.
-A lot of times the roads are backed up in a traffic jam and if an ambulance needs to pass people start honking and you can hear the honking move rapidly up the line of traffic and by some miracle the line of cars on the left start moving forward quickly.  Very interesting.  I hope to see it again.
-The mother of a family is the most cherished person in the family. Mother's Day is a serious holiday and there is no school or work.  Now I understand better why "your mom" insults are so offensive.

Adios!

Week 2

Today, there is a blue Corvette parked in the house.

Physically, today was a mess.  For some reason my medicine made me feel super weird all day.  Like I was on drugs, or on a really hard come-down off drugs.  I felt tired, high, my body hurt, and I felt uncomfortable in my own skin.  Yuck!  Hopefully soon I will be all better.

Eggs and salad for breakfast.  Mystery meat and rice for lunch with cranberry juice served with a side of some sour fruit with spices on it.  It tasted like I was eating a sliced lime.  Cereal for dinner. 

Claudia and I were able to talk a lot in Spanish today.  It seems like overnight I was able to speak a whole lot more Spanish.  They say the best way to learn is to try speaking it as often as you can, so today I got a conversation-partner.  He doesn't go to the school but he would like to practice his English in exchange for me practicing my Spanish.  We met at 5 p.m. at the school and went to a cafe.  We were only supposed to meet for an hour but we ended up talking for about 2 & 1/2 hours.  It was very good practice.  We hit it off and I made another new friend.  My new friend is a postman which I think is interesting because I've never personally known a mailman before.  He is more my speed. Into the same types of activities as I am, for example exercising and trying new things and just hanging out, not partying much.  On Friday night we will go to a classic rock concert in El Centro and on Sunday we might go bike-riding into Guadalajara since I didn't get to do that last weekend.  I'm a little intimidated because he does triathlons but that's ok, it will be fun.

Speaking of making new friends, I thought four more students my age were starting this week but only one person did.  He is from China and his name is Ming.  He lives in America but he is super Chinese (obviously) and only speaks Engrish, not English.  I need to make a female friend soon so we can go shopping and do girl things together.

School went well.  I have a new afternoon teacher this week who speaks very well in English, not that I get to hear much of it, but she seems to be a really good teacher. 

Things I've noticed/learned:
-When having construction done on the street they don't say "tearing up the street", they say "opening up the street".
-Bathtubs are uncommon in this part (and maybe most parts) of Mexico.

Voy a leer, ahora.  Hasta luego!  (I'm going to read now.  Until next time!)

Sunday Fun Day Uno

Fending for myself food wise today:  I had cereal for breakfast, because that's how I roll!  I had lunch at noon and dinner at six!  What's up now Mexico!?  I went to the cafeteria for lunch to a restaurant that had both Spanish and English on the menu.  I had chips with guacamole, shrimp and rice with a Squirt, which is a really popular soda here.  Cookies for dinner.  (See what happens when I have to feed myself!?)

Today, I woke up late, around nine and showered using the "hot" handle.  Today was a good temperature.  I'm starting to feel much better from being sick.  I probably could have managed going on a bike ride into Guadalajara this morning but oh well.  Better safe than sorry, and there are more Sunday's coming at which time I can go.  Church bells were going off about every 30 minutes until 1pm today. It wasn't a pretty sound, either. It sounded like a hyper small child got ahold of the bell and was ringing it without rhyme or reason. I'm guessing the bells were going off because there is a "big" Catholic church here and it is Sunday, after all.  I say "big" in quotes because it's not compared to the mega-churches in the United States.

I don't know why but I get stared at more than normal if I walk around in basketball shorts or running shorts. It's too hot to wear jeans all the time though, and I'm not a fan of regular shorts, so I went on a mission to buy a dress.  Mission failed.  I will try again later.  When I was walking, though, I saw the Mexican Army which was rather frightening at first but it turns out there was just a ceremony of some sort in El Centro.  El Centro was a very busy place today.

It's weird being white down here.  White with curly blonde hair and blue eyes.  I get looked at a lot.  I don't think people are being racist or anything but they sure do like to look.  Hopefully I'll get used to it soon because it's kind of uncomfortable now. 

I've realized that I have no idea what car this family owns.  Maybe they don't actually own one because there is a different car parked inside every night.  One time it's a BMW, the next a Mercedes, and last night a yellow taxi Jeep.  Also, the kid that I thought was the son of Claudia is not, and her son is a different person I've seen around a couple of times that is 26 like me.  He acts like a boy though so we'll call him 22.  We were chatting in the living-room for a long time while I was doing my homework which was fun.  Eventually we had to use a translator on his phone because we already covered everything I knew how to say in Spanish.  He knows a couple of words in English but not many.  I met his friend, Hector, who is also 26 and we'll call him 26.  He is very nice and speaks a lot of English.  Not "fluent" perse, but pretty fluent in my book, because we can converse relatively easily.  I went to his house with Claudia's son tonight and we hung out on his patio for a couple of hours.  He lives towards Chapala about 15 minutes away and next to a very, very famous singer in Mexico (I don't remember his name.).  The singer owns a lot of land and has a huge house.  We got a ladder to climb up on and had a peek over into his yard.  He has a lot of miniature ponies and his own church. 

When I was at Hector's house, it started raining a lot.  And then some more.  And then it rained even harder.  And when I thought it couldn't rain any harder, it did.  And again after that.  Everything turned into a huge mud puddle and I got a little cold for the first time since I've been here.  A true tropical rain shower.  It was a good evening and I'm happy I've made a couple of friends to go do stuff with.  They both have girlfriends and hopefully we will all go do something together next weekend and I'll have two more friends!

Things I've noticed/learned:
-In general, Mexican people are really short when compared to people in the United States.
-Pemex is the only gas offered in Mexico and at the gas stations there are no prices posted on the signs, which I guess they can do if it's the ONLY gas offered.

Estoy candsada.  Buenas noches!  (I'm tired.  Goodnight!)

Lazy Saturday

Even though I know how to get hot water in the shower now, I have yet to use the "hot" handle at all.  Completely cold showers are just fine for me, though today wasn't unbearably hot.

I had a very lazy day in order to try to recover as quickly as possible so I can go out and do fun things.  A lot of sleeping, and reading, and a little studying.

This morning I got the best massage I've EVER, ever gotten in my life.  With a 25% tip (because it was that good, and I plan to go back again - but mostly because change is next to impossible to come by) it cost me $38.86 for an hour.  It was a "spiritual therapy" session.  At the beginning and the end she rings this bell and moves around you and I'm pretty sure she was praying for bad spirits to leave me.  Also, near the end she did this tapping thing on my head and heart at the same time.  I'm into that kind of weird stuff so it was fun.  But the massage itself was WONDERFUL!  She even used scrubby lotion on my feet.   If I died right now I would die completely at peace because of this massage. 

It's super cheap to live down here.  For under $600 I get room and board and 3 meals per day for an entire month!  And then spending money lasts quite a while because everything is so cheap and there isn't very many things I need to spend money on! I'm digging the financial part of this trip.

Claudia was babysitting the cutest little boy this morning, about 5 years old.  He kept talking and talking to me even though I didn't know what he was saying.  It was adorable.  I asked him if he likes Yakult and he did so I went and got us both one. 

Breakfast was sliced fruit.  There is one fruit that is the color of carrots and the texture of pear that I'm not a big fan of.  It tastes like a whole lot of nothing.  Lunch was some soup that looked like throw-up.  It was called pozole.  It tasted OK if you didn't look at it while you were eating it.  It really did look like it was a bunch of food scraps pulled out of the trash and made into a soup.  For a side there was a hard tortilla closed up around some cold mashed potatoes.  A "taco".  It was really yummy.  It was served with chewy yellow juice today.  The chewy part was the texture of and tasted like grass.  (Yes, I've eaten grass before so I do know what I'm talking about here.)  For dinner, there's yogurt.  Because I haven't been drinking enough of that lately.  Claudia will be gone all tonight and tomorrow so I have to fend for myself for food!  It will be fun to go eat somewhere tomorrow.

I got to Skype with my older sister and see my beautiful niece today and I also got to Skype with my Poppi (my dad) tonight so I'm a very full girl. 

I plan to read for the rest of the evening and sleep.  I starting reading my doorstop which is a big book in English called "The Memory Keepers Daughter".

Things I've noticed/learned:
-Soccer here is like football season in the United States except take all the excitement and amount of fans and times it by ten.   (Everyone is into it here: mothers, daughters, fathers, sons, and children.)
-Change for money is impossible to get.  When planning to go buy something it's important to try to have the exact amount because you won't be getting any change back most likely.  Carrying small denominations is necessary.

Hasta luego! (See you later! or Until next-time!)

Friday Night at Home

In the future, I need to wait to write my posts until the END of the day.  But, today I will write two posts because I can.

After lunch I tried to Skype with my sister.  First, the power on THIS block went out during the time I was supposed to call her.  Then when it came back on my Internet connection was bad.  I walked to the school and used the computer there and the connection still wasn't very good.  We'll try again tomorrow.

Because the power was out at the house, I figured instead of sweating my face off inside, I'd go study in the park and sweat my face off there instead.  So I did.  A group of high school girls came up to me in the park that knew less English than I knew Spanish.  They wanted to interview me for their English class on video camera.  I was pleased to do a few interviews.  They were definately in their first English class ever, so luckily the questions were written out in English on a piece of paper.  It was a cute experience. 

A poor older couple decided it would be a good idea to feed the pigeons.  I thought for sure that today was the day I get pooped on because about 70 flew over my head, twice.  Again, they flew too close for comfort, which undoubtedly was entertaining to the people feeding the birds, but to the rest of us sitting peacefully in the park - not so much.

There is a man that owns the "bar" across the street and down a few doors and is always doing something in the block, whether it's talking to people, or being on a mission of some sort.  He seems very friendly but sort of up to no good at the same time.  Today he tried to talk to me as I was entering the house.  Once I got inside Claudia saw who I was talking to and said "No. No, no. Es no bueno."   I won't be talking to that person again (not that I wanted to in the first place).

What I am assuming is Claudia's boyfriend (you know what they say about assuming, though)  has been over baking away.  I think he's made about 8 cakes and several pans of cupcakes tonight already.  I'm not going anywhere near the kitchen because it is so. stinking. hot. in there with the oven going.

It really wants to rain!  It's lightening and thundering and everything but it still feels hot like the sun lives next door.  The lighting is so close and the thunder is SO loud.  It's probably actually really scary right now, but I love lightening and thunder, and might not be smart enough to be scared yet. We'll see...

Things I've learned/noticed:
-The son of the family here rides a motorcycle.  After I'm confident he's good at it I'll learn how to ask if I can ride with him.
-People walk around with umbrellas, which is smart because it's portable shade.
-Dinner is a funny experience to me because it is literally just sitting out on the table and is up for grabs between 7-8, whenever you get hungry, and it's not dinner like dinner in America.  Tonight, for example, was just a plate of sliced cantaloupe and the box of cereal was sitting out with a bowl in case I wanted to eat cereal too.  Other foods were normal today. (Breakfast was eggs with hash browns and lunch was hot dogs.)
-The house shakes whenever a truck goes by, or a car for that matter, just not as badly.

I would really like to see what El Centro, the 5 block pedestrian area in the middle of town, is like on a Friday night, unfortunately, as it is with throat sicknesses, it is usually at its worst in the morning and the evening.  I'm feeling this evening's rationing of pain so it's time to read and relax. Adios!

Settled

Woke up very swollen in the throat and feeling bad.  However, the day got better.

I arrived here five days ago and I must admit that I really enjoy it here.  I don't miss the United States at all yet.  I'm very happy being here.  (The only thing that would make it better was if it wasn't so hot and I had a couple of friends.)  Next week people my age are arriving at the school so that is exciting for me.  I hope they aren't all American, just because it's more fun to experience people of different cultures.  Also, it's very easy not having a cell phone.  I haven't even noticed not having one, and I don't miss it at all!  After day two, I pretty much haven't thought about it.

Some things I forgot to mention yesterday:
-I saw the daughter take the dog out to go pee.  The dog DOES go outside to go the bathroom. 
-I figured out why there was no hot water.  "Calor" is "hot" and "Frio" is "cold".  In the shower there are two handles, one with a "c" for "calor" and one with an "f" for "frio".  The handles were switched.  I kept turing on the "hot" handle and getting water that was cold.  (Yup! Took me two days to figure that one out!)
-Real insults are still "your mom" phrases.  I heard a couple guys fighting in the streets and they kept saying "your mom" this and "your mom" that.  Being American, this is of course very funny to me because "your momma" insults haven't been insulting, I'm pretty sure, since before I was born. 
-It's normal to sell things out of your house.  Here is pastries on the weekends.  Across the street and down two houses is a "bar" out of a house.  One more house is a tiny convenient store.
-I had to buy Yakult (to protect my stomach from the antibiotics) which is a really popular Japanese yogurt drink.  They sell it everywhere.  There are a lot of yogurt drinks which is great.  I can totally dig drinking my yogurt!

School was good except that the power was out on that block which meant it got really hot in there because there were no fans.  For the second class we had group conversation class with all levels.  We sat around downstairs and played a mixed version of spin-the-bottle and truth-or-dare.  One guy ended up having to stand on the street corner and scream the Spanish version of "cock-a-doodle-doo!" which is "kee-kee-kada-kee!".  We also played telephone which the teachers thought was hilarious, and we read tongue-twisters.

Tonight, I hope to Skype with my older sister and plan to rest more in order to try to start feeling better.  Que tengan buen fin de samana! (Everyone have a good weekend!)

Sick Day

At 10 p.m. last night it was still 93 degrees!  I wake up about three times a night because of the heat.  Speaking of night, people park their cars literally inside their houses at night if they don't have a garage, which is usually the case.  They park them in their courtyard which is the inside of their house.  A very strange sight at first.

Today, I woke up with what I figured was Strep-throat because it seems as though every time I go on an airplane I get that.  Claudia told me to go see a doctor close by at 9 a.m..  I have class at 9 a.m., though, so my teacher (the one that doesn't speak any English) went to the doctor with me.  I have no idea what sickness I have because I couldn't understand what they were saying but apparently it's less dangerous than Strep so I'm relieved to know that I probably won't be dying from this.  The crazy thing is that it was only 30 pesos to see the doctor!  That's just a little more than $2!  (No, I'm not forgetting to add any zeros.)  I bought flashcards yesterday that cost me two doctor's visits!  I got prescribed an antibiotic and two other medicines and the total was about $20.  Their Universities are free so there are many doctors in the area which helps to keep the price way, way low according to Wouter.  [Side note: in case you are wondering how to pronounce "Wouter" it's like Walter.  Just say Walter with a crazy European accent and then you will be saying it correct.  Also, Claudia is pronounced like a cloud in the sky...Cloud-ee-ah. Claudia.]  After we went to the doctor, my teacher walked me through the market.  It is just an entire parking garage floor (enclosed) of people selling fruits and vegetables.  It's amazing.  Being out in the "real world" was a good way to learn today.  Also, I am very excited because I now know how to talk in future tense as well as present tense.  In the next couple of days I will learn to speak in past tense.  Very exciting.

Claudia made chicken noodle soup for lunch, of course, because I am sick and she is motherly.  She puts avocado in the soup which is so very yummy.  We drank more chewy juice.  This time is was purple chewy juice.  For breakfast I had 5 different kinds of fruit, all sliced up and put on a plate very decoratively.

The rest of my day I anticipate will be me sleeping, resting and reading.  I might go get ice cream in a bit for my throat.  (Yes, I know milk products aren't good for it but ask me if I care.)  And then more sleeping.  And then more chicken noodle soup.  And then more sleeping.

Things I've noticed/learned:
-Mexicans are very polite.
-If you don't know Spanish but you are actually trying to speak it, they very much appreciate that and will help you out as much as they can.  (They are extremely nice about it.)
-There are trucks that drive around playing "music" like an ice cream truck, but these trucks carry gasoline for people that run out of gas.  I guess it must happen often.  The speakers on them sing "Zeta! Zeta! No hay Zeta!".  Zeta is the brand and "no hay" means "there is no" or in this case "you have no".  I hear/see one about 2-3 times per day.
-Many people are into American things like Las Vegas, NYC, American music, and some English phrases like "I love you" or "spring breakers" (except that one is spelled "espring breakers" - not joking.)

Off to go find ice cream.  Adios!

Day 3

I'm very tired this evening.  This constant heat is taxing.

I woke up to a traffic jam this morning.  I don't understand why everyone here feels the need to constantly honk.  It doesn't make the traffic move any faster and it is so loud and very irritating. 

Had pancakes with some sort of sugary caramel spread over the top with coffee.  Food coma.  I wanted to climb back onto my bed afterwards instead of go to class.  Claudia (the mother) and I talked a lot this morning.  Apparently I can converse about directions and activities to do in the villages nearby very well.

School was good.  My first teacher barely knows any English.  I've probably heard her say about 10 words in English, total.  It's amazing that I can understand what's going on most of the time, but I think she sees a blank stare on my face many times during our two hours together.  Today, she wanted to move a picture that was hanging on the wall and kept peeking behind it before she moved it.  I wondered what in the world she was doing but it turns out she was making sure there were no cockroaches behind it.  (Gross, right?)  My second teacher is young, energetic and informal.  We converse a lot in Spanish and she tells me how Spanish is really spoken... She tells me a lot of funny stories in Spanish that happen to her.  It is fun.

I was supposed to go with two girls from my school  to another village close by called Tonala, today.  But it turns out that the giant farmer's market we were going to go to is not until tomorrow.  I told Claudia I wouldn't be home for lunch, though, so I just walked to the center of Tlaquepaque and found a restaurant in which to eat instead.  There is a cafeteria which is a place with many, many chairs and several restaurants surrounding them.  (Maybe about 20?)  I don't really know all of the words on the menu or how to order yet so I just found words I knew and pointed them out.

After I walked around for about an hour I came back home and showered.  There hasn't been hot water in the afternoon two days in a row (maybe there never is) but I am OK with that because it is so refreshing!  As soon as I get out, I begin to sweat again anyway. 

Today, there was ice in the freezer!!  Joy!  I asked if it was purified and Claudia said it was, however, I don't know how because it looks like it's an automatic ice maker.  I used it anyway so I guess if I get sick I'll know not to use it again. 

Claudia and her daughter have been working very hard all day at baking and decorating their pastries.  Everything looks so yummy and is so detailed.  The house has smelled delicious for two days now.

I was told about a big park (5 pesos to get in) in Guadalajara that is about 15 minutes walking distance that has a nice low-impact running track.  I plan to go check it out tomorrow afternoon if I don't go to Tonala.  I'm hoping there is a basketball court there so I can get in a pick-up game.

Just went down to see if there was some dinner laying out and I found Claudia dancing in the kitchen to American music. Nothing else, just dancing.  Happy family I'm with.  (There is quite a bit of American music around here.)  Dinner was cold tuna salad but with jalapeno juice spread over it. 

Things I've noticed/learned:
-There are no drains in the street but people are sweeping them everyday.  I wonder what happens when it rains.
-In the past, I've noticed that foreigners don't understand the American bubble.  My personal space is much larger than those from Europe and other places. Mexicans are normal with this, however, the pigeons here don't care.  They fly literally about 2 feet from your head or body.  It's frightening.  I'm pretty sure I'm going to get pooped on by one before I leave just because there are so many; the odds are not in my favor.
-I used to wonder why foreigners who don't know much English would only talk in present tense.  Now I get it, because that's all I know how to speak in Spanish.
-Wouter (the school owner) has a dog.  People here mostly just take in street dogs and start feeding them in order to obtain a pet.  "His" dog sleeps at their house and comes when it is hungry but just wanders around during the day.  Before a special event (like an important political person visiting) they will round up the street dogs and kill them.
-There is a cardinal (Juan Sandoval Iniguez) that lives right here in Tlaquepaque.
- I think I see white people everywhere but it turns out to be Mexicans.  They are very light skinned in this area.  (The only white people I've seen are at school.)

Day 2

Breakfast: quesadillas using white cheese, salad with avocado, and coffee.  Saw news of Oklahoma tornado in Spanish, of course, and Claudia (the mother) told me that here, they get about two hurricanes per year but it doesn't affect Guadalajara.  Also, she said there are no tornadoes here.

School went well.  I learned a lot.  I saw my first cockroach at school today in the bathroom.  It sat in the same place all day long.  Gross!!  In all of the houses here there are plastic covers with holes in them to cover all of the drains (in the sinks, in the showers...) because tons of cockroaches live in the sewage systems and they will crawl into your house at night if you don't have a cover. (The bathroom sink at the school didn't have a cover.)  Speaking of sewage, there are wafts of sewage smell that happen throughout the day all over the town.  It's delicious.

Lunch: Green beans with corn sauce, noodles with white buttery sauce, melon with spices, horchata (a drink) but not super sugary kind like you would get from Del Taco or somewhere similar.

Then, I went on a free walking tour that the town provides (in Spanglish).  There is a lot of history and culture and artistic things here in Tlaquepaque.  Not really my thing, but it was cool to see around.  The museums here are free on Tuesdays and they are much more laid back than in America.  Things that you think should be in glass cases aren't, you can take pictures...etc...

It was another hot day but not as miserable as yesterday, or maybe I've just come to accept the fact that I might melt down into a puddle at any moment.

Things I've noticed/learned:
-There are bicycle police around the town which makes it feel more safe.
-Mariachi originated here in Tlaquepaque.
-Sometimes people play instruments just walking along the street.
-If you're white or black you will get hit up for money by people who want donations, a job, or by beggars.
-My spelling for English words and sentence structure are getting funny already because of all of this Spanish.
-There are many street dogs.
-In Mexico, it is NOT racist to describe a person by their color.  It is just normal and used as any other descriptor.  For example if someone was trying to point me out they would say the "blanca" (white girl).  To point out a black person they say the "negro" (black guy).  And best of all, to point out an Asain they say the "amarilla" (yellow girl.)
 -Bullfighting starts in July and is very close by.

Well, I have homework to do. Adios!

First Day of School

Hot. Heat. No A/C anywhere.

I'm having fun and feeling happy about being here.  It's tiring being out of my element but it's a nice change.

Today, I went to my first day of class.  Two hours from 9-11 and then two more hours with a different teacher from 11:30-1:30.  In my class level, I am the only student this week so I get four hours straight of one-on-one learning.  I've reviewed a lot of things I already knew but forgot and then learned some more things.  Today, it felt like we did about my entire first semester and part of my second semester of college Spanish classes all in four hours.  It was exhausting and I had to take a nap after lunch.

Meals today: (Senora Gutierrez is a very good cook.)
-Breakfast: eggs, real tasting (unprocessed) bacon and salad with coffee. (Yes, salad for breakfast)
-Lunch: Chicken with very spicy sauce on the side, salad, rice, and watermelon with "soda" (water/juice that had stuff in it you had to chew.  (The texture of putting chia seeds in water for a few minutes.)
-Dinner: will be cereal with milk.  (Yup, breakfast for dinner.)

After my nap I went back to the school to get my suitcase and Wouter (the owner) showed me where an ATM is.  I got out 2,000 pesos which is about 160 dollars.  I enjoy, of course, that everything here is cheaper and not marked up like in touristy areas.

I'm still too scared to explore by myself.  It's not that it's that unsafe in Tlaquepaque to go walking around; the problem is that I am seriously directionally challenged and get lost way too easily.  However, I did go find a cafe and buy a soda and a strawberry shake to cool down with and people watch.  The people are for the most part very friendly and say hello a lot.

Things I noticed/learned:
-This family has a little poodle and I don't know where it goes to the bathroom? (They also have 3 birds.)
-Nobody believes in A/C. (Even the locals think it's been very hot here and are complaining a lot so it must actually be very hot and is not just me.)
-Americans refrigerate a lot more items than Mexicans. (For example, an entire pallet of eggs, water for drinking, salsa, half eaten food....)
-There are no formal bus stops in Tlaquepaque and you can just stand on almost any corner and wave one down.  They go by about every 5 minutes it seems and cost 6-11 pesos (.50 to .85 cents)
-Senora Gutierrez has been hosting students for 6 or 7 years.
-The restaurants are required to make ice using purified water. (Still not OK to drink the water, though.)

Well, I guess I'm going to put this sticky sunscreen I sprayed all over myself to use and go to the park and watch people. Adios!

Travel Day

So what would you call it if it's not quite Murphy's law but it's pretty close?  Oh yea...I guess it's called traveling.  Delayed flights? Check.  Started my period today? Check.  Almost missed connection? Check (by about 20 seconds).   Screaming child in seat behind me? Check.  Sit next to guy who wants to hit on me? Check.  Missing luggage? Check!

Initial thoughts when landing in Guadalajara: Pollution! and heat!  The owner of the school picked me up from the airport which was nice because he speaks English with a Dutch accent.  There were no fiascoes or confusions at the airport, minus my missing luggage and the whole not speaking Spanish thing, and it wasn't scary at all.  :)

The owner of the school took me directly to my host family's house.  They don't speak a single word of English.  There is a mom and two teenagers (boy and girl).  They sell pastries out of their house to make money.  It's a very traditional small Mexican home with a room in the middle that has no roof (aka a courtyard).  Before I came here I Google-mapped the area and did 'street-view' and I noticed there were barbed wire fences on the rooftops which was concerning but now make sense.

The mother is very nice.  We tried to speak a little bit of Spanish to each other but it was very difficult.  I can understand far more than I can speak.  She made me a sandwich when I got here and luckily they have a four gallon jug that gets filled with purified water.  Hopefully it's actually purified because I drank 3 glasses of it.  (Time will tell.)   She then gave me 200 Pesos to go explore.  It's very disorienting outside though, so I don't feel comfortable exploring by myself yet.  All the streets look the same and they are very busy with cars and people everywhere.  I'm looking forward to going to school and meeting friends to venture out with. 


Things I've learned/noticed so far:

1) Meal times - Breakfast is 8:15 and is light.  Lunch is later than I'm used to, 2:00-3:00 and is the main meal of the day. (It's treated like our dinner.)  Dinner is also late around 7:00 or 8:00 and is light.  It's not a sit down meal and people eat the food that is prepared whenever they get around to it.
2) Music - Think of the most stereotypical Mexican music... That's what they listen to everywhere.
3) Heat - Yes, it's hot.  No, there's no A/C.

Let the adventure begin! Adios!

Day Zero

Day Zero
     June 1, 2013

Testing 1..2..3.  I've never done a blog before so this will be interesting.  Mostly it is to keep a record of my experiences to look back on at a later date, but is also intended to keep my family and close friends updated about my travels. 

Tomorrow morning, I fly into Guadalajara, Jalisco, Mexico in order to go to a Spanish immersion school for four weeks.  I took two semesters of Spanish in college but that was a couple years ago and I haven't been using it.  It's always been a dream of mine to become fluent in Spanish.  I'll be staying with two different families while I'm down there.


I'm excited but have four main concerns:
1) My cell phone service is shutting off for a month and I'm not even bringing a phone with me.  I've become extremely dependent upon it for lots of things including using it as a wrist watch, an alarm clock, the weather channel, a gps, an address book, a camera, a music player, a means of contacting people, a computer, and of course a main source of entertainment.  People have long survived without their smart-phones, I'm sure I can too.
2) I don't speak Spanish
3) I'm an American in Mexico. Enough said about that one.
4) I'm a white American girl with blonde hair entering a country where American girls are kidnapped, raped and killed sometimes.

Also, I'm not looking forward to getting the apparently inevitable traveler's diarrhea.  But other than those things I'm pretty sure I'm going to have an amazing month!  I'm very excited.

Adios!