The journey is over

Graduation!
The last week of school was bittersweet because graduation was quickly arriving on Friday! To be honest, with the Intensive Spanish Program, I hit a brick wall by week eight and my brain couldn't process any more new information. Graduation was held on Friday after school. There was a group of approximately 30 graduating with me from Santa Cruz, California. They recognized each name at a time, and since I was the only independent in the room, I was getting nervous that they would forget my diploma. At the end, they had one diploma left. The president of Universidad Internacional said aloud "We have a student who came to the university as an independent and has completed eight weeks of the Intensive Spanish Program". The room got quiet and I heard some people say "whooaa". At that moment, I really felt like I had accomplished something special.

Graduating from UNINTER, Intensive Spanish Program

Without the help and patience of my professors, I wouldn't have progressed as far as I did. It is definitely an intensive program. They encourage you to speak only Spanish around school and in class. And of course I only spoke Spanish with my host family. If I didn't understand something, my professors would explain with other words in Spanish- not English. During the last two months, I went through some battles, hit some brick walls, and got so frustrated I wanted to give up. But I overcame the frustration and realized this was the best experience of my life.

My favorite Grammar and Idiomatic Expressions professor- Felipe

Conversation teachers- Javi, Noe, Mariel, Graciela, Hatzy, and Alberto

Conversation class with students from around the world

During my time in Mexico, I became accustomed to the ridiculous traffic and driving rules, not flushing any toilet paper, dealing with bugs and spiders, taking a taxi or public bus if I wanted to go anywhere. It's a different world there and was an incredible experience. I gained more independence and was able to experience the Mexican culture because I was not with a group. I knew from day one that I could sink or swim being in a country where I didn't speak a word of the language. I remember when I met my host family and we quickly realized we couldn't communicate with each other except with charades. Within a few weeks, communication was easier even though I kept my dictionary with me wherever I went. They truly became my family and I felt like I was home.
Week nine I had planned to work at "La Casa de Viejos" which is a facility for elderly people who need assisted living. Unfortunately, I became sick the weekend before and decided it would not be a good idea to expose the residents to whatever I had. I spent part of my last week traveling with some of my Mexican friends to the city of Puebla, experiencing Mexican culture in their homes, salsa dancing and of course saying my goodbyes.

Mexico City Mission Trip
I spent the tenth week of this journey in Mexico City with my church family from Drexel. They flew down and I was able to welcome them at the airport in Mexico City. I felt like I was welcoming them into my country. It was a great reunion especially seeing my sister for the first time in almost three months. We lived and worked for a week in Nezahualcóyotl at "Pan de Vida" a foster home for children. We led Bible School for almost 150 kids daily. In the afternoons, we had a sewing class for the women in the community and a medical clinic where people could receive free medical care. We also painted several homes and curbs in the neighborhood. At the end of the week, we had approximately 40 children and adults accept Christ. My experience last year with my first mission opportunity in Mexico was really the start of this whole journey. Now a year later, I was finally able to communicate with the people who had touched my heart so deeply.

It was difficult to arrive completely alone in Mexico and be totally out of my comfort zone, but after living there for almost three months, it was just as difficult to leave.

This was an experience of a lifetime. I continue to study the Spanish language and hope my future will allow me to once again connect with people, either in a Spanish-speaking country or here in the States.

I have been back in the United States for three weeks now... experiencing a little culture shock, which was to be expected. I find I have cravings for Mexican food, which is odd because I didn't even like Mexican food before this journey! The things I miss the most about Cuernavaca are the people, salsa dancing, and tacos al pastor!

Thank You's
There are many people I want to thank for their love and support this summer. I don't think I could have made it without their daily prayers and constant encouragement. Here is a thanks to all the people who checked to see if I was okay every night, people who lost sleep, people who changed their routines just so they could talk to me, people who emailed, sent letters, bought international phone cards and still had high phone bills, sent texts, had video conference calls with me on Skype, and people who even bought new phones with Skype so they could easily talk with me! And, as incredible as this journey was, I would have to agree with Dorothy, "There's no place like home!"

The best and the worst

Fiesta after school
Ever since my third week here, I have looked forward to the salsa classes at the school every Tuesday and Thursday. I believe I've gotten a little better with my salsa dancing. One day after school in the afternoon, the school hosted a fiesta with Mexican food and music, dancers and jugglers as entertainment, karaoke, and a salsa competition.

The students sitting around at the fiesta

I was really excited to see my salsa instructor, Edgar, in the competition. The whole school sat around the stage in the grass watching with amazement. He had a great routine with his salsa partner and when they were finished, they broke apart to find other partners in the crowd. I think time stopped right then and there when Edgar came to where I was sitting. You can see in the first picture Edgar (wearing all black) when he took my hand and brought me to the stage!

Edgar taking my hand in the crowd...........^

Salsa dancing with my salsa instructor. I am the one in the yellow shirt.

At that moment, I forgot all Spanish, I forgot how to salsa and I was shaking like crazy. We had never officially met until that day, I had only been in his class for a week. The whole school saw me salsa that day with the instructor. What an experience to remember!

A sharp taste of reality
After salsa dancing at Los Arcos last Friday night, I was waiting for a taxi outside on a park bench in the Zocalo with Edgar (salsa instructor). My small hand bag I was carrying that night was sitting beside me on the bench. I heard someone passing by us but didn't think to make eye contact. Suddenly, the boy grabbed my bag that was beside my leg, and took off running. He was so fast and I could not even comprehend what had just happened. Edgar took off running after him, chasing him through the Zocalo and through the streets. I was there sitting alone feeling scared and completely violated. Edgar finally came back with nothing in his hands. He was so sorry but he was not fast enough to catch the boy that had my bag. I lost both my Blackberry, my Mexi-cell phone, my new Sony camera, money, keys to my house, license, and my debit card... in a matter of seconds. By far the scariest experience of my life. I am nervous when I'm out at night no matter who I'm with and it's hard to trust anybody walking around me. I was an innocent victim, a young American woman taken advantage of but I am glad I wasn't physically hurt for my possessions.


New friends
The thing I will miss most are the Mexican people. I have met some great friends since being in Mexico. The hardest part about being here for a long time is meeting students, making great friends, and seeing them leave. I am fortunate to have a very close friend, Ángel (the other salsa instructor).

Ángel and I at Los Arcos for our weekly salsa dancing.

I have spent a lot of time with him being able to fully experience the Mexican culture with his family. I realized after a while that my host family didn't do much outside the house besides go to the market. It is neat to see the traditions of Mexican families and the fiestas. I attended a fiesta for Ángel's cousin's Catholic confirmation, which was definitely not like a typical religious gathering.

Angel telling his short story with 3 children from the audience

Aside from school, all the fiestas, and salsa dancing the best experience was being able to learn a little more about his family. Angel is a writer of short stories and novels and he was given the opportunity to share his favorite memory of his grandfather with children in the local children's museum. A very emotional experience for him and his family who was sitting in the audience.

There are so many more stories I can share but time is running short. I will post one final blog of my last week in Cuernavaca.

My family came to Mexico!

About 2 weeks ago, Mom, Dad, Granddaddy and Jason came to visit me in Cuernavaca for a long weekend. We had a great time being able to spend 4 days together after such a long time apart. There were barely enough hours in the day for me to show them where I've been living for a month and a half. I was able to take them downtown Cuernavaca and show them some of the cultural nightlife in the city, the Mexican markets with handmade crafts, and my University. They met my friends from NC State, some of my professors at my university, and my lovely Mexican family.

My two wonderful families together :)

my 2 mothers

On Saturday, we had a private driver, Imeldo, take us to the picturesque city of Taxco- Mexico's Silver Capital. Taxco is known for its silver mining and its hand crafted silver jewelry. The city's winding cobblestone streets and whitewashed houses with red tile roofs make this city one of the most unique in all of Mexico. We bought lots of silver that day with our Mexican pesos and ate lunch on a rooftop over looking the city while listening to some Spanish music.

The view of Taxco

shopping, what Mom, I and Jason love to do

My family was able to stay in one of the oldest but most elegant hotels in all of Cuernavaca- Las Mañanitas. It was such an experience to have huge peacocks to walk around our dinner table. One peacock even flew into our hotel room and ate peanuts from Granddaddy's hand!

peacock in our hotel room!

Albino peacock eating peanuts from Granddaddy's hand

Standing outside Las Mañanitas

One night for dinner, we decided to try the second best restaurant in the city - GAIA. And as delicious as the food was.. it was almost more exciting to figure out how to order "blackened tuna" in Spanish. For some reason with mine and Jason's spanish put together, we still had 4 different waiters (each one knowing a little bit more English than the other) ask us again how we wanted our fish prepared. It was interesting that on their English menu, they had "blackened tuna" but when we that's what we wanted, they had no idea what that actually was. We then tried to explain in both languages how you cook and prepare the tuna for it to be "blackened". haha what a great experience.
Jason and I also used our Spanish together to ask for directions to the black market, to call taxis and negotiate the price, and to buy things at the market.

hailing a radio taxi

The weekend my family was here in Cuernavaca was also the departure of my NC State friends. My good friend and owner of the pizza place, Manuel, in La Pasuela, threw a going away fiesta at his restaurant. It was a nice time for my family to meet my closest friends and professors who did so much for me when I first got to Mexico by myself.

La Pasuela, Cuernavaca

My sister wasn't able to come to Mexico to visit because of her study at UT. We missed you Erin, more than you know. We made sure to save a seat for you at the dinner table and wish you could have been here to say your favorite spanish word- bombero. haha I LOVE YOU!

It was by far one of the best weekends I've had since I've been here. It meant so much to me just knowing my family came all the way to Cuernavaca to see me and being able to show them my life in Mexico and what I have been doing since I've been here. I know it wasn't a lot of time but we enjoyed spending time with each other and experiencing new things together.

saying goodbye as I got in the taxi to go to school

Orphanage, Father's Day, and Mexican soccer

Nuestros Pequiños Hermanos Orphanage
http://www.nph.org/

I never got a chance to write about my visit to the largest orphanage in Latin America a few weeks ago. About an hour away from Cuernavaca, there's an orphanage named Nuestros Pequiños Hermanos. The facility was gorgeous and unlike any orphanage I've seen. The 500 orphans that live there have everything they would ever need within the walls of NPH; school, dining facility, and a doctor. Each child has their own chore around the facility depending on their age, and I was impressed when they said they have their own filtered water system- meaning their water is so clean they can drink straight from the tap. They also have hundreds of pigs on the site. They prepare 2 pigs and 5,000 tortillas and that's enough to feed all the children for one week.Our favorite little boy, Carlos, who loved to take pictures with my camera.

Dia del Padre (Father's Day)
Funny story.. I had the creative idea to make a homemade Father's day card for my Mexican father. I thought it would be a great idea to write a little note in English and translate it to Spanish. I knew it wouldn't be perfect, but I translated it as best I could...... word for word. So after a while, I finished my translation, and emailed it to my friend José Luis in NC for him to look at it before I wrote it out. I was confused when José laughed at my translation, not because it was terrible but because most of what I wanted to say didn't translate "exactly right" to Spanish.
I wanted to tell my father that "I know it's hard to have so many girls in the house"... needless to say it kind of translated to "I know its hard to hire so many girls to come into your house". Obviously a little different than what I was hoping to say. I also wanted to tell my host father how much I enjoy our quality time at breakfast and riding in the car to school every morning... and somehow the spanish words for "I cherish our quality time" translates to "touch your body". So after that, I left the rest up to José to fix my letter, figured out that things don't translate word for word exactly perfect, and decided I need to learn more Spanish. haha

The homemade Father's Day card

México fútbol playing in the World Cup
You never know the true meaning of SPIRIT until you experience Mexican fútbol (soccer) in México. Downtown is pretty wild on "game day"... It's normal for school to be canceled and businesses to close in just enough time for everybody to get to a place to watch the game.
The first game, I went to the Zocalo (downtown square). In the square, they had a gigantic projection of the game with thousands of people in Mexico jerseys standing trying to get a glimpse of the screen, even people sitting in the trees. Since I've been here, Mexico played 3 games in the World Cup! Downtown was absolutely crazy after the second win. There were groups of people running the street, rocking cars back and forth as they passed through the street, lots of yelling, and car horns playing the tune to "Vamos, vamos México!" What a cool cultural experience to see such spirit for Mexican fútbol!

Other one-time experiences...

Mexican bowling with my friends from the United States Naval Academy.

Blew about $10 USD in the casino one night it rained.

Tepoztlan- I saw these children playing on the bells of the Cathedral while the church was being cleaned.

Lunch with my Mexican family in Tepoztlan the first weekend I was in Mexico.

Playa de Ixtapa!

We had the opportunity for a 4 day weekend excursion to Ixtapa. NC State University, IUP from Pennsylvania and some independents hopped on the bus before sunrise at 5am last Thursday. We knew Ixtapa would be a long bus ride but didnt know having a bus with warm air conditioning and leaked when it was on, many gravel roads, and broken seats on our bus would make for the worst 9 hours ever.

We arrived around 2pm so we all headed for the beach first thing. It was a gorgeous day around 80 degrees. Hotel Fontan was oceanfront and had 5 swimming pools. A small resort with all inclusive food and drinks anytime quickly made up for the 9 hour bus ride.

On the beach- Aaron, David, Me, Carter, Sara, Samuel, Wes and Michael

My roommates were Sara and Katie from NC State. We enjoyed having air conditioning in the rooms, TV channels in English, and the best water pressure in the shower! We spent the first day on the beach trying to bear the Mexican sun. I was in heaven with the all-you-can-eat buffet and open bar to order as many piña coladas as I wanted.

After dinner every evening, we walked down the beach and enjoyed the beautiful sunset.

The Pacific Ocean at this time of year is dangerous. A certain color flag is flown every day representing how dangerous the water is that day. The color Red meant "very dangerous, swim at your own risk". I was in and out in about 5 minutes. The waves were way too strong to enjoy!
Our first day at Ixtapa just happened to be Mexico playing the first game of the World Cup in soccer. Having a sports bar across from our hotel was flooded with locals and tourists wearing Mexican jerseys. Mexico tied with South Africa 1-1.

As we layed on the beach, waded in the pool, and walked to the local markets, we were constantly being confronted by locals about mini excursions like parasailing, jet skis, snorkeling, and boat rides to private islands. It became normal to say "no gracias" until one my friends had the great idea of going deep sea fishing and snorkeling.

Sunrise on Saturday Morning

Five hundred pesos later, five of us were on the boat the next morning at sunrise, making our way out in to the ocean, taking our turns at catching blackfin tuna. We circled an island probably 10 times knowing thats where we caught the best fish. Needless to say, I needed help reeling in my 7 pound blackfin- it was a monster!


I never thought I'd go deep sea fishing while in Mexico much less eat the fish we caught for lunch! We stopped by a small island and picked up snorkeling gear... goggles and flippers.

(hahaha)

I was able to buy an underwater camera to take pictures of the ocean coral and schools of fish. As we snorkeled, our captain of the boat prepared "cavicchi" which consisted of raw tuna (that we caught), onions and lime juice- eaten with saltine crackers. It was actually very delicious (muy rico!)

Mis amigos- Mark, David, Dan and Aaron

Deep sea fishing and snorkeling was the best part of Ixtapa. It was a wonderful excursion within my 4 day excursion to Ixtapa. Once it was time to go back to Cuernavaca, I realized how much Spanish I had lost because I didn't speak it for 4 days. New classes started Monday which focused on more conversation. I am looking forward to Mom, Dad and Granddaddy coming to visit me in a few days! I will be able to show them my new city!

First times in México

I am starting my fourth week of studying in Cuernavaca. The small adventures I encounter are making this a well-rounded journey.

This past week has been one for "first times" since I've been here. After school on Thursday I went to my first salsa class! There were probably 30 Americanos trying to learn to dance in a small room surrounded by mirrors... it was quite the sight! My partner and I were probably the best couple in the class believe it or not. Salsa classes are every Tues/Thurs and I'm definitely bringing some salsa dancing back with me to the States!

I think I've figured out that siestas are definitely an everyday thing in this culture. It's hard not to take a siesta at 2 everyday. My normal routine for the day consists of classes from 8-2pm, siesta after my father picks me up from school, dinner with my family from 4:30-5:30, tarea (homework), blogs, emails, Skype, and studying until the night time. A few nights out of the week I'll go downtown to walk around, Los Arcos for some salsa dancing, or head to the mall for a movie with my family.

Transportation is the most inconvienent thing to get accustomed to. Radio taxis and walking are the best options if my parents can't take me someplace. My parents are only responsible for taking me to school and back so if I wanted to do anything in the evening, I need to make other arrangements. After the third week of being here, I was able to take my first radio taxi by myself, pretty impressive I can tell the driver where I need to go and helping him out by saying "a la derecha, a la izquierda, and derecho". I don't let anybody know I speak only a little Spanish. My male friends have been great about taking me home in a taxi after dark but the pesos are definitely adding up. My house is a mile from the gated entrance which makes the rate double in price instantly.
I have also made the first walk all the way to my house after school because my father did not answer his phone one day. It's great for some alone time, being able to be by myself for a 2 mile walk but I've learned to not make eye contact, don't turn around when a taxi beeps their horn, and since traffic is ridiculous, always look left and right at the same time before crossing the street. (haha)

Day trip to Mexico City
Last Sunday, I took a day trip to Mexico City with my friend, Aaron. He wanted to meet up with his old professor from NC State who now lives in the City and I was hoping to meet up with Adolfo and his family. Those plans fell through that day but it was a new experience being able to travel independently outside Cuernavaca and not being with the school. We took a taxi to the bus stop around 11am. We bought tickets for the bus that runs every 15 minutes from Cuernavaca to the Mexico City airport, watched the Disney movie, Horton Hears a Who (in Spanish), bought tickets for the metro which is a little difficult trying to follow such a confusing system in another language, walked around Zona Rosa which is part of the entertainment district in Colonia Juarez. Needless to say this part of Mexico City is where you find many mariposas (translates to butterflies in English, but I will let you figure out the real meaning) There is still heavy tourist traffic, and you will easily find yourself accosted by people in the streets selling goods and services, whether it be tours from taxi drivers, plus the usual crowd of street vendors, lottery vendors and beggars. If you're not interested, just ignore them and keep walking.

We had sushi for lunch, serenaded by a Mariachi band, got off at 4 different metro stops looking for a bathroom. Figured out that even with 30 million people living in that city, there are no bathrooms to be found! Last stop was the Angel de la Independencia in the glorieta (round-about intersection).

It was a different but an exciting day to become more independent while being here. We kept an eye out with everything that was going on around us, trying our best to communicate in the real world, and made it back to Cuernavaca a little after dark.

Laundry
My host family is not responsible for doing student's laundry so I take my clothes to the walk-in laundry mat beside my school. I took my bag of dirty clothes to them before school in the morning, they weighed it, washed, dried, folded my clothes and sealed it up in a fresh plastic bag. It was ready by the time I got out of school at 2pm! A whole 43 pesos ($4) for washing 2 weeks worth of clothes!

Feliz Cumpleaños para mi!

Celebrating my birthday in another country this year was a change but completely amazing. I realize I already have some really close friends here in México! The day started off great. I wore my new purple dress that my sisters, Daniela and Pamela, picked out for me at Tepotzlan the day before. Universidad Internacional makes a point to celebrate students' birthdays during the week. They announced my birthday and had cake for us for anyone who wanted to come. I hope everyone had a great time because I missed my own party. haha

UNINTER Commercial
At the exact same time as my birthday recognition, I was being filmed for a commercial for my school (UNINTER). There were about 20 Mexican and international students sitting around tables conversing in Spanish, representing the school with jerseys and shirts. I have yet to see it, but the commercial was aired on television last week!

Adolfo spent most of the day in Cuernavaca with my host family and me. We had a huge birthday dinner and presents at my house and afterward I got to help my sister with her English homework- probably the most exciting part of my day. :)

My amazing friends from NC State arranged a birthday celebration at the pizza place in downtown that evening. Got to the restaurant a little late but my friends had already started singing happy birthday. My friends, Katie and Sara had a beautiful sombrero waiting for me in my seat with presents and a card signed by everyone!

Pictured L-R: Maya, Me, Aaron, Carter, Marc, Michael, Amanda, Sara, Wes, Sammy, Katie and David

The biggest surprise of the night was when my friend, Aaron, arranged for the owners of the restaurant to bring out a chocolate birthday cake while singing happy birthday... first in English.. then in Spanish.

Adolfo also met my NC friends that night.

While it was mainly NC State people, we saw a group from the U.S. Naval Academy walking by and asked them to join us for the birthday celebration as well! A great time was had by everyone that night. We concluded the night with a little bit of salsa dancing in the plaza.

My friends Aaron, Sara, and Carter from NC State.

Sara, Me, Wes, and Sammy

I never forgot about my family and friends back in the United States on my birthday. My family stuffed surprise letters and presents in my suitcase before I left with a note saying "Do not open until June 1st"! Not to mention seeing all the pictures from all my best friends in Boone holding a huge banner saying "Happy Birthday Allison". This was by far the most memorial birthday with remembering how special I felt and how much effort everyone put forth into make this 22nd birthday perfect! Thank you to all!