Anita’s Neighborhood

“The use of traveling is to regulate imagination by reality, and instead of thinking how things may be, to see them as they are.” - Samuel Johnson

1. There are a lot of stray dogs here -- a lot. Every time you go out driving you will see at least 1 but probably more in each city you are in.

2. On the streets there are a lot of speed bumps called tope's so the cars will slow down a lot.

3. Most streets are only one way, which results in sometimes having to drive around a lot more than you would have had to otherwise.

4. At stoplights there will be people coming around with a cloth and soap who want to wash your windshield. There will also be people selling things.

5. Everyone greets eachother with a hug, or handshake and a kiss on the cheek.

6. The guys here are very gentleman like. They will hold open and close a car door for you, always let you walk ahead of them when entering places, etc.

7. In Mexico specifically they say Mande? a lot which means what?

8. They also almost always answer the phone with Bueno! Which is like hello but only used on the phoene.

9. There is graffiti everywhere!

10. The streets, in Tehuacan at least, arent very well kept up.

11. If you dont live in a gated community you will have a gate specifically for your house, and the gate is as tall as the first floor.

12. M family and many families have maids who clean everyday and do the laundry etc. The maid will clean and dust my room and make my bed.

13.They have tortillas, and limes with every meal.

14. They add ''ita'' and ''ito'' to the end of so many things!

15. They like to practice their english with me.

16.Most everyone has a dog(s) and if they do they are usually toy (small) dogs.

17. They also shorten por favor to por fa, a lot.

18. It is normal to see trucks, with 5 to 10 soldiers in the back, holding rifles twice the height as themselves, especially near the border.

19. There are lots of people on the sides of the road carrying sticks, or baskets on their head, especially in the smaller towns.

20.They also say ya a lot which means a lot of different things including, already, now, sure!, I know, and finished! or done!

21.There is a lot of poverty here and people begging for money. There is basically no middle class and a big difference between the people who have a lot of money and have basically no money at all.

22. Almost no one uses their seatbelts unless they are driving or in the passenger seat, sometimes.

23. People pile 6-10 people into a 5 person car.

24. A lot of times people ride in the back of trucks if there is not enough room for them in the front part.

Friday, August 14th

Friday was a very full day. My family brought me to La Trinidad in Tlaxcala, where the inbound orientation took place. We were the first one's there because we arrived at about 12:30 and everyone else was supposed to come at around 1:30. So we walked around the hotel a bit, it was very very pretty. Then we went back to the opening room, the lobby, and I met some people from Rotary and inbounds who are living in Tlaxcala. Eva from Brasil, Vivica from Tlaxcala, Franziska from Germany and Po from Taiwan, another girl from Brasil and also another girl from France. Then the whole bus of people from Puebla arrived and suddenly there were a lot of people in the hotel.

As soon as everyone arrived we put all our bags in a closet and then went to have lunch. I sat with 3 rotary members, Eva from Brasil, and Dianna from Phoenix. For Lunch we had stuff that I didnt really like, so I didn't eat much, but they had a good dessert of bananas with cream and cinnamon. Very good! haha After lunch, I met the 3 other people who stayed in my room. In my room was a girl from Germany named Anna, a girl from Brasil named Mariana and a girl from Finland named Pia. We went to our rooms to put our bags away, met our rotary counselor for the weekend, Carlos, and got bags with a green rotary shirt, a red rotary shirt, a schedule, and a book.

After we went to the auditorium for an intro, introducing all the Rotarian members to us, and welcoming us. After we went into the next room and took a group photo. Then the rotex put on a couple shows for us. They did this song/dance thing where they would ask fi the other person wanted shaving cream on their foor, on their hand, on their chest, in their armpit, in their butt etc. and they had to say yes to everything. In the end there was shaving cream all over the place! It was very funny! They then did one of those skits where they act out one scene in many different styles, which was very funny as well, (Gay, slow mo, western, japanese etc.) Afterwards, everyone had to stand in 3 lines, boy-girl-boy-girl and then move and sing certain things while holding onto the person in front of you's waist, or ankles, or knees etc. It got very awkward but funny awkward, and it was a lot of fun.

After that we went to the auditorium again and talked about what we would do if we had any problems with any kind of abuse. WE then went over the rules of rotary, and the point system etc.

NO DRINKING
NO DRIVING
NO DRUGS
NO DATING
NO DOWNLOADING PORN
NO DECORATING YOURSELF

After that we all went outside and played a couple of games. We played this one game where we got into teams of 4 ot 5 and each team was handed a ball of string and assigned a team number. We had to wrap the string around the tree or lamp post that had our number and then as fast as we could run across the parking lot  and wrap are string around 1,2,3,4,5,6,7 etc. until we got back to our number. In the end we were all in a field of string. But when we finished one of the Rotex people told us that it wasnt the end and we actually had to go backwards now, so all the strings were rolld up. Team number 2 won and got Rotary Knapsacks. We then watched 10 people play a game of follow the leader wwhich ensued in everyone bent over pretending they were going to the bathroom and then down between guys legs singing. After we did a sing after me type of thing with everyone, and each team was assigned an instrument, that when he called that instrument we had to sing, for example, viola viola viola la, viola la, viola la etc. and he then did an orchestra with all of the different instruments etc. It was a lot of fun.

After the activities we all went to dinner and then to our rooms to change into sneakers and sweatshirts for the night. We all then met out in the parking lot and piled into 2 buses, to head to downtown Huamantla. There we walked through a fair, where there was a tent and in that tent there were 4 lines of people going 2 different ways and packed in like a can of sardines. It was a bit scary at points and I was soooo erlieved to get out at the end. We all then walked to downtown where every street was filled with these very colorful, beautifully designed ''Rugs'' that were made out of painted wood chips. We were able to see people working on them too which was pretty cool. At around 1 am we all piled back into the buses and drove back to the hotel. Went to bed at around 3. At around 1 AM in Huamantla the Mexican Virgin came out of the church and walked on the rugs all throughout town. It was a celebration to honor the virgin. BUt we didnt get to see that because we left too early. But it was still really cool to see all of the rugs!

Saturday, August 15th

At about 9 in the morning we had breakfast and then we went to the auditorium for Rotex conferences. They showed us a video of the exchange students from last year and then they gave us all tips on what to do in order to have a successful exchange. Then we went over the 6 D's again, with pics, and then we went over all of the trips that would be offered during this year.

After our meetings we all got into teams of 4-6 people, for a rally. My group had 3 people from Brasil, 2 people from Germany, and myself. It was very fun. We had to run around the whole hotel looking for Rotex. At each station they had a challenge for us and then questions about Rotary/Mexico that we had to answer. The challenges included singing and writing down the lyrics to a typical Mariachi song, getting 10 people from Rotary's signatures, reciting 5 phone numbers of people in Rotex, making a line out of clothing 20 steps long, acting out a scene as gays in lesbians in a club, taking a picture with guys as girls and girls as guys etc. It was very very fun.

After the rally we had lunch and then went back to the auditorium. There Rotex came into the auditorium on either side. There were 2 armies, with water balloons and then two Rotex men dressed up as queens. The queens were fighting over the king, and they told us that our mission was to take down the other queen any way we could. And there were no rules other than guys could not touch girls and girls could not touch guys in a bad way.  We marched out into the pouring rain to where we were playing with our teams. Our team was very good and won in the end. We put our queen in the middle of the fountain with ''her'' back up against one of the brick walls, because there was this bridge type thing in the middle. And then we all made a shield around her about 4 bodies wide, all around. The only problem was that the other team started kicking the water from the fountain into our faces so we werent able to see anything. Everyone was in their clothes and shoes, and by the end, from a combination of rain and fountain water, everyone was completely soaked. It was very very fun.

After we had 30 minutes to change and then we had to meet with the other people from our country.The USA ended up writing a rap about our country. It was pretty short because it was written in about 20 minutes, but I really liked it. Then everyone went into the aud and we began our presentations. Argentina, Brasil, Canada, Denmark, Slovakia, Chzecholosovakia, France, Switzerland, South Korea, Thailand, Taiwan, Turkey, and Germany all did presentations. Most were songs, powerpoints, dances etc. from their respective countries. It was really fun to watch.

After we went to have dinner and then up to the camping area, where we made a bonfire, sat around talking, and sang songs with the guitar. It was very fun and I went to sleep at around 1.

Sunday, August 16th

I woke up at around 8 and had a breakfast of pancakes. Everyone then went to the auditorium to sign off on the ruless. For the next 2 hours everyone exchange pins, I packed my bags and took a shower. Then everyone gathered outside the rooms and we set about 10 cameras onto timer, pushed them all at the same time, and then waited for them all to take the picture. It was pretty fun haha. At around 2 a lot of us got onto the bus to go to Puebla. And then the inbound to Tehuacan took a bus to our city where our host families met us. I sat next to Julie from France and Kathleen from Germany on the bus rides and I had a good time talking with them. I practiced my spanish with Julie which was especially fun because believe it or not we had spoken English all weekend because more people knew English than Spanish. Which I think is stupid, because we are here to learn spanish, but oh well. Now I am back with my family and despite not talking spanish all weekend I find that I am doing better at understanding and speaking the language then I was doing 3 days again when I saw my host family last.

Sunday, August 9th

I woke up at around 11 AM because I was very, very tired. I took a shower, and Gis and I had tacos for breakfast. We then all went to the bride and groom's house for eating and talking. There were probably 30 to 50 people in the dining room sitting at 4 tables and around the edges of the room. We ate tostadas and soup for lunch. Then Gis, Gabril and Luz went to McAllen again, and the rest of us went to the frontera. There is a bridge there that you can walk over and one side of the bridge you are in Reynosa, Mexico, and on the other side you are McAllen, Texas, USA. You cross the Rio Grande, or in Mexico they call it the Rio Bravo. It was very cool. I was in the USA for about 2 hours. We were only able to go to one store though because none of us had our passports, or visas. In the store there were parfumes, make up, chocolate, alcohol, and cigarettes. We spent the whole two hours going around the store and basically smelling all the parfumes. Afterwards, Gaby, Silvia and I went to my host fathers, aunts house. I really like Sylvia, my host grandmother, because she asked me if I missed my mother, and when I said I did she said that she could be my ''madre'', so she is always calling me her ''hija'' and making sure I am comfortable, and have everything I need. We had tacos for dinner, carne, and then we went to another one of my host aunt's house where the rest of the family was. There I had mole for dinner. We sat around talking and watching TV until 10:30 and then we went back to the house we were staying at to sleep.

Monday, August 10th

Monday morning we all woke up at about 8 and took showers. We all then went to the Centro Commercial to eat breakfast. There we met up with all of the aunts, uncles, cousins, grandparents etc. I had pancakes for breakfast and leftover wedding cake. Its really nice because most of the time my host family insists on paying so I havent really had to pay for that much yet. After my host family, grandparents and I got into the car, we drove 5 hours to Cd. Victoria. It was even hotter there then in Reynosa. We went to my grandmother's cousin's house in the city for lunch. We had pollo, rice, and salad. It was very very good. After lunch we went into the back yard where they had 11 turtles, but we could only find 3. It was very cool though. At around 6 we went to their other house in the city. It was called Huerta Guadalupe, and it was like a farm kind of but only for trees. we stayed outside on the porch for a while and chatted, and then we played Jenga, which was very fun. At around 8, we watched the Bucket List, in Spanish, with english subtitles, and it was very good. We then watched videos from the wedding, and other videos that were on the camera. After, we went outside and looked at the sky for a while. It was so clear, and beautiful. You could see every single star in the sky. I really like my little sister here because when I dont understand anything she knows it is most likely because it was too fast, so she says it again more slowly. Very very nice.

Tuesday, August 11th

After we all woke up and had breakfast, we went to the zoo! It was a small zoo but it was a lot of fun! We say giraffes, lots of different kinds of birds, bears, cheetahs, lions, tigers, etc. and we played under the fountain because it was sooooo hot! After we went to a restaurant called Runawayss for lunch. They had birds and monkeys there too. For lunch we had tacos with meat and lots of other things for appetizers. It was pretty good. When you said hola to the birds they sometimes said it back because they were parrots! It was really cool =) After we went back to my grandmother's cousin's house, where we met my host cousin who was very cute, 3 years old, and named Ines. We played  with clay for a while and then played hide and go seek with her. She also showed me how she was able to count to 10 in English, and say her ABC's in English. I then tried to recite my abc's in spanish and did worse than she did haha. After, we went to Sam's and Wal Mart to buy some things. Afterwards we went back to the Huerta and watched Rumor Has It, in English with spanish subtitles because they didnt have a spanish option for languages. Only portuguese, which I thought was a bit weird.

Wednesday, August 12th

Basically all I did was drive 13 hours from Cd. Victoria, to San Martin. But 2 other major things also happened. At around 4 in the afternoon we stopped for lunch, and on the tv was the soccer game between USA and Mexico, the finals -- score was 1-1 with 5 minutes left and Mexico scored! Everyone was very happy when they won. The other big thing that happened was that at around 9, we got stuck in a lot of traffic. There was a big truck that had went off the road. And then about 5 or 10 minutes later, we saw a man lying in the middle of the road shaking, and his motorcycle in pieces all around him. My host father got out of the car to check on the guy, because he is a doctor. Apparently the guy had broken both of his legs and was not able to walk, but he was still alive, and not losing a lot of blood. My grandmother, who is very very catholic, had us all bow our heads in prayer for him. We then started off again because my host father couldn't really do anything for him, nor did he have the authorization to do anything. So we told him we would call the emergency number and set off. Around the corner was another car that was going the other way, that was all beaten up and had obviously run into the man on the motorcycle. We assumed that he had decided to pass someone when he shouldnt have and ended up running into the guy on the motorcycle. There was nobody in the car so we assumed that they had gotten scared and run away, which was a shame really. We arrived in San Martin, where their grandparents house was at around 12:30 in the morning, and the difference in temperature was amazing! In Reynosa it was about 39 degrees Celsius, and in San Martin it was about 15 degrees celsius.

Thursday, August 13th

Basically nothing at all happened. I went to meet their cousin Vale, went to their bisabuelas house for lunch, and then we went to Puebla to run some errands.

Morning of the Wedding

The morning of the wedding, my family and I met up with a lot of family on the groom's side and went to the mall for breakfast. I had tacos with carne that were very very good. I also had some pan. The pan here (bread) is always very sweet and more like a dessert type thing. After breakfast we went looking for a dress for the wedding for Gretel. We didn't find anything at the mall so we all went down to the center of Reynosa where there is a main street, that is kind of like Church Street, but bigger. We found a very nice dress at one of the shops there for her and we also stopped at a shoe place for the guy's, for their suit's. It was very, very hot -- which it was every day in Reynosa -- so we went into the stores that had AC whenever possible. We then went to get water for everyone, and I saw the building where the offices for the government are located, and then we went back to our car's and went back to the house where we were sleeping at. There we started to get ready for the wedding. Gretel and I painted our nails, and I took a shower to cool off. When I got out I hit my hand on the lightbulb and it burnt really really badly. But I put cream and cold water on it so it was okay. I went into our room and watched tv for a while, while Gis curled Gaby and Gretel's hair. Luz gave me a gift of earrings for my dress and some Maria Sharapova parfume. Once my hair was dry Luz helped me with my makeup etc. and I put my dress on. Everyone was ready to go so we ate lunch and then left for the wedding at around 6:30.

The Wedding

Everyone arrived at the church, including the bride and groom, right at 6:30. We all piled into the little waiting room, and when the bride came in in her dress everyone clapped and cheered etc. The church we were in, and the ceremony that was held, was different from a usual Mexican Wedding because it took place in a Christian church instead of a Catholic church. Everyone went into the chapel, the bride's family on one side and the groom's on the other. When music started playing, the groom with his mother walked into the room, followed by a whole bunch of family carrying symbolic gifts. The bride followed with her grandfather holding her arm. It was a very short walk so everyone was sitting back down pretty quickly.The bride and groom sat down on a special bench, and everyone else sat down on the metal chairs that were set up. The priest then began talking and it was all in spanish so I didn't really understand, unfortunately. He was basically giving a sermon though, and a couple times during the sermon we said prayers. Then Silvia and Orlando stood up and went to kneel on pillows in front of the priest. Then people began coming up one at a time with their symbolic gifts, and the priest took a moment to explain what each gift symbolized. Finally, a friend of the bride and her grandfather, came up with a very pretty, what they called a ''lasso,'' and put it around both Silvia and Orlando's necks, connecting them in holy matrimony. Then they both stood up and the priest began to recite to them their vows, and both said ''I do,'' the priest pronounced them man and wif, and they kissed eachother. Bells were handed out and everyone started to ring them in celebration. Then families and friends went up one group at a time, an a lot of pictures were taken. After all of the pictures, about a 10 minute drive away, we went to a place where dinner and the after party was held.

After Party

There were more people at the after party then at the actual wedding. It was a very prety room and there were white round tables around the outside of the room, with roses in flower vases in the middle of the tables, and a dancing space in the middle of the room. At the head of the room there was a special table solely for the bride and groom. Once everyone was in their seats the DJ asked everyone to stand, and the bride and groom enetered. Everyone began clapping as they paraded around the room. After a while they shared their first dance to the song from Aladdin, A Whole New World, (in Spanish). Then everyone sat down and began to eat. For appetizers there were very good crackers with cheese, and for drinks iced tea. For dinner we had pollo with a very good sauce, mashed potatoes, and a pasta that I didnt really like at all. During dinner people began to dance. It was more like traditional dancing though, like the salsa, and only with a partner. The music was all Spanish, typical music from Mexico. The bride and groom then stood on chairs in the middle of the room and the groom held onto the bride's veil, making a bridge like thing. The women then all got into a line holding hands and when the music started, wel all skipped around the room very fast to the music, weaving in and out and under the bridge. The men then did the same thing. There was then more dancing, the bride threw back the bouquet, and the groom threw back the other thing. At about 1 AM we all went back to my host dad's uncle's house.

“There are no foreign lands. It is the traveler only who is foreign.” - Robert Louis Stevenson

Sunday August, 2

I arrived in Mexico to start my year as a foreign exchange student, 2 weeks ago, on Sunday August 2nd. I stayed over at my aunts and uncles house in Reading, Mass and then on the morning of August 2nd my family and I drove to Logan Airport, in Boston, at around 6 in the morning. When we arrived at the airport the first thing we did was check my bags, which didnt work at first, but we got someone to help us and she figured it all out. After I checked my bags my family and I walked a very short distance to where I had to say goodbye to them for a year! I cried and gave everyone hugs, multiple times, and then when I managed to pull myself together I walked into the place where security checked our carry on bags etc. and once I was done with that I turned around the corner and saw my family all standing together waving goodbye to me, and I waved back. Turning that corner I had the feeling of knowing that I was on my own. I found my departure gate without any problems, however I almost missed my flight because I didnt realize that we were boarding! (Ive never flown by myself before haha). My plane ride from Boston to Miami was about 3.5 hours long. When I arrived in Miami I had about a 1.5 hour wait and then at about 1 I boarded the plane that was taking me from Miami to Mexico City. One person who I was sitting next to on my second flight was a boy who lived in Puebla, which is about an hour a way from where I live in Tehuacan! It was really cool to be able to talk with him. Once I got off the plane in Mexico City I was feeling sick and tired and I just wanted to get to my family. I went through customs pretty easily, after filling out a form about my health and letting them check my bags. When I opened the door my entire family was standing there, including their cousin Karen and their Abuelo. Karen, who is 11, was standing with a bouquet of beautiful flowers for me, and Gaby was standing there with a sign that read "Welcome Delia!" It was very very nice =)

I greeted everyone in my family with a shake of the hand, hug type deal and a kiss on the cheek =) Which is how everyone greets eachother here. I really like it, much more friendly then in the US. Everyone was very hungry, so after we put my bags away in the car, and took some pictures with everyone, we went to my host aunts house which is in Mexico City for lunch (5 PM). We all piled into their car which is a big jeep type thing, they call it a camioneta, and drove about 30 minutes to my host aunts house. At my host aunts house were about 10 aunts and uncles, 1 grandma (Sylvia), and 1 great grandma. There were also a lot of friends over visiting and cousins. For lunch we had a pasta salad, bread and this really good, but incredibly spcy (pica), chicken. One of their uncles was from NJ and had married their aunt. He was in Mexico because they had come down to baptize their daughter, Isabella, who was very cute and 8 months old. It was really nice though because they could kind of translate the spanish for me into English when I didnt understand. The grandma told me the story of how they met because I was looking at their wedding pictures. Apparently she had gone to NJ for school, had met him, and they got married and had a baby. It was really funny because I kind of got what the grandma said but when the aunt translated for me and told me that she had also said ''and you are here for school too!'' and I finally got what she was implying, and it showed on my face, everyone, including myself, laughed.

We then left to go to Tehuacan, after hugging and kissing everyone on the cheeks. On the way home we watched ''Era Hielo 2'' which is Ice Age 2, there were no subtitles and it was in spanish, so I couldnt understand a lot of it but it was still funny! The land here in Mexico is so beautiful! The trees, the mountains, and the volcano that I saw in Puebla, are absolutely gorgeous! The dad pointed out a lot of things to me, including the rio frio where it snows in the winter. During the car ride we had many laughs about my inability to understand Español! For example, they were trying to describe their dog to me and they said it was like a hot dog, and I was trying to guess what they were trying to say, and they asked me what was on the middle of the hot dog and I was guessing many things and then finally I said ''Oh Ketchup!'' and obviously that was not it because they laughed very hard.

We finally arrived at their house, and it was very very pretty! It is in a gated community, so it is a little bit nicer than all the other houses. The outside is green and when you walk in they have a living room/dining room (which we never eat in) to the right, a kitchen straight ahead, and stairs to the left. Upstairs is the parents bedroom, my bedroom (which is Giselles room), Gaby and Gretel's room, and the bathroom. My room is very nice! It has a tv in it and shelves and a bed and a big closet. I went to sleep almost right away after getting home because I was so exhausted (It was about 9 or 10 at night).

Monday, August 3rd

At about 11 o'clock in the morning I went down stairs because I heard people talking and I went to say hello. Luz asked me what I wanted to have for breakfast and I asked for eggs. We, Gis and I, after breakfast went up to her bedroom and she cleaned out a lot of her stuff, and started to pack for Brasil, while I began to unpack my things. I didnt unpack everything though because on Wednesday we left for Reynosa which was a 2 week trip. In the morning Gis, Luz (my host mother), and I went to a store where there were many things for bathroom's etc, for the construction that is being done on their house. After that Gis and I went to her fathers office for a while, where we went on the computer until Gabriel arrived, and then we went to watch tv in Spanish for a little while in the waiting room. At about 3, we all went back to their house where we had soup, carne and salad. The carne we put into tortillas and it was very good. After lunch we all (minus Luz) went to buy some stuff at Sams Club, which is a big chain store here. At around 5 Gis, Luz and I went to the dentist's for Gis, where I met a man named Alejandro whi is a part of the Tehuacan Granadas club here in Tehuacan. He was very nice. He told me that I could go to Rotary Meetings and we could practice my spanish. After we went back to our house. I went up to my room and I was so exhausted that when I lay down on my bed for a few minutes I ended up falling asleep for 3 hours! When I woke up it was about 9:30. When I woke up, Gis, Gretel, Luz and I went to Wal Mart to buy food. When we got home, at around 11, we ate dinner. At dinner we were talking and and Gretel said something about jabon which means soap. I didnt understand what she said and so I began trying to say it back to her. I said did you say ''Cabron'' which is a very bad word here, and everyone laughed and told me not to say that lol. It was very funny. At around 11 Luz gave me the books etc. that Alina had dropped off for me, and that was very nice to get.  I then went to sleep because I was exhausted.

Tuesday, August 4th

I had a very busy day, running errands etc. I woke up at around 10, and after taking a shower, and eating quesadillas for breakfast, I went into the car to go visit Fernando Gonzalaz, my Rotary counselor here in Tehuacan, and who is also the president of my club. On the way we stopped at many places. We stopped to get my host dad new glasses, we stopped at a hospital where my host dad works sometimes, and we stopped to make copies of my passport, visa, etc. After that my host dad got a call from his assistant and apparently someone had broken their arm very badly, so we went back to the hospital so he could help them. We waited in the waiting room for a while, but finally Gis and I walked to my host dad's work. Luz was there when I arrived and we went to my counselor's house. He  lives in a very big house that is very very nice and has a really nice view! He talked to me a lot in English but then he would say it to Luz in spanish so I would hear the translation. He talked to me about how I needed to put down a 300 dollar deposit in case of emergencies, and how Rotary would give me 800 pesos for a monthly allowance. We also talked about no one should speak english to me after 2 weeks of me being here, and how I would be meeting with him atleast once a month to check in. I then gave him my passport and my visa and we left to go back to Gabriels work. We met Gis there and at about 2 we went back to the house, where we ordered Pizza for lunch. After, Gis and I went to her friend Carolina's house. We took a taxi to the Centro Commercial where we ordered lunch. I had a half a subway foot long and they had some tortillas with carne and pollo. We then met up with Giselle's frien Jose, and we walked around the mall for a while. After we took a taxi back to the house. The cab driver was very bad. He wouldn't take pesos, he would only take the coin money, and then he also charged twice as much as they would usually pay. We walked around town for a while and then Gis said goodbye to Jose which was very sad to watch, because it was the last time she would see him for a year. At 10 Gis told me that her friends were there so we went downstairs for dinner and Carolina, Jose, Gis and I talked and ate for a while. Very busy day.

Wednesday, August 5th

My family, their abuelo (Gume), and I drove wednesday for 10 hours, from Tehuacan to Tampico. When we arrived in Tampico we drove around and around because we could not find a hotel that had enough beds for all of us. We stopped at about 6 hotels, all that did not have room. We were getting a bit discouraged and decided to stop at a place along the road at about midnight for dinner. We all got tacos, with carne. After we went to the outskirts of the city and managed to find a hotel to sleep in for the night. There were lizards on the ceiling which was a bit scary but it was okay.

Thursday, August 6th

Thursday, we set off at about 10 in the morning, stopping on the side of the road for soup, tortills and carne, and then we drove 6 hours from Tampico to Reynosa. We arrived in Reynosa at about 4 PM. We stopped at my host dad's, aunt's house, for lunch. I met a lot of poeple there. Aunt's, uncle's, cousin's etc. I also met their Aunt, Silvia, and their Uncle, Orlando who got married on Saturday, August 8th. After lunch we we went to my host father's, uncle's house. We unpacked the car, and then sat around for a while, while the men smoked and drank. Gis, Gretel, Gaby and I went into the room, where it was a bit cooler, and watched Soap Opera's for a while, and talked. It was really nice, because I was able to talk and understand more. I then took a quick shower because in Reynosa, a cool day is 100 degrees Farenheit. We then all stopped in at my host dads, aunts house for dinner. We had tamales there, which were very good, and birthday cake, because it was Silvia's sisters birthday. For a while after we sat around talking etc. and I tried my best to understand and answer the questions people were asking. After we went back to my host dad's uncle's house and slept.

Friday, August 7th

Friday we went back to my host dad's aunt's house for breakfast. Then my host family, and host grandfather left for McAllen, Texas for the day. I was not able to go with them because my Rotary Club did not permit me. I went with Silvia to run some errands for the wedding. We went to buy pans to display the food in, and we also bought a lot of roses! We then went to Silvia's sister's house, and there we cut off the thorns from the rose's, which I helped them with. WE then sat around for a while, with Silvia's sister's husband, Ivan, and Silvia. Ivan got his English to Spanish dictionary, and we talked a lot and laughed a lot. Ivan was very, very funny.We then went to pick up meat for the wedding, and we also went to the supermarket for mor food. We then went back to my host father's Aunt's house for lunch. At 10:30 at night, my host family returned, and we ate dinner and then went back to where we were staying. Gis and I stayed up for a while and talked about a lot of different things. It was a good day, all in all.

I woke up at 4:30 this morning for our drive to Boston. The consulate opened at 9 and my parents didn't know how long we would have to wait so we left as early as we could :) We arrived in Boston at around 9:30 because there was a big traffic jam and we took a little while to find the consulate but once we arrived it was really cool =] I was kind of scared about getting my visa because everyone says that it is such an awful process but for me it really wasn't. We checked in at the desk and there was a guy from Brasil who gave us name tags and then we went up to the 5th floor where the consulate was and on that floor there were also consulates for Peru and the Netherlands etc. It was really cool.

So we went into the room where the Mexican Consulate was and there were all these people who were from Mexico (I think) and they were all speaking Spanish and it was really cool because I could understand bits and pieces of what they were saying and it was awesome.

We went up to the desk and talked with the woman who was there for a while and she said that we should come back in a month because if I got the visa today then I would have to come back by June 24 next year and if some reason I wanted to stay longer and I got it in a month I would be able to stay until July 15th :) I guess the visa only lasts a year from when it's issued. So then we explained how we travelled up from Vermont and we weren't going to have a lot of free time in the next couple of weeks to go back up and so they (Very very very nicely) said that they could sign the visa in a month and then send it to us as long as they could keep all my paperwork and my passport. So that was pretty awesome.

After that we waited for a while and watched these two little Mexican kids who were waiting in the room as well and they were soooo cute. One was in a stroller and he had a binky in and he was really young. Then there was a girl who was a little bit older who had this awesome backpack that was like a duck with this cool pocket that was supposed to be a beak. It was cool :)

We didn't have to wait that long at all and we went in to take a picture for my visa where the woman talked to me in Spanish. I could understand most of what she was saying but wasn't really able to speak back in Spanish so that was okay. And then she began talking to me in English because she asked if I wanted the instructions in English or Spanish and I said English so I would make sure I did the right thing ^^ so she gave me the directions in English and I totally didn't understand what she was saying. And it wasn't even because her English was bad it was because my stupid brain could not understand what "Put your index on the red light" meant when she was talking about my finger :P

And then we left and ate at Au Bon Pain (which was really really good) and drove back to Montpelier. SO I spent 8 hours in the car driving and 1 1/2 hours in boston, but it was totally worth it =]

And thennnn on the way home my mom called the Travel Agency and talked with Theresa Bryan about what happened at the consulate and now Theresa is making my itinerary for my departure and she's going to have it mailed to me within the next couple of days. So it's all very exciting right now :)

Oh and It looks like I'll be leaving on August 2nd because it works best for the family and I'll be traveling with the family to visit their extended family in the north of Mexico the week after I get there. And ya. More later..

=] 

Yesterday I, as well as all the other District 7850 rotary outbound's had our first, and only, Outbound orientation XD It was so much fun. I had been freaking out about it because every outbound was required to give a speech about themselves and their families, hobbies, etc. I was very very nervous about it however my parents said that I gave one of the best speeches and they could hear me loud and clear which was good to hear =] The only thing that I feel stupid/ridiculous about is that I was so nervous that I completely forgot to mention that I had sisters! Oops =/ Doesn't mean that I don't love them though! haha

I met all of the outbounds there. Gabriela who is going to France, Mark who is going to Austria, Sarabeth going to Argentina, myself, Brian going to Taiwan, Kim going to Poland, Ana going to Hungary, (someone who I forget his name) who is going to Venezuela and Gaby who is going to Spain for the summer program. They were all very nice and we all bonded instantly. I think it's really cool how everyone going on exchange can get along so well. I think it's because we have so much to talk about and we're all going through the same things =)

At the meeting we talked about a lot of stuff. We talked about the rotary rules, what we should do in certain situations, two past exchange students were there who told us about their experiences and gave us advice, they told us what rotary was all about and we all gave our speeches. Near the end of the day the Rotarians handed out a bunch of gifts =] They gave us all our Blazers (YAY! XD) haha, pins to exchange, business cards, The Exchange Student Survival Kit,etc. It was very generous of them and very exciting for all of us outbounds =] We tried our blazers on and mine was a little long in the sleeves and a little big overall. So once we left at the end of the orientation my family and I stopped at the department store, where the rotarians had originally gotten the blazers from, so they could fix it up a bit for us. So my blazer will be hand delivered in about a week with all the necessary changes made. XD

Yesterday when I got home from the orientation my host sister Giselle (16) was online and she sent me some pictures of their family! It was really exciting. =] I'll post them as soon as I can figure out how to haha

More later. 

Hello :) Today, I am very, very very happy :) My host family emailed me last night, the first contact I have ever gotten from them, and I was beyond excited! I guess I will just post here the letter the dad sent me XD

 

 
     HOLA, ESPERO ESTEN MUY BIEN EN TODOS LOS ASPECTOS.
SOY EL PAPA DE DELIA EN MEXICO.
ESTAMOS MUY EMOCIONADOS QUE DENTRO DE POCO TIEMPO VAMOS A RECIBIR A NUESTRA HIJA DELIA.
EN MI FAMILIA SOMOS 5 INTEGRANTES:
GRETEL DE 9 AÑOS
LUZ GABRIELA DE 11 AÑOS
GISELLE DE 16 AÑOS (VA A BRASIL DE INTERCAMBIO)
LUZ MARIA  MI ESPOSA Y YO , GABRIEL MORA.
 
EN EL PROXIMO CORREO LES ENVIAREMOS FOTOS DE NOSOTROS Y
ESPERO PODAMOS ESTAR EN CONTACTO LO ANTES POSIBLE.
UN SALUDO CON TODO CARIÑO.
 
 FAMILIA MORA GUZMAN

They wrote the letter in all caps lol, it wasn't just me being over excited ^^
Butttttttttttttt I am extremely excited :):):)

I have two smaller sisters and both Giselle and Gabriela have emailed me as well XD

Giselle emailed me last night:

Ahhhhh! Can I just say that when I received an email from my host district (yes host!) president I was beyond ecstatic. Honestly, I don't even know how to explain how I felt. I had been talking on facebook with Caitlin, who is going to Denmark next year, about how I might not be able to go to Mexico any more because of the drug wars and the swine flu, and how the inbounds that are there now are being sent home etc. We were also talking about how I didn't know where I was going yet etc. I was in a really bad mood because of all of this stuff, and it was looking as though I wasn't going to be able to go to Mexico anymore.

And thennnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnn...

My host district president, Fernando Gonzalez (<---- Awesome name btw lol), emailed me to talk to me about the swine flu situation. At this point I still hadn't found out where I was going in Mexico, and in the letter it told me!! (District 4180, Tehuacan, Puebla Mexico, In case you were wondering). Finding this information out was beyond incredibly exciting!

And then on top of that, in the letter, which I will post here, Mr. Gonzalez told me that I shouldn't make any hasty decisions and cancel my trip to Mexico because of the swine flu. Apparantly experts in Mexico are saying that the swine flu should be under control within the next three weeks, and it still hasn't reached Tehuacan yet.

Here's his letter to me:

Dear Delia,
 
My name is Fernando Gonzalez, I am Officer of the Youth Exchange Program in your host club Tehuacan Granadas. I guess you and your parents are already aware of the current situation in Mexico with the Swine Flu, even though it is also present in the United States.
 
Regarding Mexico, we just want to share with you our perspective about this situation. Yes, it is a serious problem since more than 100 people have passed away, nevertheless authorities and organizations have taken the measures to control the disease as soon as possible. According to the experts, within 3 weeks the situation must be totally under control. In the meantime, we will take all the precautory measures to prevent infections, even though Tehuacan is free of the desease so far.
 
This message intends also to invite you to be sensible and dont take any hasty decision at this moment like cancelling your trip to Mexico, we firmly believe that in August when you will arrive to Mexico, this problem will be totally solved. If not, we will be the first to advice you to stay at home in the USA, because the integrity of our inbounds is a priority in our club. Our recommendaton is to be patient and wait.
  
We are looking forward to host you this summer.
Kind Regards

Fernando González Avila
Presidente Electo 2009-2010
Club Rotario Tehuacán Granadas
Distrito 4180

Ahhh! Exciting, yes??

So after I got this news I, of course, looked to find as much as I could on the city of Tehuacan! :)

Tehuacán:

• Tehuacán is in the state of Puebla, which is inbetween Oaxaca and Veracruz, and about 2 hours south of Mexico City.
• Tehuacán is the second largest city in Puebla with a population of 238,229 in the actual city and 260,923 in the surrounding area.
• According to an archeaologist Tehuacán is the first place maize was ever cultivated by humankind.

• Tehuacán is also one of the most important egg producing regions in Mexico.

Unfortunately, other than this there wasn't much information on the city. I then proceeded to look up pictures of Tehuacan. For your enjoyment ;) I'll post them on here.

As I find that more and more of my friends that I've talked to on Cultures Shocked (CS) I find that it makes me anticipate finding out even more than before. I am constantly checking my spam folder in my E-Mail to see if I've any messages in German that might be considered spam. I just want to know everything that I possibly can about where I'll be staying. I'm almost glad that I don't know, because it makes the anticipation so much greater. I enjoy the excitement, it gives me something to do when I'm bored. I can just sit down and read about every city in Germany, thinking, "I might live there next year!" It's so great that a website like CS exists, I can talk and network with other inbounds and outbounds, even rebounds and parents, who know exactly what I'm going through. Only other exchange students know how excited/nervous/happy/terrified I am. There needs to be a word for this. Wanderlust? If only it could have a double meaning. As far as I'm concerned, Wanderlust can mean both the impukse to travel and the emotion that goes along with said impulse. I can't wait to dupdate on the German weekend, which is only 10 days away! I'll be sure to update with lots of pictures :). The German weekend is held annualy at the country officer's house for Germany, Austria, and Swizerland. Inbounds, outbounds, and rebounds can all share questions, answers, and sheer excitement with eachother to talk about their country. The only thing that I'm more excited for is finding out my host family, then of course, my exchange itself!

I could go on for pages about all this, but I must let you go.

Cheers!
Luke