Último día de clases, Xochimilco, México City

Viernes – 13 de Julio.

Día 29. “Último día de clases, Xochimilco, México City”

                

Today was the official last day in Cuernavaca. It was really hard to leave our family this morning but there were lots of hugs and smiles as well. After having an amazing month with our new Mexican families we just didn’t want to leave them this morning- but we have all the memories and Mamá is very persistent about asking us to return someday.. someday soon!

                In school this morning every class was cramming to finish their final presentations and my class literally worked till the very last minute! But in the end it went amazing, so all the hard work was woth it. Today was also Katie’s birthday so we had a little birthday party before our afternoon presentations and when we received our diplomas (: The presentations were definitely creative, to say the least.. and filled with plenty of laughs!         

                Leaving Universisdad Internacional was almost as hard as leaving home this morning. Cuernevaca has been our home for a month now, and we didn’t want to leave- but we were all excited to get to Mexico City and explore! We took a two hour bus ride to Xochimilco where we went on a boat ride. The boats were like huge gondolas, but they were crazy colorful- they were beautiful! After the ride we ate dinner at Xochimilco and spent a little time shopping in the market too!

                We were all ready to get settled in our hotel and when we arrived we found the rooms to be VERY cute, and we have a beautiful view of the city from Kenzie, Carly and I’s room. After a little time of settling in we headed to the grocery store to pick up some snacks and food for the rest of the weekend. When we got back to the hotel we played some games, and all worked on our journals. We are all excited to explore and see what Mexico City has to offer tomorrow. I don’t think it has hit us yet that we will be home in less than 48 hours…

Daily Spanish Lesson #30:

Mexico City- Ciudad Mexico

Diploma- Diploma

Laughs- Se ríe

Hotel- Hotel

Grocery Store- Super mercado 

Último día con mi familia

Jueves – 12 de Julio.

Día 28. “Último día con mi familia”

                Today was a tough one. School went well, we took our final exam, which ended up being a piece of cake- and then we headed to the black market for some shopping as a “field trip”. What kind of field trip is that..? An awesome one! After a few hours of shopping and all of us becoming broke we headed back to school.

                When we went home for our final La Comida it was pretty sad. Mamá said a special prayer today and it is so hard to believe we won’t be here anymore! If we could spend more time with our family, and skip our excursions in Mexico City, I know I would! After La Comida we headed to the bowling alley for a couple hours of bowling and fun the night before we leave. Our friends that we had met at the water park came to say goodbye and it was nice to see them again. After bowling we headed home for a little time to pack before La Cena.

                La Cena was even more difficult because it was really hitting that we wouldn’t have any more time to spend with our whole family! The only one that we didn’t get to spend tonight with was Paulina. Mamá, Papá, Jessica and Felipe ate Cena with us as we talked about our trip, and if we would be coming back- which of course we agreed too! Jessica had a little surprise for us, her and Felipe had made us delicious cupcakes wishing us “Buen Viaje” – “Good Travels”. After la cena all we wanted to do was spend more time with them but we headed into our room to finish packing. It’s almost one in the morning and we are done with what can be done tonight, but tomorrow morning will definitely come too fast.

                Tomorrow is a busy day! We present our final projects, get our diplomas, and then we will be heading to Mexico City until Sunday when we return to Minnesota. It is still unknown if I will have internet when we are at the hotel in Mexico City- So if the blog is non-existent, I’m not just slacking!

Buenos Noches!

Daily Spanish Lesson #29:

Bowling- Boliche

Good Travels- Buen Viaje

Cupcakes- Pastelito

To Pack My Suitcases- Hacer Mis Maletas.

Clases de Cocinar

Miércoles – 11 de Julio.

Día 27. “Clases de Cocinar”

                Getting up this morning to go to school was definitely not fun after numerous nights of staying up to do my final project, which still isn’t done… Well, the morning classes consisted of studying for our final, which is tomorrow along with trying to work on our final project. Which seems like it is never ending. So, I have a theory that they are trying to make us all hate each other on this trip- because in the afternoon we spent another hour plus debating with each other in Spanish. Although, this time it wasn’t “who are we going to save off the island”, it was “who gets to be president.” After some time of debate, drawing up propositions, and “campaigning” my group had the winning President, Marina. We decided it was time for a women president :P

                After school we headed to a cooking class- it was actually really fun! We went to the home of a women that works with our University and she helped us cook an appetizer, soup, enchiladas, and flan! It was absolutely delicious and a lot of fun! Following cooking class Kenzie and I headed to El Centro for one last time. It was kind of bitter sweet realizing we wouldn’t get to be back there again before we leave, and we have spent so much time there we know it pretty well… On the plus side we finally found lots of gifts and bought ourselves some jewelry!

                When we returned home we spent some time with Mamá, Paulina, Ivan, y Jessica, and we watched Project X. Paulina and Jessica believe that we actually have parties like that in the United States! It was pretty funny! It is really hard to believe that tomorrow is our last full day with our family, and that we only have two nights left in our “second home”. This month has gone by faster than I ever had expected, and although it will be hard to leave- I am excited to get back to Minnesota to see my family and head out on the lake (:

Daily Spanish Lesson #28:

Cooking Classes- Clases de Cocinar

Soup- Sopa

Ring- Anillo

Jewelry- Joyería 

Golfito

Martes  – 10 de Julio.

Día 26. “Golfito”

                Today we spent a lot of time working on our final project in the morning and spent time learning new verb tenses that just confuse us all. In the afternoon we played a game called “Salvavidas” and the point of the game was to get us to all talk and debate who should be saved from a stranded island. We had 9 choices, but we could only save 6- it was quite interesting to hear us all debate fully in Spanish, just goes to show what we actually know. After school we headed home for La Comida, today Mamá made “sope” which is basically a thicker tortilla, with beans, cheese, lettuce, salsa, and rice- it was really good, like always (:

                

After La Comida we went to Plaza Cuernavaca for glow in the dark, safari themed, mini-golf. It was actually really cool, kind of like cosmic bowling with the lights. After we spent some time walking around Plaza Cuernavaca, and tried out some tacos at another great place tonight.

Daily Spanish Lesson #27:

Bread- Pan

Lifeguard or Lifejacket- Salvavidas

Island- Isla

To debate- Debatir

Mini Golf- Golfito

La Gringa

Lunes  – 9 de Julio.

Día 25. “La Gringa”

         

       Today was pretty fun, we didn’t have a lot planned, but it seemed like we never stopped moving. This morning we did some preparation in classes for our final projects, that I have spent a good amount of time working on now. We have to make a half an hour presentation at the end and my group has chosen to make it about our experiences here. We are able to use so much that we have learned here, it really is fun- but a lot of work. In the afternoon we played running and vocabulary games, our teachers aren’t always so happy with us because we like to be lazy teenagers when it is so hot out and not run.. (:

                After school we walked to a local restaurant called “La Gringa” - it is known for the best tacos around Cuernavaca. It was a lot of fun and we tried many new interesting things. Kenzie and I both chose an “alhambre” which was basically fajitas with different types of meat, vegetables, and even some fruits. Everyone told us that while we were here we had to try a meet called el Pastor, so today we tried it out. It was really weird because they cook it on a large stick in a huge bundle, as seen in the picture. It looks really gross but it is actually quite good. After La Gringa we headed to el Centro again to shop a little and we ended up going to a movie, Dark Shadows, it was pretty good. Now we are working on homework and are aiming to make it to bed before 2 a.m. (:

Buenos Noches!

Daily Spanish Lesson #26:

Final Project- Proyetco Final

Lazy- Perezoso

Pineapple- Piña

El Rollo & Discoteca & Feliz Cumpleaños Nihal!

Sabado and Domingo – 7/8 de Julio.

Día 23 & 24. “El Rollo & Discoteca & Feliz Cumpleaños Nihal!”

                Sorry all! I have been slacking a little bit this weekend, but I promise I have a good excuse! Well, not really- other than that I have been having a lot of fun. Yesterday was jam packed, we barely had time to take a break to breath, and then today was relaxing but we spent the whole day away from home. It is sad to think this was our last weekend spent here in Cuernavaca with our host families, because next weekend we will be spending in Mexico City before returning home. Where has time gone?

                Yesterday, early in the morning we headed to school so we could hop on a bus to head to El Rollo, a water park about an hour and a half away. To our surprise when we got on the bus we were not the only people, and there was another group of guys there with their dad that would be spending the day with us at the water park. On the bus ride there we practiced quite a bit of Spanish and they practiced their English- and throughout the day we had plenty of laughs while being lost in translation at times. El Rollo was an amazing waterpark- the slides were ridiculous, lazy river amazing, but I am not going to lie; a lifeguards worst nightmare! (: 

Daily Spanish Lesson #24:

Water Park- Parque Acuático

Slide- Tobogán

Lazy River- Río Lento

                After a long day in the sun we had plans to go out to the Discoteca last night- and after spending all day with the other group of guys they decided they wanted to come with. So last night spending the night in El Centro, then the discoteca was by far the best night we have had in Mexico so far. To top it all off- Nihal’s birthday was today so when it hit midnight our group had a lot of fun. After returning home we watched a movie and finally got to bed early this morning. Waking up the go to the vacation house this morning was definitely no struggle though- knowing that we got to hang out by the pool and in the sun for another day. It is sad knowing this was our last time at the house with our family.

                Today was spent by the pool, playing card games with the family, celebrating Nihal’s birthday, and evening attempting to play Clue with the kids visiting their vacation house nearby. That was quite interesting, considering they spoke barely any English at all. It was fun though, and we tried many new foods today- including my creation; Mango and Avocado Fajitas- with meat and vegetables as well of course! It was surprisingly good. After a long day we didn’t get home till around 11 and still had homework and journals to complete. Well here I am now- typing a blog because I can’t get any more behind, off to do more homework! Buenos Noches! (:

Daily Spanish Lesson #25:

Happy Birthday!- Feliz Cumpleanos

Chairs- Sillas

Table- Mesas

Orfanato, Again

Viernes – 6 de Julio.

Día 22. “Orfanato, Again”

                Today was all together pretty good- seeing the little kids at the orphange always makes for a good day though! (: This morning classes were as normal, but in the afternoon we had our oral speaking exams- my presentation was about my families. After presentations we headed to music class where we all struggled quite a bit to get the words, at least we got Feliz Navidad, in July… Today on our break we celebrated my host brother’s birthday, which is actually on Sunday, but we celebrated early at school.

     







       After school we headed out to the same orphanage we went to last week. Not the really big one, but the smaller one where we actually got to get to know the kids a bit. It was fun seeing their smiling faces when they realized we were back to visit- many of them remembered us by name. Instead of bringing a piñata this time we brought a cake, they sure enjoyed that. At some point this evening I became a drawing canvas as the kids drew pictures all over my legs in Sharpie, which will be interesting to try and get off before heading to the water park in the morning. I also found out that my hair is quite mesmerizing for the little ones, and one little girl spent a good amount of time getting my hair “just perfect”. Tonight will be a pretty relaxing night as we are about to watch a movie. We have a busy day ahead of us tomorrow; first heading to El Rollo, a water park, very early in the morning, and then heading to the discoteca tomorrow night!

Daily Spanish Lesson #23:

Cake- Pastel

Speech- Discurso

To Draw- Dibujar

Painting- Pintura

Día Libre

Jueves - 5 de Julio.

Día 21. “Día Libre”

                Today was not like others because this is the very first day that we have decided to do absolutely nothing after school, and just relax. On the other free days this week we have gotten home, and decided we needed to go out and do something- well today that was not the case because we all had quite a bit of homework and needed to prepare for our presentations tomorrow. Each class has a fifteen minute presentation tomorrow about a different topic relating to our trip. My class has decided to compare and contrast our American and Mexican families. It has actually been quite fun writing the speech and creating the presentation. Nothing much has happened today, but we are all looking forward to tomorrow as we are going to the Orphanage again to visit the kids we met last Friday! J

Daily Spanish Lesson #22:

American Family- Familia Americana

Mexican Family- Familia Mexicana

Free Day- Día Libre

To Relax- Relejarse

And I can't forget.. We saw Popocatatepetl on the way to school again today! Its amazing!

Feliz 4 de Julio

Miércoles - 4 de Julio.

Día 20. “Feliz 4 de Julio”

                Happy 4th of July everyone! Celebrating from Mexico was definitely not as fun as being on the lake with family and friends, but our school did throw a little party for us. After our normal morning classes we headed out to the garden, where we sang the national anthem and had hot dogs in honor of 4^th of July, and watched a student perform a Michael Jackson dance. It was quite funny I must say. After that going back to class was the last thing we wanted to do, but he headed back for normal afternoon conversation classes, which seemed to go by really fast today- and then onto making crafts. We didn’t know what we were making, but apparently we were preparing for tomorrow, so we will see! After school Mamá also made La Comida to celebrate the 4^th. She made Tacos, with blue corn tortillas, red salsa, and of course the white cream that they seem to add to everything here!

                Around 5 we headed to El Centro again for a dinner with some other students from Universidad Internacional at a restaurant called “100% Natural” it was delicious! After dinner we spent some more time walking around El Centro and Kenzie and I decided to get Henna Tattoos. My first one still isn’t gone, but I still thought it would be fun to have another. After we got home and had La Cena, I Skyped Mom and the Family in the United States so that I could watch fireworks live over the lake! It was great! But I think I have decided I have to avoid missing the 4^th of July from now on. No idea what tomorrow holds.. but until then.. Happy 4^th!

Daily Spanish Lesson #21:

Happy 4^th of July- Feliz Cuatro de Julio

Flag- Bandera

Eagle- Aguila

Daily Walk To Class.

Apologies in advance for the ridiculous music, but here is my daily walk to class. The campus of Universidad Internacional is absolutely beautiful! Take a look (: 

Parque Ecológico Chapultepec

Martes- 3 de Julio.

Día 19. “Parque Ecológico Chapultepec”

                Today was pretty fun, and we had some good adventures (: Morning classes were as normal, but in the afternoon we headed to the Ecological Park in Chapultepec, about 20 minutes away. It was basically a zoo- be so much better than the zoos in Minnesota, in some places you could actually get into the cages with the animals. In the bird cages for example and we were within touching distance of the peacocks, until the birds got mad at us. There was one that was overly protective and began to peck at our shoes, quite funny. We wanted to go on paddle boats in the river as well, but it was under construction, and for some odd reason it was empty.. We came to the conclusion that is was a fake river, us Minnesotans didn’t like that too much.

                After school we had planned to go shopping at Galerías again, but it was way too nice out to be inside so we headed to El Centro with the boys for some more shopping. We found shops and stores we hadn’t seen before and it was pretty interesting to see the things they sell here, and especially how cheap! Kenzie and I finally got the shirts we had been wanting they say “Yo <3 Cuernavaca”! Tonight has been pretty relaxing and now we are just working on our homework and final projects- Tomorrow is the Fourth of July, first time I have even been away for the family party and I am sure going to miss it. We are having a small potluck at school for us Americans, and then spending the night in El Centro. Should be a great day.

Daily Spanish Lesson #20:

Zoo- Zoológico               

Bird- Pajaro

Monkey- Mono

“Don’t Touch”- No Tocar!

Cuernavaca Plaza

Lunes – 2 de Julio.

Día 18. “Cuernavaca Plaza”

                This post will be short, mainly because we didn’t do a lot today. It was actually really nice to have another day that wasn’t jam packed, and that is what most of this week will be because we don’t have any after school excursions planned.. yet. With our free time today Kenzie and I decided to go with our sisters and Mamá to Plaza de Cuernavaca for some shopping and fun. We found the Plaza to be filled with store after store of shoes! We didn’t end up buying anything, shocker right? But we did have fun with our sisters and checked out their favorite stores. Tonight will be an early night to bed and an early morning!

Daily Spanish Lesson #19:

Ice Cream- Helado

Shoes- Zapatos

“Help Me!”- “AyudaMe!” 

MEGA

Domingo – 1 de Julio.

 Día 17. “MEGA”

                Its hard to believe my time in Mexico is already half way over and I only have exactly two weeks left in what I would call my second home now. Cuernavaca is beautiful, the people are wonderful, school is beyond what I expected, and it has definitely been a once in a lifetime experience!

                After a fun filled day yesterday we slept in quite late today, and didn’t have to be to breakfast until 11! That was heaven for Kenzie, Nihal, and I- we just wanted our sleep. French toast it was for breakfast, I’m sure I have said it before, but Mamá is a wonderful cook! Because it was Election Day here in Mexico, a lot of places were closed and everyone’s schedules were a little different and it was different for us as well as this was our very first totally free day since we arrived in Mexico. Kenzie and I had wanted to go to a store called MEGA since we got here. Before we came we were told this store would be our lifesaver while we were here, so we figured we should probably go check it out. We found it to be much like a Target or Wal-Mart, but HUGE, and I mean huge! We spent about 2 hours there, just because we were determined to walk every single isle of the store. And what did we come home with? Mango Nieva and candy- ofcourse! (:

Meet Manchita!

                When we got home Mamá let us help out in the kitchen for the first time, and we helped make handmade pizzas. They were delicious and we demanded the recipe! (: After cooking the boys came over to play some Phase 10 and now we are playing more card games with the family. All together a very relaxing, great day in Mexico!

Daily Spanish Lesson #18:

Store- Tienda

French Toast- Pan Francés

How Delcious!- Que Delicioso!

How Much Does it Cost?- Cuantos Cuestan? 

Las Estacas

Sabado – 30 de Junio.

Día 16. “Las Estacas”

                So it’s official, Mom and Dad I just may never come home (: Another beautiful, relaxing day in Mexico. This morning we woke up to rain, which definitely did not make us happy because we were on our way to an Eco Park for a day of swimming and fun. After 2 hours, multiple detours, road closures, and traffic we finally made it to Las Estacas. While it was still sprinkling our true Minnesotan spirits showed as we were some of the only ones jumping off the cliffs into the crystal clear

water to float down the river. Don’t worry parents, they weren’t THAT high, but we did have lots of fun diving off and acting silly. The sun finally decided to come out around noon and our day really started! Cliff jumping, swimming down the river, multiple rope swings, pools, and zip lines filled our day with so much fun! The rope swings were definitely a favorite for all as we got quite creative trying to get as high as we could out of the water before jumping in- the girls definitely had advantage with the boys catapulting us as far as they could! (: At one point we started at the waterfall at one end of the park and swam down the river for about 30 minutes till the end of the park, it was quite the swim! Then Gina, Carley, and I decided we wanted to try and swim up the river against the current- That only lasted about 10 minutes and we were too tired to go any further and resorted to lying by the pool to get some sun! All together an amazing day spent in beautiful Mexico (:

Daily Spanish Lesson #17:

River- Río

Swing- Culumpio

To Jump- Soltar o Brincar

To Swim- Nadar

Jardín Borda y Orfanato

Viernes – 29 de Junio.

Día 15. “Jardín Borda y Orfanato”

                Another GREAT, beautiful day in Mexico. Today we really only have two and a half hours of real school- this including our first “big” test. That was no big test, I have decided I want to take these teachers back in Minnesota to teach my teachers how to give a reasonable test (: After our test we got to have a little birthday party for another student that is studying with our teachers, her name is Sani- and our group has kind of “adopted” her for our excursions and fun.

                Around noon, instead of our normal classes, we headed to El Centro and Jardín Borda for interviews and fun. When we were told we would be doing interviews we all imagined people sitting down ready to answer our questions. Our interviews couldn’t have been further from that. We were expected to come up with questions, and come up with our interviewees on our own. It was our responsibility to walk up to people, in a foreign country, and just ask them questions. That was quite interesting to say the least, but we did find that people are insanely nice here, and sure found it funny to mess with the American kids- who little did they know, understand quite a bit of Spanish.  Following the awkward interviews we headed to Jardín Borda for a walk where we say numerous fountains, tree sculptures, and the famous “lake”.  I have decided they don’t know what a real lake is here- it was tiny! But, we did get to go rowing in it, and Tommy claimed he learned to row from the movie The Notebook, Kenzie and I aren’t too sure that is true after almost ending up in the 

water a few times, until we took over. We had a little extra time so we bought a few gifts and then headed home- but our day wasn’t done yet.

                Following La Comida we drove about an hour to another orphanage where we got to spend a lot of time getting to know the kids, playing games, and we even brought them two piñatas! I got to know one little boy who was five years old, his name was Nicieto- he loved to take our cameras but didn’t like being in pictures at all- quite the cutie, but I was told I couldn’t put him in my suitcase and bring him home. He taught me how to make a paper airplane and how to play a game they play, much like rock-paper-scissors, but much more fun and they call it “Pikachu”. Kenzie and I found it fun enough to play with each other on the car ride home, much to the dismay of Nihal, who was stuck sitting in between us!

                After a great day, we are currently watching another movie; we do that a lot here. This time Sherlock Holmes. Tomorrow we are headed to an Eco Park for a day of swimming and fun! (:

Daily Spanish Lesson #16:

Very Easy- Muy Facíl

Interview- Entrevista

To Row- Remar

Gifts- Regalos