Tuesday, May 26, 2015

Last Blog Post In Mexico

2 weeks. 14 days. 336 hours. 20,160 minutes, 1,209,600 seconds, however you look at it that is exactly how long of my exchange year remains. It’s hard to believe that my whole exchange has come down to these two weeks. Hard to believe I have spent my whole year building a new life, becoming part of a new family, and making new friends, and now I just have to walk away. This part of exchange is unarguably the most bittersweet part of it all. I feel so happy to be able to go home to my friends, family, and life in the USA but on the other hand I and so sad to leave my friends, family, and life here in Mexico.
Leaving Mexico, I will be leaving my year long summer, and laughing when my host mom told me to get a jacket (like legit winter coat) for 75 degree weather. It means I will leave all the friends I have made in and out of school, knowing that there is no way I will see every single one of them again. It means having the only tear filled “last day” of school I will ever have. I have learned so much this year about myself, and about how the world works, how it’s different and how it’s similar, and I couldn’t have done it without every single person that I have met in my exchange, from the teachers at my school, to the housekeepers in my house. I am unsure about how it can be possible to leave a life that I just made and not know if I will every come back to it. I know for a fact that even if I do return to this city where I have lived my exchange, it won’t be like it was when I was on exchange, and this fact is scary to face. I have two weeks left to finish my life here, two weeks to do everything I haven’t gotten the chance to do yet like, two weeks to say all my goodbyes, two weeks to cry until tears stop coming. I’m leaving Mexico, leaving Spanish, leaving hugs and kisses as a greeting, leaving the friendly people of Mexico, and leaving being “la gringa”.
“La gringa” how can two words even mean that much? “la gringa” means “the American girl” or “the white girl”. Some people find it offensive but I honestly love it. “La gringa” has been my identity for 10 months now. There are not many people that look like me in Mexico, and less in the south where I live, so when someone said “la gringa” you could be 99% sure they were talking about me. Whether it would be the obnoxious men that screamed it while I was walking in the street, my friends in school, or someone who didn’t know my name but wanted the person to know who they were talking about, being “la gringa” mad me stand out, and made me different, but I embraced it. It was so fun having eyes on me wherever I went as if I was a celebrity and honestly I am going to miss that very much.
Along with all of those things, I think my stomach will really miss the food. From tacos to chilaquiles, gringas (yes gringa is also a food) to mole, even hot soup on a hundred degree afternoon, I will miss it all. I will miss fresh corn tortillas, and using those tortillas as silverware with almost every meal. I will miss Mexican BBQs and homemade salsa and guacamole. Rice and beans with every meal, and jamaica and horchata to drink. I will miss Mexican candy like mazapan, and mango suckers. I will miss eating milanesa and cochinita, and all the other food I have tried during this year.
Apart from missing Mexico I am extremely excited to come home, to see my family, friends, and to eat all my favorite food and do all my favorite things. I want to drink Dutch bros., drive a car, go to Pacific City and climb the sand dunes, eat at Chen’s the chinese restaurant, and eat red robin and buffalo wild wings, I want to go to my school and plan my senior year, see my best friends, and sleep in my bed. I want to start training for my senior year of softball, I want to cheer on the football team, and participate in spirit week at school. I want to decorate my room with all my exchange things. I want to tell everyone about my trip and make them fall in love with Mexico the way I have. But what I really can’t wait to do is go to my Nana’s house and see all the animals, and sit in her house because it’s the most calm and relaxing house in the world and it’s like being there makes you feel like nothing bad can happen. I can’t wait to see my crazy annoying family and know it’s mine. I can’t wait to sit in my boring small town and complain that there is nothing to do. I can’t wait to be home, and feel home, and fit in. See you in two weeks Dallas.
Now I have realized that I have never written in Spanish on my blog and as I am leaving I would like to leave a little something for everyone that has been a part of my year in Mexico so here it goes.
Bueno, aqui llegamos al fin de mi año aqui en México y aunque es algo muy triste yo creo que tambien es algo muy bonito. Todos ustedes han tenido una parte muy grande de mi intercambio. Muchos me han apyado cuando no sabia ni una palabra de español y fue muy dificil comunicarnos. Ahora tengo el Español bien y podemos comunicarnos para siempre. He tenido lo mejor año de mi vida en México y fue un placer concer a todos los que conoci en Villahermosa y en todos los otros lugares donde fui. Conoci muchos lugares muy bonitos en Mexico durante del año, por ejemplo Guanajuato, Zacatecas, Cancun, Playa del Carmen, Guadalajara, Leon, y Ciudad de Mexico. A mis familias que me enseñaron tantas cosas, gracias por hospedarme en este año loco de mi vida. A mis amigos, gracias por ser mi todo en este año, los quiero como nunca pueden saber. Gracias pore star a mi lado en todo lo que paso en todo el año de verdad no se que voy a hacer sin ustedes. Me enseñaron casi todo lo que se de Español y por seguro me enseñaron hablar choca wey. LOS AMO! Siempre tienen una casa esperandote en Oregon en Estados Unidos y de verdad espero que visiten pronto.
Besos y Abrazos,

Allison

Gran Viaje

April 17th to the 29th were some of the most memorable days of my exchange, two weeks of my life I will never forget. I along with around 50 other exchange students traveled on a bus through the central part of Mexico. From Zacatecas, the most northern city we visited, to Puebla, the most southern city in the tour. There are not words to explain how emotional this trip was, as it was the last thing we would ever do together. We lived every day to the fullest but even doing that the time went 50x too fast. A bond between exchange students is a bond that is stronger than any I have ever known. Without the other exchange students in my life I don’t think I would have made it through my exchange year. But when you travel with exchange students you have to be ready for anything and everything at every given moment whether it be 5PM or 3AM. Between zip lining, seeing beautiful sights and monuments, dancing and singing in 1000 different languages, late nights in the hotel, meeting other exchange students from other rotary districts, and sleepy mornings on the bus, our trip was extraordinary. I wish I could relive this trip because it was truly irreplaceable. Although I believe most of what happened on this trip is a story best told by pictures, the unfortunate event of losing my phone happened before I had time to transfer any pictures over to my computer so I don’t have many to remember my trip by, however, I will do my best with the pictures I have to show you all just how wonderful my trip was. I will also leave a link right here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=waOL0x4YbN8&spfreload=10 to the video of the trip another exchange student (Alicia from Belgium) has made of all we did during the trip.



















Big thank you to all the rotarians and family members that helped make this trip possible for me and for all the exchange students that were a part of it, we really couldn’t thank you enough.


I find this a great time to thank all the other exchange students of D5100 and D4195. Without you guys, my super large extended family, I would be nowhere near who I am now. Thanks to all of you I have conquered challenges I could have never done alone. I know I can count on every single one if you to help me whenever I need, as well as I hope you all know you can out on me whenever you need. I hope to visit all of you in the future because imagining my life without you all is far too painful to believe. I am so thankful to have had these last two years of my life, my preparation for my exchange, and my actual exchange. It has been a roller coaster of emotions and you all have helped me so much. In the last two years I have fallen in love with around 140 people, not the love like “I want to marry you” love but the love meaning “I want you in my life forever because life without you is unbearable”. We all have rotary to thank for making us all stronger, smarter, more cultured, and of course a little fatter ;) But in all seriousness I just love you guys so much whenever you may find yourself wanting to come to the USA give me a call and you can stay with me always, my house is your house.  

Besos y Abrazos,
Allison

Sunday, April 12, 2015

Spring Break has come to an end

Saludos!!!
Well spring break has come to an end and with that another chapter of my exchange, and I am leaving Friday morning for the big exchange trip I have been anxiously been waiting for. Realizing that a lot will happen on the trip I thought I should send this update before the trip so that my next update can be just about the trip.
First off, my counselor changed my whole class schedule, she did this because I didn't really have a schedule or a class I just went wherever I felt like going that day. Here in mexico the school has the students separated into different homeroom classes, in the USA this is a group of students you have one class called "homeroom" with (DHS doesn't have this but LaCreole does) but in mexico a group of students you have every class with, These students are usually all very close friends and invite each other to do things all the time. I had a "homeroom" but since I went wherever I wanted, I wasn't very close to them and never mad a close group of friends, I just kind of knew everyone and everyone knew me. Anyways my counselor put me in a homeroom and now I have every class with them. I had never gone to their class before but since I am an exchange student most of them knew who I was. I was in my new class the whole last week before our spring break and I honestly love my new group. Everyone is so nice and friendly (Like every other Mexican I have met).
My spring break was eventful but also uneventful. I mean when I write out all I did it sounds a lot more eventful than it felt.  My spring break started march 27th. that same day my new friends took me to try "The best horchata and churros in my city" (Horchata is a drink look it up, it's heaven in your mouth) Which proved to truly be the best. then my host brothers came home for spring break and I got to know them really well and I was extremely sad when they had to go. In spring break we went to the beach, the pool, and I spent a lot of time with the other exchange students in my city. We went for a whole day in the downtown area and it is super pretty there. We also had to learn a dance for the district conference coming up the first days of may. We will be dancing to the song Jarabe Tapatio (you probably think you don't know it but I guarantee you, look it up and you will realize you have heard it in every mexican restaurant you have ever eaten in). Of course I also got a nasty sunburn on my back and now am suffering the pain. 
Before spring break is presented my presentation about the USA, Oregon, Dallas, and Me 3 times but I have over 10 more times to go. It is pretty easy to get up in front of the people now because I have a lot of public speaking/performing experience now.
I feel really good about my exchange and I am so grateful to have had this opportunity of a lifetime.
Next time you hear from me I will have many stories from many new places!!!
that's all for now,
besos y abrazos,
Allison
 in the restaurant of the best churros
 Johanna, the girl from Finland's, birthday party that happened in spring break
 A former D5100 inbound, Fernando and I doing volunteer work in a local public school
 Practicing the dance for the Rotary District Conference with my Belgian friend, Delia
 Tanking photos in our uniforms with our great friend, America
 The struggle is oh-so real
Favorite place in the whole school
After making my third presentation to a group of Seniors in my school

Thursday, March 5, 2015

Just over 100 days left!!!

I feel like I am to the part of my exchange where "it just goes up from here". Every day I become happier, feel like I am blending in more as on of the natives, and have experiences I will never forget. Honestly just this last week has been so amazing I could write a whole blog post about this week!!!
I have a little over 100 days left of my exchange and I am trying to soak up every minute by doing whatever I can.
I have booked my plane ticket for the 20th of June and I am feeling that date creeping up on me like crazy. All of my friends here are really sad that I am not staying for my birthday but they have assured me we will celebrate my birthday before I leave. I have got to say I have some of the best friends in all of Mexico. They accept me for the "gringa" (white girl) that I am HAHA and they make me really happy. My school makes me feel very good about myself because everyone knows me, cares about me, and compliments me.
I have found out that a spot has opened on the BIG exchange trip to the center of the country and they are giving me the spot as a reward for my good behavior and good attitude. The moment the Chairman of the rotary district told me they were giving ME the open spot on the trip a began to tear up because I was so excited and I could not stop saying thank you. Needless to say I am extremely excited to have been given the opportunity to go on this trip with around 47 other exchange students from my district. Anyone who knows an exchange student or has been an exchange student knows that they other exchange students you meet on your year abroad become you forever family and I am really looking forward to spending 12 days with them on this trip next month. However the trip is quite expensive and I would like to try and raise as much of the money for this trip as I can. I have a gofundme page which is an fundraising website where people can send money to different online fundraisers, my gofundme website is:   gofund.me/Allysbigtrip    if you would like to help me raise the money to go on this trip then check out the link.
I also dyed my hair last week and have been getting compliments on my hair and an extremely large amount of compliments on my Spanish lately, from the people at school, rotary, and m host family, which is wonderful.
I am very sad to leave the life I have made for myself here but I am so happy to go back and see my friends and family again. (Also excited to leave the XXL sized bugs that bite behind) But over going home is a very emotional thing that I am not at all near ready to think about yet.
I have been told that next week I will give a presentation to all the classes in my school about Oregon, the USA, and about myself and I am extremely nervous and could use some prayer about that. Apart from being nervous out of my mind for this presentation that I have to give 10 times (maybe more) I am extremely excited because I have been preparing my presentation since December and I have been waiting a very long time to get the opportunity to show people where I come from and what makes me, me.
Until next time, I hope you are having a wonderful time welcoming spring (or autumn) wherever you are in the world.
Besos y Abrazos,
Allison

Sunday, February 8, 2015

February Has Changed My Mood

So just a week ago I was basically in this rut, to the point where I didn't even want to get out of bed and considered skipping school daily. Well, I am happy to say I have jumped out of that rut and I am in a much better place. I'm not really sure how an attitude can change so much within 7 days, I would like to say I made it but I know that is not 100 percent true. For getting me out of my rut I have many people and things to thank.
1. I have had yet another Spanish outburst (those always help my mood) This one was beginning to understand and tell jokes in Spanish. My friends honestly noticed this before I did because our first day back at school they were joking about something, and for the first time I didn't just sit there like and idiot instead I busted up laughing and this surprised them  their reaction, "Allison you can understand everything we say now?!?!" and I just kind of laughed and said yes.
2. I have been doing more things with the other exchange students.

  • I went to the mall one day after school with A German girl, Anna, who lives near me and a German boy, Valentin, who was visiting from another city. It was a really fun time but even though we started our time in Spanish somehow we did end up speaking English.
  • On Saturday 4 other exchange students and I went with the Co-chairman (she is in charge of the exchange students in this State), Juanita, and her mom to learn how to make TAMALES! It's a lot of work but they were so good and it was such a fun way to spend my day.
  • This Friday we will have an international dinner at my Co-chairman's house and we (the exchange students of this state) are all going to bring food from our countries (USA, Belgium, Denmark, Finland, Germany, Taiwan, and Japan) it should be a lot of fun
3. I have lost weight: Due to the fact that my new host family is Vegetarian, I have lost 8 pounds in a little over 2 weeks and although it isn't much I feel a lot happier.
4. I found out who the new outbound exchange students going to Mexico from my district in the USA (D5100) are so now I get to mentor them and tell them all the exciting things about Mexico, and they are all really great people so I am really excited to watch their journey. Congratulations to Jordan Lancaster, Lily Gallagher, and Devin Long! I am so excited to talk with you guys more! 
5. I found out I might get to have a third host family after all which is really exciting for me even though I like my current host family.
6. I recovered some pictures from my trip I took to the center of Mexico in December when I thought I had lost them all


































So there's a little update on my life and getting out of my rut. Talk to you all soon!!


Besos y Abrazos,
Allison