Have yourself a very, merry Christmas
Door: Nils Roturier
21 December 2015 | Mexico, Tuxtla Gutiérrez
Hello everybody, here I am again. It's been a little while ago since i have posted something so I thought this was a good moment to get you guys up to date.
My life has not changed too much, i am still very happy about everything and the time seems to fly away.
Tucanes
My host father has had a long career of professional baseball in the Mexican League and after retiring 15 years ago, has always been a member of the coaching staff for various teams. Next to the fact that he is the coach of the university team, where I play, he is also manager of the Tucanes de Chiapas, which is a professional baseball team in Chiapas. Since the beginning of November, it has always been the question if the government would support the Tucanes so they could enter in the Winter League. After more than a 1000 phone calls to my host father from the director and various players, the Tucanes have finally started their season on the 2nd of December. I really like to go and see the home games because the level is amazing, and moreover, as my host father is the head coach, he lets me practice with them before the game. After the practice I just go sit in the dugout with the rest of the team and cheer for the following three hours. Unfortunately I have missed the second serie (they play a serie of three games against each team) because I was travelling but later more. And since then they have been travelling to the other teams, including my host father, which makes us only three in the house (me, my host mom and host sister) untill the end of the season.
Another unevitable consequence of their season is that the university team does not practice or play anymore as my host father cannot do both jobs, but we will be back in action in february.
Guatemala
As i said a little earlier, i missed the second home serie because I was travelling, travelling to Ciudad de Guatemala (Guatemala City). We had the trip planned with a group of 10 friends which I know through my friend Guillermo, to go to a youth event in Guatemala.
And so off we went on the 2nd of December (as you see, school is not really my priority here haha) to Guatemala. After an exhausting, sleepless, uncomfortable and cold (yes it is very cold in Guatemala even though i am already used to the heat of my home) 18 hours of bus travel, we finally arrived in our cheap hotel in Guatemala.
Our days looked more or less like this:
7am breakfast
9am-1pm event
1pm-5pm hanging around in town
6pm-10pm event
12pm sleep
Although it was a very tiring and cold trip, it was really exciting and i really enjoyed it!
About Guatemala: firstly, it is a very big, dangerous and poor city, as there are places where you should preferably not go to, looking like a foreigner. Luckily we were almost all the time in the more safer area of the city.
Secondly, everything is very Americanized, as there is little tipical food and culture left.
Furthermore, it is not really pretty, as the buildings are not very tipical, if not poorly constructed or dirty. The only part of Guatemala which is worth visiting is El Antigua, which literally is the older and more authentic part of Guatemala. Unfortunately, the day we planned to go there, our tour bus did not agree, as we were forced to cancel our trip, due to the crashed breaks and non-functioning clutch...
Lagunas
We came back from our trip on sunday, I went to school on monday and Tuesday and then Tuesday night, my host mother had to go to Lagunas in the state of Oaxaca to her family, and because my host father is out of town with the baseball team, me and my host sister did not have any option but to go with her, and to miss another four days of school :)
Today I am coming back from Lagunas, and we're going to pass by the town where my host father is with his team right now, because my host sister will turn 17 in two days.
School will finish on the 18th of December and right now I am mostly busy planning my trips in my 2 month Winter Holidays. I have made a goal to see as much as I can from México in my year and that is absolutely I am planning to do.
One more little anecdote before I go: a good friend of me last said that México is the only country in Latin America where they love to eat spicy and hot (which I noticed in Guatemala because everytime they give you the most hot salsa, it tasted like tomato sauce for us haha).
She then said: haven't you noticed it then, that 90% of all the commercials on TV are for medication against Gastritis, stomach ache, nausea etc etc! hahaha, it made me laugh a lot!
Well that was it this time! I wish you all a very merry christmas and a happy new year, and I will tell you what a Mexican Chistmas is like in January.
Nos vemos pronto,
Nils
My life has not changed too much, i am still very happy about everything and the time seems to fly away.
Tucanes
My host father has had a long career of professional baseball in the Mexican League and after retiring 15 years ago, has always been a member of the coaching staff for various teams. Next to the fact that he is the coach of the university team, where I play, he is also manager of the Tucanes de Chiapas, which is a professional baseball team in Chiapas. Since the beginning of November, it has always been the question if the government would support the Tucanes so they could enter in the Winter League. After more than a 1000 phone calls to my host father from the director and various players, the Tucanes have finally started their season on the 2nd of December. I really like to go and see the home games because the level is amazing, and moreover, as my host father is the head coach, he lets me practice with them before the game. After the practice I just go sit in the dugout with the rest of the team and cheer for the following three hours. Unfortunately I have missed the second serie (they play a serie of three games against each team) because I was travelling but later more. And since then they have been travelling to the other teams, including my host father, which makes us only three in the house (me, my host mom and host sister) untill the end of the season.
Another unevitable consequence of their season is that the university team does not practice or play anymore as my host father cannot do both jobs, but we will be back in action in february.
Guatemala
As i said a little earlier, i missed the second home serie because I was travelling, travelling to Ciudad de Guatemala (Guatemala City). We had the trip planned with a group of 10 friends which I know through my friend Guillermo, to go to a youth event in Guatemala.
And so off we went on the 2nd of December (as you see, school is not really my priority here haha) to Guatemala. After an exhausting, sleepless, uncomfortable and cold (yes it is very cold in Guatemala even though i am already used to the heat of my home) 18 hours of bus travel, we finally arrived in our cheap hotel in Guatemala.
Our days looked more or less like this:
7am breakfast
9am-1pm event
1pm-5pm hanging around in town
6pm-10pm event
12pm sleep
Although it was a very tiring and cold trip, it was really exciting and i really enjoyed it!
About Guatemala: firstly, it is a very big, dangerous and poor city, as there are places where you should preferably not go to, looking like a foreigner. Luckily we were almost all the time in the more safer area of the city.
Secondly, everything is very Americanized, as there is little tipical food and culture left.
Furthermore, it is not really pretty, as the buildings are not very tipical, if not poorly constructed or dirty. The only part of Guatemala which is worth visiting is El Antigua, which literally is the older and more authentic part of Guatemala. Unfortunately, the day we planned to go there, our tour bus did not agree, as we were forced to cancel our trip, due to the crashed breaks and non-functioning clutch...
Lagunas
We came back from our trip on sunday, I went to school on monday and Tuesday and then Tuesday night, my host mother had to go to Lagunas in the state of Oaxaca to her family, and because my host father is out of town with the baseball team, me and my host sister did not have any option but to go with her, and to miss another four days of school :)
Today I am coming back from Lagunas, and we're going to pass by the town where my host father is with his team right now, because my host sister will turn 17 in two days.
School will finish on the 18th of December and right now I am mostly busy planning my trips in my 2 month Winter Holidays. I have made a goal to see as much as I can from México in my year and that is absolutely I am planning to do.
One more little anecdote before I go: a good friend of me last said that México is the only country in Latin America where they love to eat spicy and hot (which I noticed in Guatemala because everytime they give you the most hot salsa, it tasted like tomato sauce for us haha).
She then said: haven't you noticed it then, that 90% of all the commercials on TV are for medication against Gastritis, stomach ache, nausea etc etc! hahaha, it made me laugh a lot!
Well that was it this time! I wish you all a very merry christmas and a happy new year, and I will tell you what a Mexican Chistmas is like in January.
Nos vemos pronto,
Nils
-
21 December 2015 - 08:31
Susan Roturier:
Hee Nils, leuk weer een blogje :)) Mss een goed idee om op Spaans over te stappen in 2016, want dat zal nu wel beter zijn dan je Engels :) Met Google translate begeijpen we het toch wel hoor! -
22 December 2015 - 15:34
Roos:
Hallo Nils, wat leuk om weer wat te lezen over je ervaringen. Wat hebben wij dan toch een saai leven, jij komt nog eens ergens! Geniet met de Kerst van alles om je heen, neem het mee voor heel je leven! Ik wens je hele fijne dagen met Kerst en voor 2016 een super mooi jaar gewenst, het vliegt om, zeker nu jij je steeds meer een Mexicaantje gaat voelen, heel apart! Liefs en een dikke kus van oma, je aller grootste fan. -
22 December 2015 - 16:12
Opa:
Hoi Nils, leuk om weer de nieuwe blog van je te lezen en met al je nieuwe ontdekkingen. Je ziet en beleefd nog eens wat in dit en het volgende jaar. Heb begrepen dat je geen trauma hebt overgehouden van de aardbeving. Zelf heb ik dit ook meegemaakt in Italië met 7,1 schaal van Richter, heel apart!! Je mam stelt voor ,om de volgende blog in het Spaans te schrijven maar dan heb ik zeker een probleem , dus graag in je uitstekend Engels!!!!!!
Nils fijne kerstdagen en een heel gelukkig 2016
Opa
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28 December 2015 - 15:19
Sonja:
Leuk blog weer en gewoon lekker in het Engels blijven schrijven hoor :)
Ik wens jou ook alvast een heel gelukkig 2016!!!! Liefs xxx
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