Te Extrano

As I was flying home from Mexico I began to make a list of all of the things I knew I was going to miss about Mexico as well as a list of the things I knew I wouldn't miss. Now that I have been home for over a month its about time I wrote down all of the things I love and miss about Mexico. I never ever missed home as much as I have been missing Mexico over the last several weeks. I love that country and it has been very hard to get back into the routine here at home.

Things I miss about Mexico:

• Teo, Rachael and their daughters, Moroni
• Zaloa and Noelia and all of my ILP girls
• Ashley and Adri
• Adri's host family.... Santi, Pablo and Caro
• My Discovery Class
• Thursday night soccer
• The sun
• Warm Weather
• My tan
• Hugs and kisses as you greet people and say goodbye
• Mexican music
• Dancing
• The food (chiliqueles, tacos al pastor, gringas)
• Comida
• the freshly squeezed juice
• how inexpensive things are to buy
• the whistling, honking and cat calls
• Spanish
• men's cologne

Things I WON'T miss about Mexico:

• trees in the middle of the sidewalk
• having dirty, dry feet
• only tile floor
• not flushing my toilet paper
• Tele Novelas
• papaya
• having to turn on the hot water every morning
• pumping the water
• not being able to understand people

I love that place, and I'm going to be sure to continue to add to my list of the things I miss and the things I don't miss. I can't wait to go back and visit, I hope that it happens sooner rather than later!

With every GOODBYE there is a HELLO - Zaloa

Savannah and I arrived in Puebla in the evening after we had a nice visit on the bus. When we got there we hadn't been able to get in touch with Moroni yet and so we didn't know if he was going to even be there. Teo had been calling him all day and he hadn't answered once. Thankfully we had been talking on facebook earlier that week and I had mentioned to him what my plan was, I'm sure that was the only way he knew that we were coming. We walked in and moved out of the way to wait for Moro to arrive. (Hopefully!)

We didn't have to wait very long, he had been waiting for us and hiding off against the wall. I should have known that he would be there, "Moroni is the best!!" I love travelling with Moroni because he never lets us get ripped off. He just says no to that taxi driver or whoever he is negotiating with, and then waits for someone who will go for the price he is willing to pay. He is just so awesome. He got us a cab drive but with all of our luggage it was not small feat to fit everything in. Savannah and I had luggage on our laps as did Moroni. It wasn't the end of the world. We got to where we needed to go with all of our luggage and with no problems. Well except for maybe the fact that it was freezing in Puebla. I thought for sure I would probably die of exposure when I arrived in Canada, my cold home to the North.

Sav and I squished in the back with our luggage...

After we got back to the school and dropped off our luggage we went to Suprema Salsa (the place where Adri and I hung out for hours on end before we went the the Puebla FC game). Savannah and I wanted to eat as much Mexican food as our stomachs could possibly fit. It was a little bit sad that the food was no where near as good as it is a Teo's Tacos but it was still pretty good.

Moro and Me

Savvy and Me

Savannah and I wrote a really great song while we were waiting for our food. There was some English music playing and there was a song from Greece that came on. Savannah started singing

"Give me more, give me more, give me more...

...of TACOS EL PASTOR! Uh huh, uh huh, uh huh, uh huh."

I know we should probably get paid money for that song. Everyone in the restaurant was staring at us and Moroni was so embarrassed but I was killing myself laughing.

We went back to the school and Savannah went online to check in her bags, etc while Moroni and I tried to exchange music. Savannah calls from the other room "Sarah, I didn't know we were traveling first class." "We're not Sav!" Well little did I know.... she brought her boarding pass out and turned out Savannah was traveling first class. That also meant she got to check 3 bags up to 70 lbs. each for no charge. I had to pay $25 for my second bag that was a 50 lbs and I knew I was going to have to pay extra for my additional baggage. So not fair. I didn't get much sleep that night, I gave Moroni like all of my music and it took a really long time to get it onto his external hard drive. Savannah went to bed as soon as she got her bags checked in so she had a lot more energy in the morning than I did.

Moroni was talking to my on facebook while I was sitting next to him.... he was making me laugh so hard I had to take a picture. He was looking at a picture of me by the graffiti of Mario and he was talking to me about that. Oh what a guy, I'm going to miss him so much!

Tired Moroni, I don't know how much sleep he even got this night. We stayed up super late as it was trying to exchange music and then we had to be up by 4:00 am to get to the bus station in time. It was a long day of traveling.

We made it to the bus station in the morning after rushing out the door because Moroni had already gotten a taxi for us. It was a bit stressful when we were all running on like 2 hours of sleep. I don't even know if I had that much. It was crazy to think that I was going to be home with my family in less than 24 hours. What an emotional roller coaster!

Me and my favorite Mexican!

It is hard to smile when you are so sad to leave...

Moro just stood outside of the doors while we sat on the bus and waited to leave. I couldn't stop the tears. It makes me cry to write about it now. I didn't want to say goodbye to one of my best friends, one of the few people that I had been able to confide in and talk to about everything I needed to while I was gone. It killed me because I had already said goodbye to him once when he left to San Luis and it was one of the worst days while ever and then I had to do it all over again. He just stood there looking sad and I knew it was going to be a miserable day for him too. He was just going to wait around at the bus station until everyone else showed up and then he would have to say goodbye one more time. I think it would be hard to be there, he has to get used to saying goodbye to some of his best friends every single semester.

I thought I would for sure sleep the entire way to the airport but I was wrong. Savannah and I talked almost the whole way. The last 45 minutes of the bus ride I guess we slept on and off but I was so tired by the time I got to the airport that I didn't know how I was going to survive for the rest of the day. When we got there we went to check in our luggage. There was a very helpful man who checked Sav into first class and instead of making me wait in line he checked me in too. The best part, Savannah checked my extra luggage for no cost and they took care of everything for us. We were there so early though that we had a lot of time to kill. We decided to go for breakfast after we made sure we knew which terminal we were leaving from. I was so grateful I was traveling with Savannah and that it was just the two of us. We had no problems the entire time. We made it through security with no hiccups and it was just so much nicer to only have to look out for yourself and one other person. I am confident it was much more stressful to travel with the rest of the group the entire way. I was so glad I didn't have to do it.

Chiliaquiles for the last time!!

This is my favorite Mexican food..... yummmmm so good!! What a great way to spend the last day in Mexico!

Our plane was delayed from Mexico City. We had such a long layover in Houston we were not concerned about it at all because that just meant less time in that airport. I had a nap in the Mexico City airport in the terminal, it was difficult to sleep because it was so cold but I was so tired that I made it work. We worked on the computer and chatted while we waited to board the plane. The ride to Houston wasn't bad at all except for the smell beside me. There was a very nice man who was from the Ukraine sitting beside me and I have never in my entire life met someone who smelled as bad as he did. It was disgusting. He was a seaman and his ship had landed in Veracruz and now he was flying home for the holidays. He was having a lot of problems filling out the forms and so I helped him as best I could through his broken English. He was very kind and helped me put my luggage in the overhead compartment and visited with me during the flight(it is sad that very few people would offer that help anymore). I didn't sleep at all on the plane ride because I was too anxious about the fact that I would be home soon and it could have had something to do with the odor in the seat next to me.

Our lay over in Texas was actually fun and I spent a lot of the time visiting and laughing with strangers and Savannah. Savannah's flight from Mexico City to Houston was much more enjoyable than mine, she had a delicious meal in first class with dessert and drinks. They just spoiled her!! We were trying to get to the next terminal in Houston by weaving our way through huge line ups (it was a very very very busy day in the airports) and taking short cuts that some of the employees suggested to us. I always find that the people that work that the Houston airport are so friendly and I enjoy being there. We finally arrived at security and we walked over to this lady who had no line up. I realized we weren't in the right place so I told Sav "We have to go over here, this is the premier line." She is so trusting so we walked over to this other lady who had a really long line up. She actually sent us right back to the other lady because she didn't have a line up and could get us through faster. Savannah handed her her boarding pass and the lady looks at me and says "You could have come here all along, she's first class. You didn't have to dance around like a maniac and drag your friend all over the place." The way she said it and her cute accent made me burst out laughing. I think the fact that I was extremely overtired made me think it was much funnier. Sav and I laughed about that for probably half an hour after it actually happened. We needed sleep more than anything. While we were waiting in the terminal in Houston we met a few really nice people. I had a nice visit with a lady who lives most of the year in a small town in Mexico and just loves it. Maybe one day I can live like that, that would be amazing! Then we also met a boy from New York area who was going to Banff with a bunch of his friends to go skiing. He took some pictures for us while we were there and I had a nice visit with him after Savannah got to board early because she was flying first class. The reason we met in the first place was because I thought he was wearing a General's jacket and he looked like a hockey player. Turns out he was a lacrosse player and his jacket didn't say Generals but it was an honest mistake. Plus he made two cute Canadian friends. The flight from Houston to Calgary took an eternity and just about killed me. I was just dying to get home at that point. I got off the plane as fast as I could, we got all of our luggage and then we took a few last pictures. Sav was convinced no one in her family would be there and I was nervous as heck to see my boyfriend and my family.

After a terribly long flight home from Houston... I'm sure it just seemed long because I was so excited we finally arrived. We got all of our luggage and took one last picture before we walked through the doors to see our long lost families.

I was greeted by the two best hugs in the world. Max and Lucy ran up to see me and from that point on I couldn't wipe the smile off my face. I was still sad to have left but I was glad to be home and I remembered why I love home so much!

I missed these hugs

Oh what a cheesy grin, I believe he may have been excited to see me. I'm sure my smile was even cheesier if only the picture was taken from the other side.

The Wheatley's

Mom and Dad went and gave Savy a hug and I got hugs from all of them too. Holy smokes Porter had gotten big. What a great family, love them so much!

LOU!!

It wasn't hard to remember why I wanted to come home once I saw these faces and the rest of my family and friends!

They were so patient, waiting for me for what seemed like forever!!

Lucy just kept repeating "Sarah, we haven't seen you in just so long!"

Tyson is holding the flowers Lucy and Max made for me. They didn't bring real flowers because they were worried they would freeze in the cold. What smart kids!

Oh I missed you little sister, almost as much as you missed my jeans!

Me and my favorite Canadian!! I love you Tyson!

Final Farewell!

What a tough day! I woke up early in the morning because I knew I had a lot of things to do. I started packing and cleaning up some final things around the apartment. I was sitting in the spare bedroom working on my computer, copying some music onto a CD for some people I think, when Ashley woke up. She walked into the hallway and stood outside the door and said "I woke up really depressed this morning!" I asked her why and she looked at me with a sad face and said "It's your last day here Sarah!" As soon as she said that I guess it just hit me, I was leaving Mexico. Ashley had been crying and I told her she had to leave before I started to cry. It was sad to think about the fact that it had been the last time when I would wake up and Ash wouldn't be there to talk to. We always talked in the mornings, sometimes we talked for hours without even meaning to. That started on the night I got there and it never ended, we just talked and talked and talked. When we weren't talking to one another we were talking to our boyfriends on Skype while we sat next to one another. I'm going to miss Ashley a lot!

A few people came over in the morning to help with last minute stuff to say goodbye which was really nice. Savannah came to stop by and it worked out really well because she was going to Juan Pablo's (her host family's cousins) house for a bit with Chelsea. It worked out great because I had a Christmas gift I wanted to drop off there before I left and I didn't know how I was going to do it unless I had a chance to see them. I could have just given it to Chelsea I suppose but this way I could drop it off myself and say goodbye. We walked over there and the three of us had a nice visit while we wandered. When we showed up their family wasn't home so we had to wait for quite some time before everyone arrived. I gave them the small gift I had and then visited with the sisters while we waited for their parents and Juan Pablo to arrive back. This family is so amazing. They are so kind! They don't even have children in the ILP program and yet they host teachers just out of the goodness of their hearts. I think it is very good practice for Juan Pablo, who teaches English at the university, to have someone who speaks English in his home. They are just amazing. In the last few months that we were there this family was kind of thrown into a major crisis after a car accident that Celia was in. They had to sell everything and they were still stuck in a situation where they were having trouble paying for the health care of their daughter and the other victim involved in the accident. It is a very sad situation and the least I could do was offer some small amount of assistance. It was nice to see them once more though and to say one final goodbye!

Me with Juan Pablo and his girlfriend

Juan Pablo's parents, Gracia and Me

Me and Celina (this is awful but this may not be her name)

A beautiful house we walked by often on our way to the centro

The park close by Adri's house... they were playing Christmas music over the loud speaker. It felt like I was on a weird summer vacation. Christmas is so different down there.

One last picture of the three of us!

The busy center!

Adri buying movies... Ashley and Adri always went down here

The tree stumps that were left over after they cut down most of the trees in the center are being carved into beautiful artwork. This one is amazing... there is another one that isn't finished yet that is being carved into a motorcycle. It's amazing what people can do!

This is one thing I never got used to, men standing outside of buildings with huge automatic weapons just freaked me right out. Sometimes police officers stood outside of parties and you just knew they were paid off. It is scary when you know there is so much corruption.

This is a very wide sidewalk, most of them are very thin and just to top it off they plant trees in the middle of them. Even I have to duck sometimes to miss the leaves and the branches. I hate it so much!

Sandy and her family came to say goodbye to the teachers who were at the school. Arad, Atzi and Vanilka took a few last pictures with me before they left to go to Puebla for the weekend.

Arad loves giving bunny ears... I'm going to miss these kids so much too!

How could you not love those cute faces??

Ashley and I had to walk to Heslington to print off our boarding passes. On our way there we met up with Teo who drove us back the apartment when we were done. When he walked up to us he unzipped his jacket and said to me "I'm wearing my Canada shirt just for you today!!"

One last trip in Teo and Rachael's new Honda Accord

Teo was a Canadian all day just for me.... when he first showed me that he was wearing the t-shirt I had given to him (which is way way too big for him) it made me cry. I love Teo like he was my second Dad! I'm going to miss him!

The tears started to flow when Kami and Kelsey said goodbye. I don't think they stopped for the rest of the night. I just kept reminding myself of what Teo said to us "It is okay to be sad, that means that you were happy!"

Adri, Ashley and I left our permanant mark in Mexico. We put our hand prints and initials in some new cement right outside of the school.

Totally worth it...

My handprint and my heart will forever be in Mexico.... I know cheesy but it is true!

My Mexican Family.

Everyone else lived with a host family, Ashley and I became members of this one!

Helena, Adri and Ashley came with Teo to drop me off at the bus station!

One final goodbye, my best and most favorite roommate in the entire world! I love you Ashley!!

Adri started to cry about 5:30 and the tears didn't stop coming until I left. She became my best friend while I was down there and helped me learn what a true and real friend is like. I have been very blessed in my life to be surrounded by good friends, Adri is one of those and I will cherish her friendship forever. There is no one I would have rather spent my time with in Mexico than this girl. I love her with all my heart and I am going to miss her. I am going to miss her silly jokes that without fail made me laugh, I'm going to miss our morning runs and our midnight talks while we were walking to her house. I'm going to miss making cookies and brownies almost every week to satisfy our cravings for them and I'm going to miss her hugs and cuddles when we had to share a single bed in Puebla. I love you Adri!!

My final hug in Tehuacan was from this man, Teo Luna. My second dad and one of my best friends. He was the hardest person to say goodbye to. I knew I could maintain my friendships with those who live in Utah but I don't know when the next time I see Teo will be, I hope it is sooner than later. I have more respect for this man than I know how to express. I have grown to love him like a father, respect him as my Stake President and confide in him like my best friend. He honors his priesthood and is willing to bless the lives of the people around him with it. He is one of the most amazing men alive and he is a leader to the people in Mexico, whom I have grown to love. As he gave me one last hug and told me that he loved me, I knew that I had been blessed more than I could have ever asked for. My Heavenly Father loves me! I know that is true! He has poured out blessings to me and I have not had room to receive them. I have been blessed with the most amazing family in the world. People who love me and take care of me! I have siblings who are my closest friends and parents who have taught me more through example than anything else. I have been blessed over and over again with people who love me and my experience in Mexico is another example of that. I was blessed with people who loved me, who took care of me and who will be my friends forever. I don't have to look very far to see the blessings in my life and to see all of the people who have loved me and helped me to become the person I am.