are you ready for tequila and salsa?

Hello from México!! I arrived yesterday afternoon, a bit sick from the plane ride, but otherwise in good shape. The luggage was NOT lost!! The first thing that the Projects Abroad (henceforth known as PA) guys who picked me up said was, "Are you raedy for tequila and salsa?" Forget DisneyWorld... Guadalajara is the happiest place on Earth. The guys were really nice and took me on a quick driving tour on the way to my home, which is in a very good location. It is literally 3 minutes from the PA office and 3 minutes from the main University of Guadalajara campus. It is only a 20 minute walk to "downtown". I spent most of yesterday unpacking, getting used to the suffocating heat, and hanging out with my house mom Concha and my roommates Jacky and Emily. Emily is physically my roommate and Jacky is a weird kid who has been here for 2 weeks and apparently never speaks. He's really awkward. But Emily is great. She'll be a senior at UC Berkley and we're really similar. Concha and the people from PA say I speak better spanish than her, which I don't think I do, and she lets me do a lot of the translation.

Today the director of PA here picked us up from our house and took us to the office to meet the staff, get our welcome packets, etc. Then Carlos, one of the guys from the airport, took me, Emily, and another new volunteer (Brittany - but she'll be in Ciudad Guzman 2 hours from here) on a walking tour of the important places. We went downtown and were treated to authentic local food at a HUGE open air market called Mercado Libertad. It is HUGE. Imagine the size of the Robins Center at UR and triple it. Then fill it with restaurants, clothing stores, shoes, etc. and this is Mercado Libertad. We had this awesome drink that is made from rice water and cinnamon. It was really refreshing. And don't worry -- my house mom has filtered water for us (and herself). I am getting plenty of it. I haven't had much of an appetite but I have drank at least 3 gallons of water in this heat!

There is an Internet café across the street from the PA office (where I am now) but they said they would show me the Starbucks and a few other restaurants near the hospital we'll be at where I can find free wireless with my laptop. I certainly won't do this every day (though it is cheap.... its like the equivalent of $1 USD for an hour online). I also bought a Mexican cell phone where I get unlimited texts and 100 minutes. I can always purchase more minutes with like phone cards that they sell everywhere. It's a decent phone and it was only $400 MXN which is $40 USD. Not a bad deal. It will be nice for local calls. Also, if you can't live without me, you can call me on it from the US and I can talk for free. But you will have to pay. If you call through Skype its cheaper though. The best bet, if you want to talk to me, is to wait until I find wireless so I can do Skype somewhere quiet.

Tomorrow they are taking Emily and I to the hospital to be oriented there and have a meeting with our supervisor. They are going to show us how to use the bus system, etc. and take us out to lunch again. Emily arrived yesterday too (she is from TX and was on the flight from Houston 2 hours before me). She also will work with me, live with me, and we both have the exact same flight back to Houston on August 1!! We are fast friends already and I'm glad I have a friend here to do things with so I'm not totally on my own.

So here are some preliminary observations of Guadalajara: No one knows how to drive. Many streets do not even have lines. Those streets that actually have lines serve no purpose -- lines in a road are strictly ornamental. All of the movies in the theatres are in English with Spanish subtitles. I am really pale. I've been called "la blanca" (white girl) by several people passing me on the street. I have also been called "gringa". Its really rather funny. It is hot as hell here. I have no fan and no breeze in my room and it was 90º last night in my room. But PA guys are getting me a fan.

Okay that is about it. My time here on the computer is about to run out and I don't feel like paying more. I will update this whenever I can (probably 2 or 3 days from now). But for now, know that I am LOVING Guadalajara, my roommate, the food, and NOT the heat. I was a bit homesick at first, but I'm slowly getting over that as I fall in love with this city even more.

Paz y amor. Un besote a todos.