We're Here!!
We made it to Chihuahua on the evening of the 15th. So we've been here 2 days now. So far so good! Our new friends Amy and Hector have been a huge help to us, showing us around and helping us find the things we need to get established here. We only have 1 week until we start up our language classes, so we will need to focus on finding a fridge, a washing machine, a bed, and some furniture this week. We are hoping to find some used furniture stores to get some of these things.
Yesterday morning we went to see our house for the first time! A missionary family on staff here that I know from years ago in the training helped us find this place. Driving through the streets is fun here because the houses are so colorful! Ours is yellow and very cheerful. I know a lot of people have been excited to see pictures of our place, so I'll post pictures and explain the layout as best I can here.
Our landlady's name is Rosi and she seems like a very sweet lady. She is a believer and is giving us a little bit of a deal on the rent price. I am excited to be able to speak her language one day so we can actually talk!
So, first off is the front yard of our house. This is just beyond our front gate under the carport. Unfortunately we can't fit our truck in! We will park on the street when we use our truck during the day and then Don can drive it a few blocks away to a safe place to park and ride his bike back. Not ideal, but doable! And there is a tiny chance the neighbors who have an empty lot that is gated in might let us park there eventually. I love the yellow color and the area right behind the hanging plants that lets natural light in. I'm hoping to be able to grow some potted plants back there.. maybe my own veggies and stuff. :) Since we can't fit our truck in we can use this space to sit and enjoy some shade or let Lily play in her kid pool.
A view to the left shows our little patch of grass as well as a tiny tree. I'm sure this will require lots of watering to maintain.
Standing in the grass looking back to the carport.
Yesterday morning we went to see our house for the first time! A missionary family on staff here that I know from years ago in the training helped us find this place. Driving through the streets is fun here because the houses are so colorful! Ours is yellow and very cheerful. I know a lot of people have been excited to see pictures of our place, so I'll post pictures and explain the layout as best I can here.
Our landlady's name is Rosi and she seems like a very sweet lady. She is a believer and is giving us a little bit of a deal on the rent price. I am excited to be able to speak her language one day so we can actually talk!
So, first off is the front yard of our house. This is just beyond our front gate under the carport. Unfortunately we can't fit our truck in! We will park on the street when we use our truck during the day and then Don can drive it a few blocks away to a safe place to park and ride his bike back. Not ideal, but doable! And there is a tiny chance the neighbors who have an empty lot that is gated in might let us park there eventually. I love the yellow color and the area right behind the hanging plants that lets natural light in. I'm hoping to be able to grow some potted plants back there.. maybe my own veggies and stuff. :) Since we can't fit our truck in we can use this space to sit and enjoy some shade or let Lily play in her kid pool.
A view to the left shows our little patch of grass as well as a tiny tree. I'm sure this will require lots of watering to maintain.
Standing in the grass looking back to the carport.
Standing in the front door. To the left is the living room. To the right is a little nook/entryway. The steps upstairs are right past the wall on the right and after that is our little half bath. Straight ahead is Don in the kitchen. To the left of the kitchen is a dining room area and storage room/office space.
The living room on the left when you walk in.
The entryway nook on the right when you walk in filled with all our stuff from the truck.
The stairway. I thought it would be tile, so the carpet is nice for Lily as she improves in her stair climbing ability.
The half bath right past the steps.
To the left of the kitchen, the red dining room. The color isn't quite this bright in person, but I like it a lot! The landlady said we can paint whatever we want though. I think I'll leave this.
The kitchen, in need of a refrigerator. But it has a stove! Yay.
My kitchen window with a few of our things being unpacked.
Past the kitchen on the right is the laundry room. In need of washing machine and maybe a dryer. But I could hang clothes in the back yard.
Our sweet backyard tree!! I think it might be a Magnolia?
Standing by the tree.
At the top of the stairs look down. From the windows you can see the carport and halfway up you can see over the carport roof.
The view standing at the top of the stairs. To the left of this bedroom is our upstairs bathroom. And I think this purple room will be Lily's.
Our bathroom.
Our shower. Bath tubs are not common here.
Lily's purple room looks out to the front yard.
Standing at the top of the stairs looking at Lily's room we have another bedroom to the right of her door. All of the rooms have built in storage along one wall. Nice! This is the only room I'm really thinking about painting. But maybe I'll get ambitious and do more. We'll probably set this room up as a guest room/office.
And our bedroom!! The window on the right looks over the carport
The other side of our bedroom with a window looking to the back yard.
We love it! For the next few days we are on a hunt for furniture and a bed and appliances. We are hoping to find cheap stuff that will just last us through Spanish language study. We'll see! Hope you enjoyed the pics!
For the last few days we have been staying at the NTM base's guest house. We have met several of the missionaries here so far and they have all been sweet and friendly. We also got to try some of the local food. So delicious! Neither of us have been bothered by the spicy level yet either.
Yesterday we went to a cell phone place in order to get new Mexican sim cards for our phones. There was a long line so we waited for about 20 minutes or more. When we were nearing the end of the line I started feeling a little short of breath and tired. I kept waiting there and then I thought I better find a bathroom. I didn't see any, but I told Don and Hector I needed one. They didn't see one either so I said I was just going to go find one in another building if I had to. haha. As I walked towards the door I started sweating and feeling light headed. I was pretty sure I was going to pass out because I was seeing stars a little, so I just found a bench and sat down with my head between my knees for a few minutes. That seemed to help and since I still didn't see a bathroom I went back to Don and Hector. They were being helped by now and the lady at the counter told me I could ask the guard to let me into the bathroom in the back. So I just walked over to him and said "El Bano?". And he said "Si, Restroom" and started walking. After using the bathroom I felt much better and haven't had another episode since. The only thing I can think is that I wasn't drinking enough water.. I have been only drinking bottled water so far and we've been careful about where we eat and I washed all the fruit and veggies we ate too.. so I don't know! Anyway, all is well now!
For the last few days we have been staying at the NTM base's guest house. We have met several of the missionaries here so far and they have all been sweet and friendly. We also got to try some of the local food. So delicious! Neither of us have been bothered by the spicy level yet either.
Yesterday we went to a cell phone place in order to get new Mexican sim cards for our phones. There was a long line so we waited for about 20 minutes or more. When we were nearing the end of the line I started feeling a little short of breath and tired. I kept waiting there and then I thought I better find a bathroom. I didn't see any, but I told Don and Hector I needed one. They didn't see one either so I said I was just going to go find one in another building if I had to. haha. As I walked towards the door I started sweating and feeling light headed. I was pretty sure I was going to pass out because I was seeing stars a little, so I just found a bench and sat down with my head between my knees for a few minutes. That seemed to help and since I still didn't see a bathroom I went back to Don and Hector. They were being helped by now and the lady at the counter told me I could ask the guard to let me into the bathroom in the back. So I just walked over to him and said "El Bano?". And he said "Si, Restroom" and started walking. After using the bathroom I felt much better and haven't had another episode since. The only thing I can think is that I wasn't drinking enough water.. I have been only drinking bottled water so far and we've been careful about where we eat and I washed all the fruit and veggies we ate too.. so I don't know! Anyway, all is well now!
