AaaAAAaaah Vacation!

Hello Blog Readers,

I'll start this post my apologizing for not having written in over 3 weeks (sheesh, has it really been that long?). There were at least 3 times when I thought to myself 'ok, tonight I'll sit down and write a blog' and then... nothing. Procrastination set in and as per usual, the more I procrastinated, the bigger the task seemed and the less energy I had. Anywho, starting is always the hardest part so here we are.

I left off last with Pako's various birthday celebrations. Tequila and all that. You'll all be happy to know that I've been offered tequila on three occasions and on 3 occasions have turned it down. I did have one small margarita and that was quite enough to remind me that Tequila and I are not really great friends right now. I'll stick to white wine every 3 weeks or so, thanks very much. The final celebration of Pako's birthday was the traditional family meal at Lorena's house. We ate... tacos? I really can't remember now, but I do know that there was some seriously delicious chocolate cake.

Blowing out the candles on the seriously delicious chocolate with chocolate frosting cake!

One traditional part of a Mexican birthday celebration is called 'la mordida' and it's when the birthday boy (or girl)'s face is smushed into the cake. Being the ultra traditional person that I am.. I didn't want to let this tradition fall by the wayside, so I helped Pako keep in touch with his heritage :) Only with his own piece of cake though, because I didn't want any whiskers in mine!

No explanation necessary :)

Immigration showed up at school one day. Now, even though I have all the right papers and permissions to work and live here in Mexico, it's still kind of scary to see a uniformed guy from immigration marching up to your classroom. Luckily, the guys from immigrations were super nice and just asked for my identification. I gave it to them, they checked my work visa and off on there merry way they were. Phew. It did remind me that I wanted to get my FM3 renewed before the year was out so that I wasn't rushing to do that at the end of the year. Luckily, renewing your FM3 is way easier than getting it in the first place, so it took all of 2 trips (plus one very aggravating and colorful-language filled trip to the bank) and $2104 pesos. Now they give you a laminated ID card with your picture and thumbprint on it instead of a little passport-like book thingy. Guess what color the card is... Yep, it's green. That's right, I have a green card. Ironic, no?

December 3rd was my last full day of classes because high school spends the next two weeks taking their exams which are run like college exams - they only have to show up if they have an exam. So, I spent that day reviewing with them and making sure they were ready for their oral and written exams. Exams were Monday the 6th and they all went off without a hitch and I said good bye to my high school students (all 21 of them) until the last week in January. Then it was time to review with the 6th and 7th graders, my only remaining students. I'm not sure how, but the last 2 weeks, even though I only had 2 classes a day, felt like the longest and hardest of the semester. As soon as the high school students leave,t he rest of the students decide they can check out, too (and who can really blame them?). I wanted to check out, that is for sure, but no such luck. 6th and 7th grade exams were on December 10th and everyone was happy to get those out of the way. The last 3 days of school were devoted to making Christmas decorations for the school's Christmas Concert - paper snowflakes were a huge hit with both 6th and 7th grade, and rehearsing songs and dances to Christmas Carols.

We didn't make these snowflakes, they're too impressive, but this is what I showed the kids - they were fascinated. We watched videos of snow falling and they had all sorts of questions about what it feels like, what it tastes like, etc. I feel a field trip to MN in December is in order! If only for the sake of a well rounded education for these kids! :)

The Christmas concert was this past Thursday and it was... well, it was sadly unorganized and kind of chaotic, but the kids did a good job. My 6th graders sang Silent Night. The idea was for them to walk on stage holding candles and then all the other lights would be turned off, but it was slightly windy and at least half of the candles blew out before the kids made it to their places on stage. Oh well. The 7th graders danced to Mariah Carey's 'Santa Claus is Coming to Town.' They did a really good job and looked rather cute in their outfits, but unfortunately, as my camera is on it's last leg of life, the flash doesn't work and I couldn't get a good picture of them.

My 6th graders singing 'Silent Night' with 50% of their candles... oops.

When I got home from the Christmas concert, a weird thing happened. CHRISTMAS CAROLERS MADE THEIR WAY THREW THE INFONAVIT (the apartment complex where I live). It was so bizarre, here we are in a 200+ building complex and all of a sudden a group of about 50 people carrying candles (theirs stayed lit, go figure) walked through our parking lot singing Christmas songs in Spanish. Now, maybe not so bizarre if you live in a suburb in the US, but I ask you, when has that ever happened here in Zihua? Well, I asked Pako and his answer was 'um... never, what the heck are Christmas Carolers anyway?' Helpful as ever. There is a tradition similar to Christmas Caroling that is practiced here and it has to do with Las Posadas or the reenactment of Joseph and Mary going from place to place asking for shelter. As far as I know, that was not taking place last Thursday night and this group of Christmas Spirit spreaders just got inspired and got out their candles. Again, no flash or I would have taken a picture. It was such a Christmasy night, I kept the pattern going and turned on the Christmas playlist and made some hot chocolate!

Sometime last week, when I was working very little, Pako and I and his two friends, Hilson and Eder, went to a beach called Loma Bonita. I had never been there before, so I was excited for the adventure. It's about 45 minutes outside of Zihua, just beyond the pueblo of Petatlan. You leave the main road and off road it (in true surfer style) for about 20 minutes until you come to a cliff. Then you scale a rather steep decline to get down to the beach. All in flip flops. All this effort means there aren't very many people at this beach and it's a pretty tranquil place. Unfortunately for the boys, the waves weren't great, but I still had a super time reading on the beach and digging for clams in the sand (clams are in season, apparently - I just threw them all back as they were tiny babies still AND there's some sort of bacteria attacking bivalves that can paralyze humans - no clams for me!). Anyway, it was a nice day at a new beach.

Excellent sign on the cliff where we left our car. I believe it speaks for itself.

Untying the surfboards at the top of the cliff. (We borrowed Tito and Lorena's SUV to get to the beach, our car is NOT off road worthy)

The Boys at the top of the hill: Eder, Pako and Hilson

Pako, happy to have made it down without damaging his most precious possession

Here I am at the bottom of the climb, happy to have made it down without breaking anything!

Look at all those clams!

Wedding planning is coming along. Caterer, check. Cake, check. Booze, almost check. Favors, check. There are so many little details, who knew?!? And if you knew, why didn't you tell me. Anywho, I'm thankful for my mom (she bought a book, so she's the go-to expert), my friends and my future sister in law, who have all been quite helpful when I ask them all the same question 7 times in a row. I'm hoping to get all of the big stuff taken care of this break so that when I do have to start teaching again I won't have too many distraction and hopefully won't be all that stressed... wishful thinking, I know. The knot.com keeps reminding me of the day count - 73 days until your wedding... 72... 71... AAAUGH! I think it's designed to stress you out! Luckily, I'm not the kind of person to get uber wrapped up in this sort of thing, so I'm keeping my stress level at a low-medium level. I'm more excited than stresse, so as long as I keep that balance, I'll be happy.

Christmas is in 6 days and that is AWESOME! We're having a turkey with gravy, stuffing, mashed potatoes and peas, cranberry sauce and tiramisu (just like last year and very reminiscent of a Thanksgiving meal back home) and I am EXCITED!!!! My fast should start now because I know I'm going to over indulge, but it won't because I like to eat, too much. Pako has the 3-11pm shift these weeks, so he's working on trading days off to see if he can make it Xmas dinner! We hope he can. Otherwise he'll get leftovers (which are just as good, let me tell you). We're staying in Zihua for both Christmas and New Year's this year, so it should be pretty relaxing! I'm looking forward to the 3 F's: food, fun and family!

I feel like other things have happened, but they're escaping me. I felt really busy the last couple of weeks (so busy, in fact, I couldn't write even write a blog entry!), and now I haven't nothing to write about. I'll just let the pictures do the rest of the talking I guess. Until next time, blogites (which I promise won't be another 3 weeks), take care of yourselves and have a very happy holiday season!

xoxo,

Leyah

No More Tequila, thankyouverymuch!

Hola Blog Readers!

It's Saturday night at 10:25pm and I am still hungover from last night's party. I'm not saying this to brag, I'm telling you all so that the next time I mention tequila you can remind me that the best response to tequila is a negative response. Ugh. My body hates me right now (I also hate me for my poor decisions). I have spent all of today regretting last night (even though I had a rocking good time - the next day is hardly worth it) and do not plan to repeat this experience. For future reference, I'm no longer accepting tequila shots (or any shot, really), free or otherwise.

I blame Canada. That's right, Canada. I'll explain. Last Saturday, Pako's friend, Dave, and his girlfriend arrived from Regina, Canada for a stay of 10 days in paradise. It was negative 40 degrees Celsius (which is exactly the same temperature as -40 Fahrenheit, I guess when it gets that cold, nobody really cares about conversion) when they left Canada, so Zihua really was a nice change. Dave and his family used to come to Las Urracas and so Pako and he have been friends for a long time, but hadn't seen each other for over 8 years before a week ago. They've both been pleased as punch to hang out together as adults. It's been pretty cute to see, actually. Anywho, I digress. It's cold a good chunk of the year where they come from so, as Dave tells me, they drink to keep warm. I am familiar with this strategy as I did go to the University of Madison (GO BADGERS!). Which means that Dave can hold his liquor. Well, as you know, it's fairly warm in Zihua and so drinking is less necessary when it comes to body temperature regulations. Thursday was Pako's birthday (more on that later) and so on Friday night, Dave, his girlfriend, Melissa, Pako and I went out to celebrate. Dave bought us a lot of tequila shots (Pako didn't imbibe, he drove and also, doesn't hardly drink anything - leaving us foreigners to make complete asses of themselves). Nobody danced on tables or anything, but my world was definitely spinning. Ugh ugh ugh. Do not try this at home (or at the bar, or the beach or anywhere, really). I used to go to Madison, the #1 party school in the US... how is it that I can't hang anymore? Now, Dave did not force me to drink anything, hence my earlier mention of my poor choices, but at the very least he was an enabler (who turns down a free drink?) and it all started because it's cold in Canada.

Pako, Dave and Melissa at Sr. Frog's on Friday night. The good news: no cover on Fridays; the bad news: more money with which Dave bought rounds of tequila...

Pako's cousin, Yair, was supposed to come out with us, but ended up not making it. He sent his regards via the DJ at the club. In case it's too hard to read, it says "Felicidades Francisco Atte: Yair" which means "Congrats Pako, from Yair." I think I was more excited about it than Pako was... it was cool!

When Pako picked me up from work on Friday, there was a tiny black lady chihuahua in the car with him and Tekila. Apparently, Petra had done some matchmaking and the lady chihuahua, Coli, was coming over to our house for a sleep over in hopes that one day, little Tekilas would spring forth unto the world. No dice. Tekila wasn't having it and spent a lot of time keeping Coli at bay with growls and nips. Coli, on the other hand, was all for puppy-making and whined when Tekila wouldn't let her near him. It was rather amusing and according to Petra, who is in cahoots with Coli's mom, there will be future rendezvous to see if Tekila lets his guard down. Coli was a very good house guest and is a super affectionate dog who likes to sit on people's laps. It was fun to have her around for the day, but I'm not terribly upset about Tekila's rejection of the set - up. We've got all the puppies we can handle right now (did I tell you guys in last blog that Mimi had puppies again? Well she did, there are 10 and they are adorable - as long as they stay at Lorena's house).

Here's Teki attempting to escape Coli's constant advances. About 30 seconds after this photo was taken, Teki bit Coli and jumped onto the bed to hide behind me. Aaah, puppy love ;)

10 little puppies and one tired mama!

Pako turned 25. He joined the quarter of a century club. He doesn't seem too worked up about it. Poor guy had to work 16 hours on his birthday (he worked the 11pm - 7am shift on Wed. night - Thurs. morning and then the 3-11pm shift on Thurs) so he didn't really celebrate on that day. I did make shrimp fried rice, on of his favorite meals, and gave him a jelly donut with a candle stuck in it. Not just any candle, this candle played "Las Mañanitas" when it was lit! That candle was the highlight of his actual day of birth.

Earlier in the week - Tuesday - Eliseo made us octopus soup (sounds gross, is pretty yummy if you can get over the purple pieces of tentacle on your spoon), ceviche and tiritas! YUM!!! That was the pre-birthday celebration. Tomorrow Eliseo is making tacos and we're eating cake with the family (Bambi, another goofy Canadian, is part of the fam and he's partaking in the celebration tomorrow and bringing a cake!). I suppose that will be the post birthday celebration.

On Tuesday (before chowing down) we took Dave and Melissa surfing. Well, Pako took Dave surfing and Melissa and I sat on the beach and chatted over frappuchinos, an arrangement that suited everyone just fine. Dave gave it a real shot, but he couldn't get up. It's really hard work (so I'm told, I can barely swim with a surfboard) and requires a lot of upper body strength (something I lack completely). It also takes a compliant ocean and Dave, unfortunately, didn't have that part of the equation - the waves were small and not very strong (you want a wave strong enough to support you). They may go again on Monday, depending on who knows what.. I'll be working :(

The surf trip to Playa Linda in Ixtapa... Not such a bad place to spend the afternoon on a blanket in the sand! (Or playing in the waves, if that's your thing!)

School is ALMOST DONE for the year! My last day of classes is December 15th and then I don't go back until January 10th!!! WOOHOO!!! The only thing I'll miss is the paycheck. I love the kids, but chances are I'll run into many of them at least once over the break (hopefully not at the bars - wait a minute, I'm boycotting bars for a while - ok, hopefully not drinking on the beach) and I'll see them quite a bit once the school year picks up again. I will not miss the early mornings, the grading, the assignment/project/exam writing, the administrative difficulties, the administration, etc. I will be a happy camper, planning away so that the month of February entails very little work outside of the classroom for me and working with Lorena to finish up wedding details. I'm very, very excited for break. Very.

Also on Thursday was my absolute favorite holiday - Thanksgiving. Damn. I hate missing Thanksgiving. It's still the beginning of winter, so no one is totally sick of the temperature yet, time off school, DELICIOUS FOOD in ample quantities, family, football and of course, Black Friday. What is not to love? It was so depressing to be here when all my family and friends were celebrating at home. Did I mention I love thanksgiving? Sigh. Next year, maybe.

***OOH, mini earthquake! Small enough to not be scary and big enough to feel. It's so weird. I still can't get used to the world moving underneath me***

With that I'm going to close this and go take some ibuprofen and call it a (worthless) day. Tomorrow is the post birthday celebration and Lorena and I might check out some florists to get some prices for the wedding. OH - Pako and I picked a caterer, we sign the contract on Tuesday - WOOHOO! One less thing on the list!!! See you next week and...

Remember kids: Just say NO to tequila!

XXOO,

Leyah

More Pics than Post

Hey Errrrbody,

2 weeks have gone by and remarkable few blogable things have happened and yet I managed to have more pics than usual (for such a dull period). It's because I got my camera fixed and so now I have the urge to take pictures of everything! I wish I was better at photography! I took it as an elective one year in high school and I really enjoyed the class, but I've since forgotten most of the stuff I learned (as with most of what I learned in high school...) Anywho, I'm happy to have my camera back in action (minus the flash, one step at a time) and so here we are with pics from the last two weeks.

School has been school, my 7th grade students have stolen my 'teacher's addition' of their book and thus are again on my shite list. The office has instructed me to fail them all. I hate to do that, but I also hate that someone stole my book and no one is fessing up even though I told them there were going to be serious consequences. Right now, I'm going to pass those who pass the final exam with a D and those who fail the exam will fail the month (we grade on a monthly basis in middle school - ugh). So that's annoying, but pretty par for course with 7th grade, it seems.

One day Pako and I had a mini picnic on the beach and all of a sudden we noticed a large group of people to our left and someone told us that a batch of baby sea turtles was hatching and the little guys were making their way down to the water. I was pretty pumped because I had never actually seen this happen before, though I've been in Mexico many times during Baby Sea Turtle season (official title of the season, btw). So I ran on over and took out my newly fixed camera and snapped away. Aren't they SUPER CUTE AND TOTALLY ADORABLE?

Yep, pretty darn cute if you ask me (and you did, by reading this blog). Sometimes the nests hold up to 60 eggs, which means there were a ton of these little guys roaming the sand. They've got some cool, innate radar system going on because no matter where you place them or how many times you pick them up and move them, they reorient themselves and continue to head straight for the water.

The BEST and BIGGEST thing to happen these last 2 weeks is that PAKO GOT A JOB!!! (I'm going a little overboard on the caps, I know, I'm stopping now). He is a security guard at the Holiday Inn in Ixtapa. After over a year of job searching and numerous false starts (ahem * sol * ahem), it just sort of fell in his lap. He checked the job website, noticed the job, dropped of an application on a Saturday morning, the said they'd call, they called, he had an interview, they asked him to come in for a tour of the facilities and he started the next day (Wednesday). His hours aren't the best (but they'll rotate shifts) and the uniform is anything but dapper, but we will take it. The extra income will be quite handy seeing as how we're throwing a big party coming up here in about 3.5 months and we'll both be insured (for the first time since I've been in Mexico).

The olive green pants are the worst. They don't look that bad in the picture, but seriously, olive green? What is that about? Why do hotels and business insist upon dressing their workers in horrid attire? Anywho, it's a good thing he's cute and makes up for the rest.

Sunday we went to the beach early (which is interesting now that it drops down to the high 60s at night) and Pako surfed while I walked the beach. Apparently, lots of other people walk the beach in the early morning too. There were groups of 20+ people milling about and it was the busiest that I have EVER seen that particular beach - 7:30am on a Sunday - go figure. Here's Pako's favorite surfing shot which he says I have to include if I'm going to include the one of him in his uniform.
Note how toned and athletic he looks... that is due in large part to the fact that he has lost about 10 lbs just from eating my cooking which includes a much smaller proportion of fried anything than he is used to. I'm taking credit because he hasn't changed his exercise routine at all, he's started drinking Coke Zero instead of regular coke and we eat a lot of steamed foods. Looks like I did learn some things from living with a nutritionist for all those years... thanks mama! :)

That's all for today, folks. I hope you're all safe from the snow and had no driving mishaps! See you in another 1 -2 weeks!

XXOO

Leyah

PS. Just for fun, a pic of Tekila in a "hat" Petra made him. He loves it, as you can see ;)
It's hard to see because of the lighting, but there is a ribbon that ties underneath his chin. That's easily his favorite part!

Invasion of the creepy crawlies for Halloween 2010!

Hello Blogites (nope, don't like that one at all either... blog readers it is... boring, but tolerable),

Sorry that I have fallen behind with this blog, but it my last couple of Sundays have been full of lesson planning and lesson re-planning (which is what you in case your bosses aren't very good at making up their minds about what they do and do not want). Anywho, this blog promises to be a doozy because I've got 3 weeks to recap. Good luck to me, I can barely remember yesterday.

From Oct 18 - 22nd, my 11th and 12th graders helped translate for the doctors of the 'Healing Eyes Mission' which is a group of doctors and nurses from the US (mainly Colorado and Iowa) who come to Zihua and offer free service to the Ixtapa-Zihua population. They offered a lot of different services including eye exams, glasses fittings, diagnostic exams and different surgeries. My students helped translate for the doctors, helped keep things organized and even accompanied patients throughout their surgeries! Again, I was the proud mama hen watching all my students work! Unfortunately, I had to be at Montessori to teach my other classes (the students went in groups of 3 and each student only missed one day of school) so I was only there in the mornings to make sure everybody got there and got to work so I don't have any pictures. I received tons of positive feedback and the students were asked to participate again next year. I can't help but grin even as I type this because it was such a great opportunity and experience for everyone involved! Many of my students want to be doctors, and one girl, Amy (11th grade), wants to be an ophthalmologist (she was pleased as punch) so it was great for them to get the chance to be in the operating room watching how everything went down. The best part for me, though, was when they all came back to school and we had a class discussion about it and one rather shy girl, with medium level English, raised her hand and said that it was a great experience because she proved to herself that she could SPEAK ENGLISH!!! Ohmigosh, be still my teaching heart!

Jeanne, who go her one of her cataracts one, was gone for the week. She came back for the next week, but was in a considerable amount of pain and definitely crabbier for the week of not being able to read or watch TV well. On Monday, October 25th, we had an event at Montessori for United Nations Day. The kinder babies made flags and put on a parade and I had to restrain myself from reaching down and squeezing all of their cheeks! Man, they are TOO cute! English was not asked to participate and thus Jeanne was in a HUFF, but I felt ok about it because the Halloween event was planned for Friday and it takes up a lot of class time practicing for school assemblies! The halloween event went quite well and my secondary students got some practice speaking in front of a crowd in English. It was a long week, but everyone got through it.


Here are 6 of my 7th graders (L-R): Darien, Eric, Axel, Jennifer, Kenia, Aranza - their skit was about a group of girls who decide to take a short cut through a cemetery and get attacked by zombies!

Meanwhile, outside of Montessoriland (which is definitely it's only little bizzaro world!), Pako went to a job fair and filled out a thousand applications. We're waiting on some calls, but we're not terribly optimistic as the job fair was scheduled for 2 days and Pako, who got there as they opened up for the first day, was flanked by about 2,000 also unemployed friends. The job situation here remains terrible. As much as I complain about Montessori, it does pay the bills (except when they can only afford to pay me half of what I'm due - like this past pay check - then it only pays HALF the bills!). Tourist season is right around the corner though and Pako will find work somewhere. I've been putting him to work as wedding researcher (a job I'm sure he wishes he HADN'T gotten) so he's been quite busy collecting info and getting prices.

Our apartment has been the home to many a non-welcome creature these last few weeks, a trend I'm not sure I can say I'm fond of! In no particular order, we have been invaded by 3 (that I saw, maybe more) large green grasshoppers, a very frantic bat, a Madre de Alacran spider (OMGYUCKYUCKYUCK!!!) and various wasps and scary looking bugs called Chinches... Where are all of these things coming from and why did they choose October to invade our apartment you ask? Well, if someone gives you an answer, let me know because I haven't a clue! I can tell you that grasshoppers fly into walls and make quite a thwacky noise when they stun themselves and fall on the floor, bats do not like to be shoo-ed with tshirts, pillows, hats OR brooms and Madre de Alacrans are seriously scary looking creatures, especially when mobile as they are also scarily fast! The bat got out alive... the others... well, I haven't a clue about the grasshoppers, but I haven't seen them recently and what can I say... could you sleep with a BIG scary spider whose name is Scorpion's Mother alive and roaming about your apartment? I didn't think so.


You might not be able to tell from the picture, but that sucker's legspan is about the size of a softball. I'm told they don't bite and I know they eat mosquitoes and all that jazz, but I'm still not okay with it being in my apartment!

On Halloween Eve, Pako and I went out with some friends. We were lame (and poor) and so we didn't dress up, but others did. Halloween is becoming quite as much of an event as it is in the States. My older students all went to parties and had costume contests and the younger ones planned on trick or treating. On Sunday night I actually had about 10 trick or treaters follow me up the five flights of stairs to my apartment to collect their candy. They chanted 'Halloween' and called me Doña and Señora. I felt relieved (that I had candy), happy (because I love halloween costumes and trick or treating) and weird (because they made me feel old and I am NOT old). It was a good weekend.

Pako and I on Halloween... That's not a mask people, that's how he looks all the time =D

Right now I am sitting leisurely on the couch with my feet up as it is Monday night and I don't have to work tomorrow! And I didn't work today! Woohooo! It's Day of the Dead (Days actually, November 1 and 2) and hence we have a long weekend! I'm about to launch into a mini-explanation of Dia de los Muertos, so if you know this already, skip down a paragraph or two!

Pako puts it like this "In Mexico, we make fun of the dead." And it's true, death is personified as a skeleton with a feathery hat, aka La Catrina. Also as the grim reaper or la Santa Muerte (Sacred or Saint Death) - of whom you can see a large representation on Pako's back...


Anyway, the dead and death are a much more normal and less feared part of life here in Mexico and Day(s) of the Dead is a time to celebrate those who have died. November 1st is Dia de los Niños Muertos (Day of the dead children) and focuses on the young people who have died. November 2nd is Dia de Todos las Animas (Day of all the Souls). In schools, November 2nd is a release day, but when it conveniently falls on a Tuesday (like this year), they often give you Monday as well! There are many Day of the Dead traditions and each state has their own rituals and customs to observe.

One goes to the cemetery and puts flowers on the graves of loved ones. Seems familiar enough, except it doesn't often stop there. Food and drink is brought and left at the graves as well, accompanied by candles and special tokens that remind people of the deceased. The idea is to draw out the spirit and make it feel welcome again among the living. To do this, it's customary to leave the favorite foods and drinks of the deceased. Sometimes people spend the whole day at the grave site, eating and drinking and being merry. People even contract bands to play the deceased favorite music and throw impromptu dance parties.


Last year, Pako and I went to Teotitlan to put flowers on his grandparents graves. Here I am protecting the graves (which are fenced in and covered by white cement slabs - much better to place the flowers on). Note that I am not sad. No one was. Everybody was having a good time and joking around (hence this picture).

Another custom is the making of altars. On the altars people place pictures of the deceased, religious statues and/or photos, water, salt, water, coffee, candles, decorated skulls made out of sugar, pan de muertos (bread of the dead - a special bread made only once a year with a special design on top representing the bones of the dead) and special flowers called cempasuchil (bright orange marigolds). More on that below.

Another tradition is the writing of Calaveras, which are simple rhymes that make fun of the living. Here's a calavera that Pako wrote this year (English translation does NOT rhyme and is not nearly as good as the original!):

estaba Leah sentada (Leah was sitting)
sentadita en su butaca, (sitting right on her desk)
llego la muerte y pregunta (Death arrives and asks)
"comadre, ¿por que tan flaca?" (friend, why so skinny)

...Y q llega Louise apurada (and Louise shows up in a hurry)
con su pelo muy alasiado (with her hair very straight)
y Leah muy sorprendida le dice, (and Leah, surprised, says to her)
"amiga q pelo tan despeinado!!" ("Friend, what messy hair!")

Llega en eso Pakito (At that moment Little Pako arrives)
muy apurado el canijo (In such a hurry, the punk)
xq andaba malo (because he was in a bad way)
le cayeron mal los takitos!! (The little tacos didn't sit well in his stomach!)

This year Pako suggested we make an altar because within the last 12 months, we'd lost 3 very important people: my beloved Grandma Claire (Nov. 7th, 2009), our good friend Federico (April 28th, 2010) and Pako's younger cousin Ada Alberto (July 25th, 2010). I thought it was a great idea because it would be such a cultural experience for me and moreover, it would be a great way to celebrate 3 very special people. I had no idea how cool it would be. Of course buying the flowers, candy skulls and bread was interesting and very culturally awesome for me, but the actual assembly of the altar and lighting of the candles was far more meaningful than I ever thought it would be. I'm not at all a religious person, but something about the whole experience was very spiritual and cathartic for me and I enjoyed it quite a bit. I love the idea of celebrating my grandma and remembering her happily rather than just missing her (which I do, every day, anyway). I think it's a great tradition to have a special day dedicated to remembering and celebrating those who have touched our lives and whom we miss and I hope it is one that we continue even when we live in the States (eventually).


Our Altar with the candles lit. On the left there are 2 photos of my lovely Grandma Claire (on the wall), in one she is playing cards with my cousin Kenny and looks so beautiful and happy and the other is from her younger years when she just plain is a knockout! On the table on the left is Betty, wife of our Scotch Canadian friend and beloved friend of Pako and his family. I didn't have the privilege of meeting her, but Pako remembers her extremely fondly. And if she could stay married to our friend, she was clearly a saint... ahem... just kidding Bambi!

On the right side of the picture are photos of two very dear members of the Las Urracas family. Lucy Coon is on the left and Fred Rahn on the bottom right. Lucy passed away a couple of years ago and Fred passed this April. They were both wonderful people and Pako and I miss them quite a bit. On the wall, the upper right picture is Pako's cousin, Ada Alberto, who passed away this July 25th. He was 18. I suspect it was leukemia, but we don't know for sure. I didn't get to know Ada very well, but Pako misses him a lot.

Today we went to town to meet with a potential caterer for the wedding and walked right into something called "El Cortes." It has to do with the Spanish conquest, but I'm not sure of all the details. One person dresses up as Hernan Cortes (the man responsible for the fall of the Aztec civilization) and others dress up as indigenous Mexicans (Aztecs or other Indians) and they hit each other with sticks, but really hit each other hard! I jumped every time someone landed a blow and know there will be many a bruised participants tomorrow. There's also a man dressed as a woman who represents who knows what, but he walks around and hams it up with the spectators and participants... Anyhow, it's quite the custom and I'm going to have to look into it more because as it stands, I find it quite weird!


Alright folks, that is it for now! I have to prepare myself to go back to work after 4 glorious non-Montessori days! Thanks for reading this mini-novel and please forgive any typos or spelling errors.. I was going to proofread... and then I didn't. Oops.

XOXO! Take care of yourselves!

Leyah

My kids got PUBLISHED =D

Hey guys,

Check out my kids' speeches here. The first speech is by an economist from Detroit, and it's the speech that I had to translate on the fly - phew! Scroll down and you'll see all of my 12th graders' speeches! And there's a picture!!! COOL!

Adios for now!

Leyah

You can take the girl out of Wisconsin, but you can't take Wisconsin out of the girl :)

Hello blogosphere! (That is a new and seriously obnoxious word that I will never use again, but had to try just in case I liked it. I did not)

How is everybody this fine Sunday morning? I am slightly worse for wear because today Pako's friend Hilson's birthday (his real first name is Americo, but nobody wants to walk around answering to Americo) and so he called us at 9:30 last night and convinced us to help him celebrate. Not that it took a lot of convincing - we were sitting on the couch, Pako playing video games and me reading and our conversation went like this -- oh, it's Hilson's bday... should we go out with him? He wants us to go to Frogs... ok, do you want to go... I don't know, yeah, sorta... ok... ok -- see? It wasn't exactly hard work to get us on board for a night out. Anywho, long story short, we saw about 7,000 people that Pako knows (as per usual - the kid knows everybody) and I spent a long night screaming to be heard over the music and dancing in close quarters with a lot of sweaty people that I don't know. Good fun!

My pitiable state this morning is mostly due to lack of sleep (we got home around 4:30am), but also partly due to my seriously sad state of light-weightedness. I had 3 beers over the course of as many hours and I was decidedly wobbly.... what? I went to Madison, for pete's sake, how can 3 beers really have that much of an effect? Well, it appears that once you take the girl out of Madison, her drinking tolerance plummets ridiculously. Not that it is necessarily a bad thing to have a low tolerance, but it's just such a contrast to my college years! Ahaha, I'm sure my parents are enjoying this paragraph thoroughly. To be clear, I'm still a Wisconsin girl at heart (even though I'm technically a MN girl) - I still love Packer and Badger football, I could live on cheese, I even like some beers now (but don't tell my roommates, I spent 4 years in undergrad running away from their Miller Lites), but man, I can not party like I did in Madison!

Luckily, there is a Packer game to watch and a dad who's willing to Skype with me for its duration! Now if only I didn't have that pesky lesson planning, I could laze away the day... bummer.

This past week was pretty relaxed, all in all. The two best parts were when I booked Christy Tyler to be my wedding photographer and when Pako and I had dinner with Chandra and Angel.

Christy is my friend Chelsea's cousin and also a super, fantastic photographer. Honestly, she's my dream photographer so getting her to agree to fly to Mexico to shoot my wedding for an affordable price was a HUGE score! Here's the link to her blog - you can check out her photos from a bunch of different genre's there. If you live in the midwest and want some family/engagement/wedding photos - she's your girl! Best bit of wedding planning accomplished so far, hands down! =D

Chandra, my friend from Oakland who was living here in Zihua last year and who has a scarily parallel life to mine, was here for a mini-vacation. She left Zihua for Oakland early this past August to start teaching high school English in Oakland and Angel, her surfer hubby, moved back to Papanoa (a small town about 1.5 hours outside of Zihua) to await his visa, so it was great to see them both! It was great to chat with them and hear about their lives. Pako and Angel discussed waves and surfboards and the like while Chandra and I talked about life in Zihua and teaching here and in the states. She really misses the food here, more than she thought she ever would - makes me wonder what I'll miss...? I know Pako will miss the ocean and all of his friends and family plus a good number of other things, but apart from Pako's family and Bambi.. what will I miss?

Anywho, the Packers are calling as is a home cooked meal from Aunt Pachita :) I hope you all have fabulous weeks! I set up a private tutoring classes on Tuesday and Thursday, so I'll be busy this week. My 11th graders have been talking about weather and extreme weather phenomena in class and so we're going to watch Twister in class, no complaints here. I had about 10 kids out any given day last week due to dengue fever (lots of rain = lots of mosquitoes) and a wicked cold that is circulating, so I'm hoping they're all back, germ-free!

Talk to you soon! XOXO!

Leyah

Popular demand and threats of usurpation!

Hello folks,

Here we are again, after a brief, but necessary respite. While I was not blogging, I received pleas for me to continue blogging. How nice. Then, when that didn't work, things got more sinister and the same person who so nicely asked me to keep up with the blog threatened that I if I didn't write it that person would! Psh. Psh is what I say to you, good-blog-reader-gone-bad! I would like to state, for the record, that I am not back due to threats and coercion, but rather because I want to tell you about my favorite Montessori moment (they're few and far between and thus have to be documented well!).

I'll start at the beginning though. The Mexcian bicentennial - September 15th and 16th - 1810 - 2010. Pretty big deal. Except not so much here in Zihua. The whole week leading up to the 15th, I was looking and listening for signs of the celebration to come. Nada. I asked my kids about it and in typical teenager fashion they just rolled their eyes at me and told me they were all going to the club and could care less about public displays of patriotism. Oh. Well then. Ok. So I asked Pako. He thought there would be a parade, but didn't know when. Oooohkay. There ways, what is called 'el Grito' at night on the 15th. It was held at the plaza in front of the municipal building. We made the conscious decision not go to because there are always a TON of drunken revelers and because there was some concern about possible violence taking place. Plus every single year, it rains. What we did do was watch the federal celebration (where it also rained and where they reportedly spent over 500 MILLION pesos - for one celebration in one plaza in Mexico City... hermmmph) on tv and then watched the local fireworks from our balcony. You can look at a slide show of photos from the really expensive federal celebration here. That night, due to late-night celebrations of thousands of our neighbors (literally), we didn't sleep much and thus didn't wake up early in the morning. So again we resorted to the TV for the festivities.

I know it sounds kind of lame to watch all the celebrating taking place, but I would like to point out two things. 1. There were no large crowds in our apartment and thus we were not jostled, hot, trampled or anything of the sort. 2. We didn't spend any money or eat any street food (always tempting, even if you know what it might do to your innards). In sum, we were lazy, but so were the people in charge of publicity for the local events. I heard mixed things about El Grito (it rained, not as good as last year, etc) and flat out not great things about the parade (slow, started super late, same floats as last year, etc). Anywho, it was cool to be here and hear everyone talking about 200 years of independence and watch the kids react to the different history lessons. Here are some pics of local decorations. I suspect these will stay in place until after November 20th, the anniversary of beginning of the Mexican Revolution in 1910.

This last one is Plaza Kioto at night. I don't have one of those fancy-schmancy carmeras that does great night shots, but all of lights are white and it looks really pretty. Plus I took this pic as we were going around the round-about and almost getting side-swiped by a ridiculous taxi driver :/

The following week, my 12th graders were set to give speeches about community and cultural diversity and peace at the International Peace Summit - an event organized by a couple of ex-pats who live in Zihua in collaboration with the UN. The summit was a 4 day conference in which each day a presentation was given on 4 different topics regarding peace (currently only Community and Cultural Diversity and Economics and Peace come to mind). International Peace Day is September 22nd and my students were slated for that day, originally, but got bumped to the closing ceremony on Sept. 24th. We went to the Dorado-Pacifico Hotel in Ixtapa and were served a very nice buffet breakfast and then my kids got up and gave their speeches, in English and Spanish.

These were speeches that we had brainstormed in class and they wrote on their own. Then they translated them into English and we polished them up and practiced a TON! The 9 students (8 girls and 1 boy - poor (or lucky) Andres) were pretty nervous about getting up and reading into a microphone in front of a group of internationals (People came from France, the US - Detroit and Los Angeles - and other parts of Mexico) so we spent quite a bit of class time presenting and working on speed and pronunciation. I was really proud of my kids because they spent a lot of time thinking about what they wanted to say and composed some really insightful and inspiring speeches.

The day of, Pako made 2 trips to transport all 10 of us to Ixtapa and then headed to the beach (probably so he didn't have to pick us up). We walked into the hotel and were the first ones to arrive. We asked where we should sit and then scouted out where the students would be speaking and got down to last minute practicing. The kids were pretty nervous, but also pretty excited. The organizer, Patricia Talley, got things started, gave an introductory speech while everyone ate breakfast and then we were up! I introduced the kids briefly and then they got up and did their thing. Man, I was like a proud mama watching all of my babies. I had an enormous grin on my face the whole time and did not stop snapping pictures. It helped, of course, that my students have EXCELLENT English and that the whole crowd was responding really well to their speeches. When all 9 had finished talking, they got a standing ovation and people wanted to shake their hands. A couple of other people gave speeches (one man from Detroit who could not for the life of him pronounce Zihuatanejo (Zee - watt - tuh - nay - hoe) and whose translator did not show up so I had to run up cold and translate his speech into Spanish - yikes, the vice president of the MLK Jr. Foundation, another group of students from a tourism program in a public high school) and it was over. As soon as the official presentation was over, people swarmed our tables and wanted to talk to the kids. It was an excellent opportunity for authentic language use for my kids, but of course I was too proud to even realize the educational value of what was going on. Their speeches will be published in next month's edition (November) of the online magazine, Imagine-Mexico.

We had about 45 minutes before we needed to head back to Montessori so we stopped briefly at a small market set up by local mini-entrepreneurs. Then we walked and got a coffee at the local Starbucks wannabe and then headed back to school. The kids and I were so high on the experience that no one stopped smiling the whole way back to Montessori. I went up and gave a report to Jeanne and Lourdes, the principal, and they were both really pleased. They're going to make up diplomas for the students so that they can include their participation in their resume packets (which literally includes their life stories - starting in Kindergarten) for college or job applications. All week long people have been calling the school and asking about the conference as they've heard good things about the students from Montessori. Yay!

Here's the whole group L - R: Elizabeth (speaking), Andres, Chantal, Carolina, Lizeth, Evelyn, Melissa, Ximena, and Karen.

Our lone Male in the class, Andres, who was super nervous and practiced like a fiend, but did perfectly!


This is Melissa, she was born in the States and has one of the highest levels of English in the class. She also really likes gangsta rap and air force ones (shoes), haha!


A couple of group shots with some of the guests. All of these people hugged and shook hands with each of my students and congratulated them on a job well done. One woman cried during their speeches because she was overwhelmed at the level of composure and second language ability of all the students (mine and those from the public school, Conalep) and commented, very truthfully, that most of our high school seniors in the States wouldn't be able to do something like this.

This past week has been a bit less exciting, but good all in all. Pako and I went to Los Braseros, a Mexican restaurant in Downtown (haha) Zihua that used to be good. Unfortunately, it has been touristed up completely - prices are higher and quality is lower. I ordered a strawberry margarita and neither Pako nor I could detect the smallest hint of tequila. The food was ok, but overpriced. Don't recommend.
Here's the no-tequila-margarita :( Looks yummy, but not worth the money!!!

I took my 11th graders to a restaurant (Cafe Globs - within walking distance and air conditioned!) and they successfully ordered in English and we sat and chatted in English for the whole meal. Nice! I brought my camera to school that day, intending to take pictures and of course forgot it in my backpack. Duh. Anywho, they did a really good job and were model students. We got the restaurant just before a large group of politicians who were eying out table frostily, but I wouldn't budge. We had, afterall, reserved a table and they had just walked in. There were over 20 of them. If you're 20+ people and you don't think to make a reservation at a popular lunch place, it's your own fault! The waiter who spoke enough English to take the order and ask if everything was alright pulled me aside to compliment the English of my students! Double YAY! I know don't have a whole ton to do with their English, only having been here for 2 years, but it's still fun to hear!

Pako's and my favorite Canadian showed up in Zihua this weekend :) which means that Las Urracas will feel a lot more like the Las Urracas I knew when I came here on vacation all those long years ago (4 years ago, mas o menos). I was pretty anxious for him to arrive since he drives from Vancouver and I'm not terribly crazy about the idea of anyone on the road for long stretches of time here, but much less so if you're loaded down with personal possessions and school supplies! But, nonetheless he made it safely, with only the US postal service causing him any real pain along the way. Petra, Eliseo, Lorena, Tito, Pako and I descended upon him for a visit last night and sat out on his porch until it was dark, chatting and catching up a bit. His arrival marks the official beginning of tourist season, in my mind anyway, though he's not exactly a tourist anymore, having come here for over 30 years.

Today I'll be watching at least part of the Packer - Lion game (go Pack!!!), doing lesson planning and organizing the house. Pretty much a typical Sunday here in Zihua. The weather is definitely shifting towards warm and sunny, rather than gray, humid and rainy and that is a plus! On the other hand, Pako says that means the cold currents are coming and bringing the 'sharkies' along with him. Last week he and his surfer pals saw a shark that they estimated to be about 3-4 meters long with about 1 meter of fin showing above the water. Apparently he was far enough out and circling around a school of fish and hence not scary for them, but I can't say that the story made me feel all that great when I heard it. Sharks are great, they shouldn't be slaughtered like they are in some parts of the world, but I don't really like the idea of my fhubby swimming with them!

Here he is, running away from potential limb-eaters :)

Take care everyone and watch out for sharks!

xoxo,

Leah

Que VIVA MEXICO y que VIVA EL BICENTENARIO!

Hello Friends!

Here we are again, another week gone! This one was especially enjoyable for me because 1. NO NEW SICKNESSES, NO IVs, NO INJECTIONS IN THE BUM!!! and 2. I only had to work 3.5 days! I got Thursday and Friday off so that I could celebrate properly 200 years of Mexico's independence from Spain. I did, in fact, celebrate by doing absolutely no work and thus this blog is going to be short and sweet and next week's blog will include pictures and a great quantity of my witty prose.

Mini - History Lesson:
In the early 1500s (1519 to be exact) Cortez and his crew of conquerors/murderers (depending on who's point of view you want to take... I've seen both Spanish and Mexican history textbooks that deal with the arrival of Europeans to what is now Mexico and the versions are somewhat SHOCKINGLY different) arrived at the coast of what is now Veracruz, Mexico. From there, the Spanish marched into central Mexico, battled with the Aztecs for roughly 2 years and by 1521, had established the beginnings of what we now know as Mexico city and the current Mexican civilization/culture/people.

Eventually you had a very stratified society that consisted of (listed in order of 'importance' to the Spanish king and access to power, money and land) Spanish born Spanish (Peninsulares), Criollos (Mexico-born but totally Spanish heritage), Mestizos (mix of Spanish and Aztec or other indigenous blood with access to power lowering as percentage of non-Spanish blood rose), Mulattoes (Mix of Spanish or indigenous blood with African Slaves), Indigenous peoples, and finally Slaves (Africa or Mexico-born, didn't really make a huge difference). To make a long story short, the Criollos got mad because the Virrey (Spanish King's representative in the colonies of 'New Spain') was taxing them and then Napoleon's bro, Maximillian, was instated and they were even less happy about paying HIM taxes. Also, those dang Peninsulares got all the good political appointments and looked down their noses on those who hadn't been born in Europe.

So, a priest by the name of Miguel Hidalgo and some army generals by the names of Ignacio Allende and Juan Aldama decided to rally the peeps of Queretaro and gave what is famously known as "El Grito" and got everything started. And by everything, I mean they freed some prisoners, threw together an army of peasants armed with pitch-forks and machetes and marched towards the capital. And that, my friends is the very concise, very abbreviated beginning to a sort-of civil war that ended in Mexico's independence from Spain. Don't be fooled into thinking, though, that those Criollos gave the Indigenous peoples or Slaves any rights or powers... not really, but you have to start somewhere and that somewhere was the Spanish colonial government.

Now that I have sufficiently procrastinated quite a bit more than I had intended to, I'll leave off. You may all learn more about the history of the fight for Mexican Independence here, here, or here. I, for one, NEED to get to my lesson planning or I will seriously regret it later on! Boo.

Hope you all had a great week, threw up a shout for Mexico on the 15th and 16th and are considering writing your local representative about the importance of legalizing drugs in the US and saving the country where I live! (Couldn't resist that last plug, sorry).

xoxoxo y UN FUERTE VIVA MEXICO!

Leyah

Syringe Plunger Happy Mexico?

Hello readers!

Nothing much has happened since I last posted. One blog worthy thing ALMOST happened, which is the sole reason this blog is being posted - to write about what almost (but didn't) happen to me this week.

Sunday past I started to get that ucky taste in my mouth that proceeds a sore throat along with some serious body aches and I thought - oh great - a cold! It had been raining for the entire weekend and everything was damp, I didn't feel good at all and and I was CRANKY! Nothing out of the ordinary there, as Pako will attest.

I decided to nip it in the bud, made myself some tea and got into bed early. Unfortunately, I spend most of the night shivering and sweating and shivering some more. At about 4am, when Pako rolled into a position that left him snoring contentedly, I thought to myself - screw this - and I went into the other room to write up Sub plans for Jeanne. At 7 when my alarm went off, I got dressed, went to Montessori and left the plans on Jeanne's desk. Why didn't I just call Montessori, you ask? Well, as Montessori is an exclusive private school that offers your child only the best, the phone lines don't work when it rains. Two tylenol's, an ibuprofen, an anti-histamine and into bed for me. The head cold bit of things got progressively worse throughout the day, so at 6ish, when Pako asked if I wanted to go to the doctor, I said ok.

Off we went to visit the $25 peso doctor (a new guy this time). This guy was super nice, very, very thorough and did an excellent job of talking me through everything. He asked a bunch of questions, took my blood pressure, felt my throat and then felt my abdomen. Turns out, not only did I have a roaring head cold (nothing he could do for me there), but ALSO an intestinal infection that was up to 10 days old. GREAT. He gave me two shots, one in each cheek and then prescribed 3 more shots, plus a lot of pills. **What's going on with the amount of shots being prescribed here? Anytime I hear that someone went to the doctor, they've had a shot and were prescribed more for at home... It's SERIOUSLY odd for me to go to a pharmacy and buy syringes... what happened to good old bad tasting syrups and horse-pills?** Within minutes of the 2nd shot, the body aches started to go away and I felt much better. Pako bought me an electrolyte-rich drink called Suero (the Mexican cure-all it seems, it's what they gave me intravenously the last time I was sick - you know, like 3 weeks ago) and off we went to the Comercial Mexicana to buy the rest of my meds.

At 7 o'clock PM on most Monday nights, the CM is HOPPING! There are people everywhere and this was true that evening as well. I got lucky and was only the 2nd person in line at the pharmacy. When the woman started to fill my order, all of a sudden I got SUPER hot and my peripheral vision started to go. Now, while that might sound ultra-scary, it's happened to me before, so I knew what was going on. I was going to faint. Shoot. I handed the prescription and the credit card to Pako and went to pretend I was looking at something on a low shelf - away from the pharm crowd. This worked for a minute, but only so long as I stayed still and kept my head DOWN. I then decided that I really might faint and it wasn't just a passing wave of whatever, so I moved even farther away from the crowd and sat on the floor with my head between my knees. Pako, at this point, begins to get really nervous and flits over to ask what in the name of Emiliano Zapata is going on and I just wave him away and tell him to finish paying for the drugs.

Let me describe, a bit, where I was sitting. The CM is kinda like a Target or super drug store with a row of checkout lanes at the front. The pharmacy is on the outside of these lanes so that when you're finished with your other shopping, you stop at the pharmacy on your way to your car. So where I was sitting was pretty much directly in front of where EVERYONE had to pass to leave the store. There were probably 14 lanes open, each with a long-ish line of people waiting to check out and get home so I wasn't exactly isolated in my little health crisis. I only saw one student, but then I had my head between my knees most of the time I was sitting there, so who knows how many saw me!

I sat there for awhile, sweating profusely and wanting desperately to lay on the cold tile floor (which I didn't because - um - EW) with Pako leaning in front of me, worriedly. Finally, I felt like most of my vision had come back and I made to get up. I tried to keep my head down and rise slowly as to avoid that rush of blood that you can sometimes get if you stand up too quickly. I made it about 10 yards. Then I had to squat a bit (no full blown sitting this time - progress!) before moving another 15 yards. Pako was almost dialing the red cross at this point, but I assured him that I was getting better. After the last kneel down, I made it all the way to the car in one go! Yeah! I think Pako probably left half of our tires on the pavement as he peeled out of the parking lot and we rushed back to the same doctor. By the time we got there, I could walk all by myself with no fear of swooning.

The doc looked at me, took my blood pressure and said that it had bottomed out, probably a combo of the heat, the antibiotics he had recently injected into my bum and dehydration. Dang that dehydration, it seems one can never beat it! So, I dutifully drank my Suero while the doctor assured Pako that it was, indeed, ok for me to go home. He told me to drink some juice, which would help regulate my blood sugar/pressure.

Anywho, my soon to be brother in law (too many possible hyphens there, so I just left them all out in favor of fairness) had the pleasure and privilege of giving me an injection in alternating sides of my bum for the following three days. The last shot was on Thursday, but I can tell you that I am still sore and purple-polka-dotted! I decided to leave this week's blog photo-less. Your welcome.

I feel much better, though I'm still catching up on sleep! This weekend was all about relaxation! Next week at school is a short one - Monday thru Wednesday and my high schoolers will be taking exams! Then an excellent 4 day weekend to celebrate 200 years of Mexican independence! I'm going to lay very low until then so that I can participate in what promises to be a very patriotic weekend! Next week's blog will definitely include some photos (not purple - more red, white and green). Hope you all had a better and less syringe filled week!

Viva Mexico! (LEGALIZE DRUGS IN THE STATES SO THAT IT CAN KEEP ON VIVA-ING!!)

Leyah

Flood Alert!

Hi there folks!

How is everyone? I hope you're all slightly drier than we are here in rainy Zihua! It hasn't stopped raining for more than 30 minutes for the last 48 hours and many of those hours have been all-out downpours! We're lucky in that we haven't been getting the same rains as Oaxaca and Veracruz (which are largely under water right now, over 50,000 people affected), but the latest wave of tropical pressure and precipitation is making up for lost time, it seems. Being that our persian slatted windows are and have been rusted open since we moved in, we get a lot of rain in the apartment if the wind blows. I started my Saturday by mopping the kitchen floor before I could make coffee. Oh well. We got smart earlier in the rainy season and put ugly, but extremely functional plastic sheaths in our bedroom windows so that we can at least sleep in peace (as the rest of the apartment gets soaked). I'm hoping it clears up today so that we can make a quick trip to the market to buy some food for the week.

This trip to the market might not be as easy as it seems, however, as the streets might be flooded downtown (as frequently happens when it rains a lot) and Pako and I are without a car for the next paycheck or two. It seems that our 'horquilla' (possibly ball-joint... not exactly sure and since I'm not really car literate, nobody has been able to give me a satisfactory explanation of what it is or how to say it in English) on the front driver side is seriously on the fritz. We brought the car in to our normal mechanic and he quoted us a price that was $600 pesos more than he had quoted us for the SAME thing 5 months ago so we decided to shop around a bit. Pako has a surfing connection (shocking, I know) who owns a garage, so that was our next stop. We got our hopes up as the friend originally thought it was some other issue and quoted us a WAY lower price than the first guy. Unfortunately, he opened up the whatever it is (it's not the hood and you can't really open up the body of a car... can you? - anywho, he looked more closely at the wheel thingy) and discovered that it was WORSE than he or the first mechanic had thought... dang! So, his advice to us was this "you can drive it dude, but I'd stay away from highways or road trips... it's not like your wheel is going to come off or anything... it just might flip sideways... which might roll your car." Needless to say, I put the kibosh on the car and now it sits sadly in Lorena's yard, where Pako can easily visit if the loneliness gets to be too much for him.

It's not a huge problem, luckily it's one that will only take a month or so to save up for (rather than 6 months or a year) and we'll be back in business. What it does mean, however, it lot's of combi rides. For those of you who don't know what a combi is, it's a van/mini bus that runs like a city bus - the same route, all day, for $5 pesos a pop. They're pretty convenient, but the drivers think that they own the road and, like other Zihuatanejenses, don't follow any observable rules and/or driving patterns. They weave in and out of traffic and stop where ever they want to let someone on or off. Also, I'm slightly taller than your average Mexican (male or female) and thus have a tendency to bump my head upon entering or leaving (and most of the time on both occasions). Also, the drivers have a propensity for pulling out into traffic before all of the riders are comfortably settled, leading to many a grabbed arms or shoulders of strangers and murmured apologies. It's these times when understanding Spanish as well as I do does not work in my favor because it means that I fully understand the 'stupid gringa' comments. Come on people, it's not my fault I'm tall and uncoordinated. I didn't grow up riding these death-wagons! I drove the blue beast and followed ALL rules of the road (impeccable driving record - thankyourverymuch!). One more instance of culture shock, 1 year and 1 month into my stay here in Mexico.. I wonder when this will stop happening to me?

I've been writing exams this weekend (and will continue to do so after finishing this post) because all of a sudden, the first round of exams are upon us! How in the heck did that happen? Have I really been here and working for that long already? The answer to this question is: no, I have not. Ricardo, in another moment of extreme educational/pedagogical ineptitude, has decided that monthly exams are a good idea. That's right, a full exam and evaluation of each student is due every 4 weeks. Which means that I will have about 3 weeks to teach, one week to review and then will be expected to give oral and written exams. If you know anything about language teaching/learning or have even a modicum of common sense, you will already know that this is a BAD IDEA.

If you're still unsure about the harshness of my judgment of this lastest pearl of wisdom from Ricardo, let me explain a bit. Language is WAY more than memorizing a list of 20 vocabulary words and a grammatical structure. It is all about being able to react on your feet and decide almost instantly which words you want to use, in what order to say them and which tense to put them in. The way to do this well is to practice language everyday, in various contexts and formats. You want your kids reading, writing, speaking and listening to examples of the past and you want to them to do it a lot, over and over again. Even if recite the past tense forms of a verb doesn't necessarily mean they can tell you (correctly) what they did the day before. Giving them a full on exam every 4 weeks is SUCH a huge waste of time. I'll be testing them on the SAME material, over and over again. It makes the students nervous and means a whole heck of a lot of extra (unnecessary work for me).

I plan to rebel in my own way, however, and only give a full exam every two months. The other months, I'm going to give the students a project to do and that's how I'll calculate their grade for that month. This way, only I am getting screwed, and not so much the students. I still have the extra work, but they won't be as nervous or stressed out ever 3.5 weeks and they'll actually benefit from being evaluated in the two different ways. Our first "exam" (which is actually a project) will be some variation of a letter, depending on grade level, written to the UN, in honor of International Peace Day, September 21st.

My 12th graders are actually giving speeches on the last day of a 4 day International Peace Summit that is being held here in Zihua in honor of International Peace Day. They're going to be talking about Community and multicultural diversity and it's relation to peace as it pertains to Zihua. We'll be giving the speeches at the closing breakfast, to be held at the Dorado Pacifico Hotel in Zihuatanejo and we're speaking right before the mayor, Alejandro Bravo. There will be people from all over the world and my kids were chosen to represent Zihua's youth. I tell you, I was just like a proud mama when I got the news. We're working hard on perfecting our speeches (which will be in Spanish and English) and will be practicing a lot. I'm excited. Let's just hope the geniuses of Montessori don't find a way to trip us up! The summit we're participating in is listed on the UN website - it's the only event listed for Mexico - pretty cool if you ask me! Obviously, I'll have LOTS of pictures to post and stories to tell after the fact.

Last week, Wednesday, Pako and I went to La Ropa to visit his dad and walk on the beach. The parking lot was flooded due to a recent rain storm so I, as usual, made Pako carry me across. (You may say 'high maintenance,' I say 'GROSS!') We got in just fine, talked to Eliseo, walked on the beach, Pako even got to play soccer with his friends while I read my book (Eat Pray Love - in Spanish!). When the mosquitoes were getting to be too much, we decided to leave. As I stopped by a bench and waited for my big, burly man to adjust his shorts and whatever else he was carrying, we were laughing and he was making fun of me for not wanting to wade across the water. All of a sudden, both of us realized that we were standing on an ant hill and the little suckers were not happy about it. These are the teensy tiny little ants that pack quite the punch! Anyway, we both start stamping around like wildebeests, trying to get these little buggers off of us, but they hung in there pretty well. Pako, used to these type of happenings, walked directly into the parking lot water and was awarded some respite for his actions. I hesitated just a little bit, because like I said before... gross. Anyway, I was eventually forced to follow him into the yuck-water in order to stop the foot-feast. Now my feet are covered in ridiculously itchy little bites and Pako has little sympathy since we stopped where we did so I could climb up onto his back... Girly? Yes. Annoying? Maybe. Deserving of a million tiny red ant bites? NO! :(

That's all for this week: ants, exams, no car and LOTS of continuing rain. Here's hoping for a sunnier blog entry next week (figuratively and literally)! Football season is upon us, Pako get ready!!! Last night my beloved Badgers pulled out a victory over UNLV at UNLV. Now I'm just hoping for a CRUSHING Saints victory during the NFL opener on Thursday (why is that...? I'm not really a Saints fan..) and then my favorite Green Bay Packers take the field in Philly on Sunday. HOORAY! I love football!

Have a great week, blog readers, and start looking for your green and gold (or red and white and black) apparel!

XOXO,
Leyah

The following are the views from my apartment. Usually you can see the ocean clearly... not so much in the last couple of days. I took these during a pause in the heavy rain and this is the clearest it's been since Friday morning!