Now at the end of the week, I have figured out I can't use my cell phone to call home, but Caitlin's cell phone will call mine directly! Yeah, a hotline so the girls can call me. I finally figured out how to make calls home on the pay phones. It is about a 3 min. process of many access numbers to make the call, but I now can do it!! I was very nervous about taxis but so far I have taken two (I have yet to negotiate the price, I have gotten others to do it) but the drivers so far are very nice. Next weeks goal is to negotiate my own taxi fare. You always settle on a price before you get in the taxi!!
My host family is just delightful. The first half the week, my host mom was out of town. On vacation with her girlfriends. She returned on Wednesday evening. What a lovely lady. She is so nice, so helpful, kind, thoughtful...just wonderful. On Thursday after school I was surprised by her that she was taking me with her and 7 of her girlfriends to a big fiesta in a local town nearby. It was really fun experience. There were about 15 ladies, we all met in a little restaurant that is owned by one of the ladies. Dinner was huge! They were celebrating something about St. Miguel, some sort of Catholic holiday. The main food of the celebration was "elote”, corn! Lots and lots of roasted corn on the cob. Traditionally the corncob is slathered in mayonnaise and sprinkled w/cheese and chilis. I gave it a try, and it was pretty good! Also served, were beans, spaghetti, and chicken. Most meals don't have to many vegetables, some fruit sometimes. My host mom took me on a walk about the little town, which is quiet cute and nestled in next some quite large mountains and huge rock cliffs. Very impressive. Also, it was amazing but up on one of the cliffs is an ancient Aztecan pyramid!! I have know idea how the ancient people could achieve such things, but they did!
Cuernavaca and this part of Mexico has a proud heritage from the Aztec's. Many of the streets are Aztec names, which I can't even begin to pronounce! Many traditional foods stem from the Aztecs as well.
Driving here is very interesting. First, very few, and I mean very few, traffic signs. Rarely you will see a stop signs. Big intersections on main streets have traffic lights, but other than that no traffic signs. Everyone just enters an intersection, just poking their cars across the traffic lanes, waiting for a break in traffic. Need to make a turn, just poke through until the cross traffic let’s you through. Since the roads aren't that wide the speeding isn't an issue, the issue is to get where you’re going w/o getting hit!! To keep the traffic at a slower pace, lots and lots of speed bumps! Not to mention, a lot of the streets are pretty uneven, which also slows cars down. Basically driving here is a major free for all!!
Mexican people in general are very kind and sweet. Everyone I have encountered has been very friendly and chatty. I am greeted generally with a hug and a kiss on the cheek. Since I am from US I am not "a American", in their opinion, we (US, Canada and Mexico) are all Americans. Which is very true, so I am known as a "unidostatadense" which is more or less, a "unitedstates'er". Casually, also a "gringa". Here, gringos are all from the US, when I was in Guatemala years ago, gringos were ALL foreigners. Shows differences from various countries.
Shopping here is basically all the same stuff at in shops and markets in the US. I have yet to find the local crafts. I hear they are in the huge central Mercado (market). I got a cute little black purse at Sears today. Prices there seem similar to the US. I visited Costco, all so pretty much a copy of the US. Although, I was looking at clothes, and stuff was expensive. I visited a lovely museum here, which holds a large collection of Freda Kahlo and Diego Riviera artwork. I enjoyed that a lot.
Most of the TV here is in Spanish, a few English-speaking channels where there are subtitles. A lot of the US TV shows and movies are dubbed in Spanish. I am trying to stick to the Spanish language programs to I can listen and get a better understanding of the language.
My family has cable TV and wireless Internet!!! I feel pretty lucky about that!!
My family also has a pet dog, a poodle, named Kike!! Really sweet dog, about 4 years old, weight about 20 lbs.
The weather here is mild, 75-85 during the day, 70-65 at night. It does, however, rain almost daily. I am not sure why. But daily there is thunder and lightening, then rain. Sometimes midafternoon, sometimes at night. So far, no days w/o rain since I have been here.
My host mom is Rosalia or Rosa, her husband is Manuel. They had 3 kids. Carlos is around 28yrs. married and works for the Mexican Supreme Courts. I am not sure what he does, but I understand besides working, is in either a master or PhD program as well. The other son is Manuel, around 30 and married, is a electrical/computer engineer. The only daughter, Lily, 25, works at my Spanish school and is going to graduate this year with a bachelors in International Studies.
In Mexico, traditionally, all children live at home till married, both sons and daughters. So Lily is still at home. Every weekend, I hear, all the kids come home for a big dinner. So I think I will be meeting the sons and daughters in law this weekend sometimes.
This is the exterior of the home, looking at it from across the street. All homes are behind, gates and wall. Tradition and security.
This is looking down the street. It is kept very clean. The city is full of trees, many blooming flowers of many colors.
Looking up the street.
Adding photos is so time consuming...so I will just post and be done with it!!
