The last weekend before REAL LIFE begins

While I still had some last minute tasks to accomplish before the first day of school on Monday, I promised myself that I would have fun and forget about school for the rest of Friday night. While us roommates were sitting around the kitchen table disussing what we wanted to do for the evening, I got a phone call from an unknown number. When I answered, I was pleasantly surprised to hear someone speaking to me in English. It was Katie, another friend of a friend who had gone to UW-La Crosse and was now living here in Torreon teaching at Colegio Aleman. She had called to tell me that she and her fellow Colegio Aleman teachers were going to have a carne asada (cook out) at their house and that I and my roomates were invited. I had sent her a message earlier in the week asking if she was in town and if we would be able to get together at some point so I was very excited for her to call. My roommates and I continued to discuss what we might want to do for the night and in the end, decided that we were going to have a carne asada at our house and then go out to a club to see just what the night life in Torreon was all about. I called Katie back and thanked her for her invitation but explained that we were planning to go out instead and that I hoped we could get together another time.
Around 8:00 we started preparing all the food for our own carne asada. I attempted to make salsa (it turned out ok, but definitely not the best - I'm going to keep trying) while the other roommates (Natalie, Lesley, Gina, and Jolene) as well as the roommate's boyfriends (Chava and Javier) marinaded the meat, prepared the quesadillas, and got the grill going. Chava invited some of his friends over and by 10:00ish we were all enjoying the delicious food. It was a lot of fun getting to know new people and hanging out with native Mexicans. While almost all of them spoke English, by the end of the night we were all talking in Spanish. They were sharing good places to go in the city, teaching us how to dance, and inviting us to go out to dinner. It was a very enjoyable evening, and I was glad I allowed myself to have fun instead of stressing out about school stuff and what I still needed to get done.
Today I woke up late and headed to school to get some more work done. I think I'm pretty much ready for the first day but will be cramming to get my lessons done for the rest of the week. After working at school for a few hours, I went with Lesley and Victor to Victor's uncle's carnitas restaurant. I'm pretty sure I ate 7 tacos as well as chicharron (fried pig skin) and left feeling very stuffed. I spent the rest of the afternoon preparing some more school stuff, doing laundry, and finally taking a shower. This evening we may be meeting up with our newfound Mexican friends, but the exact plans are yet to be determined. Regadless, I'm sure it will be another enjoyable evening.

(Pictures below: Jolene and Javier preparing the food; Victor and Tom; Me, Lesley, and Natalie; Me and Gina)