I am warning you -- this one is practically a novel.

Hey y’all!! I hope this post finds everyone in good health! I’m enjoying myself here in Guadalajara and really getting used to everything here. It’s ridiculous to think that after 4 days I feel like a “local” but I really am starting to. I know how to walk several places AND successfully took the bus to work and back to my house. In Guadalajara, the locals are called “Tapatíos”. So I’m slowly becoming one of those!

Tuesday night Heather, a PA staff member from Canada who is living in Guadalajara for 6 months and working in the office, texted me and invited Emily and I to go to Zapopan for dinner with a volunteer. We told Jacky about it and he, surprisingly, decided to venture out of his room and join us! We met Heather at the office (so close to our house – we are so lucky to live in such a central locale!) and then walked to Centro, where Mercado Libertad is. That walk is about 20-30 minutes depending on how heavy traffic is. Then we had to take a bus 25 minutes to Zapopan, an affluent sector of the city that isn’t exactly on the outskirts but it is far enough. It is amazing how big this city is! We had quite an interesting experience on the bus when a drunk man got on, started singing to us, and then started speaking very broken English that I think he learned from a song. He was yelling “Hey baby! I wanna feel you! Kiss me! Hey homie!” He finally managed to ask our names, and we had fun deciding what name to tell him. I think we ended up with male names. After getting a good laugh, and seeing all of the other people on the bus laugh at our situation too, we got off at the plaza in Zapopan by the basilica. We met Lisa, a nursing student from Wisconsin who is working in a hospital there. We had a great dinner at an outdoor Greek restaurant and we were sitting by this huge landmark arch that was lit up at night. It was really beautiful.

Wednesday was a really fun day. Emily and I had our first official day of work at the children’s hospital, which is part of the HUGE hospital complex Centro Médico. It is very different from an American hospital in that it is more of a campus than 1 big building. It really reminds me of a college campus. There are many small buildings for each department. Pediatrics is located in one area with several specialized buildings. Our building houses hematology/dialysis and chemotherapy (where we are). After a very successful 20 minute bus ride, we found our way back to the clinic we had visited Tuesday and waited for the supervising doctor, Jesus, to meet us (he was in surgery when we went Tuesday). He was really nice and seems like a very caring doctor. He is in charge of the pediatrics program, not just chemotherapy, so we didn’t see him after that at all. He says we’ll see more of him this summer, but it won’t be a daily occurrence. The nurses at the chemotherapy center are so caring and helpful! They were very excited that we were there to help and helped us get acquainted. It isn’t a big place, it is mainly a lobby, a procedure room for those who have to get their chemotherapy lines through the spine (like an epidural), a nurses scrub room (where we put our stuff, wash our hands, use the bathroom, etc.) and the circular treatment room. There are about 13 “stations” for chemotherapy and a main nurses desk in the middle of the room. A “station” consists of a lounge chair with the IV pole and 1 or 2 chairs for the families of the patients and for me and Emily too. The ceiling is painted like a solar system and its very bright and cheery. There is a box of supplies that have been donated by previous volunteers and I am quickly realizing that my gift of 4 books and finger puppets isn’t enough. The box is full of puzzles with most of the pieces missing, coloring books but no crayons, and an assortment of cheap toys. Emily brought playing cards, UNO, crayons, and some other supplies. However, we think we’re going to make a trip to a nearby marketplace and invest in some toys. Toys here are cheap, most under $10 MXN ($1 USD). So once we got oriented, we started immediately. Basically our job is to make the children smile. Many are very sick and in a lot of pain so anything we can do to make them smile or to brighten their day a bit makes a huge difference. I talked to an 11 year old, Carlos, who was getting his last treatment. He and his mom were so nice and very happy to talk to me. They put on his favorite movie (there are 4 big screen TVs around the room for the kids) so I went to talk to someone else while he rested and watched. I met Marisol, a 10 year old girl who is just as sweet as can be. She looks almost exactly like my cousin Claire so it was hard at first when I was talking to her, thinking about my family. Marisol lives 3 hours from Guadalajara and they come once a month for a week of treatment and they stay in the hospital for the week. I will get to see her all this week, which I’m happy about because she is so sweet. She can talk for HOURS. She loves to tell stories and I learned all about her pets and her family. When they take the IV out, they have to leave the catheter in if the child requires treatment the next day, and apparently they get really sore and painful. Marisol was really happy to have my hand to squeeze while they took hers out because it is really unpleasant for her. After she left, I talked with a few other patients for a short while, but there wasn’t much to do because the majority of the children who were still there were those who had gotten the epidural chemotherapy and they put the small children under anesthesia for it, so they were all sleeping in the recliners. The nurses hung out with us and chatted, very eager to see our Spanish ability and how we liked the city so far. They also said that they really don’t care when we show up and when we leave. The center closes at 2:30p so we left then, but in the future we can show up “around 9” and leave whenever the patient load starts to slow.

Once we got back to our home, Concha made us a big lunch and chatted with us. Emily and I can sit in the kitchen for an hour just talking to her. Concha loves to talk and I think she’s really happy that we speak so well and that we want to be involved in her life too. She never lets us clean or help cook, but we always try and sneak in some help here and there because we want to help such a kind lady. I haven’t had a fan in my room yet, and she went out and got me one (with PA money, of course) and she is so sweet about what kind of food we like, don’t like, etc. Emily read her book upstairs but my room was too hot so I took a nap in the front room of the house where I like to read. It’s the coolest place in the house because it gets a nice breeze and is always in the shade. Then Emily and I decided to venture to the movies. There is a cine about 10 blocks from our house, very close to the PA office. We were shocked at how cheap the tickets were -- $24 MXN ($2.40 USD)!!!! The theaters are big and have great AC (I was shivering during the movie). We saw the movie “What Happens In Vegas” which we weren’t expecting to be great, but both of us really ended up enjoying it. Of course, it is probably better with Ashton Kutcher and Cameron Diaz speaking the lines because a bit of the delivery is lost in translation, but we definitely got several good laughs out of it. When we got back home after the movie, Concha told us that several other PA volunteers had stopped by (our house is so close to the office that they all end up coming over) and left us a message to meet them at the bar across from the office for another volunteer’s goodbye dinner. We didn’t want to eat there, but we walked over and had a drink with them. It was really nice, it was on a balcony that overlooks the huge plaza, Plaza Expiatorio, where the PA office is. It was so breezy and it wasn’t even that hot! We really enjoyed hanging out with 10 other volunteers and Heather, the staff member who took us out the night before.

After that, we went back to our house to eat dinner and hang out with Concha’s grandson and daughter. They have a strange eating schedule here that I’m not yet used to. It isn’t as extreme as Spain, but its close. They eat breakfast when they wake up, usually around 8 or 9. Then lunch isn’t until 3 normally and dinner isn’t until 9. Concha is good at adapting and feeding us a bit earlier, as we are all Americans and are used to meals a bit earlier. But slowly I’m getting used to it. They say that when you are here you are on Mexican Time, meaning 10-15 minutes behind schedule and moving very slowly. It has been a challenge to be constantly late as I’m usually 5 minutes early. But slowly I am mellowing out and “going with the flow” – my mother would be so proud!

Today we had our second day at the chemotherapy center. It was a lot easier today as we knew what to expect and brought crayons. The kids went crazy over the crayons!! Also, the Dora book and the finger puppets that my mom bought are a HUGE hit with the smaller kids. I colored with Marisol for a long time and drew her a picture to take home. I also chatted with Tonio, a 14 year old who is one of the nicest guys I have met. He just won a scholarship to la prepa, which is like high school here in Mexico. It is a really prestigious prep school in Guadalajara associated with the ITESM, the main university here that has a lot of campuses all over. He wants to study architecture or electronics. He seems really motivated and driven -- it is so sad that someone like him has cancer. He seems to be taking it all in stride, though, and really doing well with everything. When he leaves he goes up to all of the little kids and gives them high fives and hugs, trying to encourage them as well. I also played with Diana, a 6 year old who I met yesterday. She and I colored for a LONG time and watched Ice Age 2 in Spanish. Yesterday she wasn't feeling well but today it was like she was a whole different person. She has such a huge personality! I love knowing that I make the kids smile when not much does. They are so happy just to have someone to talk to and to color with or read with. I can already tell the difference I will make in their treatment.

After work, we went back to the house to eat lunch with Concha and to nap. I am still half asleep from that nap!!

So Mexican food is amazing. We aren't eating like tacos and quesadillas every day (which is fine!) but I am getting to try a different type of normal Mexican dishes. As if I didn't already love this country and the people enough, I have a new reason: LIME. They put it on everything. EVERYTHING. And we all know how I love lime. They use it as a salad dressing, which is the #1 thing I will bring back with me from the states. All fresh vegetables are sprinkled with lime juice too. And the fruit here is fantastic! I will turn into a piece of fruit by the end of the summer I am eating so much of it! Concha buys fresh fruit every few days because she loves it too, and we do enjoy it. Every morning at breakfast there is a plate of fresh fruit like watermelon, pinneapple, and papaya. And she also has amazing oranges, mangos, apples, pears, and apricots. And the tortillas here are amazing! They taste so real and authentic (perhaps because they are...) and I cannot get enough.

Tonight we are supposed to go salsa dancing with the other PA volunteers and staff. Every Thursday night there is a salsa night we go to. I'm really excited to see how it is, but I doubt I will do a lot of dancing. They say that some people dance and some people just hang out with each other. Heather wants us to go out of town to Morelia with her this weekend, leaving Saturday morning and coming back Sunday night, and we are undecided. We are going to talk to her about it tonight. But Tamsin, a girl from England we met at the bar last night, wants us to hang out this weekend since her housemates are going to the beach. I know I want to travel, but I don't know if I want to leave the very first weekend I'm here. I would like to relax and see what the city has to offer on weekends. We shall see!!

Okay this is WAY too long so I will end it here and go sleep some more before salsa tonight! I will drink a (legal) Corona for all of you who wish you too were in the amazing city of Guadalajara.