Part Dos

During training for this whole Mexico adventure, we teachers were taught the “Four H’s of Culture Shock” and here they are:

1.     Honeymoon

2.     Horror

3.     Humor

4.     Home

"Honeymoon" refers to the time when you first get there and everything is “awesome.”  You walk around with a smile on your face and a camera in your hands and you think everything is so cute and quaint and you just can’t get enough.

After a while of that comes the “Horror.”  This is when you realize that you actually have to LIVE in this.   It’s not a little week long vacation.  It’s life.  And it’s gross, and dirty, and the people are weird, and the food is full of parasites and you can’t drink the water, and you just hate life.

After a while of that, you realize it’s actually not that bad, and then you are in the “Humor” stage.  Instead of seeing the food as disgusting, you see it as hilarious.  Instead of wanting to puke when you walk into these weird public bathrooms (which I will tell you about in the near future), you think it’s super that you actually live in this place, and you want to go to the bathroom again, just for fun!  Just kidding.  But you get the point.

And by the end, it becomes your “Home.”  You love the people and the culture and EVERYTHING and you don’t want to go back home to your family in America because you just love your Mexican familia/vida way too much.  Precious.

This bus ride from Mexico City to Puebla?  Definitely stage one.  It was AWESOME.  Let me tell you what I learned about this country during those two hours.

Oh, and the pictures were taking a ridiculous amount of time to load so I decided to quit after just three.  Thus it's either just words (aside from the three I alreadly loaded) or nothing at all, so don't complain.

This is me.  Riding the bus.  Super.

1.  Did you know that Mexico actually has an accent above the e?  As in México.  Ya I didn’t know that either.  I guess we learn something new everyday.  Usually.

2.  Everything in Mexico is super colorful.  And if it doesn’t want to be colorful, then it’s yellow.  I saw a jillion yellow vehicles and buildings and poles.  The metal bar things that go in between lanes of freeway traffic are yellow.  Pretty much all metal bars are yellow.  It’s really quite cool.

3.  They drive like crazy, insane maniacs here and I am not even lying.  It’s scary for like a day and then you realize that not every one is going to crash and die.  In fact, no one is.  How can they drive like this, with basically no rules, and still arrive at their destination safely?!  I still don’t get it.  And when I say crazy, insane maniacs, I am meaning on multiple levels.  Let me explain via an alphabetical sublist attached to this numero 3.

a.  First of all, the way they put people in their vehicles makes no sense.  I saw plenty of taxis and regular cars driving on the road with six – I repeat, SIX – full grown adults stuffed in the back seat, two kids on their laps, and three sitting in the front.  And their cars are tiny, keep in mind.  Babies were sitting in the front seat ALL OVER THE PLACE.  Oh, speaking of babies, I saw many on the back of motorcycles.  Like, brand new babies, in the arms of someone on the back of a motorcycle.  Crazy! 

b.  Secondly, they follow no sort of speed limit.  They really just go as fast as they want. 

c.  Third.  Lanes mean nothing to these people.  I don’t know why the little dashed lines were even put on the roads, because nobody follows them.  I mean, ya they are acknowledged as a lane, and sometimes people stay in them, but only if they want to.  And they can change whenever they want, without any indication of what they are doing.  And they greatly enjoy straddling the lane lines.  Oh, and switching lanes every five seconds for no apparent reason is common.  That’s a good way of putting it:  There is no reason for anything they do in their vehicles.  It’s all madness.  Blinkers are optional.  EVERYTHING is optional.

d.  Honking is mandatory.  For anything and everything.  That’s just what you do.  You honk.

e.  Don’t even ask about passing.  Oh, okay I’ll tell you.  You can pass on either side, whenever you want, and in the tiniest spaces possible.  Really, there have been countless times that I am SHOCKED that nothing was hit/touched/scratched/bumped during the passing of other vehicles. 

f.  And that was just the vehicles portion of the road.  Then there are all the pedestrians, bystanders, and people on bicycles.  You know how the pedestrian always has the right of way in America?  Or at least Utah?  That is certainly NOT the case here.  Don’t be fooled by the cross walks or the signs that have a picture of people crossing the street and say “Nuestras Primero” because no.  It is definitely cars first.  And the crazy thing is that the people act like they do have the right of way.  So there are cars acting like maniacs, and then there are people who just walk in the middle of the street.  The cars just speed right by them, and I really mean speed, and I really mean RIGHT BY THEM.  No spaces.  And the bikers are in their own world.  And nobody gets hit!  Again, I don’t get it.

Look at that?  What you don't see from this picture is how fast the vehicles are driving, right by these kidlets, and the fact that there is a bus just to the right of this frame, that is about to speed by, and that kids is not going to move.  I. Do. Not. Get it.

Okay, I think I am done with that subject.  For now, at least.  

4.  Their living places are just how you would picture them to be in Mexico, and especially in Mexico City.  There were a bunch of cement square things with tin on their roofs, all squished together, with clothes lines all over the place.  It really was one of the coolest things I have seen all week.  By the way, can you believe I have only been here a week?  Okay, I guess it’s been two.  Week and a half?  Whatev.  It seriously feels like a month.  Anyway, I could not stop looking at their houses.  It was so cool.

Dwellings in the back, yellow bars in the front...

5.  That’s all I have for you as far as specific things I saw.  Other than that I was just in awe at EVERYTHING.  It was so different, but there were also a lot of similarities.  Very interesting.  The signs provided some good reading.  FYI, “Ceda el Paso” is written on their yield signs.  And, of course, “Alto” is stop.

Two hours after that bus ride began, it ended.  I found myself in Puebla, getting off the bus, and waiting for my bags to be unloaded.  Then I heard my name.  It sounded like Heaven.  It seemed like an eternity since I had heard English, let alone MY NAME.  I turned around to find Brian, the head teacher's husband.  They came to meet me.  

So I was officially not alone.  Yay.

But that was actually kind of a bad thing because guess what.  The rest of the teachers from my group got there on the 28th so they had been doing training for two days without me.  Thus, the next two hours of bus ride to Tehuacán were filled with Kelly's voice giving me speed training.  It was like 9 p.m. by this time, so I have no idea where I found the strength to stay awake, but find it I did.

FINALLY we made it to Tehuacán and walked AS FAST AS POSSIBLE, as in, we basically jogged, for like 15 minutes to the school from the bus stop with all my stuff.  I'm exaggerating.  But not by that much.

Megan, another teacher, was there at the school to greet us.  She's cool.  And guess what.  She goes to Utah State!  But I didn't know her.  Isn't that crazy that we go to the same school and live like 2 seconds away from each other, but it took both of us moving to Mexico to meet?  Awesome.

Okay, this is getting long and I'm tired, so let me give you the speed version of the rest of my night.  Basically, it contained cockroaches and sleeping on a mat on the floor, with my towel as a pillow.

Best night of sleep EVER and I am not even joking.  I was exhausted, remember? 

So there you go.  My first day in Mexico.  Success!