This photo on the left was taken from inside the penthouse on the top of our apartment building. Downtown Guadalajara is between the red and white tower and the next tall building to the right of it.

So I survived my first two days on my own in Mexico. Joe had to go out of town Wednesday night to Friday night. Thankfully he was able to take a taxi to the airport. I am not quite ready to drive that route quite yet. There is a part of the route that can get dangerous. Some of the roads down here don't have lanes and it can get confusing. One of my first experiences driving down here, a man gave us the back of his hand after a little bit of confusion in a glorieta (round-about). I asked Joe why he was ticked off. Joe just laughed and said he was thanking us for letting him go first. But to me and anyone in America, it means, "I will give you the back of my hand." It seemed like he was looking for a fight. But due to the culture difference, it means "Thank you." It was quite amusing! I really thought he was mad and I was scared.

So on Thursday, I got the courage to go for a walk with Tali in my sling. It wasn't too eventful. And then Friday, I drove to Walmart all by myself while Joe was out of town. Tali and I walked around Plaza de Mexico, where Walmart is located. There was a vendor there that was selling all types of birds. And get this! They were selling ducklings! There was probably a dozen of them. So I had to take Joe back there to show him. He picked one up! It was adorable. It was yellow with cute little webbed feet and a small orange flat beak. They were selling it for only 30 pesos (about $3.oo). Who has a pet duck?

So the best part of the week was while I was at the Plaze de Mexico. A lady asked me something in Spanish. And I was able to answer! Can you believe it? I understood was she asked me! I am learning "poco a poco," little by little. This is our apt building.

So things I miss about America:

1. Cheddar Cheese! It's hard to find down here.
2. Smith's Market Place
3. The American Dollar
4. Fox and ABC
5. Target! I would pay Target to put a store down here if I had the money. (If you think Walmart is ghetto in America, it is even more ghetto down here).
6. Joe misses Best Buy (video games are marked up about $30 to $50 more in Mexico)
7. American Resturants (I really believe Mexicans eat anything put in front of them. We went to a waffle resturant. And my waffles came out stale and cold. We went to McDonald's about two weeks ago and the hamburgers came out cold. And the bun was flattened to resemble a tortilla. I didn't finish it.)
8. The sunny weather in Utah.
9. Mountains
10. Family and friends (okay, really this is the number one thing we miss about America, I just thought cheddar cheese would be funny.)
11. People that know how to speak English

I am going to make a "shout out" to my friend Kristi Shaw. I was thinking of you this week. Do you remember when we went to Target and you were laying down in the aisle testing out all the pillows. You make me laugh. Good times! Joe and I went pillow shopping yesterday. The apartment came with King sized pillows. Who uses King sized pillows? I don't have a King sized head. They are extremely uncomfortable if you aren't used to them. So Joe and I bought good old standard sized pillows for our standard sized heads.

Italia Marie is becoming more animated than ever. She is talking more and more. She loves to show off to her dad. I think she is going to be a Daddy's girl. Now that she's learned to talk, she is also experimenting with screaming. There were a couple of days this week that she wanted to let me know she had vocal chords and wasn't afraid to use them! After those couple of days, I did a lot of research! I think Joe and I finally have her figured out a little bit better. The trick is to put her down to nap before she gets too tired. Sounds easy, but not easy enough for us to figure it out on our own. Apparently, babies can get to the point that they get too tired. And once they reach that point, it is nothing but a fight to get them to sleep. There was one crying fit that she screamed straight for about a half hour and then went straight to snoring! I was like, "What the Heck, Tali!"She straight wore herself out. So now we just look for clues that she is getting tired. She likes to make squaking noises and suck on her hands a lot when she starting to get tired. And I thought babies take only one long nap in a day. But really they need to lay down about 2 hours after being awake. And they can take anywhere from 2 to 3 naps a day. Every baby is different of course. But this information has been like gold in our house. I don't know if this is common knowledge, but it has saved us and Tali. She is learning to play with her rattle we bought for her. She is starting to learn to open and close her fist. She grabs her blankets and anything that comes near her hands.

We gave Tali a haircut today. Really, it was a trim. Her hair was getting long around her ears and in the back. It was fun! Here is a video of Tali talking. I apologize for the T.V. sound in the background.

Hello all, this is Joe now . . . this last week was a neat week. I had to go out of town for a few days to visit with a few clients in the city of Toluca in the "State" of Mexico. My employee working that area is actually a convert of mine and I enjoyed working a few days with him. He's working very hard. When I was on my mission here in Mexico, I served my last 6 months as Zone Leader of the Toluca stake which is where I met Jose Manuel (my convert) and his family.

One of our tasks this week was to visit a few of his clients in the town of Atlacomulco which is about an hour away from Toluca. I served in the Atlacomulco Branch as a new missionary and met some great folks. One of the families that I converted was the Garcia-Ortiz family, and to this day I remember knocking on their door early one hot morning and giving the first missionary discussion. To make a long story short, I had not seen them in well over 6 years (last time I saw them, Mom and Dad Jespersen were with me). Jose Manuel and I happened to be cruising to lunch when we saw the Elders cruising down the street. We drove up to them and I introduced myself as an ex-missionary that had worked this area when Atlacomulco was still a branch. I asked about the Garcia-Ortiz family and how they were doing when the Elders told me that that's exactly where they were headed for lunch and invited us along. So that's what we did, we drove to their humble home and we got a warm welcome. It brought good memories back as I visited with the family. In any event, the church has exploded in the little town of Atlacomulco, it's now a ward with one of the nicest Mexican ward buildings I've seen. I snapped a photo.

Today I was set apart for my new calling on the Stake High Council and was ordained a High Priest. There's plenty of work to be done in the church down here so I'm excited for the new calling. This morning at my stake meeting for example, only three out of the 12 High Council members were in attendance which I'm told is common.

Well, it's getting late, this week is going to be extremely busy for me. Until next week.

Love,

Joe, Andrea, and Tali

So...this week was very similar to last week. So I won't bore you with all the details. But here are a few highlights of this week:

I drove for the first time to Blockbuster Video. It was a little frightening considering the small lanes and the crazy "glorietas"(round-abouts). The public bus drivers don't care if they get hit, so they all drive like they own the road. You have to be careful because they'll push into the next lane. Also, designated crosswalks don't exist here in Guadalajara, so people are crossing the street where ever they wish.

I am still trying to understand the language...I have a feeling I am going to be trying to understand the language for my whole stay here. I learn a few new words each day. And then try not to forget them the next day. People come up and talk to me all the time...and I am completely clueless! It is so frustrating and funny at the same time. I have never felt so clueless in my life! It is a feeling that is hard to explain. I go to church and just sit there while people go on and talk about stuff that I don't understand. And when they get emotional, (which happens a lot with the Hispanic sisters in the ward) I have no idea what they are getting emotional about, which makes me feel a little hardhearted. It's hard to learn the Sister's names because; A. I have trouble finding the right words to ask and B. I have no idea what they say back to me. There names just sound like another word in spanish I can't say. It is quite amusing. The ward that meets before ours has an American bishop. He is going to medical school down here. He says there are a few American families in our ward that our going to medical school and will be back after summer vacation. He says that all the Americans that come down here are going to medical school. So I guess we are the exception.

So the biggest highlight of my week would be the giant spider that was just inside our front door when we got home from a day out yesterday. It is the biggest spider I have ever seen. I can't believe it got in our door. My worst fear is too wake up to find a big spider on Tali's face. I don't know what I would do. So after I found it, Joe and I pretty much played paper rock scissors about who was going to try to sweep it out the door. But of course I took pictures before I swept it out (I lost the game). This picture doesn't give it justice!

Tali still has no clue that she is in a foreign country. She just knows that it gets hotter here because there is no air conditioning in any of the buildings....this is a video of her taken after church last week. She got really warm so we stripped her down to her diaper.



Here is another video of Tali using testing out her vocal cords. It's kind of dark but it is the audio that is funny.





Tali is becoming more and more interactive. She smiles and talks a lot more. It is quite amusing. I love her more each day. She still doesn't quite enjoy her tommy yet because her neck is still a little weak. So we got a big red ball. And we put her face down on it. She likes that a little bit better because she can see stuff we put on the floor for her to look at. It actually gives her better practice holding her head up as well. It was a genius idea given to us by our doctor. I recommend it for any new parent.

Tali is still taking a few naps during the day. She takes one long nap midday and then a couple cat-naps inbetween. She is sleeping better through the night. She only wakes up about 4 or 5a.m. to eat and goes back to sleep for a few more hours. Her eating schedule is pretty predictable also. It is nice to finally have a very reliable schedule that we can work around. Joe and I have tickets to go see Batman tomorrow night and hope that she'll fall asleep for the night in the car on the way to the movie theater. The movie theaters here have what's called a VIP pass. Instead of the cramped seating, there is are theaters with big leather chairs, and the tickets are comparable those in the U.S. So we are going to check it out tomorrow night. That is about it for our exciting week. Joe leaves to go out of town this week for two days. I am sure it will go fine but I am a little nervous. Wish me luck!

I 'll post a few more pictures that I took of Tali.

Probably the easiest way for us to keep everyone informed on our time in Mexico is through a tacky blog. Bare with us as we slowly get the whole blogging deal rolling.

This week was the first full "Jespersen's in Guadalajara" week. Each person in the family (Joe, Andrea and Tali) probably have a different perspective on how the week went, but here's a break down on this week's events:

Monday July 7, 2008: Dad took the three of us down to the airport at 4:00 a.m. for our 7:00 a.m. flight. The plane was uneventful, Tali is a great traveler. We had a brief layover in Phoenix and then were on our way to Guadalajara. After gathering our 8 pieces of luggage we left the terminal to meet up with my employee who was nice enough to pick us up and drive us to the apartment. It felt good to finally get to the apartment. We were able to relax for the rest of the afternoon. Later that evening, the three of us set out to the Wal-Mart nearest our home for some groceries. The experience was a little different for Andrea as we tried to find food products that we were used to finding at Smith's on Harrison. We wrapped up the first day by having dinner at a traditional Mexican restaurant right behind our apartment called "Los Otates". Andrea ate an "Arracherra" and I had some potato flautas.

Tuesday July 8, 2008: I had to get back to work this day, so I was up on-line and in on the phone with my guys most of the day. Andrea cleaned up the house a bit, organized the kitchen better and worked on arranging Tali's clothes. Most of the day was spent at home, but after I had finished work for the day, we figured we'd make another trip to Wal-Mart for some missing items. This second Wal-Mart trip was a bit easier on Andrea and she was already starting to recognize the store. After Wal-Mart, we took a drive by our ward chapel building and then ate dinner at a traditional taco stand close to our house.

Wednesday July 9, 2008: Andrea got sick from the tacos. Bad cramps, a fever and frequent trips to the bathroom. Probably not the best idea to take my wife's "virgin" stomach to a taco stand so early into our tenure here. So, most of Wednesday was spent in the house again. I of course had to work, and was quite busy playing catch-up. The weather here in Guadalajara this entire week has been cool and wet. It's rained everyday we've been here so far, and the temperature hasn't gotten above 70 degrees. Actually quite nice. We had a doctor's appointment for Tali in the afternoon at her new doctor. Tali got several vaccinations and a check-up and all is well. The doctor we choose is expensive, but very experience, very clean and very nice. She explained all of the vaccinations that are recommended here in Mexico for new-borns which is actually exactly what the U.S. Department of Health recommends for new-borns. The vaccines that were given to Tali were actually made in the United States. Andrea and I both felt comfortable allowing Tali to receive her vaccinations from this doctor. Later in the evening Andrea was feeling better, so we went to the local mall (which is actually very large and very posh) to find Tali a new chair. No tacos tonight.

Thursday July 10, 2008: I woke up with a killer fever and terrible stomach cramps. I had taken my left-over tacos home and had them for lunch yesterday and I think that's what did me in. I was in bad shape for almost the entire day. It was tough to focus on working and I was in the bathroom more than I was at my desk. Andrea was feeling a tiny bit better, but I was pretty much out for the count. This was the second time in less than a week that I have been sick from food (I was sick over the 4th).

Friday July 11, 2008: We were feeling better this day, but I had to continue to work. Andrea did some stuff around the house, and then at lunch time we took a field trip to our bank branch here in Mexico so that Andrea could get put on our bank account. Afterwards, we spent the evening at home, watched our newly installed cable television and hit the sac early.

Saturday July 12, 2008: We decided to sleep in a bit, do some additional chores and then hit Costco and a different grocery store (since we had been to Wal-Mart three times already the past week). Costco and most grocery stores are PACKED on Saturdays and yesterday wasn't really an exception to that rule. We picked up some items for Tali and some food and what not, and then came home. Andrea and Tali took naps while I took our car to get washed and to get a haircut. Last night we ate chicken nuggets that we made at home and watched the "Illusionist" on cable. We were going to try and get out to do some site-seeing today, but figured that due to our long week we would reserve that experience for another weekend (maybe next).

Sunday July 13, 2008: Today we went to church, our services start at 11:00. We got up and got Tali and ourselves ready. It was Ward Conference so the Stake Presidency was in attendance. It was Andrea's first Sunday at a ward where she didn't understand a thing that was said, but she did awesome. During Sunday School, a member of the Stake Presidency asked me to step into the Stake President's office (we attend church at the Stake Center). He interviewed me and asked what our intentions were in the ward (as in if we were staying for an extended period of time and if I was interested in serving). I said that I'd be willing to accept any calling that needed to be filled and would be excited to get to know more ward members and to help the church grow. He said that the Stake President would be extending a calling to me later this week, but did not allude as to what it would be. We'll find out next week. Andrea and I split up for Priesthood and Relief Society and she was brave and took off on her own, not understanding a darn thing. She told me that during Relief Society, all the sisters were trying to help her with Tali. Both of us aren't too keen on the fact that all the Mexican sisters wanted to hold the baby so Andrea politely refused most of them.

So, that was the big week. Next week's post will probably be smaller since I'm sure things will start to get normal for us around here. There's still quite a bit to learn and to see, but Andrea, Tali and I will slip into a routine that will become our daily lives. We're comfortable here, we're feeling quite a bit better tonight, and the only thing we're missing is being around are families.

As for me, I'm just glad that I finally have my wife and my baby down here with me.

Until next week.

Tali, Andrea and Joe