Salsa Lessons

Last night was really fun. When I left the house I wondered what I was getting myself into, taking salsa lessons, but it was a great time (and I was a lot better at it than I expected!). The lessons were at a Cuban bar called Bodegita del Medio near Centro Magno. It’s a really cool old building with dark furniture and white walls covered in messages from past patrons in thick black marker. We either had to pay for the class or buy a drink, so I bought a mojito, and dedicated it to Jessica, Melissa, and Sarah!

First we learned the basic footwork all lined up in rows behind the instructor. I felt like I was back in a dance audition for some musical with the instructor adding new things quickly and me stumbling over my feet. I figured it out pretty quickly, though. Next we partnered off to practice twirling (yes, that’s a technical term). It was mostly CEPE people in the class but there were a handful of Mexicans, and Jessica brought her roommates too. Every once in a while the girls would rotate partners which made it even more fun. Some of the guys were really good and some were pretty bad, so I would get a little rush of excitement when I got to a guy who could dance (aka keep up with me). I got mini dancing lessons from the good dancers (step with this foot, hold my hand this way, twirl now). It was also fun dancing with the guys from CEPE and just get goofy with them. Every time I changed partners I would say something like “¿Cómo estás?” or “¿¡Estás listo?!” After two hours, the class ended and we all agreed to go out to a salsa club together soon.

I left the bar around 9, and as I was walking by Centro Magno I saw Linda, Ashleigh and Kristen (three girls from CEPE) going into the mall to see a movie. I went in with them and we decided to see Up in the Air (which is called Amor Sin Escalas in Mexico). We had an hour before the movie started so we sat in the food court while I ate a delicious Subway sandwich and they munched on the popcorn they accidentally bought too early. The movie was even better the second time around. It was midnight when we got out of the movie and said goodnight. Then I had to go home and do my homework. It was worth it!

Tomorrow I have midterms and then I'm going with a big chunk of the CEPE population to Barra de Navidad, a beach about a six hour bus ride from here. Most people are renting cars and going together, but we ended up having an odd number of people, so Minori and I are taking the bus together and meeting up with everybody at the hotel. We're all leaving right after classes so there will be a lot of beach equipment at CEPE tomorrow. It's going to be a good time!

Orozco and San Juan

Yesterday I went on another CEA excursion to the Instituto Cultural in el centro historic to see a mural by Orozco. Man, he was dark. It’s all about political and religious corruption, the coming of the apocalypse, technology as the fifth horseman, etc. Our guide supposedly spoke English but it was really hard to understand him. He kept moving us around to see how the mural changes depending on where you stand, which was interesting but, ultimately, succeeded in making me very dizzy since the mural is mostly on the ceiling.

After seeing the mural we went to the giant market, San Juan de Dios, nearby. It is so big that I’ve gone there three times now and I always manage to get lost. Even Cassandra (who is from Guadalajara) admits to getting lost in the three story maze of shoes, clothes, pirated DVDs, food, souvenirs, and hundreds of other vendors. I bought a tan, suede messenger bag to carry my school books in. A bunch of the other things the guy was selling had cool floral designs burned into them so I asked for a flower on the corner of the flap. The whole thing cost less than $12.

Today after school I hung around and chatted with Minori (a girl from Yokohama, Japan) about weekend plans. She loves to ask me about my time in Japan and my Japanese skills. She thinks it’s really funny that we say “itadakimasu” before eating, and “onaka ga ippaidesu” when we’re full. It’s fun talking to her because our common language is Spanish so we’re forced to figure it out.

Later tonight I’m going to meet up with her, Kim, Jan, Elan, and a bunch of others at a salsa club near Centro Magno. Should be fun since it’s 2-for-1 (dos por uno) night in Guadalajara!

This weekend is a three day weekend, so I'm going with a bunch of CEPE students to Barra de Navidad (a beach about a 6 hour bus ride from here). I'm excited but I have to figure out my transportation plans soon!

Sunday Sunday Sunday

I went and got my laundry around 1pm without any problem. It’s Sunday so I was worried about whether or not it would be open. I’m still not sure if it was open, but the woman was there and she beckoned me in and handed me a giant plastic bag with all my clothes folded inside. Everything was neatly organized; shirts with shirts, pajamas with pajamas, socks matched. I got charged double because I had so many clothes, so doing my laundry cost me almost $12. Next time I’m going to see if I can just get them washed and then hang dry them without her folding them and all that.

The rest of my day was incredibly American. At 2pm I went with Tyler to the Chili’s in Centro Magno where we met up with Kim, Jessica, Chevron, and Jan and we watched the Colts vs. Jets football game, but not really. We ordered drinks and teased Jan about being Swiss and about his crazy Friday night shenanigans. I’m not a football person at all but it was good fun. After the Colts won we decided to go to Hooters in Plaza Galería for the second game: Vikings vs. Saints. We crammed ourselves in a taxi and got to Hooters in time for the first quarter. We decided to pick sides and make a bet, whoever lost had to buy the other group drinks. It was Jan, Chevron, and me for the Vikings and Tyler, Jessica, and Kim for the Saints. We ordered a pitcher of beer and got a little rowdy (which prompted other Hooters-goers to get excited too) but decided to try a different place with a full bar, so we moved down to Applebee’s where we got a big booth right in front of the TV. We spent the rest of the game there, I ordered an ice cream sundae, we cheered loudly, and we talked a lot. It was really fun. In the end the Saints won so I owe them a drink, but we were tired so we paid and went home on the bus.

At Applebee’s there was a group of guys in the booth behind us also watching the game and we interacted a bit, cheering and smack talking. After a while Tyler and one guy got into a conversation and we found out that he worked for ESPN and he’d just gotten back from working in San Diego. Tyler asked if he could get us into anything for free and he said we could go to a soccer game. He handed out his card to all of us so I told Tyler if he actually got invited to a game I would go. Ricardo’s card had something to do with an energy drink and when Jessica asked him about it he said he would send her a free case if she emailed him. I don’t know why being in another country makes us more trusting of other people, but it does. We’ll see if any of this actually happens.

Don’t worry, I’ll be careful!

Laundry Adventure

I woke up very slowly this morning, pulling out of my dream and entering the real world simultaneously and at a glacial pace. When I was most of the way out of the dream I realized I was arguing with someone in Spanish. I don’t know what the argument was about or who it was with or even if what I was saying made any sense, but it was Spanish. I dreamed in Spanish!

Around 4 yesterday I decided it was time to get my laundry done. Here, there are Laundromats but the workers operate the machines and for a little extra cash they will do it all and fold your clothes afterward. I expected to just drop off my clothes and pick them up the next day. So, after a packed up all my dirty clothes into one of my suitcases and asked my host brother (Mani) where the Laundromat was, I was off to get my clothes cleaned. When I got there the woman told me there weren’t any machines available (which I thought was a weird thing to say), told me to wait, and went back to busily folding laundry and transferring clothes from one machine to the other. So I sat there for like ten minutes listening to a skinny guy and a Japanese student around my age converse in rapid Spanish outside the Laundromat and being thoroughly ignored by the woman. Finally I got up and asked her if she was going to be able to do my laundry today and she got an amused smile on her face and told me to come back at six.

At 6:20 Duke ran out of the gate in front of me and down the sidewalk. It took me a while to realize he was walking me to the Laundromat because he kept racing ahead of me and stopping to pee on things. When I got to the Laundromat the woman was still there folding clothes and she told me “Cinco minutos más, hija” so I went and sat down. I sat there for a good 20 minutes with Duke by my side, getting more and more annoyed because I was supposed to see Avatar at 7, and still being completely ignored. I finally got up and asked her if she was going to have time to do my laundry today or if I should come back tomorrow. At first she told me to come back tomorrow, but then she asked me which service I wanted and seemed surprised when I said I wanted the full service. What else would I want?? She gave me a slip of paper and told me to come back at 9 for my laundry but it was already 6:50 and I needed to get to Avatar so I didn’t bother to tell her that I wasn’t going to be able to make it.

Alice, Jonny, and I rushed to the theater but got there about five minutes into the movie. The theater was packed so the only three seats together were in the first four rows of the theater and I was not going to sit there. We split up and I sat in the back and thoroughly enjoyed it for a second time. After the movie Alice said she had to move to the back too because she felt like she was going to throw up in the front. Jonny stayed in the front and went the whole movie without his 3D glasses on, what a waste. It was cool to talk to Alice about the movie after wards because she’s an anthropology grad student at the University of North Carolina. Apparently, the movie has created quite a stir in the anthropology community. Look up Human Terrain Systems (HTS) and you’ll see some similarities.

I’ve got another day of nothing to do. Maybe there will be a second installment of my Laundry Adventures when I go to get my clothes later today. I don’t even know if they will be open since it’s Sunday. Here’s hoping I do something today!

Taco Stand

Yesterday, in the break between classes, I went with a bunch of the girls in my class to the taco stand around the corner from CEPE. I see it every day when I walk to and from school, always surrounded by people, and now I know why. It’s SO GOOD. He only makes one kind of meat (barbacoa) and adds onions and then he grills the tortilla with a perfect amount of crispiness, and the tacos were only 7 pesos each! The guy working there was funny; he is probably used to getting CEPE students, so he told us that we learn grammar at CEPE but we should go to the taco stand to learn real Spanish. I’ll definitely be going back for more tacos.

Ordering and waiting for our DELICIOUS tacos!


With lime and salsa added. YUM!!

What Now?

Last night Alice arrived at the house. She’s a new student at CEPE and is staying at the house too. Finally another girl! She’s a grad student/Phd. at the University of North Carolina and seems to speak Spanish very well. She’s in level 7/8 so I didn’t see her much during classes today but I walked her to and from school today and she seems really nice. Jesse left yesterday and didn’t say goodbye to anyone. I knew he was leaving but he didn’t say goodbye. Oh well, lose one housemate get another!

I didn’t do much today. After lunch I went up on the roof and read my travel book while catching some rays. There are so many things I need to find in the city now! There are some restaurants that sounded really good and some museums I want to go to. Apparently, Guadalajara is the birth place of mariachi music and the hat dance(?) so I have to see some of that while I’m here. I want to see if I can arrange a weekend trip to Oaxaca because it sounds nice and there are ancient ruins nearby. Ancient ruins! And I also read about some rainforest in the mountains where thousands and thousands of monarch butterflies flutter around you. I think it’s really far away so I guess I will only go there in my dreams. Anybody out there have suggestions for me?

I was supposed to go to a salsa club tonight with some other CEPE people but I’m going to have to back out because I feel really sick. Like an ear infection is in my near future. It’s the same way I felt in Thailand because of the difference between the extreme heat and humidity of outside and the extreme cold of the air conditioner inside. I blame this crazy, dry mountain weather! It’s freezing at night and in the morning but it’s hot and sunny during the day. I was up on the roof when the sun went down today and I could feel the temperature difference immediately. I hope the nights aren’t always this cold. My hands are freezing! Time to crawl into bed and read some more.

Off to Chapala

So, yesterday I didn’t end up just hanging around the house. Jesse’s friends, Lisa and Amanda, came and swept me up into their weekend activities. Lisa and Amanda stayed here when they went to CEPE five or six years ago, so they came to the house to visit with Tere and family. They are both social workers now and spend most of their days speaking Spanish so they are both really good. It would be very intimidating if they weren’t so nice. When visiting had finished they invited me to come along with them and their other friend, Miriam, for a night out so I grabbed my stuff and we left for Miriam’s house (about 45 minutes later. I discovered Mexican time last night too.) Miriam was part of the Amigos Amistad program when Lisa and Amanda were at CEPE and they have managed to keep in touch for all these years. She is really nice and outgoing so it was fun to have her there.

We went to a club called Suite. It was like something out of a movie. I had never seen anything so incredibly club-ish. We danced the night away, and I got home at 3am for the second night in a row and immediately conked out.

Today we all went to Chapala, but don’t tell Tere that because Rosi didn’t ask to take the car there before we left. Lake Chapala is the largest lake in Mexico, has the largest population of US expats anywhere in the world, and happens to be about an hour away from Guadalajara. It looked something like Santa Barbara, with a wide sidewalk next to the water lined with palm trees and vendors. We went out to lunch once we got there (around 3:30pm) at a restaurant on the lake. There were a lot of restaurants on the lake all squished together in a line with men outside trying to beckon us into nearby parking spots. Highlights of the lunch: tortilla chips with lime, salt, and hot sauce (pretty much the miracle seasoning of Mexico), watching the others pay to get slightly electrocuted by a cute little old man with a very old-looking wooden box contraption, and listening to Miriam’s brother sing along loudly with a scruffy guitar player to finish all off.

Let me explain the electrocuting further: Miriam’s brother saw the old man trying to sell his electro-therapy to other restaurant customers, got really excited, and started explaining to Lisa and me (in Spanish) what the old man was selling. After a few minutes I had pretty much figured out what he was talking about but I must have still been making a face because he asked me if I understood (“Entiendes?”) and I said, with a look of horror on my face, “Si, entiendo. Pero,¡No entiendo!” Then he flagged the guy over to our table and convinced everyone else to try it while I took photos and videos. The way it worked was the old man had a wooden box with a dial on it to control the current and two wires coming out of it, each ending in a metal rod. They all stood in a circle and held hands with one person holding one rod and another person holding the other. They stared with a very low current and then he slowly cranked it up. At some point it became too much for a few people and they broke out of the circle. The guys (Miriam’s brother and Jesse) ended up doing it alone for much longer (which I caught on video). The whole thing was very strange.

We got back around 9:30pm and Jesse and I fixed ourselves some rice and beans (with lime and salsa of course!) before saying good night.

My next assignment for myself is to find things to do after school since we get out at 1 and dinner isn’t until 8 or 9. I think I’m going to try the volunteer program offered through CEPE where we go to an orphanage every Tuesday and Thursday, but I still need other things to do. Mexico guidebook, here I come!

A Tour of the Night Life

Well, last night was great fun. I started off the night with Cassandra and Elan at La Fuente, a bar near La Tapatía. It’s been there since 1922 and you can tell it has a lot of history and tradition around it. I got there at 6 on the dot and a man came up and asked me if I was waiting for anyone. I said I was and he said “There are two foreigners at a table just inside” (only in Spanish) and he pointed me toward their table. The bar was packed with tables and chairs mostly taken up by middle aged businessmen, blowing off steam after work. There was a little stage in the middle of the room with a man playing a very old looking piano accompanied by a violinist. The best part about the music they played was that everyone in the bar knew the songs and sang along boisterously. Cassandra said the songs were popular songs from the ‘40s and ‘50s from old movies that everyone knows. While we were there Cassandra introduced me to my new favorite beer: Victoria. Victoria and I got to know each other very well last night.

We finished at La Fuente around 8 and Cassandra gave us a ride to Bananas on Chipultapec where we were supposed to meet a bunch of CEPE people at 9. I got a cheeseburger while we waited for everyone else.

Once everyone else got there Bananas was bananas! There were somewhere around 20 people there from CEPE, plus one girl brought her Mexican friends since she’s been here for a while already.

After Bananas we piled into taxis five at a time and drove to Wall Street, a club downtown. It was cheesy and tropical themed but the music was great. There was a live band that played mostly covers of American artists (The Killers, Kings of Leon, Bon Jovi, even Kady Perry and Pink) and they were awesome! They came on around midnight and did a set and did another set around 2am (I waited around to see them play their second set just because they were so much fun). I ended up getting home around 3am.

After breakfast the next morning I took another nap/reading time and when I came out of my room around 2pm Tere, Mani, Rosa, and Jesse were all in the kitchen cooking. I went in and immediately got set to work chopping tomatoes for the salad for lunch. Everyone was chopping something and the wonderful smell of garlic was in the air along with the stinging power of chopped onions. My host sister Gabi (older than Rosa but younger than Patti I think) brought out a bowl of catfish or something and started hacking off the heads and tails, but apparently she wasn’t doing it right so Tere came over and really went at them while Gabi and I made scared faces at each other. I’m not sure what the fish is for but I would still be a little scared even if I hadn’t seen them getting chopped up.

Saturday lunch is apparently a big deal here because everyone was sitting around the table come 3:00, eating the salad I helped make (tomatoes, onions, cilantro, potatoes, shredded chicken, and olive oil) and slurping on soup. Even Gabi’s husband and older son came down to eat.

I’m not sure what I want to do today. I might just hang around the house and read some more. I have a bunch of free weekends between now and May so I’m going to read through my Mexico travel guide (thanks Greer Careys!) and see if there’s anything I can organize a trip to with my classmates.

PS: It was freakishly cold last night. In Bananas we could see our breath and on the way to Wall Street our taxi driver said it hadn’t been this cold in over a decade. I came to Mexico to escape bad winter weather in Seattle, WTF?!

Amigo Amistad

My new classes are perfectly matched to my skill level. Right now we’re working on the subjunctive which is something I know how to use but I didn’t really have the chance to use it in my classes at UW. We basically sat around and talked for 4 hours with the teacher correcting us and explaining uses for words as we went along. I feel like I know just enough to talk in those classes but not so much that I’m not learning anything new.

My class is really diverse too. There are Japanese people, one girl from China, and one girl from Brazil. I think it’s really cool that we can all converse in a language that isn’t our first. The Japanese girl and the Brazilian girl (Camilla) are both really good at Spanish. It’s a little intimidating.

After class today I signed up for the Amigos Amistad program where they set you up with a Mexican student learning English so that you can practice with each other. I thought it would be a good way to get to know the city a little better. Anyways, only about two hours later my new friend called the house and we decided to meet at 4. My host sister (Rosalinda, 23 years old) was really funny about me meeting up with him, and telling me to make up excuses so I could get out of it early because she wanted to take Jesse, Paul, and me out tonight. She said if he was boring that I should make up an excuse like that I was tired or had a lot of homework to do, but if he was friendly that I should bring him along. She’s very animated and the way she said it was really funny.

Anyway, back to my new friend. His name is Guillermo and he seemed nice enough but it was just really awkward the whole time. My confidence in my Spanish is a roller coaster ride with lots of ups and downs and this was definitely a down. I guess I’m just no good with awkward situations. We drove around for a long time and then went to a bar where we talked some more (mostly in English). We got these giant Styrofoam cups with Leon beer that they had mixed with lime juice, salt, and something spicy. It was weird. In the end we made very loose plans to see Avatar together next Wednesday (half price day in Guadalajara), so we’ll see if we actually do that.

I decided not to go out tonight because I was really tired after my outing with Guillermo and I had a lot of homework. Funny, because those were the excuses Rosa told me to give Guillermo if I wanted to go home. I just didn’t want to go anymore. In the end I think Jesse, Paul, and Rosa went out separately.

Tomorrow I’m going to meet the CEA group at LA FUENTE, a bar so famous here that it doesn’t have a sign out front and then meet up with a group of my CEPE classmates at a bar called Bananas on Chipultapec for one girl’s birthday. It should be a good night.

Settling In

The first day of school was quite an ordeal yesterday. I was placed into Spanish level 3-4 which was lower than I was expecting, and then I got to class and it was everything I learned at the end of sophomore year so I got really frustrated. I realized as I was sitting there and the professor was listing off all the things we were going to learn that if I stayed in 3-4 I wouldn’t be able to take any of the elective classes. You have to be in at least level 7 to take an elective (like Mexican culture, history, film, and so on), and if I got stuck in 3-4 then I would only get to take one of those classes in my whole fifteen weeks here. So I asked Cassandra if I could test up to the next level. She totally understood and helped set up another placement test for me to see if I could get into 5-6.

Today I took the 5-6 placement test after class and passed it easily. So easily, in fact, that they let me take the 7-8 test just to see if I could go up another level. I didn’t pass that one, but that’s ok. At least now I’ll be learning new things and I’ll get to take two electives instead of one.

I really felt in the zone today after class. Everything is in Spanish so these classes are total emersion, and after class I just felt so good at Spanish. I was sitting in the academic office waiting to take my test and I could understand nearly everything the women were saying to each other. If I concentrate hard enough I can understand most of what people say, but I really have to be listening. I feel suddenly more confident speaking too. If this is what one day of class does for me, I really could be fluent by the end of four months!

I’m starting to feel more comfortable in Guadalajara too. I want to explore the city more but I don’t know where to look, there’s so much city to discover. Last night the CEA crew met up at CEPE and took the bus to La Tapatía. Cassandra showed us around la Gran Catedral in the center of La Tapatía and the government building before we got on a tour bus for a ride around the city. I didn’t get much out of the bus ride except that I have to go take a stroll down Chipultapec and Libertar and try every restaurant and café in that neighborhood while I’m here. Chipultapec is a beautiful street with a wide pathway line with trees and dotted with fountains. It’s also supposed to have some of the best restaurants in the city. After the bus ride we had dinner at a place near the cathedral (enchiladas pollo con mole!).


Today after lunch I met up with Tyler and Matt (another guy at CEPE) and we went bowling at the Centro Magno. It was possibly the worst game I’ve ever seen, but it was fun. I only got forty-something points…

I’m off to the movies with my host sister, Paul, and Jesse. Tomorrow I start my real classes!

PS: Katie left this morning because she didn’t think she really wanted to be here. After missing her connection and having to arrive a day late, losing her baggage, and getting placed in a Spanish class that was too advanced she felt really overwhelmed and couldn’t have fun anymore. It’s too bad she left because she seemed really nice. After Paul and Jesse leave in the next week or so it will just be me and Johnny (who only appears at lunchtime).

First Day at CEPE

I’m starting to feel the effects of culture shock. During CEA orientation Cassandra explained the symptoms and I’m following them by the book. At first you feel wonder and amazement at all the new things around you and everything is exciting, but then you start to get frustrated with the differences between your culture and that of the country you are in (language, home life, attitude toward work, etc.). I’m not sure what’s after that because that’s all I’ve felt so far, but I just have to keep reminding myself that these are normal stages and that I’ll get over it soon. I’m just so annoyed with not being able to communicate fully. It’s going to come bit by bit I guess.

Katie and I walked to CEPE this morning for orientation and placement testing. There are about thirty other students, mostly American college students, at CEPE from a number of different programs. I met one guy (Tyler) who goes to UW too and lives in a home-stay around the corner from me so we got to talk about Seattle a little bit.

After we answered a few questions on a worksheet, the CEPE people split us into groups for a more in depth oral and written placement test. The guy would come out and call someone’s name, they would go in and talk for a bit and then he would come and call someone else’s name while the first person took the written test. The better you were at Spanish, the longer he talked to you. He talked to one woman for a good fifteen minutes. He talked to me for maybe ninety seconds. My test said level 3-4 on the front page which implies that that’s what I’m going to end up in. It doesn’t sound that bad until you find out it goes up to level 10 and you can’t take the Mexican culture and history classes you came here to take unless you are in level 8 or higher. Yeah. Linda, another girl who also took the 3-4 test, wasn’t very happy about it either so we decided we’re going to try to get in to 5-6 instead.
After the placement tests we were free to go, so a big group of us decided to explore the big mall in the neighborhood, the Centro Magno. It looked just like any American indoor mall with a Starbucks, a Chili’s, and a movie theater. We wandered into an “exotic” pet store with a bunch of little birds, fish, and some puppies and kittens. Granted, they did have a chameleon so it was a little exotic. My favorite stop, though, was the bowling alley (exactly Astasia’s scene) which had a sign with the caption: bowling, billiards, and night club. Oh yeah! It was only $10 US for two games, so we might actually go back there some time.

Later in the day Katie, Tyler, and I took a taxi to La Tapatía, a huge square in what looks like old Guadalajara that connects the big cathedral to the cultural center and a bunch of other cool old buildings. What I would have given for and audio guide! There was also a thriving shopping district which centered on a huge, three story market that was like Pike’s Place Market and every Thai market I went to combined. I bought a new wallet there because every time I take out my wallet here I feel like I’m flashing my money all over the place. This one is much smaller so I can carry only what I need and not look like a raving tourist.

We came back about an hour ago and I’m just biding my time, waiting for dinner. Pati, my host sister from Zapopan, is here with her husband and Poncho. Apparently Poncho and Gabriel (Tere’s other grandson who lives here at the house) are only five days apart in age. I need a nap.

Tomorrow I find out which level I got placed in and classes begin!

Bienvenido a Mexico

Today my host mom walked me to school. Well, to El Centro de Estudios Para Extranjeros (CEPE) where I’ll be taking classes with about thirty other students. She stopped every few minutes to explain the directions and point out helpful landmarks. When we got to CEPE the other people in my program were waiting with Cassandra on the steps outside. Tere and Cassandra greeted each other warmly and then my host mom left me with my new compañeros.

There are only two other people in my program, Nikita and Elan. I think there are so few people because when I was deciding which study abroad program I wanted Swine Flu was just getting started in Mexico, so that probably scared off a lot of people. During our little orientation session Cassandra said this program has had twenty or so people in it before, but not this year.

We talked a lot about Guadalajara; navigating the bus system, finding good places to eat, etc. We also talked about the excursions we’re going on. Among the one’s I was excited about (Agua Caliente, whale watching in Puerto Vallarta, cooking lessons) we’re also going to go to a real football (soccer) game in a few weeks. Apparently, Nikita and Elan are only going to be here for 10 weeks, so Cassandra said I could request whatever excursions I wanted in the last 5 weeks when it will be just me in the program.

After leaving the café where we had our orientation we walked around the neighborhood and Cassandra pointed out good cafés and restaurants on our twisted route back to CEPE. My host brother, Manuel, was waiting there to walk me back to the house. He’s 20 years old and studying construction (I think) in college. We stopped at a farmacia on our way back so that I could buy shampoo and all that stuff. When we got back to the house I gave Tere the presents I brought for her and her family. They especially got a kick out of the toy I brought for Duke (a colorful ball made of thick rubber bands).

Around 3 Tere invited me to go to Zapopan, a town nearby, to visit her other daughter. Well, it turned out to be a regular family gathering with her daughter, her daughter’s husband and kid, and the husband’s parents. It was so cute how all the grandparents doted on the little boy, Poncho, calling him my heart, my love, my life, and various other terms of endearment. I couldn’t understand most of what was going on (and we were there for four hours) but I did have some really good food. Spaghetti with a light cheese sauce, meat in a spicy chile verde, guava juice, and sweet potatoes soaked in syrup and milk.

Now we’re back at the house and a new girl has arrived. Of course her name is Katie so it’s going to be a little confusing. She’s also going to CEPE but her program doesn’t sound as good as mine, so I had to explain to her that we have to go to school at 9 tomorrow and take some placement tests. Katie had a really bad traveling experience and she seemed really defeated so I tried to cheer her up. Hopefully she’ll feel better tomorrow after meeting everyone in the house and getting a good night’s sleep.

¡Hasta mañana!

PS: I bought Takis Fuego today! (Colleen knows what that means)

I'm Alive!

I made it! I’m in Guadalajara!

I’m sitting in my room after having eaten dinner, unpacked, and attempted to hit the bars with two other American students living in Señora Avila’s home. It’s an unofficial international house with at least three other students living here and two more on the way. I’ve met so many people in the last hour or so that I can’t keep them all straight. The attempted outing was with Paul and Jesse, two guys who are here for a short period of time. Jesse got here yesterday and I think he’s here for two weeks just for vacation. Paul got here on Tuesday and is here for three weeks with a bunch of friends during their winter term, so he invited us to come out with him and his friends but wires got crossed or something and we couldn’t find them so I decided it would be better to just come back and sleep.

I was absolutely exhausted when I finally got to the Guadalajara airport (understandable after waking up before sunrise and flying for hours and hours to a part of the world I’ve never been to). I met Cassandra – my city director -- a beautiful, short woman who greeted me with a kiss on the cheek and she me to a car that drove me to my house. The driver was very nice and we had a very Spanish 101 conversation -- ¿Cómo estas?¿De donde eres? Etc.

Teresa Avila greeted me at the gate in front of the house with a big hug and some more easy questions. Her dog, Duke (pronounced doo-keh), a little butterscotch spaniel of some sort also came to give me a few sniffs. Then my host mom led me to my room and made her son carry my bags (later she changed her mind and put me in a different room, making Paul and Jesse carry my bags). There is a two story courtyard in the center of the house and all of the students’ rooms are on one side of it with the kitchen and main house on the opposite side. The courtyard is open so right now I can hear mariachi type music coming from a neighbor’s party. After giving me a room Teresa offered me dinner (rice, beans, hardboiled egg, salad, and the best limeade ever!) and the other two joined a few minutes later.

Teresa (who only speaks Spanish) said she has been hosting exchange students for 10 years and that there are always students here coming and going. She said that when there aren’t students here she gets lonely, which is understandable because this house is huge. I can tell she’s been doing this for a while because all the rooms are perfectly equipped for students. My bedroom is giving me flashbacks to my freshman dorm with its dresser unit that takes up nearly one whole wall. The only difference here is that I’m not sharing a room and that there’s a painting of Jesus hanging above my bed (caption: Jesús, yo confío en Ti). I like that she calls all of us mi hijo and mi hija (son and daughter) too.

Tomorrow I’ll be dropped off at school at 10am for orientation and Monday my program starts. I can’t wait to meet the other people in my program!

The Eve of Departure, Yikes!

I'm sitting here on my bed in my room at home in Palo Alto, CA wondering what I'm getting myself into. I know this is going to be an amazing experience but I can't help feeling unprepared. Am I just throwing myself into a situation I can't handle?

I'm going to be studying abroad in Guadalajara, Mexico for Spring Semester 2010. I leave on Saturday (the 9th) and my program ends on May 1. For those four months I'll be taking Spanish language classes along with Mexican Culture and Mexican History, living with a host family, exploring Guadalajara/Mexico, making new friends, and all that good stuff.

I'm excited and scared about living with a host family. I can't wait to meet them! Cassandra (my city director) told me a little more about them today, which is good because before all I knew was their address. Sra. Tere, my host mother, has three children much older than me and a dog. I got really excited when I found out I was going to have a host dog. Like, really excited.

I'm also really excited about the field trips I'll be going on with the other people in my program. I know we're going to Agua Caliente (hot water springs just outside of Guadalajara), Tequila (guess what they make there...), and a whale watching trip.

My hopes for my study abroad experience:
~Learn a lot more Spanish, even get good at it, dare I say fluent? No I don't.
~Make some really good friends.
~Get along really well with my host family.
~Make it to the beach.
~Make it to the lake.
~Make it to a big, noisy outdoor market.
~Have some sort of epiphany about what I want to do with the rest of my time in school.
~Have some sort of epiphany about what I want to do with my life after school (that might be a bit ambitious but I figured I'd put it in there anyway :)