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 Oba
ma, 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
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