The last day of winter

Days in Mexico: 19

This week got off to a bad start. I came down with a cold on Saturday morning but luckily I was better by Monday afternoon so I only missed one day of school. Other than that, not much has happened this week.

I've been struggling lately with the massive amount of mosquitos. I have so many bites that I have lost track of how many I have! Scratching them is the worst thing to do so I have tried to avoid doing so.

Coming up in a couple of weeks at school we are having a 'Noche Colonial' which translates to 'Colonial Night' in English. At colonial night, each class performs a dance that they have learnt in the weeks leading up to the event. My class is performing a dance around the theme of Lilo and Stitch. It is a different style of dancing than what I have been taught in Australia but I like it. I don't understand what the choreographer says but I learn the movements through watching them and learn the counts by listening to the music. The most common words used when learning a dance are 'five, six, seven, eight' which I already know translates to 'cinco, seis, siete, ocho.'

Today is the last day of February, which means it is also the last day of winter in the northern hemisphere. I have been told that the Summer time in Mexico is unbelievably hot because of the humidity. During the week I got sun burnt while we were practising the Colonial Night dance. I don't even understand why because I was wearing a hat and literally covered myself in SPF 100 sunscreen!

I went to the movies last Friday night with some school friends and saw my first ever film that was in Spanish and it didn't have English subtitles. The movie was called Cásese Quien Pueda and it was really funny, even though I didn't understand most of it. The cinema was nicer than the ones in Perth and the seats even partly reclined. The best part was the tickets cost the equivalent of $4 AUS which is about a third of the price of what I am use to paying.

I'm leaning new words every day and I am feeling more confident when I'm talking in Spanish. My biggest help has been having my host sister at school and home to help me learn what I want to say in Spanish. It would be really difficult without her!

My sister Dany and I

The week ahead is going to be full of excitement because I am off to Mexico City with my host family!

Small steps into the big world

Days in Mexico: 12

This week I have been trying to get into the new routine of waking up at 5.20am to go to school. The jet lag isn’t helping but hopefully soon I will be able to get through the day without needing a siesta when I get home from school. School is slowly getting easier but I still have no idea what is going on most of the time. I found a copy of my science text book from year 10 on my computer and it covers some of the work we are doing in physics and biology at the moment so I will be able to have a vague idea of what is going on in class. It’s a strange sensation sitting in class and not being able to understand a word that is being said. It sounds like the people around me are speaking gibberish except I am the only one not able to understand it.

I have started to pick up some words in conversations that sound similar to their English translation and try to form a sentence around them to guess what is being said. I also watch how people react to what is being said and their expression as they talk to gain an understanding about what they are talking about. To help learn the language quicker I have made up some flash cards that have a word in English on one side and the Spanish translation on the other.

On Wednesday night I went to my first Rotary meeting at my host club, Costa de Oro. There were 10 other exchange students there, most of them were from Brazil. Normally only 1 or 2 exchange students at a time are hosted by a club. I’m not sure how members there are at the Rotary club but the number of members that attended were matched by the number of exchange students present.

I really like it in Boca del Rio because it is so different from Perth. There are palm trees along the beach and there are coloured buildings everywhere. It’s a nice change and at 6.30am when we are driving to school, it helps brighten my day.

The new kid

Days in Mexico: 5

On Wednesday I started at my new school. I don't understand what is being said in most of the classes but I have met some really lovely people and I really like the school. The school day is a lot longer than I am use to. I have to wake up at 5.30am to be at school for 6.45am and I don't finish until 2.40pm. Some people speak English but not many so I just smile if I can't understand what is being said- which is most of the time.
At school I do Biology, Lab (which is similar to chemistry), Physics, Literature, English, Maths, Logic, History, Graphic applications (computing), Religion and Uni prep classes. English is entirely in English and is the only class that I can completely understand. I'm finding maths easy as well because we are repeating work I did last year, even though the teacher is speaking in Spanish.

February the 14th is Valentine's Day and Mexicans go all out to celebrate! At school we were allowed to wear anything red or pink for a free dress day. Recess was extended so we had an hour and a half to participate in the events that the school organised. There were 12 white tents set up with chocolates and cakes to buy and Valentine's activities to do. They even had a alter set up for marriages so I got married to my host sister, Dany (not legally!)

Cake stands

Our wedding photo

The wedding documentation

Some of my new friends

After school I went to the Aquarium and Ripley's museum with some school friends. It was nice to relax and just hang out.The Aquarium even had Toucans, Macaws and a dolphin show! 

A macaw bird at the aquarium

The dolphins

At Ripley's museum there were lots of things to see and do, including a wax figure of Tom Cruise proposing. The museum is based on the Ripsley's Believe It or Not book and features lots of pictures and exhibitions from it. Compared to most Mexican females, I am tall but compared to the world's tallest man, I am really short!!

The wax figure of Tom Cruise proposing

A statue of the world's tallest man

My head in a museum specimen jar

After less than a week in Mexico, my Spanish vocabulary has expanded to be over double of what I originally knew before coming! I have really surprising myself and my host family with how quickly I am picking up the language. I have set a target to be competent in Spanish by the end of 3 months. With the rate that I am currently learning, that shouldn't be a problem!

The longest day of my life

So much has happened over the past couple of days so I am writing 2 posts this week.

I arrived safely in Veracruz 2 days ago at 11pm local time. In the space of a day and a half, I set foot on 4 different continents and spent almost 32 hours in the air. It was literally the longest day of my life! I gained an extra 14 hours because I crossed so many time zones.

On my way over I stopped at Singapore, Moscow and Houston airports.

My plane connecting plane from Singapore was delayed for 2 and a half hours so I didn't end up leaving until 3.45am local time. That meant I had over 4 hours at the airport during the night. Singapore airport in massive and luckily there was lots to do. There was a butterfly garden which was really pretty and there was even a free movie theatre! Not many shops were open but I was able to buy a Starbucks coffee and an authentic steamed pork bun.

The butterfly garden, Singapore airport

The flight was delayed because they had had problems the previous day on another flight to Moscow. As an extra precaution we weren't allowed to bring any liquids in our hand luggage at all, not even if they were in sealed 100ml containers! This meant I wasn't allowed to bring my deodorant, tooth paste, mouth wash, hand sanitiser or face wash on the plane.

Moscow airport

We arrived in Moscow at about 11am local time to a white blanket of snow covering as far as the eye could see. We were ushered through the airport into a waiting area where we reboarded the plane about 2 hours later. I didn't see much of the airport and unfortunately I didn't get a chance to buy tooth paste or deodorant.

After another 12 hour flight, I landed in Houston. I cleared customs, check in my luggage and still had 4 hours left. I started to feel really sick and I thought it may have been food poisoning so I drank lots of water, sat in a quiet place, ate some food and 2 hours later I still didn't feel better. I talked to my host family about it and they suggested a travel sick tablet and it helped a lot! I spent the rest of the time shopping and walking around. Lots of things are so much cheaper in the US then they are in Australia.

The last leg of the journey was probably the best. We flew down along the Gulf of Mexico and I saw the coast line for almost the whole flight. It was a smaller plane and I had a window seat so I got one of the best views.

I cleared customs in almost record time- it only took about 20 minutes. My first host family, the Herrera’s were waiting for at the airport. It was so great to finally meet them. I already feel at home and I have only been here for just over a day!

The drive home from the airport was really strange. There are very few similarities between Boca del Rio and Perth. There were guys on the side of the road burning grass fires and there were police utes driving around with 2 armed guys standing on the back. I'm not use to seeing that in Perth. 

The roads here in Boca del Rio are really crazy! Perth is tame compared to the drivers here. It’s even crazier than Italian roads!

The family dog, Pancho likes me. He keeps on following me around the house. I've never had a pet dog before so I'm not use to being followed. He is quite cute and likes to play soccer. 

Pancho the dog

The food so far has been really nice. For breakfast, I had bean paste and grilled cheese on half a bread roll which was topped with fresh diced tomato. We ate dinner at about 3.30pm which I’m not use to. We had tomato soup with noodles in and then tortillas with mince mixed with vegetables. Luckily the chilli was optional!

My mama, sister and I went shopping in the afternoon for the school uniform. The shopping centre is massive but Dany (my sister) told me that it was really small compared to other centres. It was almost twice the size of my local shopping centre in Perth (Garden City) and was spread over 3 levels! There are lots of security guards and police officers everywhere which makes me feel safe but it will take a bit of time to get use to.

I got stared at a lot while we were shopping. I am 172cm tall and in Australia I am about an average height of a female but I am really tall over here. I also have really fair skin and so far I haven’t seen anyone else here who is as pale as I am. I wish I did have tanned skin but unfortunately I don't tan, I just burn. 

Dany and I

Tomorrow I will start school. School starts at 7am and finishes at 3pm. I will need to wake up at 5.30 and we will leave at 6.20 which is the time I normally wake up. I will be going to La Salle which is the same school as my sister. I am really excited because I have never had the experience of being the ‘new kid’ before.to seeing that in Perth.
The weather is beautiful! It's winter here but it feels like it's spring.
The family dog, Pancho likes me. He keeps on following me around the house. I've never had a pet dog before so I'm not use to being followed

Finally, I would like to thank everyone who came to Perth airport to see me off on Saturday. I really appreciate your support. Hasta la vista!

My brother and I at Perth airport

Butterflies

Waking up at 4am isn't fun, especially when you can't get back to sleep because you're thinking about the unknown. The butterflies have started and the nerves are kicking in ready for take off tomorrow!

All this week I have been catching up with friends and family, saying my final good byes. It has been really relaxing and not as stressful as I thought it would be. 

On Monday I had a final briefing with the travel agent. I was given my itinerary and my visa. My path flight is a bit strange. I will be flying Perth to Singapore, Singapore to Houston via Moscow then Houston to Veracruz. All together I will be in the air for almost 32 hours. In total, it will be 43 hours between me leaving Perth and arriving in Veracruz. Luckily I am able to sleep on planes!

Tomorrow I will be venturing into the unknown. There is only so much that I can prepare myself for, the rest now will just fall into place.