La Gringa Mexicana

I am slowly becoming more and more Mexican.

To begin with, I am proud to report that I made my first joke in Spanish the other day, and it went over very well. I was explaining to a group of ladies that I wear contact lenses when someone comented that it must be difficult for me to see "hombres guapos" (handsome men) without my contacts, and I responded that without my contacts, all men are handsome! They thought it was pretty funny.

Second, I am beginning to conquer my fear of large insects, out of necessity I suppose. A few nights ago, I opened my bedroom door and found a cockroach in the hallway, much to my horror. Since then, I have had several cockroaches in my bedroom, and one in my bathroom- all of which I have handled myself with courage that should be commended. In the fray of one of these battles, the hunted cockroach decided to seek cover in one of my tennis shoes that was on the floor. Luckily, I discovered where the nasty little thing was hiding, but it still makes me gag to think that it was in my shoe. My host family's house is well-kept, but I think it is pretty much impossible in Mexico to avoid a few cockroaches here and there.

Third, I have now hand-washed my clothes! My host family has a washing machine, but for some reason they hand-wash their socks and underwear so when I did laundry yesterday, I learned to use a scrub board. :) It seems that Sunday's are a big day for family in Mexico so Lupita's daughter, Dora, was over yesterday with her two boys, Geranimo (3) and Sebastian (2 months). Geranimo has become my buddy so when I went wash my unmentionables, he pulled a bucket over to stand on and went to work right next to me. It was pretty funny to see a three year old boy washing my underwear, but I'm pretty sure that he was better at it than me (see picture).

Fourth, my Spanish speaking skills are quickly improving. I need a ton of practice still, and a lot of instruction from my teachers, but it is encouraging to be able to communicate a little bit better.

Other than that, I have really been enjoying spending time with the people here, and I really like my school. My teachers at my language school teach entirely in Spanish, but they are really good at communicating the lesson in a way that we can understand. I have also had the opportunity to see my friends from Pueblo Bonito (the resort that I have stayed in), so that has been fun, and I made a new friend from my school- a Canadian girl who is studying Spanish while she is here with her husband for his job. Although I have been having a lot of fun getting to know people, I am really looking forward to Gitta's arrival this Thursday. It will be nice to explore the city with a good friend.

Thanks for the comments everyone! It is fun to hear from you all.

Just Ask the Locals

Hello friends!

I have a blog post already written that I am going to hopefully post today, but here are some pictures for now. Ernesto, my host brother, took me on an amazing tour of Mazatlan yesterday. I am can't believe that I have been to Mazatlan twice before now and never once went to any of these places. I guess it pays to know the locals.





This first picture is 1 of 3 canyons left over from when the Spanish were in Mexico. It is extremely old, and situated on a cliff overlooking the ocean.






We walked for a long time along the beach in the historical section of town where there are a ton of beautiful lookout spots. At one lookout point, there is a floating stairway up to a platform over the ocean where every hour on the hour, a man jumps from the platform into the ocean. It is quite a drop, and definitely not the safest part of the ocean, but it was quite impressive to watch. I looked over just in time to see the guy jump, or I would have taken a picture. I was there during the afternoon, but apparently at night they jump with lit torches.

Hey, remember when I described the weather in Mazatlan as being ¨as hot as hades?¨ Well apparently I wasn´t too far off in my description because it turns out that the entrance to hell IS in Mazatlan! And you all thought that I was just being dramatic. Apparently, ¨hades¨ is an underground tunnel that leads to the market downtown, but it isn´t in use anymore because it is too old, and apparently dangerous.



This next picture is a house that was built by Mazatlan´s mafia two years ago, but it was never completed because they were caught. It is massive, and has an amazing view of the ocean, but it is entirely abandoned. Ernesto said that it belongs to the State owns it now, but I have no idea why it isn´t being used or at least sold.










Finally, at the top of this incredibly beautiful cliff is the 2nd tallest lighthouse in the world, El Faro. I haven´t been up there yet (I guess it is quite the climb), but the view from where I took this picture was so beautiful that I couldn´t think of any words in Spanish to describe it when my host brother asked me if I liked it. Of course I have the vocabulary of at Mexican 3 year old at this point. :)

The beginning of an adventure

Hola mis amigos!

Well, I have survived my first 2 days in Mexico! It's a good thing that life here in general is pretty laid back because it is quite a transition thus far. The trip here went great, I had no problem navigating the airports, making my planes or getting through customs. I caught a taxi to my host family's house and was greeted by the granddaughter of my host mom, Aspasia, who ended up being a lot of fun. I taught her a few card games last night, and we had a lot of fun. my host mom, Lupita, is very gracious and thinks that I don't eat enough. :) It's true that I'm not eating my normal amount, but that is because of the heat. Oh the heat. The day I flew in, it was so hot that I began to question whether I wanted to stay and risk death or turn around and go home. I'm not even being dramatic- it was as hot as hades. Fortunately, however, I soon found out that it was only that hot because there was a massive thunderstorm brewing which turned out to be nothing like the thunderstorms that I am used to. I normally really like thunderstorms, but this was a whole different level of rain, thunder and lightening. About 2 in the morning, I awoke to booming thunder, torrential rain and flashing lightening that was centered right above the house. There was absolutely no time in-between the thunder and lightening- it was centered directly above us. Needless to say, it was quite the event, and actually quite frightening. Due to the storm, however, this morning was much cooler- still hot but definitely bearable.

Ok, moving on. I have to make this quick because I am using my host brother's computer, and I don't want to monopolize it. I didn't expect to have internet access in the house, but Ernesto (my host brother) showed me that if you put the computer in the window of the living room, you can pick up wireless internet for free. It is pretty high tech here in Mazatlan. So anyway, I went to orientation this morning at my language school, and I was really impressed with the people there. I didn't meet any of my teachers, but the women working there were really nice, and it was great to speak English for awhile. It is unbelievable, by the way, how much practice I have had just living with my host family. No one speaks English, so it is a pretty Spanish-intensive environment. :) I can't space out for a minute or I've missed an entire sentence that is crucial to understanding the person speaking. It is really good for me though. I will be a lot better at Spanish after a whole month!

That's it for now friends, I'll write again as soon as I can!

A Month in Mexico

I am currently in a unique stage of my life- my early twenties. At 21, I am not yet responsible for a family, a full time job or mortgage payments. In June of 2008, however, I will graduate college and will begin to pursue a career, a permanent living situation, and an independent life for myself. This last year of college, therefore, is my last chance to live and study abroad for any significant length of time, and I have decided to take it. Tonight I am leaving for Mexico, and I will be studying Spanish there at a language school for one month. I had three years of Spanish in high school, but it has been 5 years so I'm a bit rusty. My Spanish is decent enough that I'll be able to get around okay, but I am really looking forward to an intensive review of verb conjugation, etc... Seeing as my host family does not speak any English, I should get a lot of practice in! This is going to be quite an adventure.

Tonight my family is going out to dinner to celebrate my sister and dad's birthdays. It is also a send off dinner for me although I won't be getting any presents. :) At 12:30 am, I am catching a red eye flight, and I should arrive in Mexico about 10:00 am. I am really excited to have such an amazing opportunity, but traveling alone does make me a little nervous. For the last two weeks that I am there, however, my close friend Gitta will be flying down to study with me. It will be so wonderful to have a friend! We were both in Mexico this past April on vacation with my parents, so it will be fun to catch up with the friends that we made.

Wish me luck, ya'll! I'll post pictures as soon as I can.