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Published: August 30th 2008
Hello Everyone,
I have arrived and settled in at my new home in Xalapa, Mexico! I arrived Wednesday night around 8pm after a five-hour plane ride to Mexico City and another five hours aboard a bus to Xalapa. The plane ride passed in a sleepy daze but the bus ride was beautiful, cutting through the expansive countryside of eastern Mexico. Incredible fields of green vegetation stretched as far as the eye could see though in the past couple weeks the region has been slammed with rain turning many of the fields into vast lakes. Nearing Veracruz, the terrain became quite mountainous and a thick mist sat above the tree line due to the damp weather. Veracruz is a very beautiful region for what I’ve seen thus far.
My host mom "Yolie" and her daughter Jenny picked me up from the bus terminal in downtown Xalapa and drove us back to the house where I met the grandmother Teenie. The three generations of women live in a very nice small house just outside the city center and house two other Mexican students who study English at a local university. They live on the third floor of the house and I’ve seen each of them once at mealtime. One of the boys, Omar, I like trying to talk to because he speaks quietly and slowly, something I have not experienced with anyone else yet, ha. I am beginning to understand that there are many schools in the city, some of which are satellite campuses of the University of Veracruz. I’ve been told that once I have a student ID card from the EEE (La Escuela para Estudiantes Extranjeros, or School for International Students where I’ll be studying) then I can use all the resources of the UV satellite school. The EEE is an easy ten minute walk from my new house but a steep climb up some of narrow streets. Xalapa is thought of as the San Francisco of Mexico and you get the feel as you drive around the city. Right now the city is brightly decorated with Mexican flags and streamers in preparation for their upcoming holiday on Sept. 15th, something similar to July 4th Independence Day in the USA. What I heard about the holiday was, “blah blah blah (couldn’t understand), mucha mucha tequila.” Haha.
The past couple days I have been spending lots of time with Yolie, my host mother. I walk to my school in the morning to use the internet and come home around lunchtime when she gets home from work. Yesterday afternoon we worked on some basic vocabulary, though every new word I learn I think I forget a word, no visible progress yet! Ha. She takes me on errands to the store and to pick up her daughter Jenny from school, so I’ve seen a bit of the city so far. As we drive we try to converse about the city or the way of things here in Xalapa, but I spend most of my time just listening to the language and asking questions when I can. She frequently laughs and shakes her head when she can’t get something across after the fifth time, but she seems enthusiastic to have me here living with her family and learning Spanish. She teaches at a school outside the city limits, young children I believe, and displays the patience a good teacher should have. The grandmother and daughter forget to speak slowly so there has not been much understanding between us. The last member of the house (besides the two Mexican students upstairs that I rarely see) whom I’ve bonded with the best is their cocker spaniel-mut named Sammy. I get the feeling he knows even more Spanish than I do, but he doesn’t let it affect our relationship, something I’m appreciative of. The first night he hid under my bed, quite skeptical of the foreigner. We have come to enjoy each other’s company though. I wake in the morning to the sound of twenty canary birds that the grandmother Teenie has in cages in the washroom just off the kitchen. They sing while she cooks and she talks back to them.
I am using the free wireless internet at my school library for now as we don’t have access in the house. All is well, spirits are high considering I can’t say anything of any substance to people, and I’m enjoying the very good cooking of Teenie and comfortable living space. I have my own room and bathroom.
My cell phone does work here but to use it is quite expensive. For all the Skype users out there I don’t think the school library would appreciate someone talking out loud but I will work on finding a place to use it.
Today I’m off to check out the city center, perhaps a 20 minute walk from the house and to buy a dictionary!
Best wishes to all at home and abroad.
Barry
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Andrea
non-member comment
Hola, mi amor
Hi! Great blog. It must be so frustrating not to be able to communicate. but it will come! Can you get a head set for skype? I think that's what Zack has. We send tons of love and are so glad your living situation is good - it sounds wonderful in fact. Have you started school? Much much love, xxx Andrea and Marcial