¡Bienvenidos a Tehuacán!

My adventure began at 3:30 AM on Monday. I had gone to bed around 1 AM the night before so I only got about 2 hours of sleep that night. I had to wake up and finish packing some then get the car all ready to go. Dad & I left his house right on schedule and it was off to Philly. We stopped and got some breakfast on the way there, but I was so nervous/excited I could barely even eat. I tried to stay awake on the drive there, but it was nearly impossible. We finally got to the airport a little after 5:30. I said my goodbyes to Dad and I got in line to get my boarding pass. Everything was pretty regular since I have flown a lot in the past and this first flight was just to Houston. I arrived in Houston and then got to my next terminal about an hour before take-off.  This next flight was a little different. They required me to show my passport [which was so exciting because I’ve never used it before]. The guy at the desk told me that it wasn’t valid, which caused me to have a mini-heart attack. Luckily it was only because I hadn’t signed it yet. Once I signed it everything was fine. My flight was normal, except this time everything was bilingual because almost everyone on the flight was Hispanic. I had to fill out some immigration documents while I was on the flight as well.

The mural from the customs line in the Mexico City Airport

  I arrived to Mexico City at about 2:30 in the afternoon. Everything in the airport was pretty much bilingual as well, but now Spanish was the dominate language. I had to go through customs and let them stamp my passport and verify that I was actually able to be in Mexico.  I passed through there and then it was off to get my luggage. Surprisingly the bags weren’t on the turning roundabout thing that they are on in the US; they were just kind of sitting on the ground near a sign that said Houston on it. I grabbed my bags and headed over to the money exchange counter, but before I could go there the security guards made me show them the stickers I was given when I checked my bags in Philly to verify that it was actually my luggage. I was really surprised by that because they don’t even do that in the US. I went to the money exchange desk and exchanged $120 USD for around $1670 pesos. My next stop after changing my money was the bus station! I had to go through another security check to get out of the airport. After I was out I walked around dazed and confused trying to find where the bus station could be. I decided to buy a phone card to use on the pay phones while I was there, which ended up being a really good idea. I walked around the entire airport trying to find the bus station, but I didn’t have much luck. I finally saw another story to the building and decided it couldn’t hurt to go up there and look. I saw some signs for the bus so I started following them. A man who will take your bags for you stopped me and asked me if I wanted some help for a tip. I was really reluctant at first because I’ve heard that you’re not supposed to trust people like that, but I ended up saying yes. He got me to the bus station really quickly, all while carrying my bags for me. He got me to the bus just in time so didn’t have to wait an hour for the next one. I gave the man a fairly large tip. That wasn’t so much on purpose as it was I didn’t really have time to figure out the currency conversion and I had no idea how much 100 pesos was really worth. I got on my bus from Mexico City to Puebla. The trip was a little over 2 hours long. The bus was pretty nice and I was even able to get on the internet because it had wifi.

Once I arrived to Puebla, I had to take another bus to Tehuacán, which is the city I am living in. I once again wondered around till I found the ticket booth and I bought a ticket to the next upcoming bus trip. I struggled a little bit trying to find where my bus was leaving from because the station was very crowded and busy. I finally got on my bus and I was on my way to my future home city. By this point it was super dark and the bus was also very crowded, so there wasn’t much to look at. I bobbed in and out of consciousness. I didn’t take a direct bus to the city so there were several stops along the way, which lengthened the trip by about an hour and a half. I finally arrived to Tehuacán at about 9:45 PM. I looked around for the program director & her husband for about 10 minutes until I finally found them outside on the busy street. I loaded up my stuff into their van and away we went. They told me that my host family had been out that night and they weren’t able to have me come until the next day, so I stayed at the house of the program director. I pretty much went up stairs and crashed. On my way there I noticed that all of the houses are enclosed with these giant gates in front of their homes, which is pretty different from the US as well. I slept in a tiny room with no lights on a mattress that was hard as a rock. I kept just thinking to myself “I’m in Mexico right now” and I still could barely believe it.

the Mexican version of Walmart

My second day here has been slightly less hectic. I woke up and took a shower, all the while making sure I didn’t open my mouth because I’ve heard that even just swallowing a little bit of water in the shower can make you sick for days. I did, however, use the tap water to brush my teeth so maybe it’s not so bad after all. After I got ready for the day I headed over to the HELP! center with Rachael, the program director. I got to see the place that I would be teaching for the majority of my time in Mexico. I also go to visit another school where other HELP! teachers teach. I met a few of the other teachers, but there are still some more that I need to meet. I went grocery shopping with Rachael and helped her run a few errands before I was officially trained for the program. I was also able to have lunch at a little restaurant called “La Estación”. I had something called burritas – yes that’s right burritAs, not burritos. They were basically rolled up little tacos with ham and cheese in them, and I added in some jalapeño. My first authentic Mexican meal was a success. I did a little walking around with some of the teachers around the city, just from their apartment and back to the school. The city is surprisingly safe here. The only crazy thing I’ve seen is the way people drive. There are basically no traffic laws, so driving is kind of chaotic.

my burritas :) 

the inside of La Estacion

a random store on the street

the park

I am finally with my host family tonight. They are super nice & welcoming. The parents don’t speak any English, but the 16 year old daughter and the 12 year old son seem to speak quite a bit. I told them I’d prefer if they would speak to me in Spanish unless I am really not understanding something. I will have to go into more detail later about my family and living situation. Tomorrow is my first day of teaching and I have a lesson to prepare J