En Méxcio

Hello world! I’m finally in Mexico. Let’s take it from the beginning.

Ghuuuuuuh

I left Norway on the 25^th. I was a lot calmer at the airport than I had expected to be, the nerves didn’t start coming until I was sitting on the plane, waiting for take-off.

Travelin' the world

I was sitting next to another AFS-student. She didn’t know much about her family, like me, and was very anxious to meet them. The flight to Amsterdam was pretty fast, and in Amsterdam we didn’t have much time between flights. The AFS-students were on their own, but it wasn’t a problem. We found our flight and got ready for the second flight. The seats weren’t very comfortable, and we had little space for our things, well, I didn’t. The seat next to me was empty.

My means of transport

Arriving in Mexico was quite something. Seeing everything written in Spanish blew my mind. At the airport we had to wait for quite a while. First for the rest of the AFS-students, then the bus. When it finally arrived we had a two or three hour bus ride to enjoy. I didn’t think it was that bad, because I managed somehow to sleep through it. Most of the rest of us hated it.

It was pretty nice

The place for the AFS orientation was quite nice. The outside are was really pretty, and most of the buildings looked good. Except for the dorm where the guys had to sleep. The bathrooms were a little below public bathroom standards, and the showers weren’t great either, but it wasn’t much of a problem. I remember being extremely hungry and tired when I arrived, so I grabbed some food and hurried of to bed. Saturday was quite something. For breakfast we were served cakes, fruit and pancakes. I liked the fruit and pancakes, but the cakes seemed a little out of place, not being desert. Yesterday I learned that these cakes are what they call pan, which translates to bread. I should be fat by the end of the week.

The cantina

After breakfast we listened to the volunteers speak for some hours, and we got cash for transportation! Me gustan dineros. In the evening we had to prepare a little presentation for the “Talent-show”. We were divided into groups by country, but had no idea what to do. Singing the national anthem just wasn’t original enough. The first idea I liked was acting out a little children’s story I’ve always considered Norwegian, but one of the more enlightened of our group pointed out that the play actually was German. Therefore we decided to act out a good ol’ piece of folklore, namely Da Askeladden kappaat med trollet, or as you’d say in English, Ashlad and the porridge-eating competition. A guy in our group who claims he’s from the best side of Oslo got to play Askeladden, the main character. He was quite hilarious when we were rehearsing, but held back a little under the performance. I don’t think our presentation was too bad though. After the “Talent-show”-thingie there was a party. That’s right… not a PAAARTEEY, but a parteey. Oh, yeah, and I danced. That’s right! You might not understand what the big deal is unless you’re a teenager from Norway, but it really is quite something. All thanks to the nice C from Canada. After the party poor C was locked out of her room, and we didn’t get help until 2 am, and at that point I left her to the AFS-volunteers. I’ve got no idea whether she got a bed to sleep in or not that night. Aren’t I nice?

Parteeey

Sunday was meeting-the-family-day. I said goodbye to Runar, three other nice Norwegian girls and all the people I knew I could safely communicate with. Toluca was the next stop. What I had in mind was riding the bus for some hours and then getting dumped into my family’s lap, but instead there was a welcoming-show in Toluca for the AFS-students going there, which included another presentation. Saturday’s presentation had been fine, as we were 10 people in our group, now I was completely on my own. I eventually decided what I wanted to do. I was going to perform for all the parents of all the exchange-students, and I knew that what they needed was a couple of good Norwegian words in their vocabularies. So after a great dance performance by some Mexican kids(it really was good), I got on stage and made them repeat my six words. And I did the entire thing in Spanish, probably leaving my host-family with the impression that I knew more Spanish than I do. Afterwards I was introduced to my family, on stage of course. And then we ate. At this point my family was getting a good idea of how limited my sense of communication really was.

Then we drove of to Tonatico. The nature on the way from Mexico City to my town was really nice, lots and lots of green which I didn’t expect. Tonatico is a little town by Mexican standards, housing approximately 18, 000 inhabitants. It looks quite poor, and I guess it is as well.

Tonatico from the roof of our house

We rolled up to the house and I got out of the car, while my little brother filmed me. The gestured towards the door and I went inside. Then they showed me around, while Manuel filmed me. Later, I asked them to explain the rules, and as far as I understand it’s mainly “be home by 10”. 10. That’s a little too strict isn’t it? Also I have to shower every day. Nooooo, not the shower!! As I got into bed I realized how exhausted I was because of not understanding anything I was being told. This really is difficult, but it doesn’t exhaust me as much now.

Tonatico in the evening

The next day was school. I left with Juan at 10, and I got to see Ixtapa (the closest town to Tonatico, which also is a little bigger and less poor), and Lolitas job. When I got to school there was a ceremony, though I’m not sure what for. I did of course have to stand in front of all the students for the length of it, and at the end I was introduced to them, which was major embarrassing. My class seemed glad that I was starting to them, as they erupted into cheers when I entered the classroom. They do that a lot though. They previous night I had had a feeling of things being very difficult before falling asleep. I didn’t feel that way at all when I sat down with my class. They are really nice, and during the first recess a bunch of guys came over and talked to me. My favorite classmates are currently Fernando and Cesar, or however you write it (it’s pronounced Ceasar). Everyone seems to have nicknames in my class, and I was given one quickly. “Babys”, because I’m new. Fernando’s is Pimpón and Cesar’s is Stuart.

Stuart and Pimpón

I thought my first day of school was very successful, a girl called me guapo (pretty for you non-Españoles…tas…idos) and I got two rose pedals, one having “Hi baby” written in it. After school I went to Ixtapa with Pimpón and Stuart, we played table-soccer for a while and then bought ice-cream.

My classroom

Yesterday I played soccer with the guys of my class. I’m a notorious asshat when it comes to soccer, and I proved that in the beginning when we were just kicking the ball to each other, but then we started running around, brutally forcing the ball from each other, and I did well by tripping one of the bigger guys and kicking the ball far away. The school consists of multiple buildings, so each classroom is separated by an outside area. It is very difficult, as I don’t understand anything. I have 45 hours each weak (my old classmates better be gasping at this), and like 11 different subjects. I only have notebooks, and lots of homework. I better be friggin’ smart when I get home.

Today wasn’t very special, well, every day is extremely exceptional, but this one wasn’t as different as my two previous and I don’t mind that. There’s so much I’ll have to get used to. The tap water is yellow, so it looks like no-one ever flushes the toilet, and I’m showering and brushing my teeth with that water. The pillows are all bulky; it feels like they are full of hard sponges. I’m gonna get fat. Also, I think I’ll have to cut my hair, which I really don’t want to, now that I’ve gotten so used to my long hair. But I guess there’s no reason for me to refuse to look normal, if the hair I’ve got now is weird. Still, I’ve noticed that all the billboards have western boys with long hair on them, so I don’t get why it isn’t cool.

I don’t have that much time to write, because it just feels weird sitting here, isolating myself. I’ve been writing this over three days. I’m going to wind it up there, but more to come.