Questions

About a month ago I asked on Facebook for people to give me some questions they would like me to answer. I will answer a few now:

From Grandma Wahl: Do I feel safe?
Yes, in general I feel safe. My host family here watches over me like a hawk some days, so if I do something they think could put me in danger, like walking at night. (Which is hard not to do when the sun goes down really early.) They do not hesitate to tell me. I even have a few moms of my students watching out for me and always asking me how I am doing. We just had another big earthquake, so those tend to freak me out a little bit, but that is mostly beecause they are still so foreign to me. We don't earthquakes up there in Tornado Alley.

From Aunt Marilyn: Are you fluent in Spanish?
Oh no! I am far from being fluent, but I am much better than I was when I arrived here in Mexico. It is amaziing to see how all of my cohort has improved by being immersed in the language. It used to annoy me when people would talk to me in English, I felt like it was a learning opportunity taken away from me, until some friends made me realize somethings. Mexico has a culture of hospitality, a stranger would bend over backwards for you if you needed it, and speaking in English is a way of making me feel comfortable. I also have realized that for some it is a time for them to practice their English. I have made a friend that he and I have an agreement that we sometimes speak English for his practice and sometimes Spanish for my practice. I have another friend, that he speaks English to me and I speak Spanish to him so we both get practice everytime we see each other.

From Yisrael (a host brother of my cohort/friend): What is my passtime?
I was taking dance classes but that became to much of a hazard since the classes started after it was already dark and I would get home late. It was also putting a strain on my relationship with my host parents since they were always worried about me and I felt like a rebel teenager that just wanted to do her own thing. I never was very good at being a rebel teenager, so I stopped doing dance classes. Now I am doing an Herbalife Fit Club that starts earlier in the afternoon and I am surrounded by supportive women always! They are amazing. I just am having a hard time staying out of the full Herbalife. The shakes and stuff is not something I am interested in starting right now in Mexico. There is too much tastey food to try that does not fit into their meal plans.