Hello Blogworld friends!
Here I am, sitting in the Mexico City airport, seriously enjoying the Wifi, which I can access because I have an account with Telmex (ie my home phone and internet account in Zihua). THANK YOU TELMEX! Now the 2 more hours in this airport (drastically reduced from the 5 that I expected, more on that in a moment) can be easily wasted on facebook, gmail and here, writing to you!
Today's trip has been rather eventful, but not so much that it makes me want to stop traveling forever, but rather in the way that just makes me tired and crave diet coke. It all started last night when I ate too much food and thus was unable to sleep well (normal travel anxiety could have played a role here too). I was up early checking everything and making sure I was all set to go. I even had time to make breakfast (which I didn't do because I'm never hungry before flying). Pako and I got to the airport before the airport worked did. We were the 2nd or 3rd party to arrive. About 20 minutes later the Aeromex workers showed up and I check in. So far, so good: didn't need the extra carry-on I had packed JUST in case my luggage was WAY over the weight limit (to be truthful, I think it was and the workers just neglected to weigh it - again, thanks guys!). Uh-oh, I need a special form that allows me to leave the country because I have this fancy FM-3 visa that allows me to work. The form was nowhere to be found in the Ixtapa-Zihuatanejo International airport, but they assured me that was fine, I could procure one at the Mexico City airport.
I say a mildly teary goodbye with Pako (I'm a crybaby, I'm only gone for 5 weeks and I'm REALLY excited to go home all being factors of the only 'mildly' teariness) and passed through security without a hitch. The plane we'd later take to MC arrived and deplaned, everything seemed to be in order. Something was not. Who knows what. I do know that I sat at the gate for an extra hour and a half battling with myself over whether it was worth it to buy a People magazine for $72 pesos (it was not). Fine, whatev, I have a long lay-over in MC, no freaking out necessary. Got on the plane, got an aisle seat in the emergency exit row, pretty comfortable. Flight was mildly bumpy, but not so bad.
Got off the plane, got on a bus, got off a bus, waited in line, turned around, waited in another line, walked through some doors, went through more security, rode a tram (saw an absurd McDonald's sign that said "Premium food, tourist prices" - really McD's? Slightly delusional, are we?), and finally arrived at Terminal 1. Entering terminal 1, I followed a bunch of signs that read 'international departures' then some more signs that said 'immigration.' Finally I saw a man wearing an immigration shirt and he took me up some more stairs and around some more corners wear someone else helped me and I finally got my special form for my special visa. Phew. Now if only I knew where the heck my plane would leave from, I could go there and wait patiently for my plane to board. Alas, the screens with arrival and departure information are currently 'fuera de servicio' and the guy at the information desk can't confirm any gate information until 2pm, which is... in exactly 2 minutes from now.
So now that we're all caught up, I'll speak to the past week. Nothing crazy happened. I finished teaching at Montessori on Tuesday the 15th, (HALLELUJAH) and tutoring on Thursday the 17th. Nothing crazy went down, the kids watched (and LOVED) The Lost Land (or whatever the name of the Will Ferrell movie about dinosaurs is - here it's called 'Tierra Perdida) and I graded exams and cleaned out my area in the English office. There was nothing bittersweet about this parting, it was all sweet. My 7th graders did ask why I wasn't teaching them again next year, to which I wanted to reply 'what, you really want to go through this again next year??!?', but in fact only said, 'I'm sticking with 1st years and you're all moving on to 2nd year. I'll wave at you as you go into your class.'
Wednesday, Pako and I went surfing with Chandra, Angel and Chandra's brother, Korvus, who was in town for the week. By that, of course, I mean that Pako and Angel surfed whilst Chandra, Korvus and I enjoyed coffee and conversation. Good enough for me. Pako was only able to surf for a little while because he had pulled his hamstring earlier in the week playing soccer. So he also enjoyed the conversation and coffee.
Finally, yesterday we hung out with Lorena in the afternoon and then had dinner with her and Tito at Lety's (Chendo's cousin). Coconut shrimp. Nuff said. YUM! Hence the eating too much. Pako had the stuffed fish fillet (cheese, shrimp and octupus) and Lorena had Shrimp with chipotle cream sauce over spaghetti. Seriously, yum yum YUM!
And now, I'm going to figure out where I should be waiting, find a place to plug this baby in and charge my battery up so that I can watch Julie and Julia on the plane! See you soon Midwest! See you later, Mexico Lindo!
xoxoxo,
Leyah
PS. The Mexico - France game was AWESOME! I love me some Chicharito and Cuatemoc! The Mexican national team had NEVER beaten France in any sort of game - world cup or otherwise, so it was a big deal! PONTE LA VERDE!
Sunday, June 20, 2010
Sunday, June 13, 2010
Vamos, Vamos Mexico!
Well Hello Friends!
Another week down, one more to go! In 7 days, I will be landing in Chicago and sleeping in some suburb of Milwaukee that I think starts with an H, but the name is escaping me at the moment. It may come to me in a bit, in which case, there will be a random town name later in the post. !!!! I'm pretty excited! Slash pretty. I'm all out excited! I'm super pumped to see everyone and to hang out and catch up and all that! Plus the food! Plus, for 3 weeks or so, I get to sleep in MY bed! That being said, next Sunday there will not be a blog, unless for some awesome reason there is free internet in the Mexico City airport where I will be hanging out for 3 hours or so...
Just got home from watching Pako and Tito play with the Sol team against the Santorini water guys. You know, the ones who yell "Santo - RINIIIIIIIIIIIIII" outside my window all the time. Yeah, those guys. Turns out, those guys are pretty good at soccer and they beat Sol 3-0. Pako pulled his hamstring (only slightly), so he didn't play all of the second half of the game. I was going to take a picture of him playing, but then I forgot. Oops. Maybe next time.
*DISCLAIMER: the next paragraph is all about World Cup Soccer, non - sports fans, please skip ahead*
Soccer is pretty much on everyone's mind all the time here in Zihua. The World Cup has started and Mexico played South Africa in the first game. They tied 1-1. Mexico
has never won an inaugural game, so we'll take the tie. The really good news is that the other two teams in our group, France and Uruguay, played the same day and also tied. That leaves all of us with 1 point. On Thursday, Mexico plays France and then the following Tuesday (which I shall watch with my father, whether he knows it yet or not) they play Uruguay. The two teams from the 4-team group with the most points (3 for a win, 1 each for a tie, 0 for a loss) advances to the next round. France is pretty good. They lost to Italy in the championship game of the last world cup. Uruguay isn't a team to ignore either. It'll be tough for Mexico to advance, but I think they will (at least until the next round, then the groups change and I will reevaluate my stance). In other soccer news, the US played England, a favorite for winning the Cup, yesterday and they also tied, 1-1. The US got super lucky as the English goalie totally boffed an easy save to tie the game.
**Soccer talk is over, except to mention that I am only a soccer fan until REAL football starts again **
This last week at school I took my high school kids to El Refugio de Potosi on a field trip. Despite the fact that the ghetto-fabulous micro (bus) showed up 45 minutes late and looked as if it was likely to breakdown on the freeway, we had a great time! Anybody who ever visits me in Zihua will go to the Refugio with me because I think that A. it is a super cool place with really cool animals, B. the purpose (conservation/education) is a really important one and C. Laurel, the director, is a friend of the family (me, Pako, Petra, etc. + the Las Urracas fam) and I like to support her however I can. The students had a really good time. They got to hold a baby porcupine, a baby opossum, 2 parrots and a snake! Then we split them into two groups and they took the tour where the saw 2 owls, Military Macaws, Butterflies, Tejones, Hawks, a Toucanette, a Jaguarundi, lots of Iguanas and more! I was pleased with my students' behavior and I was really happy the field trip finally came to fruition even though it was literally the last day that I had classes with those kids so we couldn't do any real follow up activities (Good thing I planned ahead and did PRE-trip activities! Teacher score!).
Saturday, early afternoon, it FINALLY rained! There was some pretty nice thunder and then it rained steadily for about 2 hours. No flooding (nothing worth mentioning anyhow), the rain was just enough to get everything wet. We really need it here because we're supposedly a month into the rainy season and not one tiny little droplet had fallen before yesterday. It cooled down the air for all of 5 minutes and then the heat and humidity returned. Today the sky is bright blue with a couple teeny little fake clouds spread out, but it doesn't look like any rain is in the forecast for today. The water situation here is getting dire, many rivers and wells are all dried up. To top it all off, CAPAZ, the water company is on strike because 20 workers who had been there for 20+ years were laid off and not given their due severance. That is a huge NO-NO here in Mexico where labor unions are very powerful. Lorena and Tito, who's water only shows up every 3 days on a good week, hadn't had water in about 9 days so they had to buy a private pipe of water. We had 2 days without water (which always makes me cranky) last weekend and AGAIN today is our 2nd full day with no water. The crankiness is multiplying in direct proportion with the length of time without running water (or some other mathematical-ish sounding equation).
*For those of you who, like me when I first moved here, have no idea what the hashish I am talking about, this is how things work here: Lorena and Tito live on a private piece of land (not a public housing project, like the Infonavit, where Pako and I live). It is then their responsibility to connect plumbing so that they have running water. This means having large cisterns high up somewhere so that gravity does it's thing and there is running water. It's their job, also, to re-fill the cisterns with a hose connected to a faucet on their property, every so often that the water shows up. If the water shows up at 7am, up you get and make sure you're filling all available buckets with water and washing your clothes while there is extra water for the washing machine. If the water shows up at 11:30pm (more often then not), same deal. It's a crazy system. At the Info, we've been luckier and basically there is a ginormous underground holding tank that the city fills with water. Each building has a pump that pushes the water upward and fills the cisterns on the top of each building. Then, again, that magical wonder, gravity, does it's thing. Since CAPAZ is all a-tizzy right now, the ginormous underground holding tank appears to be dry. Boo. Boo BOOO BOOOOOOO. And UGH.
Ok kids, here are some photos from this week. Until next week: GO MEXICO!!! (and the US, except that I don't actually care if they move on or not, but it would still be cool if they did)!
Next blog: the Mexico City Airport and it's crappy PA system OR Reflections from somewheres in Wisconsin!
XOXOXO,
Leyah
First Row: L-R
1. 11th graders going up the tower to check out the vistas.
2. Alondra hanging out with the baby Porcupine (Puerco Espin) named Edwarda aka Lala.
3. Chantal, Melissa, Elizabeth holding parrots (11th grade).
2nd Row: L-R
1. Marilyn, all set to cheer for Mexico. AFTER she finishes her English final, that is.
2. All of 6th grade taking their English final. Kenia is in the front with the Mexico headband. She's not what you would call a rabid fan, but she'll take any exam not to wear her uniform. Marilyn is in the middle, look for the funky wig. She didn't want to take it off for the exam, she thought maybe it would bring her and Mexico good luck.
3rd Row:
Pales of water, just in case your water supply runs out... LIKE RIGHT NOW. Also, the washing machine is full of water and some other random bowl shaped objects. *SIGH*
Another week down, one more to go! In 7 days, I will be landing in Chicago and sleeping in some suburb of Milwaukee that I think starts with an H, but the name is escaping me at the moment. It may come to me in a bit, in which case, there will be a random town name later in the post. !!!! I'm pretty excited! Slash pretty. I'm all out excited! I'm super pumped to see everyone and to hang out and catch up and all that! Plus the food! Plus, for 3 weeks or so, I get to sleep in MY bed! That being said, next Sunday there will not be a blog, unless for some awesome reason there is free internet in the Mexico City airport where I will be hanging out for 3 hours or so...
Just got home from watching Pako and Tito play with the Sol team against the Santorini water guys. You know, the ones who yell "Santo - RINIIIIIIIIIIIIII" outside my window all the time. Yeah, those guys. Turns out, those guys are pretty good at soccer and they beat Sol 3-0. Pako pulled his hamstring (only slightly), so he didn't play all of the second half of the game. I was going to take a picture of him playing, but then I forgot. Oops. Maybe next time.
*DISCLAIMER: the next paragraph is all about World Cup Soccer, non - sports fans, please skip ahead*
Soccer is pretty much on everyone's mind all the time here in Zihua. The World Cup has started and Mexico played South Africa in the first game. They tied 1-1. Mexico
has never won an inaugural game, so we'll take the tie. The really good news is that the other two teams in our group, France and Uruguay, played the same day and also tied. That leaves all of us with 1 point. On Thursday, Mexico plays France and then the following Tuesday (which I shall watch with my father, whether he knows it yet or not) they play Uruguay. The two teams from the 4-team group with the most points (3 for a win, 1 each for a tie, 0 for a loss) advances to the next round. France is pretty good. They lost to Italy in the championship game of the last world cup. Uruguay isn't a team to ignore either. It'll be tough for Mexico to advance, but I think they will (at least until the next round, then the groups change and I will reevaluate my stance). In other soccer news, the US played England, a favorite for winning the Cup, yesterday and they also tied, 1-1. The US got super lucky as the English goalie totally boffed an easy save to tie the game.**Soccer talk is over, except to mention that I am only a soccer fan until REAL football starts again **
This last week at school I took my high school kids to El Refugio de Potosi on a field trip. Despite the fact that the ghetto-fabulous micro (bus) showed up 45 minutes late and looked as if it was likely to breakdown on the freeway, we had a great time! Anybody who ever visits me in Zihua will go to the Refugio with me because I think that A. it is a super cool place with really cool animals, B. the purpose (conservation/education) is a really important one and C. Laurel, the director, is a friend of the family (me, Pako, Petra, etc. + the Las Urracas fam) and I like to support her however I can. The students had a really good time. They got to hold a baby porcupine, a baby opossum, 2 parrots and a snake! Then we split them into two groups and they took the tour where the saw 2 owls, Military Macaws, Butterflies, Tejones, Hawks, a Toucanette, a Jaguarundi, lots of Iguanas and more! I was pleased with my students' behavior and I was really happy the field trip finally came to fruition even though it was literally the last day that I had classes with those kids so we couldn't do any real follow up activities (Good thing I planned ahead and did PRE-trip activities! Teacher score!).
Saturday, early afternoon, it FINALLY rained! There was some pretty nice thunder and then it rained steadily for about 2 hours. No flooding (nothing worth mentioning anyhow), the rain was just enough to get everything wet. We really need it here because we're supposedly a month into the rainy season and not one tiny little droplet had fallen before yesterday. It cooled down the air for all of 5 minutes and then the heat and humidity returned. Today the sky is bright blue with a couple teeny little fake clouds spread out, but it doesn't look like any rain is in the forecast for today. The water situation here is getting dire, many rivers and wells are all dried up. To top it all off, CAPAZ, the water company is on strike because 20 workers who had been there for 20+ years were laid off and not given their due severance. That is a huge NO-NO here in Mexico where labor unions are very powerful. Lorena and Tito, who's water only shows up every 3 days on a good week, hadn't had water in about 9 days so they had to buy a private pipe of water. We had 2 days without water (which always makes me cranky) last weekend and AGAIN today is our 2nd full day with no water. The crankiness is multiplying in direct proportion with the length of time without running water (or some other mathematical-ish sounding equation).
*For those of you who, like me when I first moved here, have no idea what the hashish I am talking about, this is how things work here: Lorena and Tito live on a private piece of land (not a public housing project, like the Infonavit, where Pako and I live). It is then their responsibility to connect plumbing so that they have running water. This means having large cisterns high up somewhere so that gravity does it's thing and there is running water. It's their job, also, to re-fill the cisterns with a hose connected to a faucet on their property, every so often that the water shows up. If the water shows up at 7am, up you get and make sure you're filling all available buckets with water and washing your clothes while there is extra water for the washing machine. If the water shows up at 11:30pm (more often then not), same deal. It's a crazy system. At the Info, we've been luckier and basically there is a ginormous underground holding tank that the city fills with water. Each building has a pump that pushes the water upward and fills the cisterns on the top of each building. Then, again, that magical wonder, gravity, does it's thing. Since CAPAZ is all a-tizzy right now, the ginormous underground holding tank appears to be dry. Boo. Boo BOOO BOOOOOOO. And UGH.
Ok kids, here are some photos from this week. Until next week: GO MEXICO!!! (and the US, except that I don't actually care if they move on or not, but it would still be cool if they did)!
Next blog: the Mexico City Airport and it's crappy PA system OR Reflections from somewheres in Wisconsin!
XOXOXO,
Leyah
First Row: L-R
1. 11th graders going up the tower to check out the vistas.
2. Alondra hanging out with the baby Porcupine (Puerco Espin) named Edwarda aka Lala.
3. Chantal, Melissa, Elizabeth holding parrots (11th grade).
2nd Row: L-R
1. Marilyn, all set to cheer for Mexico. AFTER she finishes her English final, that is.
2. All of 6th grade taking their English final. Kenia is in the front with the Mexico headband. She's not what you would call a rabid fan, but she'll take any exam not to wear her uniform. Marilyn is in the middle, look for the funky wig. She didn't want to take it off for the exam, she thought maybe it would bring her and Mexico good luck.
3rd Row:Pales of water, just in case your water supply runs out... LIKE RIGHT NOW. Also, the washing machine is full of water and some other random bowl shaped objects. *SIGH*
Sunday, June 6, 2010
From the desk of Leyah Laurent
Ok, well, I don't really have a desk... more like I have a dining room table... but to be connected to the internet I have to sit on the couch..
From the couch in Leyah Laurent's living room
That doesn't sound as good.
I had a dream that I had fancy stationary and an old fashioned roll-top desk. Who knows what I was writing (but I was using a fancy fountain pen, the kind that normally causes me to blot all over the paper), but that is why this blog is titled as such. Speaking of dreams, I have been having some crazy ones lately. This past week, I had such a vivid dream that I saw a cluster of spiders descending on a single web down towards Pako's face that I literally (in reality) jumped out of bed and started pulling Pako by the arm and yelling his name. He woke up (obviously) and turned on the lights, took all the blankets off the bed, but there were no spiders. Then he asked me a series of questions, but I would only answer him with 'maybe' so he decided I was asleep and he went back to bed (probably with quite a bit of trepidation). I had 0 recollection the next day, except that I vividly remembered seeing the spiders (which I didn't remember either until he asked me what the heck had happened). It makes me think back to my malaria pill days when I was living and working in Oaxaca, Mexico for the summer. The thing is, here I take no pills. Maybe it's the water.
Last week was too crazy for me to write a blog. Not that I didn't have a spare hour on Sunday morning, it's just that I was so exhausted from the running around at school that I didn't have the spare energy. Not a whole lot happened though. There was a ton of planning and unplanning and scheduling and rescheduling at Montessori, as usual. I had to finish teaching secondary 1 all the material that I was planning to teach them these two weeks and then find time to review before their exam. I did it, but it wasn't fun. We did play a Jeopardy review game and they really liked that. So, apparently, it took the entire school year for me to get them to actually participate in a game, keep themselves under control and learn a little something. Go figure. I'm not terribly sad to see that class go, Coco, my colleague who will get them next year, isn't terribly happy to receive them either, so I guess it all depends on your point of view.
Lorena went to Morelia, because someone had told her they were going to get paid. No dice. Then she went to Mexico City to participate in a march to try and get things all figured out, but the police shot tear gas at them and (obviously and necessarily) the teachers scattered and negotiations broke down. Who knows what is next. Yesterday we were talking about it and she tried to explain the background of what she's been working on and how the system works. It is convoluted and ridiculous! I explained to her that when I graduated and could prove I passed all the tests, I applied for my teaching license and it arrived at my house within 6-8 weeks. The poor woman, she is such a trooper. She's been at this for the better part of a year now and who knows when it'll end. I'd be nuts in her situation and definitely not as well mannered as she is! As it stands, many of Michoacan's school districts are on strike and so she's not giving classes right now anyhow.
This week was a hushed secondary 1 exam, they did fine, about as I had expected them to do; review in the Cetim (high school) classes and their final exam, they also did just about what I expected; and the 6th graders and I had a 3 hour long 'graduation' party. The party was probably the most stressful bit of the week as they wanted to plan every thing at the last minute and that is not my style. I should have known that Jeanne didn't exactly give me all the information I needed, but I just assumed I was well informed about permissions and planning logistics. Wrong. In the end, it all came together and the kids raised a lot of money for a lot of junk food and then played in the pool for 3 hours. It was fun, but 3 hours was long enough. At the end, Jeanne took over and I got to leave. She actually got the hardest hour because she had to supervise clean up. We'll see what she has to say about that on Monday.
On Friday, Pako and I took Mocha and Pajaro (our puppies) to a Lagoon at one end of Playa Linda. They were much better about getting in the water when there were no waves to scare them. So we had fun teaching them to swim and playing in the water until they got cold and turned into 2.5 month old babies (which is, in fact, what they are)! Pako's dog, Pajaro, just plain refused to walk and so Pako had to carry him back to the car! They're still pretty scared to leave their yard, but we're working on it. I'll put pictures up of them soon!
15 more days in Mexico. That means that it is time to eat healthy and start exercising like a fiend so that I can afford to pig out on all the food that I have missed this year. Actually, the time for the exercising and healthy eating to start was about 4 months ago, but I couldn't be bothered at that point. Pako is skeptical about all this exercising because I plan to go about walking a lot and while he can surf or play soccer for 4 hours without stopping, he can't walk 2 miles without complaining. Walking is nice though and I'm going to make Pako take me to some beaches that we don't go to often to keep things fresh. What we really need is our Canadian friend, Bambi, who hikes all over the place to be our pathfinder and pace setter. Bambi would kick our butts in a walking competition! Also, Pako's friend has Kayaks and rents them on La Ropa and offered to let us take one out whenever we wanted, so we'll be doing that sometime soon since we haven't done that since we were 16, when he had just met!
OMG, 15 more days in Mexico! It's such a surreal feeling to be going home for a 5 week vacation! Mexico is my 2nd home and current residence, but it appears that Minneapolis will always be my home! That doesn't mean I won't complain about the weather upon my return, but it is a good city, with lots of things to do, places to go and people to see!
Tomorrow Pako and I are taking my high school students to the Refugio de Potosi, an eco-park that showcases local flora and fauna. It's awesome and I know I've written about it before. Pako and I have gone twice, I've taken Louise and my parents (separate visits). The tour guides recognize me and say hi when they see me. I'm a fan, needless to say. I think the high school students are really going to like it! Plus, it gets them out of school and hopefully using English in a real setting. Double score! I'll take lots of pictures (which means I have to find my camera, soon-ish) and post them next week.
Ok folks, that is all for the moment! 15 more days, 15 more days!!! Wooooooohoooooooo!
Leyah
From the couch in Leyah Laurent's living room
That doesn't sound as good.
I had a dream that I had fancy stationary and an old fashioned roll-top desk. Who knows what I was writing (but I was using a fancy fountain pen, the kind that normally causes me to blot all over the paper), but that is why this blog is titled as such. Speaking of dreams, I have been having some crazy ones lately. This past week, I had such a vivid dream that I saw a cluster of spiders descending on a single web down towards Pako's face that I literally (in reality) jumped out of bed and started pulling Pako by the arm and yelling his name. He woke up (obviously) and turned on the lights, took all the blankets off the bed, but there were no spiders. Then he asked me a series of questions, but I would only answer him with 'maybe' so he decided I was asleep and he went back to bed (probably with quite a bit of trepidation). I had 0 recollection the next day, except that I vividly remembered seeing the spiders (which I didn't remember either until he asked me what the heck had happened). It makes me think back to my malaria pill days when I was living and working in Oaxaca, Mexico for the summer. The thing is, here I take no pills. Maybe it's the water.
Last week was too crazy for me to write a blog. Not that I didn't have a spare hour on Sunday morning, it's just that I was so exhausted from the running around at school that I didn't have the spare energy. Not a whole lot happened though. There was a ton of planning and unplanning and scheduling and rescheduling at Montessori, as usual. I had to finish teaching secondary 1 all the material that I was planning to teach them these two weeks and then find time to review before their exam. I did it, but it wasn't fun. We did play a Jeopardy review game and they really liked that. So, apparently, it took the entire school year for me to get them to actually participate in a game, keep themselves under control and learn a little something. Go figure. I'm not terribly sad to see that class go, Coco, my colleague who will get them next year, isn't terribly happy to receive them either, so I guess it all depends on your point of view.
Lorena went to Morelia, because someone had told her they were going to get paid. No dice. Then she went to Mexico City to participate in a march to try and get things all figured out, but the police shot tear gas at them and (obviously and necessarily) the teachers scattered and negotiations broke down. Who knows what is next. Yesterday we were talking about it and she tried to explain the background of what she's been working on and how the system works. It is convoluted and ridiculous! I explained to her that when I graduated and could prove I passed all the tests, I applied for my teaching license and it arrived at my house within 6-8 weeks. The poor woman, she is such a trooper. She's been at this for the better part of a year now and who knows when it'll end. I'd be nuts in her situation and definitely not as well mannered as she is! As it stands, many of Michoacan's school districts are on strike and so she's not giving classes right now anyhow.
This week was a hushed secondary 1 exam, they did fine, about as I had expected them to do; review in the Cetim (high school) classes and their final exam, they also did just about what I expected; and the 6th graders and I had a 3 hour long 'graduation' party. The party was probably the most stressful bit of the week as they wanted to plan every thing at the last minute and that is not my style. I should have known that Jeanne didn't exactly give me all the information I needed, but I just assumed I was well informed about permissions and planning logistics. Wrong. In the end, it all came together and the kids raised a lot of money for a lot of junk food and then played in the pool for 3 hours. It was fun, but 3 hours was long enough. At the end, Jeanne took over and I got to leave. She actually got the hardest hour because she had to supervise clean up. We'll see what she has to say about that on Monday.
On Friday, Pako and I took Mocha and Pajaro (our puppies) to a Lagoon at one end of Playa Linda. They were much better about getting in the water when there were no waves to scare them. So we had fun teaching them to swim and playing in the water until they got cold and turned into 2.5 month old babies (which is, in fact, what they are)! Pako's dog, Pajaro, just plain refused to walk and so Pako had to carry him back to the car! They're still pretty scared to leave their yard, but we're working on it. I'll put pictures up of them soon!
15 more days in Mexico. That means that it is time to eat healthy and start exercising like a fiend so that I can afford to pig out on all the food that I have missed this year. Actually, the time for the exercising and healthy eating to start was about 4 months ago, but I couldn't be bothered at that point. Pako is skeptical about all this exercising because I plan to go about walking a lot and while he can surf or play soccer for 4 hours without stopping, he can't walk 2 miles without complaining. Walking is nice though and I'm going to make Pako take me to some beaches that we don't go to often to keep things fresh. What we really need is our Canadian friend, Bambi, who hikes all over the place to be our pathfinder and pace setter. Bambi would kick our butts in a walking competition! Also, Pako's friend has Kayaks and rents them on La Ropa and offered to let us take one out whenever we wanted, so we'll be doing that sometime soon since we haven't done that since we were 16, when he had just met!
OMG, 15 more days in Mexico! It's such a surreal feeling to be going home for a 5 week vacation! Mexico is my 2nd home and current residence, but it appears that Minneapolis will always be my home! That doesn't mean I won't complain about the weather upon my return, but it is a good city, with lots of things to do, places to go and people to see!
Tomorrow Pako and I are taking my high school students to the Refugio de Potosi, an eco-park that showcases local flora and fauna. It's awesome and I know I've written about it before. Pako and I have gone twice, I've taken Louise and my parents (separate visits). The tour guides recognize me and say hi when they see me. I'm a fan, needless to say. I think the high school students are really going to like it! Plus, it gets them out of school and hopefully using English in a real setting. Double score! I'll take lots of pictures (which means I have to find my camera, soon-ish) and post them next week.
Ok folks, that is all for the moment! 15 more days, 15 more days!!! Wooooooohoooooooo!
Leyah
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