6-month check-in

my 6 month mark in mexico city...

that means 1/4 of my time here is over. The time passed VERY quickly. i know i am having this experience for a reason and i'm learning so much here (i'm not ONLY learning spanish). So much that I think will change my life forever. Here's a little glimpse into my life...

I'm sitting on our roof...

I see the hills of Mexico City crowded with houses. (Sometimes even the famous snow-capped volcanoes)

I see our water collection tank. This is what supplies most of our house with water. Apparently it pulls the water up at night for the whole day. It's a big tank, but i'm not really sure why we weren't affected by the water cut a few months ago. One faucet is hooked up to spring water, but the rest comes from our big tank on the roof.

I smell the Panderia (like a bakery) baking.

I move around our yellow-plastic roof to pick where I want to sit today.

this is where i find my alone time. I know i need some alone time in order to be sane. I have several different favorite spots on our roof.

I have my exercise spot: when I first arrived this entailed a lot of jumping rope, kickboxing, and yoga. Now, i really only do yoga at the house since I go running.

I have my reading, journaling spot.

And last I have my reading, journaling, laying spot.

They're all wonderful and they all provide different views. (I try to find spots where the people on the streets can't see me.) Sometimes I would have some watchers while I exercised and some days it wouldn't bother me, but other days it would. The couple times I've hung out up there at night I will sit on the edge, where everyone would notice me during the day, but at night I'm hidden by the dark.

I feel the only alone time I have is running, sleeping and on our roof.

I'm running through the streets...

Finding a place to run was a challenge when I first arrived. Eventually, I started taking the bus to Cristo Rey where I would run in large circles (I estimate they're about 1/2 mile each). After my knee started hurting (I think the same path over and over was hard on it) I started brainstorming for different places. The couple days I ran in the morning with Isaac we ran up to and around Centro Commercial Santa Fe so I thought I would give that a try again. So right now I'm enjoying that route.

I just love it when I can get up in the morning and start my day off with a run. I can't ask for anything else. It's just wonderful.

No, I can't run as far as I used to every day, but I get my thoughts going and work things out in my head, as usual, and I feel good after I do it so all in all that's the point. I'm not in as good as shape as I was, but I'll take what I can get and work with it. I mean my shoes are falling apart, which is a good sign that I'm getting a lot of miles in (I always run further on my shoes than they're designed for...but man they are just so expensive and definitely not available here). Actually, most of my shoes have seen better days that I have here. Although I do want to say my Simple Shoes are just amazing. They're made from recycled material and don't look a day old, except for the fact that they are a bit of a different color. And my Toms I can always count on to get complements.

I'm laying in my bed...

During the cold spell we had I did this often for any reason i could come up with...reading, writing, sleeping (of course). My sleeping bag is amazing. I'm so glad I decided it was more important than other items I would have filled my suitcase with. On those cold nights I would crawl in and within 10 minutes would be nice and warm. Jess and I rarely used the space heater we have and never ran it all through the night (those things suck electricity like whoa man). She would use approximately 8 blankets and I would use my sleeping bag. It's a thing of wonder I tell you!

I always feel tired here (in Mexico City, not in my bed...I mean my bed too). I don't know why. I usually get a little less than 8 hours of sleep a night, which those of you who knew my schedule in Chicago is A LOT for me. I think it might be learning so much spanish? I don't know. But I'm always tired. Sometimes more than others. But I am usually always tired.

Speaking of being tired my low-iron has been an issue to deal with here. But I think it's getting better now. I got to the point where almost every time I moved I was dizzy and needed to grab on to something, but I'm trying to be more conscious of my food and I really think it's getting better. And yes, I still take my iron everyday.

I'm riding on the bus...

I pay my 30 or 40 (american) cents to board and grab a seat.

I sit sometimes just hoping i don't die as we drive on the other side of the road, but all the while enjoying the entertainment of their radio or music. Who needs an ipod?

I usually get a strange look when I say my destination is Pueblo Nuevo (they charge by km) and they repeat what I said to make sure they heard me right. But I confirm their suspicions proudly. I guess they don't expect a small white girl to live in my neighborhood. While I was at my parents' hotel I was reading one of the travel books and it explained the area where I live as "one of the most well-known and largest slum" in Mexico city. I took offense to that.

I'm walking in the streets...

Walking the streets makes me realize why the program wants participants to stay for 2 years. I'm just starting to get a feel/understanding of how things are done.

One example:

You can't avoid seeing people's effect on the environment in Santa Fe. There aren't trash cans in Pueblo so people throw their trash on the ground. Therefore you always see something and you can see how much trash is produced. A lot. All the styrofoam especially makes me cringe. It makes me think back of my days when I always went to a restaurant with a tupperware container to bring my food home in. (I have tripped on trash and fell while running causing cuts and bruises.)

It's not easy to recycle here and you all know what a big proponent I was/am for that. Sure in Centro Commercial it's easy, but not in Pueblo. We usually keep our boxes and bottles out of the trash can and hand it to the trash men because they are supposed to sort it ...

We started taking plastic bags to the market with us. We bring big reusable bags to carry, but each stand puts each item you buy in it's own plastic bag so we saved them after using and we have SO many under our sink so we started bringing them with us and not collecting new ones. Once again doing what we can.

Do a little recycling in my honor today. Maybe it will stick and you'll become addicted. I miss it.

I'm sitting at the parish...

I don't know quite how to explain how I feel at the parish. But it's not good. I feel like this is one place I am expected to fit-in in Santa Fe. And I don't.

I think there are several reasons for this, but I usually go about once a week to check my email and talk with my sister and on sundays i try to spend time with people after mass. I'm trying to make it better, but I feel like Jess and Caro have a community there. Jess works there and Caro spent a lot of time there her first year and I feel I have communities in other places. I think with 4 people here it gives us the opportunity to reach out to more people rather than all of us reaching out to the same people.

I'm making pointed numbers and letters for homework at the Guarderia...

That is probably my least favorite part about work (making dots takes a lot more time than just writing the numbers/letters, but the kids need it), but work is probably my favorite place here. My kids show me so much love everyday and honestly try to understand my choppy spanish...unless I'm yelling at them or telling them to do something they don't want to. I miss them when I'm not with them and I actually think they miss me too. When I'm leaving and they say Don't Leave or all the te quiero muchos. It's just wonderful.

Lucy and I get to laugh when they do super cute stuff or when they're bad...afterwards of course.

I'm starting to have my own jobs: helping them brush their teeth every morning, taking attendance, and singing songs with them until Lucy is ready. I need to learn some more because I'm getting bored with them, but they do know Itsy Bitsy Spider, If You're Happy and You Know It, and Head Shoulders Knees and Toes in English. As well as the newest addition, Hokey Pokey. And I'm getting better at the spanish songs, but i still have one of the kids "lead" and they think it's a treat for them, but really it's because I don't know how the songs start.

I feel like I'm really starting to have a place there.

It's just a wonderful place to work. This is another reason I am beginning to understand the importance of being here for 2 years. I feel I am just getting the feel for how things are done, etc. And I'm sure there's still a lot I don't know. And I want it to be the best as possible. So now that I'm starting to get it I'm starting to wonder what ideas I can add to make it even better.

My kids deserve THE BEST.

My pride takes a hit everyday...

I know I sound stupid when I talk.

~Ask a 4 year old what a word means and maybe you'll understand. BUT you can't know what the word means yourself. Welcome to my life.

Yes, the spanish is better, but it's still bad and still has a very far way to come.

It hurts me to not be able to carry on a real conversation, especially when someone is upset. Think about it...when you're upset the last thing you want to do is speak slowly.

~Ask your boss for cereal and toilet paper on a regular basis.

~this is a very different culture. I think I'm supposed to say hello to everyone in a room when I arrive, but if i don't know someone do i give them a kiss, a hand-shake...what happens. I mean it's fine in the end. And then girls always have to enter first...even if I have no idea what's going on or where we are and the guys I'm with do.

~I was never a stylish person, but here I most definitely am not. I look at people who dress in style with envy. I mean I would dress cute sometimes. Here I never do.

Feeling stupid becomes normal.

I see an English newspaper...

~And I get SO excited. I read ALL of it. Even when my parents send me our town newspaper I read every article. I didn't care about most of it when I lived there, let alone now when I'm so far away. But any English news, I'll take it.

I have taken newspapers used as padding in packages, smoothed them out and read them. This is not a joke.

My sister sent us People magazines to use in our conversation class and unfortunately I must admit i've read almost all of them. I may be a few months behind on my celebrity gossip, but I'm more up to date than I think I've ever been in my life.

~I know I need to start working my way to Spanish news. It would probs be good for me.

~I also miss the news and what's happening in the world. It literally took days for us to find out about the earthquake in Haiti. How many of you can say that?

I look at what people are eating....

~Tortillas at every meal. Lot's of them.

~They also like their sweets. Which sucks for someone who prefers salty, like me. Also they like their candies with at least a hint of chili, usually more than a hint. Interesting.

~The Panderia basically a bakery just got these wheat roll things that i am quickly becoming obsessed with.

I constantly hear people using terms of endearment....

~Mi vida -my life ...yes people say that a lot here

~Hijo -son

~Primo -cousin

~Amigo -friend

They call each other by relationship here. If you are related to someone, you aren't shy about it. Instead of using their name you'd say "Primo, como estas?" Cousin, how are you? Can you imagine walking around in the States and saying son, daughter, cousin all the time? Sometimes I translate it into English and it doesn't sound as wonderful. It just sounds weird.

I kind-of compare it to the way we use Mom and Dad.

I'm sitting in church...

I'm surrounded by people. If you're one of those people who needs your personal space, you probably wouldn't like it. Usually, we end up standing in the back (although many people stand in the aisles as well) because we get there a little late. Dogs will make their way in during mass and make themselves comfortable on the ground. Most people stand all through the eucharistic prayer part of mass (i think that's what it's called) if not they kneel on the ground (there are no kneeler things). most people don't receive communion, which i have adapted to. i get it on special days. one part i still haven't adapted to (and honestly don't think I will) I still say the our father and apostles creed in english. yes, i struggle a little to remember the entire apostles creed.

So how do I feel after living here for 6 months?

Overall I feel like I'm doing what I normally did in my life, except I volunteer everyday rather than just some here and there. Here I really try to make everyone I talk to feel important (no matter if they're drunk or huffing paint thinner while I'm talking to them). I think I did the same thing in the States so it doesn't seem different to me. I think everyone can incorporate a little bit of this life-style into the lives they're currently living.

I would be lying if I didn't say I don't miss some comforts in the states and for sure my friends and family. It did make me feel better when Vicki, my friend from DePaul who's lived in Mexico for over a year, told me that feeling never completely goes away, but it does get better. It made me feel a little more normal, not like me missing home is a bad thing...which people here have made me feel like before.

One of our friends, Abbi, is preparing for her quincenera in May and she is so excited. I admitted to her recently that she can be excited about her quincenera and I will be excited for July, when I'm tentatively planning to head home.