my first two weeks in Mexico...

First of all:
For those of you who don´t know, the reason I´m in Mexico is because I´m doing an 11 month cross cultural service program called SALT (Serving and Learning Together) through MCC (Mennonite Central Committee). After a month of language school I´ll be in Naucalpan de Juarez in the state of Mexico. There are also three other SALTers from the States who are doing service in Mexico this year. Kiara will be in Olinola, Hannah will be in Cuernavaca, and Lisl will be in Nogales (on the boarder of Arizona).

Well, on Saturday August 18th I flew (with the girls) from Harrisburg, PA to Charlotte, NC and finally to Mexico City, in the state of Mexico, Mexico (you know, the country). The CRs (Country Representatives) for Mexico, Derek and Anna Hostetler live in Mexico City with their 4 year-old son Lukas. Derek met us at the airport and we rode back to his house by van through some insane Mexico City traffic.

All together we´ve spent about 4 days in and around Mexico City since I´ve been here. Derek and Anna really make us feel at home whenever we´re there and they even took us to see Teotihuacan one Saturday, which is a site with many ruins and two huge pyramids (one of which is the third largest pyramid in the world).

Besides our time in Mexico City, we´ve basically been hanging out in Cuernavaca (which is just about 2 hours south). Our language school here is called Universal. It is a really nice school with a good staff and some great teachers. The classes usually consist of 4 or less people so they are very personal, helpful, and interactive.

While here in Cuernavaca (4 weeks total) we´re all staying with host families, but I´m pretty sure I got the best one. They live in a very nice house with a walled in garden surrounding it. The mom´s name is Carmen, and she is amazing. Basically, her full time job is taking care of students who come to school here and she does a dang good job of it. She has 3 sons: Alfredo (Freddie - who was an english teacher, but now works for ICEE), Leo (who is married and lives in a casita - little house - in the garden), and Eric (who is studying graffic design at a university here). The father of the family died a few years back unexpectedly. I live with another American, a guy about my age from California, who speaks very little spanish. It´s been fun translating to the family for him and just hanging out in general.

Cuernavaca is a beautiful city if you can look past the occasional garbage in the streets and the many shaggy, stray dogs that roam around (all of which seem friendly, by the way). The time I´ve spent here so far has been great and I know I´m gonna be sad when language school is over, but life goes on. To friends and family who are reading this, I hope you are doing well. Let me know what´s going on in your life. Peace.