Questions About Mexico

Hi everyone! Below are a couple questions that I received about Mexico:

Is it safe?

This is probably the biggest question that Americans would ask about Mexico. It can be agreed that like America, Mexico has its dangerous cities. The area I'm going to, Guanajuato, is much safer than certain cities here. Guanajuato is a lot like Cambridge, England, according to Dr. Wood, the director of the Mexico exchange. Part of the fear around Mexico comes from tensions created by America, such as the Mexican - American war, politics, trade, and immigration. Israel is considered safe by many Americans, but according to The Guardian, Israel is more dangerous than Mexico. Because we Americans appreciate Israel in a different way than Mexico, this bias is created around it.

You can see The Guardian's rankings here:
https://www.theguardian.com/news/datablog/2014/jun/18/global-peace-index-2014-every-country-ranked

Will you be trying the food?

Definitely! I love trying new foods, and I can't wait to do so in Mexico. The thing that worries me most though is the spiciness. While I do like a little heat, I am not sure about just how spicy my food will get there.

Where will you go to school there?

I am not entirely sure yet where I am going to school. I know that it is a local high school, and that I will be taking English classes to help the Mexican students. I am also hoping to take a biology class, since it would be really interesting to learn about the natural world in Spanish. By taking this class, I would also get to experience a typical academic setting that one might find while living in Mexico.

How will you keep up with school at home?

Before I leave for Mexico, I will meet with my teachers one-on-one to arrange a plan. The plan usually is something along the lines of a homework packet along with a list of things to do by a certain deadline. I do not have a solid plan yet from most of my teachers, and I will be meeting with them after December vacation.

Do you know your assigned host family?

Not yet, but as soon as I find out, I will be exchanging emails and information with them.

What are you doing to prepare?

In order to prepare for Mexico, my main goal is to be reviewing my Spanish knowledge. In Spanish, verbs have many different tenses. The ones that I want to make sure that I review before I go are the present, the preterite tense, the future tense, the command form, the imperfect, and the subjunctive. I have never seen the subjunctive form, and I will not be learning it before I go to Mexico, so it should be a fun challenge. I also am going to read some books on Spanish slang, idioms, useful phrases, and words to stay away from. For example:

"¡No puedo decidir que película quiero ver! ¡Estoy nadando entre dos aguas!"

Figuratively: "I can't decide what movie I want to see! I just can't make up my mind!"

Literally: "I can't decide what movie I want to see! I'm swimming between two waters!"


If you every have any questions, please do not hesitate to let me know! I will try my best to answer them in my next post, which I still need to decide when I am going to write. I will not yet be answering the challenges my deafness brings in Mexico. Once I know more about what is going to happen, I will dedicate a whole post to writing about it.

Gracias, (Thank you,)

Ben