No More Tequila, thankyouverymuch!

Hola Blog Readers!

It's Saturday night at 10:25pm and I am still hungover from last night's party. I'm not saying this to brag, I'm telling you all so that the next time I mention tequila you can remind me that the best response to tequila is a negative response. Ugh. My body hates me right now (I also hate me for my poor decisions). I have spent all of today regretting last night (even though I had a rocking good time - the next day is hardly worth it) and do not plan to repeat this experience. For future reference, I'm no longer accepting tequila shots (or any shot, really), free or otherwise.

I blame Canada. That's right, Canada. I'll explain. Last Saturday, Pako's friend, Dave, and his girlfriend arrived from Regina, Canada for a stay of 10 days in paradise. It was negative 40 degrees Celsius (which is exactly the same temperature as -40 Fahrenheit, I guess when it gets that cold, nobody really cares about conversion) when they left Canada, so Zihua really was a nice change. Dave and his family used to come to Las Urracas and so Pako and he have been friends for a long time, but hadn't seen each other for over 8 years before a week ago. They've both been pleased as punch to hang out together as adults. It's been pretty cute to see, actually. Anywho, I digress. It's cold a good chunk of the year where they come from so, as Dave tells me, they drink to keep warm. I am familiar with this strategy as I did go to the University of Madison (GO BADGERS!). Which means that Dave can hold his liquor. Well, as you know, it's fairly warm in Zihua and so drinking is less necessary when it comes to body temperature regulations. Thursday was Pako's birthday (more on that later) and so on Friday night, Dave, his girlfriend, Melissa, Pako and I went out to celebrate. Dave bought us a lot of tequila shots (Pako didn't imbibe, he drove and also, doesn't hardly drink anything - leaving us foreigners to make complete asses of themselves). Nobody danced on tables or anything, but my world was definitely spinning. Ugh ugh ugh. Do not try this at home (or at the bar, or the beach or anywhere, really). I used to go to Madison, the #1 party school in the US... how is it that I can't hang anymore? Now, Dave did not force me to drink anything, hence my earlier mention of my poor choices, but at the very least he was an enabler (who turns down a free drink?) and it all started because it's cold in Canada.

Pako, Dave and Melissa at Sr. Frog's on Friday night. The good news: no cover on Fridays; the bad news: more money with which Dave bought rounds of tequila...

Pako's cousin, Yair, was supposed to come out with us, but ended up not making it. He sent his regards via the DJ at the club. In case it's too hard to read, it says "Felicidades Francisco Atte: Yair" which means "Congrats Pako, from Yair." I think I was more excited about it than Pako was... it was cool!

When Pako picked me up from work on Friday, there was a tiny black lady chihuahua in the car with him and Tekila. Apparently, Petra had done some matchmaking and the lady chihuahua, Coli, was coming over to our house for a sleep over in hopes that one day, little Tekilas would spring forth unto the world. No dice. Tekila wasn't having it and spent a lot of time keeping Coli at bay with growls and nips. Coli, on the other hand, was all for puppy-making and whined when Tekila wouldn't let her near him. It was rather amusing and according to Petra, who is in cahoots with Coli's mom, there will be future rendezvous to see if Tekila lets his guard down. Coli was a very good house guest and is a super affectionate dog who likes to sit on people's laps. It was fun to have her around for the day, but I'm not terribly upset about Tekila's rejection of the set - up. We've got all the puppies we can handle right now (did I tell you guys in last blog that Mimi had puppies again? Well she did, there are 10 and they are adorable - as long as they stay at Lorena's house).

Here's Teki attempting to escape Coli's constant advances. About 30 seconds after this photo was taken, Teki bit Coli and jumped onto the bed to hide behind me. Aaah, puppy love ;)

10 little puppies and one tired mama!

Pako turned 25. He joined the quarter of a century club. He doesn't seem too worked up about it. Poor guy had to work 16 hours on his birthday (he worked the 11pm - 7am shift on Wed. night - Thurs. morning and then the 3-11pm shift on Thurs) so he didn't really celebrate on that day. I did make shrimp fried rice, on of his favorite meals, and gave him a jelly donut with a candle stuck in it. Not just any candle, this candle played "Las Mañanitas" when it was lit! That candle was the highlight of his actual day of birth.

Earlier in the week - Tuesday - Eliseo made us octopus soup (sounds gross, is pretty yummy if you can get over the purple pieces of tentacle on your spoon), ceviche and tiritas! YUM!!! That was the pre-birthday celebration. Tomorrow Eliseo is making tacos and we're eating cake with the family (Bambi, another goofy Canadian, is part of the fam and he's partaking in the celebration tomorrow and bringing a cake!). I suppose that will be the post birthday celebration.

On Tuesday (before chowing down) we took Dave and Melissa surfing. Well, Pako took Dave surfing and Melissa and I sat on the beach and chatted over frappuchinos, an arrangement that suited everyone just fine. Dave gave it a real shot, but he couldn't get up. It's really hard work (so I'm told, I can barely swim with a surfboard) and requires a lot of upper body strength (something I lack completely). It also takes a compliant ocean and Dave, unfortunately, didn't have that part of the equation - the waves were small and not very strong (you want a wave strong enough to support you). They may go again on Monday, depending on who knows what.. I'll be working :(

The surf trip to Playa Linda in Ixtapa... Not such a bad place to spend the afternoon on a blanket in the sand! (Or playing in the waves, if that's your thing!)

School is ALMOST DONE for the year! My last day of classes is December 15th and then I don't go back until January 10th!!! WOOHOO!!! The only thing I'll miss is the paycheck. I love the kids, but chances are I'll run into many of them at least once over the break (hopefully not at the bars - wait a minute, I'm boycotting bars for a while - ok, hopefully not drinking on the beach) and I'll see them quite a bit once the school year picks up again. I will not miss the early mornings, the grading, the assignment/project/exam writing, the administrative difficulties, the administration, etc. I will be a happy camper, planning away so that the month of February entails very little work outside of the classroom for me and working with Lorena to finish up wedding details. I'm very, very excited for break. Very.

Also on Thursday was my absolute favorite holiday - Thanksgiving. Damn. I hate missing Thanksgiving. It's still the beginning of winter, so no one is totally sick of the temperature yet, time off school, DELICIOUS FOOD in ample quantities, family, football and of course, Black Friday. What is not to love? It was so depressing to be here when all my family and friends were celebrating at home. Did I mention I love thanksgiving? Sigh. Next year, maybe.

***OOH, mini earthquake! Small enough to not be scary and big enough to feel. It's so weird. I still can't get used to the world moving underneath me***

With that I'm going to close this and go take some ibuprofen and call it a (worthless) day. Tomorrow is the post birthday celebration and Lorena and I might check out some florists to get some prices for the wedding. OH - Pako and I picked a caterer, we sign the contract on Tuesday - WOOHOO! One less thing on the list!!! See you next week and...

Remember kids: Just say NO to tequila!

XXOO,

Leyah

More Pics than Post

Hey Errrrbody,

2 weeks have gone by and remarkable few blogable things have happened and yet I managed to have more pics than usual (for such a dull period). It's because I got my camera fixed and so now I have the urge to take pictures of everything! I wish I was better at photography! I took it as an elective one year in high school and I really enjoyed the class, but I've since forgotten most of the stuff I learned (as with most of what I learned in high school...) Anywho, I'm happy to have my camera back in action (minus the flash, one step at a time) and so here we are with pics from the last two weeks.

School has been school, my 7th grade students have stolen my 'teacher's addition' of their book and thus are again on my shite list. The office has instructed me to fail them all. I hate to do that, but I also hate that someone stole my book and no one is fessing up even though I told them there were going to be serious consequences. Right now, I'm going to pass those who pass the final exam with a D and those who fail the exam will fail the month (we grade on a monthly basis in middle school - ugh). So that's annoying, but pretty par for course with 7th grade, it seems.

One day Pako and I had a mini picnic on the beach and all of a sudden we noticed a large group of people to our left and someone told us that a batch of baby sea turtles was hatching and the little guys were making their way down to the water. I was pretty pumped because I had never actually seen this happen before, though I've been in Mexico many times during Baby Sea Turtle season (official title of the season, btw). So I ran on over and took out my newly fixed camera and snapped away. Aren't they SUPER CUTE AND TOTALLY ADORABLE?

Yep, pretty darn cute if you ask me (and you did, by reading this blog). Sometimes the nests hold up to 60 eggs, which means there were a ton of these little guys roaming the sand. They've got some cool, innate radar system going on because no matter where you place them or how many times you pick them up and move them, they reorient themselves and continue to head straight for the water.

The BEST and BIGGEST thing to happen these last 2 weeks is that PAKO GOT A JOB!!! (I'm going a little overboard on the caps, I know, I'm stopping now). He is a security guard at the Holiday Inn in Ixtapa. After over a year of job searching and numerous false starts (ahem * sol * ahem), it just sort of fell in his lap. He checked the job website, noticed the job, dropped of an application on a Saturday morning, the said they'd call, they called, he had an interview, they asked him to come in for a tour of the facilities and he started the next day (Wednesday). His hours aren't the best (but they'll rotate shifts) and the uniform is anything but dapper, but we will take it. The extra income will be quite handy seeing as how we're throwing a big party coming up here in about 3.5 months and we'll both be insured (for the first time since I've been in Mexico).

The olive green pants are the worst. They don't look that bad in the picture, but seriously, olive green? What is that about? Why do hotels and business insist upon dressing their workers in horrid attire? Anywho, it's a good thing he's cute and makes up for the rest.

Sunday we went to the beach early (which is interesting now that it drops down to the high 60s at night) and Pako surfed while I walked the beach. Apparently, lots of other people walk the beach in the early morning too. There were groups of 20+ people milling about and it was the busiest that I have EVER seen that particular beach - 7:30am on a Sunday - go figure. Here's Pako's favorite surfing shot which he says I have to include if I'm going to include the one of him in his uniform.
Note how toned and athletic he looks... that is due in large part to the fact that he has lost about 10 lbs just from eating my cooking which includes a much smaller proportion of fried anything than he is used to. I'm taking credit because he hasn't changed his exercise routine at all, he's started drinking Coke Zero instead of regular coke and we eat a lot of steamed foods. Looks like I did learn some things from living with a nutritionist for all those years... thanks mama! :)

That's all for today, folks. I hope you're all safe from the snow and had no driving mishaps! See you in another 1 -2 weeks!

XXOO

Leyah

PS. Just for fun, a pic of Tekila in a "hat" Petra made him. He loves it, as you can see ;)
It's hard to see because of the lighting, but there is a ribbon that ties underneath his chin. That's easily his favorite part!

Invasion of the creepy crawlies for Halloween 2010!

Hello Blogites (nope, don't like that one at all either... blog readers it is... boring, but tolerable),

Sorry that I have fallen behind with this blog, but it my last couple of Sundays have been full of lesson planning and lesson re-planning (which is what you in case your bosses aren't very good at making up their minds about what they do and do not want). Anywho, this blog promises to be a doozy because I've got 3 weeks to recap. Good luck to me, I can barely remember yesterday.

From Oct 18 - 22nd, my 11th and 12th graders helped translate for the doctors of the 'Healing Eyes Mission' which is a group of doctors and nurses from the US (mainly Colorado and Iowa) who come to Zihua and offer free service to the Ixtapa-Zihua population. They offered a lot of different services including eye exams, glasses fittings, diagnostic exams and different surgeries. My students helped translate for the doctors, helped keep things organized and even accompanied patients throughout their surgeries! Again, I was the proud mama hen watching all my students work! Unfortunately, I had to be at Montessori to teach my other classes (the students went in groups of 3 and each student only missed one day of school) so I was only there in the mornings to make sure everybody got there and got to work so I don't have any pictures. I received tons of positive feedback and the students were asked to participate again next year. I can't help but grin even as I type this because it was such a great opportunity and experience for everyone involved! Many of my students want to be doctors, and one girl, Amy (11th grade), wants to be an ophthalmologist (she was pleased as punch) so it was great for them to get the chance to be in the operating room watching how everything went down. The best part for me, though, was when they all came back to school and we had a class discussion about it and one rather shy girl, with medium level English, raised her hand and said that it was a great experience because she proved to herself that she could SPEAK ENGLISH!!! Ohmigosh, be still my teaching heart!

Jeanne, who go her one of her cataracts one, was gone for the week. She came back for the next week, but was in a considerable amount of pain and definitely crabbier for the week of not being able to read or watch TV well. On Monday, October 25th, we had an event at Montessori for United Nations Day. The kinder babies made flags and put on a parade and I had to restrain myself from reaching down and squeezing all of their cheeks! Man, they are TOO cute! English was not asked to participate and thus Jeanne was in a HUFF, but I felt ok about it because the Halloween event was planned for Friday and it takes up a lot of class time practicing for school assemblies! The halloween event went quite well and my secondary students got some practice speaking in front of a crowd in English. It was a long week, but everyone got through it.


Here are 6 of my 7th graders (L-R): Darien, Eric, Axel, Jennifer, Kenia, Aranza - their skit was about a group of girls who decide to take a short cut through a cemetery and get attacked by zombies!

Meanwhile, outside of Montessoriland (which is definitely it's only little bizzaro world!), Pako went to a job fair and filled out a thousand applications. We're waiting on some calls, but we're not terribly optimistic as the job fair was scheduled for 2 days and Pako, who got there as they opened up for the first day, was flanked by about 2,000 also unemployed friends. The job situation here remains terrible. As much as I complain about Montessori, it does pay the bills (except when they can only afford to pay me half of what I'm due - like this past pay check - then it only pays HALF the bills!). Tourist season is right around the corner though and Pako will find work somewhere. I've been putting him to work as wedding researcher (a job I'm sure he wishes he HADN'T gotten) so he's been quite busy collecting info and getting prices.

Our apartment has been the home to many a non-welcome creature these last few weeks, a trend I'm not sure I can say I'm fond of! In no particular order, we have been invaded by 3 (that I saw, maybe more) large green grasshoppers, a very frantic bat, a Madre de Alacran spider (OMGYUCKYUCKYUCK!!!) and various wasps and scary looking bugs called Chinches... Where are all of these things coming from and why did they choose October to invade our apartment you ask? Well, if someone gives you an answer, let me know because I haven't a clue! I can tell you that grasshoppers fly into walls and make quite a thwacky noise when they stun themselves and fall on the floor, bats do not like to be shoo-ed with tshirts, pillows, hats OR brooms and Madre de Alacrans are seriously scary looking creatures, especially when mobile as they are also scarily fast! The bat got out alive... the others... well, I haven't a clue about the grasshoppers, but I haven't seen them recently and what can I say... could you sleep with a BIG scary spider whose name is Scorpion's Mother alive and roaming about your apartment? I didn't think so.


You might not be able to tell from the picture, but that sucker's legspan is about the size of a softball. I'm told they don't bite and I know they eat mosquitoes and all that jazz, but I'm still not okay with it being in my apartment!

On Halloween Eve, Pako and I went out with some friends. We were lame (and poor) and so we didn't dress up, but others did. Halloween is becoming quite as much of an event as it is in the States. My older students all went to parties and had costume contests and the younger ones planned on trick or treating. On Sunday night I actually had about 10 trick or treaters follow me up the five flights of stairs to my apartment to collect their candy. They chanted 'Halloween' and called me Doña and Señora. I felt relieved (that I had candy), happy (because I love halloween costumes and trick or treating) and weird (because they made me feel old and I am NOT old). It was a good weekend.

Pako and I on Halloween... That's not a mask people, that's how he looks all the time =D

Right now I am sitting leisurely on the couch with my feet up as it is Monday night and I don't have to work tomorrow! And I didn't work today! Woohooo! It's Day of the Dead (Days actually, November 1 and 2) and hence we have a long weekend! I'm about to launch into a mini-explanation of Dia de los Muertos, so if you know this already, skip down a paragraph or two!

Pako puts it like this "In Mexico, we make fun of the dead." And it's true, death is personified as a skeleton with a feathery hat, aka La Catrina. Also as the grim reaper or la Santa Muerte (Sacred or Saint Death) - of whom you can see a large representation on Pako's back...


Anyway, the dead and death are a much more normal and less feared part of life here in Mexico and Day(s) of the Dead is a time to celebrate those who have died. November 1st is Dia de los Niños Muertos (Day of the dead children) and focuses on the young people who have died. November 2nd is Dia de Todos las Animas (Day of all the Souls). In schools, November 2nd is a release day, but when it conveniently falls on a Tuesday (like this year), they often give you Monday as well! There are many Day of the Dead traditions and each state has their own rituals and customs to observe.

One goes to the cemetery and puts flowers on the graves of loved ones. Seems familiar enough, except it doesn't often stop there. Food and drink is brought and left at the graves as well, accompanied by candles and special tokens that remind people of the deceased. The idea is to draw out the spirit and make it feel welcome again among the living. To do this, it's customary to leave the favorite foods and drinks of the deceased. Sometimes people spend the whole day at the grave site, eating and drinking and being merry. People even contract bands to play the deceased favorite music and throw impromptu dance parties.


Last year, Pako and I went to Teotitlan to put flowers on his grandparents graves. Here I am protecting the graves (which are fenced in and covered by white cement slabs - much better to place the flowers on). Note that I am not sad. No one was. Everybody was having a good time and joking around (hence this picture).

Another custom is the making of altars. On the altars people place pictures of the deceased, religious statues and/or photos, water, salt, water, coffee, candles, decorated skulls made out of sugar, pan de muertos (bread of the dead - a special bread made only once a year with a special design on top representing the bones of the dead) and special flowers called cempasuchil (bright orange marigolds). More on that below.

Another tradition is the writing of Calaveras, which are simple rhymes that make fun of the living. Here's a calavera that Pako wrote this year (English translation does NOT rhyme and is not nearly as good as the original!):

estaba Leah sentada (Leah was sitting)
sentadita en su butaca, (sitting right on her desk)
llego la muerte y pregunta (Death arrives and asks)
"comadre, ¿por que tan flaca?" (friend, why so skinny)

...Y q llega Louise apurada (and Louise shows up in a hurry)
con su pelo muy alasiado (with her hair very straight)
y Leah muy sorprendida le dice, (and Leah, surprised, says to her)
"amiga q pelo tan despeinado!!" ("Friend, what messy hair!")

Llega en eso Pakito (At that moment Little Pako arrives)
muy apurado el canijo (In such a hurry, the punk)
xq andaba malo (because he was in a bad way)
le cayeron mal los takitos!! (The little tacos didn't sit well in his stomach!)

This year Pako suggested we make an altar because within the last 12 months, we'd lost 3 very important people: my beloved Grandma Claire (Nov. 7th, 2009), our good friend Federico (April 28th, 2010) and Pako's younger cousin Ada Alberto (July 25th, 2010). I thought it was a great idea because it would be such a cultural experience for me and moreover, it would be a great way to celebrate 3 very special people. I had no idea how cool it would be. Of course buying the flowers, candy skulls and bread was interesting and very culturally awesome for me, but the actual assembly of the altar and lighting of the candles was far more meaningful than I ever thought it would be. I'm not at all a religious person, but something about the whole experience was very spiritual and cathartic for me and I enjoyed it quite a bit. I love the idea of celebrating my grandma and remembering her happily rather than just missing her (which I do, every day, anyway). I think it's a great tradition to have a special day dedicated to remembering and celebrating those who have touched our lives and whom we miss and I hope it is one that we continue even when we live in the States (eventually).


Our Altar with the candles lit. On the left there are 2 photos of my lovely Grandma Claire (on the wall), in one she is playing cards with my cousin Kenny and looks so beautiful and happy and the other is from her younger years when she just plain is a knockout! On the table on the left is Betty, wife of our Scotch Canadian friend and beloved friend of Pako and his family. I didn't have the privilege of meeting her, but Pako remembers her extremely fondly. And if she could stay married to our friend, she was clearly a saint... ahem... just kidding Bambi!

On the right side of the picture are photos of two very dear members of the Las Urracas family. Lucy Coon is on the left and Fred Rahn on the bottom right. Lucy passed away a couple of years ago and Fred passed this April. They were both wonderful people and Pako and I miss them quite a bit. On the wall, the upper right picture is Pako's cousin, Ada Alberto, who passed away this July 25th. He was 18. I suspect it was leukemia, but we don't know for sure. I didn't get to know Ada very well, but Pako misses him a lot.

Today we went to town to meet with a potential caterer for the wedding and walked right into something called "El Cortes." It has to do with the Spanish conquest, but I'm not sure of all the details. One person dresses up as Hernan Cortes (the man responsible for the fall of the Aztec civilization) and others dress up as indigenous Mexicans (Aztecs or other Indians) and they hit each other with sticks, but really hit each other hard! I jumped every time someone landed a blow and know there will be many a bruised participants tomorrow. There's also a man dressed as a woman who represents who knows what, but he walks around and hams it up with the spectators and participants... Anyhow, it's quite the custom and I'm going to have to look into it more because as it stands, I find it quite weird!


Alright folks, that is it for now! I have to prepare myself to go back to work after 4 glorious non-Montessori days! Thanks for reading this mini-novel and please forgive any typos or spelling errors.. I was going to proofread... and then I didn't. Oops.

XOXO! Take care of yourselves!

Leyah