Mexico - first impressions

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I've recently arrived in Mexico after a two year stay in Asia. I have also just been home to the UK for the first time in two years, and had a blast. I intend to stay abroad for longer this time, with Mexico being the first stop...

Four adjectives I'd choose for Mexico would be hot, vibrant, modern, and also beautiful. I had a 13 hour flight from the UK, landing here at 4am, which meant that I got to watch the sunrise on the bus from Mexico City Airport to Puebla. This was a city and highway drive, and I slept for half of it. The bus from Puebla to Tehuacan was an unexpected treat; the views I was afforded were very pretty. I wasn't expecting such a dry landscape, and for some reason I was also surprised to see cacti littering the roadside and beyond. Given that there's a cactus on the Mexican flag, I shouldn't have been... Perhaps a 13 hour flight does that to you!

I met my host family, of whom only one speaks any English. This would create barriers normally, but they are amazingly patient and friendly with me. We laugh at my abominable attempts at Spanish now, but I suspect it's going to improve very swiftly in this nurturing environment. In one particular faux pas, I managed to confuse the words for 'cook' and 'pig', cochinera (ish) and cochina respectively. I attempted to tell the mother of the family that she's a good cook, and instead told her that she's a good pig. This was met with hysterical laughter and back-slapping from the rest of the family, whilst she fought against the tide of noise and her mirth to correct me.

They managed to find out that I can speak (a superfluous amount of) Mandarin, and have been asking me to give them Chinese names, and simply to speak any Mandarin that I know. They also asked what my tattoos mean, and I suspect my answer underwhelmed them; I merely get tattoos to represent stages in my life.

I shall be spending at least four months living with these people, so I'm glad that they carry themselves with such alacrity and patience. They seem completely charming and I enjoy them just as much as they seem to enjoy me.

I have a lovely converted rooftop bedroom that overlooks a modest cityscape, and that's also equipped with a sunbed and rooftop sunbathing area. I was expecting the house to be less modern than it is, and was also expecting to feel less safe than I do here. Apparently Mexico City is a little edgier, so we shall see how that feeling persists.

I have been treated very politely by charming people since landing, and have surprised my host family by learning how to take a public minibus from the school to home already. The people, like the host family, seem to enjoy me as much as I enjoy them, which is nice! I intend to make myself more independent whilst I'm here, by forcing myself to take public transport from the start. The transport system in Tehuacan is similar to what I'm used to in Indonesia; you go to the road that your desired minibus passes, you stop it, pay, and then shout "stop, please!" when you see your destination. I have been asked questions by curious locals on the minibus already, invariably in Spanish so far, and have attempted not to disgrace myself.

I start teaching next week, and shall be extremely excited to really get my teeth into the culture, history, and people of Mexico!

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