Reader beware, angry writer ahead.

The one thing I canNOT stand about Texas are all the damn Mexicans. I am not racist whatsoever but the ones here are turning me into the most prejudiced person against Mexican people. But not all of them, just the ones who come to live and work here without learning our damn language. Yesterday my landlord had a bunch of contractors come to the house to do some estimates on things. The windows contractor was Mexican. Who hardly spoke word of English. Who skimmed over his job and even forgot a few windows. I had to ask him "what?" several times. I just wanted to yell at him "LEARN MY FUCKING LANGUAGE IFYOU"RE GOING TO WORK HERE!" I took 3 years of Spanish in high school, but you know what, that's like learning only the ABC's in the English language. It's not enough and I feel like I'm in another country here.

Today has just really pissed me off though. I went to a Kirby store to buy some vacuum bags so I can actually get a good vacuum done on my floor. I walked into the store and just groaned, a Mexican was working the counter. And of course this isn't a store store, its a little shop and EVERYTHING to buy was behind that damn counter. I asked the guy for some bags for the Sentria...he mumbled something in Spanish that I didn't understand. I said "what?" and he said something and all I understood was "2 or 6". I figured he was talking about a 2-bag pack or a 6-bag pack so I asked what the price difference was. Again a mumble and I caught "9.50" and a 20-something. After being cut off with a really close call by a speeding Mexican on the freeway, I was already pissed off and not wanting to be there longer than I already needed to be so instead of him hurting himself trying to speak the language of the damn country he lives in, I said I'd take the 2-pack. THEN he went off about something in Spanish and all I understood was "años" (years) and I was like "How old am I?" and pointed to myself. He nodded and I was thinking "what the hell does this dude want to know my age for?" then I figured maybe here I had to be 18 to buy and I definitely don't look 18 so I told him my age. Then he went back and got the pack and I ASKED the guy "And these are for the Sentria right?" "Yes yes".Ok cool, got my bags lets go finish errands.

I just went to change my bags and guess what? THE FUCKING BAGS HE SOLD ME ARE NOT THE RIGHT ONES! Omg! Seriously?!? I am so mad. Maybe there are two different bag types for my vacuum, but you know what? If the fucker had spoken English then he could have gotten me the right bags! I'm sick of this place already. Take away all the Mexicans that can't speak a lick of English and it'd be a decent place. I mean seriously, I'm a little white girl. Nothing about me looks like I speak Spanish. You wanted to leave Mexico? LEAVE IT AT THE DAMN BORDER THEN. Don't bring it in here and try to run a business. I shouldn't have to listen to the same announcement in Macy's--one in English, one in Spanish-to accommodate you and your laziness when it comes to being a proper United States citizen.

Now I know how the Native Americans felt. White people coming in and taking over their land. I feel bad about it now. I always felt bad, just because it was mean and cruel. Now I have a little taste as to what they went through. But this is MY land now, get the fuck off of it or learn MY language.

That shop better be open tomorrow. I'm going back and demanding they give me the 6-pack bag for the price of what I paid for the 2-pack....because this is a HUGE inconvenience and a hazard to my life with the way people drive here.

El Paso

So we made it to El Paso, TX around 4:30 in the morning on September 1st. On the 31st the military had the packers come and spend 5 hours packing our apartment and storage unit then load it into the truck. After they were finished I had to turn in apartment keys, drop cable gear off at Comcast and donate the food we couldn't pack into the car to Courtney. We didn't get on the road until about 6:30 that night, trunk full and Lili and dogs in the back seat. I drove about half way and my mom drove the rest. We were tired and so happy to finally get into our hotel beds, but of course that only lasted about 4 hours thanks to Lili the early bird. We met with the landlord that morning and got the keys to our house. It's definitely not as nice as I thought it would be. It's an old house with a lot of the original build. Tiles in the kitchen are cracked, falling apart and lifting off the floor. We have tiles in all 3 bedrooms, those aren't too bad minus the paint since someone apparently doesn't know how to cover the floor when painting. The carpet in the living room, hall and dining room is old and hideous. All the windows have cranks and open like a door, almost all don't even open. We also have bars on all the windows, except the big living room one (its huge and divided into smaller sections by wood...if that makes sense). We have 4 doors to the outside world...3 of which have barred security screen doors....which I actually like since they lock and I can leave the door open. One door leads to our screened in back porch, which has an uneven brick floor. The yard is full of weeds and sticker bushes which sucks because they get dragged in by the dogs and embedded into the carpet for us to step on. It has a swamp cooler that I absolutely hate. I can live with it, but never again will I rent (or buy) a home with one. We had to wait over a week for my stuff to arrive, so sleeping on the floor at night (we actually bought $1 pool floaties to use as mattresses....not that they worked well since they deflated so we caved and bought mattress pads, which didn't help much either) and sitting on the floor all day didn't help enjoy anything either.

It needs a lot of work. But you know what? I don't care. I've seen worse houses before, but I've seen much better. The fact that I have a yard for the dogs to run around in (which is completely fenced in so they can run in the front and back. Minus the sticker bush pricklies being dragged in, it's the best thing ever. They don't whine and when they start rough housing in the house I kick them outside so they don't trample us anymore. Honestly it'd be a fun project house. If we like the area enough, I'd love to buy it and fix it up.

El Paso so far isn't so bad. The drivers are HORRIBLE though. It's actually really scary. We are in a decent neighborhood though. Quiet, older neighbors. I had to translate Spanish in a Chinese restaurant. I feel like I'm in another country when out and about, they even do two announcements in Macy's....first in English, second in Spanish. Which is just irritating. We are in the United States, learn the damn language. I don't care if we are right on the border of Mexico (so close I've seen several Mexican license plated vehicles).

Lili and I fly a week from tomorrow to my dad's. I'm excited to go visit, see family and friends I haven't seen in about 18 months now. Adam gets done with AIT at the end of October, just in time for Lili's 2nd birthday. Holy cow.