White Coat Ceremony & Hippocratic Oath

Today was the white coat ceremony and the hippocratic oath.  I thought that it was usually done after the four years and maybe it is elsewhere, but here we start in the hospital next week so I guess they wanted to make it official.  There are 170 students in my class, about equally mixed between girls/boys and puerto ricans/US students.  I also got my schedule for the first semester.  I will be in class/lab from 8am to 5pm and one day a week I will be at the hospital until 8pm.  It sounds like a busy day, but it should be fun and fulfilling finally getting to learn about the things that interest me and that I'll use for the rest of my life.  

We're Here!!

We finally made it, all of us, together. We'll have to post later with pictures of the drive down here. We did have a lot of fun along the way, we played at the beach and the pool, but it was a long trip. The kids really did well especially considering there are only so many McDonalds along the way.

But now we've been here for a little over a week and so far we love it. Our house is still virtually devoid of furniture and decor but we still love it. There is a lot of time spent hanging out on the

bed in our room, because it is the most comfortable place in the house, it's been a lot of fun.

Hyrum has become a pro at getting the help he needs to go up and down the stairs! He will actually stand at the top of the stairs &

yell over and over," MOM, MOM..." until someone comes up to

hold his hand and help him walk down the stairs. The kids love to "walk Hyrum down the stairs," and everyone takes turns.

Now we just find ourselves going outside all the time... it is that nice here! It is the kind of weather that you take a trip to the cabin for in Arizona! The last couple of days have been in the eighties and we just keep looking around saying, " is it hot? It Is hot."

We feel really safe, I don't worry about my kids playing in the front

yard any more, there is nothing to worry about!

Arrival in Mexico

Sorry there aren't any pictures this time, I keep forgetting to take pics whenever I go somewhere worth seeing.  I arrived in Mexico a week ago without Jenn nor the kids.  I came early to get the house ready, check into the school, and other chores that I thought would be easier without the kids, but in reality missing Jenn and the kids has made everything more difficult.  Jenn wrote my phone number down for Kirtlyn, and she is so good at reading numbers that she calls me pretty often without Jenn's permission or even knowledge.  I have been able to iChat with them over the webcam, and Kirtlyn is constantly asking for a tour of her new house.  Hyrum, I think doesn't quite understand that I'm a thousand miles away, because he tries to grab me through the webcam.  And Thomas is still very excited about whatever he can get his hands on to make a "sword".  I'm glad there will be a little yard for him to run around in.  Every once in a while Jenn and I will synch our iTunes to play the same episode of "Life" while we chat about it.  It has been pretty fun dating Jenn even though it is a thousand miles away.  

I have had some neighbors who have been so gracious as to take me everywhere I needed to go.  One of those places is a town called Tonala.  It seems to be what I pictured Mexico to be like.  It is this beautiful place that has tons of art shops, and when I say art shops I mean art in furniture making (wood and metal), glass, paint, and so much more, cafes, street vendors, and tons of people.  In the furniture shop we went into, they hand carve all their stuff.  You can take a hand drawn design in and they'll make it for cheap.  What would cost $1,000 in the States, it would cost $3,000 pesos or $275 US dollars.  All the students come here to furnish their entire homes for practically nothing.  Some of it is pretty outlandish, as you can see if you follow this link ( www.arteenmadera.com.mx ), but a lot of it is beautiful.

I'm going back to the States on Sunday afternoon to pick up Jenn and the kids, then we'll all drive down together next week.  It seems as though the hard part of this journey is over, or hopefully anyway.  For some reason there has been opposition in us coming down, Jenn and I both felt like this is what we're supposed to do, so hopefully it was just a test and we'll see the good at the end.