Things of note.

I still have pictures and stories to tell of the vacation and of my first week of teaching, but I can't forget these things:

1- I rode in a combi for the first time today. For those of you who don't know what a combi is, it is a hollowed out VW van that takes you pretty much anywhere in the city. And it only costs about 50 cents! Great! The bad news is that we (me, Mandy and April), got lost. Not so great. But I found out where we were, and it wasn't too bad.

2- I ate a really good taco! Too bad I found out that it was made of brains.

3- I played in a mariachi band. A real one! And they want me to play with them for Mexican Independence Day! Who know how that will go.

What a way to ruin a vacation...

For some of our days of vacationing, we went clear down to the border between Mexico and Guatemala and to Chiapas to see some really cool ruins. But before we went down, we stopped at a place to eat breakfast. Well, everyone in my group is LDS, so we decided to have a prayer on the food. Unfortunately that was when our waiter decided to bring me my food. So while someone was praying, the waiter was saying, "Continental...Continental!" It was my food, and I didn't know what to do except take it and thank him right then. That was when half of my group broke out laughing with me. The poor waiter had no idea what was going on.

I really like the ruins, unfortunately the mosquitoes really liked my legs as well. It was unbearable. Once again, I felt like I was a large piece of chocolate cake, while the mosquitoes were the hungry kids from Lord of the Flies. I don't know really how those two connect, but that is how I felt. I just hope those mosquitoes don't end up eating each other.

Here are pictures!

The view from the boat - ahead is Guatemala!


More pictures...





These were in Chiapas. Go Book of Mormon stuff!

So this one time, I was in Mexico...

Wow. What a CRAZY week! I honestly don't even know where to begin. But, I guess that I'll start at the beginning.
On Thursday morning, I said goodbye to my whole life in Utah, and boarded the plane to Mexico! Tears were shed by all, but mostly me. In all of my preparations for Mexico, it never really hit me that I would be leaving for four months and living in Mexico! Well, it hit me when I had to say goodbye to Brad and my mom at the airport. I don't know if they were as sad to see me go, but oh well. They were good pretenders!
I met up with the rest of my group in Phoenix, and after a turbulent plane ride, (I loved it!) we made it to Mexico City. Wow. What a crazy place. I can't even begin to try to explain how big and busy and dirty and colorful that city is! But - it is. Just take my word for it. We met up with our native coordinator Teo, and then boarded the bus that would be taking me all across Mexico! Oh that bus. El Sprinter. The memories we made on it. The people getting sick, all of people's junk piled on it, half-eaten boxes of Froot Loops (which were mine), and...experiencing...all of the speed bumps that Mexico has to offer, while riding in the back seat. It was just great!
We drove a couple of hours to Puebla to dump off most of our luggage, and then started on our journey, but not before we ate at our first-ever real Mexican restaurant. Really good! It was also our first taste of all of the weird looks that we would be getting in the future. Gotta love being a gringa!
Mmmm... 'twas very good. I have no idea what kind/type of meat that was, but I've found it's better to have the "Don't ask, don't tell" policy. Believe me - sometimes you just don't want to know.

Nerves.

Well - the day is finally here. As I am writing this, there are only nine hours left until I have to get up and go to the airport. If you are doing your math correctly, that is at 3:00 am. Gross. But I doubt I will be able to sleep at all anyway!
All of my bags are packed, and I am pretty much set! Guh. I am getting a little bit nervous though. People keep on asking me if I am nervous and I give a half-hearted "Yeah a little bit," but the truth is, is that it hasn't hit me completely yet. It should be quite the entertaining sight to see me having a full-out panic attack whilst in Mexico. Everyone who will be there at the lovely moment will be in for quite a treat.
As soon as I get to the airport in Mexico City, I will go on a bus to go on my week-long vacation. I am quite excited! There will be a million pictures, I'm sure. Oh! And if anyone was wondering about my Spanish classes, I loved them! They helped a lot, but still I can only pick out about one word in every fifty. This should be a fun couple of weeks! My poor, poor host family who will have to deal with my charades. They don't know what they are in for!