Transportation. Let’s just say that all Mexican drivers are city drivers at their worst. It’s pretty much lanes/ turn signals optional, with no visible speed limits. My Mexican mother is a pretty safe driver, but some taxis we’ve taken have been terrifying. The public buses are really convenient and cheap, but there are no schedules, so you just have to hope a bus with your route on it passes soon (and you should ALWAYS ask to make sure it’s going to the right place—regardless of what the sign says).
Food. It is GOOD. The mealtimes are fairly different, though, and it took a little while to adjust. Breakfast (desayuno) is pretty much the same, with the sole exception being that, in place of my typical granola bar, my mom here feeds me to the point of immobility. But that goes for practically every meal; I feel like my stomach has expanded significantly since I came here. The next meal isn’t until mid-afternoon, around 3 or so. They don’t really call it lunch (or almuerzo); it’s just “comida”—the main meal. This meal is pretty much to Mexicans what dinner is to us; my father and brother come home from work, my sister’s home from school, and we all eat a big meal together. The last meal is sort-of-dinner, or “cena,” and with my family it consistently consists of sandwiches or quesadillas and maybe some fruit or sweet bread. Cena is usually later, around 9 or 10, and it’s the time of “platicando” or chatting.
Other things about food that I love here: every kind of “pan dulce,” or sweet bread/ pastries, has its own name. There are also tons of delicious fresh fruits, and a home-made hot salsa or peppers are placed out with almost every meal. They also adore salt here, but normal pepper cannot be found. Oh- and, as my father here said, [translated] “Coca Cola is the drink of the gods.”
Oh, look! We're practically straight out of a commercial :)
Interacting with people. It’s been hard to switch between Ud. and tu forms of addressing people (the first being formal and the other informal, usually reserved for peers). When you meet people, it’s usually with a handshake and kiss on the cheek. I will not really miss propinos, which are essentially call-outs to women and very common here; since we’re noticeably from the US, our group has been met by a fair share of these. Bartering and negotiating is also the norm here; from markets, where it’s expected, even to taxi cabs, it’s a tricky/ uncomfortable art I haven’t mastered. Also, I feel like I annoy my family with the amount of thank yous I give. I’m honestly spoiled rotten here and am hardly allowed to lift a finger to help, which is more awkward than it should be. I try to thank them for every little thing that they do for me, but I feel like they feel it’s simply their responsibility to take care of me.
Other little things. Many people keep dogs on their roofs to keep watch for robbers. The keyboards here are set up completely different—it took me like 10 minutes to figure out how to access the “@” sign, but one second to get an “n” with a tilde. Public bathrooms here can be a nuisance; there is a 50% chance that you will either have to pay a few pesos or there won’t be available toiler paper (or both). Museums and historic sites can sometimes have as much security as airports; it was a pain in Mexico City, especially with water restrictions (it got to be very hot). Tapwater is a no-no here. Our families have nice jars of purified water to drink, and there are free filling stations at our university.
But the weather! It is very strange, because it can get very cool in the mornings/ evenings (especially after rain), but it is pretty toasty most of the time down here. However, almost all locals wear jeans and/or sweaters; we’ve even seen people running in sweatshirts, which seems crazy to me. But we definitely stick out as foreigners in our shorts and t-shirts. I keep adding, but lastly, I love how close my family is here. When they’re not at work or school, they’re essentially together. Whether we sit and chat for hours at mealtimes or watch television together, it’s just the norm to spend time together. All members of my host family, mom, dad, sister, and brother, are so witty, funny, and wonderful. I’m going to miss them so much when I leave on Thursday!
All in all, there are lots of things I’m looking forward to when I head back home, but there are so many things I’m going to miss about here. I feel like I’m just getting really used to it all, and it’s just about time to go…
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