Monday-a woman in one of my classes told me that she thinks my fluidity of speaking has improved. I’m not so sure that I agree, but it was still nice to hear.
Tuesday-mi padre talked to me yet again about boys. He was spouting out relationship advice, and he said a lot of clichés. It was kind of cool cause some of them were the same in english as they are in spanish.
Wednesday-nothing too exciting happened yet today, but I think I'll have enough excitement once my parents get here.
So, the real reason for my update: I've been making a list of the differences that I've noticed in Mexico. My blogs are usually long enough, so I thought this would be a good opportunity to post it.
I realize that some of the things might just be the difference of living in a big city, pero, bueno.
Here we go:
-Bathrooms. When out in public, you usually have to pay 3-4 pesos (24-32 cents) to use the bathroom. Also, there are no guarantees that the bathrooms will have toilet seats, toilet paper, or soap. Even most of the bathrooms at la UAQ don’t have toilet paper or soap. About ½ of them have toilet seats.
-US Stores. Ok, so I know I shouldn't be completely shocked, but there are a lot of US stores here. I live right down the street from a Walmart and Sam's Club. Sears is everywhere, as well as McDonalds. What makes me laugh is that they have restaurant chains that we don't have in Michigan.
-Walmart. I live really close to a Walmart. It’s actually a lot nicer than the Walmarts in Holland and TC, the entryway is all glass and there’s some nice little shops leading into the store. However, the employees are pretty much salespeople, so they come up to you and tell you about what’s on sale in whatever aisle you’re in. Also, there are dancing cows.
There's a guy behind the cow doing the dance too.
Here's the video that Kelsey took:
This was advertising water. Makes sense, right?
In Walmart, the eggs are not kept in the fridge, they’re just sitting out. This makes me nervous. Also, the juice and milk that we buy can sit out as well, and they don’t expire until 2011. So...I’m not really sure what it is we’re drinking.
-There are about a bajillion restaurants. There are some normal restaurants, but then there are a ton of tiny (like big enough for 5 people) restaurants. Also, TVs are everywhere. Even the venders with tiny little stands have TVs.
-Police always have their lights on. I’ve talked to people here and they say it’s so that the people can see that there’s a cop near by and slow down. Quite a different system.
-Addresses don’t always go in order. I wouldn’t have noticed this, but the week that we moved, I asked someone to go to my new house to pick something up for me while I was gone. I told them the address was 222, and later they called and told me no one was home. Later, we figured out that they had gone to the wrong house. They saw 220, the next one didn’t have an address, and the next one was 226, so they figured 222 was in between. Actually, 222 was after 226.
-PDA. People are pretty lovey-dovey here. It doesn’t really matter where, on the street, on the bus, laying on the lawn at la UAQ….they’re not afraid to show their affections.
-The people. Most everyone is pretty friendly. The guys are a lot more open about hitting on girls, especially foreigners. People stare at you if you’re foreign, and the guys will walk by telling you how pretty your eyes are and whatnot. The people you get to know are super open and helpful. Within minutes of meeting people, they’ll tell you that their house is your house.
When telling you about something, a lot of people here say “vas a gustar,” meaning you’re going to like it. I first noticed it just cause it’s a little stronger than saying “I think you’ll like it,” but I figured it was just the language difference. Well, after watching one bullfight with mis padres and telling them I don’t really like bullfights (blood, violence, cruelty to animals, etc), a few weeks later there was another bullfight, but it was a different kind of bullfight. Mi padre told me I was going to like it because it was different. (it’s not that different, they're still killing a bull and there's still lots of blood.)
Something I just noticed the other day: since I have been here, not once has someone started to sing “Jolene, Jolene, Jolene, Joooooolene” to me after being introduced…I've never met this many people without having anyone sing. ;-)
-Here, they say “blah blah blah” as well as “witty witty witty.”
-Mexicans are kind of laid back about payments. For example, you can pay the bus driver when you board the bus or when you’re leaving. For our trip to Veracruz, we paid half before we left. I assumed we’d have to pay the other half when we were boarding the bus. Wrong. Then I thought, “oh, maybe we’ll have to pay before we can get our hotel room.” Wrong. The tour organizer never mentioned it, the last day we had to ask him about it. Also, in the US, I feel like you would have to sign a waiver for certain things (going on a tour where the bus driver doesn't count to make sure there's the right number of people on the bus, climbing a monolith, etc) but here it’s no big deal.
-I know things are more laid back here, but the people really are just not in a hurry. Everyone walking down the sidewalk is going at a VERY leisurely pace (and if I think they’re moving slow, they must be moving really slow, just ask my dad). The people in cars are less leisurely. I think this is more of a big city difference, but if cars do not GO the second the light changes, there is honking. Of course, it’s difficult for the cars to go right away, as the majority of the cars here are stick shifts.
-The sidewalks are not for people, but rather for plants and trees.
The garbage goes in little baskets on the sidewalk, and I think the garbage people come like every night except for Sunday. Also, pretty much all over town, there are people continuously sweeping the streets (Querétaro is one of the cleanest places in Mexico).
-School. Most universities here don’t have dorms so all of the students commute to school. The system of the university here is completely different. The students have to pick one department, so when I tell them that I’m studying three things, they’re all really confused and amazed. They take all of their classes together and they take a lot of classes - like 6 or 7. The students and most of the professors aren’t concerned about being prompt, and the students don’t hesitate to make noise during class, leave and walk around, or take phone calls. This makes it extra hard to hear. The professor for two of my classes is really laid back, so he doesn’t get mad or tell the students to be quiet. If someone is reading aloud, he tells them to speak up instead of telling the class to quiet down.
Here are some pics from my department at la UAQ:
one of the buildings of classrooms:
now the building from the first pic is on the left, the pic below is in the middle, and on the right is another building with classrooms:
a building with resources for learning a different language
Eventually I'll take pictures of the classrooms and library and stuff.
Most of the things I was told to think about before coming here have not been a problem. The food is all disinfected, so I don’t have to be extremely careful about what I eat. We have filtered water, so that's not a problem either. The only thing that’s weird is when I go to a restaurant, I have to order a beverage in a bottle of just asking for a glass of water.
So, there you have it. You are all now prepared to come to Mexico.
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