Hello readers!
Nothing much has happened since I last posted. One blog worthy thing ALMOST happened, which is the sole reason this blog is being posted - to write about what almost (but didn't) happen to me this week.
Sunday past I started to get that ucky taste in my mouth that proceeds a sore throat along with some serious body aches and I thought - oh great - a cold! It had been raining for the entire weekend and everything was damp, I didn't feel good at all and and I was CRANKY! Nothing out of the ordinary there, as Pako will attest.
I decided to nip it in the bud, made myself some tea and got into bed early. Unfortunately, I spend most of the night shivering and sweating and shivering some more. At about 4am, when Pako rolled into a position that left him snoring contentedly, I thought to myself - screw this - and I went into the other room to write up Sub plans for Jeanne. At 7 when my alarm went off, I got dressed, went to Montessori and left the plans on Jeanne's desk. Why didn't I just call Montessori, you ask? Well, as Montessori is an exclusive private school that offers your child only the best, the phone lines don't work when it rains. Two tylenol's, an ibuprofen, an anti-histamine and into bed for me. The head cold bit of things got progressively worse throughout the day, so at 6ish, when Pako asked if I wanted to go to the doctor, I said ok.
Off we went to visit the $25 peso doctor (a new guy this time). This guy was super nice, very, very thorough and did an excellent job of talking me through everything. He asked a bunch of questions, took my blood pressure, felt my throat and then felt my abdomen. Turns out, not only did I have a roaring head cold (nothing he could do for me there), but ALSO an intestinal infection that was up to 10 days old. GREAT. He gave me two shots, one in each cheek and then prescribed 3 more shots, plus a lot of pills. **What's going on with the amount of shots being prescribed here? Anytime I hear that someone went to the doctor, they've had a shot and were prescribed more for at home... It's SERIOUSLY odd for me to go to a pharmacy and buy syringes... what happened to good old bad tasting syrups and horse-pills?** Within minutes of the 2nd shot, the body aches started to go away and I felt much better. Pako bought me an electrolyte-rich drink called Suero (the Mexican cure-all it seems, it's what they gave me intravenously the last time I was sick - you know, like 3 weeks ago) and off we went to the Comercial Mexicana to buy the rest of my meds.
At 7 o'clock PM on most Monday nights, the CM is HOPPING! There are people everywhere and this was true that evening as well. I got lucky and was only the 2nd person in line at the pharmacy. When the woman started to fill my order, all of a sudden I got SUPER hot and my peripheral vision started to go. Now, while that might sound ultra-scary, it's happened to me before, so I knew what was going on. I was going to faint. Shoot. I handed the prescription and the credit card to Pako and went to pretend I was looking at something on a low shelf - away from the pharm crowd. This worked for a minute, but only so long as I stayed still and kept my head DOWN. I then decided that I really might faint and it wasn't just a passing wave of whatever, so I moved even farther away from the crowd and sat on the floor with my head between my knees. Pako, at this point, begins to get really nervous and flits over to ask what in the name of Emiliano Zapata is going on and I just wave him away and tell him to finish paying for the drugs.
Let me describe, a bit, where I was sitting. The CM is kinda like a Target or super drug store with a row of checkout lanes at the front. The pharmacy is on the outside of these lanes so that when you're finished with your other shopping, you stop at the pharmacy on your way to your car. So where I was sitting was pretty much directly in front of where EVERYONE had to pass to leave the store. There were probably 14 lanes open, each with a long-ish line of people waiting to check out and get home so I wasn't exactly isolated in my little health crisis. I only saw one student, but then I had my head between my knees most of the time I was sitting there, so who knows how many saw me!
I sat there for awhile, sweating profusely and wanting desperately to lay on the cold tile floor (which I didn't because - um - EW) with Pako leaning in front of me, worriedly. Finally, I felt like most of my vision had come back and I made to get up. I tried to keep my head down and rise slowly as to avoid that rush of blood that you can sometimes get if you stand up too quickly. I made it about 10 yards. Then I had to squat a bit (no full blown sitting this time - progress!) before moving another 15 yards. Pako was almost dialing the red cross at this point, but I assured him that I was getting better. After the last kneel down, I made it all the way to the car in one go! Yeah! I think Pako probably left half of our tires on the pavement as he peeled out of the parking lot and we rushed back to the same doctor. By the time we got there, I could walk all by myself with no fear of swooning.
The doc looked at me, took my blood pressure and said that it had bottomed out, probably a combo of the heat, the antibiotics he had recently injected into my bum and dehydration. Dang that dehydration, it seems one can never beat it! So, I dutifully drank my Suero while the doctor assured Pako that it was, indeed, ok for me to go home. He told me to drink some juice, which would help regulate my blood sugar/pressure.
Anywho, my soon to be brother in law (too many possible hyphens there, so I just left them all out in favor of fairness) had the pleasure and privilege of giving me an injection in alternating sides of my bum for the following three days. The last shot was on Thursday, but I can tell you that I am still sore and purple-polka-dotted! I decided to leave this week's blog photo-less. Your welcome.
I feel much better, though I'm still catching up on sleep! This weekend was all about relaxation! Next week at school is a short one - Monday thru Wednesday and my high schoolers will be taking exams! Then an excellent 4 day weekend to celebrate 200 years of Mexican independence! I'm going to lay very low until then so that I can participate in what promises to be a very patriotic weekend! Next week's blog will definitely include some photos (not purple - more red, white and green). Hope you all had a better and less syringe filled week!
Viva Mexico! (LEGALIZE DRUGS IN THE STATES SO THAT IT CAN KEEP ON VIVA-ING!!)
Leyah
Saturday, September 11, 2010
Saturday, September 4, 2010
Flood Alert!
Hi there folks!
How is everyone? I hope you're all slightly drier than we are here in rainy Zihua! It hasn't stopped raining for more than 30 minutes for the last 48 hours and many of those hours have been all-out downpours! We're lucky in that we haven't been getting the same rains as
Oaxaca and Veracruz (which are largely under water right now, over 50,000 people affected), but the latest wave of tropical pressure and precipitation is making up for lost time, it seems. Being that our persian slatted windows are and have been rusted open since we moved in, we get a lot of rain in the apartment if the wind blows. I started my Saturday by mopping the kitchen floor before I could make coffee. Oh well. We got smart earlier in the rainy season and put ugly, but extremely functional plastic sheaths in our bedroom windows so that we can at least sleep in peace (as the rest of the apartment gets soaked). I'm hoping it clears up today so that we can make a quick trip to the market to buy some food for the week.
This trip to the market might not be as easy as it seems, however, as the streets might be flooded downtown (as frequently happens when it rains a lot) and Pako and I are without a car for the next paycheck or two. It seems that our 'horquilla' (possibly ball-joint... not exactly sure and since I'm not really car literate, nobody has been able to give me a satisfactory explanation of what it is or how to say it in English) on the front driver side is seriously on the fritz. We brought the car in to our normal mechanic and he quoted us a price that was $600 pesos more than he had quoted us for the SAME thing 5 months ago so we decided to shop around a bit. Pako has a surfing connection (shocking, I know) who owns a garage, so that was our next stop. We got our hopes up as the friend originally thought it was some other issue and quoted us a WAY lower price than the first guy. Unfortunately, he opened up the whatever it is (it's not the hood and you can't really open up the body of a car... can you? - anywho, he looked more closely at the wheel thingy) and discovered that it was WORSE than he or the first mechanic had thought... dang! So, his advice to us was this "you can drive it dude, but I'd stay away from highways or road trips... it's not like your wheel is going to come off or anything... it just might flip sideways... which might roll your car." Needless to say, I put the kibosh on the car and now it sits sadly in Lorena's yard, where Pako can easily visit if the loneliness gets to be too much for him.
It's not a huge problem, luckily it's one that will only take a month or so to save up for (rather than 6 months or a year) and we'll be back in business. What it does mean, however, it lot's of combi rides. For those of you who don't know what a combi is, it's a van/mini bus that runs like a city bus - the same route, all day, for $5 pesos a pop.
They're pretty convenient, but the drivers think that they own the road and, like other Zihuatanejenses, don't follow any observable rules and/or driving patterns. They weave in and out of traffic and stop where ever they want to let someone on or off. Also, I'm slightly taller than your average Mexican (male or female) and thus have a tendency to bump my head upon entering or leaving (and most of the time on both occasions). Also, the drivers have a propensity for pulling out into traffic before all of the riders are comfortably settled, leading to many a grabbed arms or shoulders of strangers and murmured apologies. It's these times when understanding Spanish as well as I do does not work in my favor because it means that I fully understand the 'stupid gringa' comments. Come on people, it's not my fault I'm tall and uncoordinated. I didn't grow up riding these death-wagons! I drove the blue beast and followed ALL rules of the road (impeccable driving record - thankyourverymuch!). One more instance of culture shock, 1 year and 1 month into my stay here in Mexico.. I wonder when this will stop happening to me?
I've been writing exams this weekend (and will continue to do so after finishing this post) because all of a sudden, the first round of exams are upon us! How in the heck did that happen? Have I really been here and working for that long already? The answer to this question is: no, I have not. Ricardo, in another moment of extreme educational/pedagogical ineptitude, has decided that monthly exams are a good idea. That's right, a full exam and evaluation of each student is due every 4 weeks. Which means that I will have about 3 weeks to teach, one week to review and then will be expected to give oral and written exams. If you know anything about language teaching/learning or have even a modicum of common sense, you will already know that this is a BAD IDEA.
If you're still unsure about the harshness of my judgment of this lastest pearl of wisdom from Ricardo, let me explain a bit. Language is WAY more than memorizing a list of 20 vocabulary words and a grammatical structure. It is all about being able to react on your feet and decide almost instantly which words you want to use, in what order to say them and which tense to put them in. The way to do this well is to practice language everyday, in various contexts and formats. You want your kids reading, writing, speaking and listening to examples of the past and you want to them to do it a lot, over and over again. Even if recite the past tense forms of a verb doesn't necessarily mean they can tell you (correctly) what they did the day before. Giving them a full on exam every 4 weeks is SUCH a huge waste of time. I'll be testing them on the SAME material, over and over again. It makes the students nervous and means a whole heck of a lot of extra (unnecessary work for me).
I plan to rebel in my own way, however, and only give a full exam every two months. The other months, I'm going to give the students a project to do and that's how I'll calculate their grade for that month. This way, only I am getting screwed, and not so much the students. I still have the extra work, but they won't be as nervous or stressed out ever 3.5 weeks and they'll actually benefit from being evaluated in the two different ways. Our first "exam" (which is actually a project) will be some variation of a letter, depending on grade level, written to the UN, in honor of International Peace Day, September 21st.
My 12th graders are actually giving speeches on the last day of a 4 day International Peace Summit that is being held here in Zihua in honor of International Peace Day. They're going to be talking about Community and multicultural diversity and it's relation to peace as it pertains to Zihua.
We'll be giving the speeches at the closing breakfast, to be held at the Dorado Pacifico Hotel in Zihuatanejo and we're speaking right before the mayor, Alejandro Bravo. There will be people from all over the world and my kids were chosen to represent Zihua's youth. I tell you, I was just like a proud mama when I got the news. We're working hard on perfecting our speeches (which will be in Spanish and English) and will be practicing a lot. I'm excited. Let's just hope the geniuses of Montessori don't find a way to trip us up! The summit we're participating in is listed on the UN website - it's the only event listed for Mexico - pretty cool if you ask me! Obviously, I'll have LOTS of pictures to post and stories to tell after the fact.
Last week, Wednesday, Pako and I went to La Ropa to visit his dad and walk on the beach. The parking lot was flooded due to a recent rain storm so I, as usual, made Pako carry me across. (You may say 'high maintenance,' I say 'GROSS!') We got in just fine, talked to Eliseo, walked on the beach, Pako even got to play soccer with his friends while I read my book (Eat Pray Love - in Spanish!). When the mosquitoes were getting to be too much, we decided to leave. As I stopped by a bench and waited for my big, burly man to adjust his shorts and whatever else he was carrying, we were laughing and he was making fun of me for not wanting to wade across the water. All of a sudden, both of us realized that we were standing on an ant hill and the little suckers were not happy about it. These are the teensy tiny little ants that pack quite the punch! Anyway, we both start stamping around like wildebeests, trying to get these little buggers off of us, but they hung in there pretty well. Pako, used to these type of happenings, walked directly into the parking lot water and was awarded some respite for his actions. I hesitated just a little bit, because like I said before... gross. Anyway, I was eventually forced to follow him into the yuck-water in order to stop the foot-feast. Now my feet are covered in ridiculously itchy little bites and Pako has little sympathy since we stopped where we did so I could climb up onto his back... Girly? Yes. Annoying? Maybe. Deserving of a million tiny red ant bites? NO! :(
That's all for this week: ants, exams, no car and LOTS of continuing rain. Here's hoping for a sunnier blog entry next week (figuratively and literally)! Football season is upon us, Pako get ready!!! Last night my beloved Badgers pulled out a victory over UNLV at UNLV. Now I'm just hoping for a CRUSHING Saints victory during the NFL opener on Thursday (why is that...? I'm not really a Saints fan..) and then my favorite Green Bay Packers take the field in Philly on Sunday. HOORAY! I love football!
Have a great week, blog readers, and start looking for your green and gold (or red and white and black) apparel!
XOXO,
Leyah
The following are the views from my apartment. Usually you can see the ocean clearly... not so much in the last couple of days. I took these during a pause in the heavy rain and this is the clearest it's been since Friday morning!
How is everyone? I hope you're all slightly drier than we are here in rainy Zihua! It hasn't stopped raining for more than 30 minutes for the last 48 hours and many of those hours have been all-out downpours! We're lucky in that we haven't been getting the same rains as
Oaxaca and Veracruz (which are largely under water right now, over 50,000 people affected), but the latest wave of tropical pressure and precipitation is making up for lost time, it seems. Being that our persian slatted windows are and have been rusted open since we moved in, we get a lot of rain in the apartment if the wind blows. I started my Saturday by mopping the kitchen floor before I could make coffee. Oh well. We got smart earlier in the rainy season and put ugly, but extremely functional plastic sheaths in our bedroom windows so that we can at least sleep in peace (as the rest of the apartment gets soaked). I'm hoping it clears up today so that we can make a quick trip to the market to buy some food for the week.This trip to the market might not be as easy as it seems, however, as the streets might be flooded downtown (as frequently happens when it rains a lot) and Pako and I are without a car for the next paycheck or two. It seems that our 'horquilla' (possibly ball-joint... not exactly sure and since I'm not really car literate, nobody has been able to give me a satisfactory explanation of what it is or how to say it in English) on the front driver side is seriously on the fritz. We brought the car in to our normal mechanic and he quoted us a price that was $600 pesos more than he had quoted us for the SAME thing 5 months ago so we decided to shop around a bit. Pako has a surfing connection (shocking, I know) who owns a garage, so that was our next stop. We got our hopes up as the friend originally thought it was some other issue and quoted us a WAY lower price than the first guy. Unfortunately, he opened up the whatever it is (it's not the hood and you can't really open up the body of a car... can you? - anywho, he looked more closely at the wheel thingy) and discovered that it was WORSE than he or the first mechanic had thought... dang! So, his advice to us was this "you can drive it dude, but I'd stay away from highways or road trips... it's not like your wheel is going to come off or anything... it just might flip sideways... which might roll your car." Needless to say, I put the kibosh on the car and now it sits sadly in Lorena's yard, where Pako can easily visit if the loneliness gets to be too much for him.
It's not a huge problem, luckily it's one that will only take a month or so to save up for (rather than 6 months or a year) and we'll be back in business. What it does mean, however, it lot's of combi rides. For those of you who don't know what a combi is, it's a van/mini bus that runs like a city bus - the same route, all day, for $5 pesos a pop.
They're pretty convenient, but the drivers think that they own the road and, like other Zihuatanejenses, don't follow any observable rules and/or driving patterns. They weave in and out of traffic and stop where ever they want to let someone on or off. Also, I'm slightly taller than your average Mexican (male or female) and thus have a tendency to bump my head upon entering or leaving (and most of the time on both occasions). Also, the drivers have a propensity for pulling out into traffic before all of the riders are comfortably settled, leading to many a grabbed arms or shoulders of strangers and murmured apologies. It's these times when understanding Spanish as well as I do does not work in my favor because it means that I fully understand the 'stupid gringa' comments. Come on people, it's not my fault I'm tall and uncoordinated. I didn't grow up riding these death-wagons! I drove the blue beast and followed ALL rules of the road (impeccable driving record - thankyourverymuch!). One more instance of culture shock, 1 year and 1 month into my stay here in Mexico.. I wonder when this will stop happening to me?I've been writing exams this weekend (and will continue to do so after finishing this post) because all of a sudden, the first round of exams are upon us! How in the heck did that happen? Have I really been here and working for that long already? The answer to this question is: no, I have not. Ricardo, in another moment of extreme educational/pedagogical ineptitude, has decided that monthly exams are a good idea. That's right, a full exam and evaluation of each student is due every 4 weeks. Which means that I will have about 3 weeks to teach, one week to review and then will be expected to give oral and written exams. If you know anything about language teaching/learning or have even a modicum of common sense, you will already know that this is a BAD IDEA.
If you're still unsure about the harshness of my judgment of this lastest pearl of wisdom from Ricardo, let me explain a bit. Language is WAY more than memorizing a list of 20 vocabulary words and a grammatical structure. It is all about being able to react on your feet and decide almost instantly which words you want to use, in what order to say them and which tense to put them in. The way to do this well is to practice language everyday, in various contexts and formats. You want your kids reading, writing, speaking and listening to examples of the past and you want to them to do it a lot, over and over again. Even if recite the past tense forms of a verb doesn't necessarily mean they can tell you (correctly) what they did the day before. Giving them a full on exam every 4 weeks is SUCH a huge waste of time. I'll be testing them on the SAME material, over and over again. It makes the students nervous and means a whole heck of a lot of extra (unnecessary work for me).
I plan to rebel in my own way, however, and only give a full exam every two months. The other months, I'm going to give the students a project to do and that's how I'll calculate their grade for that month. This way, only I am getting screwed, and not so much the students. I still have the extra work, but they won't be as nervous or stressed out ever 3.5 weeks and they'll actually benefit from being evaluated in the two different ways. Our first "exam" (which is actually a project) will be some variation of a letter, depending on grade level, written to the UN, in honor of International Peace Day, September 21st.
My 12th graders are actually giving speeches on the last day of a 4 day International Peace Summit that is being held here in Zihua in honor of International Peace Day. They're going to be talking about Community and multicultural diversity and it's relation to peace as it pertains to Zihua.
We'll be giving the speeches at the closing breakfast, to be held at the Dorado Pacifico Hotel in Zihuatanejo and we're speaking right before the mayor, Alejandro Bravo. There will be people from all over the world and my kids were chosen to represent Zihua's youth. I tell you, I was just like a proud mama when I got the news. We're working hard on perfecting our speeches (which will be in Spanish and English) and will be practicing a lot. I'm excited. Let's just hope the geniuses of Montessori don't find a way to trip us up! The summit we're participating in is listed on the UN website - it's the only event listed for Mexico - pretty cool if you ask me! Obviously, I'll have LOTS of pictures to post and stories to tell after the fact.Last week, Wednesday, Pako and I went to La Ropa to visit his dad and walk on the beach. The parking lot was flooded due to a recent rain storm so I, as usual, made Pako carry me across. (You may say 'high maintenance,' I say 'GROSS!') We got in just fine, talked to Eliseo, walked on the beach, Pako even got to play soccer with his friends while I read my book (Eat Pray Love - in Spanish!). When the mosquitoes were getting to be too much, we decided to leave. As I stopped by a bench and waited for my big, burly man to adjust his shorts and whatever else he was carrying, we were laughing and he was making fun of me for not wanting to wade across the water. All of a sudden, both of us realized that we were standing on an ant hill and the little suckers were not happy about it. These are the teensy tiny little ants that pack quite the punch! Anyway, we both start stamping around like wildebeests, trying to get these little buggers off of us, but they hung in there pretty well. Pako, used to these type of happenings, walked directly into the parking lot water and was awarded some respite for his actions. I hesitated just a little bit, because like I said before... gross. Anyway, I was eventually forced to follow him into the yuck-water in order to stop the foot-feast. Now my feet are covered in ridiculously itchy little bites and Pako has little sympathy since we stopped where we did so I could climb up onto his back... Girly? Yes. Annoying? Maybe. Deserving of a million tiny red ant bites? NO! :(
That's all for this week: ants, exams, no car and LOTS of continuing rain. Here's hoping for a sunnier blog entry next week (figuratively and literally)! Football season is upon us, Pako get ready!!! Last night my beloved Badgers pulled out a victory over UNLV at UNLV. Now I'm just hoping for a CRUSHING Saints victory during the NFL opener on Thursday (why is that...? I'm not really a Saints fan..) and then my favorite Green Bay Packers take the field in Philly on Sunday. HOORAY! I love football!
Have a great week, blog readers, and start looking for your green and gold (or red and white and black) apparel!
XOXO,
Leyah
The following are the views from my apartment. Usually you can see the ocean clearly... not so much in the last couple of days. I took these during a pause in the heavy rain and this is the clearest it's been since Friday morning!
Sunday, August 29, 2010
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 :)
Cake #3 - Courtesy of 10th grade: Valeria, Samantha, Pako, Eduardo, Carmen, Hiram and Rafa :)
Cake # 4 - Courtesy of 11th grade: Alondra, Amy, Marlene, Denys and Max :)
Cake # 5 - Courtesy of the In-Laws and the fHubs :)
Pretty, pretty flowers and excellent table cloth/shower curtain!
Best Shrimp in Zihua :)
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 :)
Cake #3 - Courtesy of 10th grade: Valeria, Samantha, Pako, Eduardo, Carmen, Hiram and Rafa :)
Cake # 4 - Courtesy of 11th grade: Alondra, Amy, Marlene, Denys and Max :)
Cake # 5 - Courtesy of the In-Laws and the fHubs :)
Pretty, pretty flowers and excellent table cloth/shower curtain!
Best Shrimp in Zihua :)
Sunday, August 15, 2010
2 weeks worth of blog
Hey All,
Last week I didn't post because I had spent the entire previous week doing nothing. That is not an exaggeration, I did nothing. Ok, not entirely true, I went to two different doctors and got stabbed 4 times for an IV of glucose, vitamins and antibiotics. So I guess that's not 'nothing.' Ok, let me back up a bit.
Friday of last week, Pako and I were playing Scrabble* with Lorena and Tito when we all decided to order a Pizza. Tito had the bright idea to order from a different-than-normal pizza place called 'Roquet Pizza' (I mention the name so that you're all forewarned should you ever choose to eat pizza in Zihua). Well, nobody liked the pizza, everybody thought it tasted strange, though no one could decide why. Some thought it was because of the cheese, some thought it was the dough. The next day, Moctezuma claimed his revenge on this poor Gringa transplant. Two days later, Tito fell ill with the same symptoms. It seems Moctezuma does not racially profile, he's an equal opportunity revenger!
I went to the $25 peso/office visit doctor on Wednesday. He asked me some questions and pushed on my stomach a bit. He prescribed me some meds, but I didn't really give him a fair chance at doctoring because on Wednesday I actually felt slightly better. So I told him all the symptoms I had had, but didn't so much have that day. Anywho, Tito who got hit a lot harder than I did right off the bat had and was given an antibiotic and had a glucose IV for dehydration (which was to be my fate 3 days later).
Tito got better, I relapsed. Pako was adorable and rather worried about me, so he finally put his foot down on Friday night and said he was taking me to the doctor on Saturday. So Saturday we went to a different, more expensive doctor. I get wimpy when I'm sick and so I didn't feel quite as brave about going to a $25 peso doctor. This time, I walked in the clinic and the receptionist descended upon me shouting about me being uber-dehydrated. She had me in an office, with a doctor within 30 seconds. We chatted about my symptoms and he decided on a course of action (after doing the same pushing on my stomach thing the other guy did). IV of glucose, antibiotics and vitamins (because part of me doing nothing all week including eating nothing). So, I womanned up and mentioned that I tend to faint when people try to stick things in my veins, but that I would do my best to take deep breaths.
My veins were all constricty-like being that I was a week into dehydration and malnutrition. The first doctor poked me twice without hitting a vein and then invited his colleague to give it a go. The 2nd guy also had to poke me twice in order to finally hit a vein. I can not say it was a pleasant experience, but by the time half of the liquid was in my system I felt about 85% better! Man, dehydration is lame! It really takes a toll on you, but without your even knowing how much it's kicking your butt! Anywho, I was at the clinic for about 2 hours total and not much of it was fun, but it was definitely worth it. I'm including a shot of my lovingly gazing up at my IV bag and then another shot of my arm that I took TODAY, a full 8 days after my doctor's visit, to show off the cool (or sucky) battle wound I'm still sporting at injection site #2/4.
Luckily, the IV did the trick and I made it to my first day of work on August 9th. I only had my 3 high school classes and the first week is really quite a waste of time as we're not allowed to give homework or start anything substantial as kids are still coming and going and deciding which high school they really want to attend. In my 10th grade class, I had a grand total of 3 kids. With low levels of English. The perfect ingredients for a great conversation class. Or not. By the end of the week there were 5 students, English levels still low. That class will be a lot less conversation than I would like, but we'll do what we can. In 11th grade I had 4 girls, supposedly there will be 5 students total, but by Friday, it was just the 4 girls. This was a shocker for me because last year that class had 14 kids. Quite a few defectors. That's what happens when the coordinator of the school (Ricardo... obviously) says that the school won't be opening this year... kids find other places to go. Um, duh. Anywho, my 12th grade class has 9 students, only 2 left. So, this year will be more challenging, planning-wise, because activities that take 20 minutes with 10 kids take about 5 minutes with 4 kids and even less when the kids don't know the necessary vocabulary or grammatical structures.
This coming week is still just the high schoolers, but hopefully their books will have arrived (and they will have purchased them) and we can get started instead of playing charades, pictionary and scattegories all week. We'll see how things go. I'm definitely going to start grammar reviews with the 10th graders, present and past simple, because you'd be amazed at how many simple conversations deal only in those tenses. This year in my high school classes we're also reading ESL specific versions of The Mask of Zorro, Fast Food Nation, and Angela's Ashes. Then we'll be watching the movies (probably sometime around the end of February...) and discussing them. That is, of course, assuming the books show up at the book store... a leap of faith that is hard to take after the 'great book fiasco of 2009.' We'll see.
When not at school, we've been spending a lot of time at Lorena's house. She's here until next Wednesday when she has to go back and get ready to start her school year in Apatzingan. She was assigned 1st grade this year so she's been doing a lot of drawing and cutting to make decorations for her classroom. Lorena also finished her 4th (out of 5) year of Folkloric Dance. For each dance that she learned, she had to have the traditional costume and so she was busy doing a lot of sewing and designing, too. For one dance, Pako drew a design for her on a shirt/skirt combo and all three of us painted it. It turned out pretty cool. It was for an Aztec-style dance that she performed at the end of the year celebration. In the following pics, Lorena is wearing a bright blue outfit with a bright yellow sun painted on the front. She also made the headdress that she wore. The dance was really cool and she looked great! I was glad I was healthy enough to go see her dance!
The last one shows the ankle bracelets that all the dancers wore (and presumably made - Lorena sewed all of the bells on herself) which made the dance really cool because every piece of footwork was accompanied by a soundtrack.
So, that's it for this week. I'm looking forward to a couple of things in the next couple of weeks: cooler temperatures!!! (It's been in the high 90s and humid just about everyday... AND night!), my birthday #25 (formally my scary age, which is now 29 for no apparent reason) and the Bicentenial celebration (200 years of Mexico being Mexico - Sept 16, 1810 - 2010). THEN, in the first days of October, our favorite Canadian, Bambi, arrives and Las Urracas can begin to feel like Las Urracas again!
Saludos until next week! Here's hoping for no more doctor visits!
Leyah
Last week I didn't post because I had spent the entire previous week doing nothing. That is not an exaggeration, I did nothing. Ok, not entirely true, I went to two different doctors and got stabbed 4 times for an IV of glucose, vitamins and antibiotics. So I guess that's not 'nothing.' Ok, let me back up a bit.
Friday of last week, Pako and I were playing Scrabble* with Lorena and Tito when we all decided to order a Pizza. Tito had the bright idea to order from a different-than-normal pizza place called 'Roquet Pizza' (I mention the name so that you're all forewarned should you ever choose to eat pizza in Zihua). Well, nobody liked the pizza, everybody thought it tasted strange, though no one could decide why. Some thought it was because of the cheese, some thought it was the dough. The next day, Moctezuma claimed his revenge on this poor Gringa transplant. Two days later, Tito fell ill with the same symptoms. It seems Moctezuma does not racially profile, he's an equal opportunity revenger!
I went to the $25 peso/office visit doctor on Wednesday. He asked me some questions and pushed on my stomach a bit. He prescribed me some meds, but I didn't really give him a fair chance at doctoring because on Wednesday I actually felt slightly better. So I told him all the symptoms I had had, but didn't so much have that day. Anywho, Tito who got hit a lot harder than I did right off the bat had and was given an antibiotic and had a glucose IV for dehydration (which was to be my fate 3 days later).
Tito got better, I relapsed. Pako was adorable and rather worried about me, so he finally put his foot down on Friday night and said he was taking me to the doctor on Saturday. So Saturday we went to a different, more expensive doctor. I get wimpy when I'm sick and so I didn't feel quite as brave about going to a $25 peso doctor. This time, I walked in the clinic and the receptionist descended upon me shouting about me being uber-dehydrated. She had me in an office, with a doctor within 30 seconds. We chatted about my symptoms and he decided on a course of action (after doing the same pushing on my stomach thing the other guy did). IV of glucose, antibiotics and vitamins (because part of me doing nothing all week including eating nothing). So, I womanned up and mentioned that I tend to faint when people try to stick things in my veins, but that I would do my best to take deep breaths.
My veins were all constricty-like being that I was a week into dehydration and malnutrition. The first doctor poked me twice without hitting a vein and then invited his colleague to give it a go. The 2nd guy also had to poke me twice in order to finally hit a vein. I can not say it was a pleasant experience, but by the time half of the liquid was in my system I felt about 85% better! Man, dehydration is lame! It really takes a toll on you, but without your even knowing how much it's kicking your butt! Anywho, I was at the clinic for about 2 hours total and not much of it was fun, but it was definitely worth it. I'm including a shot of my lovingly gazing up at my IV bag and then another shot of my arm that I took TODAY, a full 8 days after my doctor's visit, to show off the cool (or sucky) battle wound I'm still sporting at injection site #2/4.
Luckily, the IV did the trick and I made it to my first day of work on August 9th. I only had my 3 high school classes and the first week is really quite a waste of time as we're not allowed to give homework or start anything substantial as kids are still coming and going and deciding which high school they really want to attend. In my 10th grade class, I had a grand total of 3 kids. With low levels of English. The perfect ingredients for a great conversation class. Or not. By the end of the week there were 5 students, English levels still low. That class will be a lot less conversation than I would like, but we'll do what we can. In 11th grade I had 4 girls, supposedly there will be 5 students total, but by Friday, it was just the 4 girls. This was a shocker for me because last year that class had 14 kids. Quite a few defectors. That's what happens when the coordinator of the school (Ricardo... obviously) says that the school won't be opening this year... kids find other places to go. Um, duh. Anywho, my 12th grade class has 9 students, only 2 left. So, this year will be more challenging, planning-wise, because activities that take 20 minutes with 10 kids take about 5 minutes with 4 kids and even less when the kids don't know the necessary vocabulary or grammatical structures.
This coming week is still just the high schoolers, but hopefully their books will have arrived (and they will have purchased them) and we can get started instead of playing charades, pictionary and scattegories all week. We'll see how things go. I'm definitely going to start grammar reviews with the 10th graders, present and past simple, because you'd be amazed at how many simple conversations deal only in those tenses. This year in my high school classes we're also reading ESL specific versions of The Mask of Zorro, Fast Food Nation, and Angela's Ashes. Then we'll be watching the movies (probably sometime around the end of February...) and discussing them. That is, of course, assuming the books show up at the book store... a leap of faith that is hard to take after the 'great book fiasco of 2009.' We'll see.
When not at school, we've been spending a lot of time at Lorena's house. She's here until next Wednesday when she has to go back and get ready to start her school year in Apatzingan. She was assigned 1st grade this year so she's been doing a lot of drawing and cutting to make decorations for her classroom. Lorena also finished her 4th (out of 5) year of Folkloric Dance. For each dance that she learned, she had to have the traditional costume and so she was busy doing a lot of sewing and designing, too. For one dance, Pako drew a design for her on a shirt/skirt combo and all three of us painted it. It turned out pretty cool. It was for an Aztec-style dance that she performed at the end of the year celebration. In the following pics, Lorena is wearing a bright blue outfit with a bright yellow sun painted on the front. She also made the headdress that she wore. The dance was really cool and she looked great! I was glad I was healthy enough to go see her dance!
The last one shows the ankle bracelets that all the dancers wore (and presumably made - Lorena sewed all of the bells on herself) which made the dance really cool because every piece of footwork was accompanied by a soundtrack.
So, that's it for this week. I'm looking forward to a couple of things in the next couple of weeks: cooler temperatures!!! (It's been in the high 90s and humid just about everyday... AND night!), my birthday #25 (formally my scary age, which is now 29 for no apparent reason) and the Bicentenial celebration (200 years of Mexico being Mexico - Sept 16, 1810 - 2010). THEN, in the first days of October, our favorite Canadian, Bambi, arrives and Las Urracas can begin to feel like Las Urracas again!
Saludos until next week! Here's hoping for no more doctor visits!
Leyah
Thursday, August 12, 2010
Grammar
I am SO embarrassed! In my last post, I actually wrote "most direst"... um, shoot. That's worthy of W. And nobody said anything! My only excuse is that I've been language-confused since moving to Mexico and English is only sometimes my first language! Dang. Most direst. Seriously.
Actual blog to be posted on Sunday. Maybe this time I will proofread. Probably not, but maybe.
xoxxo!
Leyah
Actual blog to be posted on Sunday. Maybe this time I will proofread. Probably not, but maybe.
xoxxo!
Leyah
Sunday, August 1, 2010
Back to school, back to school... NEXT week.. apparently.
Hello Blog-World,
I'm back! I have been in back to Mexico for a week today, but this is only the 2nd time I'm sitting down at my computer with a bit of spare time on my hands. What happened to the laid back, go with the flow schedule of Mexico you ask? Well, it was on vacation.
I got home (the tropical one, not the chilly one) Sunday morning at 9:30am after having left home (the chilly one, not the tropical one) at about 10:45 the day before. 8+ hour bus ride to Chicago, extremely pleasant mini-reunion with a friend in Chicago for dinner and a trip up the Sears (or Willis or whatever lame name it has now) Tower, train to the airport, tram to terminal 5, flight to Mexico City, bus to terminal 2, flight to Zihua... phew. I'm tired just typing about it. I think I'll take another nap. Nothing like a 22 hour travel time to remind you that you are not 21 anymore. (Ok, that's crap, even at 21 I would have been knocked out! People always say (and by people, I mean my dad) that it's a good thing you're young, well dad, young people get tired too!)
That night we went to see Lorena dance at "Domingo Cultural" (Cultural Sunday) in the Municipal basketball court. She's getting certified to teach folkloric dance so periodically we all get to benefit from her hard work. She did great, lots of feet stamping and the like. I was in a mildly catatonic state and thus forgot my camera. She has some good pictures, but they're at her house where there is an inconvenient lack of internet.
Then on Tuesday Pako and I went to Acapulco. Pako's cousin, Ada Alberto, passed away the Sunday I got home and so we went to pay our respects. The bodies are not prepared, so they are buried the next day. Then a prayer vigil is held for 9 days, while the family leaves the door open of the house for 40 days for the spirit of the deceased can pass through unhindered. We went to one day of the prayer vigil, which consists of a large group of (mostly) women sitting around an altar
and saying the rosary with some other prayers that my heathen-self had difficulty recognizing. It was really quite nice, but a TON of work for the family. The pray-ers must be given food first (if they show up early enough) and juice (agua fresca) and cookies at the end of the rosary. Then there is all the cleaning, the arranging of the altar, etc. It certainly keeps the family busy. It was nice to see all of Pako's family, in spite of the circumstances, and pretty cool as a cultural experience. Also, I got about 83 mosquito bites. Pako got 1.
My trip back to the USA was all together too short, I'm convinced. I know 5 weeks sounds like a lot of time, but it's really not. I spent two weeks in Wisconsin - Milwaukee, Green Bay, Appleton, Campbellsport, Madison. Not really enough time at any one spot, but one does what one has to with such a limited amount of time.
My time in Minneapolis FLEW by too. I saw a lot of people
, 
had a lovely, lovely bridal shower thrown for me by my Mama and my GodMama, Gretchen, which was SO much fun and so thoughtful. 
I went to Target Field 
for the first time and saw the world's longest baseball game ever. I walked around lake Nokomis with my dad, ventured to Chaska, went to Target about 79 times (and still forgot stuff) and tried to soak up as much friends and family as I could. I also ate at Dairy Queen about 46 times and had about 200 Caribou Coffees. All in all it was a thoroughly wonderful and filling trip. A wonderful and filling trip that FLEW BY.
There is a ton more I could say about my trip home such as the fact that while cleaning out some of my things that I had in storage I found some candy circa 1998 or that while driving roads I had driven confidently for 7 years I made wrong turns over and over again or that walking through Office Max made me want to cry for the plethora of cool school supplies that just cannot be found in Zihua or that THANKSGIVING IN JULY
is pretty freaking cool, but I won't because it would take up too much time and space. I did have a surprisingly small amount of culture shock, slipped right back into my old routines (except for the the aforementioned driving - that was weird) and it was like I had never left. But leave I did.
It's been over a year that I have 'resided' in Mexico and the following are just a random sampling of what I have learned over the past year:
*hair gel is not just for hold, it's an artistic media used to display one's creativity and style
*sometimes, when you turn the tap, water does not come out (most seemingly obvious, but biggest shocker for me)
*working does not automatically amount to getting paid regularly
*hot water and Caribou Coffee are great, but it's the friends and family that really make a place 'home'
*it is possible to get sunburned through an umbrella
*some people just don't go to work when it rains
*it's best not to think in terms of 'better' or 'worse,' but rather as 'different' and 'new'
*salsa is APPARENTLY a universal condiment that can go on everything from fresh cut mangoes and/or cucumbers to hot tuna casserole (yes, the kind they eat in the midwest)
*one can buy a wide array of merchandise by simply sticking one's head out the window and yelling
*when living in a different country, what were once considered comfort foods become precious commodities to be hoarded and doled out in only the most dire of situations
*internet is absolutely necessary to one's mental health
*one CAN adjust to cold showers if one sets one's mind to it
*time is a concept that is culture-specific. Expecting an exact time frame is just silly and will only lead to considerable frustration and temper tantrum inducing miscommunications
Actual conversation JUST had with Yair (literally, he just called):
Yair: Que van a hacer en la tarde? (What are you guys doing in the afternoon?)
Me: No se, Pako anda en la playa. Por que? (I don't know, Pako's at the beach. Why?)
Yair: Ahh, anda surfeando, que raro. No quieren venir en la tarde, para ver el video? (Ooh, he's surfing? Weird. Do you want to come in the afternoon, to watch the video? ** Yair just got married last week, so the video is of the ceremony that was held in a small pueblo in Oaxaca, about 24 hours away from Zihua)
Me: Si, claro. Como, a que hora? (Yeah, of course. Like, what timeish? - Silly me, asking what time, this is obviously a left over from being home for 5 weeks)
Yair: Uuuuh, no se, en la tarde (Ummm, I don't know, in the afternoon)
Me: Ah bueno, se me olvido que estaba en Mexico y no se hacen esas preguntas (Oh, right, I forgot I was in Mexico and we just don't ask those questions here)
Yair: Asi es... yo digo que a las 7 o por ahi (That's right... I'd say about 7 or around there)
Me: 7?? 7 ya no es la tarde, hijole ustedes con sus conceptos raros del tiempo... ahi estaremos (7?? 7 is not the afternoon... sheesh, you guys and your strange time concepts... ok, we'll be there)
I was supposed to start at Montessori tomorrow, August 2nd, but apparently that has been pushed back to August 9th. How do I know? Well, I tried to call the school, multiple times, but clearly no one answered. So I went to Jeanne's house. She wasn't there, but I talked to her neighbor who told her to call me. At 9pm last night (Saturday), she calls and tells me to be there at 8:30 on Monday (tomorrow). Then, in the middle of the conversation, her neighbor yells that Ricardo (they all live in the same apartment building) told him to tell her that high school starts the 9th. So, awesome. One more week of summer vacay. Sweet! Except for that whole money thing, but it would be decidedly un-Mexican of me to worry about that so I won't!
Until next week my friends! If I saw you this last vacation, awesome, it was great, I wish we could have spent more time together. If I didn't see you, dang, that sucks, let's hope for next year! Happy August to you all! What a wonderful month it is! After all, it is the month that gave us... ME! The big 2-5! That used to be my scary age, but I'll let you know how I'm feeling as the actual day gets closer!
Adios amigos, los quiero mucho!
Leyah
PS. This is what happens when I'm forced to abandon my (mother's) bug:
I'm back! I have been in back to Mexico for a week today, but this is only the 2nd time I'm sitting down at my computer with a bit of spare time on my hands. What happened to the laid back, go with the flow schedule of Mexico you ask? Well, it was on vacation.
I got home (the tropical one, not the chilly one) Sunday morning at 9:30am after having left home (the chilly one, not the tropical one) at about 10:45 the day before. 8+ hour bus ride to Chicago, extremely pleasant mini-reunion with a friend in Chicago for dinner and a trip up the Sears (or Willis or whatever lame name it has now) Tower, train to the airport, tram to terminal 5, flight to Mexico City, bus to terminal 2, flight to Zihua... phew. I'm tired just typing about it. I think I'll take another nap. Nothing like a 22 hour travel time to remind you that you are not 21 anymore. (Ok, that's crap, even at 21 I would have been knocked out! People always say (and by people, I mean my dad) that it's a good thing you're young, well dad, young people get tired too!)
That night we went to see Lorena dance at "Domingo Cultural" (Cultural Sunday) in the Municipal basketball court. She's getting certified to teach folkloric dance so periodically we all get to benefit from her hard work. She did great, lots of feet stamping and the like. I was in a mildly catatonic state and thus forgot my camera. She has some good pictures, but they're at her house where there is an inconvenient lack of internet.
Then on Tuesday Pako and I went to Acapulco. Pako's cousin, Ada Alberto, passed away the Sunday I got home and so we went to pay our respects. The bodies are not prepared, so they are buried the next day. Then a prayer vigil is held for 9 days, while the family leaves the door open of the house for 40 days for the spirit of the deceased can pass through unhindered. We went to one day of the prayer vigil, which consists of a large group of (mostly) women sitting around an altar
and saying the rosary with some other prayers that my heathen-self had difficulty recognizing. It was really quite nice, but a TON of work for the family. The pray-ers must be given food first (if they show up early enough) and juice (agua fresca) and cookies at the end of the rosary. Then there is all the cleaning, the arranging of the altar, etc. It certainly keeps the family busy. It was nice to see all of Pako's family, in spite of the circumstances, and pretty cool as a cultural experience. Also, I got about 83 mosquito bites. Pako got 1.My trip back to the USA was all together too short, I'm convinced. I know 5 weeks sounds like a lot of time, but it's really not. I spent two weeks in Wisconsin - Milwaukee, Green Bay, Appleton, Campbellsport, Madison. Not really enough time at any one spot, but one does what one has to with such a limited amount of time.
My time in Minneapolis FLEW by too. I saw a lot of people
, 
had a lovely, lovely bridal shower thrown for me by my Mama and my GodMama, Gretchen, which was SO much fun and so thoughtful. 
I went to Target Field 
for the first time and saw the world's longest baseball game ever. I walked around lake Nokomis with my dad, ventured to Chaska, went to Target about 79 times (and still forgot stuff) and tried to soak up as much friends and family as I could. I also ate at Dairy Queen about 46 times and had about 200 Caribou Coffees. All in all it was a thoroughly wonderful and filling trip. A wonderful and filling trip that FLEW BY.There is a ton more I could say about my trip home such as the fact that while cleaning out some of my things that I had in storage I found some candy circa 1998 or that while driving roads I had driven confidently for 7 years I made wrong turns over and over again or that walking through Office Max made me want to cry for the plethora of cool school supplies that just cannot be found in Zihua or that THANKSGIVING IN JULY
is pretty freaking cool, but I won't because it would take up too much time and space. I did have a surprisingly small amount of culture shock, slipped right back into my old routines (except for the the aforementioned driving - that was weird) and it was like I had never left. But leave I did.It's been over a year that I have 'resided' in Mexico and the following are just a random sampling of what I have learned over the past year:
*hair gel is not just for hold, it's an artistic media used to display one's creativity and style
*sometimes, when you turn the tap, water does not come out (most seemingly obvious, but biggest shocker for me)
*working does not automatically amount to getting paid regularly
*hot water and Caribou Coffee are great, but it's the friends and family that really make a place 'home'
*it is possible to get sunburned through an umbrella
*some people just don't go to work when it rains
*it's best not to think in terms of 'better' or 'worse,' but rather as 'different' and 'new'
*salsa is APPARENTLY a universal condiment that can go on everything from fresh cut mangoes and/or cucumbers to hot tuna casserole (yes, the kind they eat in the midwest)
*one can buy a wide array of merchandise by simply sticking one's head out the window and yelling
*when living in a different country, what were once considered comfort foods become precious commodities to be hoarded and doled out in only the most dire of situations
*internet is absolutely necessary to one's mental health
*one CAN adjust to cold showers if one sets one's mind to it
*time is a concept that is culture-specific. Expecting an exact time frame is just silly and will only lead to considerable frustration and temper tantrum inducing miscommunications
Actual conversation JUST had with Yair (literally, he just called):
Yair: Que van a hacer en la tarde? (What are you guys doing in the afternoon?)
Me: No se, Pako anda en la playa. Por que? (I don't know, Pako's at the beach. Why?)
Yair: Ahh, anda surfeando, que raro. No quieren venir en la tarde, para ver el video? (Ooh, he's surfing? Weird. Do you want to come in the afternoon, to watch the video? ** Yair just got married last week, so the video is of the ceremony that was held in a small pueblo in Oaxaca, about 24 hours away from Zihua)
Me: Si, claro. Como, a que hora? (Yeah, of course. Like, what timeish? - Silly me, asking what time, this is obviously a left over from being home for 5 weeks)
Yair: Uuuuh, no se, en la tarde (Ummm, I don't know, in the afternoon)
Me: Ah bueno, se me olvido que estaba en Mexico y no se hacen esas preguntas (Oh, right, I forgot I was in Mexico and we just don't ask those questions here)
Yair: Asi es... yo digo que a las 7 o por ahi (That's right... I'd say about 7 or around there)
Me: 7?? 7 ya no es la tarde, hijole ustedes con sus conceptos raros del tiempo... ahi estaremos (7?? 7 is not the afternoon... sheesh, you guys and your strange time concepts... ok, we'll be there)
I was supposed to start at Montessori tomorrow, August 2nd, but apparently that has been pushed back to August 9th. How do I know? Well, I tried to call the school, multiple times, but clearly no one answered. So I went to Jeanne's house. She wasn't there, but I talked to her neighbor who told her to call me. At 9pm last night (Saturday), she calls and tells me to be there at 8:30 on Monday (tomorrow). Then, in the middle of the conversation, her neighbor yells that Ricardo (they all live in the same apartment building) told him to tell her that high school starts the 9th. So, awesome. One more week of summer vacay. Sweet! Except for that whole money thing, but it would be decidedly un-Mexican of me to worry about that so I won't!
Until next week my friends! If I saw you this last vacation, awesome, it was great, I wish we could have spent more time together. If I didn't see you, dang, that sucks, let's hope for next year! Happy August to you all! What a wonderful month it is! After all, it is the month that gave us... ME! The big 2-5! That used to be my scary age, but I'll let you know how I'm feeling as the actual day gets closer!
Adios amigos, los quiero mucho!
Leyah
PS. This is what happens when I'm forced to abandon my (mother's) bug:
Sunday, June 20, 2010
IN YOUR FACE FRANCE! Also, some thoughts from the Mexico City Airport
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!
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!
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