After having been in Mexico for more than three weeks, I feel like I am becoming a lot more familiar with my surroundings and a lot better at communicating. I’m definitely feeling more comfortable with my Spanish language skills, but in addition to that I feel like I’ve become more proficient when it comes to using nonverbal communication and roundabout explanations to express myself when I don’t know how to say something in the language. I feel like this is especially valuable to help me with my continued learning and future career. It has also become very interesting to observe other peoples’ routines in a different culture; because I have a consistent class schedule, I often find myself seeing the same people as I walk to the university campus, and I feel like some consistency in my observations has been beneficial to my understanding of the culture.

On Friday, I went to the Summer International Jazz Festival in La Plaza de Armas. It was a very interesting experience, and very different from any of the concerts that I’ve been to in the U.S.. There was no admission fee, and the seats filled up quickly even before the music had started. The music was much more engaging than I had expected, considering I don’t usually seek out jazz music, and there were several familiar English songs thrown in as well. The festival is stretched out over many days, so we were only able to see one band (the head singer was very talented when it came to tap dancing), but participating countries included the U.S., Cuba, and Canada. I would love to revisit on a different night and see a different band if I have the time.

My señora spontaneously took me to a theater over the weekend as we were walking back from a pharmacy. There was a play in progress that had recently begun, and we were able to just walk in and sit down in the crowded theater. Like the jazz festival, it was completely free and nobody minded that we were walking in partway through. The play was largely nonverbal, but I still felt just as lost and confused as I might have if it was all in Spanish. It was part of the Cultural Festival celebrating the founding of the city, and there were continuing events throughout the week that I was unable to go to due to time conflicts.

My favorite place that I have discovered throughout my entire time in this city is Café RenovArte, a nice little café with great Internet very near to the main college campus. It’s one of the few places where the staff is consistently friendly to us even though we are clearly not from around here, and they are happy to hold conversations with me even though my Spanish conversational skills are very much a work in progress. I’ve found it very interesting how much English music is played everywhere in the city; just walking down the streets I can hear it blasting from various stores and restaurants. Café RenovArte is one example; they always have loud music in English, mostly from the United States, playing throughout the day. It is hardly beneficial to my language skills, but it is certainly familiar and comforting as well as being very interesting in a cultural sense.

Now that I have passed the halfway-point of my time here in Mexico, I feel like everything is going by very quickly, and I hope I am able to make the most of my remaining time here and not miss out on too many experiences.

I opened my door in the morning and found the creepy critter right against my door. My senora again came and killed it before me. But first it ran all over the place!

The kindness of the people here is just so amazing to me. My senroa, who has to be at least eighty-five years old, spends her Sunday nights cooking for her sister. She walks to her sister’s home to bring her to food on Monday mornings. My taxi drivers are so kind and helpful. They give me there numbers to call them when my bus doesn’t come or show me where to go to take the bus home after they drop me off. I am just amazed that these men can be so kind and talkative when they work seven days a week for about fifteen hours each day. They drive around the same city, same roads and breath in the horrible fumes of the city. I have never smelt any exhaust and city stench as bad as this. I live in Portland and am used to a little city smell or car exhaust but I have never craved fresh air so badly as I do now. Another example of how kind these people are is when I am taking the bus. Men who have been at the bus stop waiting much longer than me will let me get on first. Also, people give up their seats for others who have children, many bags, or are old. This may be a rule on trimet in Portland but people seldom follow it. Lastly, everyone (and I mean everyone) says hello to each other on the street. Oftentimes they don’t say hello to me because they can tell I am from the US and they don’t think I will say anything back. However, to people of their own culture, they are incredibly friendly. I stop and ask for directions sometimes and people will go out of their way and take ten minutes no matter what it is they were doing, to help me.

This all just shows me how much more family and community centered this culture is compared to my culture in the US. In the US, we wouldn’t do this. We would just throw money at an elderly sister who can’t cook her own food or thinking for ourselves when taking the bus. I feel like the way that the people here act towards each other just makes everyone generally happier. It is definitely a lesson that I will take back with me.

As for this weekend, I stayed in Queretaro. It was so nice to relax and explore the city without the huge group of students. It was nice to feel more local and a bit less like a tourist. My friend and I visited a beautiful Museum of Art (not allowed to take photos) and explored little shops. I had a communication breakdown with a woman when I was getting my nails done. She told me that it was eighty pesos to get my nails painted with gel nail polish. That is maybe four or five dollars so I was thrilled. As she worked more on my nails and I read the bottle, I realized it was shellac! I have sworn that I would never get shellac or fake nails in my life. What is worse is that she did them very poorly and there are funky gaps in the paint. I will be spending my night tonight soaking my nails in acetone and scraping off the horrible nail job. I see this experience as positive though because I learned that I should make sure I fully understand what is going on and not be afraid to ask for someone to explain things again to me. It was a fun and new cultural experience for me.

1D is huge here.

Amazing Tamales!

When I went to walk across the hallway to the bathroom at 11pm, there he was, crawling in from the rainy outdoors. My senora came in and squished it for me.

This week went so much better that the last one. I finally have gotten into a routine and am not so homesick. I am also going into the city more.

We went to Mexico D F this weekend. It was a super fun trip but just way too many museums. There are so many other things I wish we had time to do! We also didn’t get to see the Leonardo Davinci and Michael Angelo. My one regret is that I didn’t take my photo with the golden wings. There a street that has each side separated by trees in the middle. When you go to cross the street, there are these golden wings made by a famous Mexican artist. People can step up onto these steps and take their photo as if they have those wings. It is a really cool experience to see all the people stand up there. The wings are called the angel of independence. I saw more by this artist in the Museum of Art in Queretaro this weekend and since then have been enthralled with this artist and his work. This was the first time I really felt like art “spoke to me”. I think that this is because it connects with people and is not just a solitary object to watch and not touch.

I had another first this week. I got my blood drawn. I am usually so healthy but I am just not getting over whatever it is that I ate to get so sick. Ends up my antibiotics are too weak. I am going to have been sick or on antibiotics for the entire five weeks of my trip. I found out just in time to have my blood checked again the day before I leave. I have learned two things from this experience. One is that my trust in God has increased greatly. I am in a foreign country taking medicine I have never taken before. I have been presented with so many decisions with such little time to think about it. I have just had to trust that I am doing what is right and that God will take care of me. I truly feel like He has. I am completely shocked that despite how sick I am, how little I am eating, and how much I am walking in the heat, that I still have energy and feel great. I strongly believe that if I didn’t’ have my faith, I wouldn’t be able to get through the day. I know that this is where God wants me and that I will learn so much from these hard experiences. If I didn’t have these hard times, I wouldn’t learn anything. Everything would be perfect and I wouldn’t have to turn to God for help. (James 1:2-4) Secondly, medical care doesn’t have to be expensive to be of good quality. Last week I went to a clinic and paid a few hundred pesos. This week I went to a doctor who works in relationship with a pharmacy and paid only thirty pesos. In my mind, the more expensive doctor would be right when in fact, she was the one who misdiagnosed me. This has taught me to not judge a book by its cover.

I have learned the same thing in my host mother’s house. I have been in about five Mexican homes so far and they are all rather plain. The furniture doesn’t match and the walls are usually white. Also, the trim is sometimes messy and the walls aren’t perfect. No one has covers for their lighting fixtures. All light bulbs are just hanging or mounted on the ceiling.

Yep, my friend the cockroach was in my shower. Didn’t have my contacts in so I didn’t realize that there was a dead cockroach in my shower the first time I took a shower at my new house. I am glad I decided at the last minute to wear flip-flops.

I did figure out the bus better this week. I take the 70 to and from class each day. It takes me about an hour to get to school and an hour to come home. When I have my night class I stay at school and work at an awesome café. I love Renov Arte Café because they are so nice and they play a lot of Christian music. It is comforting to not just have music in English but also music that I listen too. I think that since I am listening to music in English, I often forget I am in Mexico. I have spoken in English many times to the waiters.

I have been surprised at how much English there is present everywhere. Most people my age know English. People who are older know a little bit here and there. I am just amazed at how English and American culture works its way in to other areas. One Direction is constantly playing and everywhere I look I see a minion poster or trinket for sale. One thing that is funny is that since popular songs are played in English, they aren’t censored. I have oftentimes been shocked to find out that a song I listen to in the US is actually the cleaner version.

This weekend the whole group went to Bernal for the day. It was so fun! I was so glad to hike and visit another town. We climbed la Pena de Bernal. It was the hardest hike I have ever done. After the mountain/rock climb, we ate the famous gorditas. Gorditas are like a pita pocket made from tortilla and they fill it with many things. I got one with cactus and another with chicken.

This week was a really hard week for me. I missed my family a lot and have been pretty sick too. This week has been a good testing of my faith. I have to put my trust in the Lord. I am so mad to be sick while I am in Mexico but I know that God can help me through it. It has been amazing to see that I have enough energy to get through the day and have a good attitude despite how sick I am. I also had to change houses this weekend so that was stressful too. My new house doesn’t have internet which is incredibly hard considering how much I miss my family. I am a bit sad about these things but in the end I think it will be good because I won’t spend my nights watching Netflix or skyping with my family. Instead I can spend my time practicing Spanish with my senora and learning more about the city and culture.