En Casa

Solo por dos días gracias a la helada esa, pero se siente rico estar en casa. Probablemente nunca regrese en la semana de Thanksgiving. Lo bueno es que aunque fueron dos días menos de lo planeado, los pendientes urgentes quedaron resueltos.

Es curioso esperar a comer una hamburguesa Del Río con las mismas ansias con las que antes esperaba comer una Whataburger.  

Es increíble el ver que es difícil encontrar restaurants mexicanos auténticos en Texas, siendo estado vecino a México.

A veces las ideas salen de la cabeza a la computadora para no aburrirse tanto en lo que se espera la salida del avión. 

A Winter Storm Kept me Grounded in Odessa, but not for long

It was about a week ago when I talked about how hopeful I was about leaving today. A cold spell was expected, but nothing really serious, right? Wrong! 

When a shallow layer of freezing air is overrun by warmer air (above freezing) it causes rain to freeze upon impact with the ground, especially on leaves, grass, and cars. But the worst thing is that bridges are the first to freeze. Occasionally, rain may freeze before reaching the ground. This is known as ice or sleet, as shown on the picture above. This only lasted a few minutes, as most of the time all I saw was plain rain that froze:

Update November 24th: It was mainly freezing rain, but sleet (ice pellets) and a few snow flurries fell at times. Pictures are worth more than 1000 words, so here they are:

November 25th: I must say that the most beautiful pictures were not taken due to safety reasons (hey, you don't stop to take pictures in the middle of a busy highway then you're driving over snow!). It all began like this:

After temperatures reached the mid 30s (about 1-2 degrees Celsius) and the sun began coming out I took the car and drove away from Odessa. Southern Ector county was buried in snow, and a gray purple sky made it look like a true winter wonder shrub-land. There was snow on the highway, in between the two lanes, and right in the edges. After Crane there were white hills, but on the other side, after having a gray-purple sky and a white ground it turned to yellow-orange ground, green-yellow shrubs, blue skies and white clouds in 5 minutes!

There were a few spots of ice and snow all the way up to Ozona, as the semi-desert slowly changed into a forest. Fall colors began showing up around Junction, and they were even better in Kerrville (where H-E-B began), but it was too dark to take pictures. Cowboy Steakhouse (in Kerrville) was really nice and cozy:

I'm safe and sound in San Antonio, I'll be in Monterrey tomorrow.

Not Homesick, but...

It is not homesickness, but I really wish I could bring my friends and family here, as long as they're happy. Since late August, every day, every hour, every minute, every second sets a new record in time spent away from Monterrey, away from Mexico, and in the US. I really, really miss this place in which I will be sleeping next Sunday, however, I would not go back to work there, no. I am thankful for this opportunity that has come after waiting for three years. 

I wish we had Thanksgiving in Mexico, as it is perhaps the only man made holiday worthy of celebrating, as it unites families. And then again, I am thankful for this opportunity of being able to work here in the US, and living in a city where people are nice and friendly.