It has been over a month since my last blog post, and there is less than a month until I go home. Yikes. Things are getting scary.
I just got home from the airport today after saying good bye to a good friend of mine from New York City. I still have a few weeks here in Mexico, and I am already sick of saying good byes. When we arrived in Mexico, we were nine exchange students here in Mexico; a finnish girl, a french girl, 3 germans, a brazilian girl, 2 americans and me--the Canadian. Since then, a girl from Slovak switched cities and moved here to Mazatlan, and even with her, there are less than half of us still here in the city. One American, one Brazilian, the Slovakian and me--the Canadian. I could go into detail with each one of the good-byes, but I think I can sum it up in just a few sentences; A lot of tears, a lot of trips to the airport, a lot of good bye parties, and a lot of letter writing.
This part of exchange sucks.
It seems like just yesterday we all met for the first time. We were a lot whiter, a lot skinnier, and a whole lot worse in Spanish. And now my best friends are leaving me. Thank God for skype that we can stay in touch.
But let me rewind a little bit.
My parents and my sisters arrived on May 21st, my birthday. My host dad, my little sister, a good friend and a brother came with me to pick them up at the airport. Waiting for them there, I had no idea what to expect. My heart was racing, and I couldn't do anything but stand in the airport and dance around in my excitement. I even got a comment from a passerby in the airport; "You know that phrase "dance like no one is watching"?, that's a good quality, congratulations." Haha. Gee, thanks. So, I danced like no one was watching until I saw my older sister Lacy walk through the doors. And the tears started flowing. It's kind of funny how these emotions hit you when you haven't seen someone for so long. I hugged my sister and then came out the rest of the family. They looked a little different--a little skinnier (or maybe just me a little fatter), some new piercings, but the same people at heart. Also my friend Aranza, the one I spent Christmas with was on the flight. She was on her way to Guadalajara, and although she wasn't going to spend the week with me, it was good to see her again. I introduced my real family to my host family which proved itself to be a struggle right away. "Mom, no he visto a Aranza...I mean, Mom, I haven't seen Aranza.." So apparently it is a little more difficult to separate english and spanish than I thought, and definately a mind twister to try and have my own conversations and translate the conversations of all the people around me. But I guess that is sort of what I signed up for when I sent in the papers applying to go on exchange...
The week with my family went great, although it definately had it's struggles. One can expect that things can get difficult when they try to mesh one life with another, and thats exactly what happened. But after a few fights about being a better translater, tour guide etc, things got easier for everyone. Just needed some time to adapt! One week, as I am sure I have not stressed enough in the period of this blog, is not much time, and for that reason it was impossible that my family got to know every place in the city that I like to hang out, every thing I like to do, every food I like to eat. But, we made some compromises between resting, just as a normal family vacation would be, and living it like a mexican, just like I have been doing for the ten months since I got here.
We stayed in a beautiful hotel with delicious buffets (perfect after coming home from a 20 day trip of pure buffets!) and a beautiful pool and all inclusive everything. So, lets just say it was a little difficult to get my family out into the city. But we managed to get around a little, and they met all of my host families (more interesting translation stories), to go to the island, to la machado and a few of the discos I have been enjoying this year. I enjoyed having my family here, but I wasn't to sad to see them go either. (I really do love you!) As great as it was to show them my home, this IS my home, MY year, and I was eager to get it back to myself again. Plus, I knew I would be seeing them in just a couple of months anyways.
The next few weeks were pretty crazy as well. I had about two days "rest" at home after my parents came, and then it was back to the hotel (the same one coincidentially) for the Rotary District Conference held in my city. All of the exchange students from the Ruta Maya(minus a few randoms who had already gone home)came to Mazatlan for another 5 days for us all to be together. It was great. The Rotex took us to do activities and contests, we went to see a surf competition, attend a Rotary dinner and dance, spend some time at the poolside... It was pretty much the life. At the end of the five day conference, it was time for everyone to say goodbye again. This was pretty difficult when I knew I was saying good bye to several people I would probably never see again. But once again...that's what I signed up for!
The day after the Rotary conference, was the beginning of the good byes. June 6th, the two german girls went home, and since then, every little while someone else goes, the most recent being the American girl this morning. I have gotten to know the Mazatlan airport WAY too well in these last few weeks. Upstairs carls junior, coffee shop downstairs, check in to the right, bathroom to the left. But that's enough about that.
Now that I have reached my last month, I have started having my first "lasts". My last day of school, for example.
After exam week, which I may or may not have attended, we were required to go into school one last day to pick up our report cards. Last day in the uniform. I was hoping to say good bye to everyone--these were people who had seen me from the very start, they watched me learn spanish, learn to dance...they were all by my side since the beginning. However, when the teacher handed out the report cards and said that everyone could go, it hit me hard. I didn't know what to do. Would I see these people again? I just began to cry. People began to hug me one by one. It was a bittersweet moment, but I just felt like there was so much to say, and there was never really the oppurtunity to say it. Besides that, I wouldn't be going home for another month...should I be saying my good byes now or later? Some struggles you just don't expect.
Although I had my last day of school, I was lucky enough to be invited to the graduation. It was a very special day because the Brazilian girl worked hard all year, her year counted for her, and she had her real graduation here in Mexico. There were several ceremonies. Last Friday morning, there was a mass held at 8 in the morning. The class presidents said a few words, there was a few tears and some photos were taken. In the evening, it was the ceremony of the diplomas. They handed over the diplomas and there were more toga pictures taken.
But the real ceremony was Saturday night. It was held in the convention centre. I was invited with Emmy. I borrowed a dress, my cousin did my hair and make up and then we were off. I arrived at this gigantic building and I could hardly believe my eyes. Everyone looked so sharp--but the real surprise was the party hall. It was packed with tables. Packed. Coming from a school of 300 people, it was pretty amazing to see a graduation of that size. They had a dinner, but more importantly here in Mexico--a dance! We danced right until 2:30 in the morning...and then it was off to the next party! I got the chance to go the the Aftergrad. It was held in a hotel. It was pretty cool, we arrived at about 3:15 in the morning and it was more dancing. Dance, dance, dance, and before we knew it, it was 6 am and they turned of the music. I was surprised to hear the music stop, and I wanted to keep on dancing, which I don't know how was possible, considering the sun was already rising and I hadn't even slept an hour! They served Menudo, a typical Mexican soup for breakfast, and then it was time to hit the hay stack. I made my way home with the American girl, laughing at the irony of the situation as we said "Geez, get to bed already!" to all the passerbys at 7:30 in the morning. At 8 o clock I was greeted with a pillow and a blanket, and it was good morning world, good night Jaden until noon when I woke up yesterday. It was the American girls last day and there was no time to waste sleeping! I had been in her house for two days already and I was going to be there for another! I woke up and found her finishing packing, (on zero hours of sleep, but with Red Bull in hand). The Youth Exchange Organizer called her and invited us all to eat seafood in a restaurant in the outskirts of Mazatlan. So, we took a quick shower and off we went. We ate delicious crab, shrimp empanadas, aguachiles! Everything was soooo good! After that, we went to eat some of the best ice cream in town and then it was back to the Americans house. More packing, and talking, and trying to stay awake, and then it was time to eat tacos. Back to the house for some more talking and packing, and before we knew it, it was 2 in the morning. Two hours of sleep later and a bucket of tears, and it was rise and shine and time to head to the airport! We loaded up the car, and headed to the airport and then it was time to say good bye. One of my very best friends was leaving me...and I didn't even shed a tear. But maybe it's because I knew I wasn't so much saying "Good bye", but, "See you soon". And she left.
I came back to the house and arrived in my little bed at 7 am. Good night Jaden once again until 11, and here I am, alive and ready to go. Becuase as they say, and I quote, "You can sleep in Canada!"
There is no time to sleep!
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