What a Weekend!!!!

Last Monday I went to my first Rotary meeting. I took the bus to the hotel and made my way to the conference style room. I got a lot of questions about why I was there, but was bright and cheery talking to people. I started to ask if the man I was supposed to meet with was there yet. The Rotarians told me he actually wasn't in there club. hmm that's odd. Then I asked about the man I've been corresponding with. Turns out he's in the same other club. Being the inventive thinker that I am and realizing I was at one of only two hotels in the whole city taller than the cathedral, I calmly asked if it was possible that other club was also meeting at the hotel during this time. yes yes and yes. The Rotarians kindly accompanied me to the meeting place of the club I was scheduled to meet with.

My first meeting was with Ciudad del Sol. Lots was the same as home, but lots different too. My biggest mistake was assuming there would be dinner. I survived on snacks though. The club didn't say a prayer, which surprised me because of how Catholic Mexico is. Then, they seemed much more formal in their procedures than my Antioch Club which has lots of laughter and yelling out. The club was very welcoming and I look forward to going back and doing a presentation for them soon.

The most significant part of the meeting for me, was an invitation to attend the district conference that weekend. Since it was being held in Puerto Vallarta, I naturally said, "I'd love to!!!"

I rode to the conference bright and early Thursday morning with Enrique and Alejandra. They were wonderful to travel with. On our way out of GDL, I ate my first roadside taco and am happy to report it was delicious and there were no negative effects.

The drive to PV is 4.5 hours. The roads are absolutely ridiculous. They wind back and forth through the mountains and are mostly one lane. They say if they built a direct highway it would only take 2 hours to get there. Before I thought this was ridiculous, but after the drive...I really hope they start building soon.

The conference was being held at an all inclusive resort. Rotarians stayed in the adults only side while myself and all the high school exchange students had rooms on the family side. I was supposed to room with another young girl, but she wasn't ever able to make it.

In the hotel, I felt like a complete idiot. I've never been to a fancy, all inclusive resort like that. Thankfully Enrique and Ale explained things to me a bit. I could eat and drink whatever I wanted. They even fought for me when the receptionist tried to put a kids wristband on me, which would've prohibited me from ordering alcohol.

Once we were all checked in, we agreed to meet in about 30 minutes to head to the conference. I came down and waited for them, waited some more, checked the other reception desk,  and then decided I must have been confused and we were supposed to meet in an hour and thirty minutes. I went to my room and got my stuff organized a bit more and was just heading out when Ale called to ask if I was going to come down. She sounded a bit frantic, like they'd been waiting a long time. I said I was on my way and ran down. When I got to reception of their part of the hotel though, they still weren't there! I was thoroughly confused, frustrated and feeling helpless. Finally, I decided to venture to the conference alone and fend for myself. Once inside I found them almost immediately. Turns out, they had planned to meet there. I arrived to see about the last 20 minutes of the days events. They laughed when I apologized and explained why I was so late and then they invited me to have lunch with them.

My second missed connection took place after we all had lunch together. We decided 30 minutes and then meeting down on the volleyball court to play. I arrived on time to find NO ONE there. So I wandered around, laid out by the pool, and even took a little nap. About four hours later, while on my way to the jacuzzi, I saw Ale over by the volleyball. I came over to meet her and we said hi like nothing was out of the ordinary. She introduced me to a lot of the high school exchange students from Rotary. I talked with them a bit and then played volleyball with them all.

On my way back up to my room, I noticed a Brazilian and Canadian flag on the balcony next to mine--must be Rotary kids! I knocked on the door and met my neighbor Alias. I asked him if I could go with him to dinner because I was here alone, and he even said he could wait like an hour for me to get ready. I really appreciated his company and enjoyed chatting with him. On the way back, we met more kids by the pool and hung out with them a bit before heading back to our rooms for the night.

The next day, feeling like I might have a lot of free time coming up, I decided to get up early in order to  buy a Spanish book. The receptionist pointed me in the direction of a grocery store. I arrived and selected a book successfully. On the way back, I even met up with some of the wives of Rotarians and was able to chat with them. They were all very well dressed and wearing really high heels (like the average 4-5 inches of all women here) so when we came up to a ramp with some sand on it, I was really concerned for the woman next to me. In doing so, I forgot to look out for myself though, slipped and ended up SMACK! on my tailbone. My hands didn't even make it down in time to cushion the fall.

The women helped me up, dusted me off, but the damage was done. I made it back to my room. Got a big back of ice and laid down to ice my "ouchie". I skyped with Yann along time and took him up on his ingenious suggestion of taking a pain reliever. (I really don't know why I didn't come up with that on my own.) After relaxing a bit and eating some lunch I was doing alright. I swam in the pool and hung out with the Rotary kids.

Although I didn't go to many of the speakers, the benefit of the conference for me was getting to know the Rotarians in the area and spending time with the exchange students. The exchange students were from all over the world: Japan, Finland, Germany, Canada, on and on. They were all really wonderful and welcoming to me as a new "student".

I wasn't able to meet as many Rotarians as I'd hope because I was staying on the opposite side of the hotel. I did meet up with Enrique and Ale quite a bit though and they were quick to introduce me to lots of their friends. There is also a Group Study Exchange (GSE) from Chicago here. This is about six business people who are in Mexico for a month to learn about how their job functions here in Mexico. (Last month about 40 Mexicans went to do the same in Chicago.) I was hoping to see booths set up about service projects and clubs at the conference, but there were none. I guess, like all things in Mexico, I will just have to be patient. I was hoping to see both (GSE) groups presentations, but the schedule was continuously changing and I missed them both as they took place a day or two before they were scheduled.

Even with my injury, I went out to a nightclub with all the exchange students on Friday night, I made it to windsurfing lessons organized by the hotel, and was able to spend hours playing sand volleyball (which I completely love!) Really this was a highly educational experience because I now know all the Spanish vocabulary associated with sand volleyball. I'm sure this will be highly useful in my future.

Saturday night Rotary had a big formal dinner. Silly me didn't bring a prom dress and felt a little undressed, but not too embarrassingly. The decorations were gorgeous. The band was fun. The food was delicious (except the tiramisu, but I guess I'm kind of a critic for that). It was a really nice closing to the weekend with all the Rotarians.


There was also some sort of pageant type of event that I don't think we have at all at home. Each club had a "Reina" (queen). They came out in their fancy dresses and tiaras and then a new district queen was elected. I believe her role is really only for show and in the words of the person I sat next to at dinner "she just has to show up and look pretty." I guess I'll see if there's actually more to it or not during this time.

Sunday was heading out day. I said goodbye to all the other students. I had made business cards in advance and felt especially proud of them. Upon seeing the highly professional designs and printing quality of the exchange students cards, I felt completely dwarfed. Well, at least I didn't have to write my email and phone number on a sheet of paper like before. Many of them gave me pins, which is a rotary tradition I'm still learning about.

Enrique, Ale and I headed back around 12 and made it back to Guadalajara about 5. It was really a wonderful weekend!

My butt was still bothering me from my devastating fall, so I went to see the doctor today. I just wanted to make sure I didn't fracture anything. The doctor seemed very thorough and pushed my legs in all sorts of directions to see what hurt me and what didn't. He determined it was not a fracture, just painful. He gave me a set of stretches to do 3-4 times a day and wrote me a prescription to help with the swelling and pain. He said I should start to feel immediate results, but it'll be about two weeks before I'm back to normal. Knowing of the humiliation sitting on an inflatable doughnut would bring, he also recommended I bring a hoody to class to fashion into a circle and sit on. A very helpful doctor. I guess the pain was worth it though for the amazing weekend.

Massive Mercado

This weekend made two weeks for me here. It feels so long and so short all at the same time.

Highlights of the weekend included taking the bus to the Mercado Libertad and a bbq with my friends.

The market here is absolutely crazy. It's in the Centro histórico and called either mercado libertad or San Juan de Diós. It's a mostly indoor market. It's three stories tall and has just about anything you can imagine from horse saddles, to videogames, to birds, and tons of clothing. The aisles are very small, about four feet wide with merchandise spilling into then. There's a near constant sensation of claustrophobia. It's also incredible hot and stuffy inside, no room for fans. 

The shopping experience was completely different than anything I've experienced. Given the tight quarters about every five feet you have someone "a sus ordenes señorita." They are there wanting to help you with anything they possibly can. A couple times a vender didn't have what I was looking for, but was happy to point me in the direction or accompany to someone else's booth that did have it. I really liked this sense of community the vendors had with each other. It was really encouraging compared to American competitiveness that suggests if the store doesn't have what you want they will order it for you and overnight ship it directly to your house just to prevent you from going anywhere else. 

Anyways, I purposely didn't bring much money with me because I know my tendency to impulse buy lots of things I don't need. But, I'll be going back soon and bringing some cash as well.

The next event worth mentioning was a bbq with my friends on Sunday. I have to say a big thank you to them for adopting me here and including me so much! I think I'd be going pretty crazy without them and they've certainly made a big impact on helping me improve my Spanish. 

Diego picked me up and we went to see some art at a park. It was just nice and calm. There were also about 100 puppies around this relatively small park which was pretty fun to see. Then we met with Izhel, Tanya, and Tonio at the grocery to get stuff for dinner. We went to Tonio's house, listened to music, cooked good food, ate a lot, drank a little, played some word games all together and then called it a night. I had a really good time and am hoping we'll all go to the luchas libre Tuesday.

Upcoming events

I thought Mexican was supposed to be laid back....

First Rotary meeting tonight, Monday.

Tuesday, school, talk to yann, meet up with kristen quickly, volunteer at orphage, lucha libre? (these are like the wwf masked fights like in nacho libre. I can't think of a great American way to describe them, but the Irish would say they are good craic.

Wednesday, school and hopefully making it to the big park here.

This weekend we're trying to get a group to go to La Manzanilla together on the coast. Sonja's family has a place there and I'd love to spend this weekend on the beach. Keep your fingers crossed it works out.

Orfanato

Tuesday I went to the orphanage to volunteer for the first time. I went in a group of about 7 of us. We had to take a bus for over 30 minutes to get there, but since we had seats it wasn’t so bad. And actually, I think that’s the generally rule for the buses. If you’re able to get a seat, you’ll be fine. If not, get ready to get whipped about in every which way and shoved up against someone who you doubt has bathed recently. But I had a seat so no worries.

The orphanage is only for boys, 80 of them to be exact, all ages 5-11. Each one was completely precious. As volunteers for the day we were just there to play with them. So we spent most the time giving piggy back rides. The kids were especially enamored with my friend Joshua, who has lots of tattoos, brought his fancy sunglasses, and a camera. They kept running away with his sunglasses, just for fun. He let them use his camera and got some really cool pictures out of it. And they all kept fingering his tattoos and asking if they would come off if he washed them.

We spent the evening on their playground. There was an area with a playset, a small/dusty field type area, and some blacktop between two walls that they’d made into their fútbol field. Really it was a pretty good set up. The only thing I didn’t really like was if that is how it is every night, if the kids just run around together for hours. In every after school program that I was ever blessed to be able to have, we always had some organized games. They would organize freeze tag and we always had the huge colored parachute that we would grab onto and play with. There didn’t seem to be anything like this there. So…it could be a great opportunity for me to come up with something.

Before coming I had thought I might like to do an English club for the kids, similar to the Spanish club I did in Muncie. After visiting I think this could be a really good opportunity. We were warned that the kids only know bad words in English from the movies. I tried to ask them if they knew any colors or numbers though, and they were super excited to yell them in my ear and put them out all around us. It could be a really good opportunity for all of them and for myself as well. Hopefully I’ll meet with Rotary this Monday and see what they had in mind for me and know if this is something I should start pursuing. If so, I’ll start working on a matching grant to raise money for supplies, something you can ALL BE A PART OF! So watch for news about that.

I finally had dance class today. Having had two whole extra days to build expectations, it sort of let me down a little. There are six of us all learning salsa, four girls and two guys. To start I was playing the role of the guy for Kathrin. We actually did a pretty good job. Then we switched partners and I was with Joshua. We did alright but really didn’t have enough time to get things right. And the teacher, well he sort of just kept saying “everyone needs to take smaller steps” and “no no no it’s not like that at all”. Since that was the majority of the directions, I think next week I’ll be that really annoying student asking super specific questions every five minutes.

El finde

So much to report on, I’ll jump right in…(The pictures are from Sunday and having nothing to do with the text next to them.)

Friday I met with my “amiga”. She’s an English teacher, which is absolutely perfect. We met at the mall, picked up her boyfriend after his class, invited a couple other English teachers she works with, went to Wing’s Army (very similar to Bdubs) to watch Mexico play Educador (I think it was Ecuador, but can’t remember for sure. It was a 0 v 0 tie, so nothing too exciting.), went and hung out at her apartment, told travel stories, attempted to dance, went to hear a dj at a bar. I really enjoyed the evening. I got to meet a lot of Mexicans and practice lots of Spanish. The most surprising thing is almost all of the English teachers had near perfect English, so they didn’t even really care to practice. Every now and then they asked a question, but for the most part they totally kept to Spanish for my sake. Best of all, since they are teachers, they were really aware of the words that would trip me up in stories and could catch them and explain them right away for me. Por ejemplo: I’ve always learned swimming pool as piscina, here they use alberca though. So there was no way I would’ve figured that one out on my own. I’ve heard it at least five times since!

Saturday I went with one of the English teachers I met on Friday to two birthday parties. It was a really gracious invitation considering we’d just met. The first was in las bougainvilleas district of the city. It’s closer to the mountains and completely reminded me of LA. It’s also where the SUPER rich of Guadalajara live. It was a fun drive there just seeing the houses, gardens and mountains. We arrived at a sort of sports complex, which really confused me because I thought we were going to a bday party. The party was there, under a HUGE tiki style hut. The family had rented it out for their fiesta. We hung out with a lot of the people from Friday night again and some new people as well. The party guests had already eaten, but after a little money changed hands with a waiter (which it turned out wasn’t actually needed because they actually knew the chef), we were able to get a couple plates of food. They ended up giving us so much that we hardly made a dent. Once satisfied there, we headed for the next party.

The next party was for a grandmother, so very family style. First we went to the family’s house near town, I met a few other people. (Really really nice girls. And Iscel has a killer custom designed “AMORE” necklace I’m completely jealous of.) Then we all headed out to Cajititlan Lake to their uncle’s house for the party.

The drive itself was quite surprising. It was my first exposure to “the other side” of Mexico. It was really a humbling experience to see the living conditions outside of the city. It was a really good reminder as to why I’m here and motivator for me to really do some good things. That can be a little hard to see in the affluent city sometimes.

We made it to the uncle’s house. It was a very Florida country club style community. Being around the Mexican family was my favorite part of the weekend. I watched them sing karaoke, run around spraying each other with foam, harassing the grandfather to sing to the grandmother, the dad catching a baby tarantula and showing it off to everyone there, and finally DANCING. 

This I have to say is where we are really lacking in American culture. It seems everywhere else I go, people know how to dance. They dance with their parents, cousins, siblings, anyone! as they grow up and as a result it makes for super fun parties. We, on the other hand hardly even hug or kiss our relations, let alone willingly press ourselves up against them and run around until we’re sweaty. I think it makes for a good representation of the closeness of families. Of course there are exceptions, but I don’t think anyone could argue against the fact that there are far more taboos in the US then in Mexico. Whereas in the US we usually bring friends to help entertain us at parties, Mexicans are content to only celebrate with their families (and an occasional foreigner like me!). I like this.

We drove up to the lake, but it was dark. It was really nice to see the glow of the lights from Guadalajara (known as GDL  from now on) with the sound of the lake lapping against the shore. Que tranquilidad. We drove back, I talked to Yann a bit and then Saturday was over.

Sunday I went on a group tour around GDL. Rather than talk a bunch about it, I’m just going to leave you with these pictures...Let me know what you think or if you have any questions.

Upcoming Events:

Rotary meeting was cancelled today because it’s mother’s day.

Tuesday-maybe dance class, orphanage

Wednesday-main market “Mercado Libertad San Juan de Dios” 

Thursday-orphanage again?

My very Mexican moment of the day: The Monday and Wednesday dance class I signed up for will be starting Tuesday.

Cell Phones and Cinco de Mayo

Believe it or not, my first week is almost over. 

I spent Tuesday walking around the Minerva area in the city with Kristen. She's been here for 3 months and offered to accompany me on my cell phone excursion. Since she's already on her third cell phone (due to one loss and one foam party) she was the perfect person to accompany me. We went to the mall store nearby, but it was oddly closed.  So instead we ended up walking around a lot. She showed me her gym, which is pretty nice, but a little pricey. We walked down Lopez Cotilla which is filled with nice looking restaurants and bars. Then we made it to Chipultapec, which is a really big street with lots of shopping, a nice median with trees and statues in the middle, and home of the main TelCel store. 

I didn't have any problems getting my phone, it just took a bit of patience. We got a slip from the girl at the front, waited in line about 30 minutes, talked to an agent, looked at a couple phones, picked one, waited for them to copy my documents, went to a different line to pay, paid, went back to the agent to get my phone. Not the world's most efficient system, and by the time we left the line was at least an hour long, but not that bad either. The building was air conditioned, and I think that made all the difference.

Once I was set with my cell, we wandered our way back, stopped for a iced coffee, and then it was already time to head home for dinner. It was a very well spent day though. 

Wednesday was Cinco de Mayo, as I think more Americans than Mexicans were aware of. After experiencing the holiday in Mexico for myself, I've decided it is most like Presidents' Day in the US. (It's not Mexico's independence day so please don't even think of the forth of july) Schools and public offices were closed for the day, but that was about the only difference. Everything else was normal. No crazy fiestas. No huge margaritas. No cervezas. The Americans here were all highly disappointed, but I actually had un día fenomenal.

Toni, my great uncle (more specifically my grandfather's cousin), and Maru, my aunt (his daughter), picked me up in the afternoon and we want to Andar es. It is the newest mall here. It was absolutely gorgeous. Lots of nice and designer stores and yummy looking restaurants. We met with all the family and ate at one of the restaurants to celebrate a birthday and my arrival. We spent a long time at the restaurant, and for a moment I forgot I was in Mexico as we ordered an aperitif and french cheese arrived as an appetizer. After the restaurant, we got ice cream and watched my 4 year old cousin run around and play. The day was insanely HOT, but we all survived and were able to start getting to know each other. I'm hoping we'll be able to get together to do something soon.

Thursday was pretty uneventful. I had planned to go to Polyglot, a language conversation  club. One of the other students at school offered to go with me to show me how to use the bus and all. Well he sort of disappeared on me, so I was on my own. I decided I wasn't up to taking the bus alone, because I have no idea where any of the routes go!, so I measured how far it would be to walk to the meeting. 1.25 miles didn't sound too horrible. And it probably wouldn't have been, but it started to get really dark out and I was only halfway, so I decided to head back. It was a pretty big bummer because I'd really been looking forward to going, but not enough to risk anything. The experience has made me really adamant about figuring out how the busses work here. So this afternoon I'm going to the tourist office to ask. I asked almost all the students at school, but none of them have tried the bus yet. They take taxis. I like the idea of knowing I can take a taxi, but I refuse to accept them as my main line of transportation. So wish me luck. My first ride will be Saturday, although I don't know where yet. And I'm going to try and drag Kristen along because she's been here three months and still hasn't taken a bus.

Upcoming events:

First meeting with my Spanish "amiga" tonight (program to encourage language practice).

New students arrive at my house Saturday.

Organized tour of the city Sunday.

First Rotary meeting with Club del Sol Monday.

Volunteering at the orphanage Tuesday.

Mi Casa

Mi calle (street), there's a park just to the left

The dog directly across the street that likes to bark, a lot.

Lots of water, the dispenser is on the other side. Grandpa--notice the security camera tv above. 

Centro Magno. 

I think I end up here almost everyday. It's about a 10 minute walk. In fact, I'm posting this blog from there right now! The internet at my house isn't working anymore. Magno is a great place to meet up with people, but the clothes are not cheap. (In the mall there's an Apple store, chili's, Starbucks, radioshack, Rebok, a bowling alley, a movie theater, and then other little clothing and accessory shops.

Un bicho

I had my first bug in my room. I knew it was only a matter of time. By the time I grabbed a shoe to squish him, he'd scurried away. He was BIG and gross. I spent the next 20 minutes tucking up bedskirts and moving furniture to look for him. There was no way I could go to bed knowing he was scurrying around under me. yuck! When I finally got him, he really squished and then his leg twitched a long time. He's in the garbage now. I can only hope he was solo and doesn't have any friends I'll have to play hide and seek with tomorrow.

"La cucaracha"

Not as much fun as the song.

First Day

Well I did finally make it here last night. I met Antonio and Maru for the first time and they were phenomenal. On the drive to Minerva, we saw one 4 car accident and a huge factory that was on fire. The fire was pretty crazy and people were out all around to watch it. Traffic was hectic, but nothing compared to Italy. Toni did warn me that the cars don't respect pedestrians though so you have to be very careful when crossing. By the time I got to my new home, it was almost 11 so I called home, got situated, and went to bed.

This morning Rosa walked me to school. It's easy enough to get to. We had a little mini-orientation and then took a placement test. There are only 8 students right now, which sucks. More are coming tomorrow though and then a group from Michigan next weekend, so the number should be up to 40 by then.

The city isn't nearly as intimidating as I had expected. The buildings are all relatively short, two or three stories. There is an area nearby with stores, but mostly it's just houses. There are lots of trees and my house is next to a little park. On all the streets there are quite a few people walking. There are tons of street vendors. It's crazy to think about how many people must eat there to support them all, especially when everyone I've talked to has told me not to eat at them.  For now, I'm ready for my first lunch and to get the rest of my stuff unpacked. I think my afternoon adventure will consist of buying shampoo and finding an ATM.

Are we there yet?

This is starting as one of my most stressful trips. I woke up feeling absolutely terrible. My stomach was in a complete knot. I managed to drag myself to the shower. I struggled to eat half a piece of toast. I had that miserable feeling where you chew and chew but everything still feels completely dry and your throat isn’t willing to welcome anything. I was not off to a good start.

I finished up packing some last minute items. Mom helped me, or pretty much entirely, loaded up the car and we were on our way. It was only the two of us because my dad left early this morning for a fishing tournament. We said good-bye last night and he left a little note on the table say one last goodbye in the morning. It was really nice. Mom read my mind and stuck it in one of my bags for me.

Still feeling miserable, we headed for the airport. About 10 minutes into the drive, my nerves finally overpowered my stomach. I frantically grabbed for a plastic bag in the backseat and dumped everything out without a second to spare. And not to give too many details about this part…holes in the bagà wiping off my jeans with kleenexà plastic floor mats designed for melting snow Jà quick stop at the oasis à miss the trash can à went to high school with the person in the car behind us who saw me miss àuse an entire water bottle to feeble attempt at sanitation.

I do feel a bit better after all that. My nerves have stabilized themselves to the more manageable feeling like I need to pee every five seconds.

-----on plane------

Feeling much better. Actually ate some lunch. Trying really hard to remember that children are a joy in this world as the two year old behind me wails endless about nothing. I guess she just likes to say “mmooommmmaaaa” as loud as she can. Has it not be 2.5 hours yet???

-----layover-----

Well, my flight was an hour late, which makes no sense at all to me because we took off pretty much on time. Of course, no explanation was offered. So, as soon as I got off (which they didn’t let connecting passengers off first of) they gave me a new boarding pass for the next flight.

I’m pretty pissed about it right now because I was just able to check the status of the first flight and it took off late! So I was here at the other terminal by the time it took off. Now I have to hang around here for 3 hours and I won’t get to my host family’s until like 10. Normally that’d be fine, except for the fact that I have to be at school by 8:30 in the morning to take my placement test. ugh. actually, double ugh.

----more layover-----

Departure delayed another 30 minutes. The other flight landed an hour ago now. This is ridiculous.