Nuestro Primera Dia Viviendo en Mexico (Our First Day Living in Mexico)

This is actually our segundo dia en Mexico, but I want to start al principio (at the beginning). We arrived in Guadalajara around 10:30 p.m. Sunday and took a taxi from the airport to the house we will be staying in, hopefully for the duration of our time in Guadalajara. Señora Maria, the muy agradable (very nice) owner of the house, showed us to our new room.

The climate is so pleasant here. The windows stay open 24/7, except last night, when a storm rolled through. This rainy season will last through October.

Back to our cuarto:
Our room is past the courtyard in a separate part of the house, with our own private bath.
It is a comfortable, airy room with two closets, two desks, and a king-size bed. There is good natural light from the two large frosted windows, and a cool breeze from the two sliding, screened windows. Large palm trees are growing around the pool outside our window.

Ayer (yesterday), we decided to walk to the grocery store in a plaza about cinco cuadras (5 blocks) away. We bought some food to cook for dinner (we're responsible for our dinners; breakfast and lunch is provided daily). It was a nice walk. We feel very safe in this colonia called Providencia. Later on yesterday afternoon, we walked to the school Garrett will be attending. It's very close. We met a fellow student who showed us around the campus, and then walked with us to a plaza and papeleria, where Garrett can buy supplies.

Communication is still pretty limited, but Sra. Maria and Sr. Jaime (Maria's employee/handy-man/cook) have both said we're learning quickly. We had an hour-long conversation with Jaime en la cocina (in the kitchen) during comida (lunch) today. We weren't able to follow word-for-word, but still got to know each other better.

He and Maria are excellent cooks! So far, we have had omelets with espinaca y tomate; pasta con pollo and mushrooms, with a side of squash, potatoes and carrots; delicious breakfast sandwiches with a side of fresh piña; and carne en su jugo, one of Guadalajara's most popular dishes...yum!