Learning the realities of living abroad

I have been in Morelia Michoacan for a total of one week. I am living in a house with at times, 20 other volunteers who are stationed in pueblitos throughout the state. I am older than all the volunteers and almost immediately assumed the role as la mami de la casa. Many are from Germany, recently graduated from high school and participating in a service program through the Germany government similar to the Peacecorps. I made some great friends already: Nora from Germany, Daniel from Poland, Simon from Denmark and Jesus from Morelia. Today is really the first day I have to myself, all the other volunteers have returned to their villages and now Jesus and I and the cockroaches are all that remain. It is a welcome break . I have been doing yoga in the morning to balance out the crazy energy of the house and my stomach has been serving me well.
Some of you may have ready about this but just in case you havent, it is important that you are aware. Sept 15 and 16 are the biggest holidays in Mexico celebrating Independence dia de las patrias. On the 15th, everyone gathers in downtown Morelia at 10 pm to celebrate and yell ¨Viva Mexico¨at midnight. The current Mexico president Felipe Calderon hails from Morelia and was present at the celebration to address the crowd. Just as he was doing so, someone tossed a grenade into the crowd injuring 100 and killing 5-7.... we were very close to the explosion and felt the shutter and shock throughout our bodies. No one was hurt but it was an shocking eye-opener catapulting the reality of living in a society that seems to be preparing for another revolution. It was talking with Jesus about this and he mention the fact that every two hundred years in Mexico there has been a revolutionary event, first the Independence, the the Revolution in 1810 and now we are approaching 2010 and politicos are predicting another radical change, this is just one sign of such possibilities. It is not clear at this time who launched the bomb but there has bee a tremendous amount of violence between Narcotraffickers and the government.
Luckily I will be heading down to the turtle preservation on Sunday where I will have scorpions and mosquitos as my biggest concern.
I am still trying figure out how to upload my photos and as soon as I do you will have them as your service.