50 Days in...

Mexicans do the darnedest things. I just can't figure them out.

We just reached the halfway point of our stay here in Mexico. I'm not sure exactly what to say. It's been a joy at times and a challenge at others. We're definitely enjoying the weather (although we miss the wintertime coziness). Everything is still working out with our host family (although we miss everyone back home dearly). We at times get overwhelmed with the culture here, which can be deceptively similar to our own but then pull the rug out from under us. We sometimes get overwhelmed with the languages. Some days it flows so easily. Other days, for reasons unknown, it spits and sputters off of the tongue so that I feel like I'm back at the beginning.

There are so many little things that require so much more attention and thought than they require at home where we know all the answers. The more I've learned about the Mexicans, the more I look into things, and the more hesitations I have with them. Sometimes, they seem just like us. Sometimes they do things out of left field that I just can't make out.

We've read a lot on Mexican history and culture. However I still feel like I'm missing out on so much. I'm sure that so much goes right by me. Luckily I started two new courses: US-Mexico History and Relations: and Indigenous Religion and the Development of Catholicism. (Their semester works different than ours. So we had 2 classes the first half of the semester and now we have 2 new ones until the end.) With these courses, I'm sure I'll come away with a much greater understanding than what I have now. Until now we've been working on bringing our language up to fluency. Now that we can at least understand and be understood, we can begin to look a little deeper.

Wish us luck! Thank you all for your support and love. We miss everyone so much and to be quite honest, I've never looked forward to a plane ride like I look forward to the one that will take us home in April! I feel like I should have more to say at this milestone, but mostly I'm just getting into the swing of existing here. If anyone's curious about anything or has any questions for us, let us know and we'll write on them.