Wow, it`s been a while

Sorry for the delay...I haven`t been on the computer as much the last few weeks. I`m doing well. My mom came this last Thurday to visit for about two weeks. It is nice to see her. I tried to take it easier on her the first few days, but she did get to see me play soccer (we won a small tournament) and went to a party with my family here. Yesterday, we went to the beach and today I took her to the lighthouse and climbed up to the top. The market will be the next thing to do.

The weekend before she came, I went with my friend Jose to meet his mom and grandparents in a small town. We took two buses about 4 hours to get to the town. All of the roads except the one main road are dirt and it seemed to be a rather poor area. Most everyone had a piece of farmland and that`s how they made a living. The houses were modest but welcoming. Everyone was nice to me and it was nice to see a different part of Mexico. Jose`s grandpa has alzheimer`s, but he liked to talk to me about different things. He even offered to give me a piece of land so that my family could move out there. It was very relaxing for a weekend although I don`t know if I could live there - not a lot going on.

That`s all for now. Take care.

busy, busy

Hello...long time no see...

I`ve been rather busy recently. This last Friday and Saturday I played three soccer games. Friday afternoon/evening we played a team from Culiacan with only 8 people and we still tied, 4-4. We actually should have won a game, but we had some miscommunication between defender and goalie. Both thought the other was going for the ball. Saturday morning we had 14 people show up...woohoo!! Probably the most we will ever have and beat the same team as the night before by 5 or something...I lost track of how many we scored. My ankles were starting to hurt that game, so I didn`t play very well. I thought that if everybody came in the evening that I would see if I coud rest a half for the afternoon game. Unfortunately, we only had 6.5 people show up...one person hurt her hip flexor so she wasn`t able to do much. That meant that I had to play the whole game, although by the end I had all but stopped because my ankles were hurting. That game we lost by who knows how many. Before my ankles quit on me, I was playing offense all by myself in the second half. Dribbling around like a mad woman and getting nowhere. It`s very hard to take on 6 people...I did manage to get a free kick, but failed to do anything with it as my plant (is that how you spell it?) foot gave way in the dirt. Anyway, this was what my ankle looked like the next day:




Not sure if you can tell, but it is pretty swollen. And still is right now. Trying to take ibuprofen and use this cream the sports` doctor prescribed for me. hopefully it will go down quickly. Luckily, although disappointingly, the team won`t be going to Culiacan this weekend. It`s rather strange to me; in order to be a part of the tournament, you need to roster at least 14 people. It seems to me, that if you wanted to play with fewer, you would only be hurting yourself. There was a problem with our paperwork, because we didn`t have a enough girls, or rather didn`t have everyone`s paperwork. Then there was something about not wanting me to play because being a Mexican citizen was part of the requirements; the people in Culiacan didn`t care that I was here on an exchange. My coach was also talking about it having some political motivation, but I didn`t really follow what that was about.

Now, to talk about something other than soccer....I went to two birthday parties this past week. Friday night was the party of someone from work. It was fun to hang out with everybody. There was a lot of joking around and drinking and eating. She lives in a really nice house. I was very envious of her kitchen. :)

The other party I went to was Martha`s cousin´s Marisol. I have gotten to know her because she looks after the kids when Martha`s at work. Her party started at 2pm and I left at 9:30pm and there were still people there. She rented a karaoke machine so after everyone had eaten there was a lot of singing...mostly la banda which is from Sinaloa (the state where Mazatlan is). I sang two songs..."Piano Man" and "Hotel California". They said I did a good job, but I don`t know. Here are a couple of photos I took:

Until next time....

Soccer Game

Unfortunately, the trip to Culiacan was canceled. There were not enough girls that could or would go. There is not the same level of commitment that I was used to with my team. We did set up a game here in Mazatlan for Saturday morning though. The coach said he would pick me up at 9am, but as usual, didn`t arrive until 9:30ish. By the time we got to the field it was already pretty warm and field was hot because it was basically just dirt. Even though we were in town, we still didn`t have enough people show up...only 10. It was fun to play though, although somewhat confusing as I was never quite sure what my teammates were going to do. I also couldn`t seem to kick the ball over 15 yards...not sure what my problem was. I did manage to score a goal, though, and we ended in a 1-1 tie. We took PKs (penalty kicks) to decide the winner and we won 5-4. I was sore but happy after the game.


Today I am missing mi familia (my Mexican family) as they took a trip to Mexico City for the weekend and I am home alone. :(

Quick Update

Hi everyone!

Just wanted to let you all know that everything is going very well right now. I started playing soccer last week, finally, and it has been nice to play again. It isn´t extremely competive (some of the girls had never played before), but it`s better than nothing. It seems that girls playing soccer really is not as typical as guys playing soccer. There are a couple of girls that have played for a while and are pretty good. The team is a mixture of high school and university students. I will be going to Culiacan with them on Friday to play some games. That should be fun and I`ll be able to get to know them a little better.

Last night I went out dancing at a place called Mambo Café. I went with Miriam, someone from the university, and some of her friends. I danced quite a bit and they taught me a little bit of salsa. I might go to some of the classes that are at the Café to learn more formally. Two people even asked me to dance, so maybe I`m not as bad as I think. :P One of them even asked me if I was from Mazatlán...it must have been really dark.

Anyway, it is getting late, so that is all for now.

chow

Conference, part 1

Last week I was invited to attend a teleconference, as part of a larger conference, with students in Pennsylvania. They wanted me there partly to help with any English questions. Unfortunately the conference didn`t go that well. There were a lot of technical problems, which seems to often be the case with these kinds of things. First we couldn`t hear each other, than one side could hear, now both, oh...we lost you again, etc. Plus the time delay is always tricky. There was some exchange back and forth, but it was still disappointing. They were chatting (we typed and they talked), once all hope was lost, and decided to try again the next day, but with fewer people and with a less high-tech approach which might have fewer problems.

Some of the students here agreed to meet at the university and then go to the Pennsylvania professor`s house, one had come here to help facilitate the exchange. It was going to be there because the conference was using all the rooms for other things that day. We met and headed to the bus stop. The first bus was full which means we probably would be later than we said. We call the professor to find out that she had sent one of us an email in the morning saying that she was canceling the teleconference. The problem is the person a) doesn´t have email at her house and b) probably wouldn´t have checked it even if she had. Students here are not obsesive-compulsive about their email like at home. The professor had sent an email earlier in the morning to her students in Penn. asking them if they were still coming and noone had replied either way. Some of our students were already missing class, which is much more serious here and you need some sort of note of explanation, so they still wanted to try and see if the students in Penn. would show up, but the professor didn´t want to. We explained to her that we were on the bus and already on the way, but she basically told us, well...you can get off the bus at the next stop. (I wasn´t the one talking to her, but that was the relayed message) We were a little hurt. It didn´t seem like that big of a deal to see if they were there or not. If they didn`t show up, they didn`t show up. We wouldn`t be any more disappointed and at least that way we knew we had done what we said we would. That is how it seemed to us anyway.

We ended up going back to the school :(

Number 1

I`m going to write a few shorter blogs. I think it`s easier to read that way.

Some little things that you might find interesting.

Things that I like
- my family and friends
- most everyone has been kind and helpful, willing to share what they have or go out of their way to help
- it`s very pretty, especially along the water
- i haven`t been ripped off by a taxi (knock on wood)
- the bus drivers always try to be helpful...even when they`re not sure what the gringos are saying

Things that I don´t like:
- trash thrown everywhere
- sewage smells that come out of nowhere
- the bugs in the house
- things are left uncapped, uncovered (like the boxed milk in the fridge or the toothpaste)
- waiting for things to start or people to arrive

Things I have to remember to do:
- greeting everyone is important, with a handshake and kiss is even better
- tip the grocery store baggers
- use small bills at the small mom-and-pop stores, like the neighborhood "grocery store"

I can`t think of anything else at the moment.

English Class

The class has slowly disintegrated. I'm not sure if I'm not a good teacher, if I've lost my novelty, or they have decided that they don't want to learn English. But they have stopped coming to class, even when they said they would, like today. They have said that their work schedules' conflict with the class, but only in the last two weeks? Maybe that is partly true, but it seems like something else is going on as well. Today, I decided I would change classes and try teaching some of the teachers. That was the originally plan, and maybe it will be better. It's too bad I won't have that much time with them, not sure how much I will be able to teach them.

Mi Familia y Casa

from left... Mimi, Adriana (a family friend), Martha
in front... Joseline

You can see about half of this
room. The other half has a
large sofa in it and
a rocking chair.

Here´s the kitchen. I`m sure a lot

smaller than most of yours, but

it works surprisingly well. You just have

to get used to it.

The bathroom, also a
little different. It is a shower
stall at the back and to the
right of that is a shelving
unit that stores everything
for the bathroom.

I`m feeling better! Yay! I finally went to work this week, my first day. Apparently most of the telemarketers had gone out the night before, so they were all coming in wearing sunglasses. I think they must have known that the supervisor wasn`t going to be there today. Because of that, nobody did a lot of work...everybody was just hanging out, listening to music, talking, etc. I`m not sure if it is a cultural thing to not work when the boss isn`t around or if it has more to do with something else - it`s a strange concept to me. Anyway, I felt weird trying to get anything done, so I ended up having an easy day. My students at the university now have job conflicts with my class, so we can only meet on Mondays - no class either. I still was really tired this afternoon, but at least I`m feeling better.

Hopefully I can upload some photos this weekend. The computer at the school isn`t recognizing my camera.

....

It`s late, but I can`t sleep....my woos continue. This past Saturday I was going to write a very cheerful post about not having been sick for two weeks. That was until I woke up Saturday morning with a horrible pain in my abodomen. I finally went to the doctor on Monday afternoon and got some medicine. It didn`t kick in right away, which made me a little nervious and my mother feel completely helpless. I thought it had finally started working this afternoon. The pain seemed to be going down everything was looking up again...of course, it was teasing me, and, at the moment, I feel like there is a knife lodged in there somewhere. It is almost as if this is not meant to be. I have been sick 5 times already, 4 stomach related, and I don`t know how much more I can take. I`m hoping this medicine will work and I can give it one more chance. Sorry to be so depressing, but I wanted to fill everyone in on what has happened.

Mexican Ingenuity

Normally you have to make things work here, because you probably don`t have everything you need. There aren`t a lot of resources. This past Friday we had a small birthday celebration for one of the telemarketers. Everyone pitched in to buy a cake and it finally arrives, but nobody bought plates or a knife. So, we use pieces of paper folded in half for plates, printer paper, and, to dish out the cake, someone had a small plastic knife to cut and a ruler to scoop it out. It actually ended up working fairly well; I just avoided thinking about what could be on the ruler while I was eating my piece of cake. It turned out to be a pretty good cake...even for me.

The other example happened in my English class, that same day. People kept knocking on the door because there was a conference in the next room and they thought it was in our room. The students made a sign saying "Do not disturb. This is not the right room. This is an English class." It was something like that. There wasn`t any tape though, so to make it stick to the door they used the gum someone was chewing. Not sanitary albeit effective. My examples aren`t the normal maybe, but it helps give you an idea of things.

This past weekend - Sept 27-28th

I`ll try to keep you updated and fill you in on things that I haven`t talked about from the past few weeks as well. This weekend I had fun. I went out on Saturday night with a friend from work. The place was called Oysters and we had fun dancing. Jose was actually born near Mazatlán, but grew up in Oregon. He and one of his brothers moved down here a few months ago; their mother moved back down to take care of her parents as they are aging. Anyway, Oysters is an open-air bar but with club music and lots of dancing too. I probably stayed out too late, but slept in to compensate.

On Sunday I had been invited to a party with some of my "students". That sounds weird to say, but it`s the most appropriate description, I guess. We were supposed to meet at a bus stop at 4pm, so since I`m not sure how long it will take me to get there, I leave a little earlier than I needed to. Plus when I got to the stop to pick up the bus it was there in about 30 secs rather than having to wait 5 or 10 mins for it. I arrive at the meeting spot about 15 mins early, only to find out that the meeting time has changed to 4:30pm instead. It was really hot out, but luckily there was a supermarket next to the stop, so I could walk around in air conditioning for a while. Conde finally showed up at 4:45 and Melissa and Paola at 4:55. I guess I don`t need to worry about being late next time. We had to take another bus to the party and it turned out to be someone`s birthday party. It was a small gathering of friends and we ate sebiche(?). It`s a mix of chopped up vegetables and some sort of fish with lime juice. This one was shrimp and also had some spicy peppers, so it was very spicy for me. They even commented on the spice, so you can imagine what I was feeling. One bad thing about this group is that they smoke a lot, but they at least try to be polite about it. There was also a lot of beer drinking, although not from me. We listened to music and joked around. I didn`t end of leaving until about 9:30pm, but most of them stayed out late...until after 12am (and they had morning classes). So, all in all it was a pretty good weekend.

Sorry for the delay

Hello again. Sorry it has taken me so long to post again. My family was borrowing a keyboard and mouse for the computer and so now they no longer have them. I think I will try buying one for them. Unfortunately it is also partly due to the fact that I got sick again last week - some sort of stomach infection that made me throw up a lot one night. I had to go to the doctor again, although this time I went to Martha´s uncle who is also a doctor. He had a receptionist and sitting area that was more formal which made me feel a little better before I went in to see him. He gave me a physical exam and told me my intestines were swollen and infected. Since I wasn`t keeping anything down, he gave me a shot of medicine and some more pills to take starting the next day. It is actually much more common to get shots of antibiotics here. Martha has had a sore throat and she went and got a series of shots rather than take pills. Anyway, I missed work for three days from being sick; it was pretty bad. Luckily I made it out in one piece and am feeling much better again.

I was able to celebrate the Mexican independence day before getting sick. I went to the zócalo, the main plaza, and there were a ton of people there. The plaza was close to packed. There were fireworks and, of course, el grito de independencia (the shout of independence). Basically everyone is shouting viva! viva mexico! and the mayor, I think, leads a round of shouting. After that there was a Sinaloan band that played traditional music. It was fun to listen too and watch all the people dancing to the music. I need to learn how to dance the music of la banda (that`s what they call Sinaloan music...it`s hard to describe, a mix between polka and mexican folk).

More to come, I`ll try to be better at this.

Week 4 - Sickness

Hello, everyone. I moved again last Saturday to Marta´s house. She has two little girls Mimi, 12, and Joseline, 2. It is very different from Adriana´s house. Joseline is suffering from her terrible two´s stage - one minute an angel, the next a screaming, crying mess. It´s a cross-cultural experience, I guess. On Saturday evening, I went with them to a baby shower of her sister-in-law. They had party games like in the US. One of them was to guess how many sheets of toilet paper it would take to wrap around her belly. That was kind of fun, although I was wrong. That evening I started feeling sick though...this time with a cold.

Sunday I still wasn´t feeling well, but I ended up going with Marta and some friends to the sierra (mountains) outside the city. She said that it would be cooler and that they would come home early. It ended up being a big mess, for me anyway. It was a two-hour drive outside the city and then noone could decide where to stop, so that took another hour probably. Once we did stop, it was soooo hot and humid I was just feeling horrible. They decided to stop in front of someone´s house, which was strange for me, because it seemed like we were camped out in their driveway. I was just glad when we decided to leave.

I have been sick the whole week, so I have slept a lot in the afternoons after work. I even stayed home on Tuesday to try and rest and get better. I have learned something about Mexican beliefs about illness though. First, saying you have a cold doesn´t translate, so they generally say you have the flu. Marta also really wants me to wear socks, because the illness comes up from the feet. I liken it to many American mothers wanting their kids to wear a hat in the winter, but it´s 80+ degrees here. I went to a doctor on Thursday, because I still wasn´t feeling well. He came to the conclusion that it was allegies or viral, but still gave me an antibiotic. He also wanted to give me an allergy shot, but I really didn´t think that was the problem. I decided to take the antibiotic on Saturday, since it had been a week and I was still feeling bad. Maybe if I was at home I wouldn´t have, but I just need to feel better.

Saturday evening I got out of the house again. We went down to the beach and malecón (boardwalk, sort of). There were a lot of vendors on the street and I picked up a necklace made with shells. I also got to watch a night diver (cliff diver), although it was too dark to take a picture. It was nice to get out and about.

I think I will leave off there, as this is already a long post. Hope everyone is doing well.

Week 3 - más o menos

It has been a roller coaster week. At first I thought I was going to be sent home; miscommunication I think due to both cultural expectations and my not feeling well. But then, a couple days later, I was put in front of my first English class without much of a preparation. They said I would be chatting with some students, which to me is informal, get-to-know-you kind of stuff, probably with people who knew more English. Was I wrong. I have a group of students who don`t know much English at all, just the basics and I had no idea what to do with them. All I know is if someone came to teach me a language and showed up looking hopelessly lost, I wouldn`t be very happy. I don`t know if the expectations are different here, or if they are just too polite. I`ve now had a few classes, so I feel a little better and I got some guidance from one of my former Spanish teachers.

I also have a "real" job working at a hotel. I`m working 9-1 for now, so I can still teach English in the afternoons. I`ve only been there two days now, but I think that it is promising. They are going to try and have me work in a lot of different departments, so that I can learn as much as possible and meet a lot of people too. The name of the resort is El Cid, it`s main business is timeshares, although it does have a regular hotel as well.

I will be relocating again as well. The person I am staying with right now, Adriana, has her house under construction, and so it is not exactly the ideal place. I will be moving to the house of another university employee; her name is Marta. She`s also going to teach me how the bus system works, so I can move freely on my own.

Today, I had a semi-scary thing happen. Marta was giving me a ride home, and we came to a railroad crossing with the red light on. In Mexico this doesn`t mean stop though. It`s more of a yield, make sure the train`s not too close. The problem was that the traffic stopped for a short time while we were still on the tracks. To say that I almost got hit by a train is a little bit of an exaggeration, but I was definitely contemplating my options should traffic not move forward quickly. Luckily it did, and I made it out unscathed, but I think I now know why there are so many crosses and flowers at all the railroad crossings.

Take care everyone!

Some photos

I thought I should finally put some photos on here...

This is me against the beautiful view of Mazatlán.

A beautiful sunset.

A night out with Miriam (top) and Chayito (left)

Week 2

I thought I was settling in, but this week I was sick. I was not feeling well at all. I ended up having to take some antibiotics and thankfully it worked and I am feeling better again. I´m still not sure what my schedule will be; I`m hoping that everything will be decided on Monday. I didn`t realize how much I like a schedule until I didn`t have one. I`m slowly adjusting more and more and I think it will be a little while before I am completely adjusted. I`ve met a bunch of nice people. One in particular is Tina. She is 24 and works at the university; she will be going for a master`s degree this fall in sociology. She took me to her home and I met her family. Her mother made tostadas for me...they were very good. She also walked with me around the downtown and I got to see more of the sights. The next day I went to her house for a "carne asada" (literally...grilled meat). Her whole family meets and shares food and company. It is a traditional weekend activity. I played Mexican bingo with her family too.

Side note: I am starting to be more comfortable with listening to the Spanish. It seems that I have to familiarize myself with how each person talks. So, every time I meet someone it starts over again. Obviously, some are easier to understand than others.

chow,
erin

For those of you who don´t know....I came to Mexico as part of an internship program. This is something completely new for the university, so it has been a little rough to begin with. I will be teaching English to a group of professors here and taking a class of some sort to meet other students. I have also been given the opportunity to work at a company in Mazatlan, Ingles sin Barreras. They design multi-media software to help people learn English. I will work with the support "instructors" who answer questions from students who call in and eventually work with the students who call in themselves. It is very important to learn English in Mexico; it can determine the type of job that you can get and the better jobs require some level of English. I have been given a few examples of people who didn´t get the job the wanted or didn`t get as good of a job because their English skills were lacking.

Cute story of the day: I went to visit a group of junior high students. Adriana, my new host, teaches there as well as the university, and her class was asking me questions. One of the questions was "What does snow feel like?" I wasn`t sure how to answer her - I`d never thought about it before.

My first week

A lot has happened this week. When I arrived, I went to my host person´s house. It is a newly built house and it is actually not finished yet. Chayito, my host, had not completely moved in yet and there wasn´t a fridge or stove or microwave. They seemed like nice people, so I wanted to give it a try still. I stayed there for a few days and met a lot of people in her family. She has lots of cousins and her brother was nice enough to drive me around the city...I had a good time with him and their cousin Paola. I also met a lot of people at the university...I´m afraid there were too many names for me to remember them all. After a few days though, we decided that it would be better for me to live with Adriana; I need to be able to eat at all hours of the day and she seems to be less busy than Chayito. Chayito works at the university and owns her own sushii restaurant. So, now I am settled in, more or less, with Adriana and her daughter. I met some of Adriana´s family and they are also nice people. Tomorrow will be a busy day, so I should go to bed.

chow, erin

I´m here!

I made it. My flights were tiring, but I`m starting to adjust to all of the changes. It isn`t extremely hot, a little warmer than home, but it is very humid so it feels a lot worse than it is. It is their rainy season right now, so I´m hoping it won´t be this humid all the time. I`ve driven around the city and seen a lot of it. There are some beautiful spots, but there is also signs of poverty. I`ve also been to the university and met a lot of people. I will have to post some pictures later, but I don´t have the cable for my camara. I´m tired so that is all for now.

Hasta luego (until then),
erin

Day Before Flight

Going down to Detroit today with my mom and will be leaving tomorrow for Mexico. I will post more later, but have too many things to do right now.

erin