Mexican Happenings: September 2012

I have been here in Mexico for approximately 43 days, but who is counting. This past month has been an experience that has quite literally changed my life. I have fallen in love with the Spanish language, the Mexican people, and of course the ever-so delicious food. Within the past few weeks I have also
had some interesting... experiences.

The 14-18 of September I went to Veracruz City with the other exchange student who lives in Xalapa. All of the exchange students from the state of Veracruz met in Veracruz, and we had a 5 day 'get together.' I was so pleased to meet the other exchange students who are going through the same roller-coaster of emotions as I am.

The first night we had a little 'party' on the rooftop of a hotel overlooking the Gulf. There were exchange students, Rotarians, Rotex, and more exchange students. I remember being amazed at how every single one of the students there were so kind and open. Then I remembered how not just your average Joe goes on these exchanges. Rotary strives to choose the best students possible in order to become an ambassador for their country. After coming to this realization, I feel extremely honored to be able to represent the U.S. (Thank you Mom & Dad.) The following day, the 15th, everyone went to an aquarium. It reminded me quite a lot of the Aquarium in the Omaha Zoo, aside from the fact that the descriptions and names of the animals were in Spanish. The 15th of September is also Independence Day in Mexico. Thus, later that night all exchange students went to the town 'Central' to celebrate. We all went to a place called 'Palacio Municipal de Veracruz' for the 'Grito de Independencia.' The translation of this is 'Shout of Independence.' The exchange students had a special place marked off for us to watch the dancing and singing, complete with a barricade around it. There was a large stage set up in the front and behind us was the 'Palacio Municipal,' which is a government building. Imagine it as a town courthouse, the central building of many old towns. When I was seated watching the show, little kids showed up in front of me and peered at the exchange students. I almost felt like I was in a zoo. Then the kids began asking questions. What is your name? How old are you? Where are you from? After telling them I was from the U.S. their eyes became big, and then they bombarded me with 'How do you say this in English?' and 'My uncle lives in ____.' I and a friend of mine talked with these little tykes for a good portion of the evening. We even gave them little pins of our country´s flag (USA for me, Brazil for him), and they proudly put them on their shirts. Overall the week in Veracruz was a blast, and I now know people from all over the world!

I am amazed with the food of Mexico. Everything is very rich and almost everything has 'Chile' with it. Chile is almost a taco sauce, it isn´t so much a salsa. I tend to take a lot of pictures of food I eat, and then forget the names of them. Hopefully learning the names will come with the learning of the language. I do miss food from home, though when I tell other exchange students that, they look at me as though I have sprouted a third ear. However good the food here is, I think it would be abnormal to miss a good Midwest steak, mashed potatoes and gravy, and sweet corn with a TALL glass of cold milk to wash everything down. Granted they have the food here, it just isn't the same. For example, the milk here. Oh boy, the milk here has a shelf-live of 100 years! Okay, maybe I exaggerated, it has a shelf-life of 6 months. I think my favorite food is Churros. By Churros, I mean the freshly made kind filled with gooey caramel, chocolate, or leche dulce. *Picture Below*

My Spanish has improved by leaps and bounds. I am beginning to be able to put my ideas and thoughts across. I have made plenty of mistakes, some of them resulting in laughs and others resulting in extreme frustration. However, that is all a part of the exchange, so I just learn from my mistakes and move on. I had a dream the other night where I was trying to translate English into Spanish. I think that might be my first step in actually dreaming in Spanish. I did not remember any of my dreams before I came here, but for whatever reason I have dreams now.