Wendy In Mexico: Changing Families + Visiting the Beach in November!

Alright, almost caught up to present time! Fantastic.

November 15th was a busy day! As a Spanish class we went on an afternoon excursion to these natural hot water springs just outside of Tepic. Various pools had been constructed to collect the water so people could bathe. It was a perfect place to relax for a while, as the day was sort of misty and cool! We went to one of the lower baths as the upper ones were empty for cleaning, so the water was lukewarm- nonetheless a very nice place to be on a cool Friday afternoon!

Rotex and YE's

I then arrived at home and had about 2 hours to clean up everything in my room and put it all into transportable bags, as it was FAMILY CHANGING DAY. There was no way I was fitting all of my belongings back into the two suitcases I arrived with, and so I completed the task by stuffing the surplus possessions into bags. It was pretty ugly, I'm already worried about how I'm going to be able to return to Canada with a reasonable amount of luggage!

Farewell, fantastic room, fantastic bed....

I was actually really sad about this. I love my first host family to pieces. I also felt like I'd just really gotten settled and comfortable with the location and house in the past month, and suddenly we were changing things up again! I now regret not doing even more with my family. We had a huge amount of fun times together but I didn't always take advantage of spending time at home with them. I thought I had more time to do some sibling bonding or have a bake fest with my host sister, but WHAM suddenly there was no time left! I will still see them around at Rotary events and I'll absolutely come to visit Johannes who is now living there. However, I'm definitely going to make more of an effort with my next family so I avoid a repeat of the regret. I've learned as awkward as it is suddenly being the oldest sibling in a close-knit family, you really need to make an effort to integrate yourself! Don't get me wrong, I had a great relationship with my family. I just know I could have made a bigger effort to become closer to them, especially with my siblings. Not being the most emotional or affectionate person, I sometimes had a bit of trouble connecting. Ah well, now I know! I cannot express how grateful I am about them being my first family. I couldn't have asked for a better family. We went on so many trips, and they were amazingly helpful and generous with everything. My parents are honestly two of the friendliest and good-hearted people I've ever met. I hope they come someday to Canada, I'd love to show them my home and repay them for their kindness! They were always so happy and keen to help me out with something. If I was feeling sick my mum would fuss over me like I was seriously infirm (by bringing me tea in bed and making me buttered toast), or if I was having a bad day they would do what they could to cheer me up. They welcomed me with open arms, and I always felt at home with them. They went over and above what was expected of them as a host family. I still feel like this entire speech doesn't fully express how amazing they were. But it probably gave you an idea. So now you can see why I didn't want to move! However, part of learning more of the culture is experiencing a different family situation. Different activities, interests, and different location. And so, despite the sadness, it is a good thing to be moving on.

The best host family you could ever ask for :)

Visiting an arcade at the mall

Anyways, lightening up the mood a bit! We had an official Rotary meeting that night with the families of Johannes and I , our counsellors and then the president and youth exchange board of the club. Gosia was also there, but as her host family situation was a bit complicated (her first didn't work out, she was staying temporarily with another and her next host family wasn't in town at that time), so she didn't change families that night. Johannes and I did a direct switch- we brought up his bags to my old room (my goodness I'm going to miss that bed, it was heavenly soft). Then, I set off with his family across the city and to their home which is actually not even in Tepic! It's in a tiny pueblo called Xalisco just to the South of Tepic. It's pretty far from everything, but I can easily walk to a main road and catch a bus to just about anywhere. (Good thing I learned how to take a bus a couple weeks ago!) We spent the weekend getting to know each other, the family and I. I still have 3 siblings here, a 15 year old brother Lalo, and two young sisters Alejandra and Vanessa (9 and 5). We went out for a scrumptious Italian pasta dinner on Saturday and then walked around the mall for a while. The next night we watched a family movie. And on Monday, we went to the beach!

We went to San Blas, which was absolutely gorgeous. I was stoked. Where I'm from, you don't hear about people going on a day trip to the beach in the middle of November! It was a bluebird day, the water was lovely and calm, and we basically ate delectable seafood the entire day. I learned how to slurp oysters directly from the shell, and properly and efficiently peel off the shrimp shells (in order to eat more and waste less time preparing the shrimp). The day's menu consisted of shrimp, oysters, grilled fish, watermelon, carrot cake and ice cream from the ice cream truck (it has a route on the beach too, apparently). A beach and scrumptious food- I was in exchanger heaven. When the sun started to set, we went to the town of San Blas and walked around for a bit. We munched on churros as we checked out the market. I found some cute handmade wooden fish trinkets to put on my Rotary blazer. After picking up some yummy banana bread, we headed home tired and stuffed to the gills with good food. Such a fantastic day :)