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Dienstag, 21. November 2017

3 months update

Hello everyone and welcome back on my blog,

Sorry my absence. The last post was published four weeks ago but after that I haven't felt like writing anything on here for a while and then I was really occupied but more about that in the section about my feelings and my experiences. I haven't forgotten that I wanted to write about my time in the Isthmus and I promise this post will be published soon as well as one about the "Día de los muertos" (Day of the Death) even though I'm going to talk a little about this topic in this post.

Feelings

Well I'm really good at the moment. It wasn't like this all month because after my trip to the Isthmus I didn't feel too good for some days. The days there we exhausting and also needed some time to think about everything I had seen there. That's the reason why there wasn't a post immediately after being back.
The next week was really exciting because I only had to work two days and there were events every day as the "Día de los muertos" was in this week. Furthermore another volunteer from Mexico City visited Oaxaca and we spent a lot of time together and I had a great time.
Now something that also changed a lot for the better: I moved. I just wasn't happy living alone and I couldn't imagine doing it any longer. Therefore I asked for a host family and we've found one really fast. We've one afternoon to see if get along and I liked them from the start. I'm so happy since I'm living with them. Not being alone in the evening and on the weekends is really good for my wellbeing. I learned in the past months that I'm really a family person and even though I need privacy and time alone, living alone makes me quite sad.
The last two weeks have been mostly great, just my laptop nearly giving up was a negative thing because I need it for work as well as for some things in my free time.

My new amazing view. The downside: walking up there every day

Experiences

This month was certainly the one with the most experiences up until now.
It began with the trip to the Isthmus.
After that there was the week with the "Día de los muertos" in which some other exciting things took place as well.


One day I went to "Hierve el agua" with two volunteers and a Mexican friend. It was a great day and the place is amazing. When we arrived it was still quite empty but later there were lots of visitors. We walked around there to get a better view but getting up to the water basins was really hard especially as the sun was so strong. It was really hot this day and even though I used sunscreen, I got some sunburns. Swimming in the cold water was extremely refreshing after walking around.
Later we went to a restaurant in Oaxaca and to market because the volunteer from DF wanted to buy some things there.
The next day she and I went to the museum inside of Santo Domingo after breakfast at the market. It was really interesting as it deals with the state of Oaxaca and its culture and history.


The weekend after that, I did my first trip to a place outside of Oaxaca. I went to Querétaro to visit my grandmother who spent two weeks there. The bus trip was a lot better and more comfortable than I thought and I slept through most of the seven hours trip to Mexico City. The bus to Querétaro was really luxurious with Wi-Fi, sockets and a display to watch movies or play games and the next three hours passed quickly.
I had a great time in Querétaro. On Saturday morning I went to have coffee with my grandma and later I played video games with the boy of the family with whom my grandmother and I stayed. Later we went to the city center and they showed me some things and we ate at an Italian restaurant. It's always great to be with people who already know the city and have lived there for some time because I received really interesting information this way.
On Sunday we went to Bernal, a little colonial town with a famous monolith and some amazing little shops. After eating lunch at a restaurant with a great view from its roof terrace we returned to Querétaro. On the way back they showed me some more interesting things.
Back in Querétaro we went to the pool where the boy and I had some fun. It made this trip feel like holidays.
In the evening we had a barbecue and played Yahtzee and I won both of the rounds. Then I had to say goodbye to the boy and this father as they had to get up and leave early the next morning.
My grandma, her friend and I had breakfast in a Coffee shop run by a couple from Switzerland which also offered amazing pastry.
Soon after breakfast I had to take a taxi to the bus station. I used the three hours bus ride to Mexico City to write my report about my first three months for my organization because it was due the 17th and I hadn't begun to write it.
I arrived at the airport on time and therefore anything was really relaxed. The flight to Oaxaca is quite short and everything went fine and I arrived back at my home at about 9pm.
I would really like to visit Querétaro again however I don't think that I'll have time as there are so many more places here in Mexico I want to visit.

Another place I'm going to visit next year which isn't located in Mexico is New York. Instead of flying back to Germany directly on 16th of august, I'm going to stay there for five days. This month I booked all the flights I need for this trip and I'm quite excited already. I've wanted this visit this city for so long and even though there are sometimes cheaper flights from Germany, I'm on the same continent already and it's only a five hour flight from Mexico City, so I just had to use this chance.

Work

My last weeks were characterized by photography. As my colleagues realized in the Istmo, I've had no idea on how to shoot good photos, at least no with a professional camera. Therefore I did two photography workshops in the last two weeks even though I only went for two days for the second one as I already knew the topics and had some other things to do at work.
I'm still really satisfied at work and photography is a good example for the things I learn by being here and working in my organization.
I'm also monitoring the reconstruction and other topics related to the earthquakes in the Isthmus and therefore this topic is still very present to me.

Pictures I took during my photography workshop
Language

Nothing really new here. I don't think a lot changed in the past month but I'm ok with it. Sometimes I hate not to know the word I need for a conversation, but I think that's normal. Sometimes I don't really understand some conversations I'm listening to, but that's mostly when I don't know the topic or it's a topic I don't have the vocabulary for. I would also love to have a better grammar when talking but maybe it'll improve in the upcoming months as I still have nine to go.

Contact to Germany

I'm still regularly talking to my family and sometimes to my friends. I can talk to my mother for hours on Saturday morning but well, we have to tell each other everything that we usually speak about in a whole week.
It was also great that my grandma visited Mexico as I could give her some presents for my family which I would have had to send by mail otherwise and that's quite expensive.

 

That's all for now, stay tuned for the post about my trip to the Isthmus and the week of the "Día de los muertos" which I hope to publish at the latest next weekend.

Have a good time and see you soon,

Sandra

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