Merida Domingo and First Day of Class

Sunday June 28, 2009 10:28 PM

Merida Domingo is pretty cool. Every Sunday downtown they close off some of the streets and have venders and music and dancing. It’s just like what we saw on TV the night before I left, in fact, I was in that exact location today!

Today I got up around 9 and got dressed and rested and read my book. When my family got home I went to the cyber café to find out it’s closed on Sundays, so I walked a lot further to see if I could find another one but I couldn’t and I was sweating to death so I went home. When I got there I sat down in front of my fan to cool off, and then just laid in my hammock and read until two when I had lunch. It was really good today! Chicken and green pepper fajitas with rice and beans. And my favorite white drink!

Real Mom: la señora told me to tell you that she thinks I’m nice or something but I didn’t understand the last part. I’ll just pretend that I heard her say I was nice. I feel like she and the maid love me, they are so sweet! I feel kind of bad for not even knowing what their names are. Oh well, is it too late to ask? I just call them both Señora.

After lunch I got my computer and went to the plaza. My friends were all planning on meeting there at 4, but I went early to use the internet. I bought I coke, so I didn’t feel bad sitting at this table under a tent, while using my computer, but this guy made me move because he had other customers. So I just went and sat on a bench. The babies here are sooo cute! I sat outside and got to talk to Kyle a little bit on the computer but I was so afraid it was going to start raining. Also, there were a million pigeons around me and I was so scared that they were going to take a huge dump on my key board. When I was sitting there alone, I felt like everyone was looking at me like I was the first white person they had ever seen. That was different.

So, later I met up with my friends and we just walked around and we went into a government building where we saw huge paintings and more cute babies and stuff. Later we went to a restaurant and then we got tickets to this ballet. It was… interesting. Haha. We decided that we are going to do an interpretive dance for our final project, haha!

After that I just rode the bus back and hopped in the shower and now I’m just sitting in my hammock. Tomorrow is the first day of classes. Spanish at 10:30 and Ecology at 5. I’m looking forward to Spanish class! And ecology too, but we all already know each other so it’s not as exciting for a first day of class.

I feel so independent, being able to navigate the city buses to the places I need to go by myself. True, I can only get to two place by bus, but once I get down town I can walk to a lot of places. Still have no idea where my house is from a birds eye view. Well, that’s false, I think it’s kind of north east of downtown and east of the school of education (where Spanish class is). But I have never seen it on a map and I could never drive or walk to these places, or to other kid’s houses. I just get on the bus and look for the landmarks that tell me where I get off.

I love having people ask me if I speak Spanish, and saying yes, and understanding what they say and being able to put words together in response. It’s so fun! I just have random convos with people near me, like on the bus or when I sitting waiting somewhere or something

Monday 6/2/09 1:30 PM

Today was my first day of Spanish class, I got put in intermediate 1 which i think is just right. There is one teacher and 5 girls in my class. We even have homework but I don't think it will be too bad. They say the Spanish class is "intensive" and I agree with that statement totally! The other girls in my class are all in anthropology so that's good, so I'm not with those eco kids all the time! haha.

At 5 I have ecology class, that should be good. I think tomorrow since we don't have ecology we're all going to make a trip to Progreso (la playaaaa!) in the afternoon :)

I gotta go home for lunch soon. mucho amor

I sleep in a hammock

Pictures of my family (the little woman and la señora, swimming in the spring, and on the boat.


Saturday 6/28/09 1:00 AM
Another looong, but fun day! Last night I slept so much better in the hammock! I love it!

The first thing we did today was drive almost to hours to the west coast of Yucatan to a place called Celestun Reserve. We all got in two boats and the guides took us through this brackish area. We got out of the boats at this place where we saw ruins of old buildings. We saw tons of flamingos! It was my first time seeing them in the wild! One thing that I didn’t expect from them was that when they start flying, they start by running on the water for a little while. It was pretty cool! We stopped the boats on some beaches and saw a huge dead nurse shark skeletons and stuff. Then, we rode the boats to springs which they call “ojos de agua” which means eyes of water. We got out and snorkeled in the springs. It felt sooo good to be in the cool water! I didn’t even freak out too much swimming in the water with the nasty “wet leaves” bottom!

After that we went to a restaurant on the beach. We ate a ton again. I had shrimp, and I ate a real piece of octopus! I didn’t like it. I tasted like just squishy gross. It even had the tentacles on it when I ate it!

Then, we went on this trek to see another cenote. It ended up being this thirty minute drive that could have been just 5 minutes if we didn’t have to maneuver the bus through a million pot holes! We saw trees and bushes on fire since it was so hot! We ended up getting to the cenote and didn’t even see any crocodiles! Not worth the trek. Haha (or Jaja en español).

After that we made a pit stop in this little town where we got ice cream. I got corn flavored ice cream and it was actually really good! I never really eat any dinner here. Just eat a small breakfast and a big lunch and that’s about it.

After that we came back to the school and I rode the bus all by myself back to the house and then I took the bus again alone downtown! I feel so independent now! When I got home, the granddaughter of la Señora was there and she was cute. She was five years old.

So at home I showered really quick and got ready and we all met down town. We all meaning all the ecology kids. Their names are Allison, Laura, Addison, Clay and Joe. Some people took longer than others to meet downtown. Haha. But eventually we all made it. We walked around the plaza where there was music and venders and then went to a couple restaurants. One of them had live music which was kind of cool. It’s just fun to all talk together. We only met a couple days ago, but we are the only people each other knows here so we are all friends. I like our little group! We’re all different from each other but we all get along really well.

After we hung out for a while downtown, we grabbed a couple taxi’s to go home because the buses shut down around 11. It was my first time ever in a taxi! It wasn’t too exciting but it was monumental.

Tomorrow is our first free day. I think I’ll rest and maybe go to the internet or swim at a friend’s house in the morning, but in the afternoon we are all meeting to go downtown, which has music and stuff every Sunday. I’m excited for that!

I wonder if the anthropology kids are getting along and having as much fun together as us. Probably. We’ll see the dynamic when both groups are mixed on Monday for Spanish classes.

I don’t want to come back! Merida and the Yucatan are the best!

Sunday June 28, 2009 10:20 AM

I think I forgot to describe how pretty, and cool downtown is. There are narrow streets with narrow sidewalks with little open stores all over the place. Once you get near the plaza, all of the buildings are huge and historic. It looks like something you’d see in Europe, like huge old beautiful buildings. Cathedrals and museums and hotels and everything! At night, it feels so good outside so it was wonderful to just sit outside at a table and just hang out, and walk around!

Grace always jokes that I’m going to a third world country, and it is for sure not Africa or something, but I’d say it’s similar to the nicer areas of the D.R. and I’m sure there are poorer areas. Actually, they told us there are. I mean, sanitation and safety aren’t up to America’s standards, but I don’t feel like I’m in a dirty or dangerous place at all. Actually, in the city, I feel even more safe, since so many people are walking around, families together and stuff… It’s easy to spot the other Gringo’s and missionaries. First we try to determine if they are European or American, and then we make fun of their shoebie (tourist) qualities, even though we are just as bad I’m sure.

2:43 pm

The internet cafe I usually go to down the street is closed on sundays I found out, so right now I'm downtown at a table under a tent where it is the weekly festival thing in the plaza. So cool!

I forgot to add that two days ago we were at the exact location where the meteorite hit that destroyed all dinosaurs. I was like I was on Dinosaur on animal kingdom or something! haha

The First Travel Day

Right now I’m laying the hammock that my mom gave me and hung up in my room today. I hope she lets me keep it! Last night it took a while to fall asleep again because I was hot, so hopefully this hammock will be AWESOME!

You know it’s bad when you think in Spanish. I find myself translating my thoughts from Spanish to English even when talking to the other Americans. It’s so strange! I feel like I learn more words all the time.

So, today, well, before we even got started, I over slept. Story of my life. We had to leave the house at 7:00 to catch the bus to get to the school at 7:30. My mom and the little woman came in at 6:53 when I awoke to “Julie! Julie! Su viaje hoy!” But of course, here, my name sounds like you-lee. I jumped out of bed, popped in my contacts, grabbed my stuff and ran down the stairs! Stuffed some toast and watermelon down my throat and we went out to the bus stop. Another guy’s parents saw us so gave us a ride to the place. And at the end of the day, it was such a relief that the same kid’s parents gave me a ride home!

So, our excursion for the day: We did so much, it’s hard to remember! Our group consists of 6 UF students (3 guys, 3 girls), one UF professor, one Yucatan professor, two guy Mexican students, and our driver. Everyone is laid back and cool. No wet blankets at all.

We started in this place that we got out of the bus and walked down this dirt road. We saw these really dirty sink holes, and a pig farm (Swine flu anyone?) haha. Here the sink holes are called cenotes. After that we stopped at this place where we saw this guy making things out of wood. The kind of tree was weird though, like, the inside was dark brown but suddenly it turned light brown. After that we went to a place where they were making stuff out of limestone. We saw a dead puppy next to where we parked.

Then we went to this place called Dzibilchaltún. At first it was a museum we walked through. After walking through the museum, we saw some pyramids of the Mayans. We walked around them and climbed them. It was cool because there were no other toursists around at the time at all! Then we walked on to another cenote. It was so hot, so we all jumped in, even though it looked dirty on the top. In the water, there were all these little fish, who we were told are related to paranas were biting at us! Even though it was hot, we didn’t stay in the water for too long because of the little fish.

After that was the best part! We went to Progreso, which is the closest beach town. It was the same Gulf of Mexico, but there were bigger waves. We ate at a restaurant on the beach and the food was so good! I had shrimp and rice, plus we had a ton of appetizers. My new favorite drink is, well, I forget what it’s called, but it’s white and it is basically rice juice and water. I love it! The sweet tea was different, it wasn’t sugary sweet, but limey sweet. It was really good. In the restaurant, venders kept stopping in to try to sell us stuff which was so different than in the US. We had fun sitting in the restaurant and talking and eating.

After that we went to a place with a high over look where flamingos usually are. We climbed to the top of the tower and could see so far! After that we kind of pulled into the driveway of an abandoned house on the beach and jumped into the water. It felt so good! Then we sat on the back porch or the house in the swing and just talked and stuff.

After that, we just came back! We were talking about going out on the town tonight. But I don’t know, since we have to meet again at 7 tomorrow and it’s hard to contact people to meet up. We talked about meeting up tonight on the bus on the way back, but it was raining then so we decided not to, but it’s beautiful now, so I don’t know. We’ll see.

Tomorrow we got on another trip. This time we go to the west instead of to the north. We see what it has to offer. And we’ll see how a sleep in the hammock tonight! ☺

Here are some pictures, one of my house, one of my room. My mom and the little lady didn’t want a picture taken today, but tomorrow they will be dressed for the occasion. Haha. Also is a picture at Dzibilchaltún. Click on the pictures to see the entire thing. They don't load quite right on here.

The first two days

So, right now I'm sitting in a cyber cafe which I walked to. I'm jealous of the guy in the computer cubicle next to me because he is dancing and singing! Whatever he is watching on the computer is very interesting!

Today the maid came with me to an evening lecture with a guy from the American Consulate. He had a lot of informative things to say.

To give more of a visual, much of the city looks like the Dominican Republic, but only the nice areas. On some walls I see glass like in redemption or something, but it's so different!

I bought a calling card and called Mom and Dad today. They sounded surprised. I also got a map, but I still haven't found where my house is on it.

This is the address to which I "think" I live if you want to attempt to send something via snail mail:
Julie Champeau
c/o Sra. Elvira Maldonado
Calle 33 No. 227x22x24
Col. Nueva Alemán
Merida, Yucatan

RIP Michael Jackson. Can't wait to tell about the first excursion tomorrow!

Wow, the guy next to me is really into whatever is on that computer, banging on his chest Tarzan style. haha.

Buena noche. Mucho amor

I Can't Believe I'm Here!

Wednesday, June 24, 2009 11:05 PM

I can’t believe I’m here. That is exactly what I said a few minutes ago when I was left in my bedroom to unpack and go to bed.

OK. I’ll start from the beginning. Mom and Dad and Kyle dropped me off the airport with all of Kyle’s college stuff. I have been thinking about Kyle and even am right now as he’s probably getting ready for bed in his first night in his dorm. Haha. Unless he’s going out on the town! Haha. IDK.

Anyways, when I got to the gate, I recognized a kid, Joe, from the other meetings, so I sat next to him and that was good. At least I knew that I was at the right place. So we sat for a couple hours and then we saw other people start to show up, including one of the professors, Allan Burns.

So then there was the plane ride to Houston! When we got there, we met up with pretty much everyone else. I feel like I’ve gotten to everyone besides the “Lombards.” The Lombards is this group of new freshman who are very important apparently and got some scholarship and they all know each other and they keep to themselves while the rest of us normal UF kids have to meet people for ourselves. But the people I’ve met seem cool! And the professors too.

Then was the flight to Merida. I got a jump start on my Spanish language talking to the lady next to me. Just a little warm up for the real thing.

By the time we got to the airport, everyone was pretty anxious about meeting their families and being in someone’s Mexican house alone, in a place we’ve never been, alone, in a language we don’t speak all too well. Even though we had only spent a couple hours together, we didn’t want to leave each other just for the fear of being alone with someone, not with another student who related with everything.

So we went through customs and there was my Mom, holding a sign with my name! She gave me a huge hug and welcomed me! She was with her daughter-in-law and we took her daughter in law’s van to the house. As we drove tthough the city they were talking and I was half trying to catch a few words and half staring out the windows. Kyle- It does not look like Redemption or that other place. It actually looks kind of like Lakeland, except for not. But driving through the street looked similar to South Florida near Southgate or downtown, but different. I attempted to carriy conversation with the two women. We discussed a few things, the weather, Lakeland, Merida, High School Musical. Haha. The daughter-in-law’s six year old daughter loves high school musical so maybe she can be my friend. Haha. So we got out of the minivan (nicer than ours, with automatic doors and everything) and were at the house. It’s two story with a gate in front. I guess similar to the nicer houses in the DR- the place we go the first night (you know). There was another woman there. I do not know how she is related to my mom, but she lives here, and she is nice.

So they brought me up to my room, and I gave them their gift. Mom and Dad- they thought the Mickey thing was cute. Kyle- my Mom said you were “guapo” in the picture, and mom- she said you looked really young. And they brought me to my room. Tile floors, double bed, TV, windows. I can see the hooks where a hammock would go! ☺ Oh, and another highlight…. NO air conditioning!! I saw in the car the it was between 27 and 30 degrees celcius on the way here so you can translate that to F. Yeah, no AC. Sweaty. I took a shower. Unpacked all my stuff in the drawers, set up a few pictures of some of my lovely favorites by my mirror. I need to sleep now. I’m getting up at 7.

Kyle would love the lovely fan to attempt to keep me cool. I’ve heard word that there is a possibility of swimming with whale sharks, for real. I may not survive that. Haha. But I’ll try. Alrighty. Good Night! I can’t believe I’m here.

Thursday June 25, 2009 2:53 PM

I feel like so much has happened since I got here! Definitely thrown into constant Spanish, at least at home. I will for sure get a ton of practice and they say you come back a lot more fluent. I can feel like I already improved!

I’ll start with last night. Sleep was a little rough. It was one of those nights where you lay there, sweating, look at the clock and 5 minutes pass, look at the clock 30 minutes pass, look at the clock an hour passes. I just kept telling myself that it was like camping, but at least I have a bed!

I got up at 7:30. I found out that the other lady that lives here works for my “mother.” I’ll just call my mother the Señora because that is what I call her. The Señora is tall, with really thick makeup. Reminicent to that of Mrs. Fite of Lakeland, if that helps you get a mental picture. Mrs. Fite, but Mexican. The maid is what you could imagine as this typical, short and sweet lady. Kind of reminds me of Lisa Gilbert, but Mexican, and even shorter. The second lady doesn’t say too, too much, but she and the Señora seem to have a good relationship. I really don’t think they speak a lick of English. Someone told me that all the host families know English, but aren’t allowed to use it unless there is an emergency or something, then these ladies must be really good actors! I really don’t think they know any English at all.

So, I walk down the stairs and at the table is toast, and my favorite food in the whole wide world, watermelon! They taught me what it is called in Spanish- Sitria or something, I cannot even remember. After that la Señora helped me take the bus to the school. I was trying to pay attention as much as I could, and wrote down every street, because I’m so scared that I’ll get lost!

We made it to the school, and met up with everyone else. It was great to see the other students. Even though we all just met yesterday, I think that we feel really comfortable around each other since it’s all we have besides the host families and teachers and all. Don’t get me wrong, the teachers from UF and the teachers here are all really nice, and I feel like they genuinely want to help us, but it’s great to talk to the people our age.

So, at the University we all got our pictures taken for our school ID, which is so cool! Besides the fact that my names is spelled Julie Champean. But still, being able to whip it out and show off will be cool and Kyle will hate me for it.

Then I traded some dollars for some pesos and we all got into these vans to go to the other campus to take our Spanish exam and have the orientation. There were already too many of us squeezed into this bus, and we got about half way there and the clutch of the van broke. We all just sat in the van for a while, not knowing what to do since it was just us and the driver, who didn’t speak English. Eventually, we got out of the van, and squeezed into another one and got to the other campus.

The Spanish exam wasn’t too bad. At the orientation, we got a lot of papers and a schedule of everything we will do and hats and stuff. Plus they taught us all about washing our hands every five seconds to prevent swine flu and other sicknesses and just general stuff about the program and just living in Merida.

After that la Señora was there and we took the bus back to the house. The little lady had made lunch. Fried chicken, beans and rice, tortillas, some juice that I have no clue what it was, and salad. It was good, but a ton! And I felt bad when I couldn’t finish my plate, but the ladies were nice about it.

My biggest concern today is directions and location. I am just scared I’ll get lost! La Señora wrote down directions on what bus to take and how to get to the bus stops and where to get off and stuff, but I just really wanted a map so I could get a mental picture of everything. The Stephens gave me one right before I left, but I am so dumb, I forgot it at home! I remembered another paper they gave me, but I forgot the map. Perfect. Haha. So the little lady walked with me down to a little store, where I was going to buy a map and a phone card. They had neither! So I guess I’ll try to get one later. Some people are getting a cell phone here, but I didn’t want to spend the money.

La Señora told me that there is free internet at a park I can walk to, and I was hoping to go right now, but instead opted for siesta. It’s so hot out! Hopefully, I’ll learn where it is, or else sometime when there’s free time I can use the computers at the school or something.

So at 6 we are all meeting for a tour of downtown I think. And tomorrow morning at 7:30 AM is our first excursion! We are going tomorrow and Saturday, but it’s not over night because we are going to two different places. I don’t really know much, but if you want to google, they are called sierrita de Ticul, Uaymitún, Progreso, and Celesún. The anthropology kids are going to the Carribean for two days, lucky! But we will have our time. I heard that tomorrow and Saturday we will need our bathing suits and bug spray. And that we will see flamingos. But that’s all I know.

Much love.

It's time!

So, after all the questionable status with swine flu and all, tomorrow I'm actually going to Mexico! I'm going to try to update this site whenever I can so that family and friends know what I'm up to and all since I won't have a phone. I will have a computer though so I'll have e-mail and facebook and skype. I'll let you know what my mailing address is whenever I find out so that you can send me things via snail mail if you like.

I leave tomorrow afternoon, flying out of Orlando with a layover in Houston before arriving in Merida. Merida is in the Yucatan, near the Gulf of Mexico. The map gives you an idea of where it is. The weather will be similar to the weather in Lakeland, if not hotter. I'll be staying with a host family, which I do not know much about. I suppose they will meet me in the airport. The group from UF has 22 students and 2 professors, or maybe 6 professors? As you can probably tell, I don't really know a ton of details, I'll just find out! I don't know any of the other Florida students going, but I'm sure I'll know them well by the end.

The program has two groups, anthropology and ecology, which we got to choose. I think there are 16 anthropology kids and 6 ecology kids. I'm chose ecology. Part of the program is that two or three days a week we are in the class room learning the stuff, and then the other days in the week we go around the Yucatan, sometimes overnight, actually seeing the ecosystems and anthropological sites. I think this includes Mayan ruins and coral reefs, but I don't really know that much specifically. The other class I'll take is Spanish, which I've always liked learning.

I leave tomorrow, I get back August 1st. Now you know about as much as I know, so here comes excitement!

I'm soooo excited!!!! :)

Much love