Getting Ready to Leave...Sarah Swauger

It’s so hard to believe we only have 2 weeks left! It feels as though we have lived here for ages, but I can still remember stepping off the plane in Cancun like it was yesterday. What am I going to miss most…well, probably not the mosquitoes, the constant honks or the smell of burger king and the movie theatres. But I definitely will miss the playa, Gloria’s cooking and the latin music that I have recently become obsessed with. We’ve done so many amazing things, but some of my favorite memories are those that have happened in my home stay. At the beginning of the trip, I was nervous and intimidated to live with a family who speaks a completely different language from me. I wasn’t sure how I was going to fit into their daily routine and what we were going to talk about. But now, as I prepare to leave this family forever, I realize how great they have been. The grandchildren are adorable and as the weeks have passed, they have become less shy and more enthusiastic to play with us. Sarita is 5 and is at the house nearly every day. It’s amazing how I have learned so much from someone who is so young. She tells us jokes, jumps around on our beds and has dance parties with us. Any time she’s around we can’t help but smile and she never fails to keep us entertained. One Friday morning, she begged Gloria to let her come in and sleep with us and she succeeded in waking up Blair at 7:30 a.m. The other grandchildren, Kiki and Alexa, are also at the house often and love contributing to the madness. Alexa likes to pretend she’s a lobo and runs around trying to scare us while Kiki jumps from bed to bed, trying to avoid the girls. Once Kiki thought it would be a good idea to use the pool as his own personal bathroom from the top deck, which Gloria was not too happy about. When the niños aren’t around, the house is a bit calmer and we get the chance to have conversations with Gloria. She has really become like a second mom to us, asking us how our classes are going and offering us advice about what trips we should take. For Thanksgiving, she could see that we were in need of a little assistance in cooking, so she helped us set everything up and didn’t mind that I turned her kitchen into a war zone with all the flour and sugar I managed to spill. Thanksgiving dinner turned out to be amazing; since we all won’t be able to go home, it was nice to spend it with our “Mexico family.” All in all, it will be nice to return to normal life in the states but I will never forget the memories and people I have met here.