Hearts and Bones

Hearts and Bones - Paul Simon

Today marked the beginning of the two week countdown for our departure. So far I've managed to stuff most of the clothes I won't be taking/wearing before then into garbage bags (totally the best way to move clothes because you can squish them around everything else in the trunk) and made an extensive list of everything I might like to pack, but mostly I get distracted and try to play this song on the guitar. I call every song I like my "favorite" but this one is definitely in the running for favorite for reals. It is my pre-Mexico soundtrack.

I am starting to feel anxious about saying goodbye to people because some of my really good friends are going to graduate in the spring and this is potentially the last weekend I have to hang out with them. Even though there is still another week of classes and papers left, it feels like my time at Linfield is over. However, I am really excited to go home to say goodbye to the family and the bestest. I miss them a lot.
Two weeks. That doesn't seem like nearly enough time to pack up this room, let alone mentally prepare myself for living in a foreign country. The host family part is probably the most daunting (besides getting through customs just because hello airport stress)
Things I know about my family
1. The father, Alberto Antonio, is self-employed in some way or another
2. The mother, Clara Virgen, is a homemaker and seven years younger than her husband
3. Their daughter, Stefany, is twelve.
4. I will probably have the upstairs to myself, a living area in addition to my bedroom.
5. They are Jehovah's Witnesses.
That is not a lot to know about the people you are going to be living with for the next 3.5 months. But I am sure things will work out and be lovely.

pre-beginning

In just over three weeks we will be arriving in Mexico D.F. on our way to a semester in Oaxaca. That's what this blog is for, keeping track of the adventure publicly. Last Friday Marina and I spent part of our evening in Powells looking at the cutesy language books. We learned that some Mexicans say "marcame" instead of "llamame" when they want someone to call them, and that beer isn't always "cervesa" sometimes it's a different word I already forgot. And she was wearing her new over-the-shoulder zippered-and-pickpocket-proof bag, but it's still hard to wrap my head around that we are actually leaving soon! Part of my head is still in a completely different world trying to keep track of where we were in England this time last January. (on January 13 2008 we left Bath and went to Wales) Crazy!