Small talk

Edit: Updated April 11. I forgot to include some things.

This post is to briefly describe what my everyday life has been like to those of you wondering. First is that at the beginning of March I moved. I started out living with a host family and it started out well. They are very nice people and very helpful. But after two months some things began to real wear on me. First of all there were 10 other people living in the house. Schedules interfere, some people are louder than others, and some people spend a lot of time using shared spaces. It was also a good distance from campus, as in 20 minutes one way on the bus, at a minimum. So I emailed my the international programs office here and told them how I felt and that my living situation was my least favorite part about being in Mexico. By doing this I unintentionally turned in my host family. It is a rule of the school that host families cannot rent out rooms to non-TEC students: there were 5 other renters who were not students at TEC. This was the second time the family had been caught. At the same time I emailed the school, I told my host mother how I was not really happy with the living arrangement. She realized that she had been caught again and began to cry, but realized that it was not my fault since I was not intentionally trying to get them in trouble. So by then I felt it was best to just move. And it was a great decision. I know live one block from campus, I get to make my own food, and I pay sooooo much less each month.

An interesting thing to note about my new living situation is that I am technically living unlegally in Mexico. I have not signed a new contract, so I just pay my roommate (Markus from Sweden) the rent and bills. Also, I am officially registered as living at my former host family's home with the government of Mexico. But the registration process takes too much time for me to want to attempt it again. I came to Mexico to learn about squatting, non-legal land occupation, and migration, and I now I am living illegally; though out of unwillingness to put up with red tape and not out of necessity.

I also recently got to drive in Mexico! While visiting casa Rosinda in the neighborhood where the 10x10 project is taking place to drop off some supplies, Roberto asks me, as we climb into the truck, "tu quieres manejar?" (do you want to drive). Sure that I misheard him, I said, "Did you really just ask me if I wanted to drive, because that would be cool." So we switched places and I drove down the rocky path of the mountain, avoiding all the big bumps and keeping a steady foot on the brake so as not to lose control of the truck and crash into someone's house. Residents of this neighborhood who drive must have to have their brakes replaced at least once every 3 months! After leaving the neighborhood I also drove on the regular roads and got to do a u-turn. After 3 months of not driving, I almost hit another car almost once. It was fun and I'm glad I got to experience what it is like to drive up in the neighborhood where the site is.

Other than that there is not much to tell. One of my friends was able to visit on her spring break, so we went to Puerto Vallarta and trekked around Monterrey. It was a fun week and a good reminder of home.

Spanish comprehension is vastly improving. Speaking is still not so good since I talk mostly in English on a daily basis. It’s a habit I have started here: often I am spoken to in Spanish but I reply in English because it keeps the conversation going. It’s bad and I need to take advantage of the Spanish while I can.

Also I am beginning to realize that in just over a month I will no longer be a student and don’t really know where I’ll be. I know I want to continue in this kind of stuff, but… Wow that’s coming up soon. I recently told a fellow student that I wouldn't mind staying in Mexico for at least a little longer and she replied "We send you guys thousands of people a year, and you return the favor by sending one. Sounds fair."

And for those of you really keeping up with this stuff, there are some new pictures and the albums about 10x10 have been updated as has the one about visits to rural Mexico.