These Boots Were Made For....

I imagine that the government official in charge of traffic regulations here enjoys biking. He wears little round sunglasses, and has tie-dye bandanas in his long hair. At the city planning meetings, he shouts out things like: “Hey man, the government shouldn´t tell people how fast to drive, that´s their right”. He must be very charismatic. This is, of course, the only logical explanation for the complete lack of speed limits and lanes in the street.

However, there must be another more ¨Barty Crouch¨ type character who is equally powerful in this government, and decided to install the speed bumps. I guess they are actually more like slow down bumps. Or slow-down-or-your-entire-family-will-hit-the-roof-of-the-car bumps. I´ve come to think of them affectionately as “Car-Stallers”. They aren´t really “bumps” So much as small mountains that occur 1-5 times a street, literally forcing the driver to come to an inching crawl or else. The poor souls with smaller cars really need to be careful, as the underside of their vehicles get frequently scraped half way through.

Overall, the two messages this government is sending are ¨You can drive where you want as fast as you want” and ¨HAHAHA we don´t need cops to enforce this rule, good luck “cheating” on this one…..” The result is that driving here has a sort of lurching rhythm:

“WWOOHHOOOOO 65MPH IN TOWN BABY YEA ……….speedbump……….. THIS IS SO FUN NOTHING CAN STO ………….speedbump………….. P US WE WILL NEVER BE LATE AGAIN ………..speedbump…….”

And so on, and so on. You can imagine, I´m sure, what fun it is to be a passenger. Which leads me to question the popular view on seatbelts here.

I´ve grown up, like many of my friends, with a friendly looking cricket telling me to: “Sit Down! Buckle Up! And Save Lives!” I am also familiar with the ever popular “Click it or Ticket!” Now, I didn´t expect the latter to apply here of course (Driving into oncoming traffic or through a red-light is acceptable as long as you don´t cause an accident), but I thought, given that the back seat resembles a bouncy house, that a seatbelt would be welcomed with open arms. But no. The result is that, after a long ride, I have sympathy for my tossed salad.

However, sometimes it beats walking. Those of you, who know me, know that is a crazy thing for me to say. I LOVE walking (that´s not just a positive attitude about not having a license). I really prefer it, when possible, (this SHOCKED my host family:¨You want to WALK home from school?”) but here….I just attract too much attention. I will talk more about this whole “I haven´t seen another American in 3 weeks” thing later, but for now, let’s just leave it at: “Blonde hair is atypical”.

When I walk, I get an endless stream of comments and car horns, everywhere from the awkward: “HELLO PRETTY GIRL” to “Are you lost, white one?” and “What are you looking for?” These get on my nerves. I feel like yelling. “I am walking to my HOUSE. Because I´m going to be here for another 10 months. And I know where it is, do you see my school uniform???” But instead I just stare straight ahead and keep walking.

I´ve decided that all I can do is laugh, as several times a minute, cabs honk at me and slow down, making significant eye-contact as they inch past. They are just trying to be helpful. After all, it´s not every day you see a hopelessly naïve white girl going for a WALK. She obviously just doesn´t know how to hail a taxi.

Developement

There are some obvious differences between school in Mexico, and school in the U.S.:

- Teachers change classrooms, you don´t.
- Class schedules are different every day
- Uniforms
- Sports and Clubs are private, not associated with the school
- Students buy their own books
- Classrooms are bare (they don´t belong to any ONE teacher)

There are MANY other things that make Mexican schools different than those in the U.S., but these seem to be the main ones. And you could find that out with Google. I hope, with this post, to explain some differences that go a little bit deeper than what book is open in front of me, and for how long.

DISCLAIMER: I am going to a very nice, private school here in Mexico. It´s actually the prep program on the campus of a very nice, private college. What I experience here is probably very different than the typical Mexican Public High School…



I´m a ¨senior¨ here. Kids go to high school for three years, not four, so when they asked me what semester I was going into and I said my fifth, I got put into the oldest class (17-18). Thus began my Mexican High School experience.

The first big difference that registered for me is that kids, by this age, have a PLAN. Not like ¨I like writing and I kind of like chemistry, and I´m going to go to college, and then probably grad school, and then hopefully a job.¨ which is the general template for U.S. high school plans. By the time they enter fifth semester, these students have been sorted into one of four groups: Biology/Chemistry, Physics/Mathematics, Economics, or Social Studies/Humanities by a series of tests, teacher recommendations, and family/personal preference.

This is not really a decision that is taken lightly. I chose the latter group, because I like those classes best, and am now surrounded by aspiring Psychologists. And not ¨I like taking Psychology classes¨ more like ¨I am going to be a Psychologist¨. I soon realized that ¨I like these classes best¨ was not a strong enough reason to choose this group. When people asked me what I am interested in, and I said Ecology (first interest that popped into my head) people were shocked. If I was going to be an Ecologist, what could possibly be keeping me from the Biology/Chemistry group????? Now I say ¨International Relations¨. It´s kind of true, and as people try to think if that’s actually a job, I have time to change the subject. (Is that actually a job?)

It´s fascinating to see kids who are legitimately thinking about how they want to join the workforce. No one ever says ¨What college are you looking at?¨ They say ¨What job will you have?¨ Back home, my friends and I haven´t been able to see much farther than choosing a school and paying for it. Every activity is for the purpose of getting IN to college, but what comes after? I guess that´s for worrying about in college….

The classes here are grouped in interesting ways. There are the typical classes associated with ¨word people¨. Our math class is Prob/Stats, our Science class is Biology. We have Sociology, Psychology, History, Health, English (For me Spanish Lit.), Derecho (it doesn´t really translate but is like a Government/Law class) and the ¨Desarrollo¨classes. Desarrollo means development. These ambiguously named classes are snuck into our schedule on a daily basis. I still don´t really understand them. We have Skills Development, which is entirely different than Abilities Development, and completely independent from Humanity Development. From a week or so of classes, I gather that ¨skills¨ is actually an art/culture appreciation class, we are developing our ¨ability¨ to solve logic puzzles, and ¨humanity¨ development involves us coming up with plans…to solve the problems of humanity. We should be able to tackle that one at least….

I always giggle when I think about our P.E. class, called: ¨Physical Motor Skills Development¨. Doesn´t that sound like it belongs in some sort of high end pre-school?

Anyway, I am realizing how much of my identity as a student in the U.S. was tied up in me getting good grades. I know a lot of exchange students instantly embrace the whole: ¨Not-getting-grades-or-being-held-to-an-academic-standard-at-all¨thing, but it is HARD for me to let go of something that was so big in my life! I try to do the homework, but I am really bad at figuring out what things are ¨Important¨ as assignments, and what things aren´t. EX: Last night I spent over an hour researching definitions for Sociology, and today’s class period was the teacher, writing the definitions on the board. I chose to skip homework for Psychology, which was collected at the beginning of class. I don´t really know what´s going on.

I´ve been here for two weeks today. My ears are finally getting warmed up, so that when people talk, I can hear individual words and look them up. This is good, but also frustrating, because I can understand what the teachers are saying. I can´t feign complete ignorance, I really do understand most of the questions, I´m just not able to give a coherent response. Because of this, my history teacher thinks I don´t know any causes for WWI, my Psychology teacher believes I can´t come up with a definition for ¨thinking¨, and perhaps most comically, my Health teacher believes I am unfamiliar with what a menstrual cycle is. I have to choose to laugh, everyone will just be surprised when I talk, right?

Lastly, It´s really trippy to be in all of these humanities classes in another country. Every country has mistakes in its past, right? Yes. And when you study YOUR country´s mistakes, in YOUR country, everyone can sort of agree: ¨Wow, that sucked¨ and move on. It´s really different to study your country´s mistakes in ANOTHER country. Yesterday, in History class, we watched a really graphic slideshow of victims from Hiroshima, and I sat there, with guilt absolutely washing over me, before I remembered that I was not in any way personally responsible for the bombing. Displacing the Native Americans. The whole ¨Manifest Destiny concept. And of course, TAKING LAND FROM MEXICO. I haven´t actually done these things, but as we study them, I feel absolutely horrible.

Sometimes teachers like to call on me to get the American opinion on these issues. Today, in my Mexican history class, I was called to give my opinion on the land wars between the U.S: and Mexico, historically. I thought of all the times I had discussed this with my friends and classmates in English. I remembered how indignant I felt about the issue. I tried to think of how upset it made me. But the truth is, my Spanish just isn´t good enough to truly express my opinions. I can´t say what I want to.

Hopefully, one day in the future, I will be able to look back and laugh at that time when I walked slowly to the front of the classroom, stared resolutely at my shoes and began: ¨I believe… pause….that when the U.S. took land from Mexico…pause….it was a very…pause….bad thing…¨

Blowing in the Wind

Laundry, that is. Yes, of all the exotic and interesting topics to discuss here: school, the climate, driving, food, family, personal space <----- (all will be blogged :) ) I have chosen laundry to come first. Because a few days ago, I learned how to wash my clothes. And I mean WASH my clothes. None of this ¨stick the clothes in a washing machine and hit the big button¨ business.

On our sunroof here, there is a large sink with a scrubby bottom. Using this, a bar of soap, a brush and my hands, I can keep my clothing smelling fresh! At first I was surprised, because my family here has many luxuries, the house is very big, and where I´m coming from, using a washing machine is pretty commonplace. BUT, once I tried it for the first time, I realized how much more satisfying it is to do it this way.

It´s hot here. Like: Sticky, Humid, Sit-down-and-don´t-move-or-you´ll-start-sweating hot. BUT, the sunroof is high enough up to get WIND. You can see the SKY. There is a HAMMOCK. It is absolutely glorious. Working with cold water, pleasant smelling soap, and clean clothing up there hardly feels like a chore. Also, because you do each item one at a time, I don´t feel ecologically guilty for washing my uniform/socks right after I cahnge after school.

This chore has also given me a reality check. SO I already said that I am with a wealthy family. I assumed that the neighborhood I am in is too, (In the U.S., different socioeconomic groups tend to cluster, no?) But from the glorious sunroof, I can see how the people BEHIND our house live. Just past the 15 foot wall and barbed wire fence, life is completely different. Dirt floors. Corrugated tin shacks. There are fires in garbage cans and kids without shoes. I was shocked. My host family is incredibly generous, caring, loving, and kind, how could it be that our ¨neighbors¨ have such a completey different lifestyle? Why was this ok?

But then again, we do this in the U.S. too. We can´t say that there isn´t poverty in our country, state, and even city, we just don´t have to look it in the face on a daily basis. It´s easy to ignore something you don´t see. It´s easy, but does that make it right?

So I stood there, with my spotless white uniform flapping in front of me, gazing down three stories into a different world, and noticed something.

Everyone washes their laundry the same way.

Tomorrow when I have the talk good....

Hello All! I am here! I am alive! I Love Mexico! I¨ve actually been here for five days now, but I´ve been busy- so many ¨firsts¨. Wednesday night, when I arrived at Villahermosa, I was greeted by my HUGE Mexican family. They literally grabbed me, and I immediately felt loved and safe. There is a lot of hugging and kissing here- and despite the fact that my Spanish is so limited, I could tell everyone loved each other very much, and that this is family I WANTED to be a part of.

It always sort of bothers me when other people describe their experience in another country by saying: Everything is just so different!!!!! Or: The Food is very interesting!!!! Or: I love the culture!!!! Too vague. I want DETAILS! Which is why I am going to tackle things one at a time on this blog. I want to be able to talk about things in detail, and I honestly don´t think I know enough to do justice to a lot of what I am experiencing, which is why this post is solely about my first days of ....duh duh duh..... LANGUAGE IMMERSION....

I have always loved Spanish class. It´s been my best, and favorite class in High School, and I was absolutely thrilled to find out that I would be living in a Latin American country for a year (I still am :) ) But I did NOT anticipate how hard it would be! Language immersion is often described as a mystical experience.... Go to a foreign country for X number of months and you will be FLUENT... YAY! But the part in the middle is what takes work. From the moment I wake up in the morning to the moment I fall asleep, I have to concentrate very hard on what I want to say and HOW I want to say it. I often have to rephrase things in my head 5 or 6 times before I can come up with something that will most likely be understood. It´s absolutely draining.

It´s also absolutely thrilling. It´s hard to describe how exciting it is to have a whole sentence be understood. Or to understand two sentences in a row. But there are many times when I am reduced to simply announcing nouns and hoping that they make sense. Also some things are hard to explain! Here is an example:

Papa: Is there a baseball team in Wisconsin?
Me: Yes, The Brewers.
Papa: What does ¨Brewers¨mean?
Me: ...pause.....um.....a Brewer is... a person.... who works....in a factory of alcohol.
Papa: Oh...I see.

I have yet to meet a native English speaker, but almost everyone knows some nouns and a phrase or two in English, this is sometimes very helpful, but soemtimes less so. Here is another conversation:

Tio: ¨Somethingsomethingsomething Negra o Blanca?¨
Me: Otra Vez Por Favor? No entiendo.
Tio: Negra o Blanca
Me: QUE es negra or blanca?
Tio: White or Black

And so on and so on (we were talking about SAND by the way). ¨Who´s on Second¨anyone? It´s pretty frustrating, but I know that it´s good for me. Also it´s good for my charades skills. Although that´s not always a good option (try acting out CLOSET or PENCIL BOX). Thankfully, I have a very loving and patient family who is willing to watch me string together actions, present tense verbs and a limited number nouns to express such important thoughts as: ¨Tomorrow when to go get papers I need.¨ and ¨Yesterday I much like the dog¨ and ¨What delicious shirt!¨ and are still willing to take me to the store to buy a notebook.

One.

Hello All!
My name is Elaine Anderson and I am leaving for Mexico in 2 days. It still feels unnatural to write that, even though I have been telling people about this exchange for the past 9 months. Phrases like "Yes, I am SO excited" and " I've been studying Spanish but I still have a lot to learn" and "Well, I'll probably have to drink the water at some point" have been more prevalent in my vocabulary this summer than ever before. I have a half packed bag sitting on my bed. I have what seems like a thousand-point checklist circulating through my head. But sometimes, I still can't believe I'm going.


I really should have started this blog last November, when all of this became real, but I guess I'll just have to get you caught up right now.

I started dreaming of this exchange when I read "The New Global Student" by Maya Frost. I would recommend it. To everyone. Anyway, that was in late August 2010.

During September and October of last year, I started to filled out the application. This is when I first realized how blessed I am to have supportive parents. I'd read other people's blogs about trying to convince their parents that this was a good idea, and realized that I never had to sit down and change my parents' minds or present them with this information. They were there with me every step, and still are. After the application was complete and the "Country Selection" segment had undergone its 38th adjustment, I focused my energy on getting myself stressed out for "THE Interview". The one I'd heard horror stories about. The one that would potentially tell me that I was unfit to be an exchange student. In early November, I was interviewed. Two weeks later I found out I was accepted. Everyone who interviewed me (there were 2 rebounds and 2 younger rotarians) was very kind and passionate about Youth Exchange. It was nothing to be stressed over and I actually learned a lot of good information.

Over the next months, I found out the Mexico would be my country, My third choice! I was thrilled.


I then got an email from my host brother, telling me that I would be living in Villahermosa, Tabasco! Again, I was thrilled. My host family seems VERY warm and kind and I can't wait to meet them.

This summer was a whirl of orientations, Visa shenanigans, and packing (sort of). This summer passed more quickly than any other period of time in my life. I have all of the gifts I'm bring ready, but I'm still not sure what personal items I will bring. I should get on that.

So if you're interested in how a small town girl from Wisconsin adjusts to life in a city of one million, or how a girl who loves snow adjusts to a tropical climate, or how a girl with 3 sisters adjusts to life with 3 brothers, or perhaps you know me from school, then Stay Tuned.

I'm fascinated to see how this will turn out!