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.