A Student Abroad

Mmmmmenudo

So… Menudo, a common Mexican soup made from the lining of a cow’s stomach.

George Lopez describes it as the “whole cow… sometimes still alive.”
“It’s an old Spanish word that means, yeah, throw that in. Nobody saw you drop it, throw it in!”

Possibly the most disgusting thing I have ever eaten in my life, including a couple of dares in which my friends mixed random things like ketchup and orange juice. The pieces of “meat” have these strings that hang off… and it’s the greasiest substance you’ll ever digest.

Y Llegaste Tu

Daniel and me singing at his cousin’s wedding. The song, “Y Llegaste Tu,” or … something like “And Then Came You,” is originally by Yuri and Mijares (look it up, they’re better, of course, haha). We arrived at the wedding at the sound guys weren’t even sure they would have microphones for us, so please, bear with us as the sound is … crap.

I wish I had more videos, but as the ones I have from my camera are too large of files to put directly on the blog, and I don’t feel like spending hours uploading them to youtube, you’ll have to be satisfied with just 2 for now!

Hope you’ve enjoyed a little more insight into life in Mexico!

Mexico City. Ciudad de México. Distrito Federal: el D. F. México. All are names for the capital of Mexico, situated in the state of Mexico, in the valley of Mexico, (too) near the active volcano Popocatépetl.

This past weekend was something called a “puente,” (literally translates to bridge) or a long weekend: 4 days because of “Semana Santa” or holy week… or Easter. So, after 4 hours of sleep on Wednesday night, I got in a car with Daniel and our friends Omar and Pau (siblings, from church) at 6 am to go to Mexico City (called, by most. the D.F.). Now, mind you, I’ve only heard the not great things about Mexico City: largest population in the world (not true), so dirty and smoggy you can’t see the buildings around you, you’ll get mugged, etc. However, after driving almost 6 hours–through Silao, Guanajuato; Querétaro; and a score of other places I can’t remember–we arrived in a city that, in its’ center, looks surprisingly similar to a mix of New York City. Sky scrapers, a national forest called Bosque de Tlalpan, a central park which is situated around the Castle Chapultepec, small side streets with cute homes and coffee shops, and a subway. In other ways, it’s a lot like Washington, D.C.: monuments to national heroes, lots of museums, art, and flowers. Still, it was smoggy enought hat you cuoldn’t see the mountains (or the active volcano).

On our way in, we got stopped by state police, just before entering the actual federal district where they couldn’t stop us anymore. Omar was saying that they stop cars with plates from outside because they know the passengers are coming as tourists and will have lots of money. Something very common here is for police to ask for a mordida or bite, which means asking for money in place of giving you a ticket. Because 2 people in the car didn’t have their seatbelts on (something that is not illegal unless it’s the driver), and because Omar’s license had expired, they had a legitimate–albeit weak, in Mexico–reason to give a ticket. Instead, they asked for 1000 pesos, but Daniel talked them into 200.

We drove away, entered the city, and, what seemed like almost a fairy tale of a main street, called Reforma. It begins in the forest, with art and statues lining the sides and median, and beautiful architecture, and ending in the castle: Maximiliano, from Austria, built the castle on the hill and then created Reforma as a main street leading right to his house. We drove through all this first, then got kind of lost (even with our trusty guide, Lucy, the GPS), but eventually found our way to the hotel, Posada Vienna, this cute little thing on a corner with the expected indigenously Mexican-themed decorations and a thiny elevator with a swinging-open door (kind of scary… we took the 4 flights of stairs instead). Omar and Daniel were in one room, and Pau and I down the hall. Soon after entering the room we discovered that our window led out to an open area with the guys’ window across the way, and Daniel serenaded us (jokingly)!

After checking in, we began our walking tour throughout the city. By “walking” I include subway. The subways were packed, and this being the “holy week,” many people travel out of Mexico City to other places, so I cannot even imagine what it would be like on a normal day.

Did I mention the subway only costs 3 pesos, approximately one quarter USD. At one point, Omar and Pau got into one of the cars and Daniel and I got shut out of it (the doors closed so quickly!) so we had to meet at the next stop. Finally, we got off in the center of the city, because we decided we wanted to first go to the main plaza… well, it wasn’t too interesting, actually, unlike most other cities I’ve been in here. It was a big open square with a giant Mexican flag, and across the street was Catedral Metropolitana de la Asunción de María, one of the biggest cathedrals in Mexico. We went in, but it was PACKED. We had to keep with the crowd, like a river, going in only one direction. I think the coolest thing about the cathedral was the pipe organ that took up the entire middle of the cathedral.

After this, we continued walking down the street a while, came across an art museum (which had a line about 200 people long outside of the building, so we were content to just view the lovely statues outside). This time of the year, all the trees have beautiful flowers (especially the purple ones; Becky and I have decided they’re like Mexican versions of lilacs). Walking around, we saw so many interesting things, so there wasn’t an issue for any of us with not going into the museums;

new buildings with lots of modern architecture, old buildings that are starting to lean (noticeably) because Mexico City was built over a lake, long ago; people dressed up in all silver with paint, pretending to be statues…

Eventually we decided that being up since 4 am with only juice and coffee in our stomachs wasn’t a great idea; at about 2 pm we entered the first ever Sanborn’s Restaurant (Sanborns is a huge chain in Mexico, and there is at least one in every major city). This trip was a little difficult for all of us because the church we attend, from the beginning of this week, lasting for 3 weeks, announced a “Daniel’s Fast”, which comes from the book of Daniel, and everyone just eats fruits, vegetables, and legumes. So, I had a salad. However, I do have to say that it was one of my favorite salads, ever, with spinach, mango, walnuts, and some kind of a sweet vinaigrette. And it should be delicious; the food there was quite expensive, with the total coming to about 40 USD for the 4 of us, with no one really getting a very luxurious meal.

From Sanborns we continued on to the central park area and Castle Chapultepec. We arrived at the base of the hill of the castle at about 4:30, and, after an afternoon of walking all over the city, we had to run up the hill because we had heard the castle would close soon. The really neat thing when we got to the top was discovering that our student IDs would get us in free, and allowed us to bypass the line outside the gates! So, Castle Chapultepec was built by Maximiliano, from Austria, and he then built the street Reforma leading from downtown right to his castle. The castle is now a museum, with old carriages, clothing, and other artifacts from the 18th throughearly 20th centuries in Mexico City. Some rooms are also filled with newer artwork, depicting the revolution and other battles. This trip was really a neat experience because Omar knew a lot of information about Mexico City already, and I have been learning a lot about the things we saw in the castle, in my history class (19th Century Mexic0). One thing Daniel told me was that the main tower, at the very top of the castle, is quite infamous because the son of Maximiliano (as the story goes), jumped from said tower, using the Mexican flag as a cloak, to his

death, and this act kind of jump-started the Mexican revolution. Now, don’t quote me on that, because it’s not necessarily historic fact, but it is a legend that people discuss. I think we really spent more time outside the castle, viewing the city from above, than inside, however. From the castle you can see so much of the city, including a building that, at the top, has a restaurant, that each hour makes a revolution around the building.

After leaving Chapultepec and the surrounding garden (complete with pond and swans), we headed in the direction of some of the closer museums. The first we found was one of artifacts from all the pre-hispanic era tribes, like the Aztecs and the Mayans. We saw the Aztec sun stone, also called the Aztec calendar, which, according to many, is what predicts the “end of the world” on December 21, 2012… but those people would be wrong. If anything, it’s the Mayan “long count” (rather than circular) calendar that predicts this, but, according to most Mayan history scholars, this is untrue and unfitting of Mayan culture. The museum really was one of the fascinating parts about our trip, because each room in the museum had a different time period or group of indigenous people, and it was interesting to see how so many of the groups share similar stories (for instance, many were searching for an eagle atop a cactus, holding a snake, in the middle of a lake, as is depicted on the Mexican flag, and this would be their “promised land”).

After this museum, it was getting late and dark, and so we headed back in the direction of the hotel, seeing along the way things like the Calle (street) Reforma with statues of national heroes, ending in the famous Angel of Independence statue (which, funny enough, fell over in an earthquake about 50 years ago), and more of the architecture of the newer parts of the city (including the Mexican version of the New York Stock Exchange). Upon returning to the hotel, we all decided it was time for dinner, and we headed to a part of the city called Santa Fe, a district known specifically for its’ modern architechture, and tried to find (at almost 10 pm) an open restaurant that would serve us something we could eat (we were looking specifically for anything oriental or salads… that’s about all we could hope for). However, we ended up going to an italian restaurant, where I ordered a soup I thought I recognized as always being only vegetables… and yet it came with bacon. Oh, well, such is life when you don’t always understand what the menu says.

The next morning we awoke before 7 am so that we could arrive at the Teotihuacan before 8 am. On our way out of the DF, we noticed that we could actually see the volcano, and the snow that always sits atop it. My first volcano sighting!
We arrived at the pyramids almost before anyone else that morning, and once again, our student IDs helped us with free entry intothe park. Upon arrival, we saw 2 pyramids: one very small right at the entrance, and another down the road a ways. We assumed the small one in front of us was the pyramid of the moon, and so climbed up it, looked around it, and then realized that the other pyramid we saw was the moon pyramid… and the sun pyramid, the largest of them, had been hidden from our view at first by a group of large (and very close) trees. Making our way over to the pyramid of the sun, we glimpsed a group of hot air balloons rising from the mountain behind.

Climbing the pyramid of the sun was not the easiest thing any of us had ever done, because we had walked so much the day before, but it was by far worth it: the view from the top, and being able to say that I’ve been to the top of the pyramid of the sun, makes me feel so much like a world-traveler!

To begin, let’s just say that Hannah is not exactly a common name here. It’s a biblical name (1 Samuel), but in the Spanish Bible it’s changed to Ana. So, when I came in July and again in November, I did receive several nicknames: Ana, Anita, and, my personal favorite, Hannita. The “H” sounds really only comes, for spanish speakers, from a “J” or “G”, so for them, my name would make more sense as Janna. SOOOOooo many people struggle with the final “H” in my name, too; and when I think about it, it really does seem quite needless. However, it IS how it’s stated on all of my official documents, so it is particularly frustrating that the university made my credential (ID) say Hanna Marie Smith (something I’m now working on getting changed). Also, because Mexican tradition is to have about 4 names (first and second name, like our first and middle name, and paternal and maternal apellido, or last name). For instance, one of my friends in class is Angelica Paola Rengel Dena, and I would be, if I followed these rules, Hannah Marie Smith Madill. I kind of love that because I’ve always loved my mom’s maiden name, but unfortunately, it’s not like I can just change my name that easily.

Okay, so, moving on from MY name, some of the common names here are really interesting to me, and names that, to be quite honest, I guess Americans make fun of as very Mexican names. Such as: Alejandr@ (the @ symbol, from here on out, will be used as a/o), Fernanda, Jorge, María, etc. Then there are some more interesting and less heard of in the US, like Paulin(a), Lucero, Enriqueta, Monserrat, and a whole score of others. Some of the names I hear a lot: Selene, Guz, Isaias, Victor (there are 3), Earvin or Irving, Ruben, Daniel (there are 4), Carlos, and Raymundo, Mario, Denise, Karla, Dulce (which means sweet), Laura, Lula, Ricardo, and Raul. There’s also a guy named Steve, oddly enough. Some I’m not sure if it’s their first name, their second name, or one of their last names… people go by any of them.

Here’s the best part: the nicknames. Almost every common name has a nickname that goes with it. Eduardo becomes Lalo. María Fernanda: MaFer or Marifer. Fernanda: Fer. Alejandra: Ale. Guadalupe: Lupe or Lupita. Jesús is always Chuey. Daniel or Daniela, both become Dany. I have a friend named Georgina who is called Gina. My host sister is Margarita but goes by Magui (or Maggie). Jorge is Yorch (the “Mexican” pronunciation of George). Paulin or Paulina is shortened to Pau. One of my patients in the clinic is Enriqueta but we call her Queta. Lucero or Lucia, often known as Luz (which means light). Monserrat, from my Exercise Science classes, goes by Monse. Humberto or Roberto? You’ll be called Beto. Luis is called Güicho (the ü makes a w sound). Also, Jose María or Jose Manuel, both of which are common combinations of first names, go by Chema. For someone younger, or really just as an affectionate way to call someone, you can add “it@” at the end of the name (Lupe becomes Lupita, Ana: Anita, Marta: Martita). Any guy named Alejandro that I know is called Alex, oddly enough.

I’ve also noticed some odd ones in the mix. There are names of other countries or cities in other countries; the coordinator in my clinic is named Kenia (the spanish spelling of Kenya), one of my friends at church is named Grecia (Greece), and my host sister knows someone named Italia. Also, many people go by names of animals; I know 2 guys called Pato (duck) and one called Gato (cat).

Last, one other kind of interesting thing to me is that almost no one has their real name on facebook. In the US, it’s something we can use to promote ourselves in a career, however, here, they often don’t put their real name, where they’re from (many of my friends here in Aguascalientes say on facebook that they’re from places like Japan, Australia, or … Florida), or who their family is. So, many of my facebook friends (I swear, more than half of mine are spanish speaking) have names like Effe OOrtiizh (they like to double letters and use caps in weird places) or Flashito.

Just yesterday I was informed that for a very long time, the day you were born on would dictate your name: being that this is a very Catholic society, and that every single one of the 365 days is a saint’s day, you would get the name of the saint with whom you shared your day. Consequently, someone born on November 20 was named Día de la Rev. … because on the calendar instead of having the saint’s name for that day, it says that the day is one celebrating the Mexican Revolution. Talk about an interesting name!

I love all the exposure to different names, but let me tell you: it’s difficult remembering them all when you’re meeting so many new people!

About a month into being here, once I could actually understand the majority of what was being said in a conversation, if I tried, I began to notice an effect I like to call conversation coma. It happens often when I’m surrounded by lots of people speaking Spanish, none of whom try to talk to me directly (or if they do, it’s at random intervals that often have nothing to do with the larger conversation). Also, it helps if I don’t sleep well or if it is very late at night, or for a very long time that I am listening. Basically, what a conversation coma is when I am just absolutely done being mentally capable of listening to what every single person around me is saying, and trying to determine if I can add something intelligent to the conversation.
This happens sometimes in church, when, near the end of a 4 hour service, I just have to give up trying to understand everything the pastor says. This past Sunday, after spending 5 hours in church, we went to the birthday party of a friend, Denise, from church, and about 20 of the youth showed up. So, after that 5 hours of listening, I was blasted with another 3 or 4 hours of lots of people making jokes or repeating “inside” jokes, which makes it even harder to understand, or trying to ask me questions that I feel like I don’t understand, or… well, the list goes on and on. Sometimes I wonder if I will ever like being in a big group of spanish speaking people.
To get away from the continuous jabber, I went into the kitchen to help Denise’s mom with the food. She owns a carniceria, or a mini restaurant just for meat-based foods. Now, I’m a vegetarian in the US, but I have been trying all the foods I can here, including even meat. It was really cool to help her make the different kinds and learn a little about what is different about pork in “this” red sauce compared to the pork in that “other” red sauce. Don’t ask me to remember the names, it won’t happen.
Monday we had the day off because of the birthday of Benito Juárez, a president of Mexico in the 1800s (of whom I’ve learned much, because that is exactly the era we just finished learning in my 19th Century Mexican History class). A group of about 12 of us from the youth of the church decided to try to climb all of Cerro del Muerto (the mountain here that looks like a dead man). It was a crazy undertaking, and if I ever try it again I will certainly need to bring more water, but it definitely was a blast. The feet (where everyone usually begins, and doesn’t ever go father) were the hardest part, with some parts making it necessary to climb using our hands. The “knees” weren’t too bad, except that the dry weather made some of the dirt very dusty and impossible to really get a good foothold in. Half of our group stopped in the shade of a tree in about where I would call the “belly button”, and the rest of us continued on to the “hands.” However, once we reached the hands, we realized that 1) the majority of us didn’t have much water left, 2) it would be a very long hike to the nose if we really wanted to go all the way there, because we would have to climb down the sides of the very steep hands and climb back up a steep cliff to get to the “chest,” and 3) we didn’t want to leave the other group alone for sooooo long. So, we returned, only having made it to about the half-way point. In all, it was a delightful day, even if I did get a wicked sunburn on my neck because I forgot to re-apply my sunscreen. Coolest thing? I got to talk to a bunch of really awesome people (albeit mostly guys 4 years my junior) while getting some really great exercise, AND I didn’t hurt the next day, whereas every time I’ve climbed El Picacho before, my legs were killing me the next day. I really hope I get to go back and try to go all the way to the nose!

This past friday, Becky, Andrew, me from Michigan; 2 girls from Spain, María and Martta; and Márcia from Brazil all got together in the latter three’s apartment for dinner and english and spanish practice. It was quite an experience, for several reasons.
First, based on the directions I was given, I wasn’t entirely sure how to get there. Luckily, Daniel showed me where the apartment was (he works in a group with María in their civil engineering class and had picked her up before for a meeting), but I still didn’t know how to get in. I kept trying to call or text Becky or Martta but with little luck, as they were all still at the university (they had some miscommunication issues, too, and didn’t end up coming until a little later anyway).

I walked around the block several times and found what I thought was the entrance, but what was actually just a government office. I continued walking around, looking, but afraid to open any doors for fear of something like an alarm sounding. Instead, I went into some stores, including a nice little book store, where I found the Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian in spanish! I decided that I had to buy it for my host sister Magui because she wants to read the books but I only have them in english.

Anyway, I continued walking around. I decided, after almost 2 hours of this, that I needed to go home and rest, because I was definitely dehydrated and probably sunburned (90 degree weather will do that to you). Luck would have it, as soon as I got home I received a text from Becky saying they had arrived… but I needed a nap, and headed over after.

When I arrived around 5 pm, the group had already eaten, but that was okay because my dehydration made me not hungry anyway. I was a little sad I had missed some of the converation, however! Still, it continued for about another 2 hours, with Becky, Andrew, and me trying our best to speak in spanish, and Maria and Martta speaking what they could in english (which is surprisingly a lot), and us all getting along just fine. We actually discussed some pretty random concepts, as well, including the military, government, school costs, places we’ve all traveled, and some of the ways our respective countries are different.

I definitely left feeling like I was able to communicate better, and I enjoyed helping the girls from Spain with their english. Conversations like that help me remember that in general, people here are going to be thinking that it’s cool that I want to learn spanish, not what I generally think they’re thinking, which is, wow, she’s really awful.

Saturday I got to volunteer at Teleton again, and my niña this time, Gina, and I got along great! We went to a place called La Huerta, which is like a huge farm for vegetables and fruits and where they would package them, as well. The workers there taught the kids how to plant seeds, when to water them, what kinds of bugs were good for the plants, and they gave us free chaskas, too, which were delicious (for information on chaskas, see my first post). It was a great day, but not because of what we did; rather, because of who I was with. Gina is a wonderful girl, 14 years old so she reminds me a lot of my sister, and although she does have a disability, her speech isn’t effected, and she taught me a lot, and I got to teach her english, too!

Later Daniel took me to his favorite pizza place. I have to say it was weird going out specifically for pizza, but it was delicious. 4 cheese pizza, with cream cheese as one of the 4 cheeses… I’ve never seen it before, but you can bet that the next time I make pizza it will have a little bit on it!

Sunday was wonderful, as always. Church is always difficult because I have to work hard to understand anyone speaking, and pure listening for almost 5 hours becomes quite an effort. However, also like always, I really felt God’s Presence there and am so thankful for the people there who help me and teach me and just generally show an interest in me. The message was, at least in part, about the fruit of the Spirit, and it was cool to see what the fruit (love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control) is in spanish.

After, Daniel, Magui, and I went to Calvillo, a near-by “municipio” or, what I would call a county. It really is quite small, with the most interesting things being the dams and lakes surrounding it. We ate chinese food (Mexican chinese food… well, it’s about the same as American chinese food), visited the dams, walked around in the center for a little bit, and returned. One cool thing was that when we were walking through the central garden, we encountered one of my classmates!

Other updates: still have not returned to the Migration Office to finish everything… Should probably get on that. I have next Monday off from classes for–get this–Benito Juárez’s birthday, a man who has been dead for more than 100 years. I am going to go cave exploring with some of my classmates in history this weekend in San Luis Potosi!

So, I found that I have not written in a while, and when I did last write, I was a week behind (trying frantically to play the catch-up game, and losing). Instead of trying really hard to go into detail on all the amazing things that have been going on, here’s a list:
-Survived my first exam (survived doesn’t cover it; I got a 10, or, in the US, an A).
-Have received multiple “Buen Reporte” grades on history papers. Even ones I turned in thinking, this is awful.
-One of the other exchange students yesterday said she was impressed by how much better my spanish has gotten!
-I’ve now climbed Cerro El Picacho 3 times total.
-I went to a really cool “mini-fair” in Puertecito, a small town about 20 minutes outside of Aguascalientes. The mini fair was about as big as the Alpenfest in Gaylord, MI; there were tons of food carts, games, rides for kids, a talent show (complete with a man singing and swinging his hips), and a pageant.
-On Valentine’s Day I surprised Daniel with chocolates in his car, a harmonica, and TRIED to surprise him with dinner, instead he took meto Rincón Maya (food from other states in Mexico), and also gave me flowers and a turtle.
-My turtle’s name is Quetzal, it’s the name for a type of parrot…
-My first Club Amigos was great! I got to spend 6 hours with a wonderful little girl named Pau but who goes by “La Guapa,” needs a wheelchair but can move pretty well on her own, and says things like “Saaaaaaaaabe” (like “who knows?”), “Ahhh pedo” (…fart!) and “Y tu bebe?” (and your baby? which she says to everyone, male or female). We went to Divertech, a physical-activity oriented play place with trampolines and water games, etc. It was tough, because I still struggle with the language, and trying to interpret some children who had less than average language skills wasn’t easy, but it was such an amazing experience!
-The next weekend, trip 2 of Club Amigos, my “niño” was Omar de Jesús Hernandez, and we went to a “rancho” or what I would call an almost-commercial farm. Omar and I had such a blast! He could walk, albeit a little slowly, and I had to hold his hand… had to? more like loved to! He was so adorable. We talked about so much, and it was cool to see the way he really loved helping me learn spanish words. I learned that they call a small horse a pony, too, which made me laugh, which made him laugh. At the ranch, we saw cows being milked by machines, we got to feed baby cows from our hands, saw what I would describe as teenage chickens, in that they were not full grown but not chicks, and also got to pet 2 horses! Also, to top off the awesome day, Omar and I were awarded the “best friends” award for the day!
-A woman who I always help in the physical therapy clinic told me, the other day, that she can tell that it’s not just that I’m going to be a good physical therapist, but that I’m a genuine server, someone who loves to help people however I can. What a cool thing to be told!
-I decided to walk home from UAA the other day (about 3 miles) and I stopped randomly in this little clothing shop. The woman said something about a changing room, and I stared blankly at her, not knowing what to say back (duh, a simple, thanks, would suffice). I lamely said something about still learning spanish… and she said, in english, oh, well, I know english, too, I lived in Colorado for 10 years. I then had a 30 minute long conversation with this woman. So crazy!
-Cab drivers are so helpful and nice!

Some hard things:
-My computer’s battery has died. I have it in the freezer, because supposedly it’ll hold a charge again if I keep it there for 3 days, but we’ll see.
-My computer has been doing weird things in general. Luckily(!) Daniel is a computer-whiz, and reformatted my computer. Also, it’s now completely in spanish. Scary!
-I have gone to the Office of Immigration 5 times now. I had an interview with them last week, that legitimately was one of the scariest things in my life, having a woman ask me questions about why I put tourist instead of student when I knew I was going to be a student… oh, and in spanish…ahhhhhhhhhhh…. But it’ll all work out. When’s the last time you heard of an American being deported from Mexico? However, because of this experience, I definitely want to work closer with exchange students at Michigan Tech next year, helping them in any way I can, because I don’t know what I would do if I didn’t have my own personal guide through these things. Probably cry every day.
-Being sick in a foreign country isn’t fun. I’ve had a viral infection twice now (or once, with a break in the middle of about a week). It’s weird to not know the names of the medicines you want to take.

Anyway, that’s kind of a summary of everything in the past couple weeks! It’s been great!

So, I am interning at this awesome clinic on the university’s campus. I love working there: Monday-Friday, 2 to 5 hours a day, awesome co-workers, my advisor is so much fun (and her name is Kenia!), and, to top it off, she (Kenia) invited me this past week to go check out Teleton.

Let me explain how cool this is to you, Teleton, a free rehabilitation center for kids, was where I originally wanted to work for my internship while here. I tried to contact them but never heard back. So, I contacted Dr. Virgilio in the health department of UAA, and he set me up with an internship in the physical therapy clinic on campus. I was a little disappointed until I started working there and loved it.

However, Thursday at 7 when I met up with Kenia at Teleton-CRIT Aguascalientes, my desire to work there flooded back. Walking in to this huge facility, I could immediately see how fun workign here would be. Everything–the walls, floors, doors, reception area–is decorated like children drew up the plans. Stick figures line the walls and trains and marine creatues are just some of the themes of the main rooms. The physical therapy rooms are giant, with very advanced equipment, comfy “bends” (for stretching and exercises while laying down), and so many volunteer physical therapists it makes me want to cry (of happiness, of course). There’s a stimulation room, with blinking or sparkling or color-changing lights and walls with weird textures and buttons that make every noise imaginable. There’s a pool for hydro-therapy that is bigger than most hotel pools. And there’s an occupational therapy room that is the coolest (fake) house I’ve ever seen, with a kitchen, living room, bedrooms, etc., all for teaching how to do daily, routine activities.

I was really disappointed to find out they close at 7 pm, because there’s no way I could come work before 7 on any weekday with my class schedule the way it is. However, soemthign prompted me to ask about Saturdays, although I had been told Teleton wasn’t open on weekends. Kenia’s husband, who works at Teleton, confirmed it–there aren’t therapies on weekends–but there IS something called Club Amigos Teleton (CAT).

Without even knowing what exactly CAT was, I JUMPED up at the chance, immediately asking how I could sign up. They told me there are 4 sessions each year, and–boy am I blessed–the “spring” club started in 2 days (this past Saturday). I’d have to act quickly though: I had to come back Friday (the next day) at 11 to sign up and fill out forms, and training would be 7:30 am to 3 pm Saturday.

So, after spending 2 hours filling out forms (in which I had to ask the meaning of about every other word), and paying about $15 for a t0shirt and baseball hat, I was ready to return Saturday morning for training.

Getting up Saturday morning so early was rough, but so worth it once I arrived. When I first walked in the door, I could tell it was going to be a fun day. The group is probably somewhere near 100 volunteers, mostly people around my age. We had to search for our names on these sheets of paper, and I found out I was placed in team “Naranja” which I find funny because anaranjado is the color, naranja is the fruit, but all the other teams are named after colors.

We were directed down a hall and sat along the walls, and 2 of the most peppy people I’ve ever met (maybe seemingly more so because their cheers were in Spanish) came along trying to get us to cheer along with them, and using markers to put hearts on the faces of all the new “amigos.” The welcoming atmosphere definitely helped make up for the fact that I got 5 hours of sleep and didn’t have time for coffee before arriving! They even handed us sheets with the lyrics to the cheers/songs… much needed, thank you!

The following 7 hours were filled with me trying to understand as a group of very enthusiastic (read: camp counselor-ish) leaders explained what Club Amigos does (in a few words: spend Saturdays with a cool group of kids!), who we’ll be working with (children with disabilities, but with no shortage of energy and love for others!). The next month and a half (we’ll get to spend time with these awesome kids till the end of March) will be filled with some awesome times.

I’d add pictures but we’re not allowed to take pictures of the place or the people, but I’ll be adding more exciting news about what goes on there!

Well, I’d like to continue uploading pictures but sadly my camera is currently not functioning. So, my descriptive words will have to suffice for the wonderful things I encountered this past weekend! Oh, and some stolen pictures from facebook, of course, credit to Andrew Lund, Luisho, Maria, and a handful of others.

Friday night, I was not feeling well. After going to the doctor that morning and finding out that I had a viral infection and really just needed more sleep and water, I tried to get a lot of rest that night.

However, Saturday morning I got up at 4:30 am to get on a bus for León, Guanajuato, México at 6 am. In total, there were about 12 of us from the exchange group of UAA who were crazy enough to spend the whole day walking around León. When we first got there, we walked for about 2 hours trying to find a hotel in which to stay that night (although I would be going home at 9:30).

León has a festival that lasts for about a month, so there are decorations up all over the place. It was really need to see all the “papel picado” papers hanging in the streets. After we checked the group into a hotel, we walked some more… And half the group (a bunch of girls) wanted to go to the section of the city with lots of shoes stores. So for about the next three or four hours we walked through these huge buildings with store after store of shoes (oh, and most of them sold purses and scarves, too… I guess when there’s a person looking for one of the three, she’ll probably be looking for the others, too).

Becky, Andrew, and I went to this Mexican seafood place for lunch (which was much needed by 1 pm when we finally ate), while the

rest of the group went to a chinese restaurant (PS: Mexican chinese food is better than American chinese food, or at least better than the majority of it. I’m not entirely sure why this is the case). Becky and I decided to try octopus (although we’re both vegetarians…). It was really weird because it wasn’t warm, and the little sucker things on the meat felt weird in your mouth, but overall it was an enjoyable experience. Especially the part where 3 Americans tried to order kind of specific things from the menu… but it worked out

alright.

Did I mention we walked around pretty much all of the shopping areas of León? By 3 I was asking myself why I hadn’t worn tennis shoes… I was still sick, too, so parts of the day I just wanted to sleep (which I did, on a park bench, on a chair in a shoe store, and outside of a restaurant for a while, too).

Okay, so it wasn’t all bad.

Around 5 Becky and I decided it was time for dinner, so we chose a place about 5 feet from where were standing when we made the decision. We sat down, ordered guayaba juice (seriously probably my favorite thing here), and looked at the menu on the wall (hand-written, with things crossed out, of course). We chose something that sounded interesting and that we hadn’t yet tried… which wasn’t a great
After that adventure, we walked around, asking random people for advice on how idea, since it ended up being basically tacos of pulled pork, something which neither of us loved, as vegetarians (but who are trying foods here no matter if they have meat or not).

to get to the fair. Along the way, Becky decided she would give her remaining candies that she bought that morning, which didn’t go over great with the group because they were spicy, to whatever homeless people we could find. The first man we came across who appeared to be homeless was fiddling with a piece of cardboard, folding it and unfolding it… which should have told us he was not quite right in the head… When we asked (probably in awful spanish) if he’d like a candy, he turned to us with crazed eyes and I was certain for about 3 seconds he was going to bite us and give us rabies. So we kind of ran… kind of sprinted… down the sidewalk.

Luckily, right around the corner from there, we found the fair! And, aside from the fact that it only cost 10 pesos (instead of the American version, which usually costs about $15), it seemed so similar to home. Also, it was giant. We really wanted to go to a show that boasted magic and fire, but it took over an hour to find the ticket booth (with people giving us awful directions and us misunderstanding some), and when we arrived we were told it was sold out. What a bummer! But instead we walked around for about 2 hours, trying random foods, encountered an animal exhibit with lions, goats, pigs, horses, and ostriches, among other things, got rained on, ate more food… it was a good night.

One kind of funny thing was that my phone died on the bus ride home at about 10 pm, and Becky had run out of saldo (the money on your phone used for texts and calls), so we couldn’t check in with Daniel, who was going to pick us up at the bus station. So at midnight we found a taxi and made it home…. thoroughly exhausted.

And that was just Saturday! Sunday, we woke up at 8 and packed up a minivan with 9 people and drove 3 hours to Tlatenango, Zacatecas, and a nearby little town where our host parents grew up. We spent the day walking around this wonderful little colonial town, and then around the ranch where our host mom grew up, the surrounding little village. Each little village like that has it’s own church and garden in the middle of the town, so cute! It was a little sad though, because apparently just probably 5 to 10 years earlier, there had been this swamp/swimming hole where all the kids would catch turtles, but now it’s completely dry.

Back at the ranch, I helped to make food: something with soy, tomatoes, avocado, onions, and LOTS of lime juice, DELICIOUS. Also, we had to watch out for scorpions… Becky collected about 8 dead ones.

The following morning, we visited another nearby town, and went to this bakery which I was told had the best “pan” (which means bread but is generally used for sweet things like donuts but BETTER) in the world… and it didn’t disappoint. I don’t know if it was the smell of the place, as the pans of these creations were coming out of the oven, or if they really were just that delicious, but I told the family that I could buy a bed and live in the corner of that bakery and be happy for the rest of my life.

We were thinking about climbing one of the mountains nearby, but we were told that not too long ago, people who had tried to climb the mountain were killed by robbers of some sort. Not to worry, we didn’t attempt it. It’s just interesting to see how the family was so unafraid of that, and I was unafraid of it, too, because they’re from the area, whereas in the US all we hear is about all this violence in Mexico. The cool thing is that I haven’t seen anything of it; in fact, the exact opposite. The people here are really so amazing and welcoming, I couldn’t ask for a better place to be studying.

I’m writing this on my 21st birthday!

Last night I had a chance to talk to my family on skype, my parents and my sister! It was definitely a blessing. My mom talked about how I wouldn’t really be 21 today until 10:37 at night, when I was finally born. But, as you’ll soon read, it was definitely an all-day celebration this year!

Also last night…

At midnight, while I should have been sleeping, I was still finishing a homework assignment (reading for my history class), when suddenly I heard loud music coming from the garage, to which my room is attached. My first thought was that Becky, who I had noticed was awake unusually late (for her), had turned on some music. However, it got louder, and suddenly I heard the voice of my novio–boyfriend–singing. At that point I figured I couldn’t ignore it any longer, and momentarily freaked out… I wish I had a picture of myself, hair in messy ponytail, pajamas, sweatshirt, socks. I walked to the door, opened it, and saw Daniel and a large mariachi band, serenading me. Daniel had a large bouquet of red roses, which he hadned to me after I, shaking, walked over to him and the band. I then realized Becky, and Daniel’s friend Omar, were videotaping/taking pictures of the whole thing, and Daniel’s parents and grandfather all joined us, too. I didn’t know all of the songs, but I obviously knew they were all love songs, the last 2 being Amorcito Mio and Besame Mucho. All I could do was stand there, Daniel holding my hand as he sang to me. What a way to start my 21st birthday, eh? I really can’t get over how much it felt exactly like a movie, where a handsome, spanish-speaking man surprises his love with a  mariachi band in the middle of the night. What a thoroughly “I’m in Mexico” experience!

After that I had trouble falling asleep, so waking up at 8 am for my 9 am work wasn’t easy. However, it was defintiely easier when I realized I didn’t have to take the bus because Daniel surprised me with coming back to the hosue to pick me up. As if the band wasn’t enough, as I was making my breakfast, Daniel handed me a white box–which contained an Android Tablet! I can’t wait to download hundreds of books so I can just be able to read whatever I want, wherever I go!

Working in the clinic was sad because it was the last day for all the students (5 people I have talked to more than almost anyone in the past week), but still awesome–a man came in for his appointment and I found out he’s from Columbia, lived in Canada for 40 years, and lives here now because his wife is Mexican. He speaks 5 languages! And here I am struggling with only 2!

Later, I went out ot lunch with some of my classmates from my Cultura Fisica y Deporte classes (about 10 of us total). I heard the Mexican birthday song for the first time of 3 that would occur, and they tried to smash a chocolate little debbie cake in my face and eggs on my head (Mexican birthday traditions). Fortunately I was able to avoid both!

In my only class, at the very end, our teacher had the students born in January and February line up in the front of the room, according to birth date, without talking, … and asked us our brith dates. It was supposed to be an example of how quickly we learn, but she found out it was my birthday and had fthe class sing to me–2nd time!

After class I went to play volleyball with Daniel, his sister Magui and their dad, Becky, and 3 girls they call their “tiny sisters”–Fer, Dany, and Grecia. It’s at this local sports facility which only costs 5 pesos to enter, and the volleyball class is free. It was so much fun, and apart from the large age group (it varied from 5 years to probably 60 years), reminded me a lot of a high school sports practice, with running, stretching, drills, and mini-games.

Then we returned home, where, after getting ready to go to Dinner with Daniel, I was surprised by a raspberry cheesecake and the third rendition of happy birthday, by the family, the tiny sisters, and Becky. Dinner was at a little italian restaurant, where we ate lasagna–my birthday food of choice every year I get to choose.

I missed my family, but being surrounded by so many people who care about me here was really an awesome experience, too. It was weird being away from the snow, being a January baby, skier, and snow-lover, but in all, a wonderful day.

And then I did homework, because, let’s face it, I’m taking 4 classes and it was a Tuesday. Mexicos’ not so different from Michigan Tech; the teachers assign homework nearly every day. However, I almost always feel like I put more effort in on the homework, and everyone else in my classes looks at me kind of funny… it’s like I’m the foreign kid and I do everything wrong…. oh wait!

In all, this whole experience is still feeling like a movie… somebody care to give it a title?

After two weeks of hearing friends at home (and seeing their posts on facebook, of course) talk about classes and homework, last week, Monday, January 23, I finally began classes here at UAA. Starting the week, I was sure of a couple of things, including my 8 am 19th Century Mexican History class, and the fact that I’d have to wait on campus all day until my afternoon classes.

In that first class, which, I have to admit, made me nervous to walk into, as everyone else already knew each other, I was quite lost. If Andrew, another student from Tech, hadn’t been in the class, too, I might not have been sure I was in the right one at all. After sitting through an hour of not knowing ANY of the dates and names my professor was spitting out at us, I had to leave an hour early to meet with the advisor of my internship.

That was a blessing. When I stepped into the physical therapy clinic, I immediately fell in love–with the atmosphere, the work, the patients. The very first day the other therapists taught me so much: how to use an ultrasound machine, how to apply heat compresses and electrodes to stimulate feeling in “dead-nerve” areas, what exercises to use on a 5 year old verses an 80 year old, etc.

Mondays I also have 3 classes in the afternoon: Sports Psychology, Pedagogy & Didactics, and Nutrition. I was at school for 12 hours that first day! But it’s more than okay because I love the campus.

The week was, mostly, similar to the first day. Wednesday I found out I had a report due in my history class, but because I hadn’t known (and, I suspect, the professor was letting me off easy because I’m an international student), he let me have until Monday, along with a 2nd report, to turn it in.

One very interesting thing  is that, at the Universidad Autónoma de Aguascalientes, people in the same major and same year of studies take all their classes together. So, in my Cultura Física y Deporte (the approximate equal major to exercise science, here), which are all in the afternoon, I’m with the same 30 students for all 3 classes–and they have 3 more besides! The first few days I felt hopelessly lost because they all talked through each of the classes, making it difficult to hear and understand the professors. However, they’re mostly settled down by now.

It did surprise me a little how much they talk about drinking, especially because many seem (and, I later found out, are) younger than me. However, the drinking age here is 18 instead of 21, so I guess that makes a little more sense, but in general, the atmosphere, albeit a very catholic one in many cases, is also one of more partying.

In all, some good lessons I had this week: talk to you professor, he’ll help you, and possibly give you more time; also, when in doubt, ask, even in the middle of class. Some hard/bad lessons: don’t forget to bring food for a 12 hour day. Get enough sleep before your 8 am history class.

Also, following this first week, on Saturday, I went with a large (approximately 20 students) group from the exchange program at UAA to climb the “feet” of what they call Cerro del Muerte–Mountain of the Dead Man. El Picacho, which is what looks like the feet, is the most accessible part of the mountain range, but definitely still a difficult climb! I’ve done it before, when I came in November, so it was cool getting to show the others the way up and down. However, I wish they would have listened to me when I said we needed to get going; at 8 pm, it was completely dark, and we were still climbing down the mountain, in several groups, and for a while we thought we had lost someone! I’ll definitely always remember to bring a flashlight on excursions like that one, from now on!