I am here

Above is a map of Mexico and I am now living in Mexico City. I will upload photos when I take some more pictures.

We arrived yesterday at about 4:45 in the afternoon and upon arrival we were asked to fill out forms asking if we had cold symptoms and fevers and what not. We all then piled in a taxi cab and drove through the massive polluted city.

Mexico City has a population of 25 million people, that is 5 times the population of Minnesota. It is massive and because of the 8,000 ft altitude the smog is often trapped in the mountains that surround the city. The traffic is very heavy and most people walk or use the subways.

We arrived at our home at about 5 o'clock and met out host mom and her family. My advisor from Concordia is the head of this program and she was at the airport to see us aswell. We all unpacked and settled into our rooms. After that we toured the whole house. We stay in the back part and have our own bathrooms and balconies. Our balcony overviews an old dog and the only skyline view we have is from my bathroom inside of the shower. It is a fun place to live.

The whole house has high ceilings and really expensive china all over. We aren't supposed to go into the other upstairs as it is the family's personal area. I will give a video tour later to show this house. It is definitely not a cookie cutter american house. It has some very nice areas, like the entry way with a huge two story class window with paintings of Mary and Saints. However there are some very sketchy ones. One sketchy area being our balcony that has barb wire around it and a neighbor dog that lives below us.

We ate dinner after it was dark and all sat at this large table and drank Jamaica juice and ate something called Pastel Azteca. It was all delicous. Spicy and full of chiles and cheese. The Jamaica juice comes from flowers that you must steep like tea and later let cool and add sugar. It definitely beats koolaid, but is scary to pour on a white table cloth. After eating we sat and talked all about the city and just initial conversations. Our host mom is in her early sixties and is a very nice woman. I am not sure what happened to her husband but I will find out I am sure.

We then were all exhausted from the flight and went to our personal water cooler and hydrated and then talked about life and went to bed. We were all exhausted but decided to put all of our phone numbers into our new cell phones our school gave us.

I am going on Monday to meet my new boss and I begin work Tuesday. Today we visited the University de las americas and had to get our hands printed in order to enter the building. We registered for classes and I begin on Monday in the late afternoon. I will need to wear suits all the time but I can buy more here if need be.

We are all just relaxing and I am brushing up on my Spanish Music with Joese, our other roomate whom is the nephew of our host mom I believe. Mexicans are very formal and first impressions are everything so appearance and manners matter highly because classes are very different here. After they get to know you they will be unconditionally nice to you and show you their city. This is what I learned in my culture class and it seems to be quite true.

I can go on forever on their culture and some of the small things I have already noticed. This city is enormous and we walked all around today, guarding my things and taking in the sights. The best thing today was when we were riding home on the 90 degree bus. I look up and this little girl was playing with a plastic recorder riding on the dashboard as her father drives the bus thru thick traffic. It describes this city, Family is important, and yet so is freedom. All for now and more later with photos.