Otra vez, dia two...

Well the second day of school was really good. I got up and wasn’t really that tired, and my throat didn’t hurt either. Good! I went to school, got into my first class, no rush because we got in to our seats yesterday, right? Wrong! A girl stole my seat! I was the first one to class on Monday to ensure my right seat, only to have her steal it! Gosh I gave her a sarcastic comment in Spanish in a joking way, but was serious. I am now in a worse spot, but that’s okay. We went over some good stuff in that class. It was grammar. Like I said yesterday, the MTC teaches well on grammar. It is just review so far. I’m sure as I go up in levels to 6-8 it will get past just review. Then I went on to my next class, conversation. We started that one by listening to a song and we had to write the words down and see how good we could understand it. I got the most on the first try. Good stuff. We then just went through our list of vocabulary for the day. We have about 30 words a day to know. They are pretty simple though. So far. After class I rushed over to the library and started it up to chat with Onna for a second. We then crammed in a car to go to downtown Guadalajara. It was good stuff. We went to the museum first and walked around there. It was an ex-orphanage and it was huge! It would have been such a nice orphanage! There were paintings there from Jose Clemente Orozco too. He’s a good artist. After that we came back and I stopped at 7 Eleven to get a hot dog and then I went to school to get on the internet. I just chatted with my parents, Onna, and Kyle. I also made huge advances on a project I am doing. I did my homework too. I walked home, stopped to chat with the guy at the taco and hamburger place. Every night I’ve walked by I’ve thought he was packing up, but instead he was setting up! He is open from 8:30ish to 1am. Wow! I didn’t know he’d get business that late! The hamburgers are 25 pesos and the tacos are 5 pesos. I can see myself getting a taco on my way home. That would be like 40 cents every day or so. I already eat that late anyways, so this would be just as easy. At least once I’ll try him. I then finished my Cheetos for dinner and spoke to Gloria’s son. Tomorrow I am going to buy the router and during lunch time we are going to set it up! I am pretty excited and hoping that it works. Fun stuff!

Y La Escuela Starts...

Monday, finally! Wow it was an interesting day! I got up early to be able to get to class early enough to do a few things and then went to my assigned class. Imagine about 200 students all standing outside waiting for their assignments. Class didn't get started on time! But my first class has 13 people in it. 7 of them are Korean. In this class we go over grammar like crazy! The cool thing about being an RM is that in the MTC that's all we went over. They told us that as long as we knew the grammar we should be fine and the words would come. So far it's been fun. The teacher seems really nice and cool too. Her name is Gloria. In the second class we go over strictly vocabulary. It's a conversational class. She told us about a few assignments that we'd have to do in regards to communicating with people in Spanish. I'm really excited for this class too because she seems to be a very cool teacher. After class I went to get my student ID and then began calling each of my immediate family. You can't complain if your household did not get to talk to me! I tried! I then had lunch, corn soup and beef. I had a good talk with Gloria's son about WiFi and he said that if I bought a router he would set it up. I then said, because they have a problem with keeping the computer on all the time, that if they do that we could have a rule like every night at 10pm the internet turns off. He said he didn't like that idea and if I bought the router he would set it up to stay on all the time. Wow! That would be so cool! I'd be a huge couch potatoe, but that'd be okay. The rest of the day I spent talking to people and surfing the net. I chatted with Onna for a good while too, which is always nice. I came home and didn't eat dinner. I just wasnt hungry at all! I watched a bit of MIIB (Men in Black 2) in Spanish before lying down for bed. What an exciting day!

P.S. I think all of you have Facebook, that is where I post pictures. If you do not or are having problems finding them, comment here. I will post here if there is a huge need.

The Reposo Day

Well finally it came. Sunday. The day to go to church. I got up so groggy in the morning. I have had the worst sore throat, but it leaves after I begin talking and getting ready. I got up, got ready, and hopped on the 632 to take me to the church. It was so nice, I was pulling up and got off the bus and walked the short distance to the church. I saw the missionaries and was so excited, cool, someone to talk to. They were so dumb. They didn't say a word to me. I went up and talked to them and they gave as short of an answer as possible. So much for me ever going out with them later. The chapel was tiled floors, no bigger than Hartsville's, the seats were all individual. The stand had only one row, however. After Sacrament no one came to talk to me. I felt like such an outcast. People would look, but they wouldn't talk. Finally a counsellor in the High Priests came up and talked to me, he introduced me to the right people. I met the Bishop and he seemed nice, but busy. He gave me his card and told me to call if I needed anything. I went in with the YSA during Gospel Doctrine. It was okay. The teacher did a good job teaching. Then I went to Elder's Quorum. It was a full room. After church I chatted with the Exec. Secy about my records. We'll see if they ever arrive. Ironically enough, he also has red hair. Afterwards I rushed home and had Cheetos, cookies, and water for lunch. How nice! We then went to Tlequepaque to tour. It was just a huge market where most of the stuff is made right there. Cheap prices too. If it wasn't Sunday, I would have purchased. Then all the others wanted to go to lunch, so we went. They ate, I got a Coke. It was good times. Fun talking Spanish to everyone. Finally we got back around 6pm and I rushed to the school, but, alas, it was closed. It was going to be my first day without internet, or talking. How sad! I got home and ate my dinner, more Cheetos, cookies, and a muffin. How good. Gloria eventually got home and I asked her if I could get online, she allowed, and I surfed for a few minutes. It wasn't a good connection, but I did chat with Onna for a little bit. Afterwards I laid in bed, watched the Office, and went to bed, ready for school the next day! Man am I excited!

Dia de Preparation

Today was such a LONG day! I got up early and ate breakfast, which was watermelon and eggs with ham. Good stuff. I am really not eating a lot here. I eat what they give me and go on with my day. Some odd reason I can wait until a 2 or 3pm lunch, and then a 9pm dinner. Crazy crazy! I got up early to be ready for the tour of downtown Guadalajara. I got to the bus and it didn’t leave for at least 15 minutes. As soon as I got there I remembered that I didn’t grab my camera! If I knew they weren’t gonna leave right a way I could have ran home. It was a good tour though. We waited for about 30 minutes for the guide to arrive. There were so many pigeons in the court yard! I was so afraid to be pooped on! The first place we went was city hall. They built this building only 50 years ago, but they built it so it would look like it was built by the Tapatios (the natives of Guadalajara).It looks ancient. The paintings it had up on the wall were so cool. There were five paintings that described the history of Guadalajara and how they fought for their freedom. Nice paintings. Then we went to the Cathedral. This place was huge! It was built in 1550. It had three doors to enter; one was for the Father, one for the Son, and one for the Holy Ghost. The one for the Father wasn’t open. They also had three chapels. All were open and the one for the father was the normal size. The other ones were little for when a person wanted to connect specifically to the Son or the Holy Ghost. They had everything up about Paul. This year is the year of Paul, they are celebrating his life this year. Then we went underground where the bodies of some famous Cardinals lay. Then we went to the Governor’s Palace. This place had a HUGE mural of the Nazi oppression and how it effected even the Mexicans. It was amazing! The painter, Jose Clemente Orozco was half blind, and had only one hand. And according to the rules, he was only allowed to paint two hours at a time. It took him 7 months to finish it. The motto was “If he could do this with one hand, imagine what we can do with two.” Then we went to the market. It was crazy all the different stuff. People were following you around to get you to go buy from them. I only asked one question and that was the price of boots. They are about 2000 pesos for authentic, less for the fakes, of course. Everyone else ate at the market, but I just drank a Coke. When we got back I quick and ate and boarded the bus to go to Wal Mart. The WalMart was the exact same. It had the same set up, the employees knew about as much as those in the States and the prices were low. The only difference was that most of the lines were open to take people. The cool thing I’ve noticed about Mexico is that everyone seems to have a job, everyone does something. People will sacrifice digital cable to have a house keeper just so they can give another person a job. It’s a good thing. Oh, another similar thing, I saw a lot of people standing around, just the same. And it was packed for a Saturday. I also noticed while I was there Sears, Sam’s Club, Costco, Carl’s Jr., Burger King, 7 Eleven, and Blockbuster. Amazing how American (or similar) things are! When I got back home I rushed over to the school and searched and searched for a plug in, but the school hardly has any outside! I finally found one and sat my tooshie down. Another came shortly after and noticed there wasn’t an available plug in, so he unplugged the drink machine! It was there I sat as I talked to my parents, Onna, and Kyle. Man did my butt hurt when I got up! On my way home I stopped at the gas station and then continued home. I live off of a very busy street, so I am never worried until I turn onto my block walk to my house on a well lit, but not too busy, street. Tonight I ran in to someone whom I’ve seen before and talked to him. Turns out he is a security guard for TelMex, the telephone company here. The office is right there on that street. So not only is the other street very busy, but once I get to my side street I have a security guard who can see me all the way home. How cool is that! I got home and I watched the Cardinals pound on the Panthers! I am excited for church tomorrow. We are also going to Tlaquepaque tomorrow. It’s supposedly a huge market place with a good bit of souvenirs.

The Tercera

I would have to say that today may have been the best day so far. I think partly because it’s another day closer to actually starting school. I got up and ate breakfast—cantelope and papaya with 3 half-quesadillas. It was some pretty good stuff. It’s amazing how little I eat but how long it takes me throughout the day. After breakfast I went to the school for orientation with all the rest of the international students. There were about 100 of us this time. A good portion was from Korea or Japan, which really surprised me. It was cool, nonetheless. We watched a video about the university and how great it is supposed to be. We then went on a tour. Here is where the day went weird. There were only about 6 of us that were either Mexican or already had taken the exam. I was one of them. We went on a mini tour of the campus and then went to get our ID cards. I get up and my name isn’t even on the list. Stinks. They had no idea what I was supposed to do. After everyone else had their ID cards we waited for all the students to finish the exams. I sat and texted Kyle and Onna. It was nice to be able to text again. Well from there we went on a tour of the rest of the campus. The school is split in to two sides, the academic side and the athletic side. A street actually splits the two. They don’t want one thing going to the other side of either. The work out gym is so nice! I think I’ll spend some time there. Then we went to the pool. It was HUGE! It was a swimming laps pool, and you have to wear a speedo, but I can see myself swimming too. Then we went to the soccer and football field. They both looked so nice! The school teams and professional Jalisco teams play there. It seats either 3,000 or 30,000 I missed that part. But he did say that the Chivas stadium in Guadalajara can seat 90,000, or three times the school stadium. Then the tour was done. Wow. I still didn’t have an ID or my class schedule. I went to get my ID with a paper saying I was really a student but the line was so long, so I waited for a while, but eventually just headed home. I then texted Jill on my Mexico cell phone and she let me know about my schedule. Start Monday about 9am I think. I’m pretty excited for that. Then I went and ate lunch. I had carrot and zucchini soup and then a thin slice of meat. It was pretty good. Tasted a lot like A-1, so maybe it was drenched in it. After that I went shopping again, and tried to set up WiFi at my house. I am close. I might just need to buy a router and then I’d be able to get online from home. That would be so nice! I eventually made it to school and sat in the same seat for multiple hours surfing the web and chatting it up with Onna for over an hour. It was nice to talk to her for so long! Afterwards I talked to my parents and then began the walk home. It amazes me how busy the street is at 9pm at night! It is comparable to a freeway, only it has lights, luckily. When I got home I watched an episode of the Office. The second episode was MUCH better than the first. Afterwards I watched Los Simpson (no joke, The Simpsons in Spanish—weird!) and went to bed. What a nice day.

Dia Two

Well the second day was a good one too. I woke up after a rough night to the sound of my name being yelled. Breakfast was ready. I overslept my alarm! Breakfast was eggs and tortillas. Good stuff. I then got ready for the day and rushed to the Universidad. I was excited to get my WiFi all set up. I did! I then went to the library, found a plug in (they are definetly not as easy to find as in the US. Probably like finding them in airports, you have to really search!) I camped out for the next few hours in that spot and chatted with my dad and Onna and Christian. It was SO NICE to finally talk to Onna! I didn’t get to yesterday and things just didn’t feel right. We didn’t talk long, just long enough to hear each other. I didn’t talk much though, I was in the library. After that I rushed home and had lunch. Corn soup (mush) and some potatoes. They were smothered in red sauce though and tasted just fine. I then relaxed for five minutes before heading to meet with Jill and the other GLS student. The other student is Abby, from Tennessee. It was fun to chat with people. We got new cell phones and just went over some rules. No drinking is allowed. How sad. There goes my chance to binge! (yeah right). Then we took a taxi to dinner. We ate at a very nice restaurant (Bizzells like). I wish I took a picture of the place but hate seeming like such a tourist. I will do better, promise. I had a steak there. It had a lot of fat on it, but still good. We then walked Abby to her house and took a taxi back to the Universidad. I sat my toosh on a bench and called and talked to my mom, Onna, and Kyle. Things are starting to be a little better since I can kind of get my schedule down and will hopefully be able to make many calls home! I think I am gonna look in to the price to add internet. How nice would that be?! I’d love internet in the house. Oh yeah, next week I will have a roommate for about a month, then have maybe another month without one, and then another month with one. This is probably better than a mission in that if I get sick of him I can just walk away or go out on my own. It’ll be tough without the freedom of which TV station I watch! After my phone calls I walked home and found the BCS game and watched that. Goooo Sooners! (Dang it...)

Just pictures.

Getting off the plane on stairs.



Entrance Gate.

I think this was the first President of the school.

The school dorms and courtyard.

Library.

International Center/Main Building.


Applebees.

Starbucks.

McDonalds.


My room.

Bathroom.

Beds.

My "Pool house"

My house.