Primeros

There is a first time for everything. Here are some of the "firsts" that I've experienced in the past 5 days:

I sweat through my shirt by 9:00 every morning. I swear I have never been so thankful for A/C in my entire life... we have it in the 3 bedrooms in our Puerto house.

I got the Mexican sickness last night. I'm better today, but very weak. I'm glad it was me and not any of the boys. David stayed home from school with me today and we played games all morning. Chris is a trooper and an amazing dad & husband. Sometimes it takes a good barf (or 2 or 3 or 4) to remind me of this fact.

I was drying my face after my first cold shower of the day and much to my surprise and horror, a huge cockroach crawled out of the towel. I was very disturbed to say the least. Chris came running and killed it. My hero.

Someone else did my laundry. The laundromats here have “full service” and we pay by the kilo. I drop it off and when I pick it up it’s clean and folded! It feels like magic.

I take at least two cold showers a day and I love them. We have officially joined Dennis Leon’s cold shower club.

I took a colectivo - a pickup truck with a blue tarp over the back that takes passengers to el mercado - by myself and did some grocery shopping for the family. I took a taxi home and had a great conversation with the driver. I can't pronounce his name so I won't even try to spell it. He was very nice and I was proud of myself for having a conversation in Spanish.

I eat and like raw tomatoes (at least the ones served at the best restaurant in Puerto - no name, but the owner's name is Kristina and she is the best cook I've ever met... sorry, Mom!).

I don’t blow dry my hair.

Chris and I share our room with 2 lizards (I’ve named my new friends Carlos and Pedro) and I like them. (They eat mosquitoes.)

I apologized for being blond. This was an accident though (but it turns out it needed to be said). We took a taxi ride home from the Super Che and Johnny wouldn’t stop screaming (he has a new habit of alternating between maniacal crying and hysterical laughing… I’m a little concerned about his sanity). When we got out of the cab, I said, “Lo siento que somos rubios.” Which means, “I’m sorry that we are blond.” What I MEANT to say was, “Lo siento que somos ruidos.” Which translates to, "I’m sorry we are loud." Nice. Gallo (I swear that’s what he said his name was – “rooster” in English) looked at me, smiled and said, “Es ok.” Chris looked at me and said, “You’re sorry we’re blond?!?” I felt like such an idiot, but all of us – including Gallo – had a good laugh.

I ate dinner surrounded by at least 60 disgusting flies. They are completely hideous and bother me so bad, but it was a first for me to continue eating while I swatted them away.

I have 2 bathrooms. Thank God for this because we aren’t supposed to flush the TP down the toilet; instead it goes into a trash can (with no lid) next to the toilet. Tres hijos = DISGUSTING!!!

I feel much more confident speaking Spanish.

Delia, Chris’ and my teacher, calls me “Guapa” (it means pretty). :)