Oh my heavens…this is turning out to be just like my
journal. I say I’m going to write ALL
the time, and then I don’t. Remember how
I said I would write about Mexico in sections?
Well, here’s part 2.
Our first week there was slightly…….chaotic. We had one car. We had no fridge. We had 7 wrong-sized air mattress. BUT we had each other. During this 20 month excursion that my family
went on, I will come to learn one thing:
My family is everything. Growing
up I was always very protective of my siblings.
I got even more overprotective while in Mexico. I was terrified for all of us to go to school
there. What if someone teases my
siblings for being white? For being tall or for being blonde? My biggest
concern was that we were going to be teased for being Mormon. Allie and Lindsie could handle
themselves. Any kidnapper would hand
them right back. My brothers however,
are the sweetest things ever. They’re
the ones I worried about.
For the first week that we were there, mom had to drive dad
to work. Mom and dad could always tell
where they were. I on the other hand
could barely tell which way was up. We
were really bored. School didn’t start
for about a month, and we didn’t really dare go anywhere without dad. I remember one of the first nights we were
there, mom and dad had gone grocery shopping and left us there at home. All of a sudden we heard these big bangs! The
house shook. Tallie (our dog) was
freaking out, barking. Lindsie and Jason
were crying. We could have sworn it was
gun shots. I tried to call my dad, but
of course I couldn’t remember the area code..
So what did I do? I used my noggin and I shoved us all under a desk that
was in the front room, and guarded it with air mattress. Not that they would have helped if someone
broke in, but it made us feel better. If
we can’t see outside, they can’t see us inside.
Right?! Turns out, it was just fireworks. :)
Before we started school, we had to take a test to get into
school. May I add that this was an
AMERICAN SCHOOL. I was American. Why did I have to test to get in?! I WAS THE AMERICAN! So testing we went. We had to read, write, do math and draw some
stupid picture. Results came back. GREAT! …for Allie, Kendal and Lindsie. What about Jason and I? Well….we didn’t quite
make the cut. I was furious. They failed me because I drew stick
figures..which in my defense…my stick figures are VERY cute. We talked to the school and they ended up
letting me come.. if we paid more money.
However, Jason wasn’t so lucky. They didn’t want to let him into their
school because they were afraid that he would drop their overall scores as a
school. That made me even madder. I’ve
always felt some sort of connection to Jason. (Especially after I dropped him
on his face when he was 3 months old..haha..)
We act the exact same. We both
have ADHD, we both think the same things are funny, we’re two peas in a pod. He
just won’t admit it yet :)
We didn’t really agree on letting Kendal, Allie, Lindsie and
I go to the same school, and Jason be all by himself. It made me sick to think about it. So we mixed it up a little bit. Kendal, Jason and Lindsie went to ISQ
(International School of Queretaro) and Allie and I went to JFK. (John F.
Kennedy)
Mine and Allie's first day of school was nothing like I even
thought it would be. I was not ready to
be a part of the minority class, and it hit me pretty hard. We attended our first day and it was instantly
noticed by everyone that there is a 5’10 white girl walking around with a 5’5
blonde girl. People already knew that we
were from the states. The next task for
them was to find out which state we came from.
The first two people to talk to us were two boys. They were in my “generation”, or grade. The first one had perfect English. He was American. The second one is what we called a
“Fresa”. In American terms, a stuck up
brat. (to put it nicely..) The American
was polite to Allie and I. He was from a
neighboring state. The Fresa however,
threw me for a loop. The American asked
us which state we were from to which we both replied, Utah. Instantly the Fresa asked us “Are you
Mormon?” Of course we said yes! And he
walked away.. That was very difficult for me. I hadn’t even been there a whole
day and I was already being judged. I knew instantly that I was going to be a
minority. I came from a school where
probably 90% of us were Mormon, to having my sister, 2 teachers and I the only
ones on campus that were LDS. This was
about to be a long senior year.
Since Allie and I didn’t know any Spanish, they put us in a
program called “SWAS”. It stands for
School Within A School. SWAS was my safe
haven. I could go there and feel
completely normal. There were other American’s
there that were going through the same thing that I was going through. The only difference is they were like average
9-10 years old. We became best buddies.
Remember how I said I was super protective of my siblings?
Well Allie branched out more than what I wanted her too. I didn’t want her to go hang out with these people. What if something happened to her? Long story
short, I didn’t interact with my fellow classmates as much as I would have
liked to. I didn’t go on my senior class
trip. I didn’t go to parties (which was
100% my choice! There was lots of alcohol..) I didn’t go “hang out” with them
after school or go get Starbucks. I
stayed at home. With my family. Allie
went on her class trip for a week. And she went on a week trip for a soccer
tournament. I struggled with that. I had to go to early morning seminary all by
myself at 5:30 in the morning. I had to
go to school by myself. I had to be
alone. From the first day of school
until Christmas break I didn’t hang out
with anyone. I sat by myself at
lunch. Usually Allie would sit with
me. Or Butch. (our other American
friend) but once Allie and Butch started to make friends, I just sat
there. To be honest, I didn’t really
mind it. It was no different than at
Mountain Crest in my opinion. I minded
my own business. I ate by myself and I
went to class by myself. It was routine
for me. The second half of the year I
branched out a little bit more. I made
friends that I hope to keep for a lifetime.
I felt bad for Kendal, Jason and Lindsie. They weren’t getting the education that they
deserved. Kendal got teased a lot by kids at school. They knew
that he was Mormon and they would purposely come and say the F word in his
ear. Even when he’d politely ask them to
stop. He’d come home crying and hurt and
it would make me so mad. I could have
killed every one of those kids. Jason
and Lindsie made lifetime friends. Some of them were even in our ward at church. Kendal had great friends at ISQ too.
Ones that were nice. In the end
he did end up transferring to JFK for his second year of school down
there.
Every weekend down there, we spent it together as a
family. We’d go explore some new
place. We’d go to the mercados (little,
tiny stores ). We’d hang out and grow
closer together. We’d eat gorditas and
we’d go to the water parks. We went to
the Zoo and to the beach. Our “trip” to
Mexico, was probably the best thing that could have happened to our family. We were forced to be together instead of out
with friends. I am very grateful for my
family. I don’t know where I would be
without them.
Estoy muy agradecida por mi familia y por todo lo que
hicieron para mi cuando vivimos en Mexico.
Yo he aprendido que la familia es la cosa mas importante en todo el
mundo.
