Oops... I lied about the pictures..

Hello friends and family,

Tis true, I am not uploading any pictures this week. I know it's more boring (or as my 6th graders might say "boringer"), but it just so happens that I didn't get many pictures at the wedding (I still may post them later) because no one else takes pictures and being the only picture-taker AND being the only 'guera' makes me feel distinctly tourist-like. Anywho, the wedding and its subsequent festivities were the biggest happenings of this past week.

You would think that since I have been off of school for a week now, with one more week to go, that I would feel relaxed. Not so. My boss left me with not a small amount of work (ok, she left me with a shitload of *cough* her *cough* work) and there's always the fact that Lorena's in town again and thus we hang out with her a lot. Not that I don't like to hang out with Lorena, I do, quite a bit in fact, but it means that I don't have all this free time during which to finish copious amounts of work.

One of the days (ok, 3 of the days) of last week were spent shopping for various items: a blouse for Petra, an entire outfit for Lorena, another full outfit for Tito (and you all thought I was the chronic shopper!), a shirt for Pako, wedding gifts, etc. We found everything we needed, luckily, and then the rest of the week was spent hanging about, playing UNO (a game at which I have about as much luck as I do for Loteria), creating new Loteria cards (which brought me an unprecedented 2 wins in one day) and playing with the puppies.

Pako has been working a lot :) because Semana Santa apparently causes people to drink astounding amounts of beer. That means that I got to see him between his alarm at 6:10 and his leaving at 6:40am and then not again until after 7. Long days, but the commission and overtime will be swell. He did have Good Friday off, which was, of course, good.

The wedding was Saturday night at 8. Petra and I, loaded with all of our clothes and cosmetics, went to Lorena's around 2. Then Lorena and I went up to aunt Luci's house (her son Ray, was the groom) where there was what can only be described as organized chaos taking place. About 7 people were in various stages of getting their hair done, make up being applied and removed, showers being taken, etc. Lorena and I got our nails done by a cousin who was quite professional. I must say, it's been about 6 years since I had acrylic nails put on and it's making my life a bit difficult at the moment. See, down here, it seems, the idea with fake nails is: the longer, the better. They were aghast at how short I wanted mine and that was with me compromising and leaving an extra millimeter or two. The result being, of course, that I am having a bit of difficulty typing this entry as my stupid nails keeping hitting two keys at once...

Then Lorena and I went back to the house and showered and got ready. The men were, obviously, already ready and waiting for us. We arrived at 9, only about half an hour late. The bride looked quite nice in a cotton dress with crystal beading around the neckline (no good pic to post..) and they both looked quite happy and relaxed. The ceremony and party were both held at Pueblito's, a restaurant in downtown Zihua. There were 2 keyboardists, both friends of the groom and a DJ (cousin to the groom, also the DJ for our wedding) and so there was a lot of dancing. Pako was tired and I still can't shake the slight feeling of stage fright that comes from being one of the tallest and definitely the palest of all guests, which led to not a ton of dancing on our part. We left about 2, which was considered ridiculously early.

The next day, the party continued at Luci's house, where the object was to drink all the left over beer (20 cases of the mini bottles, still quite a bit of beer) and eat all the leftover food. Neither goal was accomplished, but there was cranberry juice for me and I won two rounds of Loteria (before losing all of my money), so I was satisfied. We got to Luci's around 11am and then left around 8. It was an exhausting day. I can only imagine how tired the bride and groom felt!

That's about the extent of it. Today is Monday, April 5th and Pako and I have been engaged for one year today. I literally cannot believe it. Time has FLOWN! To think that I was still a grad student this time last year boggles the mind. Boggles! Pako had to work so Petra, Lorena and I went back to Luci's to help polish off more food (doing our part) and beer (none of us drank any beer, but we encouraged others to do so in our name). Then I came home and did some work. Ugh. Tomorrow's goal is to get all of the 1st week back's lessons planned. Then I'll make a final decision about text books for next year and draw up a pro and con list from Jeanne. From there, I'll tackle the logistics of planning a field trip to Refugio de Potosi, the coolest place to take my kids! Then maybe I'll have an hour or two, or maybe ever 12, if I'm lucky, to relax and pretend that Montessori doesn't exist before returning to the grind!

Hope everyone had a fabulous Easter! Being surrounded by Pako's who fam really makes me miss my own (though I quite like his family)! Miss you all and can't wait to see/talk to you from the same country dialing code soon!

besos!
Leyah