Finally making use of my time!

A few days have passed since my last post and many things have happened! First of all, many of you will be happy to know that I will now be able to post pictures on my blog due to my purchase of a little device known as an SD card reader. Purchased at Wal-Mart for a mere $10, my failure to bring a long the CD that works with my camera is now replenished with this new device. However, my forgetfulness has led me to have a lack of pictures of the things I talk about. I promise this is about to change. For now, the newest picture additions to the Blog are my profile pic (replacing the one of Katie and I - hated to take Katie off, but this pic was better fitting...haha...Te Amo). The other photo is on the first post I did,¨Departure Day¨and the photo is of all of my things laid out on the floor to give you an idea of everything I have taken with me. It´s not much. In fact, I´ve been wearing the same pair of underwear for 4 days now...haha! It´s not that gross! haha! I have to spread my 7 pairs of underwear, 7 pairs of socks, and 7 T-shirts out so they last 3 weeks w/o washing....is that bad? Well, that´s what I´m doing regardless. And let me tell you...it´s not easy. It´s hot here and I´m sticky, but every morning I wake up cool and refreshed. Almost a clean feeling. Maria opens the windows at night and the temperature drops to a very comfortable 50 or 60 degrees...perfect for me, but a little cold for the Mexicans.

Okay! On to what has happened in the last few days! Sunday was SUPER lazy and I didn´t even leave the house...haha! Ok, Monday. One of the first days I was here, Maria took me to a language school to talk to some people about two weeks worth of classes, but their prices were a little high. Like, $380.00 DOLLARS for the two weeks...not really what I was looking for. Well, the family, as nice as they are, started thinking and knew of a cousin who taught English classes and called her up. Her name was Gabby and she couldn´t give me private lessons, but her friend Checha (Kay-cha) could. For 100 pesos an hour I agreed to take private lessons every morning with Cecha from 9-11 except for Thursdays (she has to teach an English class on Thursdays). She lives in a nice part of town by the Manerva Fountain, a short drive of 15 minutes from Marias house.

Monday morning Maria took me to her apartment and we had an excellent session. Checha is a very short, 28 year old woman who is married to a cool husband that is in a band and teaches music. I can´t remember his name. They live in a very modern apartment that looks straight out of the 70´s. Again, I apologize I don´t have pictures - took my camera today with intentions and forgot about it...haha! Are sessions are very informal and we basically just talk and then a gramatical question will come up and will move our conversation to that. We work on vocabulary a lot, as much of my studies thus far have skipt this part. She is very kind and is very fun to work with. After we´re done she gives me a ride to Starbuck´s, just down the street, where I sit and read for a while by myself. This Starbucks in particular has an upstairs that is covered with a roof, but is open for air to move freely throughout. It´s a very relaxing place.

Today, I spent over an hour a top reading ¨Three Cups of Tea.¨ Once again, YOU have to read this book. I literally had tears in my eyes at one point and was imbarassed that people might see...haha! It´s a very moving story! After that I decided to return to Costco to purchase Viviana a carton of ciggerates, as she refused to let me buy my own items last night at Walmart (two bottles of wine, some deoderant, small jar of instant coffee, and some shaving cream). I thought I would be able to walk and set out on my journey. I really had no idea where it was,l but headed in the direction I thought it was. After about 30 minutes, I hailed a cab and for $2 he took me the rest of the way. I probably would have been another hour. I did enjoy the excerices though.

Next to Costco was a Walmart and a mall, so I decided to go have a look. I stopped in Walmart first, hoping they would have the microphone that I had seen last night, but failed to buy, realizing now that it was worth the $7. However, this Walmart didn´t have the headset. I walked around the mall nearby (a very nice mall, with stores like Diesel, Guess, etc). For me though....not anything I was interested in. I left and hailed another cab, and worked out in Spanish where I needed to go...The other Walmart I said. The cab driver smirked and said that there were several in Guadalajara, so I said the closest street I knew to Maria´s house and we were on our way - not before negotiating a price of course. We reasoned and I got a ride for about $5. My conversation with the cab driver was very good. He could understand my spanish and I could his as well. He was very interested in what I was doing and the 10 minute ride seemed only seconds. I purchased the mic and a new set of headphones...but not before I waited in line at Walmart for nearly 15 minutes. Seriously! It was very annoying! And this Walmart in particular makes you check your bag before entering so I was anxious to get back to my stuff.

I hailed my third cab for the day and it was a very fat man drinking some juice out of a plastic bag with a straw (very popular down here - rather than small cups). I knew I was pretty close to the house, but it would have taken me a half hour to do. I was willing to drop 20 pesos, which is a little over a dollar right now with the exchange rate. We negotiated for a minute and the driver´s offer was 40 pesos. I immediately said, that is was rediculous and that I could walk to my house and said 20 pesos. The driver said he´ll put it on the meter and see what price comes up. I knew this was a risk, because somehow (I don´t know exactly how they work) the drivers can manipulate the price, but I got in anyway. He said something to me in mumbled Spanish, but I was unable to understand him. When I said, I´m sorry I don´t understand, he just grunted and turned the radio up. I was pissed. I counted out all the change in my pocket, mostly consisting of what we call pennies, and at the exact point the meter said 20 pesos I told him to pull over. Four blocks from Marias, I got out, gave the fat bastard his 20 pesos, and began to walk proudly. haha!

I arrived home to Maria, who was happy to see me. I felt bad arriving 2 hours later than I said i would, but she didn´t seem to mind. The grandkids, Miguelito and Wendy, were (and still are) here. I fiddled with my new mic, which turns out to be a piece of junk (I put it back in the packaging and am going to take it back later today or tomorrow). Viviana comes home on her break from the bank and eats a late lunch (they don´t really eat dinner). At 3:30, we all ate and talked about the day. They were very interested in the things I learned at my lesson and where I was all day. About 10 minutes ago, just before she went back to work, Viviana went into here room and noticed the carton of ciggerates waiting for her on her bed. She let out a woot and was very excited! It made me feel good. I did say that it was not something I support, but I wanted to get her something she liked, and I knew they were somewhat of a luxuary item to her as much of her paycheck goes back to Maria to help with things.

My plan for tonight is to play a game of the Spanish version of Guess Who with Miguelito and then read for a while. Maybe study a little bit of the vocab Checha and I worked on today. Around 8 I´m gonna watch a movie with a glass of wine (which by the way I broke last night - I set my blue glass on the sofa not thinking and forgot about it and when I got up, it fell and broke). Heading for bed early...about 10 or so. We´ll se how that works out!