"I'm leavin' on a jet plane..."

Friday:
Joel and I woke up early enough that we could spend some time together before leaving at 11:00, which was really nice, and then we ate some leftovers from Thursday night at Milagros (aka, the best restaurant in the world!) for lunch and he gave me a blessing that he'd record and type up to send to me.   I was SO NERVOUS!  that I would forget something, that I would have too much, that no one would like me, that I wouldn't be able to speak Spanish... all the normal stuff.  But I was really happy I had packed everything the day before because I would've been so incredibly nervous that I probably wouldn't have been very nice, but as it was, the morning was almost relaxing and I left on a really high note.

At 11:10ish, Joel and I left to pick up my new roommate, Jill.  It was exciting! but mostly nervous - I actually had a pretty difficult time getting excited for some reason.  I think it was because of everything that happened with my passport - I spent so much time focusing on getting to the end result that I didn't really focus on the end result very much to get excited for it.  That was one of the reasons I wanted to be roommates with her - I knew she was a really excited person that would help me get out :)

When we got to the airport, my suitcase only weighed 45 pounds (probably - the airport guy only picked it up and guessed!), which was nice because I didn't have to unpack or switch around anything!  And then I said goodbye to Joel (he's so nice to be so excited for me coming!), got through security without any hitches, and got to the terminal.  We had about an hour and a half to wait to get on the plane, but when we did, we had to wait awhile and left about an hour and some late.  The captain said on the intercom that there was a plane in Houston that needed a spare part that we just happened to have, so we had to wait to get it before we could leave.  Everybody was kind of freaking out about not making our connection, but I kind of figured that with so many people, we'd surely make it, and if we didn't, we'd stay in a hotel or something and get to leave tomorrow.  It wasn't a really big deal, but a bunch of people thought it was.

On the flight, no snack!  I thought all planes gave snacks!  Instead we got to have the whole can of whatever we got.  I got Sprite so the fizz would fill me up.  Jill was super thirsty and asked for juice and water, and when the flight attendant heard how thirsty she was, she let her keep the entire liter bottle of water that she was filling cups with! and then took a picture for us of how much beverage we had :D  It was a pretty long flight and at the end I got this really weird pressure in my face - probably due to my cold - which was uncomfortable, but it all ended okay :)

We ran to our connection (the layover was 58 minutes and we were at least an hour late) but it was already closed.  When Jill told them how many people were coming, though, (and after some Mom-like finagling by a lady on our flight), they let us on... where we proceeded to wait for an hour before leaving.  Wonder why?  The airplane we were on was the one we'd brought the part for!  And they had to fix the plane before we could leave.  What are the chances?

The second flight was interesting - also no snack (must be the company) and we didn't get to keep the can, either.  But we did have a really nice lady sitting next to us who helped us fill out our customs forms (I had no idea that you did that while still on the plane!) and at the end of flight, gave us her business card so we could call if we ever needed anything while in Mexico!  Her name was Barbara.  She was born in California but had moved to Mérida later.  When this flight landed was probably the first time I began to really feel excited.

We arrived only about an hour late.  When we landed, we stood in a line for a while to show one of our customs forms.  The guy asked if I spoke Spanish and when I said, "....sí," (yes) he answered, "¿un poquito?" (a little bit) and I said, "Pues, más o menos, sí," (well, more or less yes) and he said, "Más o menos - hablas bien." (You speak well) and then proceeded to tell me about my forms in Spanish. It was kind of cool :)  After getting those, we went through a door (where we took a picture! on Jill's camera - I'll have to get it later) and then got our luggage (maletas - a new vocab for me) and stood in another line.  At the end was customs - you put your luggage and backpack and everything through one of those x-ray scanners and then go up to a person.  They look at your form and then tell you to push a button that turns on a light.  If the light turns green you get to go through.  If it turns red they ask you questions about coming to Mexico and then you get to go through.  Mine turned green.  And when I walked through, there was my director to check me in, and then there was Carmita!  Holding a sign for us with our names on it!  It was super exciting - we had talked on the plane about how exciting it would be if she had a sign :)

We went out to the car with Carmita and paid to leave.  While she was paying, Jill and I took a picture in the car of being excited.  When she got back we drove to the house! It was pretty close - probably 20ish minutes - but I felt so shy.  I had no idea what to say.  It was okay because I was in the backseat and since she had the radio on, I pretty much had no idea what people were saying.  When we got to the house, her daughters were up and one of the daughters' husbands.  We talked for a while, which was good, because that helped me feel a lot more comfortable.  In the car I felt super nervous, but talking later was good.  I was hungry but too nervous to ask for food.... I didn't want tons and tons or anything :)  She showed us our bedroom, which is really cute, bigger than I thought, and has a door to the backyard.  There's a little pool back there!  And, I think I figured out why we're always supposed to make the bed.  There are bugs.  When I washed my hands after going to the bathroom, a spider came out of the sink.

I got to skype Joel!  I miss him, but not too much - I've been commanded not to :)

The bed was comfy :) My cold is absolutely driving me crazy.  I'm probably driving Jill crazy talking about it, so I'm trying not to, but it seriously is practically all I can think about because I can't breathe through my nose and am coughing all the time.  Oh well - at least it's only a cold.  We woke up at 7:00 this morning after six-ish hours of sleep.  No alarm!  It's humid here, but about like home.  Last night the weather felt like home at summer at nighttime - not too bad.  They said that at noon it'll be about 100 degrees, which doesn't sound too fun, but hopefully it'll be okay.  The house isn't really air conditioned, but our room has a unit.  There's a huge difference between our room and the rest of the house :)  We haven't left the room yet except Jill went to the bathroom... and the water was off so the toilet wouldn't flush and she couldn't wash her hands.  Not sure what's up with that yet.  I'm nervous about breakfast (and otherwise about the diet) but I am trying sooo hard to be positive about everything.  Last night was really hard but I am very very thankful for the peace that comes with reading the scriptures.  When I woke up I felt better and now I am working hard to keep that feeling.  I'm looking forward to what happens during the rest of today!