Week Three, and Four: (I have no words)

This post maybe all over the place for the last week or two ... and a little up and down. So this is your warning that this post on this blog is not for the faint of heart.

I think I last left off reurning to Puebla and to my house after a long weekend in Acapulco....

The following week after arrivve back from Acapulco I went to school. Every single day... school is school. However let me paint you a picture... Prepa or prepatory iberoamericana is a middle sized private school is Puebla, Puebla Mexico. The school colors are red and black. I must say the majority of week three and four I didn't like my school too much. I find that many people in Mexico would rather stare at me and talk about me rather than talk to me. However the slightest possibility that they read this post and understand it. i would much rather people come up to me, introduce themselves and want to be my friend. I'll tell you this is not the case. However over these weeks I have become very close with my class. See the differences between Mexican and American school are this. Well in Mexico you have one class and you are sorted by area of interest. You have the majority of your classes with same 20 or 25 people. Which is very nice for rotary exchange students becuase it is easier to remember names and form friendships.

As hard as it may be to believe I am having a hard time making friends or close friends. See making friends is not the same in english as it is in spanish. I'm not funny or sarcastic. All I can do is use my poor spanish and smile a lot and then say "I don't understand." See you may think this is funny you may have even smiled however it is confusing and annoying. So you are confused becuase people are talking to you and all you can do is smile. Then people can try and repeat themselves believing that if they speak slow enough and if you hear it one more time you may understand. This usually never happens.

However things have started imrpoving slowly and slowly. You start understanding what the teacher is saying and asking you to do. Then when people talk to you, you are able to respond (sometimes) and things get easier. By week four which may be this week I was very comfortable. I had formed a few close friends.

The weekend after Acapulco I did.... nothing. I desperately tried to pass the time the majority of the time alone. It was horrible. I felt homesick and had no distractions. It was only me, myself and I. Which let me tell to you... rotary advises that you preoccupy yourself with as many distractions as possible blah blah blah so that you have no time to miss home, realize how much of the language you don't speak and blah blah blah.

This week, week four has been pretty up and down as is everything with rotary. I did draw a really good shoe in my drawing class, I was asked to help with a schooll art project for school elections, i had my first day of futbol, I got my student visa, made plans to go to the movies this weekend with a friend.... see everything is goind so well.

I also went to my first rotary meeting. Which was to be blunt very dull. I had to grab my neck every so often not to fall asleep. Rotary is very different here. There are rotary men and then there wives. Except the room is seperated by gender. Also the rotarians here aren't exactly the fun loving upbeat rotarians i recall from Cooperstown. It is for the most part all business. I asked my host mom before if I would have to talk infront of the rotary club which I'm pretty sure she told me no. This was no the case as i found myself frantically rambling spanish infront my rotary club here. It is a cofort to know I can still ramble.

The rest of the week went by pretty fast. There were a few problems along the way I must say. I have many problems here which I find do not fit under the culture shock or adjusting to a new culture area. I sometimes think I'm having a harder time under many circumstances. So don't think this is all easy going and fun. If you did you are mistaken. I still very homesick especially on the weekends and in my room here. Usually I enjoy my time most at school and when I'm out of the house. i have faith that things will get easier as people say they will but sometimes it is hard to see this getting easier. I spend a lot of time alone here, that is a very hard for me.

However i did have the pleasure of going to the movies with a friend from school. This was my first outing without anyone from my host family. Much like my family in New York it is liberating to go out on your own. Well I went to my friend Sayuri's house for lunch. Which we had with her mom and grandma. Then we took a taxi to the movie theater. Where we say the last airbender or avatar in spanish. Since like many movies I have watched here I had already seen it. So it was for the most part easy to understand. After we walked around the mall and then returned to Sayuri's house. Where I must say I learned to play spanish cards. Which is not the same as cards in America. There are four suits but they are gold, copper, swords and "bastas" which looks like a pepper. The number one card is called the ass. Oh and there is no card 8 and card 9. We played this game similar to gin and they were very nice to explain it you slowly and make sure I understand. I must brag that I even won once. That was the highlight of the weekend.

You should jsust know as good as things are some days you have really hard days as well. This isn't the easy thing to do. But you do it in hope of a better outcome. You go through this hard time in hopes of a better pay off or better time later. I can't lie and say this is all rainbows and smiles if you will. This life is no easier than your life back home.

Well: wa wa wa wa wa wa wa wa wa wa wa waaaaaa.