Safe and happy....

Hello! I´m writing to inform you that I arrived safely to Mexico City and made it through the airport without too much trouble on Friday. The reason I say not too much trouble was because when I was turning in my paperwork and asking questions the man working was more interested in flirting! Kristine and I were greeted by Rafael, the school chef and were transported to our families. I must say that Mexican driving in CRAZY!!!! Much crazier than Ensendada, too. Anyhow, Rafael dumped us off, and I mean literally. He dropped off our suitcases and said goodbye. But my family was waiting my arrival which made the situation a bit more comforting.
Kristine and I have only been here a few days but we have already done so much. On Friday we spent the remainder of the evening with our families and on Saturday we had an orientation at Universal. We took our initial tests and spoke with the director. Then we got a tour of Cuernavaca by foot. That afternoon Kristine and I attended a bible study for young adults and watched the story of Joseph in Spaish. We were then put on the spot to share something with the group. Yesterday, we were picked up by our new friends and attended one of the local Christian churches. After church we walked around el centro de Cuernavaca in search of a good bank. Last night I was so exhausted and I just wanted to go to bed but when I went down to dinner at 8 my family was not about to let me leave. We chatted for a couple of hours and I helped Arantza with her English homework. Today was our first day of school. I absolutely loved our Spanish class and I´m looking forward to the rest of the week. As for the culture and civilization class, it was a lot of information and I had a bit of trouble focusing. Sadly, I have this class two hours a day for seven weeks so I need to get adjusted quickly. Tonight Kristine and I are going to an exercise class with my family. It´s aerobics......... it should be interesting!
Hmmmm......... what more can I say. Well, I´m really enjoying it here. It´s been a struggle the last few days because I feel like I understand so much and yet cannot communicate all that I want to say. But I have had a lot of practice with my family. My family is kinda Catholic, but despite this I have had some long encouraging discussion about God with my host mom. I´m really looking forward to the rest of my time here with this family.


This is a picture of the street that I live on. I live on the same street as the school and it only takes me about a minute to walk there. I am one of the first young students my family has had because usually the older students get placed there.







This is what my house looks like from the street. All of the homes have locked gates.

This is what my house looks like from inside of the gate. There is a patio like room that has three chairs for sitting. There is the dining room table and then there is the TV. Behind this room is the Kitchen and I haven´t quite discovered how much bigger the home is.


This is my host mom, Mirna and her ll year old daughter, Arantza. I also live with Felipa, Mirna´s mother. She´s 80 years old and refused to be in the picture because she says she is not photogenic. Mirna´s sister lives behind us in there own house, I think. She is married to a European, but right now I´m drawing a blank with the country. There names are Irma and Peter and they have two teenage boys. My family is amazing and they challenge me to practice Spanish all of the time. I usually spend a couple hours at every meal just hanging out with them. Meal times are at 8:30/2:30/8:00. Breakfast is a good size, lunch is their biggest meal and dinner is very light. I´m starting to get used to the meal times. The most difficult time is making it to luch. I´m always soooooo hungry. Mirna always tries to get me to drink something other than water. She has something new at every meal for me to try and she is baffled when I still ask for water in addition. :)