Por fin, Miacatlan!!! (1/25)

Oh my gosh.  This place is gorgeous.  I knew in advance that the house was constructed out of what used to be a hacienda, the Spanish version of a plantation, but I had no idea that practically all of the buildings are using the original architecture.  It's huge and green and beautiful.  But I'm getting ahead of myself.

Tuesday we loaded up the van with all of our stuff (which my shoulders are very sore still today because of; if I pack it, I can carry it) and headed out.  I woke up pretty nervous for the first time, a sentiment which only grew the closer we came to house itself.  I didn't know what to expect, but it definitely wasn't this.

My first view of the house!  Awful picture, sorry.

Daniela, our volunteer coordinator, met us and we were shown our house and assigned rooms.  Martina and I have a room to ourselves while Monika, Wesleigh, and Teresa share and Dan, Ignacio, and Andrew have the last one.  Jeremy doesn't live with us because he is considered a professional volunteer since he is a certified physical therapist.  We met Teresa finally who is very energetic and fun and a great resource for our entrance into house life.  Dan and Jeremy met us as well and we all talked about various rules and policies for how things worked.  Mario, one of the directors from Cuernavaca who drove us over, then gave us a tour of the whole house with Teresa.  We had a meeting with the head honchos of the place (which was a little intimidating, but they were really nice) and then Rafael (the real head honcho of NPH) took us out to lunch in town.  After lunch, we spent time unpacking and getting settled, had private meetings with Daniela about our orientation schedule and other things, and prepared for bed.  Yes, I turned my lights out at 9pm, but we had to be up and ready to go by 5:30am and you all know how much I need my sleep! ;-)