Oh The Places You’ll Go…

… And the things you will see! Or should I say I. Or we.

Not too much action to blog about today… except souvenir shopping in Tonala (just outside the city), which is just blocks and blocks of open market vendors selling everything from belts to vases to nail clippers to cow legs. No, don’t re-read, I said cow LEGS. I guess we really should eat more chicken… but anyway, I can’t talk too much about that because I may have picked up a few things for some of my most faithful readers out there, and well, nobody likes a spoiled surprise. I will say though, this is a racist country. I am blonde. I am very obviously NOT Mexican. And they would NOT barter with me! Rosa? Yes. Our little Japanese friend Casuma? Yes, even him. Me? Nope! Oh well… If I saw me, I probably try and get more money out of me too. Too bad I walked away from almost all of them. In the shopping world, I like to think that I am queen, and this queen will NEVER surrender. So we all just started ganging up on them . Hey, a queen has her army, no? I like to think I got some good deals…

So after shopping, I just went out to hang with my group of Georgia buddies a little bit. Rosa didn’t feel like going out, so I met up with my friends Taylor and Laura, and we ventured out to their house. Too bad our directions didn’t include a house number. HA! It was REALLY funny… us trying to figure out which house on this 5 or 6 block street it was. I’m happy to report that we made friends with a car washer guy (who asked if we had a car 3 times, even though we were very obviously not in a car), a really super sweet older gentleman that walked slower than turtles stampeding through peanut butter, but every time we lapped him (which was somewhere around 17) he still have us the same sweet wave and hola, and a group of neighbor people who were also nice, but not really much help to us. Guess which house it ended up being? The LAST one on the left. It was a nice little adventure. And we made it! Still don’t know the house number though…

So that’s really all the action today! Oh, and I’m feeling better by the way. Not completely 100&, but marked improvement, for the most part. Praise God! I was able to enjoy today. Thank you so much for all your prayers.

So, since there wasn’t too much to tell, I thought I would share with you some of the more random observations that I (and my friends here) have mentally noted:

1. EVERYTHING is 2 for 1 here. Drinks. Admission. Merchandise. Babies. Yes, at this point, I am convinced that if you have a baby in Guadalajara, it will pop out 2 for 1. It’s just how this universe operates.

2. They don’t like animals very much. They put dogs ON THE ROOF instead of backyards (mainly because a lot of them don’t have backyards). We came to a quaint little jewelry table, and found a CAT PAW necklace charm. If I come back with some rescued something, I apologize in advance. But I’m at least starting my own infomercial.

3. The McDonald’s, Burger Kings, and KFC’s here make those in America look like vending machines. They are huge, and I think at least 4 children a year are lost in their playground tunnels. They’re that big.

4. Click It or… Nada! They have no seatbelt or car seat laws in this country. We crammed 7 people in a taxi again today. What did Brittney Spears do wrong?? Nothing! She was probably just crossing the border from this land where it is completely acceptable to let your child roam around the car while you drive.

5 They put Chile powder on EVERYTHING! Enchiladas. Tacos. Fruit. Fruit Candy. Chocolate Candy. Pixie Styx. ALL contain chile.

And there are many, many more, but that will do for now! As usual, I hope everything back in the good ol’ USofA is great!! Talk to you all soon! Buenas noches.

The Full Experience

I am sick. 5 weeks here, it was bound to happen to my Gringo self. I think it’s part of the Mexican experience. A very very evil part. I’ll get over it, hopefully soon, but for now, I am sick. Thank goodness we planned on skipping class today anyway, because I was up at about 4 am this morning and there was no way I was making it. Please pray this sickness passes quickly… it’s very painful, weakening, and it’s been really hard to eat today. I’d hate for this to last much longer. this just hasn’t been my week. P.S. Mom, stop worrying, I’ll be fine.

But, in being the awesomely tough cookie and super trooper that I tend to be, still went to the zoo today, like we had planned. Despite being a crazy long bus ride to the outskirts of the city, we had a good time and got to see a part of the city we hadn’t really seen before. A less city, more traditional Mexican area of the city. The zoo was pretty good, too! Highlights: White tiger, feeding giraffes, and playing with baby monkeys! Here’s some pics:

So, that’s all for now I think. I’ll write more when I feel better… I’m so sorry these have been such negative posts! I’m still having fun, I promise. Just a rough couple of days. I’m off to sleep… Talk to yall again soon.

Life Lesson #1,345,038,529.4…

So basically? I left my brain in Arkansas. In the apartment, the car, Bentley’s cage… I don’t know, but after today I am positive that it’s not in my head, functioning properly because I’m just dumb. I’m talkin’ Loyd Christmas over here. Guess who left her little travel bag on the BUS… the MEXICAN CRAZY PEOPLE BUS… today? Me. And was my debit, credit, and school I.D. cards in it? You betcha. I won’t give you the whole crazy story because all that really matter is that I’m now stuck in Mexico, with seriously limited cash and canceled Vallarta plans. I’ve never felt more like a valley girl in my life… lost in the world without her plastic. I mean, nobody worry or anything, I have enough cash get along for now, and because my mother happens to also be the smartest woman in the world, I have an emergency Visa with my name on it making its way to Guadalajara. It has just been a big ol’ headache.

However… I’ll never forget me and our little housekeeper Carmen, heading out to try and track down the bus (which is super close to impossible, P.S.). She speaks NO English, I speak limited Spanish, both standing in the middle of the street trying to figure out what to do. She definitely came to my rescue, I felt like I had my very own little Mexican Dobby (yes, Harry Potter reference…). We jumped on this bus here, that bus there, enlisting the help of any bus person we came across… And I swear it’s amazing what comes out of your mouth when you absolutely have to get a point across. I think I said things I didn’t even know I could say. I think I played the best game of charades in my whole life. I think at some point I probably said something completely embarrassing. BUT… in the end, we all had common mission. Find the purse… save the plastic. Human communication just amazes me. It really does. So life lesson #1,345,038,529.4? ALWAYS check your bus seat, now matter how scary the bus driver is driving.

On the upside… (Life lesson 53,968,234: There’s always an upside.) I got to eat American food today and go bowling and walk around a new part of the city for a little while. So fun! I got last place in bowling, but I’m okay with that! In my heart I knew that if we were Wii bowling, I’d be killing them all. It’s a rare talent I have. Wii bowling and wiggling my ears.

I also had my second salsa class today. Still not enough boys, but it’s okay, the ones that are there get lots of practice. We learned some fun little moves today, and tomorrow, we get to go try them out! The school is having a little welcome party for everybody, and then we’re going with our salsa instructor (who’s also a CEPE professor) to this great club called Wallstreet that’s becoming quite popular amongst us gringos. And every Thursday is salsa night! It should be a good, slightly awkward but in a funny way, time! You know that scene in Along Came Polly where Ben Stiller takes over the dance floor and Salsa dances his way into Jennifer Aniston’s heart? Yeah… just wait until I get home.

Anyway, please say a little prayer for me and my friends here if you think about it. Not only the card fiasco, but if any of you know me very well you know I deal with a bit of back pain and let me just tell you that the beds here double as torcher devices. Also, the air here is a lot dirtier than we’re used to, and it’s really getting into a few of our heads. Oh, and several students will be traveling this weekend, so please ask for the Lord’s blessing in safe and easy travel as they head out. And lastly… join me in thanking Him for giving me such a wonderfully patient and forgiving momma and daddy, and a housekeeper so gracious and quick to help me in my time of need. Oh! and while you’re at it, my wonderful little roomie is traveling around Spain with quite a few UCA kiddos, and it’s getting to the end of their trip, where it can get pretty physically and emotionally taxing. I’m sure they would all appreciate it. Gracias, my prayer warriors! I’m off to get some shut eye… Miss you all, and love you more.

Dance, Dance!

Hi! Quick post today, because I have to wake up in about 4 hours… haha. Marianna is awesome, and in fulfilling her role as the best host mom ever tonight let us have several of our friends over. We just opened a bag of Doritos (they are spicier here, by the way), made a blender of margaritas, and sat around the dinner table, chatting away! They loved Marianna almost as much as we do. Apparently, we’re living in a pretty awesome house for Mexico too, because our friends said it was a lot bigger and nicer than the ones they are living in. They love their homes and families, too, but we definitely didn’t expect their reactions to the house. Basically, I’m sticking with my usual tradition of being spoiled! Here’s us at our little fiesta tonight… excuse the gross pony tail hair, por favor, but I thought you all might want to meet Marianna! Our amiga to the right is Laura.

Anyway… I had my first Salsa class today! We had SO much fun. I officially love salsa and if any guy out their is interested in being my partner when I get back in the States, I want to take more classes!! No, seriously… let me know! Our teacher was actually not very good… he went way to fast and didn’t break things down very well, but he was entertaining and we had a great time at least trying. Hopefully next class will be a little better. He kept making fun of how gringos never touch, and we’re super shy so we have to take our “gringo chip” out, and insert our “latino chip” so we could be more “sensual”. NOT sexual, sensual. Raul, the instructor, made it very clear that it’s not sexual harassment, it’s Salsa. (It was a joke… guess you probably had to be there…) Anyway, I don’t think any of us really tapped into our latino chips, but we had a great time spinning around everywhere anyway! We’re going out on Thursday I think to try our some of our new moves… it should be SERIOUSLY entertaining! Especially considering there were 5 guys in the class and about 35 girls, so half the girls had to be guys, and then those guy-girls had to practice being the girls so the girls then had to be guys. Needless to say, I think we were all more confused than Dennis Rodman by the end of it. But, I’m sure we’ll sort it out in the end! I’m going to crash now… better post coming soon, I promise. Weekend beach plans to Vallarta are in the works!!! Buenas noches mis amigos…

The Super Tourists

Yep, that’s what we were this weekend! Super tourists. The historical tour on Saturday, which I’ve already told you about. Then we had the ballet last night, which was a great time. It started out with all 6 of us cramming into one cab (I will never make another Mexican car joke again…) to go downtown to the historical Teatro de Degollado. It was beautiful and huge and our seats were great on the second balcony. The ballet was definitely entertaining. The cast as a whole wasn’t as strong as I thought it would be, but they had quite a few extremely talented dancers in the leads that really made the show. Very worth our $17 tickets! And look! I figured out how to upload pics! Here’s some from the ballet (and I’ve added a few to past entries):

The only crazy thing was that it rained while we were in the theater pretty hard, so when we got home, we had no electricity. Apparently a really common occurrence here in Mexico. It wouldn’t have been so bad except that we were here by ourselves, and we really needed the power to be back on by the morning so we could get ready and go to….

Tequila!! And it was! So today, we went to the Jose Cuervo factory in Tequila, Jalisco, Mexico. It was awesome! First we stopped in one of the fields and they demonstrated how they grew and harvested the Agave cactus (which takes like 7 YEARS to grow before they harvest it). They guy that was doing the demonstration had been planting and harvesting Agave for over 30 years, and is apparently super famous for it. They said that any media having to do with Tequila production, like on Discover Channel, he’s in it. Like the Marlboro Man of Tequila, haha. And we got to take picture with him! It was really cool to see the different stages of chopping the cactus down the the “pineapple” core, which is what they cook and get tequila from! I’ll just say that the process called for a machete… you know it’s gotta be cool. Here is me with tequila dude…

And some Tequila Country…

Then, on to the factory, where they took us around, told us the history of the Cuervo family, and showed us step by step how they make their tequila. And yes we got to taste every step. And let me just be kind and give you all some advice: If you are ever given the choice between undistilled tequila or rubbing alcohol with a hint of gasoline, take the alcohol and gas. It’ll go down easier. Haha, no we had a great time! And got to taste better, finished tequila, the best margaritas EVER, and haphazardly find Paris Hilton’s signature on one of the Reserve Barrels in the cellar (where they age the super special edition tequila that only produces 18,000 liters for the whole world). Family friends and special guest (i.e. Paris) get custom tastings and what not down there, and they all autograph the barrels. Oh! And you know Cholula hot sauce? We ate at the restaurant! Muy rico. It finished out an amazing first weekend here in Mexico!

Proof I was there:

Margaritas with Rosa!

They made us wear hairnet in the factory… Aren’t we cute?

In tomorrow’s episode… The first Salsa class!!! Nighty night…

Baile!

Okay, so I didn’t write yesterday and now I’ve lost track a little bit! So… high points:

Yesterday, just a normal school day with lunch and a quick nap. Late afternoon we took a trip to one of their malls here to do a little window shopping. We were kind of a funny lookin group… Me and Rosa, the obvious Americans, Ramond the shaved headed – GQ dressed Canadian, Marianna’s friend Alejandra and her one year old son Andres and his stroller, and the beautiful Marianna rolling around in her wheelchair! It was great, I loved it… tons of fun. The mall was a lot like the ones in the States, just different stores. But anyway…

Then last night, Rosa, Ramond, and I headed out for the night. CEPE hooked everybody up with VIP passes and reserved the upstairs area of Club Buddha. We had a BLAST… everybody from the university was there, the club was amazing, there was this crazy fashion show, and lots and lots of dancing! I felt a little bit like Dorothy… I definitely wasn’t in Arkansas anymore .

Today was the historic tour of Guadalajara, and we had a lot more fun than we expected to, haha. Visited 2 unbelievably gorgeous, million year old cathedrals, and actually got to watch a little bit of a girl’s quincenera, which was cool. i was jealous, plain old Americans don’t get to do anything fun like that! We’re thinking about starting a tradition, the veinte-dos-enera for all the ladies turning 22… haha, we thought we’d start spreading the word. But I digress… then we went to a few art museums in historic buildings and saw original murals by Orozco and some modern sculpture art (we had some fun with that… got some good pics, haha). And then we went to an area of town called Tlaquepaque (La-kay-paw-kay) which had tons of great stores, shops and vendors. Don’t worry… I’ve already started picking out souvenirs for you guys!

We also ate at our first restaurant which was AMAZING! I never want to leave the food here. I ordered (drum roll please…) chicken fajitas! It was more exotic that it sounds… I’d had them so many times as Tex-Mex in the states that I wanted to know what they were really like, and the I found out that they’re even better. Better seasoning, veggies, and the guacamole is like green blobs of heaven on a plate I swear. I don’t know why people aren’t smuggling that stuff in instead of cocaine… haha, kidding… sort of. Bottom line: I’m coming back a chubbo.

We are super excited about tonight… We’re getting dressed up and going to see the ballet of Don Quixote at this huge historic theater in downtown Guadalajara. It’s going to be amazing! Hope you’re all having a great weekend and not melting away back home. Missing you all!

P.S. Tequila tomorrow! Woo hoo!!!

Here’s a few pics from around Guadalajara:

A few Cathedral pics…

Contemplating a little modern art… that looked like some weird garden shower?

Definitely Immersed

So… not much goin on today! We were out late last night hanging out with everybody, and had a great time! All the other CEPE students here are awesome, very friendly. The cantina… they actually still call them bars here, just pronounced funny… was called El Purgatorio, and definitely an interesting place! They had a band that played a couple of sets and covered both American and Mexican music. We laughed because the first song they played was “Pretty Woman”, about the third songs was a Linkin Park song, I don’t remember which, and about the 6 was “Sweet Home Alabama”, haha. Random set list! The singer laughed at me when I walked by singing along with him. The ceiling was also covered in random hanging baseball hats. We couldn’t figure out why, and all the guys were scared they were going to steal their hat (like the restaurants in Texas that cut your tie off). Here’s a few pics from el bar…

My friends Ty and Laura being silly!

Check out the hats!

We took our first cab to and from the bar, which was less crazy than I thought it would be! On the way home, he did start to get on the wrong ramp though, so he threw it in reverse for a bit and straightened out… We’ve noticed that they like going in reverse around here actually. We’ll be walking and suddenly somebody will be reversing down the main avenue for a little bit honking their horn! We have NO desire to try and drive here! But anyway, we were out late so we took a super long siesta (which are totally acceptable in this country and we love it! America should have a national nap time… I think everybody would be a lot nicer. I’m all for giving back the animal crackers and apple juice, too, but whatever!) .

Tonight Marianna had several of her friends over, so we got to meet all of them! I haven’t felt that lost in a conversation since the last time Kellie and Brady went into math-nerd mode. They got a few laughs at our non-understanding expense, but it was fun of course! Definitely got some practice listening, but for once in my life I didn’t say too much. They were really nice though, and understand that we’re here to learn, so everybody tries to help! Even if they have to explain what something 3 different ways until they use some vocab we understand, it’s like a small group victory when the little language light bulbs go off in our head and we finally understand.

Most of her friends there are from this area, but one is actually here visiting for a little while. He’s a Canadian originally, named Ramond, and about 5 years ago he was in the exact same position Rosa and I are. He stayed with Marianna for about a month while he started learning to speak, too. Now he has this amazing job teaching Economics in Monterrey and travels all the time, backpacking here, visiting there, and most importantly, is completely fluent. And guess what his bachelors is in? Oh yes, International Relations. I think I met my hero today, haha. It just showed us the real life benefits of being bilingual, which is definitely encouraging at the moment. He’s proof that all the work we’re putting in to learn this language will be so worth it! So yeah, he was a pretty cool cat to get to chat with!

I’m going to crash now… it’s late and my amazing siesta is wearing off. 6 am will come early, no doubt!

Coming Soon to a Jessica Blog near you: Salsa dancing classes, a historic tour of Guadalajara, and an excursion to a little place called Tequila! No, I’m not being clever, there is actually a town called Tequila, and yes, they invented it! I get to go see how Buenas noches!

Improvement!

Hola! Today has been a really good day. Class was great, we’re doing things in both classes that I needed to review. Easy enough not to stress me out, but sections that I definitely need to practice more. Had my first set of homework, but it wasn’t much! I actually did it in the afternoon… It was weird

Carmen was back today so we had another big lunch! They eat lunch down here like we eat dinner, but from about 2-4, then they eat a small snack-like dinner around 8:30 or 9. It was fantastic, as usual. I LOVE the food they make here… everything has so much flavor. Rosa is a vegetarian, so a lot of things they have made lately are without meat, but I haven’t missed it at all because everything is still so good. I’m definitely taking notes!

Marianna has 7 aunts, and 2 have stopped by so far during lunch time. We had a great conversation with the lady that stopped by today, Senora Rosa Maria, about everything from school, to traveling, to food, to family, etc… I think it was some of the best communicating I’ve done yet. I kinda surprised myself! Marianna even said “Jessica! (they pronounce it like Yess-ee-ca) Tu hablas mas!” which means, “You are talking more!” I think I’m just getting more comfortable with it, and I’m listening easier. Now I can usually separate the words so they don’t all run together… now it’s just a vocabulary/translating game. Although the improvement is encouraging, there’s still a long way to go. But Rosa and I were just saying that if we’ve improved this much in only 3 or so days, we can’t wait to see what it will be like after the 5th week. And Rosa gets to stay another 2! Her mother was born in this area, and Rosa has family here she has never met before. She’s going to stay with them. Cool, huh?

We’re going out for the first time tonight! Wednesday nights here are the big night for entertainment, apparently, so we’re going to go have some fun. Don’t worry Mom, Marianna is taking good care of us, and keeping close tabs! This Mexican cell phone was a really good idea, she was excited that I got one. But It should be an interesting night… I’ll be sure to relay anything exciting tomorrow!

Love and miss you all! Thanks so much more all your comments I feel so very loved!!! I’ll try to start making this blog more interesting for you guys! Haha… Adios mis amigos!

Getting Comfy!

Today was just another day of getting adjusted! Rosa and I had to get up early and was out of the house around 7:30… a little late to walk, so we caught the bus. The first day of class was interesting, a lot of speaking Spanish! Which is the idea, I guess! I think I spoke more Spanish in my two classes today than all the classes I’ve had back in the States combined. I’m sure my Mom is really excited to hear that, haha. I can already tell that I’m learning, or at least getting more comfortable trying. I especially like my first teacher, she’s really sweet. Doesn’t speak any English, but for some reason I can understand her really well.

We had our first bus disaster today. We missed our stop, because we thought it was going to stop again, closer to our house, but it didn’t stop for another 10 minutes or so over and around a couple of bridges and tunnels. We ended up in a whole different part of town that we’d never been before, so we just started walking. We found another bus stop going the other way and hopped on and eventually found our way again. I guess it could have been much worse, but we were still completely lost!

So guess what? There is a Walmart here. Ha! About a 15 minute walk from our house. We met some of our Missouri friends there to pick up some school stuff and snacks. It was exactly like the ones back home except everything in Spanish. And they don’t have any bagels. (I had a craving!) Oh! And we ran into this Asian guy from California as we were walking into the store and he asked if we were American. When we said we were, he said “yeah, i can tell. your clothes are baggy.” Ha! And it’s true, all the women here wear SUPER tight clothes… no matter the body type. Rosa and I don’t know how to explain it, except it’s like they all buy their clothes about 3 sizes to small, by American standards. Don’t worry Daddy, I won’t get any ideas, but I do have to admire their confidence. The guy was kind of weird, he told us the same stories about 5 times, but I guess he was just happy to have some Americans to chat with. Anyway, the Walmart was part of a strip mall type area called La Plaza de Mexico, where I also bought a Mexican cell phone. I got 300 minutes and a Samsung phone for about 40 bucks, and it will be so much easier to meet everyone and keep in contact. I found the welcome message for the company on the phone interesting though, it said “Vive libre con Telcel” which means “Live free with Telcel”. Don’t cell phones keep us tied together? A little Mexican irony

We’ve spent a lot of time with Marianna today. Our housekeeper, Carmen, is sick today so we had to take care of the food. She had a vegetable soup heating on the stove when we got back from school, which was made of artichoke, tomato, celery, carrots, etc. and was really good. Then she had some salmon there, but Marianna can’t cook because of her condition. So, Rosa and I took over! We found some lemon pepper (yes, Rudy, I stole that from you!) and it turned out pretty good. For dinner, we made Marianna her first grilled cheese, which she decided was “muy rica” which means “very delicious!” in context. It was a fun little cultural mix.

Now we’re just getting ready for bed and showing Marianna pictures of all of you on our laptops. So if your ears are itching it’s because I’m bragging about you! It’s just making me miss all of you even more… Hope everything is well back in the States.

Also, a big thank you to my Uncle Lowell for helping me with this blog!! It’s my first one, and he’s been helping me set it up today… you’re the best!! And I loved the test post

I think we’re going to go on a little cantina adventure tomorrow, so stay tuned!

El Principio – The Beginning

The first day of school is done! I finish everyday by noon, it’s going to be great. The weather here feels amazing, and after Rosa and I realized we didn’t have enough coins for the bus (they don’t take paper), we decided to walk. It’s a good 40 minutes to the school, but we don’t mind. We’ll probably do that everyday… it means we’ll have to leave the house around 7:15, but the exercise is worth it. Unfortunately, my hair might as well be red,white, and blue with stars across my forehead. We stand out pretty bad, but no one has been too vulgar yet. The men here do like to blow kisses though… yes, its strange, but flattering, of course.

I had my level placement exam today, and I think I did well! I was placed in the intermediate level, which is what I expected, so it should be great! It will help me prepare for my class in the fall back home. I made some new friends, too… They’re from Valdosta State in Georgia. Rosa and I are meeting up with the Missouri group here in a few hours; they’re professor is showing them around the city and we’re going to go along. We’re all already talking about heading to the beach this weekend.

We met Carmen the housekeeper today! She’s awesome, too, and an AMAZING cook… she made this carrot soup that was unbelievable. She speaks no English, and super fast Spanish, but I am proud to say that about 80 percent of the time I know what she’s talking about. At least I think so! I can already tell that I’m understanding a little better, which is a good sign for sure.

Another cool thing we’re going to do through the school is a volunteer program… it’s every Tuesday and Thursday, and we’re just going to go around to different places in town and help out. Orphanage, nursing home, school, etc… I’m really excited. It’s been a selfish couple of days, as you can probably see. It’s easy to be, in this sort of out of the comfort zone situation, I think. So, I’m looking forward to getting out and involved in the community here. I’m looking forward to seeing where God takes me through that.

Things are already looking up…

Here’s my Roomie, Rosa:

And here’s the our adopted schoolmates from Missouri: