mexican bowling, border crossing, and my first bout of loneliness

last thursday, i went bowling with two of coco's nephews, only one of whom spoke any english. but he spoke more english that i expected him to, so between his english and my spanish, we were able to communicate well enough. bowling was fun, and i managed not to suck too badly, and i taught them the sarcastic way of saying "good try". these guys really really like to bowl, and i think they are in some kind of competitive league and they wanted me to join them every monday. i really don't know why, since my being on the team certainly is not going to help them. i get as many gutter balls as i do strikes. also, i like to go bowling about twice a year, not every week. so i made my excuses.

this weekend, i went to austin, texas with coco and her sister yolanda to go shopping and to visit yolanda's daughter ilinia who lives there. it was a bit weird to be going back to the states after only 2 weeks in mexico, but apparently, clothes are too expensive in mexico. everybody who can goes to texas to buy clothes.

crossing the border was an interesting experience. i was really nervous since this was my first time. i let coco do all the talking, until the u.s. border guard asked for my passport. he was kind of a jerk. he asked me all kinds of questions about what i was doing in mexico, where i lived in the states, where i worked. he seemed very suspicious, and maybe he thought it was odd that i was traveling with two mexican women. what i really wanted to say to him was "look, bub, i'm a friggin' american citizen and i have a valid passport, so why don't you let me into my own country????" but after all those questions, he let us pass and there was no need for my strong words. coco and yolanda said border guards are always like that. here is a picture i took from the bridge over the rio grande while we were waiting to cross.

the trip to austin was fun, although i spent too much money. and yolanda's daughter ilinia was very cool and speaks perfect english. she is in austin working for a spanish newspaper. i had never been to austin before and sadly, there wasn't time to avail ourselves of the cool music scene. hopefully, in the future there will be other trips for that purpose. we did visit the texas state house, which is a replica of the capitol building in dc. it was pretty, but it's certainly not the real thing. i'm sorry if that offends any texans out there. wait, no i'm not.

i drove the truck from austin to just before we reached the border in laredo, texas. this trip was my first time to drive a pick up truck, and i think i did pretty well. while i was driving it on the way up, coco commented that i drive fast. she said that she drives fast too, but not when she's in the united states. i told her that was smart, but thought it doesn't matter because i'm a u.s. citizen, so if i speed it's no big deal. it wasn't until we were in san antonio and i noticed a cop behind us that i remembered that i was a driving a truck with mexican plates. so i decided to slow down.

i did manage to get in some chick-fil-a and starbucks while we were there. there is a starbucks in saltillo, although i haven't been yet. i introduced coco to the pumpkin spice latte while we were in texas and she really liked it. though again, it was weird to be back in the states so soon after arriving. i felt like i hadn't really been gone long enough to miss things. maybe in a few more months, i'll want to go back for another visit.

crossing the border into mexico was much easier. they didn't even ask for my passport. the interesting thing i noticed was that the line to get into the u.s. was much much longer than the line to get into mexico.

i think i have come down from the high that is being in a foreign country. at this point, i've been doing alot of waiting. berlitz, the school i am supposed to be teaching for, does not seem to have their act together. when i was still in dc and trying to decide whether or not to move to mexico, they were practically begging me to come. however, before i can be officially hired with them, i have to take their training, which they keep telling me "oh we are almost 90% certain it's going to happen this week." last night, i think i was overcome with frustration (and a little bit of pms) and i started to cry in front of coco. i didn't come to mexico to hang out. i came to teach, and without trying to sound like a martyr, i gave up my apartment, friends, a good church -- my life in a beautiful city to come work for a company that is dragging it's feet. i think i was also missing my friends and feeling kind of lonely. i don't know very many people in saltillo yet -- mostly my cousins, who are great, but i can't just call up my friends in dc and hang out. so i think all of those things made me sad last night. coco was so sweet to me and said she understood and that even if i never got a job she was happy to have me in mexico. i am so grateful for her and my cousin roberto. coco is my mama mexicana.

today, however, i went down to the universidad del valle de mexico to take an english grammar test -- hopefully, i will also be teaching for them starting next semester. and as i was leaving the university, the director of berlitz called to let me know that the training is definitely happening next week (i'm not going to hold my breath, but this seems more definite than before). the lord is teaching me to be patient, even though i'm not very good at it.

here are some pictures from the trip to austin of me, coco, yolanda and ilinia.