La Llegada

TEHUACAN, Puebla, Mex. -- I arrived on Friday, August 17 in the evening after an uneventful 12 hour journey. My flight, which went through Houston, was smooth and easy. I then took two buses from Mexico City, one which took me halfway, to the city of Puebla, and another which took me the next two hours to Tehuacan. I met my host family that night -- all six of them! There are the parents and then 4 kids: Estafano, 19; Cosi, 18; Amarilis, 16; and Monse, 12. They are building a house that is almost done that we should be moving into in the next couple weeks. But until then, I am living in a tiny apartment with all the women. I share a room with two of my sisters, who sleep in bunk beds next to my twin bed. My mom and my other sister sleep in an adjacent room. Estefano and his father live in another house a few blocks away. The one they are in is very nice, but ours is really dirty and falling apart. There are bugs everywhere and the one toilet doesnt even have a seat on it! I am quite capable of roughing it, but I am really glad that we will move soon.

The new house is HUGE and GORGEOUS. There are 4 and a half baths and four bedrooms. I am will have my onw mini-apartment there, with a bedroom and full bath all to myself. There is also a huge kitchen in the new house, two terracces, two living rooms, and lots of natural light. It is very cool and there are no bugs, which is great because I have about 20 bugbites right now. (There is no danger of malaria, stop worrying mom :-) ). The new house is also closer to the school and across the street from the park, so it is all around a better place. I am antsy to move!

In other news, classes started yesterday and my students are great. I am teaching high intermediate and advanced older teens and adults. My youngest student is 16 and the oldest is in her early 40s. We have talked about many things already, but mostly the students like to talk about love and family. Those two topics involve quite a lot of vocabulary, so I am happy to entertain their interests.

We have two four day weekends in November, so that month will fly by. Until then, I am sure the weeks will be long, but I will travel on some weekends and go out to bars and clubs on others. Estafano is away at college from Sunday night to Friday afternoon, but when he comes home for the weekends he is a great host. This past weekend we went out dancing with some of my friends and some of his until 3am. I am really glad to have such a fine family!

I will be writing more soon -- something less biographical and more reflective, but please bear with me because the internet is unreliable and its so nice outside, I hate to spend my hours hanging out in Internet cafes.