8 days left!

No pictures, but a few updates.

This will probably be my last blog while I'm here in Mexico, so I'll try and catch you up on a few of the details of whats been going on lately.

The US election was something that was just as closely watched in Mexico as it was back home (I'm sure). The Fox group was really looking forward to watching election night via the BBC but were disappointed to find out that Cuernavaca had recently changed all its channels so that the BBC was no longer available. After a short fit about all the news channels being in Spanish (and how we wanted to watch an AMERICAN election in ENGLISH), I decided the best option was to stream CNN live from my computer.

So here's the picture: Everyone huddled around my MAC Book on a dark but warm Mexico night, watching the night unfold miles away from our own country.

After the votes were tallied and the celebration parties had started, it really sunk in for me: I'm missing the most important night of the year. I wanted so desperately to just be in America, and celebrate like an American and overflow with American pride.

Mexicans are (understandably) so proud of their country though, that you have to kinda bottle it up, or it looks like you're stepping on toes.

The spirit of happiness about Obama being president elect wasn't just contained at the US border though. Mexico was extremely relived. Because a lot of what America does directly effects Mexico, Mexicans really hold their breath every 4th November. All the teachers at our school were pulling for Obama as decreetly as they could.

My host brother greeted me the morning after the election with some rude cuss words about Bush and how he didn't care who the president was, as long as he wasn't Bush and as long as he didn't screw things up for Mexico. I think he really did care though :) hahaha. You just can't NOT care.


Other news from Mexico is that we're all counting down the days until we can get on the plane and go home! Mexico has been a WONDERFUL experience, but as James put it, "It feels like a vacation thats just gone on too long." Some of us have had a much rougher time than others: host-family issues, sickness, a death in a family back home, and now, the newest issue: LICE! Yes, we're all very much looking forward to the sweet, sweet relief of Oregon (and for some of us, Washington).

Of course we're looking forward to Christmas with our families as well! Late November, and likely December, is just not the same in Mexico. Not with 75 degree weather and blue skies.

Ashley's host family decided to buy a real Christmas tree this year and I can't tell you the fits of joy she and I were both in when we went with them to pick it out. A 6 ft REAL Christmas tree here, imported from Canada, is $700 pesos. That's roughly $70 dollers! Its pretty ridiculous. Nonetheless, Ashley and I were rubbing its needles and getting its Christmas scent all over us! We even made a Gingerbread house while listening to Christmas music before we even bought the tree. I'm telling you guys, we're desperate here!

While the pine does offer vague memories of home with its scent, it's not the same when you realize you're not around family and friends, that you're not dressed in your winter's warmest, and that you're not tasting the bittersweet winter air on your lips every time you venture outside. You're not getting whisked into the frenzy of the holidays and you're not listening to English Christmas carols (just "Feliz Navidad" over and over again).

If anything besides an extraordinary cultural experience, Mexico has given me a sense of pride in where I come from and much appreciation for what I have in the US, including family, Oregon weather, and United States security.

When I left for Mexico, I could not wait to get out of America - even bragged about it. Now I know, even if America were a dump, there's no place like home. No place anywhere in the world that can make you forget it. No experience that trumps being with loved ones in a familiar setting.

Hence, why I'm counting down the days until I can step off a plane onto that weird looking PDX airport carpet, and trudge, both exhausted and excitedly, towards my family on the other side of the terminal.

I'll see you all in 8 days.