Friday 1/16/09
Wow, what a day… I woke up at 3:45 am out of pure restlessness and started my day. My parents and I were at a hotel in Altoona so that we wouldn’t be very far from the Airport when I had to fly out at 6:45 am. We got around and got all of the stuff packed back up and when we walked outside it was -20 degrees!!! That was just another push for me to want to come to Mexico! When we got to the airport and got my boarding passes we met up with Cole Krause and her parents. We said our goodbyes and I would have to say that my mom was somewhat emotional that her baby boy was going off to another country. Cole and I soon got on our flight to Houston which was this little toy airplane that was, as one of the other passengers put it, “built to haul a class of 8th graders”. We got to Houston with no delays or complications and everything was going well. It was 9 am and we didn’t leave again until 6:55 pm. We found a nice cozy corner to set up camp and just chilled for a while. We went and spent a lot of money on a crappy lunch and went back to chilling. Around 4pm we were getting a little bored, and when I say little… that is definitely an understatement. We couldn’t find any free Wi Fi, and me being cheap, wasn’t going to buy it. We decided to go ride the train that took people to different terminals. We rode back and forth on it around 10 times and made chit chat with whoever was standing by us at the time. We happened to kill enough time to go and sit in our corner for just a few more minutes and then board the plane to Merida.
Oh boy, this was what I was waiting for all day! Well I fell asleep before we even took off. Pure boredom and exhaustion were beginning to out-weigh the excitement of going to another country… that is until I saw the lights of Merida on the ground. The trip through the Merida airport was a pretty long and boring one. Cole and I went through immigration and customs without any problem and then we met up with Eduardo!!! Boy was I glad to see him. Eduardo is one of the language assistants at Central this year and he came back to Merida for break. It just so happens that he will be here for 6 days while I am here, so he picked us up from the airport. He took Cole and I for a cruise around the city over to this little restaurant where they serve really good… “ panuchos”, I think that is how you spell it. Anyways, they are avocados, onions, turkey, and refried beans on top of a fried tortilla. They also had some really good salsa that had my lips tingling hours after I was done eating it.
While we were eating, I noticed a girl back in the kitchen was looking at me and laughing… I am pretty used to this and didn’t take any offense. I simply smiled and waved at her and she burst out laughing and ducked away. I also waved at an older lady that was back in the kitchen and she returned it with a kind smile. I asked Eduardo if they thought I was stupid, he told me they only think I am crazy. I think I can handle that.
Following the restaurant, Eduardo took us to Esther Garcia’s house, who is also a language assistant this year, so we could stay there until the Central house opens up. Esther isn’t here, but her Mother and Sister are. Her mother’s name is Esther also, and her sister’s name is Eugenia. We walk in this absolutely gorgeous house that has white walls, white tile and lovely things everywhere. It is really cozy and Esther’s family is so hospitable. We all sat at the table and talked for a while until Eduardo left. The Garcias showed Cole and I upstairs to our rooms. Cole ended up talking to Eugenia who knows quite a bit of English, and I ended up mostly talking to the Mother who is such an amazing woman! The only problem is that she doesn’t speak English. I definitely had a love-hate relationship with this situation because it was making me think on my feet, but it also made me feel stupid when I couldn’t think of a word. All was well and we ended up having a wonderful conversation about random things.
I have been having troubles getting onto the internet so my posts are going to not be on the day that they happened, and I think my camera fell out somewhere in the house, so photos are going to be postponed as well, but I will definitely get all of that figured out very soon!
Hasta Luego Amigos!
