Hot Rainy Days

Since we have been here in Mexico it has rained quite a bit. Yesterday we had the biggest rainstorm yet. We were all working in the offices and went to look outside because it was pouring so hard. I had never seen anything like it. So Calvin took my hand and starting pulling me down the stairs because he wanted to run in it. We started running around the field and we were drenched within 30 seconds. At first the other employees just stared at us like we were crazy but it looked like we were just having too much fun so they had to join in. Eury, Marvin, and Adrian all joined in with us while Eli took pictures. It was funny-we were all running around screaming and jumping up and down. It felt so good cause it was hot outside so the rain felt awesome. We love the people that we work with. We get the opportunity to spend a lot of time with them. They are all past students that Jeremi and Rebecca hired after they took the course. That has been one of the best parts of being here in Mexico is making lots of new friends with incredible people. They are all learning English so it's fun speaking with them. Eury's phrase of the week is "Yesterday, today, and tomorrow". So you ask her anything and she will respond "Yesterday, today, and tomorrow". She's very funny. There is a 6 flags here that they want to go to this weekend. It only costs $18.00! Also this weekend there is a 5 stake single adult activity here at the Academy. They are having a fireside, a dance, and some other activities. They are even going to spend the night here in tents. Don't ask me how it's all going to work out. They are expecting more than 500 single adults so it's going to be crazy. The dance goes till 3 in the morning! I am really gonna light my latin fire within this weekend at the dance. ( I dont even know what that means, it just sounded good)

Left to Right: Me, Calvin, Eury, Adrian, and Marvin

Love Calvin's pose

Again, love Calvin's pose

Acapulco Nights

Sorry it has taken me so long to post! Last week we were pretty busy and then this weekend our internet wasn't working very well. BUT it's working now. So last weekend Calvin and I went to Acapulco. When we got here to Mexico we were talking to Jeremi and Rebecca and they asked us what we did for our honeymoon. When we told them that we used the money that we were going to spend on a honeymoon to come here to Mexico they felt kinda bad. So one night the other week they said that they thought that we should have the "honeymoon experience" so they bought us bus tickets to Acapulco and paid for the hotel for three nights. We were very surprised and so grateful! Who does that? I don't know if any of you have seen undercover boss but Calvin said he felt like he was on it. Cause Jeremi was like "We just want to do something nice for you guys". Our good friend Marvin who works here planned the whole thing. Anyways so we left Saturday morning and took a five hour bus ride to Acapulco. I was interested to see what the city was like. As of late usually the only news you hear about there is bad stuff (drugs, murders, etc). I did a little research about it before we went and I guess two of the drug cartels are fighting over the route that goes through there and that is why there have been so many killings. I think I found that there was over 1,000 killings there last year. It is a huge tourist town for college students and this year all of the American universities band their students from going to Acapulco. I was talking to one of our taxi drivers and he said that it has been pretty much dead this year.

On the way there this cute little family with 4 kids sat in front of us. They lived in Georgia for a while so the kids spoke English. They had a fun time playing with us on the way there. One of them was this little boy named Sebastian and he was 2 years old and sooooooo cute. He was leaning over the back of his seat (facing us) and all the sudden he got this really sick look on his face and he threw up....all over Calvin! It was kind of funny. Anyways so the bus ride was about 5 hours long. It was really pretty too. And they showed movies the whole way there so it wasn't a bad bus ride at all. When we got there we took a taxi to our hotel. Our hotel was beautiful! It was surrounded by cliffs and look out over the ocean. When we got to our hotel there were a bunch of people there with cameras. We were so confused. Then we found out this famous lady (see picture below) was there. At our hotel they put on a show throughout the day of divers diving off a really big cliff. And they were putting on a special show for this lady. I guess she got lady of the year last year in Mexico and she was on some telenovelas (soap opera) at some point. At night right outside of our hotel there were hundreds of people that came every night to see the diver show. It was really cool there were street vendors everywhere.

The swimming pool at our hotel looked out over the ocean and was so pretty. The first day we got there we went down to go swimming and there were quite a few people there. We got in and started swimming. There were three like 12 year old girls swimming next to us. And so Calvin says to them "do you want to play a game?" And then he went on to explain that they would do a competition to see who could hold their breath for the longest. He said that he would go first to show them how to do it. Then he started explaining that the best way to do it is to take lots of fast breaths in and out for about a minute and then take one big breath in and go under. As he is explaining all of this he’s kind of talking loud and people in the pool starting looking at him. So he went under the water to show them how it’s done and not even kidding all 30 people in the pool were staring at him. No one was saying a word. I couldn’t stop laughing cause everyone was just staring at this random gringo under the water. After being under for a minute and a half people starting getting nervous. They were all whispering “that’s enough”. They were scared for him.

Our hotel room was really nice AND had air conditioning. We arrived to Acapulco in the afternoon so that day we just hung out at the pool, ate great Mexican food, and walked around the city. The next day we woke up and had breakfast looking out over the ocean. It was beautiful. And the food was so good! Fresh squeezed orange juice was Calvin’s favorite. As we were eating a Mariachi band came up and starting serenating us (I’m gonna post a video of it later) it was pretty funny though. We then went to the beach after that. The beach we went to was called “papagayo”. It was pretty close to our hotel. I couldn’t believe how much hotter it was in Acapulco than in Mexico City. Calvin and I spent about $18 on sunscreen (that’s how much 1 bottle is here!!! Probably cause they don’t use it, I don’t know). We used it all weekend and still got so burnt. The beach in Mexico is so fun because you sit there and different vendors come up to you about every minute and try selling things to you. Lots of random stuff like: swimsuits, dresses, jewelry, food, drinks, water toys, hats, massages, braids in your hair, and lots of other random things. The water felt great and we had so much fun playing in the waves. We took a break from swimming and ate some great fish tacos and ceviche right on the beach. We stayed there most of the day and then we decided to go back to the hotel. Later that night we ate some more good food and walked around are hotel and watched the divers. It was kinda crazy. I don’t know how far the dive is but it’s a big cliff! There were hundreds of people and clowns. Mexicans love clowns. Any public event I go to there are clowns.

The next day (Monday) we went to the beach again. There was a lot less people there because it wasn’t the weekend so that was kind of nice. I got tackled by a couple of waves so that was fun. I forgot how much I love the ocean. I love playing in the waves. I love it. We didn’t stay at the beach as long on Monday because we didn’t want to get more sunburnt. The area that are hotel was in was the oldest part of Acapulco. We were right by the “Zocolo” or center of the city. It was only about 4 blocks from our hotel. We walked down there later that night and there were lots of street vendors and things going on. We saw more clowns (see picture below). We ate some amazing sopes and got some drinks all for about $5.00. The food was very cheap all weekend which was so nice! I think our biggest expense on the trip was water! We were always so thirsty cause it was so hot and you can’t drink tap water. The water was well worth it though. In order to get down to the “Zocolo” or to the beach we had to walk down this steep hill. So walking back to our hotel in the sun was torture.

As far as safety goes we always felt really safe. I was talking to one of our taxi drivers and he was saying that the normal people there or I guess the civilians even feel safe and the tourists should feel even safer. For the most part the crime is done between the drug cartels. The drug stuff has been really hard on the people that live in Acapulco because a lot of their income is based off of tourism and now that it has almost died it’s been really hard for the people.

It was a wonderful vacation, it was just fun being able to hang out with each other. Acapulco was beautiful. It was fun walking around and looking at the city and just seeing a completely different way of life. I will probably say this a lot but being here in Mexico has made me so grateful for America and the opportunities that I have had in my life. The people here have taught me to make the most out of what you are given. It’s been a great experience for the both of us. I love my husband. I couldn’t have found a better match for me. I will write another post this week that talks more about how things are going here on campus!!

Sorry the picture is sideways but these are the cliffs that the divers would dive off of

This is just a view of the ocean inside our hotel

Real Mexican soccer field

One of the many clowns we had the pleasure of seeing

Great little taco shop by our hotel

View of the swimming pool from our hotel

so much love

more love (I bought that swimming suit here in Acapulco cause i didn't bring one to Mexico)

Papagayo

View of the ocean from the swimming pool

Outside of our hotel room by the pool

I had to post the picture. These are the divers at the hotel and they came up to US and asked us to take a picture. I thought it was kind of funny.

Some of the people gathering outside of our hotel to see the divers

The camera people that we saw when we arrived to the hotel

More of Papagayo

Our hotel

The random famous lady. We think her name is Sylvia

Sitting at the restaurant in our hotel

You can't really see us very good but this is in the restaurant in our hotel

Zocolo

This weekend Calv and I had the opportunity to go to the Zocolo in the center of Mexico City. It is a place where there is a Cathedral built on top of the Aztec Temple. So they have some ruins of the temple and then this huge church. There is also a some government buildings. It's interesting they have hundreds of cops standing outside of it in a straight line with shields just guarding the building. It was all really pretty to see. We went with two of the MBA's Ben and Brent. We had our first metro in Mexico experience. It was super cheap. It just cost us 30 cents each to get on. So the whole thing between the two of us cost us $1.20 for there and back. It was soooo hot though! The metro was packed. I couldn't move at all. There was this sweet couple next to me making out. I wanted to take a picture but I didn't want to get shot/robbed. There is so many people all over the city...all the time. It's so crazy. It's smells pretty bad too but we are getting used to it (it doesn't smell inside the campus where we live).

We are loving it what we do here. Calvin is still working hard on his video stuff. I spend alot of time in the kitchen making sure everything is running smoothly there. I also interview the students quite a bit about the things that they are learning here and how it is changing their attitudes about business and what they are going to do differently when they leave here. I have been very humbled here. Each one of the students come with different challenges. It has been so fun interacting with them. Calvin has found some basketball friends. Elder Oaks is coming to our stake this weekend to speak. It will be fun listening to him in such a different setting other than the "BYU fireside". We are having a great time living with Jeremi and Rebecca. We've become really good friends. At night after we are all done working we usually hang out and watch a movie or something. I have a fun time talking to Rebecca about our missions. We know alot of the same people. K well here are some of the pictures that we took this weekend!

It started raining hard when we were walking around so we were all wet

Some cool Arts building

Who knows?

Sooo many people!

This picture is just for Mike. Just so he knows that there are Circle K's even in Mexico.

The whole view of the big cathedral

In front of the cathedral

The policeman just standing there guarding the government building

Little boy dressed up like the pope. Of course.

Yes, that is a dead iguana around his neck

Tribal dance-Aztec

The cathedral that we are standing in front of is sinking. So it looks slanted when you see it

One comfortable metro ride

In front of the big cathedral

I know the campus looks really nice on the inside but these pictures are what we see once we step outside. We live in one of the poorest/slummiest parts of Mexico City.

Right outside our gate

Milton and Mauricio

Mauricio and Milton are two brothers who are the perfect examples of individuals that need what the Academy teaches. While Mauricio (the older brother on the right) was on his mission his mother was tragically raped and murdered while she was in the hospital. When Mauricio got home from his mission his dad was already remarried and had moved away. Milton was has since gone and served a mission. Today, they live alone here in Mexico City. The only way they have to support themselves is by selling popsicles in the streets. Somehow with this little income they manage to get by. I can't even imagine. Keep in mind Popsicles sell here for less than 50 cents. As I talked to Mauricio I was impressed by his attitude. He showed great faith in the Academy as he said “Before coming to the Academy we struggled every day just to get by, since being here at the Academy I have realized that there are different things that I can be doing in order to be self-reliant and make a better life for my brother and I.” Mauricio is starting to raise his expectations. Instead of selling popsicles every day he is starting to realize that he can achieve even greater things. That is what the Academy is all about, helping students to reach their full potentials, not only spiritually but temporally.

We found these two brothers because Jeremi was invited to participate in a mission reunion by the mission president. While speaking the Spirit touched Mauricio’s heart and, with tears in his eyes, he pulled Jeremi aside to see if the Academy would make an exception and allow him and his brother Milton to come at the same time to the Academy. They asked for an exception because usually they don't have family come together. And it costs $400 for each person and they had no money. After a few minutes of speaking with the two, Jeremi felt that it would be a good decision. Then, on the first day of class the two brothers showed up with all the money the could afford—they went out and sold popsicles in the streets and saved as much money as they could. Between the brothers, the Academy, and a generous scholarship from the mission president the two brothers were able to attend the Academy. In fact, they are some of our best students!

These two brothers are pretty incredible. I feel humbled and blessed to be able to get to know the students here and all of their different backgrounds. I have been blessed with so much. It makes me want to strive harder to use the resources that I have been given and not let them go to waste. Calvin got a haircut today. It was my first mexico haircut experience. I think it turned out good. He looks really handsome. Today is mother's day in mexico and believe me, they go all out! Everyone kept wishing me happy mother's day. I assured them that I was in fact NOT pregnant. English classes are going really well. We taught them how to pray today in english. They are loving it. Tomorrow we wake up the students at 4:30 for a special lesson/class. That should be interesting! Anyways life is good!

More Pictures...

Temple grounds

The humidity is really messin with my hair.

Us in front of the temple

A picture of the visitor's center

This is a picture taken from inside the taxi

I just thought it was funny that the bride/groom and all their family came over to the visitors center to take pictures in front of the Jesus

This us with Marvin and Janet outside the temple