Day Uno

I woke up on the plane and there were about twenty minutes left until we were to land. My throat was killing me! We were on a huge airplane, but when we landed we walked out on stairs, boarded buses, and drove to customs. The lines were so long! After finally making it through I quickly found my baggage and exited and was picked up by Jill, the Global Learning (GLS) supervisor in Mexico. She drove me around a bit and then took me to my house. It is such a nice place. The lady lives in a nice area and I am literally right across from the school. It is a quick 10 minute walk to get on campus because there are only two entrances. When I first got there I laid down and was then called for breakfast. We had eggs, beans, and ham. It was nice. After I took a nap and then a shower. I then embarked to the school. It was scary to be off on my own. I got to the school, got online, and stayed there for a while chatting with my dad and responding to emails. Bad news? The school for some reason blocks Facebook because it doesn´t want us to participate in any acts of hatred. I figured, oh okay, well let me check Myspace. Myspace worked! That exclamation point is not a happy one. It is a "how can Myspace work and Facebook not??" exclamation mark. Oh well. Then I returned home for lunch. Lunch was soup and a thin piece of beef. After talking a bit more with the lady, her maid, and her son, I went back to the school. Actually the next thing was that the maid, Maria, is also a member of the church! I was so happy because now I would have at least someone close by. I then walked to Starbucks because every Starbucks has WiFi, right? Wrong! This one wanted $10 for the day. I said no way Jose. I went shopping at the local supermarket. I spent $200! Okay, close your jaw, the peso sign is the same as the dollar sign, so 200 pesos is only about $15 US dollars. I got a towel, a loufa, some body wash, shampoo, some hand soap, and a bottle of water. I thought that I did pretty good! Now here I am again, in the library. For some reason I can´t find any WiFi anywhere on campus. I'll get that taken care of so I can post pictures ASAP. Tonight on the agenda we have unpacking, ironing, maybe start the Office, read a little, bed on time. This no internet at home thing will really push me to bed on time! Oh yes, I have cable, too. No room mate so far. We shall see how long that lasts.

LAX is the worst!!!

Last night I had a scare on the plane. The whole day I was nervous about the adventure I was about to embark on and then my sister Tiffany dropped me off at the PHX airport. Great. I got in and had plenty of time. I go to the US Air kiosks and I slide my card and they have NO reservation for me! I begin to worry. I tried it again, still nothing. I go to talk to someone and he can find nothing. I am really beginning to worry. I pull out my iTouch and read my itinerary again and it clearly says that I am heading to Mexico, but (there´s always a but) I am only flying to LAX on US Air and then Delta to Guadalajara. Great, they found me. I am on my way. I land in LAX and the terminal we landed in had nothing. No computers or anything. I walked around looking for them only to discover that, darn, I accidentally left the terminal. I am told that I need to go to a completely different terminal and that I should wait for the bus outside. As I walk out it was like I was paparazzi. Everyone rushed me, "sir, sir, can I help you?" I kept walking and was followed by one gentleman. I quickly told him tht I had to catch the bus that was right there, he backed off. The bus left before I got there and I was worried he would come back, but he didn´t. I then get to my new terminal, terminal 5, and head back through security. Something isn´t right though. My ticket has nothing on it telling me which gate or anything. The computers have no info on my flight. I went to the gate that the man told me to go to and all it had was a flight to New York. I began to worry. The computers listed another Guadalajara flight at 11am the next day, so it wasn´t that 1am was too far away. I asked the Delta help desk and they reprinted my ticket and off I went. I sat there for the longest time. Luckily it took me TWO hours to reach my new gate (luckily I had the longest layover known to man). I still had 3 hours to wait for my plane. I was so happy to board my plane. I went to sleep right away.

#1 of the new ones... (what??)

Okay, so it's been about a month. How sad is that? Well in the last month a lot has gone on and it's been hard to update my blog. Right about the time of my last post I was getting ready for finals. Well, they have come and gone. I aced one and did okay on the other. My mom told me not to argue about the C grade I got in English because of the situation. Well, I didn't. I hope it doesn't hurt to bad. I said goodbye to my place of business. I love working there. It was so hard to leave AGAIN! I really enjoy what I do there and the people I work with. I hope to return when I get back from Mexico. Oh, duh! I proposed to Onna! She reluctantly said yes. Actually it was a lot of fun. We went to the beach to do our Christmas exchange and when all the gifts were exchanged I pulled one more out-a Spanish/English dictionary, sort of in commemoration to my leaving to Mexico. We took it and set it down. I told her to look up a word that starts with 'E' and she struggled to remove the bow from the book. I grabbed the book from her and tore it off myself and gave it back to her. As she flipped the pages she noticed that something was askew in the book, some pages were torn. And amidst the cut out pages laid a nice 3 stone diamond ring. She looked twice and then to me. She asked me what it was. I then asked her to marry me. While she was opening it I smoothly got on one knee in preparation. She hit me, and cried, and then said yes. It was a nice outing. We mini golfed later that day. Well, about a week after that it was time to say goodbye to her for the 5 months that followed. We hugged, she cried. I was sad too, don't get me wrong, just don't cry that often. I left her house and boarded a plane the next day to Arizona. I wasted my days away in Arizona playing Xbox. I did do pretty darn good in football though. I hung out with a few friends but my dad said I was pretty mopey. About a week before I was to leave for Mexico my parents went on a "secret errand" and brought back my fiance!


I was so happy! The next week was much more active than the prior. We went to movies, hung out, did lunches. I just enjoyed having her around. We did a lot of wedding planning too! We picked out some invitations, looked at dresses, and colors. We decided on these (more or less)...


But, of course, that came with another chance to say goodbye. This time she had to walk away, and it wasn't easy. Similar to the last, it was hard. We hugged, she cried. I was sad too, don't get me wrong, just don't cry that often (direct quote). This time, though, I felt more empty as I left and drove back to Maricopa. It was a crazy day in anticipation for my flight that night. I am every emotion mixed in to one.

Life Revealed

If anyone can guess what is wrong with this picture then you are cool. You have to be someone I haven't already discussed this with. This was taken on Black Friday morning.

Life has been going good. Only a few things have happened since my last post. School, work, Onna, and Church have been my greatest priorities. In school we have taken two exams and the only thing that I didn't like about the second exam was that we still didn't have the first exam to look off of, you know, to see how to study for the second exam. That's okay though because the first exam gave me a 76 and the second one gave me an 85. Those aren't the best grades, but they will do for a Western Literature class that is a Coker requirement! I do enjoy the class though, and reading along with the stories. I'm a much better reader forced than by desire. My Spanish class is likewise going well. We got our grades in and I have a high B but have a few assignments I haven't turned in, so that should bump it up to an A without a problem I would think. I really love Spanish. I love the language and the culture. I love speaking it. In fact, and I just noticed this, I feel more comfortable expressing my feelings in Spanish than I do in English. Go figure! A guy came and talked to our class the other day and he just got back from studying abroad in Chile. He said he had a lot of fun, he partied a lot, drank a lot. Woo hoo! (WHAT THE HECK AM I GONNA DO?!)I'll think of something. The temple isn't too far away, either is the beach. I looked it up and apparently there is a gym nearby too, so I guess I can spend my time working out. I hope to lose some weight while I'm down there. My temple jacket has been getting quite snug! Speaking of Church and the temple, I told them yesterday that it would be my last Saturday at the temple. I asked what the procedure was and they said that they normally release people who will be away for so long. I was doing so well on learning and memorizing! I had the longest thing ever down pat, but now it's all over. Oh well. It's been a lot of fun being able to go there and do the work behind the scenes. I have a much greater view of the work that goes on in the temple now than I did before, and for that I'm grateful. My time is running short on my time left in this ward. I keep wondering if the Bishop will release me or keep me around. I think it would be quite hard to do it by himself, but then I do like the calling. Do I listen to what he needs or what I want? I bore my testimony today and cried. Onna and I are doing well. We finished our third puzzle the other day and will proceed to glue it I think. Maybe we won't. It's of Niagara Falls. It is pretty sweet looking. We haven't done much lately, just movies and such. She did, however, get her first pedicure last night (she's 25, I know!). It was a birthday present that I got her and she finally used it! She really enjoyed it. Her toes look so pretty! Hopefully it won't become a practice that she obsesses with! I don't think she will. Work has been going great. I've been working every day. The other temp that works with us has not been able to work. The work load has decreased so much. I really enjoy my job and I hope that I can come back to it after I get back from Mexico. They interviewed a kid this week for my job, but my boss didn't find him to suitable. I really hope I can have the job back! About a month ago I bought a teeth whitening kit that was sure to work. Well I half-heartedly used it and I wasn't seeing any progress, so I stopped. One day I saw a charge on my credit card for $59.90! I was so confused! I called the number and they said that when I ordered the teeth whitener I clicked on a link that automatically signed me up for a service that charges that much. I wasn't happy. She said that they could give me $40.00 back but the rest was non-refundable. I was pretty upset at this and decided to stop falsely trying to use my teeth whitener but to ship it back for a full refund. I shipped it back, got $50.00 from them, and the $40.00 from this random click I made. Since I've already paid for it it's like free money! Anyways, that's as exciting as my life gets. Arizona in two weeks, Mexico in four.

Step Show

Randoms

Nothing much to update. A few things I guess. I've been terribly sick for about three weeks now and it was really getting old. On Monday I finally went to the doctor and I did all the possible tests I think (even x-rays for the first time!) and was diagnosed with bronchitis. I stayed home from work for Monday and Tuesday. I was so bored, but luckily I used my time wisely and did my homework through Thanksgiving in one of my classes. The only other major event (besides my mom STILL being gone!) was Onna's birthday. It was her 25th, so I gave her plenty of stuff reminding her of her growing age. I liked the fact (and kept telling her) that insurance goes down at age 25! On Thursday I showed up at work and gave her flowers and her presents. She kind of enjoyed that. I don't think she could really decide. Saturday I took her out on a date and we went to see a Step Show. Now, I think step teams are really cool, so this was kind of for me. She said she liked it, but I even still doubt her. I have speckled pictures and hopefully a video or two within. Enjoy!

P.S. My mom gets home this week!

Nothing to report

Nothing much to update. Life has been good. I am home alone once again, my parents keep leaving me, but that's okay. I find myself sleeping on the couch more when they aren't here. Work has been interesting. My boss took off two days this week and work is always different when she isn't there. My higher up boss returns from a cruise to Antarctica this week, so that should be really fun to hear about. School has been getting tougher. My Spanish class is easy enough, I don't struggle much there. My reading class has been a huge struggle. Just this past weekend I was supposed to read 70 pages but after making it through 13 pages in 2 hours of reading I got bored with it and can't keep up with it! Not to mention it is written in olde English. Ugh! I hate it! But, we did have a test in that class on Thursday. I studied like crazy for it. I hope I did well. I thought I did. I wrote 7 total pages on it and I was living high, until my teacher took me out after the test to ask how I thought I did. She then went on to explain that people don't put enough time into the last question (worth 30 points) and they usually only write a page on it. I laughed and went on my way. Well, the laugh I gave was quite sarcastic. I ONLY WROTE ONE PAGE! What a joke! I will find out my score tonight hopefully. So that's it for school. Church has been good. Onna and I are doing good. We finished a puzzle this week that has taken forever! We then proceeded to glue it together, we didn't want to break it all up after the work we did! My dad said that us doing puzzles is out of our time, because OLD people do puzzles together! Oh well, I enjoyed it!

My dad comes back on Wednesday and then my mom comes back in 12 days. That's right, 12, I counted. I'm excited to see her. Oh, and I'm growing a beard! It has been almost two weeks now and it's definetly showing. I'm kinda liking it! I hope others do too. People were shocked at church yesterday, but that's okay. Life is good. I enjoy work, school, family, friends, not shaving. Kyle got unlimited texting this week. I'm glad he did. I think I annoy him with all the texts I send him now days. Oh well.

P.S. I've also become addicted to taking pictures of any temple I see, so this is the latest, of course, Columbia, SC.