Attn: Peewee Herman's Aunt

Alpha bravo charlie. Mae West Coast and Brett Favre's brother ETA 2:13pm. Pick up has been arranged. Their mission is about to commence. You will be updated periodically as to their whereabouts and activities.

Your mission, should you choose to accept it, is to drop current mission and reroute directly to headquarters. I repeat, it's imperative that all agents are together, working side by side again. Compensation will be provided in the form of Piña Coladas and Sun Screen. I have faith in you PWH's Aunt.

Warning: within 5 seconds of reading this, your computer will self destruct. Unplug, pack bags and board plane.

Over and out. Rodger that.

Watch Sameh on IRON CHEF!!! TONIGHT! Food Network!

Hello!

Later on Sunday than usual, but here I am nonetheless! In one week from today, I will be picking up my lovely parents from the airport and helping them settle in to their apartment for the month of February :) That being said, that means that this week will be busy, busy, busy! Not only am I doing my best to have all 4 of my classes completely planned for the month of February (I am 1.5 classes done!), but also the inevitable total overhaul/cleaning of the apartment must take place. Now they may say that it’s not necessary, or not to worry about it, but we all know I’ll do it anyway. Now you might think that since my lovely fhubby is no longer employed, this would lessen the stress on me… but you would be wrong. When I clean, I like for things to be done my way. It’s not that he’s not helpful, it’s just that I am slightly anal. I know you’re all shocked and left somewhat breathless from the great collective gasp that was uttered, but that is, actually, how I am. Go figure.

This was Pako’s first full week of unemployment, and I wouldn’t say he totally enjoyed it, but I certainly know that he didn’t NOT enjoy it (what with all the free time to go surfing). He’s been out on the streets dropping off resumes and filling out applications, but as of yet, no bites. He has been dialoguing with a HR person from one of the furniture stores in town, so that seems promising. I like having him around again, though it does deter me from planning like a fiend. Also, it doesn’t allow me to watch my guilty pleasure trashy reality shows on MTV.com, which is the only US based tv channel that allows their online streams to be viewed outside of the US!

Wednesday night Petra, Pako and I attended a party in honor of the 4th anniversary of the passing of our good friend Jim’s wife, Betty. I’m sorry not to have known Betty as Petra, Pako, Lorena and the whole Las Urracas family have only good things to say about her and clearly loved her a lot. She and Jim are the reason Pako speaks the English that he does, talking and reading to him in English and Spanish when he was just a little tike. It was with Jim and Betty that Lorena went to Canada and the UK and Pako’s visited Jim twice in Vancouver. The party was held at Jim and Betty’s bungalow at Las Urracas (it’s not rented to anyone else all year, it is theirs) consisted of a small group of people that knew and loved Betty. We ate some delicious chiles rellenos and rice and the same two musicians who played at her Sunset ceremony 4 years ago played again. It really was a very beautiful evening and a fitting tribute. Speaking for the apartment, we all enjoyed ourselves a great deal.

On Friday, the editor in chief of Another Day in Paradise (an English language magazine published here in Zihua) visited Montessori and she, an associate of hers, Jeanne and I dreamed up a project for the middle schoolers. I don’t know much about it (except that Jeanne designated me the coordinator before I arrived at the meeting :-$ ). It will deal with taking care of the environment, probably focusing on the responsible consumption (of liquids in plastic bottles) and how to take care of the world we live in. My tentative idea is to parley the presentation into a recycling program at the school where students deposit their plastic bottles into a different receptacle and then someone drops them off at the recycling plant (here you are responsible for hauling your own recycling – but not garbage – which unfortunately results in it not happening very often). The presentation will be on the 16th of February, so if you’ll be in town, come on down to Montessori and help me whip the kids into a green frenzy!

Saturday morning Petra left for Acapulco to visit her mom and Pako and I went to play catch at La Ropa. We’ll go back to La Ropa again tonight to watch the Saints crush the Vikings (fingers crossed). My crazy mom has become a Vikings fan because she still likes Brett Favre. My father and I can’t really understand it and are considering football counseling if she continues down this dangerous path. I’m, of course, sad not to be watching the Pack this Sunday, but I still love football and always dread the end of the season. I don’t even have the Twins to make me feel better here. I’m not sure what I’ll do.

I’m including a bunch of pictures this week because I didn’t have time last week. The picture of me drinking a Sol is from the Packers’ last stand (and before Pako’s contract ended, obviously.. now I’m back to drinking water). The food is when I made a delicious creamy tomato gnocchi dinner one night when no one else was home. Surfing is from last weekend and this weekend. Note the super pretty green and blue water. I saw my very first whale that day (only about a football field out to sea, but it still counts!). Then just random pretty beach.

Until next week, cuidense mucho, se les quiero!

Leyah

OOOOH PS: my friend Sameh Wadi, owner and head chef of Saffron Restaurant and Lounge in Minneapolis is on Iron Chef tonight, battling Iron Chef Morimoto… Check your local listings for times! Go Sameh! I can’t wait to go to Saffron when I get home in June!

The Sol will come out... tomorrow?

Hello all,

The gringos have arrived! Yesterday, Petra, Lorena, Tito and I went to the beach of Las Urracas to say hi to some of the late January arrivals. I was pleasantly surprised to learn that these lovely people bought me gifts! Hooray! Haha, I definitely was not expecting that, and let me tell you, it's always extra nice to get unexpected gifts. Some friends from Oregon brought me dried persimmons (which I had never eaten before, but tried last night -- yum!) and some yummy mixed nut blueberry crunchy goodness, kind of like a super chunky sweet trailmix. I'll be bringing both of these items to school to keep me energized for the kiddies! Then, some other lovely people, brought me aged white cheddar from Toronto! Score 2 for Leyah's tummy!

** Complaint: Everyweek since the beginning of the football season, one of the 12pm games is shown on a local channel. Now that it's the playoffs and there is a game that I want to watch, there is a stupid soccer game on! WTF? Sorry about the language, but dang! Not a good week to change the viewing schedule, Televisa! Thank goodness for ESPN gamecast and live updates!

We had a temporary economic downturn this week when Pako's Sol contract ended. We thought he'd be employed THROUGH Semana Santa (Holy Week), but it turns out that is not the case. He may be called back to work for Holy week, but that is not until the end of March, beginning of April. We're hoping he finds something else before then, but if he can't, he can't. For now, I'm the breadwinner. Ha! Luckily we were careful with all of the money he made and saved almost all of it. The silver lining (there has to be one), Pako will be able to hang out with my parents and Louise when they come (SOON!!!)

School was fine this week. My 7th graders are just as volatile as they were last sememster. One good day followed by a ridiculous day followed by a day that makes me want to pull my hair out. Someone needs to give them a swift kick in the pants, but because it's my first year at the school, I have to leave that to someone else, with more authority. My 6th graders, on the other hand, seem to have turned over a new leaf over the holiday break and are behaving much better. Maybe it's my new policies or maybe it's because their parents threatened to take away their cell phones or ipods.. maybe it's a combo of both, but whatever it is, it's working! I'm really enjoying that class a lot more this semester (all 7 school days of it), which is great because it means that I start my day off well.

The beginning of high school has been pushed back another week, who knows why, so I have an extra week to get all of my planning for February out of the way. They'll start February 2nd, barring other weird decisions from the big boss (sarcasm*). The school's 25th anniversary is February 14th, so the elementary and middle school will be putting on a small show on Friday the 12th. The English portion of the show will consist of a lot of kids singing... "Love is in the Air." Yep, practicing that modern gem is how I will be spending 10 minutes of every class from here on out. Sweet. I'll be dreaming about John Paul Young come Feb 12th...

I think that's about it for this week. I turned in all of my immigration forms and paid all the fees, so someday soon I should be receiving a phone call from them to get my finger prints taken and get my visa! It'll be weird to think that I'm no longer a tourist in Mexico, but a legal resident alien. Hope you're all having great Januarys (Januaries??). I'll take more pictures next week, promise!

love to all!

Leyah

3 weeks is too short!

Hello Blog World,

Well, on my last few days of freedom, my dread of going back to school increased. I knew I should want to go back, and it's not the actual class time that I dreaded, but all the bureaucratic B.S. (pardon my French) that I knew would along with it. In preparation of going back to school, I did everything I could do avoid actually preparing. I had finished writing the exams, but hadn't done any actual planning for class time. I knew that one way or another, whatever plans I made would be shifted and adjusted and tweaked in order to fit with whatever new obstacle the dream team of Jeanne and Ricardo decided to throw at me. So I got my hair cut. Pako's cousin, Erandy, was studying to be a stylist for awhile, so I asked her to cut my hair. She was WAY more nervous than I was (I wasn't nervous because I mostly wear my hair in a ponytail anywho) and was sweating bullets when I got to her house. She did a fine job and now I'm less about 3 inches of hair and feeling fine. Lorena went back to Apatzingan, Michoacan on Wednesday morning so there were no more excuses. I organized all of my papers, got my attendence, homework, classwork and discipline checklists ready and finally sat down to plan the two days of not-real-school that I was about to attack. I actually enjoy planning once I get into, but getting there is always an uphill battle.

Wednesday, Jan 6th is 'El día de los Reyes Magos' or for you English speakers, Day of the
Magician Kings/Day of the Three Kings. You know, the ones who brought the myrrh, the frankincense and that other thing... OH, just had a memory boost, it was gold! Totally just remembered that on the spot. Go me! Anywho, kids get gifts and people eat a sweet bread adorned with fruit in the shape of a ring (similar to a large, ovular donut) called 'una Rosca.' Inside this rosca there are usually 6 small plastic men, waiting to be found. Tradition states that a person can cut a piece from where ever they want in the ring, but if their piece has a little man in it (or if they uncover the head or feet of one sticking out of where they just cut), they are then obligated to make, buy or chip in for tamale and atole on February 2nd, which is called Día de la Candelaría (day of the Virgen of Candelaria). I've so far uncovered 2, Pako 1 and Alejandro 1. That means Pako and I will be putting forth 3/4 of the money (if not all seeing as Ale is an unemployed 14 year old with no income or money of his own) for the Feb. 2nd feast. Now, that means tamales and atole (a thick, cornmealy drink that can be seasoned with fruit and sounds gross, but is super good when it's chilly-ish out) for Pako (count as 4 adult men), Ale (count as 2 adult men), Petra (normal adult female), Me (half a normal adult female), my Dad (normal adult male) and my mom (normal adult female) or in other words... 9.5 people! Ah well, it's all part of the tradition.


*Sigh* I know that most people are grumbling that I shouldn't complain about 3 weeks vacation and that in no circumstance is a 3 week vacation too short, but GEEZ, first day back at school and it's as if we never left. Same unorganized bunch of crap, same broken printer/copier, same questions about immigration... you get the picture. It was nice to see the kids again and many of them gave me New Year's hugs (which is STILL weird for me -- I can't remember ever hugging a teacher until I graduated from that school! Certainly not in the middle of the school year, smack in the middle of the class period). I'm implementing a couple of new disciplinary proceduces this year and on Thursday, the first day back, I outlined them for the kids. My boss decided that was a good time to barge in and announce to the class (including the surprised and somewhat annoyed teacher) that every Friday would be movie day... which would be all well and good IF she had told me before I had planned/sketched out two months worth of instruction and written 8 exams AT HER REQUEST. *Sigh*

Things here have been strange, weather-wise, for the last week. I have thrice (yes, I love when I can fit that word in!) worn pants AND a sweatshirt! We've been getting cold air from the United States (darn you Statesiders!) and some random wind from a polar cap (not sure which one, but it doesn't matter as both are significantly cold) was blowing in across the ocean for goodness' sake! It has been raining on and off and there has been a fairly chilly breeze. 2 days in a row the high was about 65! This sounds like paradise, I'm sure, for those of you stuck under mountains of snow with 4 months left of midwest winter staring you in the face (come visit me, duh), but here that is COLD! None of my windows shut and I don't have hot water. Think I showered? Well, I did, but I went to Las Urracas and showered there, where someone else pays for the hot water :) I'm including a picture of Petra and Tequila to show you what it feels like to the natives of warmer climes. Doesn't she look darling? I thought so. We've also had a series of small earthquakes, which still surprise, amuse, entertain and scare me a little. It's so bizarre to feel the floor move when you live on the 5th floor of a cement block!

Tomorrow is the Packer game (yes I am writing a day early because tomorrow will be all about the Packers and thus I won't have any time to write) and I'm hoping for a repeat of last week's performance. One of my greatest football desires for this season is that the cards fall correctly and the Packers play the Vikings again and WIN! Oh, but that would be sweet! Anyhow, I've made Pako promise various times to go and watch the game with me, so we'll be sitting at La Perla, eating hamburgers and nachos and cheering for the studs in the Green and Gold!

OH! Before I forget, I would like to note that my dear friend, the future dentist Ms. Chelsea Twohig sent me a package of delicious Christmas cookies, 2 ultimate frisbee shirts from Spain (you'd have to know the girl to understand why she would send something so bizarre), an excellent bottle of purple nail polish, which will be used the next time Lorena does my nails and some rad nail files. I would include a picture of the cookies, but I ate them already!!! They were so good. So the good news is, you can stop pitying me and my lack of Christmas treats, I was taken care of by my dearest friend and partner in cookie crime! Love ya, Chels!!!

Next week: Back to school (half) full time, dieting due to overconsumption of sumptious cookies, the continued planning WAY ahead, another visit (or two) to immigration and the search for gnochhi in Zihua! Stay tuned and take care!

Bcchos y abrachos!

Leyah

Happy 2010!

Happy Tuesday Bloggers!

Not to fear, I did not forget about you! Of course not! It’s just that my agent plans my days witout so much of a thought for my faithful blog readers! Or, I was busier than expected on Sunday and yesterday and couldn’t write anything. One of those two options.

Another week (plus one day) has gone by and now vacation is really rapidly drawing to a close. I’m both really sad and happy about that fact. Sad because it means getting up at 7 every day again (which is even less fun when Pako gets home at 9 and wants to hang out until midnight). It also means battling 80 kids on a regular basis, which to some of you lunatics might sound fun, but in fact, is quite tiring. I’m happy because it means that I start getting paid again! Woohoo! Pako and I will truly be a two income family! Also, because it means that time is advancing and shortly 3 of my all time favorite people will arrive in Zihua! My parents arrive on the 31st of THIS MONTH! =D and Louise arrives sometime at the end of February, probably the 15th. That’s right, they’re made the necessary arrangements to leave the frigid cold that is plaguing the northern United States and spend some time in mostly sunny, 85 degree Fahrenheit Zihuatanejo! Now don’t you feel silly for not having done the same?

Let’s see in the last week it a couple of things happened: 2 of my good friends got engaged (to each other) – that might have happened more than a week ago, but if I haven’t mentioned it yet, I should have – the badgers won their bowl game, the Vikings lost BADLY, the Packers made the playoffs, I got my nails done, Pako and returned to one of my favorite beaches for the first time since I’ve been here AND we started a new decade, which is pretty dang cool.

Football: I haven’t been able to watch any games lately as Pako has been working a crap-ton of hours (that is a scientific term that means a whole heap) and thus hasn’t had time to accompany me to any games. Now, you might be asking yourself, why can’t I just go by myself? Well, the answer is that I can, but I prefer not to wander about downtown at night (which is something I would avoid doing in Minneapolis also) and also because I’ve been spending time getting to know my f. sister in law, Lorena. That is not to say that I am thrilled that the Vikings, once seemingly so powerful, have been showing weaknesses (we all knew they were there, come on) and that the Packers have been coming together and playing better. Aaron Rodgers is a stud, I’ve said so all along. Also, Charles Woodson is pretty dang awesome! Also, go Badgers.

New Year’s Eve was very low key. We had a party with the family up at Tia Lucy’s house (which is the top floor of Tia Pachita’s house. In case you didn’t know, people like to drink beer on NYE, so Pako had to be at work at 5am and didn’t get out until 8pm (the day before was 11-9:30). I spent the day lounging about with Petra, speculating on when Pako would be home and what food would be served. Pako came home, exhausted, not surprisingly, and lay down for an hour. I was showered and ready when he woke up and so the threw himself in the shower and off we went. The food was yummy! Beans with chorizo and jamón on tostadas (use your Spanish-English dictionaries), cabbage salad with jalapeños, grilled beef tacos with guacamole, salsa, cilantro, onions, lime and Jamaica punch, soda (coke, of course), or beer to drink! This time I didn’t overeat, so I felt ok. We all sat around and chatted and listened to music. Another cousin, Ray, is getting married this year, but he’s having issues because he was never confirmed and thus needs to get confirmed before he can get married in the Catholic church. This lead to a fun question and answer period in which Ray’s mother, Tia Lucy, asked me if I wanted to get married in the church… no…I was confirmed… no… if I had done my first communion… no… if I had been baptized… no… oh man, did I throw those old aunties for a loop. Here they thought I was this nice girl who speaks Spanish and seems to be reigning in their surfer nephew, when really, it turns out that I’m a heathen with no regrets who is living in sin with their angelic and totally confirmed nephew, Saint Francisco. Ok, it wasn’t so dramatic, but there were small gasps from the crowd every time I answered no. Nobody seemed too upset, though they did vow to investigate how, if I wanted to, I would go about getting baptized, communionized, confirmed and legalized in the eyes of the Catholic Dioces (notice I didn’t say the eyes of God, that was intentional).

At midnight we all went inside because the annual shooting of any firearm – automatic or not – takes place at the turn of the year and we think it prudent to do what we can do avoid falling bullets. We then hug everyone in attendance, which takes about 10 minutes of shuffling around, and then cheers with a mixture of cranberry and mineral water (hard drinking family that we are). Pako fell asleep at 12:15 and I danced with the aunts and cousins (as much as I could call it dancing since I hadn’t a clue what I was doing and franticly tried to copy those around me) until about 1:30am. Then I tipped Pako out of the hammock where he was sawing some serious logs and rolled him onto a blow up mattress and went to bed myself.

Lorena, as I am rapidly discovering, is a woman of many talents. She is a teacher, a political activist (when it comes into teachers’ rights and unions), a dedicated and knowledgeable shopper, a folkloric dancer AND a nail artist. She decided to decorate everyone’s nails and thus went out, bought some stuff that I didn’t even know existed and lined us up. I felt quite like I was in a spa and the outcome was quite spectacular. I have never had such fancy feet, and with my shoe collection, that my friends, is saying something!

It has been overcast here and we’re expecting rain on Thursday, which is not unheard of in January, but still fairly rare. We went to a beach called the Ranch on Sunday and it was about 78 degrees and partly cloudy. Fairly comfortable if you’re me, sitting in a chair enjoying a delicious coffee. Pako was slightly chillier out in the waves, but not chilly enough to keep him out of the ocean. He wans to go surfing every Sunday until February (when he will gladly yield his surfing plans to accommodate whatever plans my parents, Louise and I have) because in March a cold current washes in and with it, a whole host of sharks. The waves were mediocre, but he stayed in the water about 3 hours and caught some good ones. When he got out, we had some delicious eggs and beans prepared at the local restaurante (a thatch hut) and enjoyed ourselves thoroughly.

Thursday means I’m back at school. I’m planning to use the next month to plan my way through all of February so as to have as much free time as possible! I hope there’s a thaw around the corner for all of you Statesiders! Also, I hope everyone had a safe and enjoyable New Year’s and is ready for 2010! Talk to you all again next week, take care!

Leyah

Dia de los Inocentes

Good Morning and Happy Monday!

Today is the Day of the Innocents. We’re not supposed to play any jokes on people or lend anyone money. Not sure why, that’s just what I’ve been told. I suppose it’s not so bad to be innocent for one day out of the year. Goodness knows I’m probably not described that way the other 364 days, so onward and upward my fellow innocents!

Another week down and I can hardly believe it. I’m not sure how it happens, but these vacations have turned out a lot busier than I thought they would! That, of course, makes the time fly by! Since I left you last, not a whole lot of huge things have happened (except for this one day called Christmas), but it seems as if I haven’t stopped moving since.

We planned to have a semi-traditional Christmas dinner with a tight knot of gringos from the hotel. The menu: turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes, peas, green jello :), cranberry sauce and tiramisu (a slightly less traditional, but nonetheless totally yummy dessert). The plan was that Lorena and I go to the hotel at 10:30am on the 23rd, to prep the turkey and make the stuffing, jello and tiramisu (potatoes, peas and cran-sauce were another family’s charge). We got there, got everything made (except the jello) and were out the door within 2 hours. Lorena and I, being like-minded, went shopping. Then I went back to the apartment to shower and get ready to go back to the hotel to make the jello and set the table, etc. etc. Well, in that short time, the wicked witch of the South, aka Berenice, wife of the owner of Las Urracas, decides to drop on by (from Acapulco – a 4 hour bus ride pop-in – nobody likes the pop-in!) and because of the less than cordial relationship between Berenice and Petra, the dinner was put on hold. Everything was put into the fridge to be served the following day as a late lunch. The gringos showed incredible restraint and didn’t touch any of the food until we all showed up the next day.

On the 24th, we were slightly apprehensive as to whether or not the bruja would return to her lair in Acapulco, but luckily she did and we all made the taxi-trip to Las Urracas to feast! And by we all, I mean Petra, Lorena and I. The boys were working and Eliseo was already there. I, obviously, ate two helpings of everything and left with a stomach ache. That’s not to say I didn’t enjoy the food immensely! It was as close to a Thanksgiving meal (my all time favorite meal of the year) that I’ll have all year and thus I savored the experience! Then back to the apartment to shower and pack up for Lazaro, for another Christmas eve dinner with the familia. We got there around 9 and immediately (to my delight and my stomach’s consternation) started eating again. This menu: sweet tamales with pineapple, spicy tamales with chile rojo and pork, pozole with all sorts of toppings, carnitas tacos and the usual assortment of spicy snacks (in which I do not partake).

It’s a distinctly different celebration that those to which I am accustomed, but no less fun, that’s for sure. We broke 3 piñatas which, everyone, from a 4 year old girl to a 64 year old man, had to have a go at. I am proud to say that I broke off one of the points of the piñata, but was unable to get the blindfold off in time to get any candy! There was music and everyone was laughing and talking and occasionally dancing. They tried to get the new girl to sing, but she wouldn’t. I must say, they were much easier on her and at no point was the entire 30 person family chanting her name. I’m going to bring this up at the next family meeting and lodge a complaint! Unable to resist taunting me, they did pull me into the middle of the circle to dance some dance that I have never seen or (obviously) danced before. It was mildly embarrassing, but I’m starting to get used to it.

At midnight, with the ring of automatic gunfire in the distance, everyone gives everyone else a hug and says “felicidades” or “feliz navidad.” Then comes the gift exchange. One person starts and they hand their gift to whoever it is whose name they pulled. That person opens the gift and then passes out their present and so on.. Pako’s 14 year old cousin gave me a really pretty onxy and silver bracelet. I gave Ruben Junior, aka Frijolito (little bean), a 6 year old son of one of the many cousins, a truck that came with 2 other cars. Then, it was time to eat more and dance and sing more. We finally went to bed around 2:30am.

The next morning consisted of coffee, eggs, chicken soup, left over tamales and pozole, bowls of candy that were passed out to each person/couple and more chitchat. Then Pako and I took naps in hammocks and woke up to the family playing bingo. I continued my rotten luck streak and lost every round I played. Then, after Pako lunch (because he wasn’t full yet), we came back to Zihua and lazed around for the rest of the day.

The following day, the family from Lazaro came to visit and we all went to the beach. Typical after Christmas activities, right? Well, it is for them, anyway. The beach was totally lovely and not too hot and I enjoyed myself quite a lot. The boys had to work, so when they came home, we made dinner and went to meet the family again for more bingo. Out of about 50 games, Pako won twice and I won alone once and tied with Lorena twice. We ended up learning 30 pesos.

Sunday was a day of true laziness. Pako played on his computer and Xbox and I re-read most of the 7th Harry Potter. Then we went to inspect a house that was being sold and claimed some furniture and random things for our own, which I will be washing quite thoroughly today. Today will also see cleaning and unpacking (completely – at least I’ve started) and text-writing. I’ve also gotta call my bank and my loan counselor in the states to try and negotiate with them in my nicest, sweetest, most convincingest way that they should lower my monthly loan payments as I am but a peso-paid teacher, laboring to educate the leaders of tomorrow. Or something like that. No plans (that I know of) for the next week, but I know something will pop up. Hope you are all still enjoying your vacations and staying warm and dry (harder to do than it sounds when you have 15+ inches of snow – ew).

Oh, I forgot, I mentioned to la familia that one major difference between the Christmases that I’m used to and theirs is the amount of sweets. I explained about Christmas cookies and have been commissioned to make them for the whole family next year. They’ve pledged to find me the ingredients and whatever I need in order to accomplish a Christmas cookie miracle. :) Sounds good to me!

Have a lovely week, talk to you soon!

Leyah

Happy Holidays!

Hello All,

Hope you're all enjoying your break! I know I am, despite the fact that I'm still slightly sick and feel exhausted after the slightest bit of activity! I'm so tired, in fact, that I haven't even ventured out to see if there are any after-Christmas sales. My mother informed me that she thought about going, but decided against it. My friend Blanca was headed to Mall of America today and thus had to get to bed early... This clearly defines the generation gap (and underlines the fact that my mom is not a very good shopper!) -- Not to worry Mom, soon you'll be here with me and I'll take you shopping! Shoes, clothes, accessories, you name it! Dad, you should probably worry a little bit.

I had a very fun and interesting Christmas, which I will detail in a later blog (because, again, I'm tired this morning). I hope you had a lot of fun with your friends and families and everyone stayed safe and warm. Sounds like the midwest (and all over the country) got dumped on with snow... ew. We've been having unusually cool weather here (78 degrees, 65 at night) and people have been complaining about the cold. I've been enjoying myself immensely.

Mary, I got your Christmas card on Christmas Eve, perfect timing! Matthew's turning into quite a stud and I'm showing the pic around to all the young ladies I know, so tell him to brush up on his Spanish by next February ;)

Talk to you all soon (probably tomorrow)!

Leyah