Hurricane/Tropical Storm Henriette Part 2

It's Thursday evening, and I sit here in the house safe and sound. The weather has been very anti-climatic. Yesterday, the University canceled afternoon classes. It started raining around 4:00, and so I had the privilege of reading a novel (for class) with the sound of soft rain and a cup of coffee. Around 6:00 p.m., they announced that classes were canceled for the following day in all of Hermosillo, although the University's web page stated that it was only for the morning. The tropical storm was scheduled to arrive in Hermosillo around 11:00 p.m. with winds from anywhere from 20 mph to 40 mph. However, when I went to bed at 11:30, it wasn't even raining. When I woke up, there was no evidence of any storm, nor of any additional rain. Today was a day of no, yes, no, yes, no for classes. In the end, we didn't have any classes, mainly because more rain was predicted and there was already water in the streets. In conclusion, Hurricane/Tropical Storm Henriette ended up causing less damage here in Hermosillo than the 45 minute storm we had on Tuesday. Not to say there wasn’t destruction in other areas, as Henriette caused damage to the costal towns of Guaymas , Kino, Los Cabos, and others. However, here in Hermosillo, all is quiet.

Hurricane Henriette (1)

So, I thought I´d avoid Hurricane Season by living in Hermosillo with the Baha to protect us. Hah! Not so. Hurricane Henriette is in the Sea of Cortez right now heading northward. Thankfully we are approximately 60 miles inland from Bahia Kino, so we won´t get the hurricane as it´s a category 1. (Yesterday I freaked out thinking that the Hurricane was a category 5, so obviously today I feel better knowing it´s a 1. Hurricane Felix is a 5 so somehow I got that confused.) Anyway, we should get a good tropical storm out of the deal. That means lots and lots of rain in a city that doesn´t handle rain very well as it usually never gets rain. So we´ll see what it looks like this afternoon and tomorrow. You can tract the storm on http://www.nhc.noaa.gov/ however it´s doesn´t tell you where Hermosillo is. If you find a different site that has a major island (Shark Island or something like that), Hermosillo is directly east. Updates later.

Hard

I think the hard part has finally come. The first three weeks went fairly smoothly. Granted, I had my ups and downs. Overall, though, it went much better than expected and I felt pretty good about how the adjustment was going. However, the end of week #3 and definitely #4 (last week) were not so good. So, here are the hard parts of the last week and a half.
Friday the 24th, I came to a new realization about my frustration of my lack of comprehension. I realized that I work hard to understand 24/7. This not only includes school(listening to lectures, class discussions, homework texts), but also fun/down time (hanging out in groups of 3+ people and having conversations) or going to church). So, unless I am emailing or calling home and talking in English, I don´t get much of a break.
On Monday and Tuesday, I freaked out about housing. I thought that housing was taken care of, but an unexpected detail came up, and I ended up re-stressing, re-researching, and re-thinking my plan. At the end of it all, everything ended up working out and the bumps along the way helped direct me to a living situation about which I am really excited. (More details later about my famiy with whom I am living and their house.)
On Wednesday night, I got sick. I think it was something I ate as I ended up having diarrhea and vomiting. However, I think that my stress level and possibly the higher heat (low/ mid 40s) made me more susceptible or worsened the situation.
On Thursday, I ended up crying to a professor about my concerns with the homework (specifically about a homework assignment I had been stressing about the previous two days). He was very understanding and informed me that in reality I had much more time to complete the assignment, which made me feel less anxious.
However, I continue to be concerned about homework in general. I feel like I could spend all my extra time doing it, still not understand very well, and have limited time for friends and no time for exploring the city, state, and country.
Headaches have been too frequent. I think they are a culmination of stress, the heat (although during the day I don´t think it is affecting me), and all the change.
I realized how bad the week had been only when Veronique told me that she had been worried about me during the week.
So, that´s how life is going. I am trying to take one day at a time. (Yesterday I only cried once and it was in the morning, so the rest of the day actually went really well.) I am hoping that now that I have moved, I can get into a good schedule and get more accomplished during the day. I am considering rearranging a class to give me a larger studying block of time. I am more conscious about the amount of sleep I´m getting, and considering getting back into my regular exercise routine. However, everything comes with its advantage and disadvantage and so I´m weighing things out and a good balance is what I´m trying to find.
So, for now, it´s still hard. However, that´s part of the process.