Hola! Saludos de Mexico!!
Hello! Greetings from Mexico!!

These first few days have been an emotional roller coaster, filled with good and bad things alike, just like any life in any part of the world. However, I will tell you about the particular joys and frustrations of living and working at Mazahua Valley Mission in Atlacomulco. I like lists, so here goes, bad first, then good....

Cosas Malas

1. It’s COLD here but my face is sunburned. (We are at a very high altitude). I thought summer would be warm, but packing tank tops was a mistake. I wear a sweatshirt and pants everyday and sleep with four warm blankets and wool socks. By 2:00pm I can wear a t-shirt when playing soccer, but it’s like going hiking, where you have to bring 3 layers with you everywhere you go. Because it’s so cold here, I almost froze to death helping the kids with their swimming lessons
2. The plumbing is terrible. Washing up at morning and night involves leaving my small room to wash in cold water outside. Fortunately, I can get hot showers in the Marrerro’s house (they are the directors of the the mission). Toilet paper doesn’t go in the toilet, it goes in the wastebasket so as not to clog the pipes. You do not want to know how many times I’ve had to fish the paper out with my hand because I keep forgetting. Yuck!
3. Within the first 20 minutes after arriving in Mexico, we were talking about Justin Bieber and listening to Hannah Montana. Shoot me, please.
4. There is no phone for me to call home here at the mission, so I’ll be using skype once my laptop gets configured for the internet here. (let me know if you have skype!)
5. It takes so much brain power to be constantly trying to figure out what the heck people are saying and translating it in my head. I feel exhausted everyday just from thinking too much. The little kids don’t realize I don’t understand much Spanish yet and they just talk to me, blah blah blah, and I nod my head until they ask me a question. Then I just say “no se.” (I don’t know) It makes me feel lonely.
6. I never know what the heck is going on or what the schedule is. One of the kids knocked on my door this morning while I was still sleeping and said “Are you coming with us to go swimming? We are leaving in five minutes.” What?? Why doesn’t anyone tell me these things the night before?
7. My “little brother” Josue, whom I got really close with last time I was down here, left three days after I arrived. He is doing his senior year of high school as an exchange student in Minneapolis, and I had no idea. I thought he would be around to hang out with and translate things for me, but no. So that was a sad realization.
8. The church is super conservative and crazy. The guest pastor that preached last Sunday was full of fire and brimstone and rules and regulations. I almost had to walk out of my first service here. Since he was a guest pastor, maybe it will be better next time...



Cosas Buenas
1. I get about 50 kisses each day! There is a kiss at each hello and goodbye, from everyone, as well as great hugs from the little kids. We should start doing that in the US. It makes you feel so loved.
2. Even though Josue is gone, his little brother and sister still live here at the mission and I love them and their parents. They help me with my Spanish and are always teaching me new words and making me laugh, especially Chuy, whom I have named “El Spaz.” Seriously, I don’t know how God created such a funny person.
3. Food! Everything is FRESH and organic and therefore delicious, even if it is simple tortillas, eggs, and beans wtih salsa verde, cheese, and cream, which we have in some form almost everyday. Today was cold, so the cook Juanita made Te de Manzana, which is like hot apple cider, but with real boiled apples floating around in each glass. Yum! And the horchata is so much better here than from el Mercado Central in Minneapolis, which I didn’t think was possible. We also eat funny things, like spicy hotdog tacos, hamburgers with mango and guacamole, and spicy spaghetti with chicken, potatoes, and cactus.
4. I love teaching! So far I have taught two classes of english, one hour each, with about a two minute warning each time. We are having so much fun. We did body parts and they all laughed so hard when I taught them how to say “butt.” The school here is very strict, which is a nice change from Minneapolis. The kids don’t talk while I talk and they take notes and ask good questions. I also help with all their other subjects, which they do independently on their computers in silence. Instead of raising their hands when they have a question or need to get up, they have a little Mexican flag that they stand up and just wait until one of the teachers comes to them. It is fascinating. Even the “bad” kid in class, Brian, is an angel compared to most of the kids I used to work with.
5. The kids are so cute! I know you’re not supposed to have favorites as a teacher, but of course it is impossible not to. There are two little girls, Janetzy and Joceyln, and a little boy named Samuel, that have stolen my heart already.
6. It is almost certain that I will get to travel to other parts of Mexico by myself (to visit friends) and with the Marrerro family to the southernmost state of Chiapas, and the city of San Cristobal “The Hippy Town,” as Chuy calls it. That makes me excited, because I can see how I will feel cooped up here at the mission at times. My town, Atlacomulco, is pretty small and there isn’t a lot to see here.
7. Everything is so cheap. I went to a movie at the theatre last night for less than three dollars and I bought three pairs of awesome earrings for four dollars! I might turn into a shop-a-holic, which is not good.
8. For those of you weirdos who like the BM report (Cory, Jeni, Bri), surprisingly, I am constipated, which goes on the “Cosas Buenas” list because it could be the opposite
9. Although I often freeze up when I want to say something, which keeps me from getting to know everyone faster and makes me appear very shy, I am beginning to understand more and more Spanish each day. I can’t wait until I start dreaming in Spanish! That is the point that marks the crossover.
10. And lastly, I will be forced to learn how to play soccer, a sport I never learned in the US. They play every single day here. Well, the boys do anyway, but I want to start playing with them.
Well, that’s about it for my first week in Mexico.
Although I’m having fun here, I think about you all often and miss you already. I really hope some of you can visit me here. The mission is a wonderful place filled with wonderful people!

Paz,

Chelsea, a.k.a.Yelsea, Chelita, or Chel