Nearly a month? You have GOT to be kidding me!

Es una broma, no? It’s hard to believe I have been in Mexico for about a month. Ugh! Say what! It makes me a bit sad, because that’s a month less I have left in my exchange. But I look forward to what the next months bring. But first, let me tell you a little bit more about what my life here is like. Hmm…where do I start?

School
School here starts at about 7 15, and unlike in my school in Canada, if you come a little late, it’s sort of a big deal. You have to wait until the next class starts before you are allowed to enter. As a said before, I am in a classroom with 53 other students, and the teachers move from class to class, each teacher specializing in a certain subject. And so, unlike Canada, all the classes are mandatory. I am with the same students for all of my classes with the exception of English, they have a beginner and an advanced class, and my information class, this is a class on computers, and other students chose to take an administration class. My other classes include Literature, Fisica (not sure how this translates into English) I would like to say this class in Physics, but it’s really not like the physics we have in Canada. It’s like math, mixed with biology, mixed with construction…who knows…I also have Biology, Mexican History, Mathematics, Personal Formation (Like a religion class more or less), Orientacion (still not sure what they teach in this class, problem solving I believe). As for how school is-one word: BORING! In class, I understand the gist of what’s going on in mathematics. But as for the other classes, history, literature…pretty much nothing. I can catch some phrases and words, but that’s about it. So, every day I go to school and think and think until the day is over. Maybe I will become a philosopher, because I am pretty sure I have a lot of topics covered when I am in those classes. Our classes are 50 minutes long, but if you subtract the time it takes for the kids to quiet down before the teacher can hear the sound of their voice and the time it takes to switch classes, they are about 40. I have three classes before recess, a 15 minute break where we leave the classroom and can buy food from the school store, or chat with friends, or use the bathroom. Here, asking to go to the bathroom during class is not so common. After three more classes, school is over on Tuesdays and Fridays for me. On Mondays, Wednesdays and Thursdays, I have another recess and then two more classes before I go home at 2:30. On Wednesday, my last two classes are gymnastics, my one option class! Don’t ask me why I chose this one…I just wanted to try something new! As of right now, I am not much of a gymnast, and was super sore after our first day, but hey, I am a working progress! We do cartwheels and are in the process of learning how to do more complex tricks, but I like to take things one day at a time…


Food
One word: TACOS. You can eat tacos for breakfast, tacos for lunch, tacos for dinner. When I try to tell people that tacos in Canada, is more of a dinner food, they really don’t understand. Haha. I don’t want to say we eat tacos always, but if I went for two days without tacos, I would be worried. Last Sunday, we ate tacos for breakfast AND dinner. DOUBLE WAMMY! Tacos here are a little different than my definiton of tacos in Canada, they are like small tortillas, made from either corn or flour. You eat them with fish, meat, beans, cow tongue, cow head (yes, cow head!) and who knows what else. And they are delicious! Haha, but besides consuming an awful lot of tacos: refried beans. Tacos and beans. That too. Tacos with beans. That too. Quesadillas are also readily available. Pretty much every stereotype you have ever heard about what Mexicans eat—it’s true. That’s what I am eating. And somehow, I haven’t broken the scale yet!

Spanish
Awww la idioma espanol! Spanish is…coming. I surprisingly get a lot of compliments on my Spanish, but I feel like it could be much better. I know a lot of the slang here, now that I have spoken so much with people, and I know my written Spanish needs some improvement, but as of right now, I am able to communicate pretty effectively. I know my pronunciation and accent can improve, and I have people helping me with this. I am determined to fool people by the end of the year!! I just have to let go of all fear I have of sounding like an idiot. I really hate the English accent in Spanish, and I don’t want to sound like another American, but for some reason I am scared to commit fully to the Spanish accent. Silly, me. I bought a note book to write new words in and it’s filling up pretty fast. I bring it everywhere. And my dictionary too. It’s a little embarrassing when I am at a party and in the middle of a conversation I whip out my dictionary to check the translation of a word, but hey, it’s coming. But I am speaking an awful lot of Spanish with everyone and it’s good. It’s pretty cool when it is easier to speak in Spanish than in English. But when I speak a lot of Spanish, I just have these words in my head. I know my mom doesn’t speak Spanish, so I am not sure why I decided to say that to her in Spanish. Last weekend, I spoke for about a minute straight in Spanish before I realized that the girl I was speaking to hardly knows a word in Spanish. But I have quickly discovered that’s the life of an exchange student, I have been spoken to in German countless times this week and pretty much all I can say in that language is “Ich mach deinen heisen arsche” =) I started my Spanish lessons! They are everyday at 3 o’clock, meaning on days that I come home from school at 2:30, my mom picks me up from school and has lunch for me in the car. She drives me to the university while I eat, and then off to my lessons. So, it’s a tad busy. Spanish lessons are good, however I am in the class with all the beginners (some of who know hardly a word of Spanish) So, while I am learning, it’s hard to be in a class with so many different levels of Spanish speakers. And I am continuing to forget my french, but I try to speak in French with the French girl when possible. It’s continually hard to speak in French however, because I translate from English to French, and then I am curious what the translation is in Spanish, so I translate that too, and then my head is in Spanish for the next thing I want to say, and so I speak in Spanish. Oh well, hopefully I will remember it after studying a bit more when I get back or talk more with the French girl.
As frustrating as it is to learn another language, however, I enjoy the confusion!

Free Time
In my free time, there is lot’s to do. I can do the beach. (Which I did last week, and am still paying for through the dead skin on my back!!) Or I can walk on the malecon (boardwalk). I can go to the movies, or I can go to the mall, gran plaza. The gran plaza is similar to malls in Canada, but the stores are really small, and super super super expensive. (That is, on my budget). Clothes here are more expensive than in Canada or the states, I think because it is all shipped from the states. I can go to the mochado (not quite sure the spelling on that one!) which really reminds me of Europe. It’s like a square, with a bunch of restaurants and cafes, and they have singers there and little shops set up…) I can go to a café in general…mmm…delicious. I can go to the market…I am never bored here in Mazatlan!

Rotary
Not too too much has happened with rotary yet. Both my parents are Rotarians. Here there are clubs for just men, just women and women and men. There are three main clubs. Club north, club south, and club oriental, I believe. I am not sure how the men/women thing is split up with them. I went one day with my mom to her rotary meeting, it was in the house of one of the women and there was about 10 women there. They ate tacos and rice and milk and rang the bell, just like they do in Canada to start their meeting. It was pretty interesting. Two weekends ago, the exchange students from here took a bus up to Culiacan for an introduction to exchange. We met with the exchange students from there, about 7 or 8 of them. They were from Brazil, Belgium (originally Denmark), Slovakia, Iceland, Germany, United States and I believe that’s all…So far I haven’t met another Canadian exchange student here! We went on a tour bus of Culiacan. It was pretty, but I missed the sunny beach of Mazatlan, and was happy that I am on exchange in the city I am! We ate tacos a few times, and were told the rules of exchange. I stayed the night in the house of the host family of the girl from Iceland. It was a good weekend.

Friends
As for friends, I am constantly meeting new people from Rotex, or from friends of other exchange students, or from school. It is easy here to make friends, and I am loving it. I really enjoy hanging out with the other exchange students here, and have really grown to like 2 girls from Germany, but it’s hard when they speak in German together, and they don’t know much Spanish. We can only speak in English together, and that doesn’t teach me anything! As for the other exchange students, I speak in different languages with them all. With the brazilian, I speak English and Spanish with. With the French girl, I speak English, French and Spanish. With the other german and the girl from Finland, I speak only English with. And with the Americans, it’s English and Spanish.
My head is pretty sore after a rotary day!

Holidays
Right now, I am on a holiday from school. I had Wednesday, Thursday and Friday off because Thursday was independence day for Mexico. Here, it’s a big deal. On Wednesday, in the day time, I went to the beach with some friends. In the night, there was a party organized by rotary. I went there in a traditional Mexican outfit I bought in the market when I was with the germans-note to self-don’t go shopping with two blond girls when you want a deal!!. It was pretty fun to get all dressed up. We ate tacos and watched the queen of mexico on television. A man made a short speech, and after each sentence everyone would scream, VIVA MEXICO! It was pretty awesome. After this, some friends and I went to a party at a friends of friends, and I met a lot of new people, and it was fun. There was this huge countdown for midnight and everyone was so patriotic about Mexico then, because now it was Thursday, Independence day. “VIVA MEXICO!!” It was pretty cool to see.

As for now, I am headed to the cinema to watch a movie with my family, and it is back to school tomorrow. L Too bad.

Leave me a comment!
I’ll blog again soon!
Now, I better post this before my laptop dies!