First day!

Ok, so I know it hasn't even been 24 hours since my last post, but I just had to record my thoughts on this first day (more for my future records than for all of you reading this right now, but feel free to eavesdrop!)

I finally got to take a shower this morning and it was great... until I broke the shower head and couldn't turn it off, they were very nice about it though and it only stayed on for half the day before it could get fixed. haha Next I went down to breakfast (fruit/yogurt/granola/pancakes- all yum again) and met the first of my four host sisters (there are five kids total, and I met my brother Alex yesterday). Claudia is 29 and an engineer in the mines- there are many copper, silver and gold mines in and around Guanajuato. Throughout the day I found out that two of my other host sisters are also mining engineers... needless to say, not exactly what I expected. After breakfast Flavia, another one of my host sisters came over to help me find my way to school- these streets are just as tiny and windy as any little European town. Plus they're so hilly they make the Florentia climb seem like a flat road.

After Flavia dropped me off, the whole ISA group met and went over orientation stuff with our director Alma- she is absolutely HILARIOUS. I wish I would have written down some of the things she said. We got to walk all through the center of town, and see the ISA office that has internet, TV, a book and movie library that we can rent from (for free) and also free food and coffee for us.

We're going on a more official tour of the city tonight, but everything I've seen so far is absolutely gorgeous. I didn't take my camera out this morning, but if it's still light enough, I will this afternoon. There are more colors here than I could imagine.

Also, they have Applebee's, I've definitely seen two, maybe three (I'm not sure if the third was the same as the second or not)... haha but anyway it's so weird because that would have been about the last American chain restaurant I would have expected to see here.

When we were done with our morning ISA meeting, Flavia came back and helped me find my way back home again. Then I went with her to pick up her two kids, Sophia (almost 2) and Jorge Alex (7). Their school is on the other side of town, and on the way there the highway goes through a mining site, so we stopped and got to look down into the mine. There's also a viewpoint from there where you can look over the entire city. So beautiful.

After we picked up the kids, we went back to my host mom's for lunch (tortillas, avocados, ham w/mac n cheese, fried chicken- haven't had a bad bite yet), and Sophia and Jorge Alex are so so cute and funny. Sophia still doesn't talk, and apparently only eats avocados, from anyone's plate that is within reach. It's hilarious. Jorge Alex is seven but thinks he's 25 and told me all about how to take the bus to his house, where the safe and not safe places are and showed me all the videos and pictures on his personal, (and functional) cell phone. Also, after I told him that I had three siblings he goes "aye tu mamá como sufre!" (Your poor mom, how she suffers!) Yep, he's seven. I almost peed my pants. Soo cute.

Well, all that is what has happened to me already today. It is 3pm...