Hola, I arrived in Tehuacán, Mexico on April 28^th and my life has been an adventure ever since. There are 11 other teachers with me and I already love them all. They really are an awesome bunch! My adopted family is so wonderful. My “mom” is only 27 years old. She has three kids: Julio 10, Maria 5, and Emiliano 2. The dad is some kind of a planter, but he seems to be doing pretty well because our house is very nice. When I first met them, they told me my accent sounded weird. After a few minutes they determined I sounded like a Spaniard. I thought that was pretty cool, but my goal is to leave with a Mexican accent.

  

My whole house is tiled and they look at you weird if you don’t wear house shoes aka flip flops around the house. I walked around barefoot for the first few days and they made fun of me. I also nearly broke my neck when I slipped in the shower. Apparently that’s why they wear shoes indoors. They are afraid that if they don’t they will fall and die. That is basically how my “mom” explained it to me. I now wear flip flops all the time when I am indoors. Flip flops are usually just for in the house not for going out in; they’re just not nice enough. Sandals are ok to wear though. It’s pretty typical for everyone to have a maid. Our maid is really nice, but super quiet. The family really likes that I can speak Spanish and they are always giving me things. The other day my “mom” bought me a Mexican style purse and a flower made out of corn husks. They both are really cool!

Mexico is awesome! They literally have a holiday every other day. I was surprised that Mother’s Day had bigger celebrations that Cinco de Mayo. Since I have been here we have celebrated, Cinco de Mayo, children’s day, construction worker day, mother’s day, and today we celebrated teacher’s day. I love having a fiesta almost every night. Also May is the rainy season here and it rains a lot! I have never seen so much rain. The streets are completely flooded and there have been times that I thought the car we were driving in was going to float away. The pictures and video of the floods that I am posting don’t give the flooding justice.

I love Mexican culture, but there are just some things I don’t understand. For example, it is like a million degrees outside and I see the majority of the people wearing full on long sleeve sweaters and pants. They act like its winter! In a lot of the schools it’s against the dress code to wear shorts, but the girls can wear dresses. So, I have worn a dress or skirt every day since I arrived. 

I have eaten some amazing food here, as expected. I have also had the best ice cream since Italy. I also have drunken my weight in horchata. I don’t understand why we can’t make horchata that good back in the states. I have also eaten some rather strange food such as a cricket omelet, pig feet saturated in vinegar, and some kind of meat that is a cross between a hotdog, sausage, and jerky. I’m not really a big fan of any of those dishes, but I survived them. Before I leave I will have also eaten fried worms. Apparently, those are a delicacy…mmm…can’t wait. 

I started teaching English May 2^nd. I teach at two different schools. At the first school I teach from 1:30-3:30 and at the second school I teach from 5:30-7:30 M-F. I really love my kids, although sometimes they get really crazy and out of control. They are all so smart and are learning English so quickly.

During Cinco de Mayo break, my group and I took a weekend vacation to Oaxoaca and Huatulco. In Oaxoaca we saw some pretty sweet ruins and in Huatulco we spent the majority of our time at the beaches swimming, snorkeling, tanning, and drinking piña coladas. It was a fun vacation, but it was a pain to get to Huatulco we had to go through a mountain that had switch backs worse than the Grand Canyon that lasted the entire four hours. I felt bad for the bus driver because he was driving stick and had to keep turning the steering wheel. I know that doesn’t sound like a workout, but doing that for four hours straight can make anyone sweat. One girl threw up a few times because of how windy it was. Basically, it was not a fun ride, but once we got there everything was amazing. 

Well, so far life has been an adventure. I never know what is going to happen tomorrow. I love life here and I love how sincere and kind the people are. I would be fine living here for much longer than four months, but I don’t think I could live away from my family for that long. I miss you fam!