The whole group, I'm on the far left
My roommate Marcelo
My friend Oscar
My buddies Alejandro and Samuel. We watched football together a couple times.
My TV, it's not gigantic, but I like it
Didn't quite catch that one
Got it!
Didn't hurt a bit
Some rum and coke in the hammock, gotta love it
Ready for my Dos Equis commercial
It's been a while since I've last written a post on here, but that's because I've been really busy. School got into the swing of things awfully quick and they keep us busy. It's ok though, for the most part. I am liking my classes more this semester than the previous two sessions. My spanish is improving. I have good days and not so good days, but over the course of time, I know I am improving.
I haven't had a chance to attend as many Rotary meetings as I would like, but I'm hoping to get to a few soon.
So one friday afternoon, a group of kids from the MIB program went to the friend of a friend's house for a grill out and pool party. I sat in the hammock, had some Dos Equis cervezas and some rum and cokes and enjoyed the relaxation. Then we had some steaks on the grill that were delish. After that we swam a little and dove after the frisbee into the water.
Last Saturday, we had our group picture for the EGADE (which is the business school) at the Tec (which is the main campus) so everyone showed up dressed up in their business suits and we looked almost professional. The Thursday before I bought a suit for the pic, for much cheaper than I would have found in the states, gotta love the exchange rate.
On Friday nights, since I miss high school and Husker football so bad, sometimes I go watch the university team play. They are apparently 5-time national champs and they kick the crap out of everyone. The games I went to where 52-3 and 56-7. There are some huge boys on the line and I'm sure the running back/kick returner could play division 1 college football, and so could the kicker, but of course they were going to have a good kicker
Also, I don't know if I've written this, but since I'm going to be living in Monterrey for the next year (until may, june or july of 2010, not sure, i've asked, my questions go unanswered) I bought a TV. and since, I thought, Since Monterrey is so close to the US, there has to be a way to get the TV back to the states, so I might as well buy a nice one. After some research, I went to Walmart and bought a Samsung LCD 32" TV with Full HD 1080 p and I am really excited about it. We get the NFL network on HD and they broadcast a few NFL games on Sunday, some on HD and some not, but most with commentary in Spanish, so there is another way for me to practice my Spanish! We get about 60 channels, and 10 in HD. When I say we, I'm talking about me and my roommate Marcelo, who is in my program, and he's from Bolivia.
The greatest thing that has happened so far was last Thursday. On all of our channels, they show an average of one college football game per week. Out of all the games on all the days, they decided to broadcast Nebraska vs. Missouri on Thursday night! So I had some friends over, including a friend from Wesleyan who is also studying in Monterrey. We had some beers and I got a little wasted.
CJ and I spend a lot of time on skype where we can see each and talk to each other for free over the internet. We decided it would be fun to skype during the game, and it worked! It was especially great when my friends thought I was crazy for jumping up and down and yelling all the time but then they would look on the screen and see CJ and her friends jumping up and down and yelling (and all wearing red nonetheless).
My friends lost faith by the third quarter, but then I declared that we needed to throw it deep. Zac Lee heard me and the rest is history. Actually the rest was me jumping up and down and yelling even more than I had been, but this time, deliriously happy instead of pissed off.
So in conclusion, I got to see the NU vs. Missouri game at 8 pm, same time as everyone in Nebraska, on my couch in Monterrey, in front of my new TV, with friends and cervezas, and my girlfriend on skype. and we won!
The next day I had a group meeting that included guys from Sweden and Denmark and a girl from Germany at IHOP, because we thought that would be a good place for us to go for all of us to cure our hangovers. We did get work done, but the best part was the conversation, when I told them about the football game, the Swedish guy said "Oh is that the one where you use your hands all the time, ironic that it's called football." Of all the meetings I've had here, this was by far the most memorable.
My birthday is coming up on Wednesday, and I am really excited because CJ's fall break starts on Thursday and she is coming down to visit me! I have some secret things planned, and I'll be sure to post pics next time. CJ is also going to study abroad here in Monterrey next semester to help her work on her Spanish--Should come in pretty handy as a OB/GYN. As a student in business school, I recognize the huge and quickly growing market for Spanish speaking doctors, so I am very proud of her and can't wait for her to come to Monterrey!
Overall, I would say that I am happy and that I'm having a good time here in Monterrey. I miss home and everything, but I know I'm learning a lot and growing every day (although sometimes the growth just comes from the tacos).
Hope you're doin great,
Jarryd
