Arrival

I left Vancouver this morning and drove to Seattle to get on the 5am plane - ouch! There were no direct flights to Acapulco and I ended up having 2 stops. In Seattle I met a lady going to the training and she seemed pretty nervous, she also had just left her 3 kids which would be tough. I kept running into her at all my changes and she was really kind, she let me in on the news that Craig, the hardest teacher besides Bikram, may not be running training this year. She thought Bikram's neice would be taking his place? I guess I will find out tomorrow at orientation but I will be happy if Craig isn't there because apparently he makes everyone hold awkward pose (the one where you look like you're sitting in a chair) for 2 min straight!

The flights were fine, all on time and I met a bunch of bikram students in Phoenix, then a bunch more in Mexico City! There were at least 20 on the flight to Acapulco. Everyone seems soooooo nervous which is good since we are all in the same boat, and there are so many different body shapes and people who are attending! There are a few guys, quite a few older ladies and the majority seem to be girls around my age. But obviously not everyone is here yet so it will be interesting to see the range of people at the orientation tomorrow.

The hotel is absolutely unreal, the website does no justice to it, this is the nicest hotel I have stayed in hands down. When we pulled up everyone was getting so excited and saying how beautiful it looks. It took us about 10min just to get up the drive, it has its own golf course. The room keys are even souvenirs, they say Bikram teacher training 2008! I checked into my room and it is huge - I have a walk in closet!!! The fridges are tiny but there are lots of drawers and other storage spaces. My roomate was not in yet so I definately got to pick the best bed! The weather is warm and balmy, I'm sitting in the lobby now after 10pm wearing a tanktop and jeans and it's almost too hot. There is a mariachi band and I just saw a giant bug. One student remarked that the yoga room and outside is going to be the same temperature but to be honest I am nervous about how hot they are going to crank up the heat if it's this warm outside!!!

I'm pretty tired now so will go to bed early after a shower. Tomorrow I will explore the hotel then go to the orientation at 6pm, some people have memorized more of the dialogue but most seem to be around where I am and everyone agreed they need to practice a lot more. It's so sweet how people are so open to making friends and making the most of this experience, I am sitting on a bench in the lobby and other students are constantly walking by and saying hi, or introducing themselves. It's cool to have a sense of comraderie and I hope it continues because it will help me get through this crazy challenge. Speaking of crazy, there are supposed to be 400 students attending this training, I am so glad there are 399 other people out there as crazy as I am to do this, it makes me feel a lot better!

I'll write more tomorrow after orientation as I find out what's going on and also am looking forward to my camera charged arriving so I can post pics of this amazing place.

x Ju