Wednesday, December 16, 2009

And the journey ends...(at least this one)

Okay. So I just re-read my entry about the next before I left to come here to Chihuahua. It was names "And the journey begins". Therefore, I felt it fit to name this one, "And the journey ends"

As I was reading my entry the night before I left Plano, I realized that I could literally copy and paste that entry and put it here. I feel all the same feelings I was feeling the night of August 21st, only now its December 15th.

I honestly cant believe that my time here has ended. 4 months at the start seemed like a lifetime...but not it feels like a blink of an eye. But I couldnt be more thankful for this opportunity to come to Chihuahua and live here for 4 months. How many people can say that at the age of 18th they lived in another country and learned to speak a different language...well Abigail and Belen can haha....

I could sit here and right about all my memories and experiences but there will be time to share all the stories. Right now my mind is just rushing with thoughts and feelings. I dont think I will be sleeping very much tonight. Its hard to leave somewhere you have grown to love. I love Chihuahua. It feels like home. It feels right. I cant express how much I love my church here "La Casa de Mi Padre." Everyone at my church is so welcoming. Since day 1 I felt like part of the church. They never treated me like an outsider and always helped me with my spanish. We really started hanging out outside of the church about 2 months ago and now I feel like I have known them forever. They are some of my best friends. Its so cool to sit back and realize that I can be such good friends with people, who at the beginning, didnt speak the same language. Now, its just normal, like hanging out with my friends in the states and chatting it up. So cool to just think about.

I am really sad. I am really going to miss my wonderful family, the school, my friends, the teachers, and the city. My time here was a once in a lifetime chance and I took advatange of every moment. I dont regret anything. It was the best experience of my life so far. Thanks to Inter-Action and all the people here in Chihuahua, I now can speak spanish :) It is so fun.

I was talking with one of my friends about how I am not ready to leave and just how I am going to miss the spanish. I am going to miss always hearing spanish, on the radio...tv....and just everyone talking in spanish. I am going to miss always reading spanish....I am going to miss always speaking spanish.....I am going to miss all the little puestos and ordering in spanish....yes I hope there will be opportunities to speak and use my spanish in Texas...but its just not the same. Basically, I am counting the days till I can come back and just be surrounded completly in spanish.

I cant wait to see my family and friends in the states. It has been awhile and I just cant wait to hug each and everyone of you guys.

Just keep me in your prayers this week. Its going to be a little hard ajusting to the states. I am not really sure if I am going to know how to handle things. Its just different and I am a little afraid of culture shock. I know I am been to mexico many times but only for a week or two at a time. 4 months is alot different.

Wow. I just wrote alot and pretty sure none of it makes sense but that is just cause my mind is just running. I am sad, happy, excited, nervous and just about every other feeling. Wow. I will be in the states in less than 24 hours. So weird. So weird. So weird.

Love you guys.

Monday, December 14, 2009

Tuve un buen fin de semana :)

Well. I had a great last weekend here in Chihuahua. I still cant believe I am sitting here typing that. 4 months. 4 months. Went by faster that I thought it would. However, my last weekend here couldnt have been any better.
Thursday was our last day of classes and our going away party. The classes were really fun cause we just talked, played games, and just enjoyed our last day together. Our going away party was perfect. Everyones family was there and all of the teachers and their family's. We ate tamales and had like 5 different desserts. We recieved our Inter-Action t-shirts which to me symboled that we graduated from the class and we can officially now say that we can speak and understand spanish. The t-shirts are a new design this year and I am really excited because we are the first group to have them :) As students we decided to make a video to kind of end the course. With a little help from one of our teachers we came up with the idea to have each of us be one teacher and Ray be Greg. I have to say it was awesome. The teachers loved it and laughed the whole time. Hopefully Ray will eventually give it to me or put it on facebook so yall can all see how much spanish we really did learn :) We spent all night just talking with the teachers and Greg and Paloma and Ana and all the other students. I couldnt have been any better. Of course I cried....big shocker :)

Today. Sunday was amazing. In the morning I woke up early to go watch my dad here in Chihuahua play in the finals of the end of the season basketball tournament. It like a rec league but it was so fun. There are different age levels and the one my dad is in is called "Dinos" because its only for people older than 50. It was so fun watching their passion for the game and just how much fun they were all having and the best part is we won first place :) Its really cool how my family here as alot of things in common with my family in the states...dads who LOVES basketball and moms who both have diabetes. After the game my mom and I went out to eat menudo which I actually really like! We ran into a friend of my uncles and ended up all talking forever and he then payed for us. I wish I was more generous with my money. I hardly have anything but why cant I share more with the little that I have? After that I hung out with my sister and cousin at the mall for a little bit then went out around the town with my mom. We had a blast just talking and spending our last few days together. We also are really good fish today :)

In the evening, at my church, La Casa de Mi Padre, there was a Chrismas Dinner. All the youth learned a dance and a song to perfore during the event. It was really fun learning it. Then with 4 other girls, I learned another dance to a Christmas song and I had to learn almost all of it 30 min before we had to preform. But omgsh it was so much fun and I just love those girls. Then we just all ate and talked to forever! I learned some really cool games with all the youth today and they all wrote Britton and I a letter. Honestly, I never once felt like I was an outsider at the church. They always welcomed me in and are honestly some of my best friends now. O how I am going to miss my youth group here. Afterwards some of us girls just went over to one of their houses and chatted and laughed FOREVER! It was so much fun.

GREAT GREAT GREAT! memories and times here in Chihuahua that I will never forget.

See all you Texan folks this week!

Love yall!

Thursday, December 10, 2009

La Última Clase :(

Wow. I cant believe that tomorrow is our last day of classes. Honestly, it feels like I have been here for about 2 months, but 4 no way! Time flies...and I really do believe it now. Dont get me wrong I am so excited to see my friends and family back home. I miss them all dearly and I cant wait to give them all a VERY BIG hug! However, my time here has just felt so short.

I keep telling myself that I am not really leaving and that its not really our last day of classes, but reality is...it is. As most of you probably know, I am not very good with change. It was hard to come here and leave behind everything I had known for 18 years, and now its going to be REALLY hard to leave behind what I now have known for 4 months. I know it doesnt sounds like a lot of time but I have really gotten used to my life here. Things are so much simpler and its not always go go go and do do do. Things just kind flow around here.

Bueno. Right now I am just going to talk about school and then I will update one last time before I make my journey back home. I wish you could all meet my teachers. They are so amazing. They are not just teachers but they are my friends. I can talk to them about anything. Yes classes were tough sometimes and sometimes I just didnt want to learn anymore spanish. But when those times came, as a class, we would go around the town and explore the culture and just talk about life. I mean honestly sounds like my kind of school, and it def. is. Towards the end we started just talking about different themes during class or different topics, that way we could practice using ALL the different verb tenses. I would have never thought I could actually carry on these conversations for so long and really be able to state my point or my opinion. Now, I can talk and talk and talk. Trust me, I can talk just as much in spanish as I can in english, and we all know that is alot. The joke around here is that I never stop talking and I can always talk about anything, anywhere, at anytime, and I am not going to deny it because I know its true. This is prob. why I also write alot.

Wow. I could just keep typing and typing and typing about everything that has happend and about how you all should come to Interaction and learn spanish because there is no better or faster way, or how amazing my experience is...but I will save that for when I get back and we can go get some coffee or dinner and I can talk your ear off :)

I love you guys very much and I cant wait to share my experience with you guys. I would love to get together with each and everyone of you just to share everything...but only if you have the time and are interested!

SEE YALL IN 1 WEEK

p.s be prepared to here me speak a lot in spanish cause I kinda dont want to speak spanish...and my english...well its pretty bad...haha love you guys!

Feliz Dia de Accion de Gracias

Wow. Sorry I have been really bad about posting new blogs. I am probably going to post a couple here just to get some things out there. First of all I hope all of you had a great Thanksgiving.

I had an amazing thanksgiving. Yes it was different because I wasnt with all my family, as a matter of fact, I wasnt with anything of my family. However, I quickly realized I was here with my family in Chihuahua. As students and teacher, we have all become a family. I mean, honestly how can you not after being in class 6 hours a day 4 times a week and then hanging out on the weekends?

We were invited to spend thanksgiving with The Tarrants and their family. I felt very special to be invited to celebrate this special day with people who I love. Greg began by saying all that he is thankful and how he was thankful for each and every person that sat around the table. Of course, I began tearing up...but that is normal. We then all dug in the food. We ate all the typical food for thanksgiving and let me tell you I could have eaten 10 rounds, but I stopped at 2 rounds to save room for the delicious pumpkin pie. I have so much to be thankful for and I know I dont say it enough.

First off, I am very thankful for this opportunity to be here in Mexico for 4 months to learn spanish. I cant even being to explain this experience that I have had, but I wouldnt change it for THE WORLD. I am very thankful for the family here in Chihuahua who offered to host me for 4 months because I am not just another person staying in their house, I am part of the family. One day we got back to the school and my dad here was outside. I yelled "Hola papa! como estas? and he said to me Hola hija! muy bien! Afterwards, my teacher was telling me how she thought that that was really neat to see and really special that we called each other daddy and daughter because its shows the type of relationship we have. SHe told me that if people would have seen they would have thought that he was my real dad and I was his daughter. I am also very thankful for my real family. They have allowed to be here and to follow my dreams. They have always encourged me to follow Gods plans and my dreams. When I told them "Hey. I am going to live in Chihuahua for 4 months to learn spanish, there was never a moment where they told me I couldnt because they knew how much this meant to me. I love yall and miss yall!

Obviously I am thankful for all my friends, new and old, and just the life God has blessed me with because I am blessed. I pray I always remember that.

Well I hope you all had a great thanksgiving, and remember we should be thankful everyday for the things God has blessed us with, big and small, not only on one day out of the year.

Love you guys!