Updates, relationships, etc.

I sent this e-mail to study abroad because they wanted an update on my trip. so I thought i'd post it. I know I haven't written in here for forever. But I did buy a new journal to write in. It's just easier because sometimes I'm just sitting outside waiting for the bus or whatever. But I'll make sure to write in here again soon so that you guys know how I'm doing.
What is really lame is that my camera broke in February so I haven't been able to take any pictures. :( but my new friend Ricardo lent me his camera for my spring break trips which was incredibly nice of him, so I will take a ton of pictures and post them on here or on facebook. I'm borrowing a dress for the dance that makes me look super-guapa so I'll make sure to take some pictures of that too. :)

Here's my update:
My classes have been going well. I had some difficult times trying to figure out what the teachers wanted, but I have learned that they are very understanding and encouraging. I have been on 2 trips so far, and will go on 2 more over spring break. My first trip was to Puerto Vallarta, which was amazing. I loved swimming in the ocean and meeting people from all over the world. We also swam in a waterfall and got serenaded by local kids which was really cute. I also went to San Miguel de Allende, which is close to Querétaro but still "super padre" - super awesome. I got to see mariachis and take a picture in front of a huge castle-like church - it is beautiful! I have made a lot of new friends from church and friends who share my passion for music. Another accomplishment I have made is that I have been learning how to salsa dance. I've always wanted to be able to dance well and now I'm living one of my dreams. I think that's my favorite activity to do here. I also love to walk around the centro or the mall to shop or just to people watch. On holidays, the centro is super full of people just walking around, and there is a lot of tourism. I really like my host family. My host mom is very proper, which is kindof the opposite of me, but we are both respectful, religious, and dedicated to our families, so we have had some really great talks. She also cooks amazing food. My host dad is funny, he always teases me for practically sleepwalking to my first class of the day. My 2 host brothers are awesome - they both know English really well but never speak it to me because they want me to learn Spanish. One of them moved out to live on his own but he still comes to visit sometimes. Something I would like to accomplish during this last part of the semester is that I would like to add as many new experiences as I can, and work even harder to perfect my Spanish. Well, that's my update, I hope everything is going well at Western too! Have a successful end of the semester! Stephanie


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In my time here in Querétaro, my relationships with my friends have been very important to me. Laura, one of my best friends here, is from Western too, and we talk about boys and exercise together - we joined a gym together. I love the girls in my study abroad group - Amy and Katie and Lisa and Janelle and Amanda - they are alwasy such fun to hang out with and I meet a lot of people through them. Lenina is my ever-animated mexican friend from church that always laughs at me when my spanish comes out funny and when I try to dance by myself. She's always talking about her "Pololo'' -which is apparently the chilean word for boyfriend, even though she's not chilean or anything, she just likes the word, haha. She has been helping me get hooked up to go to this YSA conference this weekend - I'm sooo excited! And then there's Jaser - my bestest ever mexican friend who taught me how to dance, as you know, and also took me to San Miguel, vents to me about whatever problems are going on, relationship-wise or with his job, family, whatever - which I understand - especially the relationship ones. He introduced me to his family, and watched general conference in english with me, gave me the courage to ride on his motorbike which is DEFINITELY new for me.. I thought I was going crazy. I hate motorcycles. AND he is the only guy besides Brian that's ever held my hand. I'm still trying to figure all that out, but I am pretty sure we will end up staying as just good friends. I have also made a new good guy friend named Ricardo who walked with me to the centro and back TWICE - and that's a good 20 minute walk each way. And he lent me his camera. We just became good friends on that day, which was this past Sunday. I guess it's really nice being a foreigner because guys actually notice me. I think it will help me have more confidence when I get back to the US.

Maritza and Frank and their daughters Magaly and Magda are my "adoptive host family". I am at their house nearly every day to practice viola and I hang out and talk to them and through them I have made a lot of new friends. Magaly's boyfriend, Fedy, is really fun and wants to study in the US. Alejandro is tall and black and cuban and he has an accent that's so strong I can hardly understand him. hahaha Tonatiuh plays the violin and is really cute but i think he has a girlfriend. we all always want to go out and dance but never can because Alejandro is only 17 and they won't let him in in the clubs.. hahahahaha. Jousmin and Juan Manuel are in the band that plays at my ultimate favorite place, Barra Habana, but they are teachers at the music school which is also the house of the family that I was talking about. I want them to introduce me to the rest of the band but we haven't gotten around to that yet.

So that's sorta the run down on my life and friends here right now. i will try to write again soon. I really miss all of my friends in the US. *hugs to everyone!*
Love,
Stephi

Español

hace mucho tiempo que he escrito aquí.. que triste!!! Pues, voy a escribir en español un rato. Debbie me dijo que uso muchos modismos cuando escribo... jeje.. A ver.. Ahora, estoy muy muy bien.
Recuerden mi amigo, que me llevó a bailar? A él yo le gusto mucho, y este es muy extraño. Él es mas grande que yo y creo que quiere relaciónes serias, y yo no. Pues, sólo estamos amigos buenos. Es uno de mis mejores amigos aquí. Ayer, me pidió que yo fuera al baile mañana con el como "una cita," no sé como decir, pero yo dije no. Todavía estoy sin pareja, y me gusta. Cuando yo voy a bailes de la iglesia, claro que quiero bailar con otras personas! Cómo no? Yo quiero conocer la gente aquí. Esto debo hacer!!!

Ahorita voy a un baile/fiesta para mi clase de alimentación. Hay muchas cosas q hacer aquí, no?Ojalá que vaya a ser muy divertido, pero no sé, ahora, estoy un poco espantada.. porque el viento es muy fuerte hoy, y también como voy sola. Nadie de mis amigas van a ir. :( Yo quiero ir para divertirme con las amigas de la clase, pero quien sabe... quizás no debo ir. Pues, tengo una hora y media (mas o menos) para decidir.
También he estudiado mucho de mi viola esta semana - por fin!!!! lunes - 3 horas, martes.. muy mal, como 30 minutos! yo estaba muy ocupada ese día, pero el miércoles, estudié como 4 horas!! y hoy casi 3. Es muchísimo mejor.. Ojalá que Gela no vaya a matarme... porque si me matara..Fedotov también me mataría.. de veras...
Hoy y ayer he estado pues, un poco desanimada de mis abilidades en el español. De hecho a veces siento bien y a veces me doy cuento que no sé mucho. Pero hoy mis amigas y mi padre de intercambio me ayudaron... Ojalá que voy a reconseguir mi confidencia. Pues, tengo ir.. nos vemos. Que rezen para mi!!

Que Dios les bendiga,
Stephi

Feliz Día del Amor y la Amistad!

Puerto Vallarta!

So I definitely had a great time at PV. But I'm not going to write too much about it now because I actually had to write a short essay about it for my class so I'm going to post it on here - google translate?? :D I'll probably add a bunch of comments to it too. I have lots of pics on facebook - more coming soon.
But I just wanted to write and say that I did in case I ... forget someday? jaja jk.

Well, I decided to make a goal. Some people here always try to speak Spanish 24/7 with American friends, and those who know english. Others speak english every time they get a chance. I decided that I want to be the first one. When I first got here, I was speaking so much Spanish because my host family doesn't know english (and I just discovered that my host brothers both know english better than they let on but they did it so that I would speak Spanish, which you know, I REALLY appreciate that.) But every time I was with my American friends I would talk in english. and all too often I was making comparisons to the US. Well, that's just the way I am, sometimes I understand the present by looking into the past. And sometimes that's a good thing, but only sometimes.

I'm rambling now, but I also wanted to say that during my PV trip, one of the girls was always insisting quite strongly that we all talk in Spanish. And, I think my Spanish actually got better over the trip when I thought it was going to get worse, but it was thanks to her persistence which even got annoying sometimes, but I'm glad she did it, and I let her know so.

I only have 6 months here. To be honest, this first month has gone by quite rapidly. and I don't want it to be a waste. I wanna come back with a spanish accent!
it really stinks that I have to take english when I get back - UGHHHH. haha. yeah.. not going to be fun at ALL.

Lots of love and besos,
Stephi

Debbie and me.. cont.

Hey!! That's really funny. I totally just got my hair cut today. AND I got bangs!! I thought you were going to laugh. haha. I'm not even going to tell you how much mine cost. I decided not to get highlights because I think it would be too much work for me. But I really like it. I think bangs are fun and I definitely look latina now. lol. But I made up the difference and bought some expensive shoes. Though I do feel guilty. Well, I went into a dance club last night and totally felt awkward because I was wearing tennis shoes (like the guy that let us in told me that next time I couldn't wear tennis shoes.yikes!) Well, I did because the flats that I bought blistered my feet and I wanted to dance. So I went and bought some nice "tacones" which means high heels. Hopefully they're better.. and hopefully I can dance in them. I learned the basics of Salsa and Merengue and Cha-cha. I felt so awesome I had a totally awesome time and was out until 2:30. That's a big record for me. It was really fun. Well, I'll ttyl. I like writing to you. I'll have to call you sometime and show you on skype. Love, Stephi

Deborah Lynn Mathias wrote:
That sounds cool. I got my hair cut for really cheap too. It only cost $5 because I had a coupon. And I got bangs. They are kind of long, and are meant to kinda be swept to the side. I like them. You should get some too. You should dye your hair blond too. I think it'd be really funny...I mean pretty. lol. Dying your hair any other color wouldn't look bad though, so maybe you should try it. When you get your hair done, you should post pictures.

A blast last night.

I had an absolute blast last night. I learned so many new things about dancing. The guy that invited me, Jaser, is a really amazing person. Don't worry, we don't like eachother, but I was just feeling really happy to have a guy be really nice to me and teach me how to dance. You know I've been feeling lonely since I've moved here. I'm a little annoyed that he's moving in a week. He's one of my closest new Mexican friends and he goes and leaves on me. go figure. haha. But I felt very pretty and happy because I love dancing. and he said that one of the most important part of dancing is to smile. I told him that one of my goals here in Mexico is to learn how to dance. Everyone here dances. My "cousins" all know how to dance and they dance together when the family has gatherings or despedidos (goodbyes). Anyway, when Jaser was taking me home, we were talking about how he was moving to try to start a new life. I definitely understood, right? I'm trying to become a better person, but lately I've felt like I haven't been living up to it. So maybe I need to write a gratitude list of things that I've learned or new experiences.

I am grateful to my Heavenly Father that:
-I can read scriptures in Spanish. And today it went very well, and I actually looked up the words I didn't know this time. Something happened before that too. I felt loved. It's not the first time since I've been here, but it was just really nice. It was the first time in a few days that I read before I got really tired. Whaddayaknow? same as in inglés. haha.
-I went dancing and had an amazing time.
-I have been drinking non-alcoholic pina coladas and they are AMAZING.
-I have been walking a lot.
-I have less "cosas" (stuff) to take care of and I want to show respect, so my room's actually clean on a regular basis. haha.
-I got a blessing in Spanish - and I understood it.
-My friends here from the US are really awesome. 3 of us don't drink! Kudos!!
-I love that Debbie and Katie e-mail me. It makes me really happy. I guess I appreciate them more.
-My spanish has gotten SOOO much better since I've moved here. I should be "una experta" when I'm done here.
-I have pictures of some of my friends and of the Savior and the temple in my room. I also just put up the stop sign that Brian made me forever ago that says Pray.
-I got bangs!! I finally did it. And I love them.
-Since I've come here, I have actually been more relaxed. Maybe it's because I'm not in the music school right now, that always invites lots of stress. Maybe it's because I walk everywhere instead of driving. But I'm hoping that it's because this culture is having a good impact on me in that respect. I could definitely use a little more type B in my life.

I am very grateful for my experiences here and just pray for me, okay? I'll pray for you guys. Miss you.

Oh, Rudi, I wanted to tell you that if I don't get a chance to write on your blog soon, thanks for writing earlier. I love you. Tell Emily hi and that I miss her too. At least I might be a little more neat when I come back! She'll appreciate that. :)
Love,
Stephi

Email me and Debbie.

Hey!! That's really funny. I totally just got my hair cut today. AND I got bangs!! I thought you were going to laugh. haha. I'm not even going to tell you how much mine cost. I decided not to get highlights because I think it would be too much work for me. But I really like it. I think bangs are fun and I definitely look latina now. lol. But I made up the difference and bought some expensive shoes. Though I do feel guilty. Well, I went into a dance club last night and totally felt awkward because I was wearing tennis shoes (like the guy that let us in told me that next time I couldn't wear tennis shoes.yikes!) Well, I did because the flats that I bought blistered my feet and I wanted to dance. So I went and bought some nice "tacones" which means high heels. Hopefully they're better.. and hopefully I can dance in them. I learned the basics of Salsa and Merengue and Cha-cha. I felt so awesome I had a totally awesome time and was out until 2:30. That's a big record for me. It was really fun. Well, I'll ttyl. I like writing to you. I'll have to call you sometime and show you on skype. Love, Stephi

Deborah Lynn Mathias wrote:
That sounds cool. I got my hair cut for really cheap too. It only cost $5 because I had a coupon. And I got bangs. They are kind of long, and are meant to kinda be swept to the side. I like them. You should get some too. You should dye your hair blond too. I think it'd be really funny...I mean pretty. lol. Dying your hair any other color wouldn't look bad though, so maybe you should try it. When you get your hair done, you should post pictures.