Salamanca Weekend

Hopefully everyone had a good weekend! Mine was pretty busy...

After class on Friday, the family and I left for Salamanca, which is about an hour away from Guanajuato. I didn't really see the downtown area so I can't really tell you what it's like. The whole weekend we went between the grandparent's and aunt's houses. Regardless, it was a good time and let me tell you, this family likes to party.

We went to Salamanca for "La Pedida de Mano," which literally means the request of the hand. In Mexico, this is the most important "ceremony" before the wedding; it is when the boyfriend asks his girlfriend's parents for permission to marry her. The good news is that Norma & Miguel's niece is now engaged! This is what we did on Friday night....the after party was at the grandparent's house and lasted until 4AM. We ate a really great dinner and after, the rest of the night consisted of some tequila, dancing, and singing. It was cool to be apart of this and everyone made me feel at home, especially by making me dance in the middle of everyone ha. The only difficulty was remembering everyones names!

Barbeque!

Saturday was probably my favorite day in Salamanca. Because everyone woke up so late, we all at breakfast around noon, which is about the time I eat breakfast in Wisconsin haha. The afternoon consisted of watching movies with Mickey and his cousin until we decided to join everyone at the pool. We had an awesome barbeque and played loteria (bingo) for a few hours. This was great because we played for pesos, although it seemed like the adults won more than the cousins. The lack of concern for time kept us there through the afternoon until after the sun set. Before we left, we played a couple games of volleyball against some people who lived in the neighborhood; each team won once. It was fun, but I have to say, I think many of them should stick with playing futbol haha.

The pool

We came back to Guanajuato Sunday afternoon and were accompanied by the majority of the family. For dinner, the ladies made about 6-8 homemade pizzas which were incredible; my favorite was the one with mangos on top...seriously, it is amazing! The funniest part was watching almost everyone put ketchup on top of their slices. Mickey tried to make me put it on mine but I was like, "No Way!" ...way disgusting. Of course the other condiment was hot sauce. After dinner we all played loteria again and I lost pretty much all my money which was super lame. A couple of my school friends came over to play with us & regardless of losing my pesos, I still had a fun time. The rest of the night we sat around and chatted until it was time to do some much avoided homework.

This weekend I will be in Mexico City, pretty much touring all around the city. From looking at the itinerary, it seems like we're going to be going non-stop all weekend. Check back next week because I'm sure I'll have plenty to tell you all about it! Miss you all!

Our Volleyball Team!

El principio

Hello All,

Sorry it's taken a few days to start this up but I've been pretty busy. I made it here safely and Guanajuato is absolutely beautiful; the city sits perfectly inside the mountain landscape which is beautifully painted by an allure of colored houses. I arrived last Friday and stayed at the Hotel de Embajadoras for a night before I moved in with my homestay family on Saturday night.

My family is great, I'd say very similar to my family in Wisconsin. My mom is always making sure I've had enough to eat and has told me that friends can come over whenever.... it's pretty laid back in the house. Parent's names are Norma and Miguel and my sister's name is Anai (Ah-nah-ee) and my brother's name is Mickey (Miguel). They are both my age so there's always something to do or somewhere to go, I love it. They also have a dog names Manchas (Spots).

Class started on Monday which I wasn't too excited about, especially because it consists of two hours of grammar (muy aburrido!) But hey, I have to be a little happy about class considering it is what brought me here more or less. After a couple days with my family I'm starting to feel like I'm picking up spanish more and more which is definitely comforting. I really see the disadvantage of studying a foreign language in the states due to the lack of conversation in the classroom, this is probably the reason why speaking is more difficult for me than writing.

So far my favorite thing that I've seen is the Cristo Rey statue. It is incredible. It sits exactly in the middle of Mexico on top of this huge mountain. From the bottom of the mountain to the top it took about 45 minutes to drive on the curvy, cobblestone road. Kids line the road holding out their hats and hands to passing cars for a few pesos. Once you reach the top you really realize how huge this statue is. Seriously I don't have enough words to describe how I felt and how breath-taking it is. I strongly recommend visiting this place if you're ever in Mexico.

Some things that are different:

-There are no toilet seats in public places and you feel like you might fall in. In some places there isn't toilet paper in the stalls but rather next to the sink. Also, you can't flush it down because it will clog the pipes so you have to put it in the garbage.

-There are a ton of street dogs here and they all seem to have an agenda every time you see one walking by.

-Every once and while you'll see cows roaming around downtown eating out of gardens or just hanging out by a busy street. It's kind of weird and makes you wonder where they're supposed to be.

That's about all I can think of for now. Hope all is well with everyone!

Saludos desde Guanajuato!

Love, Jourie