After a fun last night with Katie, Andy, Park, and Caleb down in Westport, Katie and I managed to squeeze in 3 or so hours of sleep before the alarms started ringing at 4:20 in the morning. Man was it early. And anyone who has ever laid down in Katie´s bed knows it is a difficult place to leave....probably the most comfortable bed I´ve ever laid in. Plus, this would be the last time I get to sleep in it at the house on Fairview. And the last time I´d get to sleep with Katie for a while. So, you can imagine I wasn´t too excited. But I was about to embark on my adventure and I felt ready. Ready, but nervous. Luckily, Katie had whipped me into shape the day before and my bags were packed and everything was right next to the door ready to go. We were out the door just after 4:30 and to the airport a little before 5:00. However, I didn´t manage to make it into the airport until about 5:15. Goodbye was very difficult and tears were exchanged pretty heavily. Not an easy thing to do, to turn from the person you love and walk away, leaving her behind. But I mustered up enough courage, with hopeful thoughts that I´ll be seeing her in a little over two weeks. The hard part is yet to come.
I had a two hour lay-over in Phoenix and I spent my time in a little restaurant where I had a breakfast quesadilla and coffee for $15.00 including tip. At 12:45 I boarded my plane to Guadalajara. The flight was full of mexicans and a few Americans. All in all, the plane was only half full and I had the entire row to myself. I started reading a new book that was recommended to me by one of the spanish teachers at Liberty Middle School. It is called ¨Three Cups of Tea.¨ It is absolutely amazing!
When I arrived at the airport in Guadalajara, I had no problems with customs, nor exchanging my $20 for pesos. By the way the exchange rate here is unbelievable. The American Economy is suffering, but the dollar is very valuable down here right now. My $20 was able to get me 270 pesos, when in the past i could it was about 10 pesos to the dollar. I had budgeted the $20 for the taxi, but I managed to negotiate the trip for 220 pesos. For the most part the trip was quiet and I didn´t bring myself to really speak until halfway through the trip. Spanish came easily to me even though my full year of not speaking. I was impressed how naturally it felt. Being back in Guadalajara felt great. Almost like a return home. Everything was still familiar and it was easy to navigate the driver to Maria´s house. When we arrived, Maria headed outside to greet me. I didn´t know it yet, but she had been waiting since 6 am. There was some sort of miscommunication when I spoke with her the day before. But it was of no importance and she was so happy I was there. We embraced and she showed me into the house. She put me in the same room I´ve stayed in the other two times I´ve been. It was so clean and the two twin beds had ben pushed into one giant bed. A great place to stay...and for free!
We spent the next few hours talking about my family and hers. Soon the questions turned to more of a political toon and then to religion and then to life and love. We always have the most interesting conversations. I can´t imagine what they would be like if we could do them in English.
That night, her daugter, Viviana, came home from work and we watched The Ring 2. So scary! Her and Maria made fun of me because I kept getting scared. I can´t help it. Anybody who has watched a scary movie with me knows I am kind of a puss. Haha!
I had a two hour lay-over in Phoenix and I spent my time in a little restaurant where I had a breakfast quesadilla and coffee for $15.00 including tip. At 12:45 I boarded my plane to Guadalajara. The flight was full of mexicans and a few Americans. All in all, the plane was only half full and I had the entire row to myself. I started reading a new book that was recommended to me by one of the spanish teachers at Liberty Middle School. It is called ¨Three Cups of Tea.¨ It is absolutely amazing!
When I arrived at the airport in Guadalajara, I had no problems with customs, nor exchanging my $20 for pesos. By the way the exchange rate here is unbelievable. The American Economy is suffering, but the dollar is very valuable down here right now. My $20 was able to get me 270 pesos, when in the past i could it was about 10 pesos to the dollar. I had budgeted the $20 for the taxi, but I managed to negotiate the trip for 220 pesos. For the most part the trip was quiet and I didn´t bring myself to really speak until halfway through the trip. Spanish came easily to me even though my full year of not speaking. I was impressed how naturally it felt. Being back in Guadalajara felt great. Almost like a return home. Everything was still familiar and it was easy to navigate the driver to Maria´s house. When we arrived, Maria headed outside to greet me. I didn´t know it yet, but she had been waiting since 6 am. There was some sort of miscommunication when I spoke with her the day before. But it was of no importance and she was so happy I was there. We embraced and she showed me into the house. She put me in the same room I´ve stayed in the other two times I´ve been. It was so clean and the two twin beds had ben pushed into one giant bed. A great place to stay...and for free!
We spent the next few hours talking about my family and hers. Soon the questions turned to more of a political toon and then to religion and then to life and love. We always have the most interesting conversations. I can´t imagine what they would be like if we could do them in English.
That night, her daugter, Viviana, came home from work and we watched The Ring 2. So scary! Her and Maria made fun of me because I kept getting scared. I can´t help it. Anybody who has watched a scary movie with me knows I am kind of a puss. Haha!
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