la semana

Happy Sunday!! Another week has come and gone in Merida...I can hardly believe I only have 5 more weeks left. While a part of me is super excited to get back to the States and see my family and friends, another part of me never wants to leave Mexico (or the warm weather :) ). This week went well. We are in the midst of final projects, term papers, and exams so school is keeping me busy but I can see a light at the end of the tunnel and am excited to be done with classes in three weeks and travel!
Ironically, my host brother and dad (the one back in the States) have the same Birthday so Monday was a day of celebrations. My international relations class went well that morning and I got a kick out of the way our professor talked about the possession of fire arms in the United States and how we can pretty much just walk out of a store with a cart full of guns! ( he was exaggerating of course but I still found it hilarious). I came home from class and did some homework by the pool and swam for a while. We then ate enchiladas swisas for lunch which are incredible and I worked on more homework and figuring out classes for next semester.
That night around 8, the family and guests started arriving at our house for supper. It was fun to get to meet some more of the family and celebrate all together. Plus, I now am pretty good at the song that is sung for Birthdays here.
Tuesday, I had communications class in the morning and then came home for lunch and did some homework and headed out to Spanish class. After Spanish class, I got together with two other gals from my US-Mexico relations class and we did some hard core studying for our test the next day. When I couldn't think straight anymore, I headed home and ate supper and then went to bed.
Wednesday, I headed to school early to take my test which went ok. I'm a little worried about it but the fact that most people in my class are worried about it too makes me feel a little better. I know I did the best I could and now just have to wait to see how I did. After the test, I had class until 6:30 that night and then we had our program meeting. We have decided to have a Thanksgiving meal here with our program and invite our host moms so that should be fun. We did a little planning for that and then we had to fill out a bunch of evaluation forms which made me realize that we're going to be done soon and it hit me how much I am going to miss Mexico!
Thursday, I had communications class again and then I came home and finished a presentation I had for Spanish class that day. After Spanish class, I came home and went running and then worked on homework for the rest of the night.
Friday morning, I woke up and headed to the beach where I met up with Sarah, Dee, and Shannon. We just spent the day working on homework, talking ,and enjoying the sun. There was virtually no one there so it was fun to have the beach to ourselves. Dee and Shannon headed home mid afternoon and Sarah and I left a little while after them. We decided to go to gran plaza to hang out for a little bit. We got gorditas for lunch and then just walked around and looked at different stores. Around 4, we headed home and I headed to a planning meeting for our trip at the end of the semester. The meeting went well and I think we now all have somewhat of an idea of what we are going to do. After the meeting, I came home to shower and eat and then Sarah and I met up and went to el centro to hang out.
El centro was absolutely gorgeous! On weekend nights, they block off the streets and restaurants put tables out in the middle of the streets and there is music playing everywhere. Sarah and I had fun walking around seeing everything that was going on. After walking for a while, we decided to get ice-cream and headed to a park to eat it. As we were sitting on a bench talking, a guy covered in tattoos and piercings came over and started talking to us. It turned out that he just wanted us to smoke pot with him..no thank you! After that encounter, we decided that it was getting late and we should probably head home so we flagged down a taxi and headed back. Our taxi driver was really funny and chatted with us the entire way home. Fun fact we learned: Uh-huh is Mayan for "esta bien" or ok...I've been speaking Mayan and I didn't even know it! :)
Saturday, I woke up at 5:15 and headed to Hoy en tu Comunidad. The village we went to was 3.5 hours away so I spent the trip sleeping and working on homework. I worked with trabajo social and our job was to walk around the village and see if there was anyone who couldn't come to where we were providing free medical services because they were bed ridden. We eventually were led to a house of an elderly couple and their son who was handicapped. The woman had just had surgery on a tumor in her stomach but still was in a lot of pain. We talked with them for a while and promised to come back with a group of people to help them. We returned tot the site we were working at and gathered a team of doctors, nurses, lawyers, pharmacists and a couple others and headed off to the house. It was neat to see everyone working together to help them and using their skills. Eventually, we headed back and ate lunch and then headed home. On the way back we got a flat tire and had to stop to change that which was an unexpected adventure. Eventually I made it home and did some final planning for our trip to Guatemala, Belize, and other parts of Mexico and went to bed.
This morning, I woke up and worked on some homework and cleaned my room. Later on, I am planning on listening to a sermon online and having a date with Jesus and then heading to Altabrisa and walking around for while and later tonight, a group of friends and I are planning on getting together. It should be a pretty chill day and I'm looking forward to not having school tomorrow. Hope you all are doing well!