The Little Children Broke My Heart...

So I had a little revelation yesterday, if that is what you want to call it. We went on an excursion yesterday to this beautiful city called Taxco, it is just about an hour and a half away from Cuernavaca. This is a picture of it. In the picture, the tallest buiding n the back, is this beautiful church that was built in the 1600's. It is a city that is was build on a hill with all white houses and red roofs, it kind of reminds me of Greece. Taxco is known as the Silver City because it is known for its silver mines. The town is full of jewlery stores, some really expensive but others are great deals! But anyways, about my revelation. We were sitting in the Zocalo, which means it is the center of every town in Mexico, and these 2 little kids came up trying to sell gum. And when I say little, I really mean little, like 3 or 4 years old. It broke my heart to see them working. I think that little kids should not be working, they should be playing and learning, not wandering the streets by themselves talking to strangers. Their families must have been so incredibly poor that they have to send their children out to sell gum, basically with the look in their eyes. I understand that they need money and that may be the only way that they can have food on the table, but to me it is like child labor. I hated it! And I was so upset and didn't know what to do. Should I give in, so that they can get some money or should I oppose it and not buy anything? I completely oppose the idea but I want them to have money. It just absolutely broke my heart to see that. God has given me a heart for children and I actually started to cry a little. It is just terrible and I want to do something about it but I don't know what to do.

En Mexico!!!

I have made it through my first week of classes, at least I can say that I am alive! My dad left on Saturday and I was sad to see him go but was excited to meet all the people in my group and to get to Cuernavaca! This place is beautiful. I really like it. It definitely is different but it is fun. On Sunday, my group from NAU went to this beautiful city named Tepotzlan. It is a really hippie place with lots of “energy”, at least that was how it was described. We went on a hike to the top of a mountain to a pyramid. It was absolutely beautiful but the hike was super hard. Basically it was like walking up stairs for over a mile. But thankfully I made it, Ran, Sarah and Krista you should be proud! One thing that I found to be very different was that many of the women hike in sandals, I suppose they don’t have a need for tennis shoes so they just hike in what they have. It was so weird.
Everyone in my group is so nice. I really like all of them a lot. We all are different, but that is what makes it a little fun. My roommate Claire is really great. I like her a lot. We get a long really well and have fun together.
My Mexican family is so sweet. There are two daughters. The younger daughter is so funny. She is super animated and loves to talk to us. She has so many stories to tell and we definitely can tell that she is a rebel. She is only 14 and she talks about all these crazy things that she has done. It is really funny cause she definitely uses a few English words every now and then. Por ejemplo (for example) she says, “ya I know”, “It’s crazy”, and “Jesus” but it sounds more like “She-sus”, it is so funny. They all are so great and make us feel right at home. Surprisingly I can understand more than I expected to, but I can’t really reproduce anything myself. I know that it will take a while for me to be able to speak and hold a conversation.
School is really good too. The campus is absolutely beautiful. The main campus use to be an apartment complex so there are lots of smaller buildings and lots of pools, but we can’t swim in them. A lot of it is outdoors, so that is great. Everyday I have Spanish 202 from 8-11 am, Monday through Friday, that is 15 hours a week. It is so intense. And get this it is just me and one other student. It is such an intense 3 hours and everyday after that class my head hurts a little from concentrating so much. And then I have 2 conversation classes which are fun cause basically all we do is talk to one another in Spanish. But the best part is that we are outside at little tables around one of the pools. I also have a class about Las películas en México (Mexican Movies). It is very interesting but is going to be a little hard.
So here are a few random things I have learned. In Mexico, right after a woman gives birth she is given chocolate, if it is a girl, or cigarettes, if it is a boy. And to say that you think someone is hot, you say "Esta como mango", like they are a mango! I love it!
Ok so the pictures are: 1. At the Zocalo in Mexico City, a beautiful building lit up at night; 2. My dad and I at the top of the pyramid of the Sun; 3. These are some of my new friends at Los Arcos, the hang out for Tuesday nights!

So everything is going pretty good. I am definitely enjoying myself. But of course it is a little difficult to be away in a country where I have no idea what people are saying sometimes. I miss all of you and hope you are having a great week!

Hello all,
I made it to la Ciudad de Mexico yesterday afternoon. My dad is here with me, if you didn't know. We are spending a few days in the city just so I can get acquainted and just explore this huge city. Mexico city is home of just around 22 million people. That is huge, especially coming from places like Flag and Prescott. Yesterday was filled with flying, leaving the Prescott airport at 7:30 am, a 2 hour layover in LA, and arriving to Mexico City around 4 pm Mexico time, 2 AZ time. Our hotel is right around the corner from a Cathedral, which we can see from our hotel room window. Also, there is a very large government building that forms a square around this huge Mexican flag. It is absolutely beautiful and thankfully they are just starting to take down their tacky Christmas decorations, which I am happy that we got to see.
Today, Wednesday, my dad and I went to El Bosque de Chapultepec, which is really fun to say. It is a huge park in the middle of the city, much like Central Park in NY, but it is full of museums. We went to El Museo Nacional de Antropolgia, the Anthropology Museum. It was surprisingly very interesting. It was really cool to see so many Aztec and Mayan artifacts that have been preserved. My favorites were definitely the statues of the gods that had snakes for necklaces and human hearts for hands. Man their culture is so different than ours.
My dad keeps trying to talk to people in Spanish, tries is the key word, which normally turns out with them saying "What" or speaking back in English. I guess that we look like gringos (white Americans) enough that we are an easy target to get pickpocketed. Which actually happened to my dad when we were on the subway today. It was pretty scary. There were all these guys around us that made me suspicious because they keep pushing and trying to get closer to us. I held on to my purse even tighter and turned away from them when I felt one of there hands attempting to reach for my purse. Before I knew it my dad was yelling "Hey" and "Stop" chasing a man off the subway to a stop that wasn't ours. I suddenly realized what was going on and shuved my way, and I really mean shuved, off the subway finding out that the man droped the wallet right in front of a police officer who grabbed him. It was crazy, but thankfully ended well. The only thing that my dad lost was his glass case which was in his other pocket. So that means this guy got both his glass case and wallet sometime in the 2 minutes that we were on the subway. I knew this stuff happened but I didn't really think that it would happen to us.
Let me tell you this place is definitely a little weird, not bad just a definitely different. Here are a few reasons why:
- You can't hail a taxi on the street cause there are a lot of people who fake to be taxi drivers. Scary
- Tonight at dinner, all the women were given roses.
- The subway costs 2 pesos, about 16 cents.
- Everyone crosses the road like frogger would, one lane at a time in the middle of moving traffic
- In some restraunts they offer English menus, good, but they have some random words that are spelled funny, ex. yogurth for yogurt
- There are police men on pretty much every corner, mostly doing traffic control
- Everyone is really friendly, besides those pickpocketers!

Overall, we are having a good time, besides the few bummps in the road. Tomorrow we are going to Cuernavaca, which I am so excited for!
I miss you all and hope you are having a fantastic week!

Getting Ready

Ok, so honestly I have never in my entire life wanted to blog and never thought I would, but I decided that this may be the best way for all of you to know what is going on with my during my semester abroad.
I have six days left in this beautiful country, and I am a little sad to leave, but I am on my way to being prepared. Just yesterday my mother came home from work with not only one but two things of pepper spray. One to keep in my purse and the second to keep in my night stand, just in case. I am in the middle of packing probably way to many clothes, but what can a girl do. I know that with time everything will come together.
So in these next few days, I am trying to prepare myself for life in Mexico. I have been studying spanish, to refresh my memory. And getting as much sleep as possible.
I hope you enjoy my endeavors with writing a blog and enjoy reading about my life in Mexico. I will see you all in a 3 1/2 months!!! Hasta Luego