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