continued

for 30 min because there was an indicator light going off in the plane or something. So I got on the plane next to a grandma sue type american lady who said she really liked my black and white jacket. She said she had something similar to it in the 70s. She was wearing really big gold rings with diamonds on her fingers and she had wiskers on her chin (s). She was nice though :)

So we finally made our descent but then spent like 20 minutes just circling the airport. It felt like a really long time. I got off with the immigration papers that I hoped I filled out right. I got off and as soon as I walked to the baggage claim mine came. I went through immigration which was really really fast (they changed a lot of things. its not in that big white concrete room anymore) so that was lucky and I got out and Olga was there waiting. Apparently there had been really bad rainstorms in the previous hour which was probably why we circled for so long. And then the adventure of trying to get out in the car.

You are not really in Mexico City until you feel for your life in the car. We got lost and it took us about an hour plus some to get to the house. Then we only had a few minutes to eat soup de lentejas (which was really really good) then leave again to check out an apartment. Pepe met us there. The apartment was not very nice. It had crazy dirty carpet in the bedrooms where you could see where the beds were because it was 100 shades lighter. So then we got back and had something more to eat and I went to bed.

The son of a friend of Olga from Venezuela is also staying with them. Apparently he has an internship for something financial. I think his name is Carlos. I really havent talked to him. But he seems nice. He's in his 2nd or 3rd year at school in pennsylvania or something.

Today I got up at 7:00 to be ready for Pepe's brother Miguel to pick us up at 8:00 to go to Toluca. But he ended up not picking us up. Olga and I took a quick walk, that was really nice, to go to get a bracelet. Pepe ended up sending us a Chauffeur (so foreign I had no idea how to spell it) to take us to Toluca. It was the smoothest car ride I probably will ever have in Mexico City, which is funny because Olga said he was going really slow. It took us 1 1/2 hours to get there whereas when Pepe drove on the return trip it took 30 min. Anyways I fell asleep most the way. Miguel's wife is Maru and she decided to go to school and get her degree and masters after she already had her daughter (Elena who gets her degree next year [we met her at Alejandra's wedding]. So we went to the defense of her thesis (which is open to the public) which took 2 1/2 hours. It was on the topic of alcohol abuse by secondary students. It was interesting but it was hard to stay focused to understanding everything and all the technical language. The room was hot and my eyes were drooping a bit. But it was fascinating to see because the president and 4 other people were on the board. After they asked her questions about her presentation they went into deliberation. They took 20 minutes and apparently it normally does not take that long. She achieved what she had wanted and ended up getting 'mencion de honor' (that was a surprise). Olga and I got a ride with Elena and her boyfriend who is tocallo to pepe but they call him Pollo for some reason. (It made me think at first when I heard them call him that.) It was really great to see that this lady really persevered to achieve what she wanted.

Then we went to the restaurant and sat in the "no smoking" area since smoke bothers pepe. I was SO hungry. I had fruit and atole (I think) at 8 in the morning. We didnt end up eating until 4! but I lived. For the soup it was fideo (gluten) or cream of broccoli (milk) so they managed to give me a bowl of rice but for the main meal it was Three cheese chicken or carne con papas. I got the carne con papas. (more on this later. But I think pepe's family thinks I understand barely anything of Spanish because there was a misunderstanding of which one I ordered. [pride hurt]) Anyways the carne was probably beef but I didnt really realize until half way through ( I was hungry!) and I didnt really want to make another issue. Probably the cause of my headache or it could be that I was right by the speaker in which a musician was blasting his music in. They must not have any hearing. oh well.

Tomorrow to Sunday Olga and I are going to Puebla so I wont be able to talk until probably monday. We are going to visit a church for the wedding, do somethings for the house, then go to someone's birthday party which apparently will run from saturday afternoon to sunday morning. We shall see how this goes.

I talked to los abuelos when I got back tonight. Hope you all are doing well. I love you and I will let you know from sunday night to monday.