2
Bienvenido a Mexico
Posted by Miz B
on
Tuesday, August 10, 2010
Hi, everybody! If this is posted, that means my crazy idea worked! My family has wireless internet, but it must be provided by AT&T as well, because it's having the same problem as our old provider (it has a fine connection strength, but won't assign my computer an IP address. Ideas? Let me know!). So, while I have been able to post this, you won't be getting any pictures, because I have no way to get them off my computer without the internet and Picasa.
Anyway, let's see if I can get this in some manageable order. As some of you probably know, I was scheduled to leave on Sunday morning. Well, over the weekend my airline (Mexicana) caved, so the place was in an uproar. We waited in line for 4 hours (no, I'm not exaggerating) to be told that my flight had been canceled, and I'd have to leave on Monday.
Of course, it wasn't until I got on the plane next morning that I found out that my connecting flight to Minatitlan had been canceled again, so I got to spend 5 hours in the Mexicana/Interjet Domestic Flights terminal in the Mexico City International Airport. You won't like it 'til you try it! My host mother and most of my hosting club met me at the baggage claim, and, after some mixed signals (they speak less English than I speak Spanish), they figured out I hadn't eaten since mid-morning and took me out for tacos (word to the wise: all Spanish words are italicized in this post). They were all very nice, and I'm sorry I can't remember all but 2 of their names (and one of those is only because I misheard who it belonged to and spent 10 minutes wondering why anyone would name a woman 'Antonio'). I assume I'll see them all again, so I'm not to worried about that. By then it was about midnight, so I was kind of falling asleep in my seat. Petrona (my host mother) took me to her house, and sleep was eventually achieved.
My first day has been so busy, it's hard to tell where to start. I guess beginning is a good place. My room is a little weird. It actually belongs to Petrona's daughter, Karina, who is Japan (japon!) right now, on a student exchange like me. The room is pink and purple with lots of china figurines and flowers and stuffed animals. It's going to take some getting used too.
It has it's own bathroom, but the pressure on the shower is so bad I can't figure out how to wash my hair AND get the soap back out. Also, the room is so hot I'm sleeping in the room next door, which I think used to belong to Petrona's son (hijo) although I can't figure out how to ask more information about him yet. Only, the reason I was in that room was the A/C, which stopped working this afternoon, so I don't know where I'm going to be tonight (esta noche). I tried very hard to come with no assumptions, but it turns out I brought some anyway. For example, everyone tells you “Don't drink the water”. I guess it never came up that if the water is that dangerous, people might not drink it here, either. No one does. Ice cubes in shops on the street? Tap water. Dishes? Rinsed with tap water. Juice? Made with fruit. What did you think the answer was?
Than there's clothes. I was told high necked t-shirts and skirts. Conservative, right? Dead wrong. I've seen a grand total of 2 skirts (faldas) the whole time I've been here, and one of them was a school uniform. I'm not sure what I'm going to do about that...
Today, I woke up in time to set the table for breakfast (desayuno) and help Petrona and Juli serve the juice (jugo). We went to my new school to pick up my uniform. There, I found out something I wasn't expecting. Here, I am huge (note: that word is italicized for emphasis, not because it's in Spanish). I don't mean fat (actually, I'm practically skinny compared to many people on the street), I mean, if you took someone from here, opened them in Preview and clicked 'zoom', you'd get me. I'm a good 1 ½ feet taller than everyone here, gents included. My bones are bigger, too. My skull is larger than Juli's, I checked. I feel like the big friendly giant. Kids look at me like there wondering if I'm going to snap and start eating sheep and grinding bones.Like I needed anything else to make me stand out. My hair and eyes and skin already make it painfully obvious I'm not from anywhere near here. So, when it comes to uniform sizing, I'm wearing an XL because anything less and the skirt hiked up to my thighs. As it is, I have trouble closing the blouse over my chest, and the waistband on the skirt keeps slipping down. At least the tie will probably fit...
We went to Coatzacoalcos (not pronounced how it looks, btw), to look at the sea (el mar) and go to 2 malls (dos plazas, it's confusing because mexican spanish uses plaza for what we would call a mall, and also what we would call a plaza) and a grocery store. It was made a little more interesting by the fact that I mixed up me gusto (I like) and quiero (I want). I spent 2 hours wondering how to tell Petrona that just because I liked something doesn't mean we should get it. Now I have half a watermelon I have to eat, and their watermelons could squash ours flat, literally. Everything is a study in the unexpected. Smells gross? Tastes sweet. Looks like puke? Best juice ever (tamarind). Think it's chicken? It's mushrooms. Here the name and think it's supposed to be sweet? Most spicy, sourest thing ever! (chopped coconut chunks with 2 types of chilis, lime juice and salt. I didn't find that out until later, though).
I only understand about one word in 10. I think everyone had sort of a desperate hope I was already fluent, because no-one speaks english, but they were pleasantly surprised when I explained that I would try anything at least once. I think they were under the impression that Americans were vegetarian for some reason. "You eat fish? And beef? How about steak? Oh good. We have lot's of steak" (that's a translation, obviously). I understand a lot more than I can speak, and a lot more than they think I can, because I don't know how to prove to them that I understood it. I also don't understand things they think I do, so even when I say, "Si, yo entiendo" (which means Yes, I understand), everyone keeps going, trying to make sure I actually get it. I don't know how to tell them I really do without being rude.
That actually brings to mind another problem I didn't foresee, my name. Although I really should have, considering how much trouble my spanish professor has with it. Apparently, the closest anyone can come to saying Bronwyn in roughly 'Brownie'. Before I could come up with something better, the name stuck. Bethany will understand the irony of this. I have to go before Petrona finds me plugged into the telephone line. This is what I do at home, and the internet will be fine, but I don't know how to explain what I'm doing yet, so I do it while she's not here (she's in town with Jose Luis, trying to fix the A/C (clima). Have a cookie, Mr. Holmes (Lilly should get that Klise joke). More pictures to follow. Now. If you'll excuse me, I'm going to go sit in front of the revolving fan and watch Tom and Jerry in espanol with Juli.
Anyway, let's see if I can get this in some manageable order. As some of you probably know, I was scheduled to leave on Sunday morning. Well, over the weekend my airline (Mexicana) caved, so the place was in an uproar. We waited in line for 4 hours (no, I'm not exaggerating) to be told that my flight had been canceled, and I'd have to leave on Monday.
Of course, it wasn't until I got on the plane next morning that I found out that my connecting flight to Minatitlan had been canceled again, so I got to spend 5 hours in the Mexicana/Interjet Domestic Flights terminal in the Mexico City International Airport. You won't like it 'til you try it! My host mother and most of my hosting club met me at the baggage claim, and, after some mixed signals (they speak less English than I speak Spanish), they figured out I hadn't eaten since mid-morning and took me out for tacos (word to the wise: all Spanish words are italicized in this post). They were all very nice, and I'm sorry I can't remember all but 2 of their names (and one of those is only because I misheard who it belonged to and spent 10 minutes wondering why anyone would name a woman 'Antonio'). I assume I'll see them all again, so I'm not to worried about that. By then it was about midnight, so I was kind of falling asleep in my seat. Petrona (my host mother) took me to her house, and sleep was eventually achieved.
My first day has been so busy, it's hard to tell where to start. I guess beginning is a good place. My room is a little weird. It actually belongs to Petrona's daughter, Karina, who is Japan (japon!) right now, on a student exchange like me. The room is pink and purple with lots of china figurines and flowers and stuffed animals. It's going to take some getting used too.
It has it's own bathroom, but the pressure on the shower is so bad I can't figure out how to wash my hair AND get the soap back out. Also, the room is so hot I'm sleeping in the room next door, which I think used to belong to Petrona's son (hijo) although I can't figure out how to ask more information about him yet. Only, the reason I was in that room was the A/C, which stopped working this afternoon, so I don't know where I'm going to be tonight (esta noche). I tried very hard to come with no assumptions, but it turns out I brought some anyway. For example, everyone tells you “Don't drink the water”. I guess it never came up that if the water is that dangerous, people might not drink it here, either. No one does. Ice cubes in shops on the street? Tap water. Dishes? Rinsed with tap water. Juice? Made with fruit. What did you think the answer was?
Than there's clothes. I was told high necked t-shirts and skirts. Conservative, right? Dead wrong. I've seen a grand total of 2 skirts (faldas) the whole time I've been here, and one of them was a school uniform. I'm not sure what I'm going to do about that...
Today, I woke up in time to set the table for breakfast (desayuno) and help Petrona and Juli serve the juice (jugo). We went to my new school to pick up my uniform. There, I found out something I wasn't expecting. Here, I am huge (note: that word is italicized for emphasis, not because it's in Spanish). I don't mean fat (actually, I'm practically skinny compared to many people on the street), I mean, if you took someone from here, opened them in Preview and clicked 'zoom', you'd get me. I'm a good 1 ½ feet taller than everyone here, gents included. My bones are bigger, too. My skull is larger than Juli's, I checked. I feel like the big friendly giant. Kids look at me like there wondering if I'm going to snap and start eating sheep and grinding bones.Like I needed anything else to make me stand out. My hair and eyes and skin already make it painfully obvious I'm not from anywhere near here. So, when it comes to uniform sizing, I'm wearing an XL because anything less and the skirt hiked up to my thighs. As it is, I have trouble closing the blouse over my chest, and the waistband on the skirt keeps slipping down. At least the tie will probably fit...
We went to Coatzacoalcos (not pronounced how it looks, btw), to look at the sea (el mar) and go to 2 malls (dos plazas, it's confusing because mexican spanish uses plaza for what we would call a mall, and also what we would call a plaza) and a grocery store. It was made a little more interesting by the fact that I mixed up me gusto (I like) and quiero (I want). I spent 2 hours wondering how to tell Petrona that just because I liked something doesn't mean we should get it. Now I have half a watermelon I have to eat, and their watermelons could squash ours flat, literally. Everything is a study in the unexpected. Smells gross? Tastes sweet. Looks like puke? Best juice ever (tamarind). Think it's chicken? It's mushrooms. Here the name and think it's supposed to be sweet? Most spicy, sourest thing ever! (chopped coconut chunks with 2 types of chilis, lime juice and salt. I didn't find that out until later, though).
I only understand about one word in 10. I think everyone had sort of a desperate hope I was already fluent, because no-one speaks english, but they were pleasantly surprised when I explained that I would try anything at least once. I think they were under the impression that Americans were vegetarian for some reason. "You eat fish? And beef? How about steak? Oh good. We have lot's of steak" (that's a translation, obviously). I understand a lot more than I can speak, and a lot more than they think I can, because I don't know how to prove to them that I understood it. I also don't understand things they think I do, so even when I say, "Si, yo entiendo" (which means Yes, I understand), everyone keeps going, trying to make sure I actually get it. I don't know how to tell them I really do without being rude.
That actually brings to mind another problem I didn't foresee, my name. Although I really should have, considering how much trouble my spanish professor has with it. Apparently, the closest anyone can come to saying Bronwyn in roughly 'Brownie'. Before I could come up with something better, the name stuck. Bethany will understand the irony of this. I have to go before Petrona finds me plugged into the telephone line. This is what I do at home, and the internet will be fine, but I don't know how to explain what I'm doing yet, so I do it while she's not here (she's in town with Jose Luis, trying to fix the A/C (clima). Have a cookie, Mr. Holmes (Lilly should get that Klise joke). More pictures to follow. Now. If you'll excuse me, I'm going to go sit in front of the revolving fan and watch Tom and Jerry in espanol with Juli.
