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:

Culture Shock

So… definitely started this trip off with a bang! First flight was delayed 2.5 hours, which lead to a missed connection, which lead to another delayed flight… typical airport story! It could’ve been a nightmare, but it actually worked out pretty great! Dave was flying back from his meet in Tampa (which he did amazing in and you should all ask him about!), and it just so happened that both of our flights were delayed which put us in the Houston airport at the exact same time. Crazy coincidence, huh? So we had an awesome Papadeaux’s lunch and I got to see my Bud before I left!

But, I’m here in Guadalajara now! Made some friends on the flight who are from Missouri, and Rosa (my roommate, we’re the only 2 UCA students) and I have sort of joined into their school group. They’ve really taken us in! When we finally arrived at the school, our original host family had already left, and it just so happens that their phone service was wiped out by the rain (apparently it seriously rains around here, and it’s the rainy season), so at the last minute we were put with a new family. It’s a sister and brother, Marianna and Carlos, both in their late 20s/early 30s, and they are awesome. They have really gone out of their way to make us feel comfortable, and the house is nice.There is also a housekeeper, Carmen, who we haven’t met yet but will tomorrow. They are very patient with us, speak slowly, and repeat things if we need to, but it is still really hard.

Honestly, we were both blown away by how difficult the language barrier is… you go to all these classes, and study your butt off back in the States, but I can confidently say that nothing can prepare you for the first time you sit around a table with people who are asking you questions and being extremely nice, and all you can do is stare at them. I know it will get better, but you just don’t understand the value of communication until it’s completely interrupted! Learned that the hard way. I think this is going to be an awesome environment to learn in though, it’s just going to take some getting used to… that’s what I keep telling myself.

Still though, when the combination of embarrassment at the realization of my own incompetence, the frustration of not being able to express myself, fear that I never will, and a day of long hard travel hit me in about a minute flat… Hola culture shock! And the small meltdown that comes with it. By the way, a quick sorry to those that I called and worried! Thank you so much for all your words of comfort, though, I felt SO much better. It got easier later that night when it was just Rosa, Marianna, and I. It was just more comfortable… we’ve started the “what’s this? (point) whats this? (point)” game and my vocab is already expanding!

We’ve settled in for the night now… but not after one last discovery of the day. Mexico has huge ants. And they bite. And they like toilet seats. Just a warning! It’s a very clean house, I promise, but just like we get spiders, they get the occasional monster ant that enjoys a bedtime snack of hiney. I miss everyone already… please keep Rosa and I in your prayers for a bit. This next week or so of adjusting will be hard… but I think the shock is already wearing off a little! Adios…