Adjusting

This is our third weekend here in El Paso. It is still wicked hot and dry. We have not seen most places in the city yet but got to see one of the suburbs thanks to a purchase made through Craigslist. It is very different from our neighborhood. I think it was the first time I have seen so many white people in the same place since got here!

Both Chris and I have our hands full at work. Chris is making house visits now as part of one of the projects that the church has. It is quite hard to hear the conditions of the places he has visited and the people he has met. He is also attending the boys youth group meetings every Wednesday night to help out Brother Pete, his supervisor. By helping out I mean throwing the frisbee around, hitting cars and making the alarms go off. Those sort of things that Chris is really good at!

I already began assisting clients in applying for residency and citizenship. It is frustrating not be able to answer every question they make, but hopefully I will get better. I also discovered that I am very slow filling out applications. I had an appointment one day scheduled for 9:30 am and finished at 12:40 pm! I bet you are thinking that you are lucky not be my client. Admit it! It was a pain, literally. In two weeks I will begin the Conversational English and Citizenship classes. I am very nervous about this but also anxious for this to come so I can overcome that fear and nervousness. It's not like it will be my first time teaching!... It's just that these students could be my parents! That is intimidating enough for me.

Last weekend, the parents of one of our housemates came to bring her car. They invited us to dinner (YES!) and we got to hang out in the pool of the hotel they were staying. That is probably the most exciting thing that has happened in these three weeks.

There is also another volunteer at my job that is serving with the Border Servicing Corps. We are trying to get our two houses together sometime soon, it has not worked out well yet. All of us are very excited to meet other people that are doing a similar work to what we are doing.

As for this weekend, Chris and I plan to go to a Puerto Rican picnic (YES!), and maybe to the White Sands in New Mexico. We are still adjusting. There is not really much to do around here with our budget... our creativity is constantly being challenged. We could learn Tai Chi every Saturday for free! I am just not there yet.

Here I post a picture of our community. Thanks for hanging on with us! ;-)

Leticia