Tickets, Planning, and...Homework???

No turning back now! Two weeks ago, we bought our airplane tickets. It was fun buying our tickets together; we were sharing stories of some interesting conversations we had on previous airplane rides. Although both Jasmin and I have flown before, we have never purchased our own tickets. We had to check our flight numbers twice to make sure we were both purchasing the same flight. Then we chose our seats; on our flight from Sioux Falls the only two seats together were right in front of the bathrooms! It just seemed a little sketchy to sit there, so we decided we would take separate seats a little further up the plane...

On March 15, my online pre-departure course began. There is a lot of homework involved with this course! (maybe that is why it is optional, huh?) I am thankful I took it, though, because I learned a lot more about Mexico and Merida during it.

There were three group sessions in Pella, Iowa, for the CC students, and I watched the recordings on the Internet later. I introduced myself on the discussion board, and responded to three other people's introductions. (After we bought our tickets, I posted our flight numbers on the discussion board for fun. Several people responded, and then Val posted that about half of us will be arriving on the same flight from Houston to Mérida Saturday night, May 24. So we are all looking forward to meeting each other in Houston; we can have a big gate party while waiting for our final flight into Mexico!)

I had to research to fill out an assignment called My Country Fact Sheet Assignment. I had some 35 questions about the country I am visiting. They included topics such as the main religions of the country; common or typical dress for men, women, and students; and cultural perspectives on alcohol, dating, shopping, giving gifts, and nonverbal communication (eye contact, handshakes, etc.) There were questions about time zones, the metric system, and weather in the host city/area. We needed to find out the capital of the country (not too difficult), the largest city, the currency used, and the exchange rate for US dollars. We also had to name a newspaper from the country, define the government type, and comment on some of the current issues important in the country right now.

That was a lot of research for one assignment! The other assignments were a Travel Planning Exercise, a Hopes and Fears Assignment, and a Letter to Self Assignment. I just finished my last assignment last night, the letter to myself (check it out on my next post). I had to explore my feelings about my upcoming trip to México, explaining my reasons for going and my goals for my time there. When we come back, it will be interesting to read it again and see how much I have changed.

The Travel Planning Exercise was more suitable for semester students, because our schedule is pretty full for the four weeks we are in Mérida. I had to research to plan a trip to any place I wanted to visit in México. I chose to "plan" a day trip to the Cenote San Ignacio, because I definitely want to visit some cenotes while I am in México. Cenotes are unique to the Yucatán; they are openings through which one can access the underground rivers flowing throughout the peninsula. My teacher has visited some, and her stories and pictures convinced me that I need to experience them for myself!

The Hopes and Fears assignment asked me to list and explain the following: my three greatest hopes or goals for my trip; my three greatest fears about the trip; the three things, places, or people I will miss the most during the trip; and the three things, places, or people I will miss the least during the trip. I realized that I am not really nervous about traveling to a different country for four weeks. I decided that what I miss the most will also be what I miss the least: my family and my work. While I am blessed to live with my amazing family and have jobs that I love, a break from it all will be nice too.

Five and a half weeks to go...but who's counting? :)