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

Xochicalco y Nuestros Pequeños Hermanos

Jueves – 28 de Junio.

Día 14. “Xochicalco y Nuestros Pequeños Hermanos”

                There aren’t really words to explain how amazing today was. We woke up to thunder this morning and the first thing that came to mine “Oh great, wet tennis shoes are my favorite..” But, it ended up being a beautiful day! In the morning we spent time reviewing for our test tomorrow, and learning about our horoscopes, in Spanish only! We weren’t able to go the El Centro for our afternoon classes because of the rain, but our interviews have been rescheduled for sometime next week. Instead, we stayed at school and played review games, and human web games, which was quite interesting, to say the least.

                We didn’t go home after school today; we immediately hopped on a bus for an hour and headed to Xochicalco (Zo-chi-cal-co), which is an archaeological site that shows the “fusion” between the ancient Aztec, Mayan, Zapotec, Olmec, Mixtec, and Toltec cultures. It was very interesting and the sites and views were beyond beautiful. In one direction we saw the first lake we have seen since we were here and of course all us Minnesotan kids got pretty excited about that one! (: We climbed pyramids and even went underground into an observatory where we were able to witness the extreme intelligence of the ancient astronomers. The views at this site were unexplainable, almost as great as the smiles on the faces of the kids on our next adventure…

                After visiting Xochicalco we headed about 20 minutes to an orphanage housing children and young adults ranging from infants to thirty year old adults. It is called “Nuestro Pequeños Hermanos”, which literally translates to “Our Little Sibilings”. This house, more like community, was donated by the government to give children and young adults a chance to get a good education at “home” in a dafe environment, and to promote success after shool. It was the most rewarding day I

have had since we arrived; it was amazing to see the young ones’ faces as we gave them gifts of school supplies, pillow pets, chalk, coloring books, and
 candy! They were mesmerized by our cameras and just wanted more and more pictures! The hugs were abundant and I can’t wait for tomorrow when we are off to visit another orphanage!  (:

Daily Spanish Lesson #15:

Interviews- Entrevistas

Lake- Lago

Orphanage- Orfanato

Community- Communidad

Madagascar

Miércoles – 27 de Junio.

Día 13. “Madagascar”

                Today wasn’t very eventful, but it was still pretty great. I mean what day in Mexico, with sunny 85 degree weather isn’t great? (: Speaking of weather.. we have finally had 3 beautiful days in a row! Now that the hurricane has passed the weather is back to normal. “Normal” you may ask, all year round 75-90 degrees, with rain in the evenings and nights. It’s beautiful. Cuernavaca is “The City of Eternal Springs” and it is just like spring time (hot spring time!) all year round. Today was the second day we were able to see the famous volcano, Popocatépetl on our drive to school in the morning. It is currently an active volcano and the picture doesn’t do it just. Classes were pretty normal today and the afternoon was spent entirely on speaking and conversations.

                Tonight’s excursion was back to the mall, Gallerías, to go to another movie. This time we saw Madagascar 3. Those dang animated animals talk at a million miles an hour and following their Spanish was nearly impossible, I might have taken a few naps throughout the movie.. Shh :P Tomorrow we are headed to the orphanage with our gifts for the children, and we are all very excited! (:

Daily Spanish Lesson #14:

Volcano- Volcán

Morning- Mañana

Nap- Siesta

Little Child- Niño

Just a little fun from Mexico :)

Voleibol

Lunes – 26 de Junio.

Día 12. “Voleibol!”

                This morning was just like others, 3 hours of grammar and vocabulary class, but we were missing Tommy so our teacher decided we were going to have a bit of fun today. We played Verb Bingo and spent a lot of time writing, which I have found to be really helpful- especially in the evening when I have to write my journals. In the afternoon it was again Piñata time, but this time we got to fill them with candy and break them open! We learned a little song to sing while hitting the piñata and it was quite the competition among the boys to see who could sing the best.

“Dale, Dale, Dale,

No pierdas el tino,

Porque si lo pierdes,

Pierdes el camino.

Dale, Dale, Dale,

Dale no la dio,

Quiténle la venda,

Porque sigo yo.

Ya le diste una

Ya le diste dos

Ya le diste tres

Y tu tiempo se acabó”

Translation for this song is not the best, but in a sense the song is telling you to “Hit it! Hit it! Hit it!” and don’t lose your aim! :)  After the fight for candy we headed home for La Comida and spent some time with our family- and the new addition to our house, Phillipe, our “cousin”.

Tonight we didn’t have an excursion but we headed to the high school, BIU, to play sports with some of the Mexican students. Tonight’s sport was volleyball, so of course I was really excited. My team ended up going 3-0 to win the championship, quite the feat for us! We sure cheered loud when Kenzie finally hit the ball over the net! :P The boys claim it was the training they made her do while we were on a break- basically running up and down the stairs! :P After sports it was just a night of rest, and we played some Rummy with family and then had la cena.  Off to catch up on writing my journals that I have been neglecting to write this weekend, shh! :P

Daily Spanish Lesson #13:

Volleyball- Voleibol

To write- Escribir

Cousin- Primo

I agree- Estoy de acuerdo

To Facebook- Facebookear   (No joke here! It is a legit verb!)

To Text- Textear (This one too! (: )

Amanalco Ravines

Martes – 25 de Junio.

Día 11. “Amanalco Ravines!”

                The second week of classes has officially begun, but getting up at six thirty in the morning is definitely not getting any easier.  After a full weekend of fun getting up this morning was not exactly enjoyable, but we did it, and headed off to school. Classes in the morning were the same as normal- 3 hours of learning grammar, vocabulary, the “textbook” Spanish stuff but then we headed off to the afternoon for some fun! We continued to make our piñatas… my group is definitely not going to win this prize, but that’s okay, we still get to smash our piñata! :)

                

         

After school we headed home for La Comida- today we ate cooked cauliflower with an interesting tomato sauce, rice, and beans. Mamá says that it is one of her favorite meals. We also were calling it the “piña comida” because we were drink piña coladas               and eating piña Jell-O. Muy Delicioso! After dinner we had a little time to just relax and then we headed to El Centro for a bus tour of the town and the Amanalco Ravines. Everything tonight was a little bit delayed because we were uniformed that there was a political rally going on downtown, the elections are July 1^st, and all campaigns adds must be down by Thursday so it was quite the rally. No cars were moving in the roads, there were hundreds of buses lining the sidewalks and sides of the roads, and there were thousands of people crowding the streets, it was quite the experience. The rallies were for Josefina, a women running for president this year, and from the people we have talked to, she isn’t the most popular.

     An ice cream cone later, and waiting for an hour we finally got our whole group together and we made it through the crowds to board the tour bus to Amanalco Ravines. On the way we saw quite a few monuments, famous houses, and even the first hotel in Cuernavaca, established in 1905. When we finally got to the Ravine 231 steps and 4 (terrifying!) bridges later, we got to hear the history of it all. Just 14 years ago the some 300 feet deep gorges were filled with over 300 million tons of accumulated trash. Kenzie dragged me across multiple bridges, we got some good pictures, and experienced a Mexican election rally- all together a great day!

Daily Spanish Lesson #12:

Prize- Premio

To Win- Ganar

Jell­-O- Gelatina

Election- Elección

To Vote- Votar

Sunburn Numero Uno!

Domingo – 24 de Junio.

Día 10. “Sunburn Numero Uno!”

                Sundays here in Mexico are primarily reserved for family- and since mí famila is really close we spend lots of time together on Sundays. Today we all hoped in the van and drove an hour and a half to  spent the day at the vacation house again, just like last Sunday. This time Papá and Jessica were not able to come with though, but Paulina’s boyfriend, Ivan, and two of her friends came with to spend the day by the pool. Kenzie , Nihal, and I spent the majority of the time tanning, playing volleyball, and swimming, but when the sun had sucked all the energy out of us we all played a couple hours of card games. It’s amazing how much fun you can have without any Internet! No one is allowed to quote me on that one :) ! After numerous games of Spit, BS, Rummy, and War we headed back outside for a quick round of Ultimate Frisbee then hopped in the car to head home. The day went by so fast and by the time we got home we were ready to crash.

Today, we found out the hard way about the Mexican sun, all over again- Kenzie and I both have quite the sunburn, mine definitely worse than hers for once though. Im sure I will be known as the lobster in this house from now on, since my sisters think it is real funny how red I get :P

Tomorrow we are back to getting up early and back to school at Universidad Internacional- Its crazy to think we are already starting week two, and that 3 weeks from tonight we will be home…

Daily Spanish Lesson #11:

Van- Camioneta

Boyfriend- Novio

Girlfriend- Novia

To Tan- Tomar el Sol

Cards- Cartas

Galleria

Sabado – 23 de Junio.

Día 9. “Gallería!”

                Today we finally got to sleep in! Sleeping until 10 this morning was amazing and we got to catch up on some much needed sleep before spending the day shopping and going to a movie. We went to the Gallería today to go shopping and went and saw Prometheus in the VIP movie theater. It was so nice and cheap compared to movies in the United States! We paid under 10 for reclining chairs and servers that came to us and served pretty awesome food. After a full day of shopping and movie watching we were tired and ready to go home.. But getting home wasn’t as easy as we thought it would be. We got in a Radio taxi, drove a couple blocks to find we had a flat tire and needed to switch taxis in the pouring rain! When we finally got home around 6 to find that the lights had been out for about an hour. The storms here today were crazy and it was raining extremely hard most of the day.. it still is! So we spent from the time we got home till about 10 playing card games by candle light, and when they finally turned back on we all got pretty excited! Now, we are spending another rainy night watching a movie- this time Paranormal Activity. Tomorrow we are off to the vacation house for a day of swimming, tanning, and family. Crossing our fingers for no rain! :)

Daily Spanish Lesson #10:

Movie Theater- Cine

Mall- Centro de Comercíal

To Shop- Comprar

To Drive- Conducir o Manejar

Salsa

Viernes – 22 de Junio.

Día 8. “Salsa!”

                I can’t believe we have already been here 8 days, and completed a whole week of school. Its crazy the way time flies when we are having fun! :) 

Today’s classes were very different from the others. I still had my first 3 hour class with the same people but we played games for the majority of the time and planned our final project- which should be interesting because somehow we came to the conclusion that we want to do a puppet show? The afternoon consisted of being covered in glue, and cutting paper into a bunch of little squares, can you guess what we were doing?! Making Piñatas! We are making them for a competition to see who can make the best one, and it will be decided next week. Considering my team popped multiple balloons while making them, it doesn’t sound to promising for us.

                This evening we got to try something new and totally out of everyone’s comfort zone… SALSA! We went to a Salsa class at the university and learned the basic steps of Salsa, and we all got a good laugh out of it. I’m sure Kenzie and I will be practicing throughout the trip, when we aren’t doing ballet lessons with Nihal of course! :)
After Salsa, we decided to watch another movie, this time The Butterfly Effect, I think we have all decided we need to quit with the scary movies! :P Tomorrow is a full day, and we have plans to venture to Yautepec to stay at the vacation house again, so if there is no blog tomorrow, sorry in advance! Off to bed! Buenos Noches!

Daily Spanish Lesson #9:

Week- Semana

To Have Fun- Divertirse

Balloon- Globo

To Dance- Bilar

Sorry!- Lo Siento

"Juegos con BIU"

Jueves – 21 de Junio.

Día 7. “Juegos con BIU”

                Today wasn’t a very eventful day, clases were as normal in the morning and then in the afternoon we went to the sister school BIU and hung out with high schoolers. We attempted to speak Spanish when they were speaking English to us, that didn’t go over to well.. Then we played gym games like we did in elementary school in the rain.. that was quite interesting, when we could barely understand the rules. We haven’t even been here a week and we had a nice load of laundry ready, so we got to have our first experience with the Lavandaría, shockingly we ended up with all of our clothes. We couldn’t believe how nicely folded they were when we went to pick them up- Just like we have our moms with us on this trip ;P

                We had a free afternoon, and it wasn’t very eventful. Three other boys that are on our trip came to visit the house and Kenzie, Nihal, Mamá, Jessica, Paulina, The boys, and I played Phase 10. It was quite interesting and we decided that we never get through a game without those boys cheating.. Then we watched Black Swan with our sisters and spent the rest of the night watching the basketball finales. Oh! and I can't forget the ballet lesson Kenzie gave to Nihal and I in the Jardin just a little bit ago, I will be dancing anyday now... not! :P Tomorrow will be another great adventure, but for now, I need sleep :P

Buenos Noches!

Daily Spanish Lesson #8:

Rain- Lluvio

Free time- Tiempo Libre

To play- Jugar

Cheaters- Tramposos
Black Swan- Cisne Negro

Tepotzlán

Day 3

                                 Miercoles – 20 de Junio.

 Día 6. “Tepotzlán”

Before the climb.

                Today started like every other day this week, waking up at 6:30, breakfast is at 7 and then off too school we go to start at 8. My first class is always the same structure, but today we played a few games and reviewed for the test we will have on Friday. In the afternoon we were supposed to make piñatas, but it was raining and we needed to be outside. So, we played running games inside, it was real interesting… Most of the games we have been playing here are just like games we have at home, but we have found that they like to change the rules, and we really enjoy finding the loopholes… and I must say the guys are great at cheating, pretending like they don’t understand Spanish. Ha!

The Hike.

                On a side note, we have found it real interesting that there seem to be no rules on the roads here. No seatbelt laws. No maximum number of people in a car. No one uses their blinker. And randomly stopping and parking on a side walk in normal…?

                After school we drove about a half an hour to Tepotzlán where we climbed a mountain to see an Aztec pyramid on top. There was no walking path, and stairs were rare, so we climbed through rocks and tried not to fall the whole way up. So after an hour of climbing, hating my life the whole way, only a few good falls, I decided it was totally worth it. The views were spectacular! At the top there were these creepy little animals, kind of like raccoons, but they are apparently vicious, well.. one tried to climb into my backpack and go home with me. He wanted my food so he tried to shimmy up my leg, that was NOT going to happen. The way down was much better and definitely went much faster, especially knowing that we had ice cream waiting for us at the bottom. After a quick snack we ventured to La Hacienda de Cortés. Now it is just a hotel, but it was so cool because it is created right inside the walls of the old plantation, and the old aquifer has become a waterfall of sorts. Kenzie and I decided we wanted to stay there, then found out we would have to dish out somewhere around $500 a night, we can only dream. We found it interesting that this is the hotel that many important political figures stay. With numb legs, mud all over, and heavy eye lids we headed home for the night where we are now working on our first real homework assignments since being here. Buenos Noches!

                

Another side note- The group has decided that Kenzie and I have taken so many pictures together that our little pose as a name… The “KenTay” :)

Daily Spanish Lesson #7:

Mountain- Montaña

Hacienda- Plantation or Farm

Road- Calle

Backpack- Mochila

Homework- Tarea

WE MADE IT!

Hacienda de Cortés.
"KENTAY" :)

Palacio de Cortés

                   Martes – 19 de Junio.

                 Día 5. “Palacio de Cortés”

Day 2

                Today started off much better, after deciding to go to bed early last night. Ha! That’s going to be rare on this trip, there is always so much to do and so little time. Today our first class was just like yesterday, a small group with lots of vocab and grammar was added today. Que Interestante! After a small break our afternoon class wasn’t much of a class at all. We all walked to the Superama, the grocery store near our school. We explored, learned so many random foods, and picked up ingredients for our cooking class that was to follow. Today we made Pico de Gallo and Guacamole! When we got home from school Mamá had La Comida ready to go. Today it was very traditional- rice, beans, and some sort of chip crisps. We didn’t quite get the real name. Just a little lost in translation still… :P

Palacio de Cortés

                Then we left for our outing to the Palacio de Cortés in El Centro. I must say the building was interesting, but listening to a women talk in Spanish for an hour and a half about ceramic pots was not exactly my idea of fun.. but I did have shopping on my mind. After our tour we had some time to look through the markets and buy some souvenirs, and we got our first taste of bargaining. Kenzie and I were proud when we got a hair piece from 70 pesos, down to 55 pesos.. Ha! Tonight we didn’t watch another movie but the finals were on, so we sat outside and turned Nihal’s TV on and watched from outside! Dinner was beyond funny tonight as our sister, Jessica finds it really funny to teach us slang words as Mamá just shakes her head, and ofcourse Papá laughs and adds to the ridiculousness. Tomorrow is a long day so off to bed. Adios!

Daily Spanish Lesson #6:

How Interesting! – “Que Interesante!”

To cook- Cocinar

Store- Tienda

Handicraft Market- Mercado de artesanía

To Bargain- Regatear 

Primero día de las clases

Lunes – 18 de Junio.

Día 4. “Primero día de las clases”

First Day of Classes!

                Today was our first day in classes at the Universidad Internacional. Waking up at 6:30 was definitely not Kenzie and I’s idea of fun after waiting up till past midnight to see who our new house mate would be.. We got to meet Nihal, he is a student here from New Jersey and is the same age as us, and will be coming along with our group to most of the activities.

Back to the first day of school, it was amazing! School here is nothing like school at home and an hour passes before you even know it. We have classes of only 5 people and we learned so much vocabulary today I thought my mind was going to explode. The class is fun though there is never really a dull moment and my teacher, Lorena, loves to hear all about our lives and homes back in Minnesota. Our second class is definitely the best, after a half hour to “rest”, our afternoons are spent going on field trips, playing games, having conversations, and even cooking! Today was a game and conversation day. We played running games, memorization games, and even the name game. Then we split up for conversation and we just talked for an hour, to my surprise it was over so fast and we had talked about so many things. Spanish seems too easy here, and it’s a lot more fun to learn while learning about the culture and history as well.

Classes outside are fabulous!

                Tonight was a free night after school, and we played Phase 10 again with Mamá, studied some of our new vocab, and Mamá even got to talk to Mom back at home on Skype! :)  This time she didn’t whoop our butts because we actually knew what was going on. Again, we chose to watch a movie with our sisters- “Coyote Ugly” we have found that this really a great way to learn so many new words and phrases in Spanish. Also, as it rained all evening, I have decided that the thunder here is louder than at home.. Is that possible? :P

                Well.. Its late and I am running on little sleep.. Hasta Mañana!

Daily Spanish Lesson #5:

Primero- First

Games- Juegos

To rest- Descansar

“I am confused!”- İEstoy confundada! 

Outside- Aire Libre

Feliz Día de Papas!

                      Domingo- 17 de Junio.

                      Día 3. “Feliz Día de Papas!”

                Happy Father’s Day to both my Papas! J Although I didn’t get to spend today with my real daddy, my Papa in Mexico is quite a hoot and he felt real special today.. As did Kenzie and I. To our surprise we woke up this morning to find that we were going to visit our new vacation home. Yes, “ours”. Mamá and Papá like to say that this is our new home, they are our new family, and their house is ours. So after breakfast today we drove about an hour and a half to the beautiful vacation home in Yautepec! We found Yautepec to be real interesting, we were in a gated community with pools everywhere and many traditional houses- but this was right in the middle of a very poor town.  Kenzie got her first taste of Mexican sun- with a nice sunburn, we played Phase 10, and had a delicious meal with the whole family! Above you can see a picture of our family minus Mamá. (From Left to Right) Me, Jessica (19), Kenzie, Papá (Victor) & Paulina (21).

"La Casa De Vacaciones"

                Tonight was full of fun with our sisters, we watched “The Notebook” in completely Spanish.. But we insisted on English subtitles :P Tomorrow is our first day of class so bedtime is earlier tonight! Buenos Noches!

Daily Spanish Lesson #4:

Father’s Day- La Día de Papás

Vacation Home- La casa de vacaciones

Lunch- La comida

Dinner- La cena

Movie- Película