Tuesday was the first night in Orizaba and after a late arrival (there was so much construction on the way to Orizaba from Mexico City that I thought I was in Pennsylvania). When we met our host siblings Tuesday, we went to our houses. After meeting Gio's mom and having some delicious mocha cake, we met with some other students to break the ice with our host siblings. The place we went had comic book pages on the wall and a mural.
The next morning, we both got up for class. I love the language class that I am taking at IDEA, but the culture class is very boring. It's hard to pay attention when we've already had three hours of class with only a fifteen minute break. After class Wednesday, Jessica and I walked around Orizaba and met her friends Aranza and Ivan. Ivan had to stay at home and study for some tests, but Aranza, Jessica and I walked around the city more. We went to El Rio de Orizaba, which is kind of a river/zoo. They had animals around the river. My favorite were the peacocks and ostriches. There were also deer, chickens, bunnies and racoons. It was weird that those animals were in captivity since they are very common in Pennsylvania.
After class on Thursday, Jessica and I went home to do homework and hang out. Around 5, we went to basketball courts to play with other Juniata students. There were games going on at the courts where we met so we went to a different one that had a playground. The girls went on the see-saws while the guys played. Jessica and I left the game earlier to go to her choir practice. They sang so beautifully! Gio picked us up after practice and we went to eat tacos arabes. They are not a traditional Mexican taco but they were quite delicious. Instead of a tortilla, it was more like bread that had a very tender meat, cheese and lime juice. So yummy!
On Friday, Gio's mother walked me to school because Jessica had a test. On the way, we stopped and bought some food. It was similar to a potato and is pretty good when eaten with hot sauce. After class, Jessica and I went to the bank to change more dollars into pesos but since the money was written on, the bank would not take it. Monday, we are going to go to an exchange house where they will more likely take the money that has writing. I was surprised that they wouldn't take it since money that has been written on is very common in the US, but it never happens in Mexico. Since that didn't work out, Jessica and I went to visit her parents. When we got there, Jessica made me Mexican eggs that were absolutely fantastic with black beans and a tortilla. We talked to her parents for a few hours, it was great practice and really helped me understand accents better! Gio picked us up, we came home and got ready to go out to a bar that had some bands. When the bands weren't so great, we left and went to get hot dogs at don Felipe's. I generally don't like hot dogs, but don Felipe's hot dogs are heavenly!
Saturday, we got up and went to Jessica's choir concert which was at a nursing home. My favorite songs were Tomorrow from Annie and Seasons of Love from Rent, but of course they were in Spanish! We took some pictures outside and then went to the mall to look around. Gio bought Toy Story so we could watch it in Spanish too. It was different than watching it in English, but I loved it! After the movie, they played music and I sang with them. I am now learning how to play Basket Case by Green Day on the bass. Later that night, we went out with some other people from Juniata to Sora, which is an Asian bar that was so beautifully decorated! Unfortunately, it was too dark to see the background in the pictures, but here are a few!
