Primeras Impresiones

I am here. ¡Aquí estoy!

Here´s a quick run down of my family and home life so far:

I live with Mama Celena, Papa Oscar, their twenty five year old daughter Josie and their younger son Leon (who is traveling and I haven’t met yet). They occupy the downstairs area and my room is upstairs, along with that of two other students from America. Everyone has been so good to me. Mama Celena´s food is not only delicious but healthy as well. We usually have fruit (cantelope, papaya, watermelon) in the morning along with either eggs, bread or cereal. For Dinner I’ve had abondigo soup (meatball-ish, but not tomato based) and chomorro (pork in a special yummy sauce). Frijoles at every meal, of course. It has taken me a few days to realize, however, the different eating schedule here: lunch from 2 to 4 and dinner late at night 7 to 10. At first I just thought it was a few days of abnormal eating due to busy schedules…but after a few days of this I’m beginning to catch on. No wonder Canas and Flaca eat so darned late every night!

I just learned from Josie last night that she is an event coordinator for the famous mariachi singer Victor Ferdinandes. Leon, whom I haven’t met is away on a tour in Argentina. He is a professional ping pong player! Papa Oscar is so very kind. He escorted me to school the first day, showing me how to use the buses. He guided me across the streets by my elbow or hand saying “This is how we guide women in Mexico.”

The two other Americans, Shannon and Melissa, have shown me around a lot and have let me tag along with their group’s activities. I really like them and it´s really great having them around.

The neighborhood where we live, Colonia Providencia, is very nice. Almost too nice! Mama Celena keeps telling me that this is the only safe part of town and if I wanna go out at night, I should only go to the places in our neighborhood—they’re the only ones with good chavos (guys). I guess I’m grateful for the niceness of the neighborhood, but sometimes I just feel like it´s not quite “real” Mexico or Guadalajara. Houses are right up against each other, all different colors and styles, each even has a different style of sidewalk in front of it. There are trees and birds that I’ve never seen or heard before. I love the way the roots break through the sidewalk, elevating a section here and there…making no few feet the same. There is a park right behind our block with something always going on: skateboarders, tai chi classes, kids playing, lovers laying, women sewing.....

Some struggles:

1. My problem has always been that I can understand teachers, but outside the classroom I’m almost hopeless with comprehension. So I feel like I’m always saying “¿Que?” o “¿Como?” to people, asking them to repeat things and such. I feel stupid and annoying.

2. Also, maybe I shouldn’t expect things to happen so fast, but I’m really discouraged about finding an internship/place to volunteer—especially since I’ve been looking since March at a distance (I finally decided it would be easier once I got here to find something). But things have been slow moving with the offices here at the University that can help me. I finally got some names and numbers of environmental organizations yesterday and called a few, but the communication did not go well. I asked my director here, who works for APU, to call them back for me. If I can’t communicate over the phone with them, why would they want me to do anything else? Yo no sè.

3. Along with this, another thing constantly on my mind is regret. As I’m about to write the following I have Nancy’s voice in my head saying “Don’t say should!” but here goes: I can’t stop thinking about what I coulda, woulda, shoulda done. Ever since I decided I wanted to go to Latin America this summer, this component of a service place was like my only hope/expectation. I feel like I should’ve opted for a study abroad program with a more established service/internship component. If this was so important, why didn’t I make more of an effort to assure this would happen??

Highlights so far:

1. Watching a Chivas vs. Americanistas game (on TV) at a friend of a friend of a friend’s house.

2. Seeing biggest spider I had ever seen in my life, in my room—big brown thick and juicy. Mama Celina saying "¡No es nada!" and killing it with her flip flop.

3. Making a mini trek to the Jalisco Institute of Visual Arts to see a documentary on “La Canciòn del Pulque.” It was about this drink, Pulque, and the songs that are sung while making it at the pulqueria and while drinking it. Not being able to understand much from the movie, we asked Papa Oscar about it when we got home and he told us that Pulque, similar to Tequila but not as strong, is cheaper to make and thus drank by people of what he called “el pueblo” in areas in and around Mexico City. It is also a part of a tradition that goes way back before the Spanish settlers and thus today is most popular with the indigenous (perhaps the people of el pueblo).

4. Telephone wires started sparking right above us as walked to the bus stop.

5. Getting to know my roommates.