Acqua Summer 2011

Welcome to my blog! This blog was written by an exchange student who had been to Mexico for a short summer program. During my sojourn in Mexico, I had been studying in Tech De Mont, a prestigious, rich and well-recognized international university in Mexico. The courses that I took include basic Spanish and Introduction to the Mexican's Culture. I was a Singaporean undergraduate in National University of Singapore, NUS.

This blog is divided into different topics according to various themes and period: Arrival to Mex, Memoir's of my host family (8 parts).

Sunday, July 31, 2011

Memoirs of my host family - part 2

During my short sojourn in Querétaro, there were many friends, families, and relatives of my host family coming to visit them. And I am managed to take a quick snap of them, as memories of the Mexican people whom I know and come across. They were friendly and hospitable. However, many of them could not communicate in English, much to my disappointment. 

My host mum's mother. She looks healthy even when she is still a grand-grand mother!

But she is really a very nice person, very benign. 
She came to have a little lunch with us and went off to nap.

It was a pleasant evening when one of the sons's family came to visit his parents.
Extreme right is mike, the other tenant who resides on the ground floor.

My host family and I, who sat on the extreme right like Mike.

After a long conversation between my host mum and her son and her son-in-law, they finally departed. They were discussing about my host father's situation.

I seldom see Mike participating in my host family's visits. Glad that she enjoyed...

Yeah, they left!

This is the other son's family.
I sat on the extreme left, camouflaging with the sofa~
From left: Me, Eric, his mother, father and Sophia.

They are the sisters of my host mum. She said she has like 7 sisters? I can't believe how they survive in those days whey Mexico is still poor and undeveloped. I mean financially and physically. And yet, my host mum's mother still looks so fit and healthy.
Their favorite activity is to knit, and they are really good in it.

A family photo which is insists on taking...
Representative of a typical Mexican family.

I can't remember their names. But I really like the girl. She is very pretty, like her mother.

I took this photo inside the house while I was studying and preparing for my Monday Spanish oral presentation. I enjoyed watching them playing gleefully.

I guess they really loved the car and the dog called Cloy, very much!

Non-stop playing for at least 45 minutes while their parents were conversing with my host mother.

Cloy cloy, I am sure you enjoyed the car ride! Haha...
 And the love that everyone gives you.

They went on to cycling after the car ride, chasing each other with fun.

So cute! Cloy inside the children's car! Omg.

They played and messed up as the shredded Styrofoam just scattered onto the floor. It ended up that the father had to do the cleaning, while scolding them not to play so vigorously.

Oh my god, she is liked a model, so natural and beautiful just with any pose.

Another pose of her.

Yet another with Cloy sitting there. I guessed he is tired. 

Lovely couple!

My host mother together with her two sons.

Mike and Cloy!

Saturday, July 30, 2011

Memoirs of my host family - part 1

This little post is primarily dedicated to my host family in Mexico who had been taking care of me well and healthy. I have been grateful for everything that they had provided for me. Their warmth and care were greatly appreciated. The only disappointment that I probably had was that they were not highly educated, thus communication with them posed many obstacles as they do not speak English. Nevertheless, I felt freedom and some support from my host family in the form of cooking and have had no problems with coming home very late in the night.

My host dad and host mum.
They are already in their 60's and have 2 sons and 4 grandchildren.
I took this photo the first day of my arrival to Mexico when Tec de Mont picked us from airport to uni.

Mu host mum loves to cook and she has always been a great help to me when I cook "La comida china". She prepares food really fast, a skill that I have yet to master!

 Other than cooking, she also loves to knit, and she does so whenever she is free. Her entire family is talented with this awesome skill. It seems like it is the favorite pastime for females in this family because when they came to visit my host mum, they would do knitting along with causal chatting. I always thought she would knit one for me, but there seems little attachment between me and my host family.

She knows how to drive, so unlike my mother!
I have been telling myself to learn driving, probably one fine day...

~My host dad~
 He was really engrossed in watching television, which is one of his favorite activities.
Like all Mexicans as well as everyone in the world, he loves to watch football matches. Sometimes, he will watch until very late in the night.

 He is always happily smiling.

I felt depressed for my host dad's illness. He was diagnosed with kidney failure which apparently affected his mental alertness and body coordination. He has problems wearing his pants after visits to washroom. He could not eat properly with his own hand as he can't lift the spoon. Sometimes, he would simply snooze off on the sofa or just lie on the bed, with the door opened.

Friday, July 29, 2011

MEXICO, finally!

After an arduous journey flying from LA, I have finally reached MEXICO! Yeah! It was less than expected. I mean, even Bai Yun Airport is better in appearance than this airport. Anyway, the first thing we did was to change US dollar to Peso cos Singapore does not sell peso, which according to one of my friends was worthless. I regretted buying peso in LA as the rate was very low. There were many money changers in this relatively small airports (compared to Singapore), and many of them are competing against each other. Hence, the rates are considered quite attractive!

From left: Khai, Stella, Me, Meiqi, Lizzy, Huimin, Lynette and Teck Hean.
The five of us came from Singapore. But the other three flew from Los Angeles.
They went to the Hollywood Studio and saw the production of Kong Fu Panda 2!

It was a rather tiring journey traveling from so far...

We headed upstairs to get breakfast from MacDonald.

This is worst than Singapore's and Los Angeles's one.
Still, I should be glad that there is food for me...

 These are Meiqi and Stella's order.

My favorite food: Hushbrown!
It is not as crispy as Singapore's one :(

It was really nice of them to come and pick us up!
I love TEC DE MON, man!
I do have many wonderful moments spending my summer vacation there...

Apparently, the bus arrived rather late to pick us up.
And waiting there feels like hell as I really wanted to go home and SLEEP!

 Some self-amusement while keeping our boredom at bay...

 Kar liang and Cheng Yang together with the trio.

Rinna took this photo and I downloaded from Facebook. 
It was a pleasant meeting with these two Indian girls who will be bag packing to Europe after Mexico.
Enjoying the high life~

Thursday, July 28, 2011

Arriving Los Angeles 24 May 2011

After a hearty meal in Guang Zhou, we headed to take our next flight via China Southern Airlines to Los Angeles. It was rather comfortable despite the very long journey lasting at least 14 hours 5 min, according to http://www.airport-la.com/codes/.

Here came my dinner!
It's special order - vegetarian meal.

Here was Khai's dinner - The Halal order.

Sunflower Spread Light in place of butter

The food was not delicious at all! 
But I was super hungry and had no choice :(

 Khai's food.

A gorgeous view from the plane. 
Thick dense of clouds and the blue sky.

 Another one. I realised this photo seemed upside down.

Another meal coming in after several hours.

Another awful meal!

Enjoy the view!

 I didn't know that Los Angeles is that mountainous.
Still, the view is really awesome, and I wish I were there!

Valleys and rivers.

 The formation is beautiful!

Lush greenery...

 Moving to the urban site, a sign that we were reaching soon.

It's a machine which sells hand phone accessories.
Quite different and in fact, unique!

I sort of regretted buying this because it was after all not that delicious :( 
And I felt guilty for making Meiqi and Stella finished the rest.
Gigantic Muffin, something I have never seen before in my life.
That was the reason why I bought it.

Pizza! Only cheese, mushrooms and tomato.
Filling and delicious. I love it!

That was how they cooked the pizza till the cheese melts in your mouth.

 And we split the cost among the 5 of us.

This was the exterior of the restaurant. 
Beside it was MacDonald.
After the meals, we headed to catch the next flight via Continental Airline finally to Mexico.