Birthday photos!

My friend Perla called me that night around 11:30. She had apparently come over, but the doorbell didn't work and we didn't hear her. BUMMER. So I went outside and had this wonderful suprise on our ugly gate! It is currently hang up on the wall in my room.

My sweet friends got me a really yummy cake :o.

This was after we went out to dinner at the Oriental Grill...a sweet place, but not the best meal. It was the going away party for Cecy, our sweet friend who moved to St. Louis. I am hoping to see her lots.

Birthday festivities :-)

My birthday was on Saturday, but we got to start celebrating Friday night! We went out for dinner at a restaurant called Oriental Grill. It was one that we had heard about a long time ago, but had never visited it.

Saturday morning we got up and went to houses A & B to celebrate some of the other girls birthdays. They made lots of yummy things such as German pancakes, an egg dish, tons of fruit, and some other yummy things.

After breakfast we came home for naps and then got up and got ready for the day around 3:45pm :). Then we went to Wings Army bar (its an American chain that has good food, but really bad service) to watch the Santos game and see if we were going to go to the finals. Santos are equivalent to D-1 in the States and they are now going to the final final because we won 7-1. Wuhoo :-)

Then we came back home to play games. On the kitchen table was a present and some very fun balloons from my friend Luz. She's so sweet :-) We played Maffia or Assassins which was a lot of fun, some disney scene it, some cards. In the process I went to call my mama and they all invaded my room singing with a cake. Makes me very grateful to have the roommmates that I have :).

Sunday we continued celebrating by making breakfast- coffee cake muffins, fruit cocktail, some yummy juice and just hanging out together :-) And then in the afternoon we went to see the movie Date Night, but unfortunately it wasn't in the awesome theater but it was still fun. :-) Hopefully pictures to come soon!

Last day in Guadalajara-day trip to Tlaqapaque

This was another fun shopping trip in the suburb of Guadalajara! We got a taxi from the hotel which was a little creepy because they brought us down through the alley and took us in the hotel's private taxi. It was just funny to watch happen! Again our hotel was awesome and let us leave all of our things in a room while we went exploring the next day as we got on the overnight bus again!

This town was little and full of fun little shops. I think that it's main revenue was tourism. The only things I ended up buying were jewelry and a really fun vase. I'm really hoping that the vase makes it home safely!

We ate at a really good restaraunt and were serenaded by a huge group of mariachi's who sang to us about our beautiful eyes. It was funny because in the same restaraunt there were 3 groups singing at the same time. However, the food was awesome.

We got back around 5 and took some time to look at the 2 churches we hadn't been in the downtown area and then headed to the bus station. ALways an adventure since they brought us to the wrong terminal, but thankfully we had plenty of time to get on a little minibus and get to the right place. And on to the smelly bus with the bad driver to Torreon.

Guadalajara Day 3

We visited the wonderful town of Tequilla. It was an adventure like everything is in Mexico! On the way to Tequilla we stopped in Zapopan and of course because we're in Mexico, our bus broke down and we got stuck there for an extra 3 hours. However that was kinda cool because we got to meet new people and get to know the people in our tour group. I felt bad for our tour guide because some people were pretty mean to him and disrespectful. So we ended up checking out the cathedral, government building, putting more minutes on our cell phones, eating chips the Mexican way, and visiting the burrito woman.

Then as we got to Tequilla we got to tour the Jose Cuervo factory of Mexico. We had to wear hairnets, but it was pretty cool to watch the process and to get to learn about what Mexico is famous for after doing the winery in Spain! Inside we got to see the big agave pina's as well as the processing within the plant. This ugly bird is seen throughout the factory, on the tequilla bottles and even some kept in cages at the plant. Gross :p

We then had a two hour bus ride back to Guadalajara and were very ready and happy to see the hotel again!

For supper we went to a sugguested restaurant that just happened to be across the street. It was a really yummy taco place. I am beginning to love spicy food and even eat things that would be questionable at home. You should be very proud of me family!

We went to Red Pub at dinner time which is supposedly one of the top 20 bars to go to in all the world, maybe false advertisement? However it was an entertaining night as well.

Guadalajara day 2

The main goal of this day was to end up in a massive market. What we did not understand was how huge it was! However it was really fun.

Along the way we walked through downtown GDL and posed for many random pictures amongst statues, fountains and other fun things.

We stopped for lunch in a plaza and played some FARKLE as well as some cards. We ended up meeting up with my roommate Emily's friends who live in GDL and who showed us some other places to go.

When we arrived at the market we were overwhelmed! We spent 4.5 hours just walking up and down and encoutering all kinds of people, products, smells, and sights! The market had 3 floors and was at least a mile long. People sold all kinds of things and some even sold them right next to each other! There was a big section with live animals- birds, fish, someone walking around with a giant lizzard. There was a whole middle part where women were preparing all kinds of food. Quesadillas, tacos, gorditas, frijoles, elote, cake, sweet things, spicy things, things that were flavorless....needless to say, overwhelming!

After the market we came home (amazing how that changes so quickly when you're living not at home....) and showered and got ready to go another restraunt/bar to eat and watch some soccer. A past time I am becoming very fond of.

Emily's friends David and Manolo picked us up in their truck and some of us got to ride in the back and some in the front it was pretty fun! It was also cool to have their truck because we didn't have to pay for two taxis to drive at night or to have to mess with knowing where we were going!

Guadalajara! :-) Day 1

Friday after school we came home and packed and headed off for our last vacation adventure in Mexico. This was a ten hour bus drive from Torreon to Guadalajara. We decided to stay in a nicer hotel that was right in the middle of historic downtown. We also decided to pay more and take the nicer bus. There are only 3 seats in each row instead of four, there are headsets to listen to movies, better blinds, less stops, ect. Our way there was very pleasant except for not being able to sleep. The way back was awful. Our bus smelled horribly of urine and was falling apart, literarlly. The driver almost went off the road and he thought it was a good idea to turn the heat on in the middle of the night. So not cool!
The hotel we stayed at was really awesome because they gave us a room at 7:30 am when we got there and let us all put our stuff in there even though check in wasn't for 7 hours and there were 6 of us at that time! We then ventured ever so far to the restraunt in the hotel...we were tired and their food looked good :-).

On our first day we decided to go on a horse carriage ride around town. Something one of the girls has been wanting to do in every city we visted and why not? It was like 12 dollars a person for an hour long ride. Then we wandered around the city looking for their gothic church, temples, roman cathedrals, and other beauties. Outside of the church there was a little market that was really pretty. The city was pretty because it had green grass, lots of open space, friendly people and tons of historical things to see!
For lunch we ate at a famous restraunt called la chata that had a huge line and pretty good food :-), they also had delicious iced tea....made me miss the south!
For supper we went to another famous place called Casa Bariachi where they had a live Mariachi band, some silly actors, some great live music, ect. Even though it was tourist place it was a tourist place for Mexicans to go to instead of the reverse.

Reading buddies on dress up day! for dia del nino

Since mid-fall Miss Katie's 4th graders and my Prepri kids have been having reading buddies. We meet about once a week or every two weeks depending on crazy schedules and read books together, work on holiday crafts, play games or on the playground or with the parachute.

My kids ask me every week and sometimes every day when we'll get to see them and when they can come play! The studets gang up against us and will hound us after school if it has been a week since we've had them. It's pretty funny, but it's also awesome to watch them reading books with one another and challenging each other. The big and little relationship is also encouraging and will help them as they go into Primaria next year as well.
We are trying to come up with an end of the year craft or present for each others classrooms, so any sugguestions will be appreciated :-).