Thinking on Successes

I am very sorry, I have been a horrible updater for the past three months, but soon I will not have to update any more. On Sunday we reached our 100th day in Mexico and we felt amazing! We realized that we have accomplished more than we could ever have thought before we came. We have successfully lived with families and communicated solely in Spanish with our families. And I would say that is quite an accomplishment. One of the frustrating things has been not being able to fully express myself, but still I have been able to hold conversations about religion, the government, machismo, homosexuality and much more in Spanish, and I never thought I would be able to do that 4 months ago.
We have also written pages and pages in Spanish, read more poems than I ever thought possible, interpreted the messages of the poem, endured a class at 7:00am and maybe understood half of it ( and that is a success if you were to sit in on this class!) No one has come close to failing anything, although we were not sure for a while there.
We have traveled on our own through Mexico, first to Celestun without our professor and this past weekend to la playa del carmen. We have conquered the bus system, and I have successfully managed not to get sick on the bus. We have gotten lost in the city and found our way back. We have lived with little brothers and sisters for 4 months which has seemed almost impossible at times, but come to realize that we do love them, maybe not the annoying habits or they days when they tell us they hate us and then continue to scream while we do our homework, but the smiles, hugs and joys over come those days.
We have had soo many good experiences and it is good to look back on them, because sometimes I lose sight of all of that when i get papers and exams piled upon me in the last 10 days of my life in Mexico. But what my Mexican mom told me today overcame all of the stress.
Last night we had a party at my house for my little sisters birthday and it was a lot of fun. There was a pinata and dancing (yes I danced in front of my whole family) My aunt, cousin and I put on a show to a little kids song and I made a complete fool of myself. I talked with my aunts, uncles and cousins and had a great time. And today my mom said.. Jill visto como todos te quieren? Which means, did you see how everyone loves you? And that made me think, wow, I have come to Mexico and have found a family. They are not my biological family and I do not think I could live here the rest of my life, but I know if I ever came back to Mexico I would have somewhere to stay and a family to have fun with.

I know this has been a sappy post, but sometimes ya just gotta bear with me! I am incredibly ready to come back to the United States but am trying to enjoy my time left here as much as possible. It might be hard with how much homework i have to do the next week, but in a week from now I will be a Senior in College..oh boy. I still miss everyone and for sure have my days when I want to give up and just come home, but I know God has placed this opportunity into my life for a reason, and I am going take every chance I have left to live my life in Mexico as b est as possible, and right now, that means starting my homework!

Love and miss you all, but I shall see you in 10 days!