Hola amigos,
Sooooo I failed royally at blogging in Spain. I still intend on posting stories from Spain in my blog at some point, but now to talk about OAXACA!
I got on a plane in Raleigh, NC, at 7 in the morning, to catch a plane to Charlotte, to catch a plane to Mexico City, to catch a plane to Oaxaca. Phew! Mexico City is the biggest, most sprawled-out city I've ever seen; it was quite an impressive sight from up in the air. I caught up with some students from my program (who I love!...I'm excited to get to know everyone better while I'm here!) on my flight to Oaxaca. On my plane, I sat beside a woman named Louise. When she spoke to me in perfect American English, I asked her where she was from, and she replied, "I've lived in Mexico for 10 years now, so I'm now a Mexican citizen, but before that, I lived in New York," which created in my mind all sorts of hilarious images (especially given the recent snowstorm) of a disgruntled New Yorker waking up one day and saying, "Hang it all!" (only, of course, in the more colorful, blunt language of New York City) and moving to Mexico. Best of all, when I told her that I go to the University of Chicago, she goes, "Oh, I graduated from there." What are the chances I would sit beside a UChicago alum on my plane to Oaxaca? I hope to catch up with her while she's vacationing in Oaxaca.
Oaxaca from the air is gorgeous. The clouds were in all sorts of wonderful and bizarre shapes (one that looked like a judge with a white wig reaching out his hands from his billowing gown [I made such a fuss about the clouds that Louise commented, "You know, the mountains are something, too!"), and the light through the clouds made everything seem so mystical. The ripples in the mountains reminded me of crinkles in bedsheets, which created (for me) the image of giants sleeping inside the earth.
In the airport, I was expecting my host mother and 19 year-old host sister to pick me up, but what I found was my host brother (who I hadn't known existed!) and his friend, both 20-something year-olds who talked about how much they partied last night on New Year's Eve and who honked at women on the streets (then apologized to me for their behavior, only to do it again at the next corner). I was grinning the whole time in the carride; their energy was infecitious, and their antics made me laugh. It was hard to follow thier fast-paced Spanish as they joked together and cursed at slow drivers. My host family has so far talked to me mostly in English, but I'm going to insist on speaking Spanish to them while I'm here. They've hosted two students each year for about 10 years, so living here is a much different feel from my host family in Spain, where they had never hosted a student (and had never had a 20 year-old girl living under their roof) and were thus very hands-on with me, but I already like my Mexican host family!
After eating dinner, I've been in my room unpacking, e-mailing to let everyone know I've arrived, and getting ready for bed, as I've had quite the tiring day in airports. From my brief glimpse of Oaxaca, I already love it. There's so much life in the air (and actually, I can hear from my window that at this very moment, there are fireworks in the air), and I loved all the sights from my carride through the city: a man pulling along a snack cart on his bicycle, the colorful buildings in yellows and corals, the old couples dressed up, the children playing in the streets, the colorful decorations hanging from buildings and criss-crossing above the roads, the palm trees...I can't wait until tomorrow morning when my host mother María shows me around! Today has been a great start to my next adventure abroad, as well as to the new year.
¡Feliz Año Nuevo!
Besos,
Anna
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