Leyah's New, Sunnier and More Spanishy Life: 25 Years of ME! A highly caloric birthday :)

Hello All!

It seems that I am on the 'every two weeks' schedule for this blog at the moment. Not too much going on here in Zihua beyond the back-to-school frenzy. August 9th was the first day for the high schools here (10-12th grade equivalents in the States), but August 23rd was the big day when ALL kids entered school: Maternal (18 months - 3 years), kinder (3 years of kindergarten), primary (1st -6th grades) and secondary (7-9th grades). I only added 2 more classes to my day (Primary 6 and Secondary 1 (aka the 7th graders from hell)), but man did it hit me hard!

I start my day with 9 rather angelic 6th graders who have an extremely high level of English and actually WANT to speak me to speak English to them instead of Spanish. I really, really enjoy this class. It's big enough that I can have kids work in partners OR small groups, yet small enough that a full-class activity is not in danger of getting out of hand. Also, I think I have the world's smallest 6th graders. I'll put a picture up in a later post, but for some reason they make last year's 6th grade class (currently known as the 7th graders from hell) seem like giants!

Last year's not-so-angelic-but-not-too-bad 6th graders have, unfortunately, undergone the dreaded 6th to 7th grade inevitable transformation that takes them from respectful and willing students to moody and defiant pains in my bum. Ok, maybe that was a bit of an exaggeration, but sheesh, it's only the first week and I'm dreading their class! There are 20 of them, but 3 of them are from last year's class full of hellions as they got D's and have to repeat the year with me (goody!). Plus there are 4 new students. Why is it that the angels (see prior paragraph) are always so few and their counterparts (ahem ALL 7th graders everywhere ahem) are so many? I'm trying out a couple of new discipline strategies with them this year and am planning a lot of different kinds of activities, so we'll see. I'm trying to keep an open mind (though the constant eye rolls and lip smacking make it slightly difficult, even for me, someone who is always so happy go lucky and forgives people in the blink of an eye...).

Those are my first two classes and probably the most difficult. I have a difficult class with my 10th graders this year because their English is SO low, but there are only 7 of them and only 2 of them are chatty Kathys (Kathies?), so we are able to get some work done. My 11th and 12th grade classes are my favorite and they're my two high school classes from last year. They know the drill and they know what I want from them. Plus, they have a high enough level of English for us to have real conversations and debates.

Pako had to give a presentation as part 1 of 2 for a job interview on Wednesday (what a lovely day was Wednesday, if I do say so myself). He is up for a position as a supervisor at a voting locale for the upcoming elections (as to when they are upcoming.. there is some debate - tee hee). He had to choose a section from a guide they gave him (which would promptly put to sleep even the worst of insomniacs - I can personally attest) and give a short presentation. He made a visual aid which was quite visually appealing and then talked about the participation of the citizen in the electoral process. He thinks it went quite well, not even counting that one of the judges was his old teacher with whom he gets along swimmingly. Part 2 happens next Saturday, a written exam covering the entire 28 page guide... snooooooze. Nobody will tell him when the results from the exam will be ready nor when the actual hiring will take place, so we'll just be sitting here, waiting by the phone it seems. So if it's your thing, start praying or crossing fingers or knocking on wood or whatever because we really want this job!

Also on Wednesday the 25th, I turned 25! Previously my scary age (which is now 28 for reasons that I cannot articulate), I had some queasiness upon walking up and hearing Pako whisper lovingly 'ooooh, you're so old.' Like the mature adult of 25 that I suddenly was, I popped him a good one before rolling out of bed. At school, Jeanne, my boss made me blush by entering every class and making them sing happy birthday to me. Sheesh. Then during my 30 minute break she surprised me with an ice cream cake and the closest cookie to Girl Scout Thin Mints that I have ever tasted! Everything was delicious and I indulged thoroughly not knowing what was in store for me later. After my break I went to hell *oops, I mean 7th grade* for an hour and then climbed the stairs to high school and 10 extra lbs.

I start with 12th grade and they had bought me a cake and even put my name on it! That was exciting! Then 10th grade. Cake number 3 for the day. Again with my name on it.. good day! Then 11th grade. Cake number 4 AND soda. Sheesh!!! Might I mention that I was served a large piece of each of these cakes and had to outright REFUSE to take the leftovers home with me. I was handing out cake to other teachers like it was nobodies business!

By the time I got home, I was hoping and crossing all appendages that still allowed me to climb the 5 flights to my apartment that Pako had not bought me a cake. He had, but in the form of a Pinguino (very much exactly the same as a Hostess cupcake). He light a match, stuck it in the pinguino and sang to me. It was lovely. Then I blew out my match and promptly returned the penguino to it's case and left it until yesterday. Pako made himself some lunch while I tried to run circles around my apartment and sweat out some of the copious amounts of chocolate cake that I had ingested. He also bought me a beautiful bouquet of lilies and made me a digital movie of pictures of us. It was really nice.

We went down to Lorena's where Petra and Tito were waiting for me with... yes, you guessed it... chocolate cake #5 of the day! I served everyone else pieces and myself a sliver and sat down to the task of eating more chocolate. I felt like the kid in Roald Dahl's Matilda who is forced to eat an entire chocolate cake in front of the entire school. All in all on Wednesday, I ate a bowl of cereal and 5 pieces of chocolate cake. Seemed healthy enough to me, what do you think Mom?

I had a really nice birthday and even managed to forget to freak out about being a quarter of a century old. I know it's ridiculous to worry about your 25th birthday, but I can't help it. I'm not the first to do it and I know I won't be the last. I'm certainly going to wake Pako up in 3 months with a cane, a set of dentures and an adult diaper ready to welcome him into his 25th year, that's for sure.

Thursday Pako and I went out for my absolute FAVORITE Zihua meal which is coconut shrimp from Chendo's or Lety's (the chefs are from the same family and thus the menus are almost exactly the same). I was still feeling full from my over-caked birthday, but I did what I had to do in order to eat my shrimp! They were delicious and I enjoyed myself thoroughly. Birthday number 25 was a good day (or two)!

Yesterday we met with a chef to discuss the menu for the party we're throwing in February. He sounded quite competent and we're going to do a tasting of the menu we decided on in the next couple of weeks. He also happens to be good friends with a French pastry chef living in Zihua. Score! The theme of this blog is clearly food. He's also going to help us contract waiters and a guy to open all the beer. Things are falling into place. For those of you planning to come to the wedding, there are lots of details (and more to come) posted at our wedding website:

http://weddings.theknot.com/pwp/pwp2/view/MemberPage.aspx?coupleid=6972764514965813&pid=2471755&MsdVisit=1

Ok, I think that is all for now. The following are pictures of 4/5 cakes, my beautiful flowers (displayed on my excellent new table cloth - which is actually a shower curtain) and my yummy, yummy shrimp! Have a lovely week (or two).

Besos!
Leyah

Cake # 2 - Courtesy of 12th grade: Lizeth, Chantal, Andres, Carolina, Evelyn, Elizabeth, Ximena, Melissa and Karen :)