Viernes

Well today was Friday and it was nice to have the opportunity to finish a week of school. In my first class we just continued to go over grammar. And the homework I had done the night before just wasn’t going as well as I had hoped. I didn’t put a lot of thought into it, and that might explain why. It was fine when we began discussing and got into groups and spoke it though. We have a good bit of homework for Monday due, but so far the homework load hasn’t been that bad, and so if it stays like this over the next few months it’s gonna be really easy to at least finish my homework and if I see the need to study then that will come easily too. There aren’t a lot of things pulling on my time right now. That’s both good and bad. In my conversation class we had to identify all the Mexican holidays. She gave us a sheet and we were supposed to fill in all the dates. There are so many random ones! Mother in-law day, God parent’s day, child’s day, to name a few. I just pulled out my laptop and looked them all up online. Crazy stuff! We didn’t get to do any dancing, we ran out of time, but we did do some conversing, which is the point of the class. Good times. After class I went to the library for an hour or so and just chatted online, and downloaded the office season two from iTunes. I went home for lunch and amazingly found internet connection, so I just stayed home, watched like four more episodes of the office, watched some movies on TV, like Paycheck, and then eventually chatted with Onna. The signal isn’t too good from my room, so I went and laid on the lawn and had nearly perfect signal. How exciting! I came back inside, watched some of Los Simpson and went to bed. On tap for tomorrow? Maybe a movie—Marley and Me, or just another day at home. I do have my laundry to do.

Jueves

Today was a good day. My classes were very similar. In my grammar class we went over future tense of words and we played a game. My team won 5-4. Go us! I’m still loving that MTC more and more every day! In my next class we spent a good bit of time discussing bars and clubs. My teacher seems to think that that’s all we do, go to bars and clubs. We had to walk around the class today and ask 10 questions, and they were each about bars, and how they are in the different countries, and what kind of people go there, ect. I had to answer each one that I had no idea because I have never been! Oh well. We also spent a good bit of class going over the curse words in Spanish. I just looked down at my desk while she was writing the English words on the board. I didn’t want to see them. Later we began discussing music and culture and the words that are associated with that. We brought up the Cha Cha Slide and she said she was gonna look for the song and bring it tomorrow. How cool! By we I meant I, because who else would bring up that song but me?! After class I went to the library to connect my iTouch to the internet. After that I ran into a friend of mine and we went to the Kubo together. The Kubo was where we had our special lunch as a welcoming. They served a lot of food, and it was a lot of fun to see everyone again. I stayed there for only an hour or two and left and walked home. While home I got online and then I went upstairs to talk to Gloria’s daughter and husband that came to visit. It was a lot of fun. I was able to speak to the computer tech that was there fixing their computer about helping the signal out. He just suggested moving the router. Tomorrow we are going to move it and see what kind of signal I get. But unfortunately he changed a cable somewhere and it prevented me from getting signal. It made me upset, but I went to the library and there I stayed. I talked to my mom, Kyle, and Onna, while doing a lot of work on Facebook. I left the library early and walked to Applebees. I was really feeling the need to have something American. It was so good! I waited there while they made it. I gave the guy a 15 peso tip because he spoke with me, got my ketchup, ect. His name was Cesar. He’s been to the United States and Europe to play soccer. He’s 19. Cool guy. I came home and ate and watched 3 episodes of the Office. I am really starting to like that show. I did my homework and got to bed. Boy am I ready for the weekend!

Muy Short

School continues to be good. Today it was much harder to concentrate in school. Still fun though. We played SceneIt and we split up into teams and the girl they partnered me with knew all the answers so pretty much all I did was roll the dice and get a good number. It was funny. On break there was this girl I started talking to. She is from Idaho so I figured she might be Mormon. I asked her what part she was from and she told me that she was from the neck part, so I figured she wasn’t Mormon since a lot of the areas up there aren’t as populated as down south. She then went on talking about the jack-Mormons at her school and how fun they were. The Koreans then walked up and asked if she was Mormon and she replied with a strong, “Heck no!” I just smirked. How awkward it would have been for her if I told her I was at that moment. I kept it to myself. She went on and on about how they were growing all out from Utah and how they are everywhere and it’s crazy that they are taking over (by growing everywhere)! After class I went to an electronics store and bought a router. We hooked it right up and I now get signal in my room. The signal is very weak though. In fact, if I am on Skype or something that is ALL I can do as far as internet goes. Video messes up too. I might have to also buy an antenna amplifier. That would make it good, but the son here mentioned he might purchase it from me at the end of the semester, so instead of me taking it home he would just buy it. If he gave me 75% of what I paid for the router and if I buy an amplifier I would sell easily. I’d have to talk to him first. After we got it set up I just stayed in and surfed the net. At night the signal got weaker than in the day. At one point I lost the entire signal during a convo with Onna and I couldn’t find it anywhere. I had no thought to check the router, so I ran (ran!) to the school so it could be worked out. When I came home I checked the router out and it had been turned off (the surge protector). I flipped the switch and things were fine for a while. It was turned off again around 11:30 and I didn’t bother with it then and just went to bed. Good times.

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.