Viva México!

Days in México: 225

This week was the celebration of the Independence of Mexico. Monday night all the exchange students in the city were invited to a 'Grito' by the Boca del Rio council. The Grito is the main event of the celebration.

The exchange students waiting before the grito

For the grito, everyone formed a group and replied 'VIVA!' after every line the president said. It went like this:
President: 'Viva México!'
Everyone else: 'VIVA!'
President: 'Viva Veracruz!'
Everyone else: 'VIVA!'
President: 'Viva Boca del Río!'
Everyone else: 'VIVA!'
It went on for about 2 minutes before it ended in everyone cheering. I participated in the grito from the balcony with the president. After the grito we got photos taken with the president before his interviews.

The exchange students were standing on the right on the balcony, just out of the photo

The view of the crowd from the balcony

Photos with the president of Boca del Río

After more photos, we had a light dinner and talked until the early hours of the morning.

More photos

After the Bienvenido in Caurnavaca, I have been trying to find space on my blazer for all the new pins that I have! It is incredibly full and I am a bit scared to wear it because I know that there is a possibility that some of the pins will fall off. It is also really hot to wear, especially in the Mexico weather. For Mexican Independence Day I bought a little mariachi who is now on the back on my blazer.

The front of my blazer

The back of my blazer

Tuesday was the Independence Day holiday so I slept in after staying out late the night before and then went to the plaza with the other exchangers and said a final goodbye to Kevin, an short-term exchange student from Taiwan. It's fun and relaxing hanging out with the other exchange students. They are definitely some of the best people in the world!

Wednesday night at the Rotary meeting was a 'Muy Mexicana' (very Mexican) themed night. I went with my family and we dressed in the colours of the Mexican flag; green, white and red. There was traditional music and dancing as well as games and some food.

Me, my sister Jazmín and my brother Roberto in the colours of the Mexican flag

Yesterday I went with my family to a thermal sulfuric spring near Xalapa which is a pool that is naturally heated. The water in the main pool was more than 30 degrees Celsius and is located right next to a river. There are a couple of smaller pools as well that aren't as hot but that have water slides. We spent most of the day there relaxing and having fun.

The thermal pool 

After, we went to a great Mexican restaurant which I have been to before with my past host family for Father's Day. The restaurant has the best tortias that I have ever tasted! They are made and cooked just before they are served. I filmed part of the tortia cooking process and it is on my Facebook page at www.facebook.com/aussieinmexico

Hot and fresh tortias

More food

Days in Mexico: 222

Sunday 7th of September in Australia was Father's Day. Father's Day in Mexico was in June, so I have already celebrated it once this year. I spoke to my Dad on Skype in the afternoon and he had a good day. 

Before I left to go on exchange, I wrote cards for all the celebrations during the year. So as someone in my family has a birthday or anniversary they have a special card to open from me. I cried while writing the cards, knowing that I wouldn't be able to be with them on the days of celebration but I am glad I did it. 

Sunday morning I went with my family to the local markets. We ate fresh quesadillas for breakfast. Mine was filled with flor de calabaza (pumpkin flower), queso (cheese) and pierna (pork meat in a sauce that had a bit of chilli.) The tortias were made right in front out us and all of it was cooked on a BBQ. 

The BBQ. The tortias expand when they are ready

My quesadilla

In the afternoon for dinner we made and ate home made pizzas. 
It's a tradition in my house in Australia that every Friday night we eat home made pizzas. My favourite combination is a mayonaise base with a bit of garlic, bacon, onion, cheese and Phillidelphia cheese cubes on the top. I came up with the pizza idea after going to Italy with my family a couple of years ago and trying a lot of different combinations of toppings. 
I made my favourite combination and everyone picked different combinations of toppings to put on their pizzas. 

Making pizzas with the family

My combination

All the pizzas we made

Wax people

Days in Mexico:  212

This past week has been eventful and slightly strange.
After coming home in the early hours of Monday morning, I caught up on some much-needed sleep that I didn't get over the weekend.

Tuesday I arrived at school and it was my form teacher's birthday. No one mentioned anything to him at the beginning of the day but during the first class we decorated the class to surprise him in the second class which he taught.

La Salle 5D

That afternoon there was a message sent from the Governor of the state of Veracruz saying that there would be no school the next day for everyone in the state because there was a tropical cyclone off the coast. Wednesday was a slightly cloudy day but I didn't see any rain or any cyclone. It was Ryan's birthday (the exchange student from the US) so we decided to celebrate by going out for lunch. Nearly everyone went and we had a really great time!

Exchange students of Veracruz

Saturday afternoon Jazmín and Papá had Scouts so Mamá, Roberto and I went to the 'Museo de Cera' which is the museum of wax figures. There were Mexican and World icons like Frida Kahlo and Diego Rivera as well as past presidents, artists and movie characters. I took heaps of photos, but here are some of my favourite.

Frida and Diego

Latin American singers

Paul McCartney and John Lennon

Erin Harrison and George Harrison

Beethoven and Mozart

Gandhi and Roberto

Wax figures of Jesus and Mary

Superman

Gollum from 'Lord of the Rings'

Snow White and the seven dwarfs 

A werewolf

In the same plaza there was a mirror maze and a rotating tunnel that makes you feel really dizzy! So we went and have

In the mirror maze

The tunnel

In the afternoon we went out to have an ice drink called 'raspados.' Firstly ice is shaven off a big block and shaken between two plastic cups to create a mound of ice in the centre of one of the cups. Then you pick what flavour syrup you want to add over the top of the ice. I picked strawberry which had halved strawberries in it. Lechera (condensed milk) is poured over the top and wafer biscuits added as well as a straw.

The cup of ice before it was shaken

The final delicious product

A while ago, Jazmín and Roberto saw the pets in my house on Skype and decided that they wanted one. So on Sunday after lots of pleading, we went to the pet shop and got a baby guinea pig. There were lots of animals at the store including rabbits, birds, dogs, fish, mice and some unusual animals like lizards, snakes and spiders. Originally Jazmín wanted to call the new guinea pig 'trees,' but mamá talked her out of it. So then she said 'Mil' as a name, and I said that it was short for Milly, so now we have a pet guinea pig called Milly. She is so small that she can fit in the palm of my hand!

Snakes at the pet store

Milly the guinea pig

When I met you in the Summer

Days in Mexico: 210

The last weekend was the 'Bienvenido' (welcome) for all the exchange students in the district. As of July, my district in Mexico (4190) and the neighbouring district (4180) have now become district 4185. That means there are over 100 exchange students from about 25 countries in the district!

District 4185 exchange students 2014-2015

On Thursday, exchange students from the north of Veracruz state traveled to Veracruz city so they could catch the bus with the exchangers who lived in the city. We took the opportunity to all go out to the movies together in the afternoon so we could meet each. Not everyone could make it but 18 exchange students went and we had a really great time.

The Bienvenido was held in Cuernavaca which was an 7 hour bus trip away from Veracruz. So Friday morning at 6am, we set off on the long bus trip and stopped off at Cordoba and Orziba to pick up a couple of other exchangers.

Cuernavaca

I am the exchange student who has been in Mexico for the longest amount of time, so I felt comfortable talking to other people and making sure people weren't left out. I used Spanish to talk to Brazilians, Belgiums and French, and English to communicate with everyone else. 

So many people from lots of different countries

The Germans

My new friends from Turkey 

The Australian (me) 

My best friends from exchange: Hungary, Australia, Brazil, Finland and Belgium

In Cuernavaca we stayed at Beraka which is an 'Adventure Park.' For my friends reading from WA, it's kind of like Adventure World but smaller and with less people which means less queues. 

There were lots of rides to go on including a really tall water slide. Some people became airborne while riding on it! 

We did have to listen to talks about what to expect while being on exchange and the rules but most of the time we were free to socialise and do what we wanted to at the park. It would have been helpful to be given the same information when I arrive 7 months ago because it was accurate and I would have learnt a lot from it. 

I don't think it was specifically designed for weekend camps because there weren't any dorms and at night it rained a lot which wasn't great for the guys who had to sleep outside in tents. 

Camp was a really great experience none the less. I saw friendships form between people who don't share a common language and most people left wishing they had more time together. Luckily almost all of them still have 10 or 11 months left in Mexico.

Lots of people I have talked to assume that because I'm Australian, I am use to animals and insects everywhere, which is really not true. In Mexico there have been some really big insects that are a bit scary. In the past week I have seen 4 different moths that are bigger than my hand!

Scary giant moths