Day Two--Classes Begin!

Today was our first day at the university! We woke up bright and early (5am!) to get ready and go to our 7am class. Our classes are really small, which is wonderful! And though the campus is small, it's beautiful!

 So I'm going to keep this short, and just say that the rest of our day was spent with some great new friends. With whom which we went on our own to find the temple, and ended up getting drenched in the rain and wandering around for hours trying to find out where we were and how to get home. It was pretty splendid, aside from the fact that my shoes were not fit for the weather at all. For anyone who comes here, do NOT wear flip flops in the rain. The sidewalk is so slippery if you've got no grip.

Anyway, here are a couple things I found out about Merida!

• It is more common for universities in Mexico to be small, and specific to a certain major or career. 
• An update from something I said yesterday: there are actually crosswalks and lights, but they are more in the centro de la ciudad. But yes, they do exist but aren't nearly as commonly used
• And finally, if you lok at this picture, our university has this cool setup for recycling--each recycled waterbucket holds a different thing. Not sure if this is a Mexican thing or just an invention of our school, but I thought I would add it here just the same. :)

I've got to go to bed; I'm expecting a big day tomorrow! It's going to be a blast--the beach and las cenotes! This is the thing that I have been most excited for! I'm out, but hopefully tomorrow will have lots to tell. :D

I'm in Mexico. Wait, what?

I'm starting up this blog again, for the soul purpose of documenting my soon-to-be awesome study abroad in Merida, Mexico!

Today was the first day of the six-week ordeal, spent on a plane for a painful amount of time. No, there was nothing like the 9-hour straight flight to Korea (check out my adventures there @ Serving Souls in Korea) but with the early morning takeoff at 5:40am and the two transfers in Denver and Houston, it was almost as terrible. If I'm being honest, the fact that the long flights have free movies, music, and games--plus meals to keep your stomach full--make up for the nonstop sitting. There's none of that on the shorter trips. 

The greatest moment of the trip was when I looked up as I was about to get on my last flight and saw other people from my group. That meant I had friends to go through Mexican customs with! What a relief. :D And customs was not even a big deal.

Here's my first view of my temporary home:

Now, we get to Mexico! I'm actually here, laying in a Mexican home with the fan going and my feet hanging off the end of the bed. The family I'm with seems amazing; the mother is helping us figure things out. She's the sweetest person. :)

I definitely noticed a lot of things that stand out in the culture/surroundings of Merida, Mexico. The purpose of me writing (hopefully everyday) is to both keep a record of my adventures and also to jot down culture differences. Here's the list for today:

• There are venders in the street--guys who will just walk up to your window while you wait for the light and ask you to buy their fruit/flowers/etc.
• The avocados here are huge! The size of about three in the US. And the inside is yellow, like in this picture. The outside is just a soft dark skin, soft enough to bite through, though I don't think they eat it. 
• I haven't seen enough of the city to know if there are any, but so far I have seen little to no sign of actual crosswalks with the walking-man light. It seems to be expected that pedestrians just jaywalk and make sure they don't get hit.
• I don't think carpets are common. The home we are staying at has completely stone flooring, even in the bedrooms. I'm still a little unused to walking barefoot on stone rather than carpet or wood.
• They sleep in hammocks! And not just any hammocks. These are hand-made (I'll have to find out what material), huge, and built in a way that makes them super compfy. They stretch across the bedroom at night, and are taken down during the daytime. Perfect for hot nights when you want a breeze to lull you to sleep.
• Locks exist all over the place: for the closets, drawers, and of course the doors. Also, the windows are covered on the outside with bars, so no unfriendly guest can get in.

• I will add one final observation, but I still don't know if this is an actual culture thing, or if it's just the family we are staying with. Their home is very spacious inside, with lots of room and not a lot of furniture to fill it up. Compared with a typical American home, it seems they have slightly less furniture and slighty larger rooms. So it makes for a lot of space. I'll update further about this once I've visited other homes and seen how they look.

So yes, today was a full day with a lot of new things to see and hear. I am actually able to have conversations with our "mom" but still feel like a simpleton. However, I can tell that it will come quickly. :) Now that I am writing this, I feel excited for what is to come! Although, I'm pretty sure I had a little bit of homesickness/culture shock earlier today. Okay, maybe slightly more than a little bit.

I was exhausted, though I didn't realize it. So here I was going off of adrenaline, and then right about the time it wore off, I saw a friend's post on Facebook that made me go absolutely crazy with despair and a little (or a lot?) of jealousy.Which then started a downward emotional spiral 'till I got to the point that I just wanted to give up and not do anything at all, just lay there and feel sorry for myself until I went to sleep. Talking in Spanish suddenly became extremely hard to muster the will or strength for, and I almost started crying at the ATM when I couldn't remember my pin. This is so not like me that I can only pinpoint it down to one thing: I'm homesick.

But, I also attribute my homesickness to the fact that I haven't gotten any substantial sleep in the past week. Hopefully when I wake up tomorrow morning I will be ready to enjoy this ride like nothing else!

Sidenote:
We have a cat. Not only do we have a cat, but she just had three kittens YESTERDAY. !!! And they are the cutest little gatitos in the world! I was happy beyond belief to see them. Also, there are three dogs and a guinea pig. :)

Home Sweet Home

It's been almost a week since I arrived back in my good ol' Mountain Home, after a crazy semester at BYU! Already, I've gotten so much done concerning my mission. I am positive that nothing could have been better than having this month in between school and my MTC report date, dedicated to preparing.

Also while I'm here, I am back working at the Base Pool, which keeps me on a schedule and gets me a little extra money (any is a blessing!). I love teaching kids how to swim! It makes my day to see how excited they are to be in the water. :) And it also doesn't hurt that I get to be in the water myself! I've missed swimming so badly, and am pretty surprised at how smooth my strokes feel even after five months with no swimming. But how am I going to survive a whole year and a half?? I'll be jumping in the first pool I find once I'm back haha

Today I got to see my awesome little nephew Kru, and I felt like a million bucks with how excited he was to see me. My favorite thing would have to be him yelling "I love you" over and over as I'm leaving for work, and then later as he was heading out the door, he comes running back to me asking for a hug. I give him a big bear hug and let go, but he hangs on :) I love him!

Weirdest thing that happened this past week:
My friend Nora and I are checking all the fluids in my car, and as we are in the garage getting some coolant, we hear the sound of glass falling/crunching. I look over at the window, and stare at it with shock written all over my face. The window was broken! How did that happen? We never even heard a crash!

I walk around to the outside just to see what could have broken it when I see Nora, who had gone to investigate on the inside, staring at the ground. She slowly said, "Christina? You might want to come see this..."

In my mind I'm freaking out about how maybe the car was damaged or something, but as I come around the corner, I end up in the same bewildered position that Nora had been.

There, lying on the ground in the midst of broken glass, was a headless squirrel. No blood, no gore. Just a squirrel without a head.

And that's the end of the story. Or at least it leaves you in the same predicament we were. How in the world did that squirrel come flying through the window, when did it, and why did it have no head??!

Sadly, our detective skills were inadequate, and we never were able to figure it out. The good news to the story was that the missionaries were able to come over and board up our window, and we happened to have a board EXACTly the right size.

Stamps are Great Reminders

I currently have three different stamps on my hands from the different things that I went to this past week. Every time I look at them I'm like "Yeah! This weekend was a success!" Here's what happened.

First stamp: I went to a Korean Festival at BYU Friday evening, and it was crazy! There were probably 200 or more people there, packed into this little area with not much walking space, and booths that had lines longer than they were actually worth. So the only advantageous thing that came from going was I got to write (trace) my name in calligraphy! Though, I guess I can't really be sure that it's my name... But it looks cool anyway!

Second stamp: An awesome guy, Nate Wallace, took me to the salsa club Friday night as a date. I had a blast! I am really terrible at dancing, just because I become too self conscious to really let loose, but I don't think I did too bad! It was just hilarious, because neither of us knew what we were doing. So we just did whatever we wanted. Great guy, great date, and the ice cream afterward definitely added some points. :D

Third and final: Saturday night, I got to go on another date with a different awesome guy-- Tanner. We went to eat at the Thai Kitchen first, which was pretty good though the spicyness made my stomach complain for a while after. Then it was off to Classic Skating! This was actually the third time I'd been to this place on a date, but it was so much more fun this time! I make it a point to at least try the skates first, but I'll usually just upgrade to blades. I convinced Tanner to try them out with me, and we were able to get the hang of it. I now can at least skate around for a little while, though we still switched to the blades so we didn't have to try so hard. It was hilarious, because both of us fell a few times (and guys, that's a PERFECT excuse to hold a girls hand). I just love those kind of dates, where both of you feel just as embarrassed, so it's okay.

Dating Advice?

On a side note... I just want to mention how this semester has been dating-wise. Now, I am NOT bragging, and I don't want to come off that way at all.  But starting from the very first day that I got back from Christmas break, I have been on a date almost every week. And the amount of dates versus the amount of weeks? Almost double. Crazy, right? I'm freaking out about it, because this is not usual for me at all. 

I was thinking about it last night, and how it probably has something to do with the fact that I'm about to go on a mission, which is sooo frustrating in multiple ways. But I will save those thoughts for my missionary blog (segoviakoreabusan.blogspot.com).

Anyway, my roommates are always asking me, "How do you get dates?? What do you do?" And all I can say is, "I have no freaking idea!" But, if I were to offer advice to girls about getting guys to take them on dates, just go out and meet someone new, and then meet their friends. And continue that process for eternity. (Or at least until you meet The One :D). The more people you meet, the more likely someone will want to get to know you more. Valid reasoning right? 

That's about all the advice I could ever give on dating, because I don't really consider myself a great example. But hey, I'm gaining experience and having fun with it. So girls, go get those boys, cause this kind of story really is possible. 

Also, please don't hate on those girls that do go on lots of dates, because I know that dislike tends to be an emotion directed towards them. I felt that way before, and now that I am that girl I realize that's not saying anything bad about their character. I will judge no longer! 

Wait, WHERE??

I have officially not kept my resolution to blog every week, seeing as how it's been three weeks since my last one. I have definitely thought about it though, so that should count right? But I can't NOT blog today, seeing as how I just found out what I'm going to be doing for the next two years of my life. !!

This past week, I was anxiously waiting for my mission call to come in the mail, and it almost drove me crazy! Since I live in Provo, mission calls usually arrive from Salt Lake by Wednesday. So I had my roommate check the mail, but it didn't come. I was pretty disappointed, but figured it was late because of the crazy snow we had that week. So I cancelled my call party and hoped it would be here on Thursday. 

Thursday came, and went. No call. By now I'm just a wreck, not able to concentrate on anything. Of course everyone is asking if I got it or where I'm going, and I just feel like crying as I tell them I don't know yet. 

As Friday rolls around, I'm feeling a little dejected as I check the mail. But it CAME! I ran inside and immediately opened it, had to read it three times before I really believed what I read, and then immediately tried to get a hold of my parents. However, my mom is in Oklahoma with my brother, and neither of the phones I called worked. So I'm sitting here without anyone to tell, or any way to tell, and I'm bursting! My brother finally answered his phone, but said he is at work, and he doesn't know when he will be back home, so I have to WAIT to tell ANYONE because I wanted my mom to be the first to know. 

My roommate came home, but I still couldn't tell her until my mom called which was pure torture for both of us. Finally my mom called at 7:30 pm (that's three hours after I opened my call) so I was able to reveal where I was going! I then proceeded to tell her and everyone else I came in contact with that I'm going to the...

Korea Busan Mission!!!

I cannot even wrap my mind around it. Everything about it is completely different from anything I have ever experienced or even wanted to experience: language, culture, people, food, weather, religion, everything! I'm freaking out! 

One thing that really gives me comfort, in assuring me that this is not completely random, is the fact that my dad has been to Korea before and even learned a little Korean himself. He was able to tell me that knowing Spanish really helps in writing how to pronounce Korean since Spanish vowels don't change like English vowels do. So that's great! At least I'll kind of be able to use it while I'm there. 

I have so many more thoughts going on in my head, but I'll save them for another day. Expect that the next couple posts will be related to this topic!

Mariah's Gift - Book Page Necklace

I have so much to say! It's no good when you don't blog for a whole week, especially when it's the first week of a semester! Now I've got to relate all the interesting things that happened! But really, there's only one that I'm going to post about right now, and that is my present to Mariah!

It's been quite a while since I first posted that I was making it, but I couldn't post what the present was until I had given it to her, in order to not spoil the surprise. And then I had a busy week of school, so I'm just barely getting around to it.

I made a necklace for her, after reading another person's how to. Here's the site so you can make your own! Mandipidy - Book Page Necklace

All you need is a 30-inch long chain, some pages of a book (or printouts), pearl beads, jump rings, and a clasp. Also some Modge Podge for the finish of the paper cutouts, and a lighter if you want to burn the edges like I did. Make sure that when you get the jump rings, they aren't the coiled ones, because those do NOT work (I speak from experience). 

This is a picture of my finished project:

I am so proud of myself for making this. And the reason both I and Mariah love it so much is because I made it special to her. For example, the pages that I chose are things that are a part of her life. There is: German, Italian, Music, The Hobbit, Marvel, the Book of Mormon, and a dictionary definition that pertains to her. It's awesome! So when she wears it, it isn't just a stylish accessory, but it symbolizes pieces of her heart.

If I were to do anything differently, I would put the same picture on both sides of the circle cut outs, so that when it flips around you can't tell. It's a hassle having to make sure they are always flipped the right way.

So if you need a gift idea, this is a great one! You can do a bracelet version too, or maybe even earrings.Just experiment with it and make it special to the giftee.

Time Travel- What Could Be Done?

I watched one of the best movies last night, as far as being emotional, action-packed, thought-provoking, sci-fi, romantic, etc. You must watch this movie! Here's the trailer, though I don't think it does the film justice.

Deja Vu is seriously worth two hours of your life, if not more. My mind was completely blown by the whole idea. I'll try not to give the whole story away, but the main theme is based around time travel.

That's where I want to go with today's post. Time travel-- is it possible? Okay, so maybe I won't start with that question, because honestly nobody knows. There are so many different stories incorporating this interesting fantasy. Why is it so attractive to our minds? The idea that we can change our past, or change our future. The chance that what we do is not set in concrete, forever unchangeable.

The idea that rather than be accountable, we can make mistakes and then go back and do it again. Something that all of us wish were possible. And yet this goes directly against the point of life: to live and learn. If we could go back and change our mistakes, would we learn from it? Perhaps in the moment we would understand why it was a mistake, but in the long-run, the consequences are what teaches the strongest lesson.

However, in the case of Deja Vu, it is using time travel as a way to prevent catastrophes. So what about these situations? If time travel is used, not for personal gain, but for others? This is where I'm open to anything. It could be the same, what's done is done. But it's saving lives, while capturing the bad guy. What could be wrong about that?

I've got no answer for this, so if you do then I would love to hear it! Time travel is one of the most interesting fantastical notions.. Another story that I enjoyed with time travel was the book Ben Franklin and the Chamber of Time. Cool stuff!