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...