flying and arriving in mexico

culture shock!!!! that's the best way to describe my first day in mazatlan. after 2 safe and normal flights i arrived in mazatlan, very tired and nervous.

i was extremely nervous about customs. since i am studying in mexico i need a student visa. i don't have one. my advisor said many students get them once in mexico. but since i tend to freak out a lot i was still nervous. i was afraid that the customs officer would ask me the purpose of my visit. in my dreams i pictured him saying that i had the wrong form. i would then try to explain that my school would arrange it, but everything got lost in translation. well, in reality it went nothing like that! i gave the officer my officer the forms and my passport. he stamped my form and shouted NEXT! without even opening my passport! crisis averted!

my host "mom's" nephew, ruben, picked me up at the airport and we chatted all the way to my new home. and yes, we chatted in spanish...that was hard! but he said my spanish was better than his english.....this, i doubt.

i met my host mom, ivonne, and she maybe said a couple of words before some neighbor came into the house and there was already another friend in the house. they were chatting away and saying "this is kristeen, the student!" it was a whirlwind of craziness!

for dinner she had ordered chicken from 'Puro Pollo'. It was like KFC, well not really but close enough. i even had mashed potatoes with gravy. there was also some noodle thing with a sauce i didn't really like. to drink, i had coca-cola! after eating i went to bed. i had woken up at 7:30am the day before i left, slept for 2 hours the night before leaving, left my house for o'hare at 3:30am and my first flight was at 7:15am. i was exhausted.

i couldn't fall asleep. an hour later, i heard gunshots... it wasn't like crazy gun slinging shooting, just one shot here and there, very random yet somehow organized. the gun shots progressively got closer and closer...then i started to hear a whole lot of police sirens. those too got closer and closer. then i started to hear loud music. my heart was beating so fast. all i could think about was why the police hadn't caught these people yet. i called my mommy. she said to ask my host about it, seeing as she hadn't come into my room to warn or comfort me. i knocked on her bedroom door. i asked her what was going on! she told me that it was a parade to determine the king of carnaval. carnaval is kind of like a really huge street party that is held in february....(we actually get 2 days off of school so that we can go to it!) relieved and feeling a little bit stupid, i went to bed.

i got up a little later to unpack. that's when more people came over! i met ivonne's sister's two daughters. after i was done unpacking they asked me to come eat. i had some sort of sweet bread thing. i wasn't too fond of it, but i ate it. to drink we had this chocolate drink...which was hot! i had had this before, it tastes pretty much like hot chocolate, but what shocked me was that it was 70 degrees outside and we were drinking hot chocolate! besides the hot chocolate, all of them were wearing long sleeves or light sweaters! crazy!

while i was eating and drinking, ivonne asked me a question that her nephew had asked me in the car ride. why are your hands red? i don't know the answer to that question, but i think it's my hands defrosting...

after "dessert" i was shown how to use the internet and where the clean water was! i have been drinking so much water! i was super excited about the internet, because in an e-mail i had received i was told i wasn't allowed to use the internet....sshhh. don't tell anyone.

at 9 pm (10pm milwaukee time and my body time) i went to bed. it felt good. i zonked out right away. and what seemed like 20 seconds later, i heard church bells ringing. it was 6am! after that i couldn't get back to sleep. and on went my day.


details of how my day went will be posted soon. take care everyone! i miss you all!