Everyday is a Winding Road...

I get a little bit closer to feeling fine..."
(well said, Sheyrl)

Today I'm spending my afternoon in a cute coffeeshop in McAllen (which is literally next to Edinburg -- the cities are separated by an intersection with an Edinburg pop. sign on one side and a McAllen pop. sign on the other). There is some kind of obscure techno music playing and a huge peace sign painted on one wall. And about 30 different coffee drinks and wireless so I am set.

For the last few days, I've been in Edinburg (A on the map), again, same dorms as before. TFA is putting us up until tomorrow, giving us time to find housing. Problem is that since I now don't have a job, I can't exactly look for housing given the size of the Valley. If I get put in Brownsville (B on the map) (which I'm really hoping to avoid), I'll have to live there because there aren't other cities near it, and it's expensive (I heard $700 for a 1-bed apt!). My executive director, who is now in charge of trying to get us interviews, said there may be opportunities in Edcouch-Elsa (C on the map) or La Joya (D on the map), which are almost 30mins apart so not sure where I would look for housing. He's going out to La Joya today to talk with a principal so I may get a call about an interview (fingers-crossed because La Joya is half-way between Rio Grande City, where I was originally gonna be, and McAllen/mid-Valley, where other friends will be; plus it's more rural which I like).

Anyhow, I've been having some fun with new friends and so happy to be here in the Valley than in Houston. I think I'll actually like living here, even if it is 95'+ and humid with mosquitos right now. We had a fantastic dinner our first night back at this great place with, yes, a mariachi band:

Some of my new friends: Hillary, Hailey (from OR!) & her cool bf Matt


Angela, Mark (also from OR), and yours truly

The last few days I've been doing some errands. I spent my alloted fun money for books already -- spent hours at B&N perusing and bought 2 new teacher books and 2 non-teacher books that I have to read now. I also got my fingerprinting done, got my oil changed, got my car inspected, did my laundry, slept in... It's strange going from having every moment of my day crazy busy to having nothing to do. Sounds nice but it's not because I'd rather be finding a place to live, moving in, and getting settled instead of hanging around waiting to hear, not knowing what grade I'll teach or how the curriculum will be laid out in that school so I can't really start planning anything, worrying slightly about where I'll be sleeping tomorrow night (though I think I can find a few options).

One adventure I've had (though not the best to tell as it doesn't exemplify my cautiousness and thinking ahead) occurred last night as we sat around the dorms bored. We didn't feel like going to the bars. We didn't feel like just watching a movie. I mentioned that I felt bored hungry, not actually hungry (although the dorm food here is even worse than in Houston and I ate a bowl of cereal for dinner) but just bored hungry. My roommate "Meeshy" suddenly suggests "let's go to Mexico and get tacos. It's only 15 mins away!" And because the idea is so spontaneous and novel, my friend Angela and I decide this is a fantastic idea, even if it is already 10pm.

Let me preface the rest of the story by saying a few things: 1) during Induction, a lot of people went to Mexico for the evening (though I did not), so I know it's not hard to do. However... 2) people went to Progresso, which is about 45mins from McAllen, because it is a "safer, tourist" city. Fifteen mins south of McAllen is Reynosa, which 3) we remembered later we'd heard was a big drug trafficking area, and also maybe not the best city to visit (probably especially not for 3 gringas at 10pm). But 4) Meeshy has studied in Mexico and is fluent in Spanish so for some reason, I trust that she knows what she's doing and suggesting.

So [ignorantly] we jump in the car and drive south. We hit the border, park our car in a "secure" parking lot on the U.S. side so that we can just walk over the bridge, are escorted by an amused young Mexican whose parents own the parking lot, and begin our short lived journey. Immediately we realize that it is quite dark and that we actually have no idea where we're going to go. Meeshy starts up a conversation with some guards in Spanish, who basically tell us it's not the best idea to go over and that the first 5 blocks from the border are okay but that we really should take a taxi if we plan to go further, at this time of night, given that we don't speak the best Spanish and we're, obviously, 3 pretty gringas. We decide that we'll just walk across and see what it looks like and at least there are guards around and we can always turn back. The bridge is not long, although the Rio Grande River is wider than I expected there. On the Mexican side, in Reynosa, it was very dark. There was a Carl's Jr. and a convenience store open in sight but otherwise the streets looked a bit dark and deserted expect for a few groups of men walking in various directions. And everyone is staring at us, not exactly in a friendly, comfortable way. "Okay, let's go back," Meeshy suddenly says. We start up another convo with some Mexican guards and they laugh when Meeshy asks them if they think we'd be safe and it's a good idea for us to go find tacos.

So, our first bright idea of the night, we decide to head back over the bridge to the U.S. There is a skybridge we had to cross to get to the other side of the bridge (even the walking runs one-way), and the guards decided to meet us on the other side and escort us back to the U.S., which sounded nice until they asked Meeshy for her phone number and we felt a bit uncomfortable with the fact that they were holding huge guns. And of course, after they leave us and we're back on the U.S. side, Meeshy mentions that from her experience, the cops in Mexico are not necessarily the ones to trust blindly, like maybe we would here. Duh. Why didn't we think of this before? Then we had a hell of a time trying to get turned around because we were on a one-way street that led into Mexico. We saw two border patrol cops pull over and arrest someone right in front of us. And I was informed by a U.S. guard that usually cars with out-of-state plates and a TX inspection sticker are stolen (& the sticker I just got that day because you have to have your car inspected before you can register it, though I have to wait til I get a TX address before I can get a license & registration). Luckily we finally got turned around without further hassle, bought some disgusting Whataburger fast-food, and made it home, embarrassed but wiser.

So now, just waiting for the next steps to appear. And I must say, I think I'm getting better at it.