Travel Day

So what would you call it if it's not quite Murphy's law but it's pretty close?  Oh yea...I guess it's called traveling.  Delayed flights? Check.  Started my period today? Check.  Almost missed connection? Check (by about 20 seconds).   Screaming child in seat behind me? Check.  Sit next to guy who wants to hit on me? Check.  Missing luggage? Check!

Initial thoughts when landing in Guadalajara: Pollution! and heat!  The owner of the school picked me up from the airport which was nice because he speaks English with a Dutch accent.  There were no fiascoes or confusions at the airport, minus my missing luggage and the whole not speaking Spanish thing, and it wasn't scary at all.  :)

The owner of the school took me directly to my host family's house.  They don't speak a single word of English.  There is a mom and two teenagers (boy and girl).  They sell pastries out of their house to make money.  It's a very traditional small Mexican home with a room in the middle that has no roof (aka a courtyard).  Before I came here I Google-mapped the area and did 'street-view' and I noticed there were barbed wire fences on the rooftops which was concerning but now make sense.

The mother is very nice.  We tried to speak a little bit of Spanish to each other but it was very difficult.  I can understand far more than I can speak.  She made me a sandwich when I got here and luckily they have a four gallon jug that gets filled with purified water.  Hopefully it's actually purified because I drank 3 glasses of it.  (Time will tell.)   She then gave me 200 Pesos to go explore.  It's very disorienting outside though, so I don't feel comfortable exploring by myself yet.  All the streets look the same and they are very busy with cars and people everywhere.  I'm looking forward to going to school and meeting friends to venture out with. 


Things I've learned/noticed so far:

1) Meal times - Breakfast is 8:15 and is light.  Lunch is later than I'm used to, 2:00-3:00 and is the main meal of the day. (It's treated like our dinner.)  Dinner is also late around 7:00 or 8:00 and is light.  It's not a sit down meal and people eat the food that is prepared whenever they get around to it.
2) Music - Think of the most stereotypical Mexican music... That's what they listen to everywhere.
3) Heat - Yes, it's hot.  No, there's no A/C.

Let the adventure begin! Adios!