OoO México, It sounds so simple I just got to go, The sun's so hot I forgot to go home

Ever seen the movie “Nacho Libre”? Well, neither have I, but I have now officially experienced the Lucha Libre in person!! Definitely an experience. The Lucha Libre is kind of like WWE wrestling where men in ridiculous outfits and masks get up in a ring and pretend to beat each other up until there is one team standing. But, the fight does not just stay within the ring if a man falls out of the ring the audience has better be ready for a 200+ man to come projectiling out of ring and into the audience at the man down. Meanwhile the audience is yelling everything and anything they can think of, mainly bad words in Spanish, at the wrestlers. The audience members can throw up any bad hand gesture they want as well and lots of times the wrestler will do it right back to the crazy audience member. The best part was at the end in the “showcase” when the two final guys ventured their fight into the audience and this angry grandmother decided to get involved. She took her big heavy purse and started beating one of the wrestlers. It was great!

Us with the famouso abuelo.

On lunes, we went to this awesome mass, if we go again next week I am for sure bringing a camera because it looks like the Mexican culture you think of in movies. There is so many people there we were standing literally outside of the church. They have huge speakers outside just for that reason, so it is a common thing for Monday night masses to be over packed. After mass there are a ton of vendors outside with all kinds of food, jewelry, and small hand crafted items to be purchased. We had this really good yogurt, fruta, and granola parfait. Court and I like to get fruit whenever possible because we are not a huge fan of the rare fruits we occasionally get fed at home like papaya and this colorful fruit that looks like a brain inside. No me gusta!

This week we got to explore el centro de Guadalajara a little more! We went to this market called San Juan, its kind of like the Canal Street in New York, where they have some illegal cheap items from los Estados Unidos, por ejempo: I got a couple movies like Shrek the Final Chapter of DVD for 10 pesos so less than a dollar!! I also got a couple gifts for the siblings. Ha apparently that is always expected when I travel away from them! We also went to this street where they only sell jewelry, store after store of nice jewelry. Maris told us it is common for people from the U.S. to come down and purchase jewelry here then bring it back to the U.S. and crank up the prices. In el centro we tried some typical dulces (sweets), I was not a big fan, Maris officially thinks I am the pickiest eater ever and she has learned the word interesante in my book does not mean I like it. But, I did like the papas con salsa, lime (of course) and salt.

Cuchapeta’s (Maris and her primos restaurante) moved locations to this bigger, cooler place, so we all spent the day there yesterday. It was a lot of fun and we knew a lot of people there! I enjoyed a Corona with my senora as well so that was funny. And, of course the world cup was on the TV all day at the restaurante. It is hilarious how important and how big of a deal this whole World Cup thing is here. Our management teacher, Jose, is an ITESO teacher, but we were supposed to have class during the game on Tuesday. Of course this was not an option so class was let out early to watch the game with everyone else. Mexico plays Argentina tomorrow though, which is not gonna be promising, but don’t worry that has not put any spirits down nor has any national pride even come close to diming down. Everyone still wears his or her México jerseys and face paint. You see the Mexican flag hung everywhere and painted cars roaring down the street honking and cheering before and after every game.

Va México!

Well, it looks like it might be time to start getting ready to leave for Lake Chapala, Mexico’s biggest lake. We were supposed to leave at 3 but of course like everything here we will be leaving un poco mas tarde. JAJA Our senora’s sister has a place up there so we are going up with 2 of her sisters and a bunch of primos!!

o and no garlic necessario I got some amazing "Gel homeopático calendula flores de bach" the stuff works magic on reducing the swelling!

Yo hablo en español muy mal

I now either look like I have a disease, the chicken pox, or you mid-as-well play connect the dots to form a nice picture out of the amount of swollen mosquito bites I have on my body especially my calves. The most ridiculous part about the 20 mosquito bites I have is that my roommate, Courtney, has ZERO! How does that work!?

Well, as I have become more comfortable here especially around my family I have started letting the weird side out. I no longer sit back at meals and let everyone else do the talking. I say the 15 words in Spanish I know over and over again to get my 2 cents into the conversation. My senora thinks Court, Maris, and I are a bunch of locas together. Maris thinks we are muy divertida though! Meal times are getting longer and siesta time is getting shorter. Classes are getting more interesting, but is really getting in the way of fun time.

Last weekend, Court, Melissa, and I decided to get familiar with our vecindad. We found the supermarket which literally has everything a Super Walmart does times 2. This place is HUGE! Next we traveled onto Starbucks, where we met the most "interesting" man, Christopher, from Alaska, down here for Medical school, he is half way through is 5 year plan and thinks he knows everything there is to know about the Mexican culture. He taught us a few "new" words and "good" tricks to survive down here. The most true thing he said was "Si, verdad" which literally is used every sentence down here, it means like yes, true, or like I am right, huh. An hour later Christopher finally stopped to take a breathe of air so we could get up and run out of there before he talked anymore. The next day on our explorations we found this amazing ice cream place that we have gone to everyday since, it is literally the best ice cream ever! And every time we walk up now the guys laugh at us like the dumb Norte American girls are back again. The best flavor is galleta de oreo, literally tastes like an oreo in ice cream greatness, my dad would love this! Another new obsession of ours is Galletas con Cajeta. Cajeta is this amazing caramel like thing, sooo good! I am definitely bringing a bottle home with me!

I am sure sick of getting ready to go out, I miss my sweats and hoodies and am in desperate need of going out clothes. We have gone to a few super nice malls, all very expensive though. The clubs are awesome here, they put the ones in the U.S. to shame. And everyone goes which is really fun. This week we hung out with a lot of Maris' cousins at the club and other times through out the week. They are all super nice and like most people our age they speak English for when I do not understand or am just feeling lazy. Listening to Spanish all day is seriously mentally exhausting, but worth it.

This week also included a trip to Costco, got some pizza! Yum my favorita! A little gambling at one of many casinos. Lots of huge thunderstorms that literally sound like they are coming in through the ceiling. The whole house shakes and rattles for about 20 seconds its crazy. We also had our first nieve storm (as my senora called it. nieve is snow) haha. It was hail but still really insane. Because of all the rain we didn't go out as much because almost everything is half outside. This was okay though got some good skyping in with some good friends I miss lots including my siblings. Watched a few movies with my hermanos and got a nice visit from a primo from Colorado. My cousin David came to Guad for a business meeting, I would find cousins even in Mexico, right? He took me and Maris to this awesome restaurant where they had traditional Mexican dancing, it was a nice long dinner ending with ice cream!!

Fitting new favorite cancions.

Getting Comfortable!

So upon arrival to Guadalajara, Mexico the lady at customs only spoke Spanish. Apparently I did not fill out the sheet to enter their country right, so I am sitting there not having heard any Spanish in a good 7 months, trying to fix what I did wrong. Finally, she just let me go, I still have no idea if I am now going to be able to leave this place, but o well! Luckily, I found my friend Christine and her friend Mary, so we all shared a cab to our host families houses. After being lost for 30 minutes I was welcomed into this beautiful house with big loving arms and a familiar face, my good friend Courtney. My senora and my new hermana are wonderful! So much fun! Maris, mi hermana, is 25, speaks very good English, and is so good about driving us all over the city and introducing us to all the local spots as well as all of her friends. Mi senora, is soo nice, she doesn't speak any English, she cooks and cleans up after us like we are Princesses and gives us plenty of kisses on the checks as well as hugs! Also living with us is her son who is 27, he is not around too much because he has a really good job and a serious girlfriend who is very cute. He also drives a BMW! haha And, a boy named Ricky lives with us as well, he is 23, and has been living with Senora for 2 years while he studies at a Universidad here. Our house is very nice, Courtney and I share a room with 2 twin beds, plenty of walking space, 2 closets, a balcony and a good size bathroom! Our senora's sister also lives down the street and she has two kids Evet, 20, and Santiago, 19, and two USD girls are living with her Tina and Melissa!! So we hang out with them lots and lots! The meals are really good, but definitely need some getting use to. Lots of ham, jalapenos, queso, tortillas, and leche. It is ridiculously hot and dry, but unlike Denver, it does not cool down much at night, so my best friend has become the ceiling fan. Our school, ITESO, Guadalajara's Jesuit Universidad, is really bonita, with mas largo trees and fountains!

Daily Schedule: We get up for school Monday through Thursday at 7 am to catch the USD bus at 8 to start class at 9. My first class, Organizational Behavior (Business MGMT 300) goes till 10:35 and is pretty interesting. The professor, Jose, is a teacher at ITESO. We have already had one business come talk to us about what they do and we visited another. My next class is Photography and that is from 11:25 until 1. This class is incredible boring right now, but will hopefully get better soon. Then I was taking a Salsa class, but since I can not be taught rhythm, I was not feeling that whole thing so instead I have been going to the gym (and doing a spinning class on M and W) until the end of school bus comes at 2:45. We get home around 3:20 to have lunch with the whole family then take a siesta. Next we normally do some homework before getting ready to go out for the night. And that is my day.

Mexicans are absolutely crazy!! My senora is 58 years old and she goes out as much as we do and some nights she stays out even later than we do. Fiesta days are Tue, Wed, Thur, Fri, and Sat here. I am going to get home and sleep for a week! At night we have been going to lots of local clubs (one of which we saw all the program directors at!! haha), a few bars, and some "invitation only parties" that Maris hooks us up with. For example, we went to this restaurant opening on Tuesday where our names had to be on a list, and last night we went to a party at this enormous beautiful place that is only used for differente fiestas. It was a fashion show (runway), with a red carpet and everything! Tonight we are going to some other special restaurant that is celebrating an anniversary of a magazine.


Last week we went on tour of downtown Guadalajara where we visited the Cathedral, first Opera house in Mexico, the Governer's house (since Guadalajara is the capital city of the state of Jalisco), and the city of Tlaquepaque. We also went to the grande outdoor marcado, which was kinda like a huge flee market where they sell everything you can think of, my mom would love it! We also saw Sex in the City 2 for 50 pesos (so less than 5 U.S. dollars!) And we went to Sam's Club with our Senora! O, and Maris works at this outdoor, really fun, chill seafood place so we have gone to visit her there a few times! All I really like to eat there though is guacamole, but, yes I like Mexican guac!! ha Well, I think that pretty much sums it up, our days are really packed especially because whatever we do is a process, Mexicans are never in a big hurry, unless they are driving, then you better hold on for dear life because there are absolutely no rules on the road. You start, stop, park, speed, and turn where you want to! It has been an amazing 10 days! I am excited to see what else they throw my way and my spanish is slowly getting better.

Cathedral

Tlaquepaque