Please send!

Please send!

Pefume, banana pudding, rice noodles, and stamps (I will explain in detail further down).

I am here in Guadalajara (Las Fuentes, to be more exact), and I am settled in. I am now the proud owner of a very cheap cell phone (phone number to be later distributed by contact-change email and facebook), an international phone card, four hand-painted stoneware bowls, and two cans of tuna.

I have been to church, met two of my students, made many new friends, seen some of my old ones, and have begun to learn the streets of the city (if I can find my way around here before Christmas, I will consider it a grand accomplishment). Oh! And I also changed all of my cash over; pesos make me feel so rich; I’m not quite sure why…

Monday, Bonnie and I went to Plaza Bugambilias, to the Starbucks and the Soriana. I had forgotten that Starbucks here is actually more expensive than it is in the States, but the internet is well worth it. :p Afterwords, I went to the Soriana (kind of like a Mexican HEB) to get groceries. It was funny to me how some things were sooo much cheaper, but some things were so much more expensive. For example, I was delighted to find my perpetual weakness, Pad-Thai-for-Two (made by Thai Kitchen) is available here, but horrified when I realized the price was more than double what I pay in the States. *sigh* Oh well. I suppose that’s the price one must pay for moving to a different country.

That leads me to explain my list at the top. First, I had never realized that as much as I love the smell of Guadalajara (don’t laugh), I do not like it nearly as much when it clings to my clothing. I had never noticed before because I was always rather… odorous… myself from the lovely mixture of sweat and cement dust. Next, Bonnie has explained to me that it is impossible to find Jell-o’s pudding mixes. The closest thing anyone sells to it is much close to flan. Third, though I looked and looked and looked for some vermicelli-style rice noodles, Soriana had none. I was rather sad (my plan was to stretch my Thai stuff, or even make my own with the available fish sauce, etc). And lastly, I have discovered how to get my mail/packages back to the States. Every Sunday during church service, Pastor has a “mail call” during which he asks any outbound church-comers to take back pre-postaged mail and drop it at any post office (mail service in and out of Mexico is not terribly reliable or quick). I was so happy! A way to mail back birthday presents and the occasional snail-mail letter! But, oh wait; PRE-POSTAGED mail. Huh. I didn’t think to bring US stamps with me… So anyway, when any of you come to visit me, I do expect half of a suitcase devoted to wanted States items. ;)

Well, on with the what-I-did-this-week. Tuesday, Bonnie and I went to Tonala, a smaller city just outside of Guadalajara (to the southeast, I think), that has amazing pottery and other artistic crafts’ shops. I gazed longingly at numerous scarves, canisters, necklaces, and fancy glassware, but I bought only four small glazed bowls, hand-painted with white lilies on them. They were so incredibly barato (cheap)! I should have bought at least ten more. Also, I ate at my first road-side restaurant/café, and I am happy to say that a) the food was AMAZING and b) I didn’t get sick. :D Later that evening, we went to English Club at one of the local Starbucks (so far, I’ve counted four in the city) and then out to Wings Army afterword. It was a great time to meet people and get to speak both Spanish and English. There are some amazing people here. It’s been wonderful to get to hear some of the stories and just laugh. It’s great to know that I’m going to be happy living here.

Wednesday, a new friend, Aldo, took me and Bonnie out for breakfast/shopping at Tianges del Sol, an open-air market not completely unlike San Juan de Dios. It was an irreplaceable experience, let me assure you. ☺ Afterward, he also very kindly (and bravely) took us to Plaza del Sol to help me get a cell phone. It turns out that after a few days and an “investigation,” I will be signed up for cheap calls to the US!

In-service meetings start on Monday, and the school starts a week from then. I’ve spent some time this last week putting together a basic scope-and-sequence for all the subjects I’m going to teach; it’s made me feel much more prepared (which is good, especially for subjects like science and math, which I have never before taught). I’ve even started linking some of my scattered lesson plans to that outline. I have a lot more to do before school starts (I’d like to be at least two weeks ahead of the game), but I’m out of the blocks, at least. ☺ Plus (Dr. Teel would be so proud of me), I already wrote out my first-day script and all of my procedures and guidelines. OH! If any of you know of any great warm-ups for a bell-ringer type activity, please send it to me. I’m trying to collect some, but when internet is sporadic, it’s hard to get any good googling in.

If I’ve sent any of you ridiculously long emails, I’m sorry. It’s only that I feel like I have so much to tell you, and I only get a small window of time to spit it all out. Please forgive me for my Iliad-long messages. I’m trying to stay in touch. ☺

Well, I imagine that’s all for now, or at least until I run into internet again. I hope you all are doing well, and I would love to hear from you! You can always email me, though I’ll probably only get to check it once a week until school starts.

En Route

We're at the Mexico City airport right now (apparently, our alleged non-stop flight actually has a stop after all) waiting for our connection to Guadalajara. Immigration was not too bad, even in Spanish (I don't know why the official assumed I spoke Spanish; she turned right around and addressed Dad in flawless English).

Already I'm lapsing into Spanish spellings (I keep having to change things like "conexión" to "connection") and attitude.

Our flight is boarding. More later, maybe, if I have internet in Guadalajara. :)

Me voy!

I'm leaving tomorrow morning. I've weighed all my suitcases multiple times, prepared everything for customs, and double-checked my passport more times I than I can count.

See you on the other side of the border (hopefully with pictures)!