2 Dozen!

I would like to know what has happened to me? Now when something funny or interesting or strange happens to me, I think to myself ‘oh, I’ll have to put that on my blog.’ Talk about nerding up! (no offense, avid bloggers..) If only my technology teachers could see me now!

Another week down, I can hardly believe it! They are flying by. I get paid on Tuesday again! Getting paid in cash makes it infinitely more exciting (if you don’t count the cash, that is, and certainly you can, under NO circumstances, translate the pesos into dollars) than if you were to get a paycheck! You get this big wad of what look like high denomination bills and you think to yourself ‘ahhhh, all that work was worth it.’ Then you go put your money in your coffee can that you hide under your bed, stuff it in your mattress, or that place that absolutely no one uses or thinks to look in: the oven.

My newest classes, the 6th year of primary school (which is about our 5th grade, they are all 11 or 12) and the first year of secondary or middle school (all 12 and 13… not at all hard to work with), will definitely keep me on my toes. In 6th grade, I have about 20 students and in 7th, there are 17, with a high chance of growing to about 20. Not big classes, but that is excellent as I have none of the fancy tools that middle school teachers in the States might have access to when I am trying to distract them. They range in size from TINY to moderately normal. I swear I thought one kid was 7 until he told me he was 12, turns out, he’s one of the best English speakers of the class. Classroom management will factor into these classes a lot more so it’s a good thing I had extensive training in that area… oh wait… Apparently, if I have a problem, I just send them to Jeanne, my boss, the English coordinator, who they all refer to affectionately as ‘the bruja’ (the witch). I haven’t had to resort to that yet, but I do plan to pull a student out of the class tomorrow and give her a formal warning about her behavior and participation in class. That’s right, I’m a bad ass.

Monday night, Pako got a phone call and off we went to collect my mother-in-law, Petra, and Pako’s nephew, Alejandro (13 years old) and move them into the apartment. They’ll be living with us for awhile, while some other housing issues are sorted out. Petra is a natural born caretaker and the moment she moved in she took over cooking, cleaning and laundry duties. I try to help and do dishes or laundry when she’s not looking, but mostly she tells me to leave it. It’s making me lazy, but I have to admit that I don’t mind not having to worry about any of that stuff. Alejandro is pretty chill, he goes to school for 7am and gets home around 2 or 3, depending on the day and then does his homework and watches tv. Pako no longer has to suffer my *ahem* delicious *ahem* cooking, but I fear that he’s getting spoiled and will ask his mother to move in with us forever. (That was a joke, I don’t see him doing that). Also, this way I have access to a lot more stories about the young Pako, such as the fact that he would sing to himself in the shower in the morning when he was cold (no hot water at that point) “brinca la ranita, brinca” (the little frog jumps, jumps) and he would jump on tune to warm himself up J I’m sure he’d love the fact that I included that anecdote, but as we don’t have internet in our apartment yet (L) and he can’t read my blog, I’m not worried!


What else happened this week? Oh right, I turned 24! I am now 2-dozen and have many factors including 1, 2, 3, 4, 6, 8, 12 and 24. I’m a mathematical party. At midnight on my birthday, I was not sleeping so Pako brought me a chocolate cupcake called a Pinguino (Mexico’s equivalent to the Hostess cupcake) with 3 matches in it substituting for candles and sang me “Las Mañanitas,” which is the traditional birthday song here. He forgot some words from the 2nd and 3rd verses, so he adlibbed a bit, a fact which I found highly amusing and very charming. He told me he was going to bring me juice to accompany my cupcake, but he got lazy when he as in the kitchen so he didn’t. What a romantic! I laughed for about 30 seconds and then told him to go get me some juice, and just who did he think he was kidding?!?

At school, my boss stopped in each of my classes and made the kids sing me happy birthday… That was cute and not at all embarrassing. My 2nd class, which is my most advanced level had planned a surprise party and so I walked in and they started singing and had brought me a cake, some chips and soda and a present! They bought me coffee :) Those are some good kids who are going to get some good grades… only because they’ve earned them, but throwing the teacher surprise birthday parties does not hurt! Some other students bought me candy and one gave me some earrings and a necklace. Super cute!

Then I came home and ate with Pako, Petra and Alejandro. Then, I was going to take a nap, so I got some water from the fridge and noticed a very delicious looking birthday cake. 2 cakes in 1 day, not too shabby. Had some cake and then rested for a bit. Then Pako and I went to my current favorite restaurant for some coconut shrimp which is seriously delicious and where I will take all of you who visit me! Then we took a romantic stroll (through the city which is not really romantic at all as it is loud and busy), but we bought some videos to watch (chick flicks, it was, afterall, MY birthday). And then I went home and went to bed, happily. It was a good birthday :)

This weekend I had to write my first 2 exams for both of the high school classes so I can turn them into Jeanne and she can give them to the office to be photocopied. Since the students don’t have their books yet, it makes me reluctant to give them an exam, but I’m going to try to make it as fair as possible and I will plan a lot of review days prior to actually giving the students the exams. I’m not sure what else I can do.

Signing off for the week. Thanks for all the birthday wishes, I had a really good day! I’ll write again soon, thanks for reading! Oh yeah, next month my cousin Matt comes home (and by that I mean to the United States, not Mexico, which is now my home) from multiple years of Air Force service abroad (Italy, Turkey) and double (?) tours in Iraq, so keep him in your thoughts and prayers (if you do that) while he wraps up all the loose ends.

K, love to all! Besos!

High of 89, Low of 77... not too shabby!

Another week down! My last week of 2 hour work days… The pay check will be nice, but still… The vacation is really over. Those of you who will have more than 4 classes a day might be saying “what are you complaining about, it’s only 4 hours a day of work!” Well, it’s 4 hours of giving classes, plus 2-3 of grading, organizing, planning etc. as well. So that’s a full day… PLUS I have to do everything by hand as computers are not so much used in my school. That’s right you teachers, you think it’s a pain to put grades into your computer? Try keeping track of everything on paper and later having to compute every grade using a calculator ON YOUR CELL PHONE! Ok, that wasn’t supposed to come off as aggressively as it might have, if I typed it again, I’d lose the caps (but am too lazy to go back and retype in regular, lower case).

My boss is back. As crazy as she is (and she’s kinda crazy), she is a good resource to have and not a bad boss. She is on the side of the teacher and defends the English department and fights for us when other teachers might think that we’re not as important. It’s the same battle that goes on for ESL teachers in some schools in the States. So, while she might be slightly (extremely) obsessed with irregular verbs and tend towards materials that are from the 1870s, she is a good ally to have. She has also told me about a cell phone that might allow me to call the US for about 12 pesos for 15 minutes ($1.08 USD). To borrow a popular expression, if this cell phone does indeed exist, it would be a GREAT SUCCESS.

One of my students is participating in a boogie boarding competition and invited me to go and watch her. I thought I might cry. It was one of those moments when you think all the bullcaca that goes with teaching is totally worth it. She was so shy and nervous about asking me to go! I hope to be able to make it, but it costs money to get in and well… even though they are paying me and my phone card bills might go down exponentially in the near future, I am not, as we might say, rolling in the dough. What am I rolling in you might ask? Well, figuratively I am rolling in teaching materials, salsa, tortillas, and to a lesser extent, pesos. Literally I am rolling in dog hair and sand. Gross. I’m going to go take another shower.

Ahh, that was refreshing. Now that I feel clean, back to the business at hand… which is… what now? Oh right, not so much happened this week. There was another mini earthquake, but it was so mini that I didn’t even notice it! Pako said “está temblando”and I said “What? It is? How can you tell? I can’t feel it!!!” Then he pointed at the tv antenna and sure enough, it was shaking. Funny how that works.

I don’t have to buy the school blouses for my uniform! Huzzah! Mondays I have to wear all white (virginal weekend? what do you suppose the significance of that is?? I have no idea), but every other day I can wear my beloved blue jeans and a white shirt (fitted t-shirt, polo shirt, blouse, whatever). I can wear capris or skirts too, as long as I avoid skankville (which I’m hoping isn’t too hard or you people have been lying to me when I ask if I look ok). No belly buttons. My boss actually felt the need to tell me that. I’m on a quest to find a pair of white pants or an appropriate white skirt (the one that I have does not qualify as it is made out of sweatshirt material and is designed for beachwear only unless one wants to visit skankville, which as I mentioned, I don’t) and some additional white tops. Ah the glory of not having to spend my money on blouses with the school monogram. I might buy a polo with the school’s logo, but that’ll come later. Actually, that’s what you’re all getting for Christmas: Instituto Montessori polo shirts. Haha, just kidding, haven’t we already established that I am not rolling in dough? If you’re confused about this point, please re-read paragraph number 3 and focus on reading comprehension skills.

The uniform thing and the fact that I have to do a bulletin board every 2 months in my 6th grade class and occasionally for my high school classes is pretty much all that I learned during my 3 days of orientation this week. Also, I have to give exams on certain days and I have to prepare exams months in advance, as the office wants to make sure that they have enough time to make copies… ooooh-kay. Basically, I got to chat with my 2 fellow English teachers, Coco and Artemisa, 46 and 24 respectively, when Jeannie (boss lady) finished her 15-minute discourse for the day.

Monday is (the day before my birthday, but who’s keeping track of that?) the day when I start my 6th and 7th grade classes. That will be a new adventure for sure and next week’s blog might be exponentially more interesting than this one. I’m excited and nervous, but I look forward to meeting the new kids and the new challenge. Geez that sounded corny, but it was true. Gross, I’m turning into a full-fledged teacher. No offense veteran teachers!

My beautiful friend Gina is getting married today and I’m feeling horribly depressed about having to miss it ☹ I got to talk to her for about 3 minutes yesterday, which was enough to establish that she’s excited, but really busy with wedding stuff and trying to move into her classroom all at the same time. That and she had just gotten a pedicure. I miss her lots and love her and wish her a beautiful and ridiculously fun and memorable wedding. It’s also my friend Blanca’s birthday. Everyone should give her birthday spankings. And buy her drinks. Which will help quite a bit with the spankings. I miss her a lot too! (I miss you all, but it just happens to be both of their days today)

Ok, signing out and without any pictures this time! I’m planning to bring my camera to my classes on Tuesday to get shots of my students so you can all see them (and the classrooms). Eventually I’ll get pics of the apartment up there!

Oh! That reminds me! Pako’s grandmother embroidered me a bunch of pillow cases, isn’t she the cutest!?! Yes, yes she is. She’s working on some more stuff, I’m told, but I didn’t understand the word for whatever it is she’s making, so I’ll be doubly surprised when I see it. The whole fam is giving Pako and I stuff for the apartment, which I think is adorable and SUPER nice of them! Virtually every flat surface that we have is covered with a hand crocheted doily of some sort.

Ok, AFN (adios for now ☺), hope to talk with/hear from you all soon!

Mucho amor y besos!

Leyah

Earthquake!!!!!!!!

Hello Blog Readers!

I feel like it’s been awhile since I last posted as I can’t remember when that was… maybe it was just this week and I shouldn’t feel so badly about it. I think I’ll go with that option.

This was an interesting week! I lived through my first earthquake! It was a 5.4 on the Richter Scale in Mexico City, but it was much tamer here in Zihua. So tame that I thought it was Pako’s leg shaking the bed for the first 15 seconds, then the windows started rattling and he said “ahhh, tu primer temblor” (ahhh, you’re first earthquake) and that was a big enough clue for me to get it. It wasn’t strong, but Pako was surprised that it lasted as long as it did, about 30 seconds, start to finish. I wasn’t scared at all, but my large and ferocious guard dog, who was under the bed, got rather frightened and trembly and started barking. Let’s be serious, the only reason I wasn’t scared was because it was so mini an earthquake. Apparently when they are stronger, all of the windows in our project –ahem, apartment complex rattle and you can hear the building creak and groan. Super. I think mini-temblors are good enough for me!

On Friday I gave my first quiz as a high school teacher. They’re required to take a quiz on irregular verbs every Friday. Base group Jason would be appalled because there are NO higher level thinking aspects, all rote memorization. (If you didn’t understand that, don’t worry, just enroll in the licensure program at the U and 15 months from now you’ll be all caught up). They have to know the infinitive (to be), present tense conjugations (am, are, is), past tense (was, were), past participle (been) and meaning in Spanish (ser/estar). If they don’t get them all write, they have to write that out 10 times. Yuck. Not my idea, not my choice.

My boss, Jeannie, the English coordinator of the school, finally showed up on Thursday! She hasn’t told me much, but it is nice to have her in the building (and country) because she’s the only one who really knows what her requirements are! Everyone else in the school kind of just said “oh, well, let’s just wait for Jeannie to get back… can’t you play a game or something?” An interesting thing that Jeannie did tell me: she wants me to cover 2 units in the book per month. Sounds fine, right? Yeah, except that the units are 4 pages long (maximum) each and include activities that take about 35 seconds in the advanced class and 45 in the lower level class… Ah well, I guess I’ll be creating curriculum with the wealth of materials and resources that are provided for me by the school… Oh wait… shoot. At least I like to be challenged!

I will have a 6th grade class and a 7th grade class added to my repertoire starting the 24th of August. Those classes have more extensive books and set curriculums that they want me to follow, so the issue there won’t be lesson planning, but classroom management. The 7th grade class will be 15 students or less, but the 6th grade class will be 20-25 students. Piddly if you’re used to teaching in Minneapolis public schools, I know, but still kinda scary if you’re a first year teacher in a new school in a new system in a new COUNTRY! Like I said, I enjoy challenges J We have an orientation with Jeannie on Wed, Thurs and Fri of this week, so hopefully I’ll learn more about what it is exactly that I am doing. Also, I’ll FINALLY get to meet the other English teachers and force them to be my mentors… I mean, ask them nicely and bribe them… request… BEG them to give me guidance.

Oh, one last thing about school. Jeannie did inform me that this year all teachers have to wear uniforms. On the outside I smiled and nodded and said ok and on the inside I though ‘wait, what? What the hell have I been wearing this goofy get up for during the past 2 weeks?!??’ Then I politely inquired about how I could get the blouse (white, brown or tan… sexy) and what kind of pants I needed (praying inwardly that I could get away with my beloved jeans and not have to wear the awesome but nonetheless less comfortable polyester things). She thought I would be able to get away with dungarees. Ok, anyone under 50 know what dungarees are? Yeah, me either. I asked, dungarees are jeans in old people speak.

Another very exciting thing that happened this week? I GOT MAIL!!!! Holy cow, I can’t really explain how it felt to get mail, sorta like I remain connected, albeit marginally, to the world at large. Sure email, text messages and phone calls help with that too, but there is something incredibly comforting about receiving snail mail when you least expect it. I got a Badgers/Packers football schedule (very VERY important as I let Pako know immediately upon opening the envelope) from my good friend Will and some choice comics and crossword puzzles from my parents. Let me be clear, getting mail is super cool and I am soliciting it from all of you! I would like to apologize to Chelsea Twohig, who lived in Spain for 2 years, and who I am now realizing did not receive enough mail from me – wapa, lo lamento!

Ok dear readers, here ends this tale. I’ve included a picture of me in the “uniform” that I have been wearing (white blouse, blue jeans – you’re not getting a pic of the polyester pants, sorry) and one of me coming back from the beach with a buddy in my backpack. I’ll write next weekend, letting you know how my last week of purely high school teaching goes and what I learned in my (hopefully) more extensive orientation!

Adios and SEND ME MAIL!

Love,

Leyah

P.S. This last pic is of me on the way home from surfing. Pako surfed (obviously) and I played with the dog. Tired the little tyke out and he decided he didn´t want to walk up the 5 flights of stairs to our apartment... what a wimp!

Surf´s Up!

Well, one week of school down, only a gazillion more to go. I can’t say that it was at all what I expected; in fact, it was totally opposite of anything I had expected or imagined! You’ll all be glad to know that I don’t have to wear the uniform that I was told to wear on the first day: 100% navy blue polyester pants and a white button down blouse. I wore it the first day, feeling quite like a fool, and then asked my pseudo boss (my real boss arrives on the 12th… a week and a half into my classes) if jeans would suffice and THANK GOODNESS he said yes! I can’t really speak to how actual classes are going to go, but this week, which was all orientation, was… weird! I met the kids, 2 high school classes of 11 and 13 respectively. One class of freshman, one of sophomores. I’d been told that freshmen were… we’ll say “trying” and that turns out to be very true. I adore the class of sophomores and tolerate the class of freshman. There are 2 kids in specific who just do not want to speak English and have bored looks on their faces all of the time, one boy and one girl. I pulled the boy aside and explained something’s to him and that seemed to have a positive effect on his behavior; perhaps I’ll have to do the same with the girl.

Real classes are supposed to start on Monday, following the curriculum set by our books (Let’s Talk 1 & 2 by Leo Jones… not so much recommended by yours truly), but the school didn’t order the right books, so I’ll be winging it another semana. I have the books, so I’ll just create lessons that align with those in the books. As my actual boss hasn’t yet appeared and explained things to me, I’m not sure exactly how things are going to go. Or how I will make photocopies, or how I will request a dvd player/tv, etc., etc. I also don’t exactly know how grading works here, except that they use a scale of 1-10, with 5 or lower being failing grades. I will be grading on homework, class work, participation, quizzes and projects… The great news about school is that they’ve given me 21 hours (starting the 24th of August), which is only 5 less than my boss told me originally and 6 more than she told me in her email. I’ll let you know how things turn out as they go. I’ll have one 6th grade class, one middle school (grade 7,8 and 9), and the two high school classes. Four 50-minute classes in a row from 8:30-12:30, with a 20-minute break somewhere in there. So far, so good, as long as I don’t have to wear that stupid uniform.

Every day is a new adventure, for sure. I am surprised by how much culture shock I actually felt and feel every day, considering that I’ve been to Zihua over 10 times. I feel like I’m in Spain all over again, except I didn’t expect to feel this way. I had to learn how to turn on my gas so that I could turn on the stove (at least I knew how to light the burners on a gas stove. Having always had electric stoves, that is saying something), learning to stick my head out on my balcony to yell at some man 5 floors below because I want him to bring up a jug of water, washing fruit or vegetable that enters my house so that I can eat it calmly later, without fear of Moctezuma’s revenge, etc. Thankfully, Pako, his sister and his mom are very understanding and are very willing to help whenever I need it. The whole extended family has been great and have welcomed me into their lives without blinking. They’ve always treated me that way, which is one reason I knew that I could do this.

We had the first real rain storm yesterday. This year has been unusually dry in Zihua, so I was glad when it finally poured. It’s better to know what you’re up against right from the start. The thunder was so loud that it made the windows rattle and the rain came down in all directions. It only rained hard for about 2 hours, but it was enough to cool the air a bit. We went to pick something up at Las Urracas and Pako’s dad was wearing a fishing vest over his t-shirt because he was cold. It was very amusing. I know that I always complained about the cold in MN, but even with this constant, intense heat which causes me to shower 3 times a day in cold water, I don’t think I’ll ever miss Winter. Fall and Spring maybe, not Summer as I live in the land of perpetual August and definitely not Winter. I like my snow with lime and raspberry flavoring (snow cones are called “nieves” here, which means ‘snow’).

Pako and I have been to the beach 3 times since I’ve been here. I made him get me a sun umbrella the 2nd time. At some point he bought me some board shorts so that I would fit in with the surfing crew, so now I’m totally immersed in surf culture, right down to my ensemble. He carries the umbrella (which is huge J) and I carry the surfboard. The picture is from today (8-8-09). Currently I just read and listen to my ipod, but eventually, I swear, I’m going to learn to surf. Pako is a phys ed teacher, for Pete’s Sake! He ought to be able to teach me to surf! I’m rather convinced. I’m also scared.

Ok, I think that’s all for now. Grey’s Anatomy was on TV last night (on one of the 4 channels that we get) and now it’s Gone in 60 Seconds. Good times. This morning I helped Petra (future mother in law) make enchiladas pobres (just cheese and onions in tortillas with yummy sauce – that’s why they’re called ‘poor enchiladas’) and later I’ll be watching her make some rice dish thingy. I’m learning a lot of tricks in the kitchen, which are tricky as nobody here measures anything and anyway, everything is in the metric system. I’m going to be a regular Betty Crocker-Hernandez.

Love to all, keep the emails coming!

Leyah

leah

9 days in!

Hello Blog-readers!

I realize that last entry was rather short and disjointed; it’s just that… that’s how my life has been for the first week here. Today makes it a week that I am here in Zihua so I figure it’s time to write a real update. Pako is snoring away (one reason that I am wide awake, writing this) and we haven’t bought water or gas for the apartment yet (reasons for that are forthcoming), so I can’t be doing laundry, cooking breakfast or unpacking, or any of those other house-wife domestic-y things that I’ll probably never do as much or as well as I should.

Taking care of Las Urracas, the hotel where Pako’s dad works and where he and I met, was less that super fun. First and foremost, there were a crap-ton of mosquitoes that apparently only eat gringos, so I was immediately covered in ridiculously swollen red bumps and looked like I should be quarantined. That was, by far, the worst part for me. The other part that I did not whole-heartedly enjoy was the fact that someone always had to be there, meaning Pako and I couldn’t come to the apartment but every so often to get clothes and whatnot from my suitcases that lay (shockingly) unpacked and overflowing with now opened space-saver vacuum bags (awesome things, btw).

Pako’s dad was released from the hospital on Tuesday, feeling fine, but totally stiff as they don’t really want their patients to get up and walk around… Until Friday night, he stayed at his daughter, Lorena’s, house, where she could make sure he didn’t eat too much meat and finished taking his antibiotics. He’s back at Las Urracas now, thank goodness.

Pako and I have stayed in our apartment 3 nights now and I am only marginally more unpacked than I was when we were staying at Las Urracas. We’ve really only ever been here in the mornings, late at night, and to sleep. The water runs out after 8pm-ish, which is not shocking to anyone but the gringa. Luckily, my non-gringo roomie had already filled up a number of buckets with water for just such an occasion. I am learning fast. I can’t say that is my favorite, either.

An expat, for whom Pako gave swim lessons last summer, has started a wildlife refuge of sorts outside of Zihua. We went and I saw 2 kinds of spiders that I hope NEVER EVER EVER EVER to see outside of a cage (Trina, you know what I’m talking about) and some scorpions and snakes. Then there was the 2nd largest butterfly house in Latin America and the Iguana area. Male iguanas get to be super big. Pako says they taste like chicken. Yuck. Of that I won’t be reporting personally. There was also a baby deer… the word escapes me at the moment… FAWN! Shoot, I’m loosing my infrequent English… Soon enough Blanca will be calling me an ELL :P There was an observation tower as well, that had spectacular views of the surrounding lagoons and ocean. I’ll probably take all visitors, so no need to keep going. I do think that my wildlife quotient for the day was met and probably beat my dad’s by quite a bit.

Went to Acapulco for LITERALLY an hour yesterday. First I had an orientation at the school where I’ll work, Montessori. It took all of 15 minutes for the Assistant Principal, who is called Maestro Ricardo, to give me a folder that the English Coordinator, Maestra Jeannie (aka my boss), left me, the books I’ll be teaching from, the year-long (pretend) curriculum/plan and to tell me to wear a white blouse (of which I have two, but brought neither) and navy blue pants (until I’m told otherwise, jeans). That was my orientation. My boss returns to Mexico the 10th of August and to work the 12th. Great. Until then I’m on my own. In short…. SHIT! Ah well, I’ll find a way. After that enlightening 15 minutes, it was “see you Monday, I’ll wait for you here… oh, actually, I don’t have the schedule down yet so can you call me Monday, about 9ish, and I’ll let you know if you start at 10 or 11? K, great.” Mini-panic attack.

Then 3.5 hours in the car to Acapulco. Sat at Pako’s grandma’s house for about one hour. Ate some delicious shrimp and crab soup and off we went again, this time with Pako’s mom and Tequila in tow. 3.5 more hours in the car. Ate some tacos and went to bed.

Monday I start school and will be teaching English 1 and 2, to 10 and 12 high school students respectively. On the 24th of August my middle school class will start and will have about 20-25 students. It’s possible that they’ll give me more classes before the 24th, but as it is Mexico… one never knows. Pako can’t even call his school about his degree until the 24th of August, so Montessori can’t hire him. He’ll help his dad at Las Urracas and look for other work in the meantime. Right now I’m feeling slightly frantic about school because I’ve had such… brief… explanation as to what I am required to do and what I’m allowed to do… but I’ll figure it out and be fine. I do know that the school focuses on communication over literacy skills, so there will be a lot of talking in the classroom and that they believe in lots of comprehensive input (meaning I’ll only be speaking in English to my high school classes) and that they focus on irregular verbs a lot (… as if you wouldn’t understand goed versus went…).

Ok, off to buy myself a white blouse, some food for the puppy and various other things for the apartment. I noticed that electronics are WAY more expensive here and I asked why, Pako said that it was because they are imported. Well, I, too, am exported and therefore plan to be very expensive J

Ok, signing out for now, more after I start teaching… mini panic attack… ok, I’m better again. I miss you all and really dislike not being able to call people on my cell as I’m in transit, which was my best talking time at home! How are things at home? Brett’s not a Viking, so at least I know all is well in the realm of professional football! Now if only we could get the Twins back within a couple of games of first place again, I could sleep easy!

Love!