T O R R E O N ! !

After much anticipation, I am happy to say I am now finally here in Torreon and settled into what will be my house for the next year. Last night, I left La Piedad at 8:30pm and arrived here to Torreon this morning at 9:45am. I was pretty nervous about the trip but everything went very well. I was mainly nervous becuase I had to switch buses in Irapuato, but the transtion ended up being no problem at all. I even think I slept about 4-5 hours on the way here and only had to use the gross bus bathroom once. After getting off the bus, I asked a nice man to help me with my 3 giant and heavy suitcases. He dropped them off near a pay phone, took my $20 (pesos) tip and left. I promptly inserted the phone card I had bought into the public pay phone and called the first of six phone numbers I had been given in order to call for someone to come pick me up. After 4 failed attempts and feeling a bit more nervous, someone finally answered my fifth phone call. They informed me that someone would be on their way to come pick me up. I waited about a half hour until finally a white van arrived. It felt very surreal and I was extremely relieved to know that I was on my way to where I would be living for the next year. I was apparently the first to arrive and they dropped me off at one of the houses to wait while they went for others. I fell asleep on the couch and when I woke up many of my fellow teachers had arrived. We chatted for awhile getting to know one another, and just as I had expected, conversation came easily and we all seemed to get along well. We then toured all of Colegio Ingles houses and chose our rooms. I then spent the next hour or so unpacking my giant suitcases and organizing my room. The houses are all very nice and we're even lucky enough to air conditioning. My room and my bathroom are small but comfortable and I definitely welcomed a shower after so many hours traveling. After organizing, 4 other girls and I set off on our first adventure - a trip to Walmart to buy some essentials for the houses. We crammed into a taxi and had no problems until the ride back when we realized we didn't know our addresses. I had luckily brought a map the school had given us and with the map we were able to make it back. We then headed out in search of somewhere to eat. We wandered around for probably a half an hour before we found a hamburger and taco joint that we decided would have to do. After dinner, we hung out in the living room area of my house and all attempted to connect to the internet. Of course my computer is the only one that won't connect - I'm actually writing this on one of the other girl's computer since mine is not cooperating. All in all it has been a successful day and I'm anxious to see what is in store for the next year. We have the rest of the weekend to finish unpacking and continue exploring the city. On Monday, we have to go to school and begin our orientation. Hopefully what I have written makes sense (it has been a long day and I'm struggling to write coherent sentences) and I plan to now write more frequently since I can access the internet without having to go to an internet cafe. It's nice to finally be here in Torreon, and I'm looking forward to the adventures that are soon to come!