Exhausted from FUN!

Today was FUN! :) As you probably have read from the title already hahaha...Clinic was alright today...not too exciting as yesterday. A lot of times, I would just sit there...and wait for patients...and then perform physical exam on them. I saw another prego woman today. She is supposed to be due on 10/04/2010, so her belly was HUGE. I couldn't feel the baby's head as a result. Also, it could be due to the fact that she was kind of big. =X I've realized a lot of women here look MUCH older than their age. The pregnant woman is only 29 or so, but she looks like she's like...35 or 38 even. There was another woman who was 45 but she looked 60 to 65 ish. I think it's probably from the fact that they have a lot of household pressure and the fact that they probably don't use much sunblock.

Came home around 12:30pm and was SO tired. Wanted to take a nap, but my homestay mom asked me to accompany her to buy the material she needed for her new floor. So, off I went. Boy, was I surprised! I have NEVER seen SO many different types of floor designs and bathroom designs. Man, even though Mexico is so developing, they have some PRETTY sophisticated showers ie. shower spouts lined up in two rows on the wall. Talk about luxury. Quite honestly, I didn't know Mexico was capable of having things this modern just because I've only been around home and the center which is much older. I was glad I went because it was nice to see different parts of town as well as just talking to my host mom.

When we came home, we had la comida, then took a 10 minute nap and off I went to my 3 hour Spanish class. Oy. It. was. long. BUT, fun! Ha! At the end of class, we played Loteria, which is Mexican bingo except...very not-PG. LOL. There was a naked mermaid, a drunk, death, and other funky ones. Jennifer brought up Negrita (which is black person ... dunno why they had that on there), and it was probably due to my delusion from exhaustion, but what Sarah was like.."Este es de Hades.." I immediately shouted out "Negrita!" Funny thing is, I didn't even HAVE it on my card. Everyone stared at me for a while...I guess they all thought I meant that Negritas belong in Hades, which I understand, is OFFENSIVE, but I thought that she meant the COUNTRY Haiti. LOL. ANYWAYS, THAT caused a ruckus, as well as some others. We always have a good time in Spanish. LOVE my grupo.

Afterwards, everyone decided to get pan dulce or Mexican sweet bread. TOTALLY the same as Asian bread! YES!

note excitement! This was before Sarah spent 17pesos (around $1usd) on 8 breads.

Then, we all wandered to El Zocalol where we got delicious Fried Bananas topped with condensed milky goodness. Heaven.

YUMYUMYUM!!!

The Fried Banana clan!

Hung out and just did random things ..

Jane playing chess with a random person.
El Zocalol at night <3 href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjPySxkVTIMx03geS58vv30KmQofWVoVBsM1LOrIy-dm19QKAIDgmMHNyL5U7VWyLHV8I52YvcT0Q8y0fZSlwA2RTWbRSLJudFx_CvX1nLuhgwGdZQS1S98hqd_WK0WkUb3DSdRqCxQmvRc/s1600/random+004.JPG"> Jaoquin joining in some street competition or something...

Overall, FUN day :) Must keep myself busy so I won't get homesick!

Okay love and miss you all<3

First Day of CLINIC!

Today was my first day of clinic at Centro de Salud Colonia America, and it was so amazing! I woke up at 6:15, which was NOT amazing. I was freezing half to death and it was still dark outside which made me sad that I had to wake up. Since we had to leave so early, my homestay family packed us breakfast to go =)

Got there around 7:35-40ish and saw my partner Leslie. We were there too early because the doctor hadn't arrived yet. He ended up arriving around 8:15. The doctor we spoke to, Dr. Carlos Cruz, was the director of the Centro. He assigned Leslie and I to different doctors and I got assigned to Dr. Francisco. He was a great doctor to shadow because before we began anything, he told me about the healthcare system of Mexico with all the different insurances and stuff. Apparently, PEMEX, which is like the ONLY gas company in Mexico, has its own hospital since they are SO big! The people who see them I think are like investors and stockholders. There is another hospital just for veterans, hospitals for the working class, and then there's the hospital for people who are none of the above. There are two types of insurance in this category: Seguro Popular, and Oportunidades. Seguro Popular is just for sickness. You go in for a consult anytime and they pay for basically EVERYTHING ranging from the consult to tests, to surgeries! Oportunidades just lets you get a checkup every 6 months. With Dr. Francisco, we saw a lot of Oportunidades patients. He showed me how to do a checkup one time, and then he told me to do it the next. It was kind of embarrassing because I couldn't find the heart, or hear the sound. Turns out, I wasn't putting enough pressure on the stethoscope or putting it in my ears far enough haha. So, I got to check the throat, lymph nodes, check heartbeat, and respiration.

There was one interesting case though. This 21 year old was pregnant. So Dr. Francisco did the test on her. He pressed down on her tummy on some areas pretty hard to check the baby, and then he showed me how to do it. I was able to feel the baby's head and the mother's uterus! It was so interesting because it seemed as if the the baby's head was enormous! It seemed to take up the whole width of the abdomen! Then, he used this cone like metal hollow device with a hole at the end and pressed down REALLY hard on the belly. Apparently, that was to hear the baby's heartbeat! I got to do that too! It was REALLY hard to hear the heartbeat, but I think I did hear it. It was super faint, and kind of dull. He also showed me the ultrasound and I saw the baby's vertebral column. It was such an amazing experience. It really made an impact on me. The story of life is so amazing and it just really reflects God's love to me. He delicately and artfully created each one of us, and just being there to experience the development of everything is really precious.

Dr. Francisco told me some very interesting things that just reaffirms what we learned about in the lectures. He told me women in Oaxaca get pregnant as young as 13. They also wed very young and have many children. I asked him if they use contraceptives and he told me no. I asked him if it was due to religious reasons since I know that Catholics do not allow it. He told me that it was mainly due to the males not allowing the women to take birth control, and since the males are aggressive, the women can do nothing about it. I asked him if there are many cases of domestic violence here in Oaxaca, and he told me yes. "The men here drink a lot and it leads to violence," he said. He told me just last week, he saw a young woman who came in with a bruised eye because of domestic violence. It's such a sad thing to hear. It really makes this issue real for me to hear it from a doctor, and it's sad to because it is so instilled in the Latino culture and thinking. Hopefully, there will be a change to this and women will have more respect here.

Dr. Francisco only saw like 10 patients and he was done for the day. What a busy man huh. So, Dr. Cruz, other doctor and nurses, Leslie and I went to this school for a health fair. Apparently, it was their first time hosting it so it was a pretty big deal. It was interesting because they gave out free Hepatitis and Tetanus vaccines. Also, they had this medicine to prevent intestinal worms, and another medicine to prevent dental plaque haha. I learned from the health fair the unlike the United States, folic acid isn't added to their foods. They need to take it as an extra supplement. So, we were also handing folic acid out haha. "Una tableta diaria." Teenage boys usually didn't want it because they thought it was only for females, and if I gave it to a boy, the others would make fun of him Haha. Folic acid IS important for women because it helps the neural crest form for babies. If they don't get enough during development, sometimes spina bifida can occur. The pictures are NOT pretty. ANYHOW, these boys knew it was for women, but through BIOCHEM, I learned that folic acid is needed for metabolism SO I convinced many boys to take their folic acid. HAHA.

We were also handing out toothbrushes and it was SO ironic because we have this bowl of the BIGGEST MARSHMALLOWS I HAVE EVER SEEN right next to the toothbrushes and in front of the pictures of the stages of cavities. So funny! We also had condoms too and MAN, young kids were grabbing them left and right! What has this world come to?! Anyhow, it was funny because Dr. Cruz was telling these girls that the condoms were actually inflatable boys. Yep.

So yea. Our shift ended at 12pm, but we ended up staying until 2:30. It was a great day!

Wish I brought my camera today!

Hasta manana!

The Beginning of Work...DUN DUN DUN...!

So, these past two days have been the first two days of class! It's held at Hotel Anturium where our orientations are at and it's a bit further than Becari, so Erica(housemate) and I must walk a bit more. The classes have been okay. We've been having lectures with Dr. Tenorio and he's so awesome! The lectures are like a lot of self-help stuff since it's about emotional intelligence and things like that. I feel like the lectures, though a bit long, have been helping me deal with my homesickness more. Basically, it's helping us to learn how to develop empathy for others and just listening and understanding others. It's very philosophical kind of, but not too hard to understand. I really like Dr. Tenorio. I feel like I could learn a lot from him since he IS teaching this stuff. Hopefully, I can shadow him for my last rotation or something.

Dr. Yvette Flores also lectured today about migration and mental health. It was really interesting because we learned about the psychology behind migrating, or immigration, and a lot about ethnic and racial topics. We also learned that just being a woman is a risk factor for many things such as violence, persecution, etc. Domestic violence was something we hit on today too and the whole "machismo" mentality in the Latino community. One thing I found very interesting from the reader is that many women often express their psychological problems through physical symptoms such as backpain, headaches, etc. However, when doctors run test, they find nothing wrong. Very interesting...I'm definitely going to learn alot from the culture here in Oaxaca..sometimes sad things, but nevertheless, things I'll probably never get to see in the US.

So, I was really homesick these past couple of days...like EXTREMELY, but through prayer and just talking with family, and through the lectures, I am a LOT LOT better today!! :)

Today was Skye's birthday too! We all went out to celebrate at La Olla after. It was a bit pricey, and my food sucked, but overall, I had a great time! Oh yeah, my housemate and I made a deal in order to improve our Spanish. We ONLY speak Spanish to each other and whoever speaks English gets a tally. On mondays and tuesdays, whoever speaks the most English has to buy bread after class so we don't STARVE before La Comida which is served around 3pm..LOL. During the rest of the days, we still keep track, but we can buy like snacks, or ice cream, or cheap dinners for each other! It's been pretty funny and just fun!

Anyways, here are some pictures as usual!

creepy doll from our homestay. we named her Sally..

"quiero jugar contigo..."

giant black moth that would NOT leave our bathroom!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY SKYE!!

the bar is SO pretty! I love all the decor on the walls and stuff!!

Hotel Reforma needs to be reformed for sure.

ALRIGHTEY! CLINIC is tomorrow! I feel SUPER legit in my white coat! MUAHAHA!!! Medical world here I come!

UPDATES OF MIS AVENTURAS

Hola mis amigos!! I haven't updated in a while!! It's just that so many activities have been going on these past few days and I don't get constant internet at my homestay, so it makes it hard to update! Anyhow, here is a sneak peak of what's been happening the last couple of days...

Thursday-Monte Alban!! It was amazing, gorgeous, and just overall a GREAT experience!! We were able to see the ruins built by the Zapotecs! I never thought I would be able to see or visit a place like this, but man, I did, and it was SPECTACULAR! Sra. Esther is awesome too. She has more energy than us 20 something year olds for sure. I had to rest multiple times because the altitude made it hard to breathe sometimes.

And I bought a mask made out of precious stones for 100 pesos which is about $10USD. However, I quickly realized that I had gotten ripped off because they were selling BIGGER and BETTER masks than mine for only 100pesos. =( Boo. Lesson learned: DON'T FALL IN LOVE AT FIRST SIGHT..because there will be better ones on the way ;)

Friday- We went to visit various little pueblos known for a type of art. The first pueblo we went to was San Bartolo which was famous for barros negros which are black pottery. It's amazing how beautiful each piece of art is and how each piece is handmade. I love how intricate and detailed each design is.

The matte black pottery pieces are used for water while the shiny black pottery pieces are usually used for display. It's also interesting because the pottery is buffed with a quartz crystal, there's no polish or anything. Also astounding to me is the fact that EACH handmade piece take roughly ONE MONTH to finish. For the price we bought it for, it was definitely very cheap! I bought my mom a vase since she loves these types of things.

Next, we went to visit another small town named San Tomas? I forget the name. Perhaps I should have written it down like my more diligent program buddies! hehe. But, this town is known for wooden painted animals called alibrijes. Each person supposedly has an animal depending on which day they are born on. I absolutely LOVE my animal because it's un PERRITO .. or a dog, and those of you who know me know that my absolute FAVORITE animal is the dog. That's why it KILLS me to see so many stray dogs here. Makes me tear up sometimes :(

they used all natural ingredients to make different colors for painting the wooden animals!

an example of a smaller finished product! some take WEEKS to paint! Some are painted with acrylic paint, while others with natural colors. Each design is unique. Gorgeous no? Kinda pricey though...

ie. this wooden bear was for sale for 85,000pesos...or around $8500 USD. lol.

Afterwards, we went to a town famous for its weaving. They still use traditional weaving methods which was really cool to see. I bought a scarf for my grandma and a belt for my boyfriend. =) Didn't buy anything for myself though...which was hard. But, I AM DISCIPLINED yes!

At night, we had to dress up for the Guelaguetza which was a cultural show displaying the dances and outfits of the different regions of Oaxaca. There are 8 regions each with their own dance, outfit, and culture. I love how culturally rich this place is. It was also a buffet. But, my stupid stomach was stuffed only after one plate so I couldn't enjoy much of the food. Boo..=(

we had to dress up.

And who said mexican food was all tacos, quesadillas, or burritos! Here we have MOLE. tons of it. Oaxacan mole is unique because it uses real chocolate. On my plate, I have black mole, red mole, and yellow mole. Surprisingly, the black mole was gross. Usually, it's very tasty though.

They danced about the conquer of Mexico. All I can say is WOW, those headpieces look HEAVY!

my favorite outfit was theirs.

Later that night, all of us went to Elefante, which is a pretty HIP club/bar. Alcohol makes me brave enough to dance...so dance I did. I danced the night away and ended up going back around 1:40am. Thanks to these cool people for taking me home since NO one lives in my direction.

AND...spent the whole day yesterday being lazy and ... more lazy! SO LAZY in fact that I did not feel like going out. OH, I did manage to wash my clothes! YAY! By hand too. SO, now they are hanging in my room...my room looks awkward with all these hanging articles of clothing.

NOW, I am STUCK with a HUGE stack of reading and class starts TOMORROW! Clinics start on Wednesday! YIKES!

UPDATE SOON!

Hump day

So, today was pretty much a relaxing and easy day! I met up with some people at 11am for a tour of my clinics. We went to a couple of places. One of the places we went to was this huge Centro de Salud ... I forgot the exact name, but there were a lot of people waiting outside. Many of us have rotations at various centro de salud which is like a public hospital for people without ANY type of health insurance. It is like a family practice hospital. Many people wait for hours up to 2 days to be seen!

I will be volunteering at Centro de Salud America. I'm really nervous because I need to figure out how to get there, preferably NOT by walking. But, I don't know. My partner Leslie will take the bus, but since I live on the opposite side of town, even if I do take the bus, it might not be the same one. Regardless, I will definitely be waking up early and LEAVING early to get there by 8am.

We basically rotate at each clinic site for 2 weeks with 3 days each week and 4 hours each day. So 6 days per clinic site I guess. I'm really excited! I think I will learn a lot. I'm also nervous too because my shoes hurt me so much. Guess I need to suck it up.

I feel like this trip has taught me to be even more independent because I need to basically figure out on my own (well with others too) how to navigate Oaxaca. This is definitely a challenge. I feel like I'm learning a lot about living by myself in a new place. These days however, I get sudden pangs of homesickness. I don't know if this is the "culture shock" they were lecturing about, but I know I was super homesick today. I think it's because I had nothing else to do after my tour since I had no class today either. So basically, I was home all afternoon. Today, I just felt very frustrated because I find it hard sometimes to get to know the people. It's especially hard because I feel that we live so far away from everyone. Also, I was frustrated because I felt that my brain was being fried from constant processing of Spanish. It's so mentally draining. I just missed my friends back home, my family, my dog, my boyfriend, and everything about the US. I missed the comfort, the familiarity and everything. I was frustrated with all the walking and the dust constantly flying into my eyes. I found comfort when I saw tourists such as myself walking the streets of downtown Oaxaca. So, I talked to my mom. I have the best mom ever. Anyways, she made me feel a lot better. I think it was just the fact that I could talk to her made me feel better. Luckily though, this feeling has passed. Perhaps it will come back, but hopefully, it won't be as bad as today. I gotta cut myself some slack too because ... well... it's only been like the 4th day of the program. LOL!

I also have a TON of reading I need to catch up on. One thing I am definitely not used to is this much reading. As a bio major, I NEVER read my textbooks. Lol. I'd rather be studying powerpoint notes than read. I hate reading textbooks and writing essays, which is what this program consists of...SO, yeah. NOT doing so well with the reading right now especially since I ALWAYS fall asleep EVERYTIME I try to read my stupid book.

Anyways, tomorrow we will be going to visit the famous MONTE ALBAN which are pyramids built by the Zapotecs! That should make for a great photo post! Then, I have Spanish class. Hope we won't have as many questions! :)

Alrighty! I think that concludes my post for today! I love and miss you all!

Cheers from Oaxaca! <3

Orgulloso a ser Oaxacaquena/o

Today was definitely a fun fun day! Met in front of Santo Domingo for a city tour. We ended up listening to Sra. Esther and her son talk about the history and culture of Oaxaca. She also showed us a bunch of different local fruits and herbs/spices that they use. It was so interesting listening to her, though I didn't get everything she was saying. My favorite part was definitely eating the food! The fruits of Oaxaca were so delicious and sweet and so unique! I think the most memorable for me was the sweet potato here. It is sooooo SWEET that I thought they had added extra sugar or something. I later found out that it was au naturale!

I also had Spanish classes for the first time! I really like my group because we have so much fun in class together! I have to say though...the class was REALLY difficult for me somehow. Usually, spanish class is easy and fun, but today, the article we had to read was just so hard!! :( We literally spent time on EACH sentence trying understand what it saying. I'm just glad our teacher es muy paciente y amable! My group is crazy and we have good laughs :) I am JEALOUS of those who DON'T have Spanish class today though because they got to SALSA! OH SALSA! HOW I MISS THEE!!!

Then afterwards, all of us who were left went to eat tacos! I wasn't hungry, but I decided to eat, and boy was I glad! BEST TACOS OF MY LIFE! :) Got to chat with people in my program too so that's nice :)

Tomorrow, I'm going to visit my clinics so I'm excited for that!
OH YEAH and my internet works now! YAY!

PICTURE TIME!

the variety of local food in Oaxaca!

me and some friends!

tortilla.

Champulinas again. MM. -_-

Sra. Esther! I love her! :D She is cutting up a Patilla?

A fruit called a TUNA! :)

Plantains...meh...just like banana

A Guayabana! I ate this before from Asian markets! Very good :) Love this fruit!

Alrighty, that's all for tonight! Talking to my beloved Angela and Kat!

Night!

09/20/2010-DAY 2 POST!

NOTE: THIS POST WAS PRE-WRITTEN YESTERDAY!

I felt that today was a much better day than yesterday mood-wise for me because after dinner last night I was a bit homesick. It was kind of hard to socialize with the people, but I realized that I was just thinking too much. There’s nothing wrong with observing and just listening to others.

I have to say that dinner last night was AMAZING. We ate at this restaurant called El Importador and the dinner was NEVER-ENDING! Crazy! It was so good though! The dessert … eh… not so much…People wanted to go to this hookah café after dinner at 9pm, but I was just so exhausted last night I wanted to go home. But, I didn’t want to be a party-pooper, so I said I would go. It ended up pouring HARD with thunder and everything! So, we tried waiting for the rain to stop and it didn’t! It was good though because I got to talk to a small group of people and just chat casually. It was a lot of fun! People started ordering drinks at the restaurant and I eventually ordered my first alcoholic Pina Colada, not that I had a virgin one before or anything. Didn’t taste too good in my opinion with the alcohol inside, but everyone else seemed to think otherwise. In the end, people were like, “LINDA! How can you NOT finish this? It’s so good! Drink it!” LOl! So I ended up finishing my drink, and it turned out to not be AS bad if you drink it fast. I preferred Allyson’s Sex on the Beach better though. IT was DELICIOUS! I also tried tequila for the first time! David, who drank 3 Mezcals (which I believe is STRONGER than tequila), taught me how to drink a tequila: SALT, SIP of TEQUILA, then chaser. It felt stronger than whiskey. Man! Haha! At the end of the night, my homesickness was gone.

I’m starting to get to know more of the people in this program and learning just to let loose and be myself. I think it’s the extreme type A inside of me that makes it hard for me just to let go. My boyfriend always tells me, “no pressure, no worries. Just be natural.” But, it’s always a very hard advice for me to follow. However, I’m learning and making an effort to be that way. I’m also getting to know the area a lot better now! Well, not a WHOLE lot better, but at least I can get to Becari by myself now!

Anyways, we had to meet in front of Becari at 9:30am again for continuation of our orientation. My housemate Erica and I decided to take another route; however, it actually took longer than we expected since we were not sure of the street names. We still made it on time though I was already drenched in sweat at 9:30 in the morning. I decided to wear my $40 flats from Aldo for clinic today to walk in. BAD IDEA. It rubbed against my heels and so my heels are so raw and painful now. I also have a couple blisters! How am I supposed to wear them to clinic? Orientation was good though. I was much more attentive today. I think I’m adjusting more to all this walking. We did a couple ice breakers and then had a lecture on conflict resolution. I couldn’t help think about the Office episode ON conflict resolution where Oscar hates Angela’s picture of a baby. So the way Michael solves it is by making Oscar wear a T-shirt with the picture on it so Oscar can’t directly see it but Angela can. Haha! Anyways, the lecture taught me a lot on resolving conflicts. I found out that I use a bit of each conflict resolution technique to solve my issues. I could definitely use the tips when I am upset with my boyfriend because often times, I just have a temper tantrum and that just makes him retreat more, which as a result, pisses me off even more.

We also met our medical director Dr. Herman Tenorio. He is such a lovable guy! I already love him! He’s so adorable! I love it when he smiles because his eyes crinkle. He’s like an old grandpa! I definitely want to talk to him more because he seems like such a knowledgeable yet approachable guy!

Nothing much happened after that. Just came back to our homestay for la comida, which is the main meal of the day. It is usually a late lunch around 2 or 3pm. Today was the first time I had rice and beans. Well, I had chicken and potatoes too, but it was the first time I had rice and beans in Mexico, and it was delicious! Went to Becari again afterwards and found out that I start Spanish class tomorrow! I’m pretty excited because I love Spanish class! I also went to use the internet since the internet at home is down due to a broken modem =(. So it’s been hard to update my blog.

Everyone’s at La Candela now. I am glad I have the free time to relax and journal. I am following Wayne’s advice on this one. If I don’t feel like going, I won’t. No biggie. There are plenty of other chances to socialize with the people so no worries. Though, I must admit, it did stress me out a little. I know I should go because it’s a great cultural experience, but I am just so tired. I told Erica that I get tired easily too so if I wanted to come home early after dinners or whatever, she didn’t need to feel obligated to walk me home…even though that IS a bit dangerous. But, I am just NOT a night person. I am glad to know there ARE others like me in this group, just maybe not as easily tired as I am.

PICTURE TIME:

champulinas (sp?) yep.

beautiful Santo Domingo!

09/19 Dinner at El Importador..please excuse my ugliness in this picture -_-

more pictures of Oaxacan food! :)

famous Mole!

rain!

Mezcal. Stronger than tequila, which btw I learned how to drink.

posing with our drinks!
Pina Colada!

Maggie y yo! please excuse my boyish hair

ALRIGHTEY! Enough pics for now! Adios mi amor! <3

NO INTERNET!

So, I am at Becari language school right now BLOGGING! I wrote up this huge blog I was going to upload yesterday, but I forgot!

Its been getting hard to blog and stuff since internet sucks here and internets down at my house! But so far, it´s been good. Still adjusting to the way of life here, but I think it will be okay..I hope!

I promise I´ll update soon!!!! Im trying my best here! I have class in 7 minutes though...so yeah.

I love and miss you all!

"Hogar Dulce Hogar"

After a long, frustrating, and exhausting day yesterday, I have finally arrived in Oaxaca, Mexico with my homestay family! Whew!

Yesterday was an experience all in its own. When I arrived at Benito Juarez International Airport, I had a minor panic attack since EVERYTHING was in Spanish! It was definitely a test of my Spanish skills or lack there of. All I can say is DUDE, this airport makes LAX seem like Disneyland or something. It was seriously like 3xs bigger than LAX. When I got off the plane, I had to find where to connect to Aeromexico. Turns out, you have to take a shuttle which was a good 5 minutes to the Aeromexico terminal. Afterwards, I had to figure out which gate to go to which took another 40 minutes at least. I asked a security guard and after much confusion, and another 10 minutes, I was in the right place. All in all, it took probably 1 hr. and 30 minutes after I got off my flight to finally figure out where to go. Good thing I had a five hour wait before my next flight to Oaxaca. I spent the remaining time LITERALLY trying to find internet. After 2 hours of trying to find internet, I finally gave up at bought a book.

Anyways, my homestay family is great! The wife and husband are both super young. They're only 31yrs old. The husband is a soccer coach and the wife is a fashion designer/tailor. They have a son who is 7 and a daughter who is 2. My room is nice too. The only thing I probably will need some time adjusting to is the weather. I absolutely HATE humid weather. Unfortunately, it's a bit humid here. However, it's still bearable for the most part. I also found out that another UCD student will be staying at this house! I'm excited! Hopefully, she will want to explore with me or whatever. =) Also, there is a guy from Sweden here too. Apparently he's been traveling alone around the world since January! Very interesting. I also will have to get used to walking! My school is a good 20 minutes away. I was so tired from walking, but everyone seems used to it.

Alright, time for some pictures!

Sandra y Augustin Jr.

lol he wouldn't smile because he wanted ice-cream...or maybe he didn't like me ;)

Town square! lot's of street vendors!

Protest against the government. Sandra told me the story, but I just didn't really understand what she was saying. I just nodded. Lol.

The streets of Oaxaca

more streets..

another protest..Mexico is VERY patriotic. Mexican flags hang everywhere!

Alright. I guess that's it for now! Adios mis amigos!