January 7-12th, 2010

Howdy Hey from  Mexico City! The day was very eventful. I left not so bright and early this morning at 2am. I was seen off by Frank who provided a wonderful breakfast and coffee. My mom and Joy drove me to the airport, we made it there in good timing, checking in took forever, once I was checked in I sat with my mom and Joy for a little bit, they prayed over me, and then I was off to security. It wasn't long until I was wreaking havoc! Security is not my forte in any way, shape or form! It takes me forever, I held up the line and dropped things left and right, but I managed to make it through. My first flight was good, I arrived in Chicago around 7:45. Took me a little while to make it to where Elisabeth was.  We sat around and talked and caught up on things. It was almost time to board, but the plane we were originally going to fly in had mechanical problems so we switched to another plane.
We arrived in Mexico without any mishaps. My first impression was well it's different, I was the different person around here. Everything is so unfamiliar and in Spanish. I love it though! It took us a little while to find Jason, Nicole, and Aubrey. I had to text Dassi and ask her to let them know where we were. we then squeezed into the truck and were on our way to the village. The driving is very different here. We had dinner and continued to Puebla. I think the drive from the airport to the village is around 3-4 hours. We made it to the village around nine. After unloading, Nicole gave us a brief tour of the village.
Apparently, I look like Dassi, so the children were very excited when they saw me until they realized it was me. Nicole told me later that one if the little boys, Manuel, I think, said, "Dassi came back already?" and he was really, really excited. Then she had to explain that I am Dassi's sister.
The people here are so sweet! I quickly fell in love with the little children here. Two of the children, Melissa and Carlos, I believe they are both two or three, found it very fascinating to hold both of my hands and jump up an down. They loved doing that, it was really cute. Carlos almost started crying when I decided to head to bed. So cute!
Saturday we were up by 6:30, we had coffee and bread for breakfast. Today was children's church so a lot of people came by today. I think around 30-45 people were here not including the people that are already at the village. The way they greet each other is by shaking hands, they all thought I looked like Dassi. Everyone stayed til around 5, a lot of the children that are staying n the village went to visit their family, and Jason and Sed went to church service so there only round 10 of us here for dinner. I had my first hand at handwashing laundry today. Not too bad actually! Nicole told us some of the background stories of some of the people here, I am beginning to learn a lot! I knew that life isn't always sunshine and butterflies, but I am meeting people who have horrible backgrounds and seeing where they are today, it's really amazing actually. Saturday ended early for us, I believe we were in bed by 8:30. It seemed a lot later.
Sunday, Nicole and Jason went to the ariport to pick up a girl named Rachel, she is 18, and a daughter to a friend that Jason grew up with. I believe her uncle is working at ITEC now. We were home today. I did my laundry, and helped Aubrey and Elisabeth hang out Nicole's laundry. Morning was very relaxing. Aubrey wasn't feeling good so she is currently sleeping, were hoping she'll be better by tomorrow. I have found some wonderful new friends, Natalia and Irene, they are live in the dorm with us. After lunch I was looking for Jasmine so I could do her hair, and she was all the way down at the creek. To give you somewhat of a picture of what the village looks like, we are in the mountains are lots of very large dirt hills to put it simply, well it was a long way down to the creek so I slid down the dirt hill, apparently the girls thought it was hilarious and asked me to do it over and over again.  We also took some pictures that I will hopefully post soon. I am very much loving it here, although I do miss you all. A lady named Josephine who recently had a major surgery is here until she recovers a little better.
Monday was was a more stressful, a lot of people were sick, including Aubrey and Elisabeth. Nicole had to do a hospital run, shorting us a few people. A lot of people are away from the village right now visiting family, so a lot fell on me and Rachel today so it was kind of busy, I had my first hand  at making tortillias by hand today that was pretty fun. Luis and Ella I think that was their names, came and visited with their 5 month old baby, I believe they were got married when Dassi and Elena were down here. Their baby was adorable, I was able to hold him and make him laugh. Nicole and Jason had to go take care of some paperwork that had to get to the states this evening so Rachel, Julia, Carla and I made dinner. I turned some music on in the kitchen and started dancing, which made Julia and Carla laugh. Melissa, Julia's three year old, Carlos and Pablo, Carla's children,  started to dance  as well, which had everyone in the kitchen laughing. Although there is a language barrier, we are still able to be friends and laugh, not being able to understand them and talk to them is highly inconvenient. I am determined to learn Spanish when I get home. I recieved some texts from home about the snow. One of which included a picture. The people here have never seen snow so they completely in awe of picture. When Jason and Nicole got home, Nicole told us that in a village right next to us a little ten year old girl named Rosalita went missing on Sunday, her father had sent her to go get grass for their cow, she never came home. They found her body under a tree today, she had been raped and her throat was slit. I was so shocked that something like that happened so close to this village. It shook me up a little bit. I felt a little better after recieving a text from my sister reminding me that her trip had some difficult times too.
Tuesday was a good day. The morning was relaxing, we did the normal chores, helped Nicole with laundry and made some tortillas. Josephine had a medical emergency so Nicole and Elisabeth had to run into town to buy a few things. they were home around four and it started pouring down rain. We went to the first church service tonight. All four of us girls rode in the back of a truck with a tarp over it. Sadly the tarp had holes in it and that resulted in being almost soaked. It was adventurous though :). The church service wasn't very long, Elisabeth was a interpreter, the general message was about ,"The End is Near, Be Ready." I think they said this in light of the little girl that was just murdered. The family is very known, so the whole village is very saddened about this.
I will post again as soon as I get a chance, I am learning a lot and I am very grateful I am getting this opportunity. Love and miss you all!

Nichole