hello from guadalajara! TOP 5

wow! i can not believe we have only been here for less than a week!!! im loving it though!! and kind of catching on to things. our stomachs are a little behind, but well see if they catch up. so let's see....there is absolutley so much!!! im going to give you my top five! so...here it goes;

5. ate an exocitic mexican fruit!

Saturday for lunch we were all eating together in the house, Jessica, myself and our family. After asking what this noise was outside, like a person talking through a microphone, we listened for a bit and Carlos, nuestra padres, took off running outside. It was a street vendor and he was selling pitallas, this rare fruit our family was telling us about the day before. It only comes one month out of the year, may. and it comes off of a cactus. It had the stangest texture out of anything i have ever tried before. Im not so sure I liked them, but it was so much fun to try. He actually bought a couple, and as he pealed each one it was like magic!

4. got lost! twice!

so i think slowly we are figuring out the bus system. and its fun to talk to people on the bus, mainly because we are trying to figure out if we are on the right bus, if we are going the right direction, and where we need to get off. but also we talk just to talk, and really to make a fool out of ourselves. at least they all ready now we are american by looking at us, and we're trying! sunday was definetly an adventure getting to church (note to self, even though the boys say they know how to get there, that does not entail that they really do) and again yesterday, we got lost trying to find hermana stalling's apartment for noche de hogar, FHE, and we were in charge. i just have to laugh! it makes everything so much more interesting!

3. i've developed my own kind of morning sickness.

so...Our stomachs are still adapting i think. we really haven't eaten any street food. or drank any of the water. but we are sure going though pepto bismal pretty fast. i don't want to give you any more information than what you want to know...but the last couple of mornings Jess and I have both been waking up pretty sick. luckily by mid morning, we are feeling much better. our mom keeps us updated on what we can and can not eat and what we need to do and such. hopefully its just kind of the change of things, new bacteria, and give it some time...and we should be good to go!

2. salsa dance and thrown into the pool!

yesterday for cinco de mayo we had a large barbeque with the branch. it was so much fun. and there was so much food. the kids in the branch are so nice and really try and help us with our spanish. most of them know english as well, but for the most part we talk in spanish the whole time...that is our goal! :) we got to dance, true mexican salsa, and another kind...which i actually can't remeber the name of. it was so much fun! and we are actually going some where to go dancing this friday with some guys in the ward! can't wait!!!!!
the barbeque itself was so much fun! its fun to try and communicate with everyone...they just sit and smile and wait for you to stutter through your sentance.
oh..and i almost forgot!!! i got to go swimming! it was after FHE. my friend started to push me in the pool, and i yelled i still had my camera so he stopped. i told if i didn't have my camera, and if we werent going to go dancing later (which we were) he had full permission to push me in. well, we found out we were not going to be able to go dancing...not too many places open on a monday night. and he asked if he could see my camera, and me honestly not catching on, said okay. one second later i was in the pool! it felt great. and its so dry here that i was almost dried out from the walk home afterwards.

1. first day of classes!

i love school! the campus is great and our teacher is amazing! maestra teresea! she is very sweet and really not the difficult to understand. when i can't understand her i feel like i can at least get the main idea what she is saying. i am really glad to be formally learning new things in addition to just absorbing things off the street...if that makes any sense. it is going to be really helpful to review the tenses and verbs, and learn new ones to be able to use.
today after class we began preparing our song, that we have to sing, in spanish...no joke for the closing and opening social next week. (there is a big party on campus for those who are just starting classes and for those who are finishing) it is so much fun! and really fun to sing! i hope we get an audio copy of the music. i'd love to share it with you! ill keep ya updated though on the next biggest version of Mexican Idol.

Wow! There is still so much more! and so much more to come! We get to go to a game today!!!! ahh! can't wait! it is one of the things on my list that i had to absolutely do when i came to mexico...go to a Mexican soccer game in Mexico. we are going to a game also on thursday, as a group. (today we are going with some friends we met here) we were told this is really the only week to see the teams here play, so we are taking advantage of it. we getting our talent show together, for the end of the term...something we can do to kind of give back to the ward, we've got a trip planned for this weekend to visit some sites that are of historical importance to guadalajara, we got a dinner date with a mariachi band on friday, followed by..of course, dancing, and instituto!!! so much to do! we are kept busy, and by the end of the night, you can almost hear your bed calling your name . ;-) its great, and all of it is centered around spanish....no anatomy homework and such....ya follow? its been great!

oh...and i almost forgot, yesterday after everything, on our way home for the night, there was a churro stand open...and we had to stop, a real mexican churro. and we were in heaven. it was filled with dulce de leche (my favorite)....it was so good. and the bad thing is that stand is not too far away from us.....

love ya all!!!

te amo ! te extrano!