Celebrations and Bicentenario

On the 13th and 14th of I don't know how many years ago, there was a battle between the Mexican natives and the Spaniards. Legend has it that on those days, on a little hill 3 blocks from our house, there was a battle, and while this battle was happening, the Spaniards saw a cross in the sky, thus leading them to their victory. So on the 13th they celebrate by having the longest parade I have ever witnessed (and no I did not stay for the whole thing) where people in their full blown head-dresses and people in suits representing the spaniards would run around with machettes to signify the battle. And on the 14th they have a giant dance session up by the church/nunnery that now sits on that hill. There were at least 7 different groups of indigenous people dancing to the drums, it was amazing.

As for the 15th, as I said before, we celebrate the beginning of the guerra agaisnt the spanish government, so at 930, we went with the crazies and the maaaasses of people to Plaza de Armas where we waited, and waited, until 11 when they do the Grito (which means yell) where they yell viva mexico, and the fireworks. So at 11, the govornor comes out of the building and starts his speach to get people all kinds of rallied up. They start the grito, which wasn't what I expected and much shorter than I expected as well, and after, the fire work show. First there were some normal lookin fireworks a bit aways from us. And it lasted about a minute and a half, so we all turn to eachother like, "Was that it?" Then the most amazing (and most dangerous and fire hazardous) firework show begins literally right above us. Imagine a fairly small plaza, with thousands of people packed in, with buildings all around. Well those buildings are what they were shooting fireworks off of. Lets just say I got pelted in the face a couple of times with firework casings and soot in my eyes. Oh and a kids wig caught on fire. But it was by far, the coolest thing I had ever seen, I felt so giddy! I don't know the last time I actually felt giddy.

Today, the 16th, which is the actual day everyone has the day off and whatnot, there is not a whole lot going on. Today is recovery day for most people, but we will go to el centro and see what is going on because I'm sure not everyone is hung over. And with that being said, today is my last day here. Ive never been so excited and so sad all at the same time, ever. Today is a day of crepas and walking around to remember the town, and will probably be finished off at Aleph, our home away from home (its kinda sad that that home happens to be a bar though..)

EPIC weekend

Lets start with Saturday. My dear friend Erin and I decided to go to the Gallos soccer game. For those of you who are unaware, soccer is very intense here. And although I thought I was aware of that before I went to the game, I clearly was not until we had safely made it home. First of all, Erin and I are both blonde (at least as far as Mexico is concerned). Therefore, we happen to draw a lot of attention. But this wasn't even the worst of it. So the opposing team (they were green so we'll call them greenies for the sake of the story) scored in the first three minutes. Everyone was quite upset right? Well of course the Gallos come back and the score is now 3-1. Everyone is full of joy and fabulousness, except for the defender of the greenies who got punched in the face for NO apparent reason without the ref seeing (I have never seen dirtier soccer in my entire life). Then something happens. The Gallos score on their own goal. Now Erin and I saw this occur because we were sitting right behind the goalie, however many people throughout the stadium thought it was a bogus call and thus, riots. The people below us began to fight because the fans of the greenies who weren't in the caged in area were fighting with the gallos fans. Go figure. Did I mention the SWAT team lines the entire soccer field? So the game goes on. La-di-da. I'm not quite sure what was happening in the caged in Greenie fan section but by the time there was still 15 minutes left in the second half, the SWAT team had escorted all of the fans out of the stadium, slowly but surely. Now the caged in, barb wire lined section was empty, however there were still a few Greenie fans spread throughout the stadium. Everyone now starts chanting "cinco cinco!" because they want to get a fifth goal. They did. And the game was over. Oh and somewhere in there another riot had broken out above us, so we were surrounded by rioters. Also, might I add, that there are VERY few women at these games. Maybe a wife or girlfriend here or there, but for the most part, men, young and old, with Erin and I, blonde as you can get, in the middle of it all. With that image in mind, and the chaos of the game, we decided to evacuate the premisis verrry quickly, however it was not quick enough. Lets just say it took us holding hands and literally running to shut people up (we were moving so fast they couldn't see us). What an experience that soccer game was. I had nooo idea that that was what I should have expected when people cautioned us to go. CA-RA-ZY!

Sunday we went to the pyramids called Teotihuacan, where the pyramids of the sun and moon are shared with the world. This was such an amazing experience thanks to our fabulous tour guides. They let us do things that other people were clearly not allowed to do. One of these being going underground, turning out the lights, lighting a fire, and playing the flute for us. The other being taking down a "prohibited, do not pass" sign and letting us pass to see the recently descovered god sculptures where we had to sit on the ground so the security gaurd would not see us. Our tour guides were indigenous men who still use these grounds to worship on to this day. They had sooo much cultural information for us that my mind was bursting. The way these people lived was amazing! After our tour, we climbed to the top of the pyramid of the sun, where at the top there is a tiny piece of metal where you can recharge your energy just by touching it. After this, we hiked up the pyramid of the moon as well. Our tour guide told us that if you don't go up both, your mother-in-law dies, or you best friend. However you can only go half way up the pyramid of the moon, but it was very very cool to see and there was a gorgous view as well. The trip ended with subway and ice cream from wal-mart, a well-deserved treat!

On wednesday and thursday we celebrate Independence day here in mexico. And facinatingly enough, this is NOT the day they won their independence from anyone, contrary to popular belief. It was the start of a very long revolution against the government that was in place at the time in Mexico. Because of what happened on the night of the 15th, years of war were to follow, leading, eventually, to Mexico's Independence. I'll let you know how the celebration is (its supposed to be craaaazy!)

Cloudy Monolyths

Sunday we went to Bernal, which happens to be the third biggest monolyth in the world. However there were no people climbing it because it was very rainy and very foggy and very cloudy when we went there, of course. So you hike to the base, and then you climb it, right, and when you get to the top, you can look down into it (because its an ex-volcano) and see the crater with the eternal ice and stuff. So kinda officailly and kinda unofficially, it is my goal to climb that! There is even a really cute little hostal right at the base of it all that you can stay at. As well as WONDERFUL gorditas all over town. This town is known for three things, 1. monolyth 2. gorditas and 3. opal (espcially fire opal). Its a very small place but has some of the greatest things ever! Maybe I'll climb it when I move to Queretaro in 2 years to teach ;) ha.

I teach again on Thursday, about special days. That should be a fun lesson! And tomorrow I get to teach the concept of backwards. That should be an interesting concept for them to try and grasp in English.

9 days and counting.

Lessons and Jobs

As you may have seen on facebook, I was offered a job yesterday on the side of the road to teach english here in Mexico. A friend and I were walking home from teaching at a school and a guy rode past us on his bike, then he stopped in front of us and turned around to ask us where we were from becuase he had heard us speaking English (that happens a lot if we hear the same language or people hear us speaking English because everyones story is always exciting and different). We got to talking about where we were from and why we were all here and he mentioned that he was teaching English at a school and I told him we were currently here getting our TESOL endorsement and I explained what that meant (most people don't know). He then mentioned that his school was hiring and we would be very hirable. Unfortunately I had to tell him we were only around for about 2 more weeks. But I took this as very good news because I always was just going to get my TESOL endorsement to make me look better to employers, little did I know that every country is always searching for TESOL teachers. What exciting news for me, because we all know how hard it is to get a job teaching these days, but not teaching English!
Today I got to teach my first full lesson to English learnin' kiddies. What better to teach on than climbing??? The kids have been doing a unit on climbing for a few days now so I got to close up the unit with a little story and slide show of some pictures of me climbing and a story about an "epic climb" I had done. I taught them some emotions and they really really enjoyed that so that was awesome. Then throughout the story when they heard the word they had to do the action. Apperently my supervisor said that went really well! The end of my lesson, meh...it went ok, but overall, I thought it went much better than I was expecting it to do, however I have much improving to do for my next lesson in a week. However it was a grand ole time and I loooove teaching (good thing thats what I wanna do with my life!) even though I'm slowly realizing with time HOW hard it is, or at least how hard its going to be the first fiveish years of my career.
This weekend we get to go to Bernal and, of course, back to Tequis. Go figure. I'm excited and I'll let you know it goes!

Sights to be Seen

So this weekend, my dearest mother found a lovely place for some friends and I to go called Tequisquiapan. Yeah good luck pronouncing that. They call it Tequis for short. So we booked a hotel for 4 or 5 with some natural hot springs and a pool and decided to take the 45 minute bus ride for 5 dollars to the town. We got there on Saturday and we were super excited! It was definetly one of my favorite places so far. We were in paradise! Although the website said 1,000 of natural hot springs, we quickly learned that what that really meant was that the two pools and hot tubs were filled with natural purified water from hotsprings that exsisted elswhere in the city. However we were more than ok with that because this meant we could lay next to, or in, the pool and enjoy the very hot mexican sun. A few hours later we wandered into the small town of Tequis and ate some food and did a little sight seeing. Little did we know that the next day we were the ones who were the sights to be seen. Today (sunday) all of the workers and bartenders thought it would be a good idea to secretly take pictures of us with their phones....can you say AWKWARD...gotta love being from the US I guess... Finally the one worker who spoke English to us yesterday came up to us and was like, ummm i need a picture with you... and we were like really? In our bathing suits? But at least he asked. We shoulda asked for a free drink from the situation...didn't think on our toes. SO that was probably one of the most awkward things ever. We decided shortly after that that we needed to swim and sit at the OTHER side of the pool, and that shortly after that, it was time to check out.
Overall we REALLY enjoyed our weekend getaway to Tequisquiapan, I might easily say it is my favorite place I have been so far. Very quaint, very pretty, and very relaxing. YAY! Thanks mommy.

Practicum!

So my practicum started on Monday. I'm in a third grade classroom at what is thought to be a bilingual school (more or less). The students have English class all morning from 745 to 1045 and then the rest of the day they have their classes in Spanish. The way the school works is there is a coteacher situation where in the morning, my mentor teacher teaches English to third graders and then at 1045 she switches to fourth grade and the teacher who was in the fourth grade classroom switches to third grade. This aspect of it makes this a bilingual school. However I was informed that its not considered fully bilingual unless the English instruction is in all subjects. As far as I can tell, its not; we only do literature and grammar stuff in the English part. Soooo is our school bilingual? I don't know. However either way I love the kids and my mentor teacher is completely awesome as well. I have a class with only 10 students (yay private school!) and they're great kids. Love em all. I'm sad I only get to be around them for 3 weeks, and one of those weeks is pretty much over! The good news is, with this practicum schedule, that I am done everyday at 11. Therefore, to kill time since we really don't have that much homework for our practicum, I walk 2 miles home everyday. Good fun. The other good news is we never have practicum on Friday! Hello 3 day weekend...oh wait...we don't know what to do here and end up bored a lot of the time (although I think this weekend may include a trip to the hot springs!).
I have now had the wonderful experience of riding the "chicken busses" from the market to my school because it is quite far from my house. Thats fun. The first day I was super scared because I didn't know where I was going or how to get there but I had to figure it out on my own, and that I did! I'm getting to know this city better and as I am doing so it seems to be shrinking, which is pretty cool.
I think thats all I have for now...OH! The first unit we're starting in on in the classroom is climbing...tooooo bad I didn't bring my gear because that would be SWEET realia. However either way I'm excited to throw a little first hand experience in there!
Hasta Luego!

Correction

I was informed that that was not a drug exchange. For all you worried people. I was told that the reason for the "shhhh" finger was because of the fight, not because he was doing illegal things (even though im sure that wasn't exactly legal).
This week was crunch time for the first half of my time here. We had lessons to teach today and tomorrow as well and I had a paper for my cultural studies class due today as well. Fortunately, as of now, I'm pretty much done so that is pretty much awesome. On monday I start my practicum and I'm going to be in a third grade classroom. I'm very excited but don't know what to expect because we won't get to talk to our teachers until Monday I think, which is stressful because everyone else got to meet theirs this week except for like four of us. So we'll see what happens. I'm excited either way. And I'm more than half way there!!! wooo!

OH man!

So its been about a week. But that is because nothing exciting happened this week. Until Friday night. And then today. So friday we hung out with some of our sisters friends. We went out to the NICEST area of Queretaro (if we were even still in Queretaro) and we walk into this guys house and its a cave. Literally. A cave. Like when you open the door and look to the right there is a teeny tiny kitchen. Then like straight ahead is a CAVE...like rock walls and roots. Then you go to the end and turn the corner and there is like a seating area. but no one sits there cuz its wet. cuz its a CAVE! then to the left when you walk in the door is a teeny tiny spiral staircase which led to the giant bedroom and the giant bathroom and what not. I definetly fell down them. Twice. I have about 6 bruises to prove it.

Today was very eventful as well. Mostly the bus ride home. We went to el campo today. Which is pretty much a town that is very very small with like maybe 5 families total in it, but alllll of their extended family. The place we went to was the in-laws of one of my professors. My professor is pretty much the only white person to ever be in that town, so lets just say we made quite a sceene when we came through. Today was a celebration of something. I'm not sure what, but we got to experience that. There were girls doing a dance with machettes and it was really cool and we ate really yummy food including frozen strawberries with cream. YUM! On our bus ride back from Irapuato to Queretaro was when all the fun began...
Before we even left Irapuato, I heard our bus driver yelling at the bus next to him and they had quite a long exchange (of course I assumed it was a friendly one). Next thing I know, about 5 minutes later our bus is stopped and our bus driver gets off. I was fortunate enough to be sitting in the front front front of the bus so i slide open the thing and out comes the other bus driver talkin smack. Two busses stop next to ours and those bus drivers get out to stop traffic and we pretty much have a street fight between the two bus drivers in the middle of the road. SOOOO weird, but apparently thats the norm. My mind was blown trying to compare that to what would happen if that took place in the states, and I couldn't even rap my mind around the idea of that happening because that just WOULDN"T happen. Ever. So finally the two bus drivers that were just observing decide to stop it...and our bus driver gets back on and we continue on our journey. Then about 15 minutes later, once we pass the toll station, the bus stops again and some man gets on..the bus driver goes to the back of the bus to the bathroom and brings him a package...or money...either way it was for sursies a drug exchanges cuz he gave us the "shhhh don't tell anyone finger." Again. My mind was blown. We made it safe and sound so no worries, it was just QUITE the experience to say the least. I still cant believe that happened.
This is our last week of school (at least for the first part of the trip) and we teach our lessons on thursday and friday and then we're home freeee! until the next quarter. Thats all for now!

Something Cultural...

I don't have a whole lot for you today...except that yesterday I learned something about the culture of Queretaro. On sundays, they shut down the main street that runs through downtown for about 7 blocks. The purpose is for a day called caminando (which means walking). On this day, which happens to be every sunday, you are supposed to dedicate the whole day to family. So they shut down the road so families can walk on it, our sister told us that often times they will have street soccer going on or giant games of volleyball. That wasn't happening yesterday but in the square there was people all dressed up in traditional clothes playing music and it was pretty cool. I thought this was interesting how strongly they portray family in their lives and although we consider our culture to be fairly family oriented, its interesting to see another cultures perspective because in comparison, our culture is VERY individualistic and we care about the self above everything else, but that is not the case at all in this culture as well as many other around the world. Quite facinating.
Also, I chose to walk around town yesterday in my converse...and i now have blisters the size of quarters on both of my heels...BOO!
That is all

estoy cansado!

Yesterday I finally got a bolsa, which was very very exciting. A bunch of us TESOL people walked around el centro (downtown) for a while and then it started to POUR...the clouds opened up and it rained and rained and rained. We found covering for a while and in doing so met some people from Brazil because they were speaking English, and when you hear english, you gotta find out where people are from because its very rare and exciting. We chatted with them until the rain lightened and we made a break for the creperia. When we got there we found some more TESOL people and got there just in time because it started to POUR again. There was literally a river running down the walkway. They had to close the garage door so water wouldn't pour into the shop. When the rain lightened, we walked home very briskly because it was still raining fairly hard. We were very wet when we got home to say the least.

Today was a busy day as well. We went to Guanajuato and saw so many amazing things. Our first stop was this really cool church that was made of a lot of the gold and silver that they got from the mines of Guanajuato. Then we got to go down into an actual mine. It was pretty sweet because we heard the story of many of the miners and all of the terrible treatment they had which led to the Mexican Revolution. Next we went to the museum of mummies. This was quite disturbing, not gunna lie. But its also very facinating. The story goes like this: back in the day, there was such few places to burry people that you only had your plot of land for rent. So if your anscestors didn't pay your rent, you would get uncovered and removed. Well when this happend, the people who uncovered them discovered that the minerals in the ground had naturally mumified the people. So naturally, they uncovered many of them and put them in a museum. It was very very gross and very very cool. They still had their skin, many of them had clothes, as well as toenails, teeth, and hair (including their pubes...thats right). So of course, i thought i would share my illegally taken picture with you for you to see. its gross...so beware.

After this museum it was time for lunch. Note to self: don't eat hamburger in Mexico...

Then we went to the museum of Diego Rivera. Well actually not just a museum but his house. So we got to see where he lived and much of his art as well. Very cool. We also went to see the college and a museum of something that I cant remember but the murals on the walls were AMAZING and huge and awesome. We ended the day in a downpour of rain. again. We ducked into a store very quickly and stayed there for half an hour till everyone came back soaking wet. Then we took our long bus ride home...through the middle of a lightning and thunder storm while watching king kong. Not gunna lie, it was a little creepy, and I may have felt like I was going to die...fortunately I was able to tell myself that since we had rubber between us and the ground we were ok (which I'm not sure if thats true or not, but it made me feel better...).

So these are the reasons I'm thuroghly exhausted. And the neighbors across the street are having a birthday party and being very loud and I am pretty sure I won't be able to sleep, but its worth a try. I have a heck of a week and weekend coming my way so we'll just have to see how that goes.

Thats all for now!

So here is the main part of my house; the dining room and living room. Then stemming out of this room are all of the bedrooms. I took this pretty much from the door of my room so that gives you an idea. There are 5 bedrooms and 2 bathrooms and a kitchen!

This is my bed, where I take my daily ciestas and my nightly sleep time. Its pretty fabulous.

This is the city of Queretaro behind me. You can see the aquaducts that are all lit up and super cool at night which I discovered last night for the first time, but for the most part the town is pretty big, made up of 60,000 I think the tour guide said. This is only half.

This is the courtyard of OLE! I see this place everyday. But it is a safe and comfortable place for me (lots of english is spoken here, as well as lots of spanish)

School is going well. Its hard to stay engaged in class for four hours but I make it through. I'm starting to get my berings pretty well. We missed our turn the other night coming home and I was able to locate us and navigate our way home so that is good news. Queretaro is becoming more familiar and so is Spanish. I've learned lots of new words thanks to our American/Mexican friends, however most of them would be unlikely to be heard in a classroom. However two of my favorites I feel I can share with you. One is "vamos a mori" which means we're gunna die. We decided we should know that because the drivers here are CRAZY and everytime we go to cross the street, we almost get run over by a car, taxi, or cambio. Its insane. So now we just say that all the time. The second is "eso es lo que dijo ella" which of course is "thats what she said" which we just learned last night because we felt it was very necessary.

Hasta Luego!!

School has begun...

Lets see..sometime early sunday morning (about 2 am) my stomach decided it hated me, and I've been sick pretty much ever since. Haven't really eaten much for the past two days, but tried to still make the most of it. Food seems to be the only thing that upsets me, which leads me slightly towards annorexia, which is NOT why I came here at all, but for the moment, its whats getting me by.
Classes started yesterday. We have class from 8-12 and then molly and I have a 4 ish our break from 12-430 when our cultural studies class starts. Our four hour class drags on really long most of the time, especially when youre sick. Fortunately just about everybody either IS sick or has been sick. Yesterday at lunch we finally got to have a conversation with our host dad, who we pretty much never see, so that was really exciting and hes pretty funny so we were glad we got to experience that. Our afternoon class is very interesting because we're learning so much about the culture and there is a total of 6 of us in the class. Its pretty great and we're having a fabulous time minus the eating troubles. Sunday we found an italian restaraunt and it was super cool to just eat some pasta! Then for lunch yesterday our host mom made us pasta salad and chicken. I think she knows that something is upsetting our stomachs so shes trying to ease up on us. How sweet, I just hope she doesn't think its her fault we're all sick because its definetly not.
Today we will do laundry and lots and lots of homework. It all just started to pile on yesterday and we're a little stressed out. Tonight we're going to try and go to a "Nacho Libre" type wresting match, which I've never seen the movie, but I've heard its very routy, kinda bizzare, and very theatrical. I'm excited to goooo!!!
Hasta Luego

water park!

Today we went to the water park! It was fantabulous. We got in for 55 pesos...which is a lot for them, but its like 5.50 for us :) they had 2 roller coasters and a pool and water slides and a lazy river. they had other things too...but thats all we did. it was AWESOME! and now we're getting ready to go out.
Things we learned today:
1. when trying to be conservative by wearing shorts and a tshirt over your bikini because thats what you were told to do by your professors, you will be told to take them off anyways because you cant ride the slides or go in the pool with them on...
2. when you are only wearing a bikini in mexico, you get stared at awkwardly by everyone
3. americans have a conotation for being "slutty" and we totally proved thatto be true today since EVERYONE had a one piece on or more
4. when we were at the top of water slide, the lifegaurd made this guy take off his basketball shorts, which was his bathing suit, and made him go down in his underware..thats right. and she looked at him like...do you have anything else cuz you really shouldn't go down in those either. HA. what a hoot.
5. Queretaro is HUGE!!! Totally americanized too. The part of town we're in is not, and i assumed all of the town was like that...however I was proven completely wrong when we drove by costco, mcdonalds, the mall w chilis and applebees, as well as several starbucks and subways. oye who knew
6. Mexican sun is muuuuch hotter than washington sun..aka im SUPER burnt.
Then end. hasta manana

Dia numero dos

Today was much like yesterday. So there isn't much to add. I had a new amigo bilingue for our walk around downtown. And we didn't have to go to school until 9 instead of 8. When class was over at 8:10, our sister met us at the school and took us downtown...we had the BEST crepes you could ever imagine; they were huge and mine was nutella y fresa (strawberries) SOOOOO good. Communicating is hard, but its getting better. Oh I also just learned that our walk to school is just under a mile...and we walk to and from school 4 times a day. So I'm walking at least 3.5 miles a day...but usally more because we walk to el centro y las tiendas...estoy cansada! Tomorrow we're going to a water park and going dancing tomorrow night con los chicos de estados unidos. We're excited to say the least...

Also! today I learned that we wouldn't look so american if we didn't walk around with backpacks...but today we didn't have a choice because we went downtown straight from class. DUMB...oh well. Now I know. Yo necesito comprar una bolsa!!!

Hasta luego!

My First Day

Yesterday was my first full day in Queretaro. What a day it was. My alarm didn't go off in the morning, fortunately I had a lovely American roommate who woke me up (and I'm sure my host mom would have too if it came down to it) and we had a lovely breakfast of what i think was juevos rancheros and beans and toast. Yummy. We had to be at school at 8 and from 8-9 we had a OLE orientation. From 9-11 we had "survival spanish," it all started rushing back. Then from 11-130 we had a tour of the city via bus (pictures to come soon but this morning i don't have time!). It was awesome. Its HUGE...and beautiful. Then we got to come home for lunch and a ciesta which was much needed. Then back to school at 4 to meet up with our conversation partners. We got to walk around town, go to a helado shop con chicos muy guapos who spoke ingles muy bueno but we weren't allowed to speak to them in English thanks to our spanish partner. Lisa and I may go back there today. Haha. Ummm. Then we had another 2 hour lecture class which was just pretty much asking more cultural questions about Mexicans to our chicano teacher. then we returned home and showered (finally!). As i was waiting for the shower, my sister asked if we wanted to go meet her friend who has four guapo americanos (boys) living with her...so we did...they were not all they were cracked up to be, however it was cool to meet 5 american boys and 2 american girls who we could speak english too. Then it was off to bed. Today is a new day full of LOTS more walking (my feet and legs hurt rull bad) and more viewing the beautiful city of Queretaro!
Hasta Luego!

Estoy en Mexico!!

I have arrived. What a long journey. I left Seattle at 1150 en la noche and arrived in texas 4 am our time, 6 am their time. then flew out of texas at 8 and arrived in Mexico City at 11. From there it was customs and luggage claim. Then to find the bus. Which we found, bought our ticket and ate some Carls Jr. We took a three hour bus to Queretaro (and watched "Its Complicated" and "Eagle Eye"). Then I had to leave my travel buddy and take a taxi to my homestay. I cannot imagine having to drive in Mexico, they're maniacs! I think we almost died like 3 times. I helped my taxi driver learn to read since I only had the address written down, and I finally arrived at my homestay. My family consists of my mom, Lola, my dad, Javier, my sister Pamela?? who is 20 and my brother...whose name i cant recall who is 16. He speaks English fairly well and Lola tries really hard. Fortunately I speak just enough spanish to communicate with them and i can even pick up on some of the jokes. go me.
Mexico City was a huge culture shock for me. Here is what i learned today:
1. there are 24 MILLION people in Mexico City
2. donkeys roam free everywhere
3. dogs roam free everywhere
4. and 24 million people make quite a mess...
5. I was offered a job in the first like 15 minutes i was in Mexico City...a little awkward but whatever. haha

Queretaro is huge, which I wasn't really expecting...but its pretty cool. The weather is nice in my opinion; cloudy and cool. Perfect cuz otherwise I might die of heat exhaustion.

Side note: my brother plays piano and listens to american music...its pretty sweet. also my dad asked when my sister would be coming to visit so they could get married. I laughed really hard. HA

Today is the Day!

Today I leave fore Mexico. Well really tonight. In about 12 hours. RED EYE!!! woo. I think I'm pretty much set to go. Kinda. I still have to go up to campus and print 500 pages and carry that on the plane with me (thanks Carmen) but other than that, its ready set go! Wish me luck cuz I'm quite nervous...

Getting Ready

There is lots to do. I have one week until I am getting on a giant plane headed towards Mexico City. Unfortunately, I have to move all my stuff out of my house before I leave because when I get back, I will be living in a new location. We also had a meeting last week that informed us that we have about a billion things to do before we go, aka lots of homework so we don't have to spend our free time in Mexico doing it when we'd rather be out doing something else. So I have to get on that ASAP.

While in Quetaro, I will be living in a homestay with two other girls from my trip, Lisa and Molly. We are living in a house with a family which includes a mom, dad, 19 year old daughter and 15 year old son. The family's home is about a 15 minute walk to school everyday. The diet and eating schedule are going to be a little hard to get used to, but I'm still looking forward to this trip! It's going to be fantastic!