Happy Thank-Goodness-for-Blue-Skittles-and-Viveca-Brondum-Iving to you!

Why do I say that you might ask? Why, when referring to Thanksgiving, my all-time favorite meal of the entire year, do I even think to mention such gastronomical trash as Blue Skittles (also known as ‘Tropical, but really we all know they’re just blue)? I will tell you. On Thanksgiving day this year, I was feeling not a little depressed. I was missing my family, Grandma Claire in particular, and reminiscing about Thanksgivings past. My kids decided to be wild little monsters that day and thus compounded my dark mood. When I arrived home to my apartment after work, I smelled fajitas, which normally have a delicious aroma, but in fact, bear no resemblance to turkey, stuffing or green bean casserole. I sighed and walked in the door, only to see a package with my name on it lying on the table (I just taught the verbs lie and lay to my 6th and 7th graders, we were all somewhat confused about the difference between the two by the end of the lesson – English is weird.). It was a package from my dear and Thanksgiving-saving friend Vivi. She knew that I was missing certain things from the states and took it upon herself to mail me some of them – 9 packages of Blue Skittles to be exact! (The pictures says Vivi in skittles, in cause you’re wondering). It’s hard to express how much that picked up my day – so thank you, THANK YOU Viv, you really made my Thanksgiving! (Also, I’m told it’s almost impossible to find blue skittles, so more kudos to Viv for searching!)

Christmas vacation is approaching, although I have none of my known signals that would alert me to this time of the year. There is no snow on the ground and no frost on our car in the morning (a lot of dew, but no frost); there is no Christmas music playing in the non-existent mall; I have not been wearing 2 layers of pants, shirts or socks (but rather trying to find a way to cut DOWN the layers I am wearing); and certainly no Christmas cookies being made in my oven. That being said, it’s somewhat hard for me to assimilate what my head knows to be the date with what the rest of my senses haven’t yet caught on to yet: Christmas is right around the corner! This year it’s not the presents I’m looking forward to or even the food (ugh, again depressing), but rather, it’s the 3 blissful weeks when I will not have to think about Montessori! Oh sure, I have to grade 4 classes worth of exams over that time and write 8 exams, but that can be banged out in 2 days. For the rest of that time I’m going to enter a period of blissful ignorance during which I will not think about being a teacher and controlling 4 separate groups of youth. If you have not guessed it, I AM READY FOR A BREAK!

I am, however, enjoying remembering these last two hectic, annoying, frustrating, maddening weeks and analyzing them, deciding what I will do differently next semester and what I liked and will keep. This includes everything from discipline policies (mine are getting a way strict overhaul, no more Señorita-nice-Leah!), in-class activities and homework assignments. It’s a somewhat bittersweet review, but it reminds me that I did learn some things in that ridiculous program that I spent a lot of money on and that I am, actually, qualified to do this job, regardless of the times in my head I fantasize about smacking a kid with their own notebook. First year teaching is supposed to be hard. Dang, you know, I really like easy things too, what’s with all this hard – is – good – for – you life lessons?!

This is the last week of classes for the high school (2 of my 4 groups of kids) and then they have a week of exams (oral and written with me – aha, take that!). They don’t return to school until the 26th of January! (A mixed blessing because that means that until that date, I’ll be receiving half of my salary…) My 6th and 7th graders have class until the 11th of December, their exam the 14th and then pageant practice until the 18th. They’ll be putting on various versions of the Mary and Joseph’s trek to find lodging. I am officially done Dec 16th and don’t have to return until Jan 7th. One of the few occasions in my life when I am actually moved to say ‘hallelujah!’

We had a small birthday dinner for Pako this Saturday (he turned 24 on Nov. 25th, the little guy!) and a bunch of family came, including Pako’s pseudo-grandpa Jim, our Canadian friend who has been indescribably helpful to me in the moving and getting settled into a different country/culture process to me. As is tradition here, we had too much food and none of it was served even remotely close to on time. The first course was chicken tamales, which were DELICIOUS. Those were sent down by Aunt Pachita, who was feeling ill and thus didn’t come to the party. The second course was sliced jicama and cucumber, covered in lemon juice, salt and, of course, salsa. Then there was grilled fish (Sierra and some other huge fish that I can’t remember the name of) served with Mexican rice, refried beans and (duh) warmed corn tortillas. Then there was grilled beef (Carne Asada) with various salsas, requisite tortillas and a side salad. And let’s not even begin to forget the excruciatingly sweet cake and ice cream combo. Needless to say (but I’ll say it anyway), I went to bed with a stomachache. The party was pretty low-key in that the music was kept at a decibel that still allowed for casual conversation and no one made me sing. In fact, it was decided that as I am not the newby to the family anymore, I don’t have to sing at Christmas! That honor/burden falls on Pako’s cousin, Yair’s, girlfriend, Fabiola. Poor girl, her own boyfriend isn’t even going to warn her! I will, however, offer to accompany her as I’ve been in her position and it is embarrassing at best, though moderately mortifying is a better description. I’m just glad that I’m no longer the newb!

That’s all for now as I have a lot of grading to do and would like to go to the beach today as it looks like it maybe cloudy! (haha, who’d have thought that I would ever think like that?!) Pako’s just rolled out of bed (2 hours later than me, man that kid can sleep!) and so the day has officially begun! Happy beginning of the official Holiday season to you and yours! Keep all of your appendages crossed that the job fairy visits Pako soon! Oh and happy birthday to my lovely Gina, who also turned 24 this week! And Hi to my Grandpa Leo, who may or may not be reading this blog!

love to all!

Leyah

PS. No meaningful really pictures today (except the one of the skittles, obviously), just me, playing with Tequila and his cousin Max, a smaller, even more neurotic and much higher pitched Chihuahua belonging to Aunt Lucy. Plus one of Pako and Teki because I think it’s cute!

I'm Baaaaaaaaaack!

Did you miss me? I know my 7 faithful blog readers are eagerly awaiting this entry, I know I would be! I feel like I’ve been gone for 3 months, but in reality, it’s only been 2 or 3 weeks. Those 2 or three weeks were stressful and draining, but here we are, ready to re-hash and re-live.

In order to leave the country, I had to withdraw my application for a visa (which was 98% finished…!! urg) from immigration as technically you are not allowed to leave once you hand in your tourist document. They didn’t want to let me go either, my flight left Monday at 2:40pm and I was sitting in the immigration office, biting my nails and straining at the bit at 1:10pm, waiting for them to give me the green light (in the form of a piece of paper that would substitute my tourist card). Finally, grudgingly, they gave it to me and Pako used his driving skills to get me to the airport with plenty of time. The flight to Houston was smooth and upon arrival in the US, I passed through customs without pause and proceeded to my gate. Ohmigod, the first restaurant-ish thing I saw was Auntie Annie’s Pretzel’s and I tell you, I almost cried tears of joy. That’s right, tears of joy. To top it off, the guy working the register must have thought I was cute because he gave me my pretzel and cheese for free! Double score! I arrived in Chicago at 10pm and there was my lovely cousin Kristin waiting to whisk me off to Menomonee Falls (or Cudahey, for the night). We stopped at Denny’s and my gastronomy was treated to 2 hot chocolates and a good ole grilled cheese. Man, I was in culinary heaven at that point.

The next week was really hard, but I was so happy to be surrounded by my family and friends that I got through it ok. Cried a lot, but I have waterproof makeup and my mom always has about 1000 kleenex (what is the plural of Kleenex?) in her purse, so it was ok. A lot of people from ALL over (California, Michigan, the Twin Cities area) showed up for the funeral and even more sent flowers. The service was beautiful and I know my grandmother would have really appreciated it. I heard my cousin telling her son that Grandma was an angel now and though I’m not at all religious and don’t believe in angels per-say, it really made me feel better. I know my grandma would like the idea and so do I.

I got to visit the Green Bay family for a day and a half too, which was an unexpected treat. I went to Krohls and a fish fry. I’m getting hungry just thinking about it! It was so bizarre to hear English all around me and to watch TV. I got to watch an episode of Grey’s Anatomy and I am WAY behind. I’m going to have to lean on my college roommate Karen to send me weekly updates, after all, it’s her fault I’m addicted to it at all!

A couple dedicated friends drove up from Iowa (yes, don’t laugh, I have a friend in Iowa and I’m not ashamed to admit it… hehehe) and Minneapolis and over from downtown Milwaukee to spend Saturday with me. It was like a relaxing tonic to be surrounded by girlfriends again. It was really, really nice. We went to Target (my own personal hedonistic retreat), Panera for coffee, Blockbuster and Walgreens. I know that sounds like an evening full of ridiculous fun to all of you and the truth is, it was just that. It is so nice to be surrounded by people that you can have a wild night of fun with while sitting in your aunt and uncle’s basement eating far too much candy! Here I have Pako, but it’s hard to talk about boys with him as he doesn’t have much to contribute and he already knows everything that I have to say!

Another plus of the week home was being able to watch the Packer game with my dad! I’ve realized that probably about 50% of my love of football is directly tied to being able to watch it with my dad! Plus we beat the cowboys and I got to eat sweat potato fries. Good, good times! I spent the last night watching the Packers with my parents and hanging out in a hotel suite. The flights back to my other home were forgettable, which is a good thing.

The past week at school has been frustrating in that neither of my subs (Pako and my boss, Jeanne) assigned the homework I asked them to, so I was playing catch up all week and trying to keep things on schedule as the end of the semester exams are approaching rapidly (yay)! Then, the administrator in charge of Middle and High school, easily my LEAST favorite person at Montessori, changed EVERYTHING and rescheduled the exams and totally screwed the exams that I was forced to write 2 months ago AND the plans I had made for the rest of the semester. So I had a lot of work and stress and I was less than thrilled to be back at Montessori. I’m still working things out this weekend, and I’m sure it’ll be fluid for the rest of the semester, but I’ll make it work in the end. I always do. Even if it drives me crazy and I have to say bad words in my head while smiling on the outside.

Friday night Pako and I went to a birthday party that I am sure cost more than my future wedding. It was for one of my student’s, Alondra’s, 15th birthday. The invitation was a fan with her name painted on it, a candle in a glass candleholder and 2 all access passes to the party. When we go there, it was about 10pm and Alondra was dressed in the hot pink equivalent of a wedding dress. All of the tables (50ish) had personalized candle holders and ice buckets and party favors. There were also bottles of tequila and champagne on each table, as well as a variety of sodas. Then we were all served a turkey dinner by white-coated waiters. There was also a dessert table with a chocolate fountain (A CHOCOLATE FOUNTAIN!) and assorted yummies!

A LOT of my students were there and dressed to the nines. One extreme case had even stayed home from school that day to get her hair done… I couldn’t help but roll my eyes. Some of the more ingenious students put the liquor under the table before Alondra’s mom came to collect them from the tables and so they were all on their way to have a jolly old time. Pako and I left early because I had no desire to see my students get hammered and fall all over each other on the dance floor. My students all thought I was lame and should have stayed later, but that is how it goes. I would have liked to stay and see the traditional dances and all of that, but I’ve been told that sometimes that happens at midnight or 1am. We left at 1l:30, which was fine with me. It was interesting to see and bizarre to be with all of my students in that environment, but I was glad to have been invited and to have gone. Check that one off my cultural to-do list. I’ve got another XV años scheduled for 2010 and my parents are invited to that one, so I’m already excited!

Ok, signing off for now because I’ve got to figure out something for brunch and there is very little food in the house. Pako’s birthday is this week (Wed, the 25th), so I’ll get to eat cake again this week! I’m going to have to be creative about going about getting stuff done when he’s not around to notice, but I’ll figure out away. He may start working delivering beer for Sol (the company, not the actual sun), so keep your fingers crossed that that comes through for us! Write with you all again next week, have a good one!

Besos,

Leyah

To Grandma

Dear Grandma,

There is so much I would like to say to you, but more than anything I just want to thank you for everything that you have done for me.

To begin with, I would like to thank you for giving me my mother, a woman who has loved me and supported me in more ways than I can list. I know that she has learned about love from her own mother, and for that I will be forever grateful to you.

I would also like to thank you for the countless happy memories that you have given me. Thank you for taking me to Disney World. That was an experience I will never forget and as a 7 year old I couldn’t have been happier.

Thank you for making me my quilt, I still sleep with it on my bed. Thank you for giving me olives as a stocking stuffer at Christmas. Thank you for wrapping the cans, even though we all knew what they were. To others that might seem a trivial detail, but it always made my Christmas a little more exciting and a little more delicious. Thank you for making French Cup Cookies (or whatever they are called) and hiding them in a place that you knew the grandkids would find. Thank you for always hosting Christmas; your basement was the scene of countless games of ‘jailor’ and pool or ping pong.

Thank you for all the trips to the cabin, when you made chocolate chiffon cake and green jello, for giving me a quarter to play ‘Achy Breaky Heart’ on the jukebox at the bar, for giving me an extra cookie whenever I asked. Thank you for swimming with me and watching me when I wanted to play on the swings or in the sand.

Thank you for taking me to Jim’s Bakery to eat giant ice cream cones and helping me convince Grandpa to go to McDonald’s. Thank you for always opting to go to a restaurant that you knew I liked and for thinking about me whenever you planned meals and desserts.

Thank you for teaching me how to play cards, for being patient when I made a bad play, for being my partner in countless games and for making me laugh, even when we lost.

Thank you for always thinking about others and for trying to make the world around you a better place. Thank you for being generous and compassionate. Thank you for doing everything in your power to make your family healthy and happy. Thank you for giving of yourself when ever you could. Thank you, Grandma, for everything.

For these and countless other reasons, I will love you forever and ever.

Love,

Leyah

¿Dulce o Truco? (Trick or Treat)

Hello kids, how’s tricks?

I just realized the horrid grammar of that phrase. My 6th graders (hopefully) would correct me if I said that during class! The new favorite game is to correct my Spanish which is both fun and embarrassing at the same time. I learn things, but I can’t lie and say that it’s pleasant having an 11 year old tell you that you’ve screwed up indirect object pronouns again. Haha, so many things are happening that I never thought would!

Another example of things that I never thought would happen: me sitting in front of an immigration officer, nervously awaiting the verdict of my visa. A little background info, I’m trying to get an FM-2 visa that will allow me to live and work in Mexico legally. In order to get this you have to bring 3 photocopies of your entire life story and promise the immigration officials your first-born child. Also, they’ve added a new requirement that appears to be specific to me and me only in that I have to get my teaching licenses and masters degree confirmed by the state government of Minnesota and then couriered to me in order to have them translated and then presented to immigration with a blood sample and a DNA swab. Ok, the blood sample and DNA swab was an exaggeration, but everything else was pretty much accurate.

Luckily, my father was able and willing to help me (and run around the metro area for a bunch) and my documents are currently somewhere between Lyndale Avenue in Minneapolis and Zihuatanejo. Once I get them, I’ll take them to a lawyer who is certified to translate legal documents and promise him my second-born. When all of that is finished and I’m legally bound to have at least two children, I can turn in the final papers to immigration and my visa packet will be complete. If they should deny it for any reason, I plan to say some bad words to them and maybe even through in a hand gesture or two if I’m feeling plucky, and come home for Xmas.

That was Thursday, Friday was a whole new kettle of beans. It was the Halloween celebration at Montessori. If nothing else, Montessori is helping me to know myself better. Turns out, and I was surprised by this as I’m sure you all will be too, I am not as laid back as I had originally thought. Early September, I was told that my 10th grade class would be creating a haunted house for the elementary school kids and my 11th graders would be responsible for putting on Halloween sketches for the whole school. I was told that these presentations were their responsibility and it was up to me if I wanted to give them time to work in class. I figured I’d better, because it wasn’t so long ago that I was a procrastinating, unenthusiastic high-schooler myself and I knew that unsupervised planning was unlikely. I elicited various plans for the haunted house and put students into different teams that would work on various parts of the house. We drew a map and collected money (the school offered no financial support). In 11th grade, I split the group into two and got scripts and costume plans from everyone. At the last minute, I was also told that my 7th graders were doing a presentation with the dance teacher, Jorge, and asked to check the English dialogues.

The vice principal of my school *OH SHUT UP, BOLILLO BOY!* is what I would normally call an ass, but as I’m in Mexico, I’ll adjust and switch to burro. He is the one who comes up with all of the “ideas” for things such as the Halloween “event,” but then refuses to spend any time following through or supporting students and teachers. Another English teacher told me to politely say NO next year, which is what I plan to do. We’ll have our own Halloween events and the burro can respectfully kiss my a.. my burro. The haunted house came together at the VERY last minute and turned out really well. I was proud of my kids. My 11th graders did a great job with their skits as well as they knew exactly the goofy kind of humor to incorporate to have the whole school laughing. My 7th graders did a good job in costume and set design, but their accents are a little bit fuerte, and hard to understand and their dialogues was about 10 minutes, thus losing the attention of most of the school by the middle. But I was still proud of them because it is not easy to get up in front of the school, dressed like the “Familia Adams” and speak in your second language. In short, my kids did well and I am proud of them, but I doubt that I will be willing to participate next year unless I am put in charge of organizing. Call me uptight if you want (I probably won’t hear it anyway), but don’t call me unorganized!

Sunday and Monday of this week are Day of the Dead here in Mexico, so I don’t have to go back to school until Tuesday, the 3rd! Woohoo! Unfortunately, when I do go back, it’s going to be just as hectic as I was just told that an exam I was going to give in 2 weeks has now been pushed back a month! I’m not sure if I can add to the exam and change it or if I have to give it as it is written, which covers material from the last 6 weeks. If I’m not allowed to change the exam at all, it’s going to be a bit of a joke as we will have to recap for about a week to remind students of what they learned over the last 6 weeks and then ignored for the following month… Once again, organization is the A-one, primary concern at Montessori and I’m so laid back that I’m handling it quite well and with not even a trace of bitterness.

On Sunday morning (EARLY!) we picked up Lorena and Tito (sister-in-law and husband) and headed off to Tetitlan, Eliseo (father-in-law) and fam’s home town and the resting place of his parents and grandparents. Eliseo’s oldest sister, Tia Vicenta and her husband, Pepe, still have a house there, where we all planned to congregate for the Day of the Dead festivities. Day of the Dead (should be dayS) takes place on Nov. 1st and 2nd. The first day is known as “Dia de los fieles difuntos” and is the day when children and adolescents are remembered and celebrated. Nov. 2nd is “Dia de todos los santos” and is the day when everyone is celebrated. We went to the cemetery on Nov. 1 because many of the family, including me, has to work on Tuesday, Nov. 3rd.

We brought a CRAP-TON of flowers to be placed on the graves of Pako’s grandparents and his great-grandmother. The cemeteries here are quite ornate and rather than just tombstones they have huge monuments. Our families’ graves were pretty tame, just a raised slab and 2 crosses enclosed by a wrought iron fence. The flowers made the whole thing look quite beautiful. As we passed through the cemetery there was a band playing and I saw people dancing. I thought to myself, that’s odd, but it turns out that it is not rare at all, but rather common if you should have enough money to commission a band to come with you to the graveyard. It even has a name: Chile Frito or Fried Chile. The name is definitely odd, there is no getting around that. There was also a large beer stand set up, similar to something you might see at the MN State Fair (aaah, pangs of nostalgia – I love the State Fair!!). There was no real ceremony to our leaving the flowers on the graves, just a lot of rearranging to create the prettiest display. People laughed at me (as usual) because I was taking pictures, but I’m pretty used to that as of now.

After the flower-leaving trip to the cemetery was over, we went back to Tia Vicenta’s for some tamales nejos (dirty tamales because they’re made with ashes) and mole. I don’t like mole and it gives me a stomachache every time I eat it, so they made me beans and rice to accompany my dirty tamales. Then Pako and I shacked up in the hammock and passed out for a little siesta. By the time we woke up (the dog jumped on the hammock and tried to tunnel his way in..), it was almost time to go. We drove the 2 hours back to Zihua and commenced being lazy for the remainder of the evening.

Today is Nov. 2nd, or as I like to call it “the day Obama began to rescue the country,” and Pako and I plan to take a walk and look for apartments to rent for the month of February (for my parents, not for us, we HAVE an apartment). ** Speaking of Obama, Tia Vicenta’s dog is named Barack Obama and they call him Baracko – excellent! ** Then we may go to the beach and I’ll definitely have to do some preparing for my return to school tomorrow. Ugh. These lovely 3 days weekends actually make me forget I have work to do! Anyhow, it’s just a 4 day week and that is EXCITING! Plus I have another 4 day week the week of Nov. 20th, so I’ll just look forward to that!

Hope you all are well and now that this should have chapters, I’ll sign off. Hope to hear from you all, as long as you don’t mention the Packer game!

besitos!
Leyah

PS. These are the Day of the Dead altars created by the students and staff at Instituto Montessori