A good weekend

Firstly, it's getting a bit busy around here with a lot of tarea (homework) and, well, more tarea. Thus, apologies for the slow posts.

This past weekend I went to Pena de Bernal, basically a big monolith with a small city surrounding. We climbed as high as we could before it was a 90 degree angle and you needed climbing equipment. In the town of Bernal they had amazing sweet bread, and as always, it was super cheap. Speaking of, the other day I had a main course, 5 sides, and a drink for a total of 40 pesos, which comes out to less than $4 US. I get to be a cheap college student here without the sacrifice :)

I also went to the circus near my house. That was interesting- I'll show some pictures later. And finally: I got a job! I'm giving English lessons at a small English school. I really enjoy it because I get to meet more Mexicans, I surprisingly learn a lot of Spanish during class, I'm considering some kind of teaching in the future, and I'm making money while I'm here which is a sweet deal. I'm thinking about buying a bike here so I can bike to work; however, it might be a little dangerous, considering a lot of sidewalks only can fit 1.5 people and drivers here are... aggressive. We'll see: if I start putting on a taco belly (that exists, right?), I might consider it some more.

Here are pics from Pena de Bernal:

Doesn't matter how hot it is or if you happen to be climbing a giant rock, people here will still always wear jeans.

View of the city of Bernal

Local ladies selling dulces (sweets)

Activity in the streets. Nearby were policemen holding AK-47s, but I was too afraid to take their picture haha

A good-looking hill

More or less the center of the town (there's a garden and some shops to the right)

This is a mini church on the monolith.

Also, I wanted to share a verse that really struck a chord in my heart. I've experienced a lot humility here, especially with the language barrier, and Jesus is showing me what dependence on Him alone looks like.

We were under great pressure, far beyond our ability to endure, so that we despaired of life itself. Indeed, we felt we had received the sentence of death. But this happened that we might not rely on ourselves but on God, who raises the dead. He has delivered us from such a deadly peril, and he will deliver us again. On him we have set our hope that he will continue to deliver us -1 Corinthians 2:8-10

Things to come:

A typical day in Mexico
Other international students

Pics from the circus

Prayers:

Total satisfaction and dependence in Jesus (He is slowing showing me what that looks like)

For a fruitful relationship with my host family
Patience with learning Spanish

Confidence in my identity in Christ

Pray specifically for Augustine and Alan

My home town

It's called "Querétaro" (pronounced "kay-ray-ta-ro") and it's where I live. I haven't google fact checked this information, but I've learned a lot about this city from the locals. In the last 5 years the city has grown from about 700,000 people to nearing 2 million. Needless to say, this place seems to be growing exponentially and you can see it everyday with it's crowded sidewalks and streets. One guy told me it took about 8 min to drive to work 5 years ago and now he averages 30 min because of all the traffic. Either because of or as a result of the growth, the city is relatively prosperous. It's easy to find houses here that are more elegant than ones I've seen in the States. It's quickly becoming a hotbed for foreigners. It's not necessarily a typical tourist destination but Querétaro attracts people to live here for the long-term. There's a town very close by that its known for attracting American retirees.

And with every place in Mexico, this place has some history. Querétaro started as originally a small town and expanded from there. The area that consists of the original town is called "Central Historico." I live within walking distance of this place, and it's pretty awesome: the streets are cobblestone, there are markets all over the place, there's a big park in the middle where there are always music and performances, and everything looks ancient. I could use the word "archaic" to sum up the feel of this area. There's also an old and still-standing aqueduct that runs right along one of the main streets. Here's some pics of the aqueduct (more from the Central Historico later):

Looking straight at one of the arches.

Aqueduct at night

They have these cool/creepy looking "sculptures" under the arches of the aqueduct. They are all a combination of real animals or insects. Try to figure out the combos

Butthead! He literally has one... and I just had to take a picture so I could write that on here :)

Things to come:

Pics from my trip to Pena de Bernal
A typical day in Mexico
Other international students

Prayers:

Obedience
Total satisfaction in Jesus

Clarity and confidence in why God has me in Mexico

For a fruitful relationship with my host family
Patience with learning Spanish

Confidence in my identity in Christ

Pray specifically for Augustine and Alan

Celaya

Update: I feel all better now. Here are some pics from Celaya, a small town about 2 hours away from Querétaro. Three international students and I went with a Mexican friend to stay at his house for the weekend. We basically explored the city and on Sunday had a huge- and absolutely delicious- barbacoa (like a BBQ but with no burgers and hotdogs). We ate like 8 different kinds of cooked vegetables, steak, chorizo (kind of like sausage), tortillas, beans, and potatoes. Well here are the pics from the town...

The group minus one. From left to right: Nav from Italy, Eronja from Italy, Daniel from Mexico, and some dude

There are street vendors all over Mexico

More vendors of the street

Center of the town with a bunch of monuments and statues.

There's the other guy- Nico from Belgium

Shoe shinin' station

From front to back: light post, steeple, water tower!

Beautiful plaza in the center of town

This is my attempt at an artsy shot

Things to come:

More about Querétaro, my city of residence.
A typical day in Mexico
Other international students

Prayers:

Obedience
Total satisfaction in Jesus

Clarity and confidence in why God has me in Mexico

For a fruitful relationship with my host family
Patience with learning Spanish

Confidence in my identity in Christ

Pray specifically for Augustine and Alan

It's about time

Estoy enfermo. I'm sick.

I had been warned that it was a guarantee that I'd get sick in Mexico. I had made it 2 weeks, and I was in the clear. Wrong. After a terrible stomach ache y algunos viajes al baño (I'll let you translate that one :)), it was clear that I had something. This weekend I went to a small city called Celaya and enjoyed my time and all. However, I made a grave mistake: I ate uncooked shrimp while I was there. I definitely didn't think that through. After some Peptobismol (sp?), the BRAT diet (bread, rice, applesauce, and toast), and 12 straight hours of sleep, I'm feeling better. Well, I learned my lesson. I'll post some pics of this city later.

Recognize these?

Things to come:

Pics of Celaya
More about Querétaro, my city of residence.
A typical day in Mexico
Other international students

Prayers:

Obedience
Total satisfaction in Jesus

Clarity and confidence in why God has me in Mexico

For a fruitful relationship with my host family
Patience with learning Spanish

Confidence in my identity in Christ

Tecnológico de Monterrey

Tecnológico de Monterrey- Campus Querétaro, otherwise known as "Tec," is the magnificent university I'm attending down in Mexico. It has about 5,000 students which makes it feel very personal in contrast to the 40,000 or so at Purdue. After one week, I'm somewhat familiar with my teachers, office staff, and other students on campus.

To my surprise (and a little bit disappointment), everyone is on time here! I had been warned about Mexicans' lack of promptness and told stories of teachers showing up 30 min to class without notice, but as of now, it's not true. Well, I kind of take that back: at school it's not true. Apparently Tec was started by Americans and thus runs like an American university with schedules and time. If we're talking about a social event, those can start up to 2 hours after the scheduled time; it hasn't been a hard adjustment for me because I've never been one for punctuality.

Speaking of time, my earlier class is at 11:30 am!! It's awesome... but I do end kind of late. Actually on Tuesday I don't finish until 9 pm :) Oh and I'm taking an extra class- a dance class! No, not salsa. No, not tango. No, not any other stereotypical Latin-American dance. Yes, hip-hop. I've tried the others and found I'm not a fan of all their structure. Thus, I'm ready to find out what Mexican hip-hop is like because that class starts next week!

Well here's some pictures from campus:

Things to come:
More about Querétaro, my city of residence.
A typical day in Mexico
Other international students

Prayers:
For a pure heart with pure intentions

Clarity and confidence in why God has me in Mexico

For a fruitful relationship with my host family
Patience with learning Spanish

Confidence in my identity in Christ

People and pics

I will update more tomorrow and this weekend, but I wanted to at least share pictures of some common faces here.

This is the other international student, Elli, who lives at my host family's house. We're outside one of the many walk-in-off-the-street restaurants. They serve tacos and more things that look like tacos.

I'm with my host parents and friends at the marketplace where they serve more tacos! The girl on the left is from Australia and the one on the right is from New York.

Previously I posted a picture of my host parents but didn't have a picture of my brother at the time. Here he is!

My "Hermano Mayor," which means Big Sister, at my school, Tec de Monterrey. She's awesome... she helps me around campus, got me a phone for free, and basically helps me out like everyday. Her name is May.

Things to come:
More about Querétaro, my city of residence.
Info about my university here
A typical day in Mexico
Other international students

Prayers:
For a pure heart with pure intentions

Clarity and confidence in why God has me in Mexico

For a fruitful relationship with my host family
Patience with learning Spanish

Confidence in my identity in Christ

I really like this.

Sorry I wasn't smart enough to flip it. This pic brings to mind the perfect word: cheerny (cheesy + corny).

Today was my first day of classes. Loved it! The teachers were great, the classes seemed challenging but fun, and I was surprised how much Spanish I understood. I need to take some pictures of the campus, but it's a really beautiful place (like everything else here, haha). The buildings are designed to all have plazas, so it's easy to meet and mingle. I don't have much to say other than I'm excited for what's to come!

And though I'm becoming más o menos (more or less) accustomed to the bus system and the general locations of things, I had yet another bus adventure. Today I got on the correct numbered bus, however I was at the wrong bus stop, meaning this was the bus on the way back from where I wanted to go. I basically took a bus that was going in the total opposite direction of school... on my first day. Long story short, I ended up getting off and taking a taxi to school. Oh and today when I was walking home, I got lost. I think I've seen just about all the good--and bad-- parts of the city. God is definitely using it to teach me some things. Humility seems to be the reoccurring lesson

And I just came across an amazing song that I felt the need to share here:

Such a GREAT song!

Things to come:
More about Querétaro, my city of residence.
Info about my university here
A typical day in Mexico
Other international students

Prayers:
For a pure heart with pure intentions
Focus for why I'm here
A willingness and openness to what God has in store in Mexico
For a fruitful relationship with my host family
Patience with learning Spanish

Confidence in my identity in Christ

Taking the autobús

Street view from the balcony of my house. You can see an old VW bug going down the street- these things are all over the place.

Another of the street without, you know, a wall in the way.

Yesterday the international group called AMI (amigos mexicanos e internacionles [translation: Mexican and international friends) hosted a BBQ with carne asado and tortillas and some spicy stuff as always :) To get to this event, I decided taking the autobus would be a good idea because first of all it's 6 1/2 pesos (like 60 cents) for a ride and secondly I figured it would be a good experience. Well, I definitely had an experience.

I went to the bus stop but missed the correct bus twice because those things fly by and I was zoning out while watching all the commotion of people around me. Then I get on the bus and figured it would be a solid 30 min drive. An hour and a half later, I had seen pretty much the entire city when the bus finally reached my destination. But the adventure wasn't over yet!! The bus stop was not exactly where I thought it would be. And this particular stop was literally in the middle of neighborhood. One of those places you don't want to find yourself alone at night. I looked around and just saw rows of vacant-looking houses and a bunch of stray dogs. It felt eerily like the movies. I spent a good 20 minutes meandering and even asked some kids where the street I was looking for was. They of course had no idea :)

Alas, I gave up a man card and ended up calling someone and finally made it there after a total travel time of about 2 hours. It was well worth it though: a lot of the international students were there and the view was breathtaking. We were on top of a hill and a had a perfect view of the city in the foreground with silhouettes of mountains in the misty background. Shouda brought the camera :)

Things to come:
More about Querétaro, my city of residence.
Info about my university here
A typical day in Mexico
Other international students

Prayers:
For a pure heart with pure intentions
Focus for why I'm here
A willingness and openness to what God has in store in Mexico
For a fruitful relationship with my host family
Patience with learning Spanish

Confidence in my identity in Christ

Atop a roof looking down.

Mi familia mexicana

My host mom and dad

My host family es fantástico! With the host family thing, it can be a real hit and miss, but I have been blessed with a friendly, interactive, and caring family. My dad's name is Trinidad, but he goes by Trini, and my mom's name is Arlette. Their casa is right above the hair salon they own. They also rent out a house to other international students where 3 French girls live at the moment. They have a 30-year-old son, Ronnie, living and working in Spain and a 25-year-old son, Michael, that lives here and works for Michelin tires.

I like hanging out with them because it really helps with my spanish skills. Just tonight we went to a furniture store because they were buying a new bed set for their rented house. It was interesting to hear them do business with the furniture salesmen. I just sat their and tried to absorb as much as possible, being a model tourist with dictionary open and a pen and journal in hand to write down new words. Afterwards we got some delicious "pastor" tacos. Basically they are small, round tortillas with normally beef, onions, and spicy stuff in the middle. Anyways, I look forward to spending more time with them and hearing more stories about past study abroad students they've hosted.

Things to come:

• More about Querétaro, my city of residence.
• Info about my university here
• A typical day in Mexico
• Other international students

Prayers:

• For a pure heart with pure intentions
• Focus for why I'm here
• A willingness and openness to what God has in store in Mexico
• For a fruitful relationship with my host family
• Patience with learning Spanish

This is the house that my host parents rent out. It has like a courtyard in the middle with no roof above that part. It's a pretty sweet place.

Joyfully,

Andrew or Andrés in México

Oh hey, I'm in Mexico!

¡Estoy aquí! I made it to Mexico!

It's nothing short of breathtaking here. We are really high up (upwards of 5000 ft), and it looks as if you could touch the cielos (skies). Pretty amazing. And as my title indicates... there's a whole lot of sun here. However, it's surprisingly not too hot, but I'm probably talking too soon :)

I'm here for the next 4 1/2 months, and I'm ready for, well, a learning experience. Mexico is so very different from the US that it's hard to have specific expectations. And I'm not talking about a good or bad different- just different. One thing is for sure: I'm falling in love with this place quickly. Time is slower and people are friendlier... I like that.

I'll try to keep the blog fresh with at least one new picture a day and maybe some description to accompany.

Things to come:

• Pictures of my Mexican family and what they're like
• More about Querétaro, my city of residence.
• Info about my university here
• A typical day in Mexico

And most importantly, I always need prayer. I post some prayer requests, and if you have anything I can be praying for, you can post it in the comment box below.

Prayers:

• For a pure heart with pure intentions
• Focus for why I'm here
• A willingness and openness to what God has in store in Mexico
• For a fruitful relationship with my host family
• Patience with learning Spanish

A snapshot of my living room de mi casa.

With love,

Andrew