The Sol will come out... tomorrow?

Hello all,

The gringos have arrived! Yesterday, Petra, Lorena, Tito and I went to the beach of Las Urracas to say hi to some of the late January arrivals. I was pleasantly surprised to learn that these lovely people bought me gifts! Hooray! Haha, I definitely was not expecting that, and let me tell you, it's always extra nice to get unexpected gifts. Some friends from Oregon brought me dried persimmons (which I had never eaten before, but tried last night -- yum!) and some yummy mixed nut blueberry crunchy goodness, kind of like a super chunky sweet trailmix. I'll be bringing both of these items to school to keep me energized for the kiddies! Then, some other lovely people, brought me aged white cheddar from Toronto! Score 2 for Leyah's tummy!

** Complaint: Everyweek since the beginning of the football season, one of the 12pm games is shown on a local channel. Now that it's the playoffs and there is a game that I want to watch, there is a stupid soccer game on! WTF? Sorry about the language, but dang! Not a good week to change the viewing schedule, Televisa! Thank goodness for ESPN gamecast and live updates!

We had a temporary economic downturn this week when Pako's Sol contract ended. We thought he'd be employed THROUGH Semana Santa (Holy Week), but it turns out that is not the case. He may be called back to work for Holy week, but that is not until the end of March, beginning of April. We're hoping he finds something else before then, but if he can't, he can't. For now, I'm the breadwinner. Ha! Luckily we were careful with all of the money he made and saved almost all of it. The silver lining (there has to be one), Pako will be able to hang out with my parents and Louise when they come (SOON!!!)

School was fine this week. My 7th graders are just as volatile as they were last sememster. One good day followed by a ridiculous day followed by a day that makes me want to pull my hair out. Someone needs to give them a swift kick in the pants, but because it's my first year at the school, I have to leave that to someone else, with more authority. My 6th graders, on the other hand, seem to have turned over a new leaf over the holiday break and are behaving much better. Maybe it's my new policies or maybe it's because their parents threatened to take away their cell phones or ipods.. maybe it's a combo of both, but whatever it is, it's working! I'm really enjoying that class a lot more this semester (all 7 school days of it), which is great because it means that I start my day off well.

The beginning of high school has been pushed back another week, who knows why, so I have an extra week to get all of my planning for February out of the way. They'll start February 2nd, barring other weird decisions from the big boss (sarcasm*). The school's 25th anniversary is February 14th, so the elementary and middle school will be putting on a small show on Friday the 12th. The English portion of the show will consist of a lot of kids singing... "Love is in the Air." Yep, practicing that modern gem is how I will be spending 10 minutes of every class from here on out. Sweet. I'll be dreaming about John Paul Young come Feb 12th...

I think that's about it for this week. I turned in all of my immigration forms and paid all the fees, so someday soon I should be receiving a phone call from them to get my finger prints taken and get my visa! It'll be weird to think that I'm no longer a tourist in Mexico, but a legal resident alien. Hope you're all having great Januarys (Januaries??). I'll take more pictures next week, promise!

love to all!

Leyah