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A lot of people have been asking me if I’ve been experiencing culture shock or if I miss Mexico.  For now the transition has been really smooth and easy.  But, this morning, after being at the market,  there was a little sorrow.  I miss freely being able to speak Spanish.  When ordering my food this morning, I probably didn’t need to ask the man if I could practice my Spanish, but I also felt kind of strange just breaking into it and being that gringa.  My knee jerk reaction is to speak in Spanish when I see someone that speaks it, but I’ve been holding back.  Maybe this is the culture shock.

So, be aware, if I’m around you, I might break out into a little bit of spanish.

It was the first time in a long time when I haven’t had to repeat my name several times and spell it over and over in Spanish.  Heather is not a Mexican name.  It was refreshing to hear someone understand my name and know it.

Yesterday I sat on my deck, reading a book and doing a little journalling.  I just sat back and thought about how nice it is to be back.  Its so peaceful in my neighborhood.  My house is comfortable and roomy.  The air is clean.  The highways are amazingly fast, even in traffic.  The “traffic” is nothing in comparison to Mexico.  My yard is beautiful.   Houses are spread out.  Church is in English.  I have a new cell phone with a great calling plan.  And I have a wonderful family and a great bunch of friends.

Its really nice to be back.  Culture shock? Not yet.  I feel like the adjustment has been really smooth. That’s probably due to having such a great family and amazing friends.   Thanks to everyone for making the transition home so welcoming and easy.  I’ve loved getting the emails and phone calls.

The first surprise:

When we were all at baggage claim we found out that only 2 of our bags were on the plane.  The rest were coming on the next flight which would land 15 minutes later.  So, in the meantime, my Dad suggested that Phil and I bring my first 3 bags to his car.  I rented a cart and we brought the bags to Phil’s car.

 After emptying the cart, Phil and I looked at the cart.  Hmmm.  Phil said, “wanna ride?” “well, sure!”  I hopped on the cart, sitting on the little basket.  Phil ran pushing the cart through the airport parking ramp.  I became a little uncomfortable and shifted my weight on the basket.  Within minutes both of us were on the ground tending to our wounds.  

I looked behind me and Phil was laying on the ground rubbing his shoulder.  Walking over to him, I noticed bloody wounds in my hand, elbow and back.  Slowly we walked back through the parking ramp to the baggage claim area, with the cart, explaining to my parents what happened.   What a memorable reunion.  We both knew that it would be one of those stories that we’d laugh at the next day, after the pains subsided. 

The other surprise:

After getting all of my baggage into Phil’s car, we brought everything to my house.  Phil had come to my house on Sunday and decorated it with welcome home paraphernalia.  He hung a banner across one room and strung a balloon to a vase full of flowers.  Under it was a card and some rope twine.  In the card, he told me to follow the twine.  It led me to some cd’s of Minnesota musicians and then to a bottle of champagne.  

It was a sweet welcome home.  Thanks for everything Phil.

Saturday morning we got up early and went on the Tequila Express.  It was a full day of tequila.  We went to the train station and were greeted by a mariachi band.  Then we boarded the Tequila Express train and were constantly being served tequila and beer.  (we all kept our liquor intake down and probably didn’t get our moneys worth of alcohol, but I was dealing with a cold, my mom didn’t like it all that much and my Dad didn’t want a repeat experience of too much tequila).  After a 2 hour ride we arrived at Casa Herradura. 

We were given a 1 hour tour of the factory followed by a traditional mexican dinner and traditional mexican entertainment.  It was a long day and all of our heads hit the pillows pretty quickly that night. 

The agave plant, tequila is made from this plant; the tequila express train; mom, dad and I

On Sunday I gave my parents a tour of the historical areas of the city.  We saw the cathedral, some government buildings and for dinner we went to Tlaquepaque (another nearby city).  My parents experienced the queso fundido Cheese fondue.  So good!!! 

In the downtown area there is a plaza with chairs made out of metal.  Here are a few photos of us taking a break on the chairs.

We left Mexico on Monday morning.  As the plane took off from Guadalajara, I couldn’t stop crying.  It was hard to think that the whole entire year would just be memories.  Even with all of the frustrations with language and living in a different culture, I loved Guadalajara and I’ll miss it greatly.

My parents arrived last Thursday to experience the Mexico that I have come to know and appreciate.  They had severe travel delays due to bad weather in their connecting flight city of Houston.  After leaving at 10am in the morning they finally arrived in Guadalajara at 12 midnight.  Then only to find that their luggage did not arrive with them.  

Friday we spent the day tying up lose ends at my school and bank.  The in between times were spent calling continental airlines about baggage status.  Every phone call offered a different response from continental- yes, your bags are in Mexico; no, they are on their way to Mexico.  We bit the bullet and took a shopping spree at WalMart.  That was also mixed with frustration.  Since Mexicans don’t really wear shorts, there were no shorts for my parents to buy (the weather was hot, hot, hot) and the clothes that WalMart had were not the best fit.  After WalMart we went to dinner and then the hotel.  Once we got back to our hotel we found one bag sitting in our hotel room, my Dad’s bag.  

Another call to continental… where is Mom’s bag? Continental says… it’ll be there tomorrow morning at 1am.  The next morning, no bag.  We spent the day sight seeing and when we got back to the hotel, no bag.  Again, different responses from continental.  An hour later, the bag shows up.  

We left Guadalajara on Monday morning, 6am.  When we got to the airport, Continental had a sign posted saying our flight was delayed 2 hours.  We talked to the representative about our connecting flight in Houston to Minneapolis.  There were no available later flights, everything was booked.  Luckily they were able to put us on a Mexicana flight to Chicago and from there a United flight to Minneapolis.  When we landed in Chicago we found out that our flight was delayed to Minneapolis.  It ended up being a 2 hour delay.

It feels really good to be home, but Mexico isn’t done with me yet. 

I wired all of my money from my Mexican bank to my U.S. bank last Friday.  On Tuesday I got an email stating that the wire didn’t go through and it couldn’t be processed.  The wire company, Monex, was unable to access my Mexican account because the Mexican bank said that I closed my account.  I closed my account after I did the wire transfer, which Monex told me went through smoothly.  Its been three days of calling Mexico and getting different answers.  The latest news is that my money is all still in my Mexican bank account.  My mexican bank originally told me that I couldn’t transfer my money through them, that I had to go through Monex.  Now they are telling me that they can perform the wire.  In order for them to wire my money to the U.S. they need me to sign forms authorizing the transfer.  The problem is, it needs to be an original signature, no copies, no faxes.  They need to send me the forms through UPS and I need to send them back.  At this point, I’m hoping I have the money by September.  

I thought I’d be done with all of my “I hate Mexico” moments. Hopefully this’ll be my last one.

Over the last week I’ve been going to places that I frequent and taking photos.  I’ve had many beautiful memories here in Mexico.  I’m really looking forward to being back in Minnesota but there’s a part of me that is also going to really miss Mexico.  My time here is done and I’m more than ready to leave, but living here for a year has been an incredible experience.  

One place that I go almost every week is the butcher, aka meat market (in Spanish, carniceria).  Over the year I’ve developed friendships with some of the butchers.  One of them is Jesus.  Phil likes to tell his friends that I go to the meat market every Sunday to talk with Jesus.  

Here’s Jesus.

Another place I’ve been this year is Moda Capelli.   Its a salon owned by my coworker, James’ partner, Francisco.  I go here every few months to get my hair trimmed and colored. 

Here’s the salon.

Probably my favorite neighborhood restaurant is Savora.  Its an Argentine restaurant.  Real simple food, real cheap wine, real great service.  I think everyone that’s visited me has come to dinner here with me. 

Here’s Savora.

My other favorite restaurant that is a little farther of a walk away is, Usagui.  Its Japanese and has great sushi for great prices.  

Here’s Usagui.

My all time favorite park right by my house is Parque de Ruben Dario.  Its only a block long and a block wide, but its a beautiful green space one block from my house.  I love going there and just sitting to read a book or just going for a walk around it. 

Here’s the park.

Today as I walked home from the butcher, John Denver came back into my head, and I started humming Leaving on a Jet Plane. 

“Leaving on a jet plane

Don’t know when I’ll be back again…..”

I don’t know if/when I’ll be coming back to Guadalajara, but a little piece of it will always be with me.  I leave next Monday and I’m sure it’ll be a morning mixed with sadness and excitement.

The author, Ishmael, has an amazing life story.  It reminds me of how difficult the struggle to survive can be for people in some other countries.  It reminds me of the importance of organizations like Unicef and other non-profit groups.  Due to these organizations, Ishmael made contacts in the United States and  was able to escape Freetown, Sierra Leone (when the war came to this area), come to the United States, go to college and write an account of his life as a child soldier. 

I highly recommend the book.  Thanks for borrowing it to me Angela. 

A few interesting facts….

Did you know that in the 1700′s British abolitionists helped free over 400 slaves from the U.S., Novia Scotia and Britain? They returned them to Africa to settle in the “Province of Freedom” (later known as Freetown, Sierra Leone)  

In January 2002, Sierra Leone’s civil war was declared over.

I’ve finally accomplished my phone number and now its almost time to leave.