November and December

I haven't posted in awhile.  Not too much has been going on.  In November I had a really nice visit with my sister and her family.  It was great to have Thanksgiving there.  Pancho had to stay in Mexico to work.  It was great to relax and be with family.  The kids are a lot of fun too.  One of the highlights was hearing Mark (2 yrs old) say "Mo'nin, Ma'y!" which means "Good morning, Mary!".  It was really cute.  And hearing Hank and Lynne referring to their mom as Joanna as soon as she wasn't around was pretty amusing too. 

Pancho has been super busy at work.  He likes the experience, but not the amount of hours it takes to get things done.  But he's learning a lot and enjoys the people that he works with.  He gets to play tennis on Saturdays and Sundays, which helps him get through the week.  We try to do something fun every week too.  With Christmas coming up we've been doing Christmas-related things.  It's our first Christmas together married, so the traditions start this year!  We put up a little tree and yesterday we decorated a gingerbread house.  Of course with classic Christmas music playing.

Gingerbread house!!!

"Advent tree" soon to become "Christmas tree".  And our little nativity minus Jesus beneath the tree.

Last weekend we went to the forts here in Puebla. For you Americans who don't the, the battle of May 5th took place in Puebla.  It was nice to see them and compare them to the fort at St. Augustine.  Pancho and I went there for a mini honeymoon after our first honeymoon didn't work out.  That was a really enjoyable trip and I'm glad we did that while we were still in in Florida. 

There are two forts, Ft. Loreto and the Ft. Guadalupe.  They're smaller than the St. Augustine fort and not as well preserved, but still nice to visit.  And you get a beautiful view of the city from the forts. 

Entrance to what used to be the chapel and is now a museum at Ft. Loreto.

Plans of the two forts, Ft. Loreto on the left and Guadalupe on the right.

Some of the remains of Ft. Guadalupe.

We also went to a planetarium and a museum.  Overall, it was enjoyable.  Although perhaps the best part were the tacos that we had afterwards.  They were so delicious!

I've finished Spanish class for the semester.  I've decided not to take another class next semester, I learned a lot but I really want to opportunity to use it more, outside of the classroom.  And I'm really enjoying my horseback riding and I don't want to drop that.  I'm in the process of looking for something to commit my time too.  Right now I'm just looking.  Pancho and I are going to Orlando in January, so I think I'll wait to start a schedule until we return to Mexico. 

Horseback still continues to be a lot of fun.  And I'm going to compete for the first time in February!  Getting pretty excited for that!

This was taken a little over a month ago on the horse I've been riding, F-5.  Having lots of fun!  :)

That's about it for now!  Looking forward to Christ's birth and celebrating with the family!

October and Atlixco

October has been fairly uneventful.  Pancho started working Oct. 1.  He loves his job.  It's exactly what he wanted and he really enjoys it.  The only downside is is that he's been working a lot, some weeks he's pushing 70 hours.  But we're working it out and rearranging our schedules so that we're still able spend time together.  Yesterday, for example, I went with him to work in the morning, and then after that he came to horseback riding with me and then we went to Atlixco. 

Atlixco is a small city outside of the city of Puebla, closer to the Popo.  I really enjoyed going out there.  First we went to some nurseries and I got a few plants.  The plants were so inexpensive.  The prices here are very different from the US.  In general, cost of living is less here, food is really inexpensive, but other things, like our phone plans and most electronics are a lot more expensive.  But, I'm really happy with the plants that I got. 

After the plants we went to the Cerro de San Miguel and went to the chapel on top.  I enjoyed that a lot.  There was a beautiful view of the city from there.

After that we went to the ex Convent of St. Francis and then to the downtown area.  It's a lot like Puebla, just on a smaller scale with less graffiti and less trash on the streets.  In the center there was a flower display for the Day of the Dead coming up.

Can you see the skull?

Dia de Muertos

We walked around, went to a little market, and went to the ex Convent of San Carmen.  After that we had a nice dinner on the roof of one of the buildings in the center of the town.

View of from the roof.  The Popo is in the back, the ex convent of St. Francis is the tower that you see under the Popo, and the hill is the Cerro of San Miguel with the chapel on the top of it.

It was a really nice day and Pancho and I look forward to going back there.

Everything else is going well.  Spanish class is coming along and I'm still enjoying the horseback riding a lot.  In November I'm going back to the States for 9 days for Thanksgiving.  I'll be in Houston with my sister and I'm looking forward to that very much.  This upcoming we celebrate Day of the Dead and I'll write about that afterwards.  :)

On Electrico- don't let the name fool you, he doesn't have a very electric personality.  Once he starts moving he's great, but getting him moving can be a little difficult sometimes.

September Fun

September has been a pretty festive month so far.  It has been really enjoyable.  Classes are still going well and I'm enjoying them more as time goes by.  Earlier this month is looked like Christmas season with all the red and green decorations everywhere.  Sept. 16th is Mexico's Independence Day. 

I was in Cholula on the 16th with Pancho's family and we saw the start of the parade up close.  After the parade was over there were piles and piles of confetti all along the street.  The people certainly like to throw confetti a lot.  There were festivities all day long.  I'm glad that we went to Cholula.  It reminded me a little bit of Wheaton, the town I grew up in.  I loved the fourth of July because of the big parade and fire works show at night and how much the town came together to celebrate.  Cholula was a lot like that, it seemed like everyone in the town was together to celebrate.

Two days before that was my birthday.  I had a great first birthday in Mexico.  Pancho threw me a surprise birthday with his family.  It was really nice.  I very much enjoy being with the family here.  One new tradition that I learned is that when they bring out the birthday cake with the candles, before blowing out the candles I had to take off my wedding ring and put it drop it over one of the candles and then make my wish and then blow out the candles. 

I am really loving my horse back riding lessons a lot.  It's a lot more fun than I anticipated and I look forward to it during the week.  I've been going 3 or 4 times a week.  It's about a 40 minute drive, but I don't mind it at all.  It's really beautiful there and I like going there and getting out of the city.  And everyone that I've met via horseback riding have been so great.  I'm super grateful that I have this.

View of the city from where I take my horseback lessons.

Bigger view

Coming down from horseback lessons, looking toward a different direction than above pictures.

Pancho starts his full time job one week from today.  He is very much looking forward to it.  This past weekend he had given some lessons as a part of his part time job and he is really happy about how it went.  For the next couple of Saturdays he'll be going to a community and giving lessons about health and how to be successful in your lifestyle choices.  Pancho has certainly had some difficulties with this part time job, but it was great to see him on Saturday after his class.  He was tired but very happy with how well the lesson was received. Other than that, he's been busy taking care of things here at the apartment and playing tennis.  Today our hot water heater seemed to have blown out, so no hot water until it's fixed.  The flame kept going out this morning and then the smoke alarm went off and we smelled burning plastic and saw a lot of smoke coming out of the boiler.  There's always something to keep us on our toes.  But we're very grateful for where we are at and looking forward to Pancho starting his work.  :)

Firsts in Mexico...

The big news we have is that Pancho has a job!  He got it at last week and starts Oct. 1st.  He'll be working between three different car dealerships doing whatever is needed and working in different departments.  For example, if they need licensing, he'll take that.  If they need someone to do some HR work, he'll do that too.  He's very happy about it and it's what he wanted.  He knows the man that he's working for and is looking forward to learning a lot and getting different experiences in a business.  In the meantime, he's putting together a project for a part time job.  For the first few months he'll be working a full time and part time job, so he's going to be busy.  We're expecting him to be working around 60 hours a week.  But we're looking forward to it and are very grateful that he was able to get a job that he wanted.

The past few weeks has had a couple of "firsts in Mexico" for me.  For example, I went to my first Mexican wedding.  I liked it a lot.  The wedding Mass itself was very similar in the US, just a few added traditions.  We had the lasso at my wedding, but we didn't have the coins.  Here the groom gives the bride 12 gold coins, symbolizing that he is going to take care of her.  And the outlines of the reception were the same, except a lot bigger.  I wanted to try and make it to breakfast, but by 11:30 I was done.  I'll try again the next wedding.  I want to say that I've been to an entire Mexican wedding party at least once.  The reception is similar in that it follows the Mass and you eat dinner right away, but then the party just goes on quite a bit longer.  I really enjoyed it though.

I also started my horseback riding lessons last week.  It's pretty exciting and I like it a lot.  I had always wanted to learn how to ride and I am so grateful that I get to learn now.  It really is just a lot of fun and it's something that I have been enjoying a lot.  Right now I'm only trotting, but the instructor thinks I'll be galloping by the end of the first month of classes.

Before moving to Mexico I took care of somethings so that I could put it off for awhile after moving.  For example, going to the dentist, getting hair cut, etc.  This week I went to confession for the first time in Mexico.  I don't know if the priest understood me, because I know I didn't understand him, but I'm super glad I finally went here.  It makes me less nervous to go again.

And today I got my hair cut for the first time in Mexico.  I didn't quite communicate what I wanted, I think, because it's a little shorter than what I wanted, but it looks nice, so I'm happy.

And about the volunteering, that's not happening right now.  Once Pancho starts working I want to make sure I'm available to helping him and I don't want to pressure myself too much until I know what I can take on.  So in a few months we'll re-evaluate and decide from there.

That's about it!  I'm enjoying my Spanish class a lot and I feel like I'm progressing, so that's a good thing.  :)

Pancho's birthday was Aug. 1st.  This is his birthday cake.  He absolutely loves these treats here, so he was happy.  I like them quite a bit too...

View driving down the mountain where I have my horseback riding lessons.

And I apologize for being a horrible picture taker.  I'll take more pictures sometime, I promise!  But at least I have two this time...

Getting Settled

Last week was my first week of Spanish classes.  I have the same teacher that I had earlier in the summer, which is nice because she knows where I'm at.  There are about 12 other students, some from the US, some from Brazil, and some from Germany.  It's pretty interesting to hear the other accents.  And it's really difficult to understand them.  But it's fun.  And tomorrow I have my first horse back riding lesson!  I'm pretty excited about it.  And I don't think I'll be volunteering with the Daughter's of St. Paul anymore.  Communication has been rather difficult.  But my mother in law showed me another place I can volunteer at.  There is an orphanage about 10 minutes away that is in need of volunteers.  I went there last week and I think I'll start later this week or next week.  I'll be able to volunteer for a few hours in the morning before class and then go to class from there.  I'll mostly just be taking care of babies.

Pancho is doing well.  He's working on a part time job for the government right now and waiting to hear back from the other places that he's interviewed at.  We're pretty happy about starting to have a scheduled and settled life. 

No pictures today, but hopefully the next time that I write!

Not too much to report on...

There hasn’t been too much going on recently, hence the lack of updates.  We’re still just working on being settled.  Things are coming along and we’re looking forward to a more scheduled life.  I start with my Spanish classes on Monday.  Classes will be Monday thru Friday, 11-12.  I haven’t started with the Paulinas yet, but we’re hoping that I’ll be able to start in a week or two.

Pancho hasn’t started work yet.  He’s had some more interviews and it looks promising.  We think he’ll start working in two to three weeks. 

Recently Pancho has taken me to a couple of parks around here to show me places where I can go running if I want to.  One park that we were at recently was a lot larger than I realized and there was a lot more in there than I first thought.  I thought of how much my niece and nephews would enjoy it.  It had a lot of playgrounds and ample space for running and picnics.  The main thing that I liked was the aviary that they had which cost less than $2 for each person.  It was larger than I thought with a lot of different birds.  I get surprised here sometimes.  When you’re driving here you wouldn’t think of some of the things that are here because everything is surrounded by walls.  In the US you usually see some greenery before a building, but here it’s the building and walls and then the greenery and parks behind it.

That’s about it for now.  When more things happen I’ll update again.  J

Coming Along...

Well, there's really not too much to report on.  Things are coming along, sometimes really slowly and we can't tell we're progressing, but we are.  We're hoping that Pancho will be able to start working in a couple of weeks.  He's had some interviews and we're waiting to hear back from some people.  In the meantime, it seems like everything we touch breaks.  But we're doing what we have to.  Each day has it's own trouble, like today the apartment building ran out of water.  Hopefully by tomorrow we'll have water again.  We are having fun though.  This past weekend we took a little break from life.  On Saturday we went to HARAS with Pancho's cousins for horseback riding and shooting.  It was beautiful and a nice breath of fresh air.  I've never lived in a city before and I hadn't realized how much I missed trees that don't grow just to look pretty in someone's garden, and wide open spaces.  Not that I ever lived in the country either, but the woods and forests were a lot closer, and I loved going out on the trails in the Oviedo area.  We had a great time with being out doors and being with good people.  :)  Hopefully in a few weeks I'll start horseback riding at HARAS.

View at HARAS.  It's a development on a mount about 30 minutes from the city that's meant to stay fairly undeveloped and encourages being ecological minded, liking having your own compost and minimizing trash.

Still waiting on hearing when I'll begin with the Paulinas.  Due to how long it's taking, we might just wait before committing to a schedule until I find out what my Spanish class schedule will be like.  In the meantime, I'm just doing as much as I can around the apartment until classes start up.  Unfortunately, I can't help Pancho a whole lot with the problems we've been having because I can't really bargain in Spanish or deal with services that well.  If he's having a hard time, I'd only make it worse.  One thing that I'm excited about is a little herb garden that I planted.  It's my first time really gardening, so I hope I don't kill the plants off by forgetting to water or negligence.  Luckily, it's just herbs and they don't need a lot of special care.

My herbs in the window box.

And yesterday Pancho and I were out running errands from 10 to 8, and he bought me a present that I'm pretty excited about.  It's one of those things that you don't want to buy for yourself, but you're really glad one someone else gets it.  It's for straining tea.  There's a Teavana close by with all the same teas that they have in the US.  So we got some Earl Grey while we were there as well.

My tea strainer.  :)

All in all, things are coming around.  It's taking awhile, but it's going and we're doing what we can.  If God brought us here, He'll take care of us.  And we have enjoyed it.  :)

By the way, if you have any favorite recipes, don't hesitate sending them my way!  I'm trying to expand the number of things I can cook.  Thanks!  mary.c.miller87@gmail.com

Back in Puebla

 We got back from Acapulco last night.  We had a great time.  We spent most of our time at the beach and in the pool with the family, going out at night to either the  mall or another hotel.  It was very relaxing and a lot of fun.  One of the highlights was probably the last day that we were there when Pancho and I started going into the ocean and we were perhaps knee deep when saw a school of sting rays swimming around us.  It was pretty scary but really cool.  We stayed out of the water after that. 

Acapulco was about a five hour drive through the mountains to get there and on the way back we stopped at Hacienda Cocoyoc, an old hacienda dating back to the 17th Century that has been turned into a hotel.  We stopped to eat at the restaurant and walk some the grounds.  It is beautiful and I look forward to going there again.

Now that we're back we still have a lot to do, but the end is in sight.  Sometimes we get a bit discouraged and it seems like everything we touch breaks and every time we have to do some sort of paper work it takes weeks to do what should only take a day or two.  But we're almost settled!  Soon, we hope, Pancho will be working and I will be continuing with my Spanish class while volunteering with the Paulinas and taking horse back riding lessons.  I'm looking forward to that.  : )

Recent Happenings

Pancho and I went to Mass at the Cathedral today.  The Daughters of St. Paul were celebrating their 60 years in the Archdiocese of Puebla.  The Cathedral is so beautiful and is one of my favorite places in Puebla.  Puebla itself is really beautiful.  The city is really old and the buildings and churches are beautiful.  There is a lot of history here.  I do get mixed feelings in the city, though, because you can see that the buildings were so pretty but a lot of them aren't kept up.  There's a lot of graffiti and some of the buildings are literally falling apart.  But, I still love going into the city.

The Daughter's a St. Paul book store.

The Cathedral from across the plaza and another street.  It's really big.

Just looking down an old street.

I feel more like a Mexican after I had salmonella.  Because now I can eat food off the street and it's delicious.  Yesterday Pancho and I were out running some errands and we got some typical Mexican foods.

We had two quesadillas, and two other things that I can't remember their names, but they were really tasty.

Tomorrow we're off for a family vacation in Acapulco!  We'll be back on Saturday.  It's about a five hour drive from here.  Pancho and I are really looking forward to just relaxing.  And hopefully when we get back he'll be able to start working in the following weeks.

Small Notes

Pancho and I have been married for three months today!  And it certainly seems longer than three months right now...  A lot has happened in the last few months. 

Right now we are in our apartment.  We've been here for almost two weeks, but it's taking time to put things together.  We just got our internet over the weekend.  Things are coming along bit by bit.

I am feeling much better.  I can start working out soon.  :)

I start working with the Paulinas in a few weeks.  One of the sisters is sick and they want to be well so that they can be present when I start there.

I've been driving!  It is certainly different than the US.  It seems like most of the rules here are more like suggestions- I've seen plenty of people jump the lights if there's no one coming from the other direction, driving the wrong way on one way streets, and not quite driving within the lines on the road.  The roads are quite bumpy, there's only a few streets that are nicely paved.  And there's a lot of speed bumps.  You just have to learn where things are drive accordingly.  I'll learn the ways of the road soon.  Everything here is a lot closer than it is in Orlando, though, so it's nice to not have to drive far distances.

The Battle of Cinco de Mayo occured here in Puebla.  I hadn't been to the forts yet, but we went this Sunday.  We were not there for very long and didn't see much, so we're planning on going again sometime soon when we have more time.  I'm looking forward to it.  :)
 

View from the Fort of the city.

 My Spanish classes are over, but I'm going to take one in the fall semester which starts Aug. 20th. 

That's about it for right now. :)

View of the volcanoes from our apartment.  Some days it is so clear and you cannot believe how big they are and yet you cannot see them most days.  It kind of reminds me of God, He is so big and nearby but we cannot see Him, but every now and then He clears the skies and and you are in shock with how present He is and you don't even know it.

Moctezuma has had his Revenge

I'm healing up very well from the surgery.  However, something new has hit.  Yesterday I developed a fever that kept climbing.  It got up to 103.5.  We went to the doctor and it turns out that I have salmonella.  I should have a fever with it's ups and downs for the next 5-7 days.  On the bright side, this was going to happen eventually.  The doctor said that anyone who moves to Mexico gets it.  Unfortunately, that means we're still not moving into our apartment for another week.  It's a good thing that we didn't go to Rome, though.

Other than that, things have been moving along.  Pancho has two more interviews on Monday.  I'm finished with my class.  There's one more class on Monday, but I won't be able to go.  It was very helpful.  I understand Spanish a lot more, there's just difficulty speaking it.  And I've realized it's a lot easier to understand it when someone is speaking directly to me versus trying to understand a group of people.  Perhaps in the fall I'll start another Spanish class. 

And I got to listen to mariachi's for the first time in Mexico!  It was Pancho's grandma's birthday two days ago.  There's a name for what we did, but I can't remember it.  We surprised her with mariachi playing outside her bedroom at midnight.  It was a lot of fun.  I enjoyed it a lot.

That's about it for now!  Unfortunately, no pictures.  But I'll try next time.  : )

Road to Recovery

Pancho and I have had an interesting past few days.  On Monday I had a pain in my abdomen that wasn't going away, so Tuesday we went to the hospital and, long story short, I was operated on to remove a cyst the size of a golf ball.  I'm doing well now.  It was a lacroscopic surgery, so not too traumatic.  Yesterday we returned to Pancho's parent's house.  We'll be here for at least another week.  Our apartment is on the fourth floor and there's no elevator.  I'm not quite up to walking four flights yet, so we're moving into the apartment perhaps in a week, depending on how I feel.  I've only had one other hospital experience.  Three years ago I was bitten by a snake.  I must say, this hospital experience was much better.  No bruising when blood was taken and I was very well and quickly attended to.  Both of those happened with the snake bite, I had bruising for a few weeks and even though I was the only one in the ER, it took forever to get anything done.  The only thing that was the same was the hospital food.  I was hoping it would be better here, since the food in general is better here, but it wasn't.  Still the same hospital food. 
And I wasn't worried at all being in another country.  I was never left alone.  Pancho was with me almost the entire time.  The one time he left his Mom was with me.  Pancho stayed and slept in the room and was a great nurse.  He's been helping me a lot.  I'm really grateful for his attentiveness. 
And, it turns out, we won't be going to Europe now.  And I'm actually not upset about it.  But I can't travel and walk around a lot yet, much less bring suitcases around and do all the tourist things in Rome.  And Pancho can't put off work until I'm feeling well enough to go.  But we're at peace about not going.  We'll go someday.  Right now we're really just looking forward to living in our own place and being on a schedule, with Pancho working and me doing my things.That's what we're really looking forward to.
By the way, I met with the Daughters of St. Paul (or the Paulinas) here in Puebla.  I'm really excited about working with them.  Twice a week I'll be at their bookstore.  At first, I'll just be in the back organizing and helping with whatever they need.  And then, as I start speaking more Spanish, they'll put me on the floor to speak with customers and help them.  I'm really excited about it.  It's exactly what I want to do.  I'm excited about helping them and I think it will really help me with my Spanish.
That's it for about now.  Its been clearer here and we've seen the Popo more often.  Here are two pictures of it. 

View from our apartment

View from my classroom

Cooking class

I am really enjoying my cooking class.  It's every Wednesday.  And, in all honesty, it's pretty fool proof.  We mostly just cut up vegetables and do whatever the chefs tell us to.  All the hard things are cooked in advance and all the measuring and preparing is done in advance to.  We're pretty well watched over, so there's really no way we could mess up the food.  But, I am still enjoying it a lot.  Last week we made quesadillas, sopa poblana, and pico de gallo.  It was delicious.  This past week we made chicken with mole, Mexican rice, and chalupas.  It was extremely tasty. 

Chalupas!!!  Very delicious.  It's a tortilla fried in pork fat with salsa, onion, and pork.

Chicken with mole sauce.  Mole is a specialty of Puebla.  I can't remember everything it's made of but the one ingredient that stands out is the chocolate.  It's spicy, not sweet.  It's really good.

Everything else is going well.  I got my Mexican driver's license this past week!  And all my paperwork is finished!  Now we just have to finish putting the apartment together.  Pancho has been busy, mostly with getting all my immigration papers taken care of.  Now that that is done we can focus on the apartment and he's working on putting together a proposal for a perspective job.  It has been busy here, but we're feeling good, especially because the important paperwork is over.

Current Status

Right now there is not too much to write about.  Pancho and I are still at his parent's house.  We're in the process of unpacking and buying things for the apartment.  Its been a long process because we haven't had consistent time to dedicate to moving.  I'm taking my Spanish course seriously and that requires time studying and doing homework, not to mention is from 8:30 to 1pm Monday thru Thursday, and on Wednesday it being from about 8:30am to 4pm.  I love it and I'm glad that I'm taking it, but it does take time.  Along with that we have been planning for Italy.  Those plans are just about finalized and we're very much looking forward to it.  Pancho has been busy trying to take care of my paperwork here and starting with work (he's not working yet, but has an interview tomorrow).  So, we have been busy but there isn't too much to report on!

One thing I did this past weekend was go to Cholula.  My classmates and I went to the pyramid there and an old monastery.  These are some pictures of the trip (actually, I took these pictures last time I was in Mexico, but nothing has changed : )  ).

The pyramid with the Church on top.

We walked up to the Church.  It was a long and tiring walk.

This is the Church!  Totally worth going to the top.  The view is beautiful and the Church is as well.

I can't remember the name of the Monastery.  But it is super old and is still a Franciscan monastery.

Sites of Puebla

I am horrible at taking pictures.  Hopefully I'll get better soon.  Until I have photos to share, I thought I'd tell you some of the things you might see in Puebla.  I have seen a Walmart, Samsclub, Dominos, Applebees, two Starbucks, Krispy Kreme, OfficeMax, and a Pizza Hut.  There are probably a few other places that I don't remember.  I am very much reminded how much the world is really shrinking in some ways.  However, one sight that I simply love is the Popocatepetl.  It is the volcano near Puebla.  Some days you can't really see, but the days that you can it is really impressive.  It has been releasing ash lately.  I've never experienced volcanic ash before and it wasn't quite what I expected.  Here, it is just like a very fine layer of dust.  Yesterday was the first day I got a good look at the Popo.  My class is on the fourth floor and the morning was more clear than the previous mornings and I was surprised how big the volcano looked, and yet today I couldn't see it!  I could only make out one side.  Here is a picture of it that I found online.

Everything else is going well.  Pancho and I have been busy with moving and getting settled here.  I have had my classes and planing for Italy while Pancho is taking care of a lot of things here (phone, utilities, etc.) and getting ready to start work!  Keep praying for us!  : )

Mexico!

Pancho and I arrived safely in Mexico yesterday.  We had no problems- the flights were all on time and we didn't lose any luggage.  And we have been nonstop since we got here!

This morning I had my first class.  There are two others in my class that know about the same amount of Spanish that I do.  It was encouraging when I could understand almost everything the professor was saying.  The next couple weeks in the class will be fun, a little difficult because it is an intensive course, but fun.  I was in class from 8:30-1:00pm.  And, just for my American friends, if you go into a store and buy a bottled water you may want to make sure it isn't carbonated mineral water. 

Pancho and I have been busy planning our honeymoon.  We were going to take the cruise on the Caribbean.  However, when we arrived at the port they wouldn't let Pancho board.  The people working there didn't recognize Pancho's visa.  So even though we had all the credentials, they didn't want to take the risk and let us board.  Royal Caribbean has been great, though.  They were very sorry about what happened and the lady who helped us worked hard to get us 100% back.  And she did.  Some of it came back in cruise credit, so we are still planning on taking a cruise!  This time it is going to be a Mediterranean cruise!  I am really excited.  We're going to arrive in Rome a week early and spend some time there.  And then we'll go on an Eastern Mediterranean cruise, making stops in Sicily, Athens, Kusadusi, and Crete. 

We're busy, and I have yet to take any pictures.  But I'll put them up here when I have them!  Hopefully, this weekend we'll move into our apartment.  That is the biggest thing that we have to do right now.

Hasta luego, America!

Pancho and I leave for Mexico tomorrow!  We are very excited to get on with our married life together.  The last two months have been a little difficult with our inconsistent schedules, so we're especially looking forward to being settled and learning what our life is going to be like. 
These last days here have been so great!  I wasn't expecting to see so many people.  I'm so grateful to my friends who came into town.  It's a great way to leave.  After we get to Mexico I'll post about he honeymoon.  I'll also put up some pictures of where we are staying, the city, and the places we visit. 
Please say an extra prayer for Pancho and myself tomorrow!

Wedding photos!

We have our wedding photos!  We are so grateful that Chris Honour with East Orlando Photography was able to get us our photos before we left for the honeymoon!  Here are some of our favorites.  : )

Our Flower girl

The Lasso!

Getting my bustle adjusted

First Dance

This photo is awesome.  I have no idea what we were doing, but I love everyone's expressions.