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.