The Flood

I am so sorry these last posts are going up today, but please bare with me . I am going to be posting the last 4 posts from Mexico over the next 24 hours. Enjoy.
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I am going to take you back to June 11th… I know that is a long time ago , but hop into my time warp and enjoy the journey of going back in time. I do not know if I mentioned that my host mom, went off with friends with a overnight visit to Taxco , but she left Sol and I home along to fend for ourselves. It was an experience. I will have to look back and see if I wrote something about it… But anyhow Cecelia left on a Thursday and was going to come back on Friday June 11th , the next day. The day was normal , it was the start of the fair so I enjoyed walking around and looking at all there was too see. Little did I know that I was about the walk into a zoo. I went home around 7 after spending a little less then an hour out looking at the fair, and I came home to the smell of Poop filling through the house. It was the most disgusting thing ever. I walked into the living room and Cecelia is running around cursing in Spanish and then yelling at me not the go into my room because there was a flood. And boy was there a flood. My toilet blew up. And the water had gone everywhere. It made a lake in my room, and then started to come out into the living room and then also went back into the other bedroom. I was told not to go anywhere, but to sit on the couch. So luckily I had set my computer out in the living room earlier and then did stuff on my computer. I was only gone for an hour and somehow my house turned into a lake. Cecelia called Sol and had sol bring her friend over to help with the cleaning. Then we called a plumber to come and see what the problem was with my toilet and why it blew up. The plumber came and as far as I can tell looked at the toilet and said it is working fine and then demanded like 100 dollars or 1000 pesos. He did absolutely nothing and wanted all this money. This started a fight between the plumber and Cecelia and Sol. I do not know what came of it because fast rapid yelling Spanish is way above my level of understanding. But anyhow , back to the lake. So this lake was getting mopped up and then disinfected, I was sitting on the coach on my butt because noone would let me help. Cecelia was yelling her head off and was acting like a nut. I learned many new cuss words. Watch out people cuz you might be getting cussed at in Spanish. HAHAHA. Anyhow at about 9:30 , everything was cleaned up, and Cecelia went off to take a shower. I was let back into my room because apparently the water went all the way over by my suitcases and Cecelia wanted to make sure all my stuff was ok. GREAT!!!!! So I pulled my two suitcases out into the living room and proceeded to empty my suitcases to see what was ruined, wet, or was totally fine. This is no small task because I have a lot in these suitcases. My personal belongings were laid out all over the floor and put into piles . I had a nice large pile of wet materials that either had to be thrown out or taken to the laundry lady. A bunch of my books were wet, and it was a lovely experience. The only problem is that Cecelia only thought that I had two suitcases. NOPE. I also have a backpack! My backpack was awful. There were so many papers that had to be tossed out and stuff was soaking wet!!! YAY! Cecelia , at around 11 decided that she was tired so she went to bed, leaving me on the floor so lost in all my stuff and trying to figure out what to do with it all. I was so crazed and thought this was one big broma( joke ) and was kinda freaking out over all my stuff being wet that I called my mom at 11 at night to tell her the latest developments in the Flood saga. We had been communicating my skype all night when the flood saga started. I went to bed with a bunch of the stuff still on the floor in the living room, but knew the next day everything had to be moved into my room beause the crazy cleaning lady would be at our house. And when my stuff isn’t laying all over the floor and is somewhat organized she moves stuff and I cant find it for a week. So I woke up early on Saturday morning and proceeded to throw everything I own onto my bed , so that I could clean and sanitize my suitcases later that day before I put stuff away.

Later on Saturday I went out to the store and bought some Lysol and then spent a good 20 minutes covering my suitcases in Lysol to disinfect what ever got on them. I then put bug spray on them to repel the nasty red ants that are ALL over my house. After doing all that I left my backpack, and two suitcases lay in the heat for a little while before I brought them inside and started putting some of my stuff away. It took a good 2 weeks to get EVERYTHING off of the bed. I have so much stuff and decided that since I would be going home within 3 weeks I should just pack the suitcases as they were going to be come June 27. So the lesson on the day is to not leave your suitcases or backpack on the ground where water and who knows what else could get all over it because of a blown up toilet. As the jews say every Passover, next year in Jerlousalum , about something or another that I can not remember because I have not thought about anything jewish in a good 5 months…. My take on that is , next time in Mexico. We should all remember the great toilet blowup of June 2010 in Cuernavaca , Mexico and remember the golden rule about your belongings.

Peace . Love . Toilet Blowups.

Foam Party

Now for anyone over the age of 25 this is a weird concept and you might not understand. I do not know if they had foam parties during the dinosaur age. Sorry , my mom always says when people ask her about college that she went in the dinosaur age... Blame it on Wendy if you are offended.

Anyhow a foam party is when there is a thing in the ceiling that shoots out soapy foamy stuff and people dance and play in it . Well followers ,  I attempted to go to one last Saturday. I do not have pictures because noone brought a camera. One of the fellow students here, heard of a party at the local gay club here, Oxygen. So everyone put on their cutest outfits for a night out on the town. This was to be our last night out in Cuerna as a group. We left CEMAL at 11 and attempted to get to the club. Apparently many taxi drivers so not know how to get there. We got to the club and they wanted to charge us 100 pesos because we got there after 11:30, but after some arguing because it was the taxi drivers fault we got in for 50 pesos. We hung out for awhile, people danced and we started the countdown until 12:30 when we were told the party would start. Come 12:30 they told us 1. Then at one they told us 2. It was getting crazy and people were getting tired because they went to the pyramids in Mexico and we were to be going to Puebla the next day at 9 in the morning. So people started leaving , and we finally left the club at around 1:45.

It was not the night that we all expected, but it was still one great end to a great journey of nights going out in Cuernavaca. I am going to miss the ability to hop in a taxi and go to an amazing club. But I guess I will just have to find another way to have a great time with friends once I get back to Drake in August.

My last night at Carlos N Charlies

So before I write this post , I just want to say I am still really far behind on my blog posts but am really trying to catch up.. It is just very hard. Now for anyone who knows my friend Dan, or follows his blog while he is in Japan( Dan's Blog) know that he can not keep up with his blog posts either and writes things out of order. So for the second time in a couple weeks I will have to say that I am pulling a Dan and he is a really bad influence on me. I am writing my posts completely out of order , but oh well. Please forgive me and if you want the posts in order please blame Dan for his bad influence on me. BTW I totally recommend Dan's blog. It is pretty neat and he is doing some really cool things while in Japan. Ok, now back to me....That sounds really self absorbed but oh well.

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With  this Thursday being my last official night in Cuernavaca, I kinda need to spend it with my crazy host mother whether I like it or not , so last Thursday was my last night at Carlos N Charlies with Rafa and the Boys. I do not know if I have written about this , but C N C is a Bar/Dance club in Cuernavaca where during the summer all the gringos go because it is cheep drinks on thursdays. I have gone many Thursdays over the past 5 months. And I believe that it is much better during the off season because there are not as many people there. But anyhoo, I went with Nora and the rest of the gang and we had a fantastic time.

Me, Issac, Sara and Liz

We danced and had a blast. Since it was the night that Mexico won 2-0 against France it was a HUGE party. Nora and I stayed after everyone else left and then I had the great privledge of saying goodbye to the boys who have made the last 5 months so much fun to go out and hang out and dance with. These guys are all friends of Noras so they are all safe and alot of fun. It took forever to say good bye to them because they have to say goodbye so many times. Rafa, Nora's boyfriend, was the hardest to say goodbye too because he has been the one who has really made my time here special.He made my birthday celebrations wonderful and has gone above and beyond to make sure I am doing ok and am safe. He is one awesome person. But he was genially sad that I was leaving and kept telling me he would miss me and to come back soon and to know that he thinks of me like his sister so if I am ever back in Cuernavaca I better call him. It was super sweet and I really didnt want to leave , but considering that is was 2am and i had class at 8 I kinda had to leave. I am really going to miss going to Carlos N Charlies and know that I am being taken care of and am being watched over with a very close eye. I guess I better start planning my next trip because Rafa expects me to be back soon.

The fair

Each year in June San Anton , the neighborhood where CEMAL, Universal my spanish school and where I live at the moment have a HUGE fair for a week. there are many booths, concerts, and parades. In the parades they have paper mache costumes that walk down the street. See below.

There was fireworks that went off all the time and it was one huge party. I did not get to go during the prime times because I couldnt get anyone to go with me , but I was able to buy some earrings and walk around a bunch. I saw around 30 of my students that I worked with at Don Bosco. Normally the conversations would go a little something like this... This is the translated version from Spanish.

Student: HOLA MEIRA! How are you?
Me: (In English) I am good how are you today?
Student: Meira, use spanish. We dont understand your english.
Me: ( In English) You understand what I am saying.
Student: We do but dont want to speak English.
Me: OK fine.

Student: What are you doing at the fair?
Me: I am walking around looking at everything, and I live very close to here.
Student: OH..... You look very funny teacher. You look different. Your hair looks very funny and you are not wearing your glasses. Why are you not dressed like you are at school? I do not like what you wear.
Me: OMMMM, Thanks? You look different in your clothes too.
Student: That is because we are not at school. Bye Teacher.
Me:Bye.

That is roughly what a conversation went like, about 20 or so times. Other times they wouldn't say anything to me.All in all it was a fun weekend at the fair and I got to eat yummy ice cream, buy some bread and be a Mexican for a couple days and enjoy a mexican celebration. here is the slideshow of the pictures from the event.

Last week...ready or not here I come

Well I am somehow in my last week of being in Mexico? How did that happen? I have been here for  5 months and a week ! That just amazes me. It feels like I arrived last month. Crazy how time flys when you are having fun. But because it is my last week and this time next week I will be in the STL or otherwise known to the world as St. Louis , Missouri I have started a list of things that are helping my saddness of going home.

Reasons to go home:
1. Get to see Roger.
2. Seeing my family after 3 months or so.
3. Finally get to choose what I eat and how much I eat.
4. Not having the shower or toilet flood and make everything wet.
5. Not having my mother ask me every 4 minutes where i am going and with who and threatening to call me in an hour.
6. Not having my mom tell me she had an aweful day with me.
7. Not being yelled at that what I am doing is not listed on the calendar that is hanging on the fridge. (ie. it was a last minute event and not an event planned by the school)
8. Getting to see some of the people from this summer back home in either Iowa or when I go visit Minnesota.

Please dont think that I hate being here still , because I dont. I am just starting the transition to knowing that I will be home soon  and also losing my normally high level of patience for stupid things that have been going on lately especially with my host mom.

 I know come Sunday I will not want to leave and will cry , but that is part of life. I have plans for coming back very very soon , so that is also helping me at the moment.

Da World Cup/ Mundial

I am in love. I never knew that a sport other then hockey would make me go gaga over the players and the game . All it took was being in Mexico for 5 months and starting to learn about the game . Now I see why everyone else in the world LOVES Futbol. It is one amazing game. Yes it is very low scoring and the guys run up and down the field, but hey it beats stupid baseball . They just run around the bases are are fat. Futbol players have to be fit and every one of them is smoking hot themselves. Yes it is not just me who thinks that .
For evidence please see the pictures below.

Landon Donovan - Us Team

Javier Hernandez- Team Mexico

Ok, now I am off my soap box. But really these guys are HOT!!!

Last Friday , June 11, Mexico played the first game of the Mundial against South Africa. To say I was excited was an understatement. I had been counting down until the game for over a month. I had my jersey and told me teacher that I would be skipping class. I was being a good student , but she was still upset that I would miss a class. Come on... this is the mundial. When in my life will I be in Mexico again during a World Cup year and Mexico will be playing the first game of the tournament? Yeah your right 1 in a million . So I ignored my teacher and headed to the Zocalo with Nora for the game. And boy was it amazing. There were so many people there.

The picture does not do it justice , but just picture like 2,000 people under the black tent screaming and having a great time watching the game on a ginant big screen. The screen is set up for the whole month of the World Cup and they play every single game . If i really wanted to , I could sit downtown everyday from 9 until 3 watching every game. That just sounds like bliss to me.   When South Africa scored ,  you could have heard a pin drop. But when Mexico scored , I imagined all of Mexico screaming and it sounded that way too. Everyone in the country was not at work, and instead either at a pub or in their town Zocalo watching the game. For this game they even had security and a VIP section with cofortable chairs and stuff. It was totally awesome. During the half time, they had contests and had dancers up on the stage dancing to Sharkira's "Waka Waka Song or to the Ky'aan Wave your flag song. Click on the names to hear the songs off youtube. It was a great cultural experience and I am glad I skipped Spanish class to participate in a huge Mexican event. I meet many darling fellow Mexico fans, and had the time of my life. The final score of the game was 1-1. So we , Mexico, got one point in the standings to move onto the next stage.

Mexico plays France tomorrow at 12:10.There is no room in this tournament for baggetts, wine and cheese ... Pan dulce, Tequilla beans and tacos will conquer all. 

Peace , Love , Mexico.
Vamos Mexico. ( Lets go Mexico.)

Thoughts of the moment

I have offically been in Mexico for exactly 5 months. I arrived on January 16. How did that happen? How am I leaving in a little over a week. Not going to think about that yet. First have to pack everything. AHHHH. Not going to be fun.

Mexican trash STINKS. I have found myself next to 3 trash trucks over the past 24 hours, and I can not get away from them. I think the trash smells worse here. BLAH. NASTY. SMELLY.

My students at Don Bosco are strange galletas(cookies) Example 1: I walk up to the classroom yesterday and kids start yelling GUERA GUERA GUERA ( Whitie , Whitie , Whitie) At least it wasnt bad . No matter how many times I tell them my name , which they all know , I am called Gringa or Whitey.  At least they are doing it in a form of endearment.

I am super excited for the next Mexico game in the world cup tomorrow. They are playing France tomorrow ( Thursday) at 12:10. If you are in Mexico it is on TV Azteca. In the states either Univision or ESPN. According to Noah , it is so much better in Spanish because the announcers actually are entertaining.  I would have to agree.

Thats it for now . Check back often for the newest Meira thoughts.

Meira vs. the supermarket

Mexican chocolate.This is good stuff. The other day when talking to my mom she asked me to go out and get her a special type of chocolate that she can use in her cooking. It is some mexican chocolate. After doing some research, I found what it looked like and set out on an adventure to find it at the large supermarket here in Cuerna, the Mega ( The big).  Now as many of my friends and my family know , I am dangerous in a supermarket. I either buy more stuff then I need or I get very lost and cant find anything. It is also a known fact to never go into one when hungry. Well, I broke all three rules today . I got really lost trying to find what I need, I bought more then I needed and most of all I was starving. Naughty Meira. So I am in the store and cant find the chocolate . I knew to look for the cooking section , but apparently they dont have those here in Mexico . So, my lovely followers , I used my skills of being and American girl and went up to some fine looking worker in his red  Mega shirt and said in my sweet little voice in spanish "Compromiso, donde esta la chocolate se llama Ibarra?" This translates to , Excuse me , where is the chocolate called Ibarra? And guess what...I was shown where to find what I was looking for. And the best part was the guy who showed me stood next to me as I decided what I needed and then showed me where to find what I needed next. Aren't people here the sweetest. I then decided that I HAD to get some bakery goods. Dont ask why, I just decided that it was a must. After walking around every backed good , checking out the selection , I got a nice bag full that I am going to share with my family. As my mother liked to half joke half be serious, I need to fit into my airplane seat next week and if I keep eatting all this YUMMY backed goods, then it will be bad. After the backed good I decided I had to leave because I didn't want anything else. BUT wait , at the checkout line there was something I could not resist. STICKERS. not just any stickers. They are stickers of the Mexican soccer team in all of their fineness.  You will find them next year , lining my wall in my apartment along side the blues player stickers I have.

I knew it was destiny. I knew those stickers were placed there so that I would find them. So I bought them. We will just categorize that under the list of impulse purchases.

So now I have my mom's chocolate that feels like a brick that will be hand carried over the border so that it does not melt in the Mexico, Dallas or Saint Louis heat. And I have some awesome stickers to remember my obsession with futbol men. I also have baked good but those will be long gone by this weekend.

Chalma

Chalma was one of the coolest places I have been in Mexico. I got to spend almost the entire weekend speaking Spanish and I got to visit a church, climb a pyramid, and shop for Rubi's mom's store. I went to Chalma on May 22-23. Yes I know that was a long time ago. And yes I did slack off and did not post this until 3 weeks after I went , but hey better late then never. Ok lets set this up and then we will discuss what I did.

Who: Meira and Rubi
What: mini get away with the Rubi.
Where: Chalma , State of Mexico
When: May 22-23 , 2010
Why: To spend a weekend in Rubi's town.

Ok, so now that we set it up that go back in time. First up , Who is Rubi? Rubi was my supervisor at Don Bosco, where I did my internship teaching. We became friends throughout the semester, and she kept asking me to come to her town for a weekend and I finally went the weekend after my semester program ended and the weekend that all the new student came( I wrote about them a couple posts up ! )

Rubi told me that we would be leaving around 2 in the afternoon on Saturday May 22nd , so I thought I would have time to sleep in a little ( 8am) and then run to the bank and do some errands. Rubi called me around 8:30 and told me that we would be leaving at 10 because she did not have her class. I RAN around Cuerna , did what I had to do and then headed to our pre-determined meeting spot. Rubi picked me up and then we headed out onto the road to Chalma. We discussed many things , but what was most interesting was the history of Chalma and why it is so busy each weekend.

Now for a background information break before we get back to the plot of my weekend. Chalma is in the state of Mexico. It is a small town that gets about 4,000 or so visitors each weekend . The visitors are on a pilgrimage to Chalma and walk/ ride horses/ drive for many days to get to Chalma. They go to visit the church. It is believed that the Spainards brought the virgin of Guadalupe here or she appears or something. Sorry I kinda forgot some of the background. But anyhoo, people come from all over Mexico to visit the church and then they do dances outside and it is a huge large party. The dancers are awesome too.

Now back to your regulary schedualed programming...

So we are on the road, going over the mountains and through the woods to Chalma. I am not joking.Rubi gets hungry , we stop and get some Quesadillas on the side of the road. If my mother was with me she would have flipped out , but hey she wasnt and I wasnt sick so all is good. While we were eating our yummy queso filled quesadillas the people who live in the house took one of their chickens and killed it in front of us. Don't know how because I started being grossed out and looked away and was girlishy screaming.After lunch we got back on the road and did not stop until we got to Chalma.Anyone who is going to Chalma for the first time, has to get a reth of flowers and then bring it to the Church, so I got a reath of flowers. See below.

After getting my flower hat , we contined to the bottom of the moutain of Chalma close to the church to rubi's house. After saying hello to her mother and being introduced to many family members , Rubi took a shower , and I watched some TV. Then we ventured to the Church. It was beautiful. We took some pictures, looked at the moat where people come to swim and then walked into the church to look around. The main sanctury is beautiful and very large.

Rubi said that there are so many people who want to come to the masses that they have 7 masses on Saturday and then 7 on Sundays. They are every hour. After looking at the church and the sacred Virgin of Guadalupe,  I went and got blessed by one of the fathers because my flowers had to be blessed or something. Afterwards we went outside to watch the dancers. They were amazing and had fantastic costumes. See below.

Because I am a gringa and am very white , one of the dancers agreed to take some pictures with us. He was very sweet and very mango ( Handsome) Mango is slang for handsome. I even got to try on his hat. That thing is like at least 5 pounds. I have no idea how they dance with it on.Anyhoo, we watched for awhile , I put my flower thing on the pole where it was suppose to go, and then we walked home to Rubi's house. We hung out for awhile in her mom's pharmacy, and then ate a WHOLE plate of fruit. After eating our fruit, Rubi and I went on an adventure to buy things for the store. We went over a mountain to get to  Malinalco to pick up the goods at a large pharmacy. 

We then went into town and got a huge bag of bread because they are known for that. Afterward we went to a pizza restaurant that Rubi said look good and ate a light dinner. After dinner we drove back to her house in the rain. We hung out at her mom's for a little while and I met Rubi's brother who is in the seminary in Toluca. We then walked down to the Church again and watched the dancers in the dark. That was very cool and unfortunately I did not bring my camera . We came home , and sat around and talked for many hours. I started to get very tired so I went upstairs to my room for the night and went to bed around 11. Rubi tired me out and I feel right asleep.

The next day, I got up, went downstairs and helped in the store until Rubi got up. We hung out for awhile in the store and then had fruit and bread for breakfast. It was lovely. Rubi then decided that we were going to go and climb a pyramid. I had to leave around 3 for Cuerna because I had to be back for the first meeting with the new students.Rubi's mom gave both of us a present before we left. Don't you think these are great? handsfree and great for rain, sun , or snow. I will be wearin this in Des Moines!

We left Rubi's house at 1 to go to the pyrmaids. It was Rubi, her cousin , and I. The taxi took us to the base of the mountain and then we proceeded to go into the museum, where we looked around , got a tour, and learned about what we were going to see up at the real ruins. We then started the 30 minute climb up to the ruins . Rubi wasnt going to go up because she was wearing very tall heals but she climbed it anyway.

Many steps later and weaving around paths on a side of the mountain , we got to the top. It was beautiful. The pyramids are one of 3 in the world that were build out of the side of the mountain. We walked around for awhile and then started the climb down. We got to the bottom , went into town , ate some yummy ice cream, and then climbed into a taxi with 4 other people. Rubi did not have enough money to take us all the way home so the taxi driver only took us half way and then we had to walk the other half. It was hot and sticky and I was mad because we were already late and I needed to get back already. We finally got back to Rubi's house . I shoved food down my throat and then Junior, Rubi's cousin and I got into a taxi to take us to the bus that would take us to another bus that would take us to Cuerna. If that confused you, it takes two busses to get from Chalma to Cuerna. Rubi's cousin , Junior , lives in Cuerna because he is still in High School and goes to a really good school here. He looks like he is much older then me and he is totally understanding of my slow and sometimes bad spanish. He is also really sweet. So we got to the bus, Junior helped me on and helped me get situated on the bus and then  we rode it off into the sunset and out of Chalma. We hit a little traffic but other then that it was good. Junior told me when we had to get off and we hopped off the bus and ran to the ticket booth to get a ticket for our next bus. We just made it but they oversold the seats  so we ended up standing for the entire ride on the steps. I held on for dear life because I kept almost falling over. Junior was always there to catch me but it was hilarious to watch the bus take a turn and I go in the opposite direction. The bus took about 2 hours and then dropped us off at the bus depot. I walked home and was only an 1.5 hours late for my meeting.
This my friends was one of the best weekends I have had in Mexico.

Segunda Oportunidad

What is there to say about this program. It is amazing. I am in love with it . It was every Sunday from 7 until 10:30. Yes I know that seems like a long amount of time but every moment was amazing. I spent my week while watching other stupid TV shows anticipating Sunday nights so that I could watch Segunda Oportunidad. You can say it was an obsession, but I call it love. The kind of love I have for the blues, is the type of love I have for Segunda Oportunidad. The best part is that it was in Spanish so I got a 3 hour TV show each week to practice my Spanish and listen to great music.
This show is like American Idol , but instead of competing individually they compete in teams. Normally teams are a group of 4 people. There is a judging panel of 4 people but they do not get a vote in who goes home each week. The public watching the show can vote by texting during the show their favorite team. The voting panel watches two teams compete against one another and then gives they advice on how to improve. They then vote and decide which of the teams wins between those two teams. The team that wins then gets to decide if they want to keep the team intact or if they want to switch one of their team members for someone on the other team. This played a big part in who won Segunda Oportunidad this season because the yellow and blue team, the two best in the competition were put up against one another. They both sang their hearts out and then the yellow team won and decided to trade one of their team members, Maites , for a guy on the blue team, Manny. This happened in the semi finals and then on the finals last week , when Team yellow won , they said that because Maites was on their team for many weeks and he helped them get to the finals even though he was not on their team during the final week he should join their team and be part of the winning team. It was a great way to show how great of a singer Maites is and was a great gesture.

So you ask , how it is decided who goes home each week. Well I shall tell you. First the audience votes for who they want to go onto the next week. Then, at the end of the show , Rafa, the announcer dude, says which team wins for the night , and then the captain of that team has to choose out of the team who has the least amount of votes who should go home that night. Only one person goes home , but it is the fellow contestants who chooses who goes home.

Now you ask about how they fill 3 hours up with singing from the contestants and they don’t. Think American Idol over two nights thrown into one night . First when the program first starts all the contestants what are still competing sing a song together. They go all out and each week is a new theme. Two weeks ago it was in celebration of Mexico being in the mundial. It was amazing. Sometimes the contestants sing a song together to honor Mothers for mothers day , or a famous singer sings a song. Other times they have surprise guests to surprise the contestants. For instance there was the time that one of the girls fathers showed up after not seeing his daughter for 20 years. He is her birth father but her mother’s new husband is her true father because that is who brought her up. The funny twist to this story was that they did this whole talking about her father and then him coming on stage right before she had to sing a song with her team. A couple weeks ago one of the contestants sang a song with his famous girl friend. It was amazing and now I am in love with both of them and their music. A lot of the contestants are dating one another too. It is just part of the whole culture of Mexico is that especially in a program, contestants end up dating one another. This program Segunda Oportunidad, means second opportunity. These contestants are from all the different seasons of La Academia, The Academics, who did not win. Some of the contestants are also from The United States La Academia, and from the South American version.

If you did not figure out from reading my long post , I absolutely love segunda oprotunidad and can not wait to watch it when I am home on TV Azteca America.

No time. Just play

Well, I know I said that I would be getting caught up last week and then I posted about the mundial and said that I would post about that this weekend... Well as you can tell neither of those happened other things came up. It is 12:22 on Monday morning and I got home from my excursion to DF at 11:45. I will post about that in the next couple days  I hope. I will try to get better. There is alot I want to share , I just have to find the time to write it all down. Maybe a little less sleep and more time doing other things like writing blogs. 

But anyhow I had a great weekend and am now exhausted.

Keep a lookout over the next couple days for some updates on my time in Chalma, The world Cup, The flood, Mexico City and the fair. I will also be posting photos soonish.

Stay cool.
Vamos Mexico!

Cupa Mundial

Well we are down to only 11 hours until Mexico opens the world cup and wins the first game . But I thought I would post quickly before I head to bed . Not that I dont have a bunch of posts to still write , this is happening in the moment so I thought this was more important . I will update soon of the event that will unfold tomorrow , but here is the set up .


Who: Meira and Nora, my intern from last semester turned friend.
What: Viewing of the first world cup game. Mexico vs. South Africa
When: June 11, 2010  9am
Where: Cuernavaca Zocalo.( AKA town center)

They are setting up a GIANT screen and are going to broadcast the game . It is going to be one rocking experience with at least 1,000 of my closest friends.
Even the Secretary of Education or what ever it is called here in Mexico. The one who works in Mexico City and is part of the president cabinet , said that school across the nation should allow their students and be excused from classes to be able to watch the game. That is coming from the top of the government. I think it is crazy awesome. And it also shows how big and popular  soccer/futbol is here in Mexico if kids are begin excused from classes to watch the game at school.
It is a once in a lifetime opportunity  to be able to watch the first game of the world cup with your country playing in the game . Yes I consider Mexico my country. I live here so it is my country. For me it is even more amazing that I am in mexico and they are playing in the first game of the world cup and it is even ore special that I am actually in Mexico during a world cup year.

That is all for now . I just wanted to set up the scene for everyone for tomorrow. For people who dont do sports , AKA my mother, and dont know any better , people who love sports , AKA people like me,  this is a big deal and this next month is bigger then the super bowl. Well here in MExico tomorrow's game is bigger then the superbowl. It is going to be off the charts amazing.Dont worry I will be documenting the event with my trusty camera.

Buenos Suerte Mexico.
Team Read White and Green.

New Students

This will be my last post of the day, but I thought I would finish with a post about the new students.There are 11 new students for the summer Spanish session. There are 5 guys and 6 girls . They are all pretty cool.  3 of the people are completely fluent in Spanish and 3 more are in another really high class. The rest are very basic Spanish speakers. I really enjoy hanging out with them all and they all seem like really cool people.

Weekends

So I am going to group the last couple weekends together. My visit to Chalma with Rubi will have its own special post because if I didnt this post would get way to long and people would conplain I write to much. HAHA. This is going to be long considering that I have 2 weekends to write about.

Weekend of May 28-May 30
My weekend started off great. In Mexico, I consider my weekend starting off on Thurday night because even though I have Spanish on Fridays, I like thinking I have a 3 day weekend.  Anyhoo, Thursday was the first Thursday night of the semester with the new students , so I took them to Carlos N Charlies. This is the bar/club where you go if you are going out on a Thursday night . I also know about 5 of the waiters there so it makes it all the more fun.  We danced to all the awesome Mexican pop music and had a great time. I really enjoyed hanging out with the new students and getting to know them better. It was one amazing night. The following day, Friday , was hard to get up to go to class, but I managed and got through the day.
Friday night: I went out with Rubi, my Mexican friend. I had gotten invited by one of the waiters that I know from C N C  to go to a party at Carlos N Charlies. Rubi and I got there . Rafa got us in for free because I was not about to pay to get into the party if I have connections.  We got into the bar, and sat there and drank over priced drinks and waited for something to happen. Nothing ever did happen and Rubi decided that we should go someplace else. That did not work out and she decided that we should just go home to bed. It was a weird night of spending alot of money.
Saturday: Had a very relaxing day of hanging out at either CEMAL or I went to the town center and hung our for awhile because I couldn't be at home because the lady that comes and cleans absolutely drives me nuts. She moves all my stuff into weird places and organizes all my stuff in a way that I can not find stuff for many days. So to save me from yelling at her, I leave and do other stuff.
Saturday Night: One AWFUL night. I made the mistake of going along with what one of the host family's wanted to do instead of putting my foot down knowing the place we were going wasn't someplace i wanted to be. It is not unsafe , but CEMAL has not wanted us there because of one of the students getting assaulted there last semester, and they are known for putting stuff in your drinks that make you more thirsty. Because of those 2 things I hate the BULL and didn't want to go. I should have demanded that they let me out of the car , or I should have taken a taxi home from the club once we got there , but I didn't. Instead I was miserable and did not have good night. The stupid host sister kept telling me to smile and just forget about everything I had heard beforehand and it was a safe place. I should have left and gone to Carlos N Charlies and made one of the boys take me home , but I didnt. Finally when everyone had finished getting highly drunk and I was just very mad, they decided that they wanted to go salsa dancing. We get to the club ,everyone dances for a little while but it is boring , and then I take 2 of the boys home because they live close to me and were just sick of being out and were very tired. My Saturday night was basically babysitting and making sure people were ok.Oh well, when Nora gets back the weekend will be better. Only 2 more weeks.
Sunday: This day was spent doing homework, and relaxing around the house. I watched Segunda Oprotunidad( a post on this will come soon) and just enjoyed my day. Segunda Oprotunidad(Second Opprotunity) is like a Mexican version of American Idol but with teams. It is totally awesome.


Weekend June 4- June 6
Thursday: Went to Carlos N Charlies. Had a horrible night. Came home worried about my friend. Went to bed. Good description of my night, but don't want to go into much detail.
Friday: The group left for Acapulco, and I stayed in Cuerna because I had visited the beach in February with the other group. I spent the rest of the night watching my soap  and working on homework. Yes, I watch a soap, and it is in Spanish. I think it has really helped me to learn new vocabulary and understand Spanish.
Saturday: I woke  up to my mama telling me we were going to breakfast with Margo. This was at 8. I asked her when we were leaving and she said when ever I was ready, so I went back to bed. I think around 9 she came in and said they were leaving without me and then something else that seriously i Have no idea what else she said. You have to know that you do not talk to me unless I am fully awake. I did not wake up until 10, but then proceeded to get my laundry and then leave for the day. I went into town and went to a cafe . I ate a yummy pancake and then had fresh squeezed orange juice, and a frappe. It was fantastic.I then continued my walk into town and stopped along the way to get odds and ends of presents so that I could cross that off of my things to do. I then walked to the black market to see if I could find a t-shirt that said World Cup 2010 but they didn't have any , so oh well. Then I went to another cafe, and had my Oreo milk shake with bananas that I had been wanting all week. I spent a good 2 hours there reading my book and just relaxing. Then I went home and relaxed until the music concert I was going to down the street. It was a mariachi concert, and they were really good. It started pouring in the middle of the concert. I mean raining cats and dogs. It was crazy. At one point a lady comes in with only one shoe. She said that her other shoe came flying off her foot and then went flying down the street in the river of rain water. She tried chasing after it but she couldnt catch the shoe. It was really funny. I really enjoyed the concert.
Sunday: Today was a day of rest and relaxing. I spent the day cleaning my room and watching TV. Then at night it was the final of Segunda Oprotunidad so me and mama watched it. My team didnt win , but it was still a great show and I enjoyed hearing everyone sing. I do not know what I am going to do without it and what I am going to watch, but I will figure it out.It was a very relaxing weekend a a good start to the week.

So that has been my last two weekends!

Meira the Spanish Speaking queen

Well I have officially became one of my friends who can not seem to write blogs fast enough.  He is always doing something or has gotten invited to some event and does not have time to write all the blogs he wants to write to document his time abroad. My goal is to get caught up. This blog is for people to know what I have been doing in Mexico during my study abroad , but the main purpose is so that I have  record of what I did and the feelings I had throughout my time here. So for the next couple days or so expect a increase of posts because I want to write it all down before it all leaves my brain or I forget something.

Also please also forgive me if without noticing I accidently throw in a Spanish word or misspell a english word. My brain has been fighting me lately with English , and I can think of more Spanish words then English words.Which is a good thing.
Ok, I better get to the typing if I want to keep everyone updated on my life and document the fun I am having here in Cuerna.

Quotes from the semester

I have written down quotes that people have said to me over the semester , and just never posted them. I actually think they are pretty funny. Some will be in Spainish and English .

Mamá Ceci's friend tells me this all the time.
"Meira, tú esta muy blanca."
Meira, you are very white.

My students walking down the street, or at school.
"Hola profesora. "OR "Hola Profe"
Hello professor. Hello Prof.

When I was working on my homework earlier this semester.
Meira, tú trabajas mucho en tú tarea, pero tú nesicitas hacer divertido."
Meira , you work alot on your homework, but you need to have fun.

Mamá Ceci talking to me about my project. This was in Spanish to start with.
"Meira, are you doing with your project yet? I  left you home for 3 hours to finish it, so you need to be done."

June, where did you come from

Hmmmmm. Where to start? I have so much I want to say , but I guess that is the beauty of having a blog and being able to write many posts about different things. I still have to write about my weekend with Rubi in Chalma, and the new summer students. I do promise that those are coming soonish. I will have them up by the end of my time here in Mexico. Speaking of my time here in Mexico, somehow the world turned and the calendar changed to June today. How is that possible? How do I only have 26 days lefts here in Mexico. I know many people will say , "Meira , that is alot of time." But really is it? I know it is 26 days or 624 hours or 3 weeks, but I still can not figure out how the past almost 5 months have gone by so fast.
This past weekend , I started the long task of choosing the photos I want to print out and make into my mexico album. It is going to take me until I return home to finish because at the moment I have over 1,000 pictures and am creating a photo book of my time here. When you see me in August , ask to check it out , because it probably wont be done until the end of June and then needs to be printed. I leave in July for a mini solo vacation to Des Moines for a class, so August will have to be the time to look at the best of the photos.

I hope everyone is having a great start to June and the beginning of the summer!

My weekend with Rubi- Pictures

Hey . So I want to be able to write the blog post well about my weekend with Rubi , but I thought you all would like to see some pictures too, so I am posting the pictures from my weekend with my friend Rubi on this post and then will write about my weekend at a later date.

Plural Noun: Forgetful Meira

I am very sorry, but you are reading the words of a blogger who forgets to upload pictures. I was going through the photos on my camera when I had it connected to my computer to upload some other photos and low and behold , I find pictures from March that never got upload. Dios Mio ( OMG) I have now upload the pictures that I set out to upload and the ones from March. So since I know everyone loves looking at pictures, I am posting them here . Enjoy!

Pictures of Cuerna , and Casa Verde. Casa Cemal will be added at a later date. ( AKA still need to take those fotos.



These pictures date back to Katy's birthday and Spring Break. 

Spring Semester 2010 Fin

As I type this , I have officially finished my study abroad program. Everyone went home today , and now I start my next adventure. Even though I am still abroad , my program ended and now I am just living here in Mexico for 6 weeks improving my Spanish. I started my day by getting up early , walking over to Cemal and telling everyone goodbye. I am proud of myself for not crying. I did get tears in my eyes but held them back.As soon as the van passed by with everyone on it heading to the airport , I couldn't hold it any longer , wiped out my phone , called mom and stood in the street for a good 5 minutes balling. I then proceeded to walk home crying talking to mom. My eye make up all over my face. But I think , some of the tears were for the people leaving ,but most of them were the realization that my study abroad experience is over. I have planned on studying abroad for so long , and then for it to be over is super crazy and feels very unreal. Ever since I was 12 or 13 I knew my junior year of college would be spent in some country. And now my junior year is DONE, or in the books.  I am now officially a senior in college. How did that happen?
I do not know if I am going to be ready to leave this beautiful place in 6 weeks. I sure hope that I still love Mexico as much as I love it right now. But just as I said at the beginning of the semester , in the words of Kris Allen's song,

Yeah, we gotta start
Looking at the hands of the time we've been given
If this is all we got and we gotta start thinking
If every second counts on a clock that's ticking
Gotta live like we're dying

Pictures

Hey. Here are the pictures from the past week. The first one is of Katy at Chilli's and her chicken finger that looked like a manatee. The next couple are of my birthday celebration  on my actual birthday. First is the cake at CEMAL and then the cake at home with Mama , Sol y Diego.Then are the pictures from American Drinking Night where we played Water Pong instead of Beer Pong. It was alot of fun.  Then are the pictures from Carlos And Charlies from the last night that everyone from the program was here . It was suppose to be my birthday celebration but wasn't , but I will post on that later. Finally are the pictures from the end of Semester celebration we had at Ann's on Friday. We swam and had a good time. Enjoy.

Mi cumple

I must tell you, I have the greatest people surrounding me here in Mexico.My 22nd birthday was one of the best birthdays ever. I have always loved having my birthday in May because I always get nice weather , and yesterday went right along with that plan. Yes it was super hot and sticky , but it was sunny and in the shade it was just right.
I am having the standard birthday dinner this Thursday with everyone from CEMAL , but I still wanted to ring in my birthday. After going back and forth on saturday night with people on if we should go out or not , we all got ready quickly and then headed out onto the town .Along with 7 of the girls here at CEMAL, Andy ( the one guy in the program), My program intern Nora and her best friend in mexico Chucho , we went out to a dance club called Dubai, one of the best clubs in Cuernavaca. We got the the club at exactly midnight so I was truely celebrating my birthday with a bang.
I didnt take any pictures on Saturday night/ Sunday morning so you are going to have to use your imagination , but picture a large room with a stage at the front with the DJ booth, and then in a U shape are the tables , but the tables are on different levels .There are stairs going up to the different levels . It was like stadium seating but with enough room to have a table/ loveseats and soft chair and space in front for people to dance. The stairs we really hard to climb and even harder when you are a little intoxicated. There were sparking lights all over the room. I think the night started off right because we walked into the club to the Black Eyed Peas Song , I Gotta Feeling . If you are not up on your pop music and dont know this song the lyrics that most pertain to my birthday are... These are out of order of the song , but this sums up my birthday.
I gotta feeling that tonight's gonna be a good night
that tonight's gonna be a good night
that tonight's gonna be a good good night.
Let's paint the town
We'll shut it down
Let's burn the roof
and then we'll do it again
I know that we'll have a ball
You know what we say
Party every day
Pa pa pa Party every day
We danced all night long and did not leave the club to 4:30 in the morning. It was amazing. I got to sleep in on my brithday . When I went to bed on Sunday morning I was 21 and when I woke up at 11 on Sunday I was 22. It was the weirdest feeling.
After fully waking up and calling my mom to wish her a happy mothers day and to be told happy birthday, I set out to continue having the best birthday. of the girls and I went out and had birthday quesadillas at one of the cook´s quesadillas stands. It was delicious. The cheese and pinnaple quesadilla was fantastic and I had a great little informal birthday party. After eatting I went home to my mama and Sol and was sung happy birthday. My mama and I went out to lunch and then went out seraching for a cake. She didnt feel like baking because it was so hot outside. We found a bakery, got a cake and I got one to bring over to CEMAL. After out lunch, I went over to CEMAL , hung out for awhile digested from my food fest and then celebrated my birthday with cheesecake with the girls and Nora. After eatting cheesecake , I returned home for the night and watched TV with my mama. We watched the Mexican version of American Idol, called Segunda Oprotunidad , Second Opprotunity. I absolutly love it . After watching part of the show , Diego and Sol came home and we ate more cake .This time it was nut cake, and was delicious. They sang me Las Mañanitas, the mexican birthday song. We talked for awhile , and Diego told me that my spanish is improving alot , since he only sees me on weekends. After our little celebration ended , I was then able to open the 22 e-greeting cards that I was sent from my wonderful family, including my furry best friend Roger. I finally went to bed after a wonderful 24 hours of celebration. I am going to need a good 4 days to rest up for round 2 of birthday celebration. I seriously had one of the best birthdays ever, and it is in a large part to everyone that came out to celebrate with me on Saturday/ Sunday.

My blog counter

Hello, all semester I have wanted to have a blog counter , but never got around to adding one , and I cant make it go not into a post so it is in a post. Lovely , I know, but my only option.

Provided by hit counter website.

Mi Casa es tu casa

Well ladies and gentlemen, I have delived on another of my promises. Actually I do not know if there are any gentlemen reading my blog, if there are that is fantastic. I know many ladies who read my blog so my saluatation to them is correct. Anyhow back to my reason for writing this blog . I am posting pictures of my house!!! I know get excited. There are no pictures of me in this post , but I promise by Monday afternoon there might be some up. Lets just see how tired I am after partying all weekend for my birthday.
AKA Meira partying is going to get quesdillas from Marisol's stand, and going to the place where Tarzan was shot. It is now a watering hole where people can go and swim. There might even be some pictures of me ringing in my day of birth/ cumpleanos at midnight . We will just have to wait and see. I am celebrating my birthday in style this year , and doing it the Mexican way . Not knowing when or where I will be at a given moment. Just the way my mother likes it.  It drives her nuts, me living the life of not knowing my next move. Oh well, I will go back to being Meira the crazy planner on June 27, until then I am enjoying the life of being spontanious. I am sure many of my friends would love this , considering I plan weeks in advance what I am doing when at school.  But yes , I know what you were thinking , I am the most exciting partier and I know how to have a grand old time and party it up. To end my partying weekend I get to eat cake! Or maybe I will just eat tons of cake all weekend long. You never know. I am the type of person who doesnt plan these things. I let the stars guide me.
But anyhow , sorry I keep getting off topic , here are some pictures of my house. The pictures of the bedroom is my bedroom. I know beautiful right? The rest are just pictures of mi casa. It is small and quant. Just the way I like it . Enjoy.

The PAN, PRI, and PRD

On Tuesday evening , we were able to have a chat with the three main political parties here in Mexico. Now dont worry, I am not going to go into much detail , because really I do not know much about politics here in Mexico or in the states. You are reading the words of the girl that up until she was able to vote , the only way i could figure out democrats and republicans was by knowing that President Clinton was democrat and George W. Bush was a Republican. True story. I couldnt figure out why everyone just couldnt get along. I understand it a little more now , and I understand that all issues are complicated and have two sides to the issue. That is just how life rolls and how it is suppose to be . If all parties were of the Dog party and believed that the only type of dog was a goldren retriever then it would be a boring world and I know many people including myself that like to take a stand on one side of the issue and only argue that side. Well actually , I like to hear both sides.

So anyhoo, this speaking thing I went to wasnt your normal gathering of the 3 major parties in a country , it was not the normal aged people you get when you talk to a political party. CEMAL only invited people that were under the age of 25 so that as students we were talking to the movers and shakers of each party that were around our age. I thought that was pretty cool. We had people from the PRD(the right) , the PRI (middle), and the PAN(the left). I am not putting politics or my views into this post for a change , but the PRD guy was totally annoying. He wouldnt answer anyones questions , and was just full of himself. The PRD is also the party that is in power in Mexico. This  is the party the currect President  sides with. But this PRD guy fit right into my view of this party. I feel the president is stuck up too, and is not getting anything done in this country. But anyhow , the PRI and the PAN people that spoke were very knowledgeable and I really enjoyed what they had to say. They talked about the new law allowing LGBT people to get married in Mexico city , and also talked about general politics. I found that the Right part, PRD, has the same views as the Republicans in the US of A and the Left , PAN, was very much liberal and had democratic views.

The one thing everyone agreed on was the new passage of the Arizona law with illegal immigration. Everyone thought that it was a stupid law and needs to be changed or challanged. This would have never happened in the US in my opinion. All three parties did not have an answer as to what the US and Mexico should do to make jobs in Mexico, but also if that is not possible allow people to cross into the United States to work. This is one of the only issues I have heard all parties agree on. Even though these people are from different parties and have different views , they can put those aside and see that there is no direct solution to the problem that Mexico is now facing with the passage of the Arizona Law.
I do find it interesting , that the president of Mexico issued a statement asking people not to visit Arizona and also to stop any trade with any business that is in Arizona.I also learned yesterday that Aeromexico, a large airplane company has suspended any flights to Arizona indefinately. Mexico as a whole is taking a stand, lets hope the United States is right behind them.

The packing monster

If you have ever been lucky enough to see how I pack then these pictures will not scare you as much as if you have never seen my dorm room, or apartment , or my bed when I am packing for a trip. Don't worry you are not missing much if you have never been in my presence during one of my packing sessions.

I unfortunately did not take a picture of my packing in its prime , but imagine the floor more covered then it is in this picture. I also pack in a circle , with me in the middle and everything else around me.

This picture is from when I was moving out of my school housing and into my homestay.The reason I am posting this picture now and not when I planned on it , which was 4 weeks ago, is I just found these pictures on my camera. So enjoy. Later this week I will post pictures or a link to pictures of my house. Get excited !!!

In case anyone has forgotten what I look like , here is a picture of a dance explo that I went to last week in the centro. We went to watch one of the girls host sisters dance.

Actually that does not show you what I look like so how about one of these from a month or so ago.It was from Katy's birthday night!

Or actually , this one might do too. It is from when I went to Atenco  3 weeks ago. Remember the place that wanted to build the airport. Well here is a picture of us in the fields in the middle of the cactus with the machetes. I just found this picture on my computer too .

Well apparently this turned into a picture fest and one that has nothing to do with the other , but enjoy some of the pictures that are of me or of my mess of a packing situation.

Time Warp

I do not know about everyone else, but as I type this blog entry, I am trying to understand how it is already May. I can still vividly remember where I was and what I was doing for new years eve 5 months ago. I was downtown St. Louis at the first night celebration with my mom in the freezing cold watching awesome drummers and the freezing Javier Mendodza sing and finally singing and dancing to fireworks. How did 5 months fly by so quickly? How is it that there is only 2 weeks left in my study abroad program? If I had not been lucky enough to be able to extend my time here in Mexico by a month, I would be leaving in what in the short amount of time of 16 days.How is that possible? This has been a challenging semester, but at the same time of the most amazing semsters yet and one that I will remember and be able to tell everyone about for many years.

I have always said that when in Mexico time is going at a speed that is much faster then in the United States. Don’t get me wrong, time flies when I am at home or at Drake, but I just think time just feels like it goes faster here in Mexico. I am told almost on a weekly basics that time is different here in Mexico then in the United States, and well my professors are correct. Even though they are not referring to how in my opinion time goes much faster, but are saying that time is valued differently here in Mexico, I like to use that quote to help my way of thinking about time here in Mexico.

I have always thought that my month in Mexico during the summer was a short amount of time and went by very quickly, but I didn’t think 4 months would feel the same way. Looking back at before I came I thought that this semester would be long, and I didn’t know how I was going to get through 4 months in Mexico, but here I am 3 and a half months later and I feel like I have only been here a month. How does that happen? The next 2 months are going to fly by, but I am ready to take them on head on. I am armed and ready for battle with my sunscreen, camera, and Spanish dictionary. I am ready to cram as much as possible into the next two months so that not one rock isn’t turned over, and I have experienced and seen everything that I wanted to within a 2 hour radius of Cuernavaca. Buckle up this is going to be a bumpy ride with many stops along the way.

Feeling privledged

As I was writing my post for today I came across a blog post I wrote before spring break that I never actually uploaded to my blog . It apparently was hiding in the folder of blogs I have written this semester. So I am posting it now along with the next post that I actually wrote for today. I think it is very important to document how I was feeling in the moment. So enjoy a double post day!

Written: March 26, 2010

I want everyone to take a moment and consider my next sentences. What does privilege mean to you? What is privilege? I might not be able to answer either of these questions with the right answers, but I do know that I do not like the feel at all. I cant be too judgmental because I am sitting in the airport typing this out on my laptop computer, but non the less I am still having a strange feeling in the pit of my stomach, and am still feeling majorly out of place. Consider that I was in Cuernavaca getting ready to go to see my family in Puerto Vallarta at 1pm. Then I got on a bus at 2pm and traveled to Mexico City, which is huge and in my mind is what I think of when I say the word Mexico. I am use to seeing the scenes that I saw on my way into the city and then as we proceeded to the airport. I have lived in Mexico for almost 3 months now. The landscape of Mexico City and Cuernavaca are both beautiful. It make me love living here in Mexico because it is colorful and is just Mexico.

Now, I have been preparing myself to go into shock when I go to the resort later today, but I did not think that I would go into a weird state of shock at the airport. I have been in an airport more times then I can count, and I thought I would be fine. Think again. I walked into the airport, it is clean, and very American looking. Normally I would think it was very pretty and one of my favorite airports/terminals at first look, bit this time it made me feel very uncomfortable. But I went forward, and I spoke Spanish to the people outside and at check in . Then I went through security and got to the other side, and I just stood in one place for a good 5 minutes because I felt like I was in JFK, Dallas, Houston, Newark or any other large airport. I did not feel like I was in Mexico. There is more English around me then I have heard in 3 months. I got my Starbucks coffee then sat down with this weird feeling in my stomach. The only think I could think about was being in Cuernavaca and how amazing it is and how much I miss it .Yes, I am glad to be going someplace on spring break, and yes I needed a break. And most of all I need to clear my head of some things that have been bothering me. But most of all I did not feel like I belonged in the airport. I felt like an outsider. I could not place the feeling I was having. Then it dawn on me like I was hit with a ton of bricks that I felt privileged because here I am in the airport , flying on a plane , and going to a resort to visit my family. Most Mexicans can not afford to get on an airplane and travel someplace for Spring break. The ones that can are the higher class and the privileged. I never have felt this type of privilege before. Sure I travel to see my grandma twice a year, and I am lucky enough to be able to have been to some amazing places. Thanks Mom and Dad. But sitting on the carpet (which I have not seen in 3 months) and watching people go by, I feel completely out of place. I have not seen so many Americans, or English speakers in a long long time. There are so many people switching planes here to go on their High school or College spring break at one of the resorts on the beach in Mexico. To tell everyone the truth, I hate it and that might be a part of my uncomfortableness . All these people going on their spring breaks are just rubbing me the wrong way. I am proud to say I am an American/ United Statesian, but the American culture as a whole is pushy and just plain annoying when they are in large groups. For someone who is not use to Americans all around them (besides the people in my program), I can truly say I partly understand why other countries hate us. We are loud, obnoxious, and pushy. But here I am in the airport, trying to wrap my head around the fact that I am in the middle of being in a state of large shock all because of an airport, and am trying to deal with the feelings of major privilege that are making me feel so uncomfortable. I did not picture that a simple thing as the airport would make me feel so uncomfortable or like I didn’t belong.

Plans change

So followers you are one of the first few to know that I have officially extended my time here in Mexico. I will be staying in Mexico through June 27!!!!! I am super excited , but at the same time sad because I miss my family and my friends and wont see them until at least June. It just isnt going to work out to have Mom, Dad or Noah come down anytime in June. Oh well.

But on the bright side I get to continue with my monster angels at Don Bosco, and then I get to continue with Spanish. I will get to take Spanish for 3 hours a day 5 days a week from 8am-11am. Normally that time would be great for someone who is a morning person but it stinks not being able to sleep in past 7. I will also hopefully in the next 6 weeks conquer my fear of calling a taxi. I still have not accomplished that task.
I also will hopefully get to attend a gay pride march in Mexico the last week I will be here. That is still up in the air because it is not fully planned yet and I dont know if I want to be leaving Cuerna 4 days earlier and dragging my suitcases around DF. And truthfully I do not know how excited I would be to be lugging those large suitcases around Mexico city , especially if we are going to more then one hotel without an elevator.

Anyhow that is all the news that is fit to print in this post. Since I have already posted twice today I am cutting this short.

Guide to Meira Lingo:
When I said the March is in Mexico it is in Mexico City. DF is Mexico City too. It means district Federal. And here in Mexico natives call Mexico City Mexico , like New Yorkers call NYC, New York. Got it? Great.

Verb: Crazy- loco

Don Bosco: a private catholic school that has elementary to high school students and has no obvious structure and where the students are more in charge then the teachers .

Don Bosco is where I work . It is where I get stress headaches but also laugh the most and have a lot of fun. Don Bosco is loud, the students are everywhere , and students believe it is acceptable to do the most crazy things ever. One example is throwing carrots at the teacher . Never in my life have I had food thrown at me , but 2 weeks ago my students thought it would be funny to throw carrots at Miss. My students either call me Meira , Miss , profe(like professor , but a short version) or teacher. This particular class calls me Miss , and is a little hyper. They even told me my boyfriend should throw carrots at me.
The students believe I have a boyfriend named TJ. Well actually that is his name this week. Each week it changes because they always forget. I have learned it is easier to lie to them about having a boyfriend then being asked out fifteen thousand times. So anyhow TJ and I are lovely. TJ for anyone that does not need to hear me carry on about random things and people is one of my favorite hockey players on the blues.

The carrot story was 2 weeks ago , now yesterday the students decided that they wanted to hear me speak in Spanish, and then proceeded to inform me that I sound very funny and have a bad accent. Thank kids , like I didnt already know that.  The crazy part about this interaction is that I was the teacher of the 30 students yesterday because their teacher had to go to the dentist because he broke his tooth. There is always a reason why I end up standing infront of 30-40 students for one block and then end up in another classroom doing the same thing over again ....Yesterday it was the tooth and tomorrow it can be something else. I am positive that none of my education friends or teachers I know have ever gotten carrots thrown at them or had students come up and start dance around you singing their lungs out wanting you to sing along with them. Its just the life of the crazy education student intern at Don Bosco. The more crazy the day, the more I have to write in my Don Bosco journal and the more funny it is to read over weeks later.

New Blog Title

I think I should be changing my blog title to something that reflects me a little more. Today that would be Meira la exploradora y su llaves. This translates to Meira the explorer and her keys. I have always been terrible with keys and unlocking and locking buildings and doors. My family can attest to this , since I am never allowed to try to unlock or lock a door. Well today , I went home after a quick run to school and I couldn't get into the house. Now this door does get stuck a lot and I have trouble with it all the time but today I decided to try to use my key and that was the wrong choice. I do not know what I did but I either locked the door and kept unlocking it without knowing it or I just plain out locked it . The conclusion to the story is that I locked myself out of my house and I hope my mama or Sol can figure out how to get the door open to the house or else it will be all my fault that I broke the door. The moral to my story is to never give me a set a keys and assume that I will know how to open and properly lock a door. There was a reason my parents got me a car that I just press a button and the doors unlock and lock because that is as far as I can normally do when it comes to keys and the process of locking and unlocking a door.

Immigration Issues and Bills

So today Arizona in my opinion did something that was completely stupid and downright unbelievable . I have attached the article from CNN.com , but basically Arizona signed into law a bill that  requires immigrants to carry papers at all times. It also allows police to determine if a person is in the United States legally or if they are illegal. I know this is a sticky subject , but I wanted to post this link to the article in my blog so that when I look back at my blog from the semester I will know that this  stupid bill was signed by a totally backwards Arizona.

Arizona governor signs immigration bill

Just another Sunday....

Today was just another Sunday in Mexico. Woke up, hung around the house , ate breakfast with my mama, watched TV with my sister Sol, got dressed, went to church,  got dropped off with my mama at the mall , went shopping for fabric, saw a movie, cried, took a joy ride in a taxi, came home, met Diego(Sol's boyfriend) , did homework, and then took a shower. Yup that was my day in as little words as I could possibly make it . I think I am liking this schedule... Maybe I should start doing this every Sunday even when I return to the States. Going to church is pretty awesome . I even got to sit in on a catholic mass today. Dan, you are taking me to more of these masses in Des Moines. A friend also told me recently that all catholic preist dudes sound the same when they speak , and this priest at this specific church I went to did not help my cause in proving my friend wrong. I think I am turning into a catholic jew... Actually maybe those are called Jews for Jesus. Ah well,  I will call my new religion , Jew for Judah macabi and the culturalness of cathlicness. If anyone wants to join me , we meet on Wednesdays at 2am Mountain Standard time in our dreams.

Anyhow , so today was pretty awesome . I love hanging out with both Sol and my mama. I found out today that we are praying for Sol to get a job and also for the violence to stop in Cuernavaca and for everyone to be safe. Hey , even before I knew that I was telling God those prayers. I am going to sound totally religios for a moment , but hey , a girl who goes to church everyday is allowed to be a little religios ok. So anyhow , I think it was meant to be that I got taken out of Ofelia's house and placed with my mama and Sol. The almighty person/golden retriever up their in the sky , just had different plans for me then where I was a week ago. And I personally like this new road that the almightly person/ goldren retreiver has me following. I also apparently have my own personal taxi driver , AKA my sister. Mama told me that if I pay Sol just like I do to any taxi driver then she will take me places I need to go because she does not have a job and needs to get out of the house more.Eh Momma Wendy , can Noah hire me to drive him places?  I personally think it is pretty sweet deal I have going with Sol. Cemal doesnt want me walking , or waiting for a taxi so I found myself a good conpromise. The only rule is I have to make sure Sol gets time with Diego on the weekends, which I can totally accomodate.

Ok, so back to the reason I even was posting this post again. I saw a movie that everyone should see. If you are on an emotional movie kick or just want to see a great movie or love Richard Gere or love dogs then this movie is for you. It just came out here in Mexico but I looked it up and it is available at your local netflicks , blockbuster, or anyplace where you can rent or buy videos. The title is Hachiko: A Dog's Story . It is a true story about a guy, who finds a dog at the train station and then their story together. The stroryfollows how the man dies and how the dog copes.
I did not cry as much or as hard as I did with the movie Marley and Me, but I did cry. This movie made me miss Roger more then I have at any point in this semester. Anyhow here is a photo of the movie poster. I give it 4 stars out of 4 stars.

So somehow I always end up making my posts long . I type how I talk, fast and alot at one time.

This week should be pretty chill. I work tomorrow and Wednesday with my monsters at school, and then have Spanish Classes on Monday and Wednesday. My students are teaching me soccer and how to pierce parts of your body by yourself. I will let you know how my lesson turns out. You learn the best things by teaching middle school monsters. They are monsters because they scare me and are taller then me . Otherwise they are like little angels.
Other then my spanish lessons and going to see my precious angel monsters, I have very little CEMAL classes this week. I might hang out with my mama and Sol or I will go with Rubi my ex- supervisor to her other school to teach and where ever else she wants to take me . I like living the life of the free spirited  and spontaneous and make decisions as you go. It fits the Mexican Meira. Who knows I might decide to pierce my nose or something or get a tattoo or take a joy ride to the beach. Watch out world the newly religious and spontanious Meira has just been unleased.

Peace , love , and tamales followers.

Mama and me

I thought I would just post a fun entry after the one I wrote yesterday regarding the drug violence. There really are no new updates on that . I am still safe , and as far as I know I am not being booked on a plane anytime soon.

I like to think of myself as easy to get along with and very adaptable. When I moved in with my new host family on Thursday they told me just that . They said that I seem like a ton of fun and that I am easy to get along with. Score one for team Meira knows herself. I truely couldnt be happier at my new homstay. I loved Ofelia , but I absolutly adore Cecelia and Sol. They live right down the street from CEMAL, and are as nice as can be . Sol is Cecelia's daughter , and she lives with us. Sol is studying in the university. I really like them both.  We get to cook together, knit together , and we watch TV as one big happy family. Tonight I am even going to get to meet Sol's boyfriend! I kind of have it made.  Yesterday I was having a hard day ( I have been having alot of them lately) and really wanted to see a movie , but by the time we looked at the times it was too late to go see one . I was promised a Mama and Meira day today , and boy did I get one . We woke up this morning , called around to the Cines ,and then Sol drove us to church where were we prayed for 20 minutes and then went to the movies. Sol dropped us off because she had something else to do. My mama and I had a fantastic time , and we both loved the movie . We went to see The Last Song , with Miley Cyrus. Yes I know , Miley Cyrus , but we both felt that it was a great movie.

After the movie , my mama and I walked around for awhile and bought some poles to use to hang up curtains someplace in the house. We then walked back home , and had a nice relaxing afternoon of watching TV and eating a yummy lunch that we prepared together. It was one great Mama and Meira day. I plan on having many more of these before I leave Mexico.