The Beach!

Blogging is not my thing! If I wasn't here in Mexico and hadn't wanted to keep memories, then I wouldn't have attempted this. But here I am, so let's try to catch up:

A few weeks ago, we went with our usual crew consisting of other exchange students to the beach at Chelem. When we first got to Mexico, we went to Progresso beach, which is about a half hour away. We were less than impressed with the beach at the time because it was so windy and the water was disgusting. We are told that it was the time of the year that "el norte," or winds from the north, come down and stir up seaweed and sand to the surface of the shores. The water was quite gross looking. Not what we had been imagining the beautiful beaches of Mexico to look like! Suffice it to say, we did not go swimming. Plus, this was also the same trip that we "lost" our camera on the bus to the beach, so we weren't really in very good moods:)

Anyway, this time we went to Chelem, which is just a short drive from Progresso beach, and is less crowded. The weather was perfect, and the water was beautiful. Our Mexican friends thought the water was freezing, but those of us who are used to the FREEZING California ocean thought it was PERFECT!

At first Millie was scared when Bryan took her out into the water. This was her first experience swimming, (other than in the womb tee hee:) It didn't take long for her to love the water. She splashed and squealed, and she was just so darn cute in her little pink swimsuit! She was also quite fascinated with the sand, i'm sure the texture was very interesting to her. And a couple of seashells did of course make it into her mouth a time or two!

Overall, our first real trip to the beach was great! However, by the next day I was hating life. Of course in my determination to make sure the hubby and baby were lathered with sunscreen, I had forgotten myself, and my back and shoulders were COOKED! Thank Heavens for Aloe Vera!

Our Casa

This is our SWEET house! It is in a neighborhood section of Merida called Santiago (which is apparently the more desirable part of town to live in, however the streets and most houses are still pretty run down and dirty. But that's Mexico for you). We like it here. Santiago is still considered part of Centro, which is the actual downtown area, so because of that, there are many police cars that patrol the streets throughout the day. I have had no problem feeling comfortable leaving the house alone or with Millie during the day. It is a safe city with really nice people. Also because of where we live we have many places within walking distance, which is very nice because obviously we do not have a car.


This is the view of our house from the street. You actually can't see the house from here. This is the front gate. I'm in love with the tree of pink blossoms that hangs over.


This is the courtyard just inside the front gate. Lots of shade. And we just put up a hammock too, which will be fun to lie in (at least until it gets way too hot outside)
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Our cute yellow house. I love all the colorful houses here! It makes all the brown and beige houses in Utah seem so boring. But hey, I already thought that before I came to Mexico. Now I understand the Mexican people living in Utah who want to paint their houses bright colors. It's so much more fun!


The living room. Those couches are much more comfortable than they look. I promise. And we have lots of windows (which I LOVE!!! I live for sunlight!)



The dining area. We pretty much use this for dumping all our junk or doing homework.



The kitchen. Not a whole lot of cooking goes on in there (no oven, just a stove) but im not much of a cook anyway. Eggs, spaghetti, cereal and sandwiches are frequent meals here. But usually we just eat out to take full advantage of the Yucatecan cuisine!




Our bedroom which we share with Millie. At first I was not a fan of having Millie in our room, but it has worked out just fine. We have our own private bathroom which is nice too. The two guys that live with us have the bedrooms upstairs, so Millie and I pretty much have full reign of the main floor. Works perfectly. Oh and we have a hammock that connects to the hooks in the wall that are normal in Mexican houses. Many people here sleep in hammocks rather than beds because it is too hot to sleep in beds I guess.




Going upstairs...that's a half bath behind that door under the stairs. I always think of Harry Potter when I use this bathroom. It's quite snug.
One of the two bedrooms upstairs. This one has a gigantic walk-in closet and bathroom. The back yard area where we do laundry and hang it to dry. I feel so domestic on laundry day.

Internet?

It has been difficult posting very much the last few days because we don’t have internet at our house yet. We have purchased the service, but are waiting for the installers to come and set it up. Actually, I think they have tried to come. The other day just Millie and I were home, and a man rings the doorbell on our gate (that’s what I love about this house…people can’t even get close to our house without a key to the padlock on our gate. Needless to say, I feel safe living here). Anyway, I came out to try to figure out what he wanted, of course we couldn’t understand each other. He kept saying what sounded like “deli?” so I thought maybe he was trying to sell me something. There are a lot of vendors that drive around on tricycles that carry food to sell, while they honk the most annoying one-note horn. It’s like the Mexican ice-cream man.
Anyway, I told the guy “no, gracias.” He left and as he drove away, I noticed there was a ladder in the back of his truck. I’m thinking now that he may have been saying “tele” which refers to cable service, which is what our internet is through. Darn it, I could have had internet days ago and now I have to wait another week or more. Oh well, I feel it’s better safe than sorry, I’m not about to let a strange Mexican man into the house when I’m home alone, even if it is the internet man.
In the meantime, we go to Santiago Park just a few blocks from our house, maybe a five minute walk or less. There is free Wi-fi there, at least the times that you can actually pick it up. So this is where I sit with my laptop just long enough to get some homework for my online classes done, before Millie is completely done with sitting there in her stroller and eating crackers. I love going to this park though. There is a beautiful cathedral there, a few little outdoor places to eat, and the market we shop at is right across the street. There are always lots of people at the park. Among them is always a couple or two macking on each other. Ug. But there are also always people feeding the many pigeons that hang around. And of course everyone, even the little kids come up to Millie and talk to her.
This is where I find this culture interesting. Yes, I believe my baby is gorgeous enough to elicit all sorts of attention, or cause people to stop in their tracks and stare at her. What can I say? We created a masterpiece!  But here, complete strangers come right up and start talking to her, tickling her, and dare I say, kiss her. Last Saturday night, a group of us were walking around the central square of Merida, which is always busy with locals and tourists, along with plenty of entertainers and vendors trying to make a buck, I mean peso. Anyway, we are just walking along, and out of nowhere a man who looks as if he is either A)wasted, B)stoned, or C)crazy, walks straight to Millie, leans down and kisses her on the forehead. My shock turns to the creepy-crawlies when he straightens up , looking right at me with an evil-eye as if I’m scum or something. It was really REALLY CREEPY! So I bolted outta there and tried to wash my baby’s face off the best I could. Now whenever I walk past that particular area in the square, I remember the crazy kissing man.

Bryan's Update

Our first full school week here in Mexico has been utterly exhausting. Between school and getting things figured out, I am plum tired out. So Monday was a pretty easy day. I ended up switching my classes a little bit, so now I don’t have classes on Fridays. I have Comportamiento Humano, or Human Organizational Behavior on Mondays and Wednesdays from 9-11, and that is my only class of the day. However, Tuesdays and Thursdays are a complete joke. I start class at 9 with Macroeconomics till 11, and then I have a 3 hour break until my next class. I end up going and having lunch, and talking to all the kids that swarm me in the courtyard. (More on that in a bit). I then have Fundamentos de Mercadotecnia (Principles of Marketing) from 2-4, Mercadotecnia Turistica (Tourism Marketing) from 4-6, and Mercados Internacionales (International Markets) from 6-8. By the end of the day, I have been ready for bed. I don’t think I have ever been as tired (and cranky) by the end of the day as I was Thursday. The classes are going to be pretty hard too. Haha, I don’t know what I was expecting from this exchange, but it is going to be a lot harder than I thought. I have to give a presentation in each of my classes on varying topics, and then a big report, and a few different “tareas” or homeworks. Add that the tests are the majority of the grades in the class and I am screwed. My first real school week is going to be a doozy next week. I have to present with my teams on Tuesday in one class, Wednesday in another, and then Thursday in another. Ugh, it is going to be a joke. The classes are two hours long, and we have to present the entire time, so I am pretty stressed out. I guess it’ll be a little better after I get those three presentations out of the way, but I’ll still have two more to go this semester after that.
Basketball “tryouts” went well on Monday night. Monday morning I met with the A.D, and then he gave me a ride across town where the school gym is located. It is so far from our house, it is ridiculous. So that night we walked to the center, found the right bus to take us over to the gym, and practiced with the team. I guess they have been together since September, and they are alright. I wasn’t blown away by any of them, but they aren’t uncoordinated or anything. Practice was a bunch of drills and running, until we finally got to run it 5-5 at the end. So now for the bad news (I guess for Dad. Haha, sorry Pa.) So the team practices 4 nights a week from 9:30 to 11:30, plus games, and everything, I had to choose between being a husband and a dad down here in Mexico, or being a college athlete and dedicating all my time to practice and ball when I have free time from school. Tuesdays and Thursdays would be especially ridiculous for Leah, since she is home as it is by herself already from 9 am till 9 pm when I finally get off the bus, so add practice on top of that those nights, I wouldn’t be home till almost midnight. I had to realize that we are here in Mexico to get a cultural experience and not to desert my wife at home for the entire time. We are still going to go train with the team on Monday nights, but that is going to be all the time I can really afford to give to basketball due to the ridiculous presentations and reports. So sorry Dad, I know you were excited to finally have a college athlete in the fam, but it wasn’t in the cards for me this time.
School outside of actual classes has been an absolute zoo. The four Americans are seriously the kids that EVERYONE wants to talk to. It is quite the change from UVU, where I generally walk from class to class with my headphones in and rarely talk to anyone. Thursday, I had to run across the street from the school to an Internet Café to print off a homework assignment. On my way back into the school, I heard some girl call my name from behind me. All of a sudden, I am surrounded by 6 girls who are all asking my questions about this and that. I finally get away from them after like 10 minutes, and go sit down to eat some lunch, and next thing I know I am surrounded by 4 guys asking me all sorts of different questions. The other 3 guys are experiencing the exact same thing. Bronson said that it is almost like watching a cat fight when girls are trying to come talk to us haha. One girl will ask us a question, and then another will ask a different question before we even have a chance to answer the first one. It is going to take some getting used to for sure.
So tomorrow we are going to head over to Dzibilchaltun, which are some Mayan ruins about 30 mins outside of Merida. I think Leah and I are going to try to go buy a camera before we go so we can finally start taking pictures again. It really has sucked not having a camera the past week. We keep having little moments where Millie is doing something dang cute, or there is something we want to remember or show you guys, and we are s.o.l. So we’ll put an end to that garbage tomorrow, and finally have a camera. There is a pawn shop down the road from us where we saw some cameras a few days ago, so we’ll probably swing by there to buy it. It’ll run is anywhere from 1000-1800 pesos hopefully (about $95-$150). We’ll send pictures of the ruins and of our house and everything as soon as we can. I know you are probably pretty anxious to see the place. We should be getting the internet installed by Feb 2nd, so that will be nice too. Leah will let you know a little but more about that on her blog update.
Anyways, it is almost 11 down here, and I am just chilling in Santiago Park doing my emailing. (All of the city parks down here have wireless internet, so that is nice. It is the only chance we have to get to the internet until the stupid internet company comes.) Leah is probably starting to get worried, so I had better start hoofing it the 4 or 5 blocks back to our place

Bryan's first update

Well, this week has been a week of becoming accustomed to life in Mexico. So far, so good. So Thursday night was our last night in La Casa Hospedaje del Jardin, where we were staying the first four nights here in Merida. Wednesday night, the rest of the exchange students from Utah arrived, and Thursday we set out to find a place to live. Most recommendations we had heard were that we should find a place together, so we could enjoy the experience a little more. (Nicer house, nicer neighborhood, etc.) One of the students, Bronson, wanted a different experience (meaning he isn’t too active anymore in the church and wants to do his own thing when he wants like go bar hopping or whatever.) The two roommates we have are Ryan and Tyson. Ryan is from Highland and went to Lone Peak. He served his mission in Guatemala in the same mission as Jeff McCoy, and he is a really easy going and nice guy. He is also quite the Casanova with the Latinas down here. Haha, he already has gotten like four numbers from girls, and they are already Facebook stalking him and everything. Gotta find that gringo, right? Tyson is from Millard, and served his mission in the Ventura Mission in California. He actually served in the East and South Stakes of Bakersfield, as well as Delano. They both are really easy going guys, and don’t mind living with a boring married couple.

The house we found is awesome, and we absolutely love it. It is a three bedroom, two and a half bath house, with two stories. Two rooms and one bathroom are upstairs, and one room and the rest of the bathrooms are downstairs. We are in the downstairs room, which has a private bathroom and a good sized closet. One of the rooms upstairs doesn’t have a bathroom, but the Master bedroom does, so we figured the guys could share the upstairs, and we wouldn’t have to worry about someone walking in on Leah while she showers. The house also has a huge courtyard outside, and has a big 7 foot wall surrounding the entire property, with a gated entrance. We feel that Leah and Millie can be here at home while we’re at school with no problems. We’re also just a few blocks from a church, and about 7 blocks from the Temple. There is also a washer at the house, but no dryer, so we hang our clothes to dry. We’ll have to send pictures when we get a chance. (More on that later.) Rent is $8400 pesos a month (which translates to about $700 USD monthly), so split three ways we pay $2600 pesos (about $230, which isn’t bad at all!) Internet isn’t included though, and we have yet to set it up, so we’ll be setting that up in the coming week. There is internet in the public parks, so we just have to walk about 4 blocks to Santiago Park to surf the net until then. There is a grocery store across the street from the park where we do our shopping, and to la FCA (Facultad de Contaduria y Administracion, where our classes are) is about a 10-15 minute bus ride. So ideally, the house is in a central, ideal location.

Friday, we moved in, and did some shopping for house items. Then later that evening, we had an Orientation meeting at the school. We met the rest of the exchange students here at UADY, and took a tour of the school. There are 5 different campuses spread throughout the city, so each campus is more like a little high school size-wise. There are two students from Canada at the school, and then about 15 national exchange students from states throughout Mexico. I think the girls from Canada are going to struggle quite a bit with the language, but I guess that’s life. One of the girls said to me halfway through the Orientation, “I haven’t understood a single word tonight.” The administration came in and introduced themselves to us, as did the Athletic Director of the school. He asked us if any of us played basketball or soccer or volleyball (More specifically if any of the gringos played sports), and both Tyson and I raised our hands. Tyson is about 6’4’’, but I am not sure if he is a baller, but we both went out and talked to the A.D a little. Monday morning at 9 we are meeting with the basketball coach, and we’ll both probably join the basketball team while we’re here! The A.D said that come March or April, if the team is good enough, we’ll probably do a bit of traveling throughout Mexico to play other University teams, so that would be legit! Saturday morning, we did a bit of shopping in the Center, or the Plaza. I bought a pair of Nikes for like $500 pesos, or a little under $50, because I didn’t think to bring any athletic shoes with me. We also checked out the cathedral there, which is the oldest cathedral in the Americas. I believe it is 469 years old. They were having Mass, so we stopped by and looked inside a little bit. While we were there, we also bought a hammock for $250 pesos from a little Mayan guy who was selling them. There are a ton of people who just walk around selling Mayan souvenirs, and the moment they see you are white, they come practically running to you. Of course, they inflate their prices to three or four times what they would usually sell for, so you have to do a bit of bartering. The man I bought the hammock from was asking for about $800 pesos for his hammock. I really wasn’t looking to buy one, but he gave me an offer I couldn’t refuse. The Yucatecos, or people from the state of Yucatan, all sleep in hammocks, and I guess it is a pretty big tourist draw, so we figured we had to get one. All of the houses have hooks drilled into the walls so the hammocks can be put up, so ours is hanging in our room right now.

After we did our shopping we jumped on a bus that takes you to Progresso, a port city about 45 minutes outside of Merida. The bus ride wasn‘t all that bad, since there was air conditioning. However, our first disaster of our stay in Mexico occurred on said bus. As we were unloading to get off there in Progresso, somehow our camera fell from our things, and is now in the hands of some Mexican here in the city. We’re a little upset about it, but really there are worse things we could have lost. So, needless to say, we’ll be looking around for a new digital camera at 2 or 3 times the prices found in the US. Progresso wasn’t really what I was expecting. Ha, I don’t know what I was expecting really, but it is kind of a little dirty city, and the prices there are double of those found in Merida. We walked down the pier, and a little throughout the beach, and then found a restaurant so we could eat. Adventurous Leah had a burrita and some chips with guacamole, and I had Mariscos Fritos (Fried Seafood) al Diablo. My dish had crab meat, shrimp, and octopus, and it was pretty good. After dinner, we jumped back on the bus and headed back to Merida.

Sunday, we got up and got ready for church. We received some bad information that the ward here started at 10, so we walked in a little before then to find that Sacrament meeting was about to end. We ended up attending Sunday School in “el Barrio Centre”, and then went in to a Sacrament Meeting that started at 11. Leah is definitely going to have an interesting time on Sundays. She said she tried listening as much as she could, but by the end of it she was bored to tears. In Sunday School, I try to translate as much as I can without being disruptive. It’ll be an experience for her when she goes to Relief Society. After Sacrament, we went and talk to the Ward Clerk, and the Sunday School president, then headed home a little early due to our lovely Amelia. She was fussing and crying quite a bit, and wouldn’t calm down so we called it a day.

Amelia, for the most part, has been a little angel. She LOVES it when we walk around the city, I imagine because she can see all these new sites, and isn’t cooped up in the house. None of us have gotten sick at all (knock on wood), but the mosquitos down here love to feast on our white flesh. Our first night in the house was a rough one. Leah was cold, and so she turned off the fan that is in our room. Little did she know that the fans need to be turned up all the way to keep the mosquitos away from us. We all woke up with bites all over our hands and faces. Millie has about 12 little bites on her forehead cheek, but they are small. The bites only swell up when you scratch at them, and the little princess doesn’t scratch them of course. They are looking better already, and I imagine they will be gone in a day or so.

The Merida, Mexico Temple

Yesterday we set out in search of the temple, which we knew was somewhat close to where we are staying. But we weren't exactly sure where it was because we still hadn't gotten our bearings with the directions or quite understood the street numbering system. Some time later, after a lot of walking, we realized we had gone in the exact opposite direction of where we should have gone. It turns out that the temple is maybe two blocks from our hostel, on the same street! It takes less than five minutes to walk there!

El Jardin Hostel

El Jardin is the name of the "Hostel" we have been staying at since we arrived in Merida. It is a small establishment, with just four private rooms, and i think maybe one room with multiple single beds.We have been happy with our stay here. Elsy, the owner is so nice and most of the time here it has been very quiet, as we have been the only guests.

The semi-outdoor kitchen/common area. Elsy sets out fruit and bread for us every morning.

This is the entrance to our room, which is right off the courtyard and patio area.

Our room.

The garden/courtyard just outside our room.