Happy 2010!

Happy Tuesday Bloggers!

Not to fear, I did not forget about you! Of course not! It’s just that my agent plans my days witout so much of a thought for my faithful blog readers! Or, I was busier than expected on Sunday and yesterday and couldn’t write anything. One of those two options.

Another week (plus one day) has gone by and now vacation is really rapidly drawing to a close. I’m both really sad and happy about that fact. Sad because it means getting up at 7 every day again (which is even less fun when Pako gets home at 9 and wants to hang out until midnight). It also means battling 80 kids on a regular basis, which to some of you lunatics might sound fun, but in fact, is quite tiring. I’m happy because it means that I start getting paid again! Woohoo! Pako and I will truly be a two income family! Also, because it means that time is advancing and shortly 3 of my all time favorite people will arrive in Zihua! My parents arrive on the 31st of THIS MONTH! =D and Louise arrives sometime at the end of February, probably the 15th. That’s right, they’re made the necessary arrangements to leave the frigid cold that is plaguing the northern United States and spend some time in mostly sunny, 85 degree Fahrenheit Zihuatanejo! Now don’t you feel silly for not having done the same?

Let’s see in the last week it a couple of things happened: 2 of my good friends got engaged (to each other) – that might have happened more than a week ago, but if I haven’t mentioned it yet, I should have – the badgers won their bowl game, the Vikings lost BADLY, the Packers made the playoffs, I got my nails done, Pako and returned to one of my favorite beaches for the first time since I’ve been here AND we started a new decade, which is pretty dang cool.

Football: I haven’t been able to watch any games lately as Pako has been working a crap-ton of hours (that is a scientific term that means a whole heap) and thus hasn’t had time to accompany me to any games. Now, you might be asking yourself, why can’t I just go by myself? Well, the answer is that I can, but I prefer not to wander about downtown at night (which is something I would avoid doing in Minneapolis also) and also because I’ve been spending time getting to know my f. sister in law, Lorena. That is not to say that I am thrilled that the Vikings, once seemingly so powerful, have been showing weaknesses (we all knew they were there, come on) and that the Packers have been coming together and playing better. Aaron Rodgers is a stud, I’ve said so all along. Also, Charles Woodson is pretty dang awesome! Also, go Badgers.

New Year’s Eve was very low key. We had a party with the family up at Tia Lucy’s house (which is the top floor of Tia Pachita’s house. In case you didn’t know, people like to drink beer on NYE, so Pako had to be at work at 5am and didn’t get out until 8pm (the day before was 11-9:30). I spent the day lounging about with Petra, speculating on when Pako would be home and what food would be served. Pako came home, exhausted, not surprisingly, and lay down for an hour. I was showered and ready when he woke up and so the threw himself in the shower and off we went. The food was yummy! Beans with chorizo and jamón on tostadas (use your Spanish-English dictionaries), cabbage salad with jalapeños, grilled beef tacos with guacamole, salsa, cilantro, onions, lime and Jamaica punch, soda (coke, of course), or beer to drink! This time I didn’t overeat, so I felt ok. We all sat around and chatted and listened to music. Another cousin, Ray, is getting married this year, but he’s having issues because he was never confirmed and thus needs to get confirmed before he can get married in the Catholic church. This lead to a fun question and answer period in which Ray’s mother, Tia Lucy, asked me if I wanted to get married in the church… no…I was confirmed… no… if I had done my first communion… no… if I had been baptized… no… oh man, did I throw those old aunties for a loop. Here they thought I was this nice girl who speaks Spanish and seems to be reigning in their surfer nephew, when really, it turns out that I’m a heathen with no regrets who is living in sin with their angelic and totally confirmed nephew, Saint Francisco. Ok, it wasn’t so dramatic, but there were small gasps from the crowd every time I answered no. Nobody seemed too upset, though they did vow to investigate how, if I wanted to, I would go about getting baptized, communionized, confirmed and legalized in the eyes of the Catholic Dioces (notice I didn’t say the eyes of God, that was intentional).

At midnight we all went inside because the annual shooting of any firearm – automatic or not – takes place at the turn of the year and we think it prudent to do what we can do avoid falling bullets. We then hug everyone in attendance, which takes about 10 minutes of shuffling around, and then cheers with a mixture of cranberry and mineral water (hard drinking family that we are). Pako fell asleep at 12:15 and I danced with the aunts and cousins (as much as I could call it dancing since I hadn’t a clue what I was doing and franticly tried to copy those around me) until about 1:30am. Then I tipped Pako out of the hammock where he was sawing some serious logs and rolled him onto a blow up mattress and went to bed myself.

Lorena, as I am rapidly discovering, is a woman of many talents. She is a teacher, a political activist (when it comes into teachers’ rights and unions), a dedicated and knowledgeable shopper, a folkloric dancer AND a nail artist. She decided to decorate everyone’s nails and thus went out, bought some stuff that I didn’t even know existed and lined us up. I felt quite like I was in a spa and the outcome was quite spectacular. I have never had such fancy feet, and with my shoe collection, that my friends, is saying something!

It has been overcast here and we’re expecting rain on Thursday, which is not unheard of in January, but still fairly rare. We went to a beach called the Ranch on Sunday and it was about 78 degrees and partly cloudy. Fairly comfortable if you’re me, sitting in a chair enjoying a delicious coffee. Pako was slightly chillier out in the waves, but not chilly enough to keep him out of the ocean. He wans to go surfing every Sunday until February (when he will gladly yield his surfing plans to accommodate whatever plans my parents, Louise and I have) because in March a cold current washes in and with it, a whole host of sharks. The waves were mediocre, but he stayed in the water about 3 hours and caught some good ones. When he got out, we had some delicious eggs and beans prepared at the local restaurante (a thatch hut) and enjoyed ourselves thoroughly.

Thursday means I’m back at school. I’m planning to use the next month to plan my way through all of February so as to have as much free time as possible! I hope there’s a thaw around the corner for all of you Statesiders! Also, I hope everyone had a safe and enjoyable New Year’s and is ready for 2010! Talk to you all again next week, take care!

Leyah