I'm in Mexico!!!

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¡Hola! So below is a compilation of a series of edited emails to my fam. it's VERY long, so don't feel like you need to read it all. happy summer to you! Feel free to email back, although I've only been checking it once a week or so. Here goes:

sunday the 15th we had our orientation in spanish (i understood most everything) and then we went home with our host family. i'm staying with a couple in their late 60's or so. they have 7 children but they are all grown up with their own families now. this is the couple's 20th year being a host family for this program! it seems that all the families that we are staying with are pretty well off and have nice houses. my house is huge, with most of the rooms empty because all the kids are moved out. i have my own room by the kitchen with my own bathroom. mamá y papá are very accomodating and are patient with my spanish, although they say that my spanish is good compared to others that have stayed with them before. they are not vegetarian but mamá cooks vegan food for me.

ah the food! it is soooo good!! and i'm eating way healthier than in the US because the only sugar i'm comsuming is from fruit. my daily schedule is i get up around 7:40am, get ready and eat breakfast at 8. i'm lucky in that although my family has been involved with eap for 20 years they still eat and cook authentic food for their host students. some families i'm hearing have gotten acustumed to american students and often serve american food like cereal. for breakfast and dinner i have fruit like papaya, mango, cantaloupe. dinners and breakfasts are much smaller than lunch, which is the main meal of the day and eaten in the dining room. there are usually multiple courses like soup, salad, rice, and a main dish which could be chile rellenos, chillaquitos (tortilla triangles in a salsa), beans, tacos, or others. and there's some kind of juice like orange, guava, hibiscus, cantaloupe. i can tell that mamá uses her kitchen appliances well, like the microwave and the blender. but even though they have a washing machine, dryer, and dishwasher, i never see them use it (appliances cost a lot of money and water to operate).

so i finished my first week of school and i survived. i can pretty much understand what the professors are lecturing about (of course they are talking slower than they usually do and are using a more elementary vocab). however, all of the assignments and essays start next week. i have 3 compositions due a week, midterms and finals for each class, oral reports and other various assignments. the reading is rigorous and numerous, and everyone is realizing that they have to read for the general context of the reading, instead of looking up every word that they don´t understand. we have 4 clases: history, literature, spanish lanuage, and contemporary mexican culture. the history we are learning is very interesting: we are learning about how indigenous people were first established here and how the spanish came over and established mexico. we are also learning about contemporary mexican culture.

slowly, my vocab is increasing and i can understand conversation better. the problem is that the spanish we learn in the classroom is different than what you hear on the street - everyone talks faster and uses a lot of slang. so it's a good thing that we have time where we are partnered with mexican students to talk to and they can teach us coloquial expressions in spanish and we can do the same for them in english.

i have to take what are called combis to school and back, most everyone does. otherwise it's about 50 minutes to walk (i'll probably walk to school at least once for the experience). combis are essentially volkswagon vans where the back seats are in a circle against the walls. you can probably seat 8 people comfortably in back, but oftentimes we fit up to 14 people in the back, which means you could be holding someones backpack or baby if you're sitting down. it can get pretty crazy but that's how public transportation works here. there are set routes for combis and you can tell by what color is on the outside. however, there are different routes within each color, so you have to ask the driver which route he is going on. in some ways morelia reminds me of india in the way people sell things on the street, and the air quality leaves something to be desired.

almost everyone here is catholic and VERY religious, including my family. there are pictures up everywhere of angels and the pope, every wears a cross around their neck, and there are multiple crucifixes in combis (heaven forbid we should crash...although the driving isn't quite as bad as that in india). as i said before, my family is very accomodating and they understand that not everyone is catholic (like me haha). a major difference here, however, is that everyone is very affectionate. when you meet up with someone or greet someone you kiss them on the cheek, and there is much public displays of affection by young couples. someone told me an interpretation is that all the affection gives you more endorphins which makes people happy. and it seems to be true that everyone is happy here, no matter how rich or poor.

students in the program are nice, although it seems a little like high school - inevitably there is drama among some people: this person doesn't like that person, this person kissed that person when they were drunk and now it's awkward, this person is annoying in class, etc. etc. i guess i've found a middle ground (it seems i always do among groups like this), i´m just doing what i want and not mixing myself in with such drama.

this last weekend was jam packed with traveling. because ethan (another student, from cal) and i didn't want to get piss drunk with everyone else, we decided to visit the nearby town of pátzcuaro. we managed to navigate the bus system just fine and get there a few hours before the sun went down so we decided to take a taxi to the more pristine lake of zirahuen. the lake was beautiful but we were unsuccessful at getting a cheap place to stay so we headed back to pátzcuaro for the night. pátzcuaro is a small town of mostly indigenous purépecha people who make a living by farming and selling artesan gifts. i´m definitely making a day trip back there before i leave mexico and getting some fabrics.

about 8 more people joined us on saturday and we went to the huge (not pristine) pátzcuaro lack where there are several islands. we took a ferry to the big island and hiked up the VERY steep streets (mom and dad i don't think you 2 could do it). there on the very top of the island is a huge statue that you can climb up from the inside into the cuff of the raised hand (kind of like the statue of liberty i suppose). the view was incredible. when people start to post pictures i'll send some over. saturday night we took a taxi to uruapan, another city which is supposedly the avocado capital of the world. we stayed in a really dumpy place for cheap ($7 each) although it was so bad we didn't get much sleep. sunday we took a taxi to a place where we rented horses and rode to a waterfall. it was pretty cool, the waterfall was big enough so that there was mist all in the air. after that we got back to uruapan and went hiking in the national forest which happens to be in the middle of the city - but you wouldn't know that if you were inside because it looks like a pristine (=no trash) tropical jungle. it was pretty incredible the kinds of flora and buttress trees that were there, reminding me a bit of costa rica. after that we headed home and got back sunday at a decent time of 5pm.

so this is the week where all the work starts. our first composition was due today, but our compostions are only 250 words so it's no bige deal. i hammered out 300 plus words in an hour and a half. yesterday a bunch of us started salsa lessons. i was the only one with previous experience (cuban salsa 2 summers ago) although cuban salsa is very different than mexican salsa. me and this other girl kirsten who dances were probably the most advanced out of us students, but we still have a lot to learn. good thing we've got 2 more months!

more observations:
-the bus system here in mexico is incredible and cheap! all the buses are really nice with reclining plush seats, movies, and air conditioning. they go to all major and medium cities on average for about U.S. $3.5 per hour. in comparison, a 2 hour ride on amtrak from sac to berkeley is $20 and not as comfortable. if i come to mexico again to travel, buses are the way to go, waaaay cheaper than airplanes, and a better view! also i got a student pass so i think i'll be able to ride for cheaper 😊
-taxis are generally cheapif you have a full car, but you have to negotiate the price before getting in
-The cathedral is the main building in town and every saturday night there are fireworks there. I think it was so amazing because of the fact that in the US they would never have put on fireworks so close to the public. I was only 100 feet from where they were shooting off and so they exploded right above our heads, and some of the sparks came pretty close to the ground.
-it rains here almost every day, although not for long. it's also sunny every day. but you have to bring an umbrella everywhere with you.
-the cockroaches are okay to deal with, i think they're better than the spiders in india
-there is trash everywhere. not so much in the main part of the city, but definitely by the sides of roads - like india. and pollution is poopy.
-i regret bringing the nice new converses that are a size too small instead of my torn up pair that fit me. maybe they're just breaking in and will adjust to my feet, but i'm alternating between those and my tevas. i also didn't bring any heels either for going out (ALL the women wear heels here) or dancing, so i might be getting a pair tomorrow.
-i love siestas! i take about an hour nap every day in the afternoon
-i tried going swimming last friday but was appalled that it cost $3.50 for a one time pass, because it's cheaper in the U.S. but then my family told me that that was really cheap. they said that often times it's $9 to swim (i guess that's how the alhambra club works). i'll try to go sometime soon - it's an olympic size pool!

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Photos

first morning in morelia
at the EAP breakfast

mis papás
muy preciosos

vodka (su nombre)
muy vieja...tiene 15 años?

caja de pajaros
son canarios

la cocina
muchos aparatos de cocina