Kelsey's Mexican Adventure

A Day in the Life,...

2009-11-05T09:48:00.001-08:00

Dinner :)

A cool building by our house that we walk past everyday.

"La Cocina" aka our family's restaurant. This is where it all goes down. From slaughtering goats to dance parties, it's pretty much our second house.

October 3, 2009

2009-10-03T08:57:00.000-07:00

Lately me and Kami have been really stressed out with everything. Between trying to include other priorities into our schedule, preparing for classes, traveling to and from our house, lack of communication, frustration with other teachers, and being sick, we hit rock bottom yesterday. Thankfully me and her get along great and have no problems or concerns with each other. We call each other "esposas de Mexico" because we are always with each other 24/7! The other day we stayed late at Discovery because it was dead silent once the other teachers left for ILP and the kids left for home. We sat down, vented, made lists, then figured out a schedule that included times for daily things that are important to us. Since then we've been a lot happier and not quite so stressed out. Hallelujah! Since i've been so stressed i've also been eating alot,.. which leads to my next topic...FOOD!
I'm officially turning into a chola. I love Valentina hot sauce on everything. I even carry little packets of it in my purse. Its good on popcorn, pizza, burgers, any kind of Mexican food, fries, by itself, its even good to use as salad dressing. I know they sell it in the US so i'm pretty stoked I can still have it once I go home! My favorite foods here that i've discovered so far is tacos al pastor, chalupas, and gorditas. Taco Bell's chalupas ain't got crap on Mexico's!

Okay, here is another list for you all!

Facts That Are Interesting But Aren't Interesting Enough to Blog About:
1. I have 18 mosquito bites
2. My eyes been twitching the last week
3. 3 teachers have swine flu, one has a parasite
4. Tehuacan's winters are 70-75 degrees, sunny, and clear. I'm in Heaven.
5. Im getting less tan and more white
6. I love Polverones- an orange flavored cookie
7. I got my butt slapped by a 6 year old last week
8. I bought floss :)
9. Im starting to fall in love with my students
10. We're almost half way done with the semester!

To be continued...

#1 Depreivation- TIME

2009-09-30T11:06:00.000-07:00

Okay soooooo im officially a slacker when it comes to blogging. This past week has been absolutely crazy. Last week there were three Birthdays (including mine!) and this week Casey the President of ILP program, came to Tehuacan to check up on us.
My Birthday was by far the coolest Birthday I've ever had. It started at 5:30am when my family blasted FELIZ CUMPLEANOS on our stereo system. I kid you not,..the whole house was shaking. I felt like I was in the Bay Area again. We went to the kitchen for breakfast where i ate 5 pieces of pan dulce then had frijoles and an omelet with a torta on the side of course. I left the kitchen waddling that morning. The kids at Discovery did so many adorable things for me. Mariem and Lorena made me a DELICIOUS chocolate cake, a little girl bought me a necklace and wrapped it up all nicely, teacher Ryan's class made me a book of pictures, teacher Kami's classes made me a ton of cards, and I got a gazillion hugs from cuper cute kids. My favorite gift was from Hugo. He made me a card that said "Top Secret" on the front. Then on the inside it said "I love you" with a picture of a heart and arrow. I laughed cause it was so hilarious but so cute.
Last Saturday the teachers threw me, Sarah, and Adri one big party to celebrate all our Birthdays. We ate pizza and played "Pin the Tale on the Whale". It was also our mammita's Cumpleanos on Saturday. So Saturday night we had a fiesta with all our family at our house. It was so much fun I can't even begin to explain it. We pretty much just watched most of our family get drunk and then we all had a dance party. Even our 14yr old cousin was downing tequila like it was Koolaid.
Yesterday Casey from ILP flew here from Utah to check up on us all. He also brought us Reeses and took us out to dinner.
But thats the update on everything over here. Things here are pretty good. I started feeling better but then the last couple of days I've had more headaches and have been really tired. I was just informed 10 mins ago that Sarah from Canada had swine flu in June and that Ashley (our head teacher) possibly has swine flu. I guess we're bound to get the swine flu in Mexico though right? haha. But none of us are too worried about it. Anyways, Hope all is well in the US! Keep me updated on the latest news!

Viva Mexico!

2009-09-17T07:39:00.000-07:00

The past couple of days have been quite eventful. Between our trip to Veracruz and Dia de Independencia, I’m pretty freakin worn out! The original Veracruz plan backfired when Bethany got sick about an hour before we were to leave for the bus station. I had left my cell phone at the school so I had no way to contact Savannah to tell her Bethany couldn’t go to Veracruz. We had planned on us three girls going because ILP has a rule that you have to travel in groups no less than 3. So I had no idea what to do; we already had hotel reservations and our bus tickets. After missing the combi and bus from Bethany’s house in the boonies, I jumped in a taxi and headed to the bus station to meet Savannah. We contemplated if we should actually get on the bus to Veracruz or not, but after we talked to the head teacher and got approval we decided to go for it. We had strict orders not to talk to any strangers and to be rude to people we don’t know.
5 hours later we arrived in Veracruz and checked into our first hotel in Boca del Rio. It was awesome! We layed out by the pool and developed some gnarly tan lines then headed to the huge fantastic mall where I spent 500 pesos on a pair of supa cute heels. Don’t freak out,… 500 pesos is only like $40; sounds expensive though! Saturday night we grabbed some pina coladas and relaxed on the beach while listening to music. It was glorious.
Sunday morning we got up and decided to go to Anton Lizardo. It’s only 20 minutes away from Veracruz and I had read that it was a great place to snorkel and that it had some really pretty beaches. I HAD READ A BUNCH OF LIES. It was straight ghetto there! So we ate breakfast on the beach then went back to Boca del Rio and found another hotel by the beach- which was also really nice! We swam in the pool then walked to the ugly beach that smelt of rotting fish and stinky perverted men. We sipped on fresh coconuts and attempted to get rid of some tan lines. That night we walked around town and found a good Italian restaurant to eat at. It’s always an interesting experience traveling; we get random people coming up and asking for our pictures. Sometimes they won’t even ask- they’ll just bust out their camera phones and take pictures. It’s really weird and uncomfortable,..but kinda funny.
Monday we got up nice and early and went to the Wax Museum and then to one of the top 10 Aquariums in the world. They were both tons of fun! I probably liked the wax museum the most though because I’ve never been to one before. The only bad part about it was that I couldn’t stop thinking about this creepy horror movie I saw about a wax Museum. Later we went and got our nails done and met the sweetest nail ladies ever. After talking and getting pampered for 2 hours we exchanged e-mail addresses and then walked to Café Parroquia which was apparently an award winning café in 2008. Monday night we walked around near the port, did some shopping, and enjoyed the festivities Veracruz has to offer.
We got back to Tehuacan on Tuesday and started celebrating Dia de Independecia! We went to the church activity, ate tons of food, danced, then joined Juan Pablo and his family for a little cultural experience. My host family totally blew us off and didn’t answer their phones. Kami and I were bummed out that we couldn’t celebrate Mexico’s biggest holiday with our own family, but we had a great time at Juan Pablo’s casa! We had a piñata, ate even more food, and danced of course! We continued the celebration the next day by watching Tehuacan’s one and only parade. It was crowded, hot, loud, and by far the coolest thing I have ever experienced!
But the last week has been so much fun and I definitely got a dose of Mexico’s culture. Most of the people here are so friendly and sweet! Even when we were traveling, people were always so good about keeping us safe and making us feel welcome. There was a lady passing out toilet paper in the bathroom at one of the restaurants who gave us her phone number and email just so we had someone to contact if we needed anything. And random people would stop us and tell us to avoid specific areas. I love everything about this country and it’s culture. The food, the people, and the history of Mexico are all amazing and I can’t wait to experience more!

Friday Night

2009-09-11T22:36:00.000-07:00

So tonight I'm spending the night with Bethany at her host family's house which happens to be the owner of Discovery (a private school I teach at). First off,...I've never been in a nicer house. This place is definitely CRIBS worthy. Amazing pool with a slide, huge glass windows, modern designs, and a cute dog. This casa makes me want to retire in Mexico when I'm rich someday.
But anyways, Bethany's parents Pepe and Maribel had a party tonight. Apparently some of their friends went on a trek to Spain and studied the apostle Santiago. Thats what I understood at least. They did this whole presentation thing which i understood about 10% of. Thankfully they had pictures to go along with it. We talked to their 22 yr old daughter named Jimena (like the hurricane) who had gone with them on the trek. When I asked her where her parents were from she told us the story about how her grandpa came to Mexico from Spain. When the civil war was happening, her great grandma sent her 8 children to Mexico because there was no food to give them. She told them after the war was over they would come back to Spain but when the war finally did end the President wouldn't allow anyone to come back. So her grandpa at the young age of 8 never saw his parents again. He only had contact with one sister. They were told their mother had died from a broken heart. I thought it was a pretty cool story.
This morning my mammita accused me of being anorexic- 1. Because i ONLY had 2 tacos and 2 tortas for breakfast, and 2. Because I take multi vitamins. I told her that i wasn't anorexic and then she continued to talk about bulimia. It was hilarious. Then she proceeded to say, "I live to eat,...and you eat to live" (all in Spanish of course). Oh and another thing! My dad calls me "sponja swarepan" aka "sponge Bob squarepants". Don't know how i got that name... I think it's cause I don't usually understand them so I do this weird sponge Bob laugh a lot.
Anyways, I'm deliriously tired right now and gotta wake up at 5 am to go to Veracruz! Oh yeeaaahhhh!

9/11

2009-09-11T09:35:00.000-07:00

Today is an ordinary day for Mexico, but for me and the other teachers today is the date in America that we will never forget. This morning all of us were talking about what we were doing when the terrorist attack took place in New York. I was in sixth grade; I had gotten up for school and gone down stairs. The t.v. was on that morning which rarely happens on school days. My mom tried to explain to me what had happened but I didn't understand. It took me a while to figure out it wasn't a "tourist" attack, it was a terrorist attack. I wasn't completely aware of everything that was going on, but the depressing and helpless atmosphere our nation experienced was enough for me to realize the severity of the situation. It's amazing that even in a time of despair, we were able to come together and grow stronger as one- a true definition of a nation. My heart goes out to the families who lost a loved one and to all the remarkable people who helped our country in a time of need. We will always remember ♥

Recent Pictures :)

2009-09-10T14:44:00.000-07:00

It's so SICK to be Sick!

2009-09-10T10:09:00.000-07:00

Being the kind person that i am, i shared my germs with the rest of my family and now my two little host brothers are sick. They have it a lot worse than i do though. So the other night our abuela came over to our house and decided to give everyone shots in the butt! I told them sorry and that I was allergic and couldn't get injected. She insisted that it was medicine from the US and I had nothing to worry about. Thankfully i talked my way out of it. It was a close call though. Since i've been here they've used some crazy Mexican medicines on me. Like, if you have a sore throat you squeeze and rub your forearm- if it hurts, it means that your throats inflamed; if it doesn't, its not inflamed. Weird right? And... when you have a fever your supposed to always wear shoes and not take showers or drink anything cold. I got yelled at when i got up for school the other morning and took a shower. And a cure for mosquito bites is to rub lime on them. I haven't tried it yet but i'm looking forward for the next mosquito bite i find.
The other day i was playing futbol with my students because i'm in charge of gym class this week. I was running and stepped on the corner of some metal drain thing and cut my foot open pretty bad. I wiped off the blood and dabbed some hydrogen peroxide then went home. My mamaita saw it and she freaked out! She grabbed the rubbing alcohol and iodine and went to town cleaning my foot. She took a q-tip and opened back up the flap of skin that was starting to heal. Then she proceeded to scrub (not dab) my foot with alcohol. I thought i was going to die.
On a happier note-
Theres this cute little girl named Mariam at Discovery who loves me. Everyday she bring me presents. Last week it was a love note and a book mark. This week i've gotten shells, candy, a sticker, and a paper heart that says i love you today. She's so sweet. I wrote her a thank you note and gave it to her but she just stared at it and smiled cause she can't read yet. haha. It was cute.
Last weekend we experienced our first big futbol game! It was Mexico against Costa Rica. We watched it on a little ghetto t.v.... it was awesome. I really wana go to a real futbol game. Teo (the regional manager and stake president) said we aren't allowed to go to any live games alone because it's too dangerous. So we're gonna hire a local gang to be our body guards for a night.
Tonight me and a few girls are going shopping after school for our Veracruz trip this weeked! Yeeaaaaa!!!!!!

Buenos Tardes!

PS- I stole my clever title from my friend Brecon's FB. Thanks Brec.

Que pasa?!

2009-09-07T06:35:00.000-07:00

It’s been a while since I’ve blogged- mostly because my schedule is hectic and I only have access to the internet at the school. And I obviously can’t be bloggin it up when I’m supposed to be teaching the kids English...it’s a tempting option though. Haha. But today I found time to update everyone cause I’m laying in bed sick and didn’t go to church! Woohoo!

The last couple weeks of school has gone pretty good! The kids are awesome and hilarious. One thing I love about Mexico is that they greet you and say goodbye with a kiss on the cheek. So every day I get a million kisses from cute little kids. It’s awesome in a non-pedophile kind of way. The only bad part about having to kiss people you know is that you are required to kiss even the ugly ones. For example, Lets pretend there is a chef named Julio who happens to work at the family restaurant. And every time he kisses you on the cheek you can feel his spit on the side of your face. It’s not so much fun having to carry around tissues every day just to wipe off someone’s saliva that’s dripping down your cheek. I wouldn’t mind so much if he was decently attractive but the fact that he’s old, fat, and has a creepy stare makes it hard to appreciate his juicy lips.

My stomach officially hates me. My daily intake of food is usually 50% fat, 10% carbs, and 40% pan...and yes, pan gets its own nutritional category cause I eat so much of it. It’s been a rough few weeks. For the first time in my life I really miss my veggies. Like,…I’ve been craving vegetables. Weird I know.

Me and my roommate Kami usually get up at 5:45, shower and get ready, eat breakfast, walk to the school around 8, work on lessons and update our Facebooks, go to a meeting at 11, dance or Spanish class at 12, then school from 1:30-8:00. But this week we’re gonna try to throw in some exercise to our daily routine because I’m starting to develop a Mexican body! So we’re gonna start waking up at 5:00 to go running while the rest of Mexico is still asleep. Because apparently it’s socially unacceptable and really weird to run outside. Unless your running away from kidnappers and drug cartels of course.

This weekend a couple of other teachers and I are going to Veracruz! I’m pretty freakin excited! It’ll be nice to travel with a small group of 3 girls instead of 10. It kinda felt like I was traveling with my family on our trip to Chiapas. It was like “hearding cats” as my madre would say. Haha. But basically I’m really stoked for this weekend and being able to visit some beaches. And if you have any suggestions for Veracruz let me know!

Hasta Luego!

TGIF

2009-08-28T06:51:00.000-07:00

Last night was our Prima's Birthday. After teaching we headed out to their house where we ate ridiculous amounts of tacos, met more family, and embarrased ourselves with bad dance moves. It was probably the most fun i've had in Mexico so far. We met mi mamita's hermano who is LDS and also owns a restaurant. He insisted we eat there so on Monday we are going there for lunch in between classes.
For those of you who know me well, you know I love to make lists for anything and everything. Only on occasion do I actually refer to the lists I make but that's beside the point. On that note, here is a list of random and spontaneous thought and occurrences that happened the last week :)

-I'm just gonna apologize now because it's only gonna get worse: Sorry for the Spanglish.
- The white boards that Nicole so generously donated are amazing and I've used them daily in every class. Thank you!
-Yo necesito pepto bismo.
-I really miss my iPhone and having access to internet. I'm not saying it's a huge necessity in my life, but I gotta admit that life's a whole lot easier with power at your fingertips!
- 2 days ago I saw a skinned pig sitting in a tub of its own blood and guts at my fams restaurant...Last night we had pork tacos for dinner.
-We started Cumbia dance classes yesterday! So much fun!
-I need to buy new sandals. My other ones broke when we were in Chiapas so I had to walk around with a broken strap fying in all directions. Even the naked kids running around in the dirt streets laughed at me.
-This Saturday we are going to Las Vegas. My host sister spent some time trying to explain what a carnival was to me and Kami. When we drove past one that had a bunch of lights she finally said "See! Like Las Vegas!"
- On our 45 min walk to school every morning we stop and get fresh squeezed juice. They literally squeeze it infront of you, put it in a bag, and take your money. Its wonderful.
-The Cathedrals here are beautiful. I'm listening to the bells as i'm writing this.
- I've concluded that Juan Pablo (my little host brother) is the Mexican version of the little boy from Big Daddy.

Anyways, thats all I can really think of at the moment. I know theres a ton of things I've been trying to take mental note of so I can blog about it later but nothing comes to mind this morning. I blame it on my lack of diet coke.

Week 2 1/2

2009-08-25T14:24:00.000-07:00

<---The cousins and my host sister.

Yesterday was the first day of school, it went surprisingly great! The kids are adorable. We teach at 2 schools- Discovery and ILP. I teach basic reading to 8-10 year olds at Discovery and at ILP I teach 4-6 year olds. They're great. Today one little boy was drinking one of his juice boxes during opening. He called me over and said "Teacher Kelsey! Teacher Kelsey!...For you" He pulled out his second juice box and gave it to me. It was the cutest thing ever.

This morning I finally got sick. It was much expected after last night's dinner- we ate corn covered in mayonaise and topped with chili and lime....My stomach is still killing me. Anyways, this last week has been crazy busy but good. I'll have more pictures are coming soon :)

Pictures!!!

2009-08-21T14:49:00.000-07:00

Had to do it.

One of the hostel's backyard

Mi hombres

Kankles thanks to the sqitos.

It was raining cats and dogs

In Guademala

Yaxichillin Ruins

Palenques Ruins!

First Meal at Juan Pablo's

Me an Savannah the first day in Me-he-co

Saying goodbye to mama

Week 1

2009-08-21T12:45:00.000-07:00

Mexico is amazing, I haven’t gotten homesick quite yet but I know I will very soon. My first night here I slept on a towel and used my jeans as a pillow. It was a cool experience….literally. All the food is amazing!! My stomach’s been putting up with all the change in diet so far. But I know its only a mater of time before I’ll be drinking Pepto Bismo like its diet coke.
School doesn’t start till the 24th so last week we went on a vacation to the state of Chiapas in southern Mexico. ABSOLUTLY GORGEOUS! I had so much fun! It wasn’t what I pictured Mexico being like. It’s pretty much a huge humid jungle full of animals and waterfalls. My favorite part was when we toured the ancient ruins where the Myas once ruled. We also went on a boat ride down a river that divides Mexico and Guatemala. Here’s a list of the places we went, feel free to Google them: La Venter tour, Misol Ha waterfall in Palenque, the Palenque ruins, Agua Azul Waterfall, San Christobal de la casas, Usumacinta River, Yaxchilin Ruins, and Canon del Sumidero. We slept in some ghetto-licious hotels along the way. The room we stayed at in Palenque was really fun though; they had swings, a pool, and an outdoor patio/dance floor with a bar for parties. Nothing fancy but it had a homey feel to it. Almost everywhere we went we got attacked by tons of Mexicans who were either trying to sell us things or were wanting to take pictures with us. So in a nutshell this week has been pretty crazy but fun and full of adventures.
We got to meet our host families today! I’m actually rooming with one other teacher which is kinda nice because our family speaks NO English so between the two of us we can communicate with them….sorta. The parents are owners of a local restaurant and they have 3 kids- Fernanda age 12, Martin age 8, and Juan Pablo age 5. They are all so adorable. My first night here we spent the evening dancing to Michael Jackson and shaking our hips. The house is incredible! Their family is well off from what I can tell. Marble floors, marble pillars, nicely landscaped yard, fountains, just an all around very nice and sophisticated Mexican style house. Except there are no doors to individual bedrooms which I thought was weird. I’m not sure if it’s a Mexican thing or what but it’s way different.
We planned out our schedules for teaching. I’m teaching Basic Reading with Elementary-aged kids. SOOOOOOO excited! It’ll be so much fun. Anyways, time is limited so I gotta go. Hope all is well!!!!!!

Mex-I-can!

2009-08-10T22:40:00.000-07:00

This Thursday I am hopping the border till December to teach English at an elementary school through a volunteer program. So far there are 3 things I am concerned about: unstoppable diarrhea, getting stolen by drug lords and/or rapists, and having no ice cubes for 5 months :(

Other than that, I am so stoked to go! It'll be a crazy experience but I'm way excited for it. No cell phone, no carpet, .......just a whole lotta Mexicans!!!!!!!

Anywho, I'm gonna try to keep everyone updated via this blog. I love you all and will see you in 5 months! Hasta luego
♥ ♥ ♥