que hora es?

so i have now arrived in ciudad guzman where i will live for the next 4 weeks. it seems very nice so far, though i haven`t properly looked round. here is my last 24 hours or so:

last night- bought some crap food for my bus journey from the 7-11, sat around reading the paper in spanish (or rather pretending to, so i looked like a native), wrote some postcards (therefore not looking like a native). got a taxi to el terminal del norte for my bus, ate my crap food and a nice lady sitting next to me in the sala de espera told me i would get some food on the bus as well, i said oh, no lo supe (oh, i didn`t know that). that was our conversation. then i got on my bus, which was fairly confusing as there was 6 primera plus buses lined up, and no signs as to which was going where when, so i had to ask a few people. and sure enough i got a little bag with a sandwich and some fanta in it, but it didn`t look great so i left it on the bus.

they showed the film juno again on tv, which was weird as i had watched it in belize. i read my book instead to try to learn about mexican history, and then tried to sleep, which mainly didn`t work apart from a few half hours here and there. (i realised that the only time you use the word fitfully, is referring to sleep - unless anyone knows of any other usages?) i always in theory really like the idea of travelling on buses or trains through the night, it`s sort of romantic and special, but the reality is unless i`m zoned out on valium, which i really didn`t want to do for this short journey, then i just spend the night panicking that the bus/train is veering off the road/track. this was a really good bus, with even 2 toilets, one for men and one for women, and not very busy, and very comfy seats, but i still panicked. they put a speed limit on the buses, so that if the driver starts going above around 95kph then a little alarm goes off and a red light flashes. i was sitting near the front, so every few minutes heard the little alarm and saw the red light, and panicked. anyway, consequently i didn`t sleep at all well.

i arrived 45 minutes earlier than scheduled, at 5.45am today, which is in my book technically still the middle of the night. my school was sending someone called nacho to meet me and deliver me to my new family. nacho didn`t turn up until 7.30, almost 2 hours later. i had tried ringing him in the meantime, but his phone didn`t work, so i found a little man in a phone shop in the bus station who let me use his phone as well in case that worked, but it didn`t. i resigned myself to sitting grumpily in the bus station for the rest of eternity, with only a few carrot sticks from the 7-11 to sustain me. some mexican weirdo came to talk to me and told me i was beautiful, he was also drinking a coffee - seems like early morning coffee-drinking compliment encounters in mexico are my destiny... i thanked him and carried on eating my carrot sticks. nacho eventually turned up and tells me that the clocks had gone forward one hour, and he had turned up to get me an hour early and then an hour late or something. by now the sun was coming up and there was a really nice view of the mountains so i wasn`t too bothered what the explanation was. though it`s interesting they change the clocks here too, i always assume it`s just europe - he said they`ve only done it since 6 years ago, so maybe that`s why he hadn`t got the hang of it yet. he told me there are 7 foreigners in ciudad guzman, and i am the 8th. he also said he could maybe lend me a bike, which was very exciting, and that there is a swimming pool which is also exciting.

he took me to my new house and new family. totally different to my guatemalan family experience, there is just one lady looking after me, called Rosa-ellia. she is very friendly and lovely and talks to me lots and lots, some of which i can understand. there is a mexican student who lives there too, but he only is there during the week, so i haven`t met him yet. when i arrived, she gave me a quick tour of the house, it is much more modern than guatemala, and has a nice hot shower. i have 2 little beds in my room and a wardrobe and mirror and bedside table. she was explaining how clean it all was, and that look, the sheets were all clean, and then she pulled back the bed cover to reveal a big fat cricket sitting there looking at us. she shoo-ed it outside. i went to sleep for the next 4 hours, then got up and had lunch. she has 2 little budgies in a cage too, but there are no children which is quite a relief as i have gone off the idea of being in close proximity to children unless they are very quiet and very well behaved all the time.

tomorrow i start my course, apparently there are only 4 of us which could be nice if they are nice, nacho said maybe they were canadian. rosaellia told me she had some canadians staying once and they not only didn`t eat meat, but also didn`t like tortillas. that must have been hard work for her cooking for them. i told her i eat everything.

in other news - the word coche in south america means pig, but in mexico means car. confusing.
have just checked a world time zones website, and apparently in mexico it is 1245 at the moment, i thought it was 245 so i am now very confused. i think i put my watch forwards one hour instead of backwards one hour after all the nacho confusion.... my day is suddenly much longer.