Viviendo mi vida

Days in Mexico: 200!!!!!!!

At school I take a class called 'Etimología Griego' which is the Greek and Latin origins of Spanish words. I find the class really interesting because lots of the words have the same origin as words in English so they are really similar. For example; words that end in 'phy' change to ending in 'fía' like 'geography' becomes 'geografía' in Spanish. So I am in a Spanish speaking country, taking classes in French and Greek and writing this blog in English! 

Lots of funny things happen at school because I spend a lot of time there. I was in a class the other day with a new teacher and I was speaking Spanish when the teacher asked where I was from. He first asked if I was German and was surprised when I said I was Australian. 

Last Wednesday night's Rotary meeting was the first for some of the new people in the club. There were 7 inbound students and 4 outbounds at the meeting. We all received the club banner (me included) and each person spoke to the club. Most only spoke a bit of Spanish so I was asked to translate from English to Spanish. I got stuck on a some words a couple of times but I surprised even myself at how much Spanish I know! 

I spent Sunday with my family in Xalapa. It's the third time I have been there but this time I saw more if the city. First we went to the Museum of Anthropology which is divided into the different areas of Mexico. It was really interesting reading about the ancient civilizations and seeing the history of Mexico. We also had some fun imitating the displays. Here are some of my favourite pictures:

Roberto joining the other faces

Jazmín and I imitating one of the displays

After visiting the museum, we climbed a small mountain which I can't remember the name of. When we reached the top, we climbed up to the highest possible point to get an amazing view of the city!

The path to the top

We then had lunch and a walk around the city. Along the way we stopped at an ice cream shop which was decorated in bright colours and had an authentic Mexican feel about it which I really loved. We also stopped in the park for churros filled with chocolate and Lechera (sweetened condensed milk.)

My host parents made a suggestion that I start a bucket list of things I want to do in Mexico before I return. I only have 4 and a half months left to complete it so I will probably be very busy in the next couple of months! I also have the opportunity to travel more in the next couple of months and have plans to go to Mexico City, Cuernavaca, Guadalajara and the Ruta Maya which is in the south of Mexico and includes Cancun. 

This weekend I have an orientation weekend for all the inbound students in the district. There will probably be over 100 exchange students at Cuernavaca which is where it will be held. Cuernavaca is on the West side of the country and is about 8 hours away by bus. I will be travelling with the other students from Veracruz and will return on Monday. Only Henrique, (a student from Brazil located in a different city) and I arrived earlier in the year so all the other exchange students are new and I am really looking forward to meeting them. This is a photo of my blazer now and it will have even more pins on it when I return from the orientation weekend. 

My blazer at the moment

New House

Days in Mexico: 193

Last Tuesday was my first day back at school after almost 2 months of holidays. I started the equivalent of year 12 and I am in the area called ‘exactus.’ These are the subjects I will do this semester: física (physics), maths, etimologías greco (origin of words in Latin and Greek), French, geografía (geography), formación humana (religion), historia universal contemporánea (universal contemporary history), software aplicación (software application), probabilidad y estadística (probability and statistics), mundo contemporánea (contemporary world), redes (networks), fisicoquímica (a combination of physics and chemistry) and habilidades académicas (academic skills). The first day went pretty well, I was understanding more and participating in class conversations until history class. We had a diagnostic test which was about the history of Mexico and the world. Luckily it was multiple choice because even though I understood most of the words, the history of Mexico is so extensive compared to Australia and I don't know much about it. So I have started reading and learning about the history of Mexico so I can understand what is going on in class. 

I spent most of Wednesday packing because on Thursday evening I changed host families. I didn’t realise how much stuff I had because it doesn’t look like much when it’s in my wardrobe! 

I have gained quite a bit of stuff

With my Mexican siblings. Jazmín, Roberto, Dany and Diego

This week I went to the airport on two different occasions. The first time was to welcome BossLin from Thailand and the second was to welcome Ashley from Japan. 

This week my family in Australia also welcomed another exchange student. Árpád from Hungry is the newest member of the family and is the inbound student for Willetton Rotary Club, which is my outbound sponsor club.

Árpád's arrival. Picture from Facebook

After meeting Ashley at the airport on Saturday afternoon, I went with Iina and Martha to the beach and we drank coconut water straight from the coconut! I don't like the taste of it but I'm glad I tried it. 

Drinking from a coconut on the beach in Mexico 

A new house means a new family, a new bedroom and a new neighbourhood. My new neighbourhood is considered to be one of the safest in the city. On Sunday afternoon I took a walk around and it was nice to be able to have some space to myself in the fresh air. On days when it isn't too hot, I will be able to go to the park or just walk around whenever I want. I am starting to miss my old house though.

La última semana de vacaciones

Days in México: 182
Today I have been in Mexico for exactly 6 months!!!

This past week has been the last week of holidays. I will return to school on Tuesday to start the equivalent of year 12.

My Mexican grandma, aunty and cousin were in town for the whole week so we organised a couple of last minute parties. On Monday, we had a surprise 15th birthday party for Diego. It was his birthday was in June but it's always better late than never! A balloon arch was created for the event as well as a making costumes in his favourite football team's colours.

The balloon arch 

Surprise!

The next day the balloon arch was still up so we had a surprise baby shower for Yola, who helps around the house. She is expecting a baby girl in late October/ early November.

We continued with the surprise parties with an early celebration of mamá's birthday. Her actual birthday is next week but we were in party mode so we decorated the room in a 70's theme.

We then had a 'Miss Tampiquera' competition to crown the next Miss Tampiquera (La Tampiquera is the name of the area where I live.) The competition included answering a couple of questions as well as dancing to a couple of songs, including the Macarena. The crowned winner of the competition was Mamá! Including Dany's party last week, we had 4 surprise parties in the space of a week!

Cousin Fernanda, Mamá and Dany 

Feliz cumpleaños mamá 

I have been feeling less and less homesick but I occasionally have a day when it comes back. Wednesday was one of those days.
I woke up to the sad news that one of the pets in my house in Australia had died. Lily was a much loved and very cute guniea pig who brought a lot of joy to my family, especially to my sister. I won't be able to see her again when I return to Australia but I knew before leaving that there was a possibility of something like this happening, I'm just sad that it did happen. RIP Lily

Rosie and Lily at Easter time

Friday afternoon, most of the exchange students that were in Veracruz went to the movies. I met 3 new exchange students; Jonas from Germany, Ryan from the USA and Kevin from Taiwan. Kevin is on a short term exchange for 2 months, but everyone else will be in Mexico until next July. More have arrived since Friday so I will get to meet them soon!

Mariachi at midnight

Days in México: 175

On Wednesday I reached the exact half way point of my exchange! It was my 171st day in Mexico and I had 170 left. Time is ticking by and I am now the exchange student who has been in Veracruz for the longest amount of time.

Tuesday morning at 5.45am I woke up to a very strong earthquake. My bed was literally moving across the room! It was originally reported as a 6.2 but later got upgraded to a 6.4 and was the strongest earthquake I have felt so far. Since arriving in Mexico, there has been 6 earthquakes and I expect there will be more as aftershocks.

During the week I went to the aquarium with Iina. There were lots of people there because it's the school holidays but we still got to see all the animals. When we were waiting in line for tickets, a girl asked us in English where we were from. I answered her in Spanish and said that I am from Australia and Iina is from Finland. She was a bit surprised because I think she wasn't expecting us to be from countries so far away!
I went to the aquarium in February with school friends but there is now a new penguin enclosure and some things have changed. My favourite animals were the dolphins because they are well trained, put on an impressive show and are really photogenic.

The new penguins

We also met a past exchange student who now works at the aquarium. Edwing went to Tamworth, New South Wales in Australia, 3 years ago with Rotary and he was able to tell us a bit about the animals at the aquarium.

The 1st of August was Dany's 17th birthday. At midnight, an 8 piece Mariachi band turned up at the house as a surprise. She was next to me on the couch and was almost asleep when the music woke her up.

Mariachi at midnight

We have been joined by grandma, an aunt and a cousin from Mexico City for the past couple of days for Dany's birthday. They were also at the house when the Mariachi came so we had birthday cake at 1am in the morning once the band had finished. In the traditional Mexican way, Dany got a face of cake.

I tried a new fruit this week. It's called 'tuna' and they grow on cactus plants. You can't touch them with bare hands because the outsides have little prickles on them. To eat the fruit, you carefully peel the skin with a knife and eat the flesh inside. There are also little black seeds inside which are edible but can't be chewed. I don't mind eating it but it is a bit sweet for me.

On Saturday we were joined by another exchange student! Marcos from Brazil! I still have one week of holidays left before I start school so I will get to catch up with him and Iina some time soon. At the same time as Marcos' arrival, Larissa, another exchange student from Brazil arrived and she is sponsored by a Rotary club in Tuxpan which is about a 4 hour drive north of Veracruz. We will get to meet each other again when all the exchange students in the district come together.

Iina, Marcos and I at the airport

There was also another exchange students from the previous year who returned from Brazil on the flight. He was sponsored by my host club so I will probably see him at the next Rotary meeting.

This afternoon my family and I went into the city center to watch the Festival de Globos Aerostáticos (hot air balloon festival.) We watched as 4 hot air balloons were inflated as the sun was going down. I haven't seen hot air balloons before and I didn't realise how big they were! It's normal for people to go out at night, rather than during the day because it is cooler.

Australia is currently competing in the Commonwealth Games which are being held in Glasgow, Scotland. I have heard that the Australian team is doing really well but I haven't been able to watch any of it. The equivalent of the Commonwealth Games for Mexico is the Centeral American Games, which will be held in Veracruz and they are 102 days away.