The bird pooped on me. That's what I'll remember

I went to Tampico last Thursday and it was a BLAST. The people are so cool. I left Thursday morning at 11 a.m. from Monterrey with the 6 exchange students that live in Monterrey and Lieke. It was a LONG bus ride. Like 8 hours long. Four movies were shown, all dubbed in Spanish. Jerry McGuire, The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy, The Adventures of Shark Boy and Lava Girl, and Steel Magnolias. Not that I watched any of them, I pretty much talked to the other exchange students the entire time. We arrived in Tampico about 7 p.m. and I was greeted by the people who put together the youth exchange part of the conference (it was also the district meeting of the Rotary) and a lot of families. Margarita Moran was there to greet me. I stayed at her house with her family. She had an 18-year-old daughter who was blind, a 21-year-old son who played the guitar in a band and her mother all lived with her in a cute little pink house on the corner. We went to her house and had dinner and talked for a while. The next morning I woke up and they asked me if I wanted eggs with or without salsa. I said with because I don't really like eggs. But they were good especially with tortillas! They asked me if I wanted coffee and of course I said yes. So she put the milk and sugar in too. After a while it got cold so I asked if there was a microwave and she said yes. She took my mug and left the room. Like 5 minutes later I really wondered where she was. I mean the kitchen was only 1 room away. So, I go into the kitchen and she wasn't there, and I really wondered where she had gone. About 2 minutes later she comes out of the neighbor’s house with a hot mug of coffee for me. She could have told me no, we don't have a microwave. But she was very nice and meeting my needs. :)
I met all the other exchange students at the plaza Friday morning. There are 44 of us. We all went up on the gazebo steps for a picture. While the photos were being taken (exchange students are very picture oriented people) I felt something wet in my hair and running down my face, then I see a mark on my Rotary jacket. Then I realize a bird has pooped on my head. I don't think the pictures of me are all that attractive in front of the gazebo on account of the fact I was really surprised/mad/confused because I didn't know how I was going to clean myself up. So I was laughing about it along with about 5 other people and luckily my YEP had some cleaning stuff. So it was all okay in a matter of 3 minutes after it happened.
We went to the big port in Tampico and had a presentation on the history of the city. After we went to a place where they gave us a presentation about a special non-profit organization called "Adopt a grandfather" where the city helps an older person repair their failing house. After that we went to the main government building and got to hear the highest authority in Tampico's government talk.

That's me and him!

From there we walked to a place (I don't remember the name of the building) on the roof (so it was nice a breezy) where we filled out surveys and received our district T-Shirts. The t-shirt is BRIGHT ORANGE and on the front says "Hableme despacio, soy estudiante de intercambio" (Talk to me slowly, I am an exchange student) that's also where we got to talk a lot to the other exchange students. I sat next to the Germans and the American girl from Springfield, IL. We went downstairs to eat a lunch of tacos and enchiladas. I also sat next to the Germans and the American boy from New Jersey.
After lunch we were talking very loudly in the restaurant and taking pictures and all that and the girl from Japan was teaching some girls how to count to 10 in Japanese. When I heard her count to 3 I was like "1, 2, 3,4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10" in Japanese. I know how to count to 10 in Japanese. I've known for 13 years. I can count to 10 in Japanese just as fast as I can count to 10 in English. Ikumi (that's her name) was very impressed with me. I'm for sure the coolest American in her eyes. I always thought knowing to count to 10 in Japanese was just a useless talent of mine. As it turns out, it made me cool.


This is Ikumi, we counted to 10 a lot this weekend.

Then we went into a room where they gave us the same presentation I had last March at the exchange student meeting and then last summer 3 times in Grand Rapids. Only this time, the presentation was in Spanish. Pretty cool. After that whole speech we went back to our houses to get ready for the party that night.
We met at the hotel Camino Real where all the meetings were taking place and while we were waiting they asked me to come out and talk to a couple who were in Tampico for the Rotary meeting. While we were talking I found out the husband grew up in Holland. So I called Lieke down to meet the Americans. He face was priceless when he started to speak in Dutch to her. She didn't know what to do, she couldn't remember how to say "nice to meet you" in Dutch.


This is on the Trolley on the way to the party. The boy sitting next to me is Christoph, he's a cool German. The boy behind me is from Belgium. He has a funny face, but only in the picture. :)

We went to a hotel by the beach where we were promised a party and tacos. Needless to say, there were no tacos, but little appetizer things and fruit. So I half-way filled myself with these things. I was crazy hungry though, that's not the point. It was cool to get to see everyone having fun and dancing. We saw the governor of the Rotary district and his wife and met a lot of other Rotarians.


Mariachi plesure chest!

Saturday we went to the Camino Real again to be introduced to all the Rotarians by country. I thought we would be the first on the agenda, but we were like 4th. While that wouldn't be a problem normally, this was a bi-district meeting. Meaning that there were 2 districts (hence the word "bi-district") one district was from Texas and the other Mexico, so EVERYTHING had to be translated. After being introduced we went to the artifacts museum and saw a bunch of cool stuff from Tampico's history and then we went to the BEACH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
We went to a house that was like 50 feet from the beach. One of the girls from Germany said, "This is my third house." A splurge of envy ran through my veins! It was beautiful. The weather was PERFECT! It wasn't too hot and the water was the perfect temperature and the waves were big and everyone came in the water. It was really perfect. I talked some more with the Germans. I think the German's are the coolest country in our group. I can't even describe to you how perfect the weather was. I put on a lot of sunscreen so I only got burned a little on my shoulders. Some of the kids didn't put anything on so they were very red. I considered myself very lucky. Sun burns are terrible. Now, that I'm home everyone keeps telling me that Tampico has the ugliest beaches of Mexico. They don't see how I could have enjoyed myself at the beach in Tampico. My response to that is Tampico's beach is better than the beach here. I don't think they get it...
At night we went to the building where one of nine Rotary clubs in Tampico meets. We got to dance and talk and socialize. The food was amazing. There were: tacos, enchiladas, flautist, guacamole and my favorite plantains! It was really amazing.
I forgot about the time change that day and I ended waking up at 7 instead of 8, which made me extremely tired when I realized what time it was. I met up with Lieke at the hotel where her host dad Adolfo (from Sabinas) was staying at 10 (because 10 a.m. was our anticipated departure time) only to find out that Natalio was in a meeting until 12. So the family Lieke stayed with took us to the little mall near the hotel and we actually didn't go to the mall, we went to Pizza Hut.


This is at Pizza Hut. If you look at the bottle it says Pica-Hut. (Pica is spicy in Spanish) so it's spicy salsa. I thought it was cute.

When Natalio and Adolfo finally came for us they were hungry, so they went to the fast food chicken place and Lieke and I went for ice cream. We then started our 6 1/2 hour journey home. (It's faster in a car because Adolfo drives fast) So we stop about an hour after we left because we needed gas and Lieke had to go to the bathroom (and anyone who knows me, knows I really don't like to stop to go to the bathroom) so Lieke was in the bathroom and our YEPs were there too. Lilliana asked me if I was going to the bathroom too and I told her 'no' because Lieke drinks a lot and we were going to have to stop in like an hour anyway. She refused to hear that answer and gave me 2 pesos to go to the bathroom. And I said, "yes mom."
So an hour later Lieke had to go to the bathroom again. Then in an hour and a half more. Then we stopped one more time about an hour from Sabinas. I glad Mexico has made me a little more relaxed about the bathroom stopping. The last bathroom stop we made I decided to go to the bathroom too. So I'm waiting in line and the bathroom is, well, absolutely DISGUSTING! Lieke completely grossed out to the point where she's mumbling and ranting in Dutch and the Mexican woman standing next to me was a little frightened.
At about 7 we arrived in Sabinas. And that's that. My completely awesome weekend in Tampico.
Monday at school was pretty pointless. Then Tuesday the principal of my school, the English teacher, 2 boys from my grade, Lieke and me went to Monterrey for a conference. We first stopped at the UANL building (the University building, all schools like mine are controlled and run in this building) so the principal could drop off a paper. ONE PAPER. So I asked him if he comes to Monterrey a lot. He said 3-5 times a week. That's a lot. Monterrey is 100 kilometers from Sabinas. Plus, they take the PayWay every time and that's an additional $15 every time. So the school spends between $150 and $250 a week to take papers back and forth. I thought, what a waste of money and gas. I was then informed that my school has a lot of money and is able to do that. I said ok, but I still think it's a waste of money and gas.
The conference was cool. We heard the director over all the UANL talk and then a guy who is a celebrity in the Monterrey area give a comedy show. I couldn't fully appreciate the Spanish comedy. I understood some jokes so I guess that good. After the comedy show we went to Chili's for lunch. YUM and a half. So very good. I had the pasta and then dessert. I ate EVERYTHING. It was weird because the two boys with me didn't eat all their meal or finish their dessert, but Lieke, the English teacher and I all cleared our plates.
I noticed last week that my hair was really long. So, I thought it was time to cut it and Lieke thought the same for her hair too. So we went to Javy to change our looks.


Before


After, this is Javy. He did my hair for the 15 party a few weeks ago. I firmly believe he would be a very beautiful woman.
And that's that. This took me about 2 hours to do. So I hope you all appreciate it!
I'm going to San Antonio this weekend (ha! a vacation in the United States!)
Peace