Happy Mother´s Day to my Mama

Yesterday was a national holiday here in Mexico. Mexicans may be known for their machismo, or maybe their fanatisism for the Virgin de Guadalupe, but I would say that a deep love for their mothers might just as well belong to the stereotype of the average Mexican. They dont tell any yo momma jokes down here. They would not be funny. So yes Mothers Day was yesterday and everyone was out with their mamas. Friday we had a big school event that involved every student in the school singing or dancing on a stage for all the schools moms. It was chaos and lasted 4 hours. My kids were super cute and danced to the song Madrid Madrid. They were fantastic.
Last weekend we had off for Cinco de Mayo and Labor Day. It was a nice puente, bridge, of a holiday and we had a five day weekend. Puebla, apparently, is the only town that actually celebrates the reason for this holiday. It was the site of the great battle against the French that led to this national holiday. I guess they might have a parade or special events but only in Puebla, everyone else goes everywhere else to enjoy their time off. And that is so interesting because in the States Cinco de Mayo is the biggest holiday celebrated by the native Mexicans, while Mexicos Independence Day, Sept.16, is hardly celebrated by them in the States, but is the bigger national holiday here in Mexico. Very interesting. We went to Veracruz for the first half of the weekend and enjoyed the city. The Zocalo is nice, the food is great, and city has real character. I loved the fish a la veracruzana and we found the BEST nieve, its like italian ice- ice cream, purely a mexican thing, but this nieve shop by the zocalo is called El Guero and they make the best peanut nieve I have ever eaten. I think i ate it 4 times in 2 days. So that was nice. We visited the big old fortress that used to guard the Veracruz harbor and the aquarium they have on the coast. The beaches along Veracruz are nothing to write home about in my opinion and they were absolutely overloaded with Mexican families on vacation. Almost gross.
So we headed up the coast a couple hours to a town called Tecolutla, purely a beach town and probably a fine beach when its not tourist season but that one was packed too and we had to go far out in the waves to get away from all the people. Sunday we went to the ruins that are close by called El Tajin and i felt like i had entered South America or something, we were suddenly in a sweltering jungle. The ruins are impressive and there are heaps but I couldnt stay in that heat very long. We watched the famous voladores, or flyers, fall upside down and spin from tall pole and that was cool. Later that night we thought wed buy bus tickets back to Pachuca. But oh no. Shouldve bought them long before. All sold out. Next best was a 245 bus to Mexico City and then wed have to back track to Pachuca. So we swallowed that, and took the seats by the toilet, and 2 hours into the trip got stuck in traffic that didnt move for 4 more hours. Everyone got off the bus and hounded the little convenience stores of the hobunk town we were close to. It was dark by the time we started moving. Apparently a semi had had an accident ahead of us and its cargo required a crane to remove it. Everyone overused our bus toilet and it was leaking deadly fumes on us. Then the evil bathroom door kept flying open on its own and i had to kick it back with my foot. What a night. We got in at 230 to Mexico City and crashed at a hostal. What a trip!
On a sad note, I saw my last Pachuca soccer game last week. A couple of us went on Wednesday with our prepaid tickets to see the first of 2 games that Pachuca had to play to qualify for the Mexican finals. The stadium sold out and we got in line right before the game started, waited in line a half hour, and then we finally got in had to stand or sit on the stairs cuz there was no room! Oversold a tad. It was a tight game, with a ridiculous intentional hand ball call against Pachuca that led to a penalty kick which led to the win for San Luis. And then last night Pachuca played them again in San Luis and even though they won by 1 last night, San Luis´s record is better and in a tie they win by default. So Pachuca is done till the fall. What a bummer. I loved my Tuzos.
Anyway, this week is tranquilo. Hope you and your mamas had a nice Mothers Day :-)

Long Time No Blog....

but I´m still here!

So it has been a while my friends and life has picked up its pace. I feel like we, extranjero teachers, are all starting to feel the reality that we have just 2 months left and are feeling a big mix of releif- that we soon get a break, anxiety-that our days are numbered in Mexico, and sadness - that a big goodbye is looming ahead. So we keep living it up in Mexico and eating tacos and traveling. So lets see I left you with a big detailed blog of half my trip with my parents but Ill just brief you on the rest of my spring break. Puerto Vallarta was great, it was wonderful just to get to hang out with my rents and hard to say good bye at the Mexico City airport when the left. Not too long after they left I traveled back to the airport to fly out to good ol USA and visit Jamye in California. I love Jame and Nate and the fantastic four days I got to spend with them. Jame and I visited San Diego Zoo, Newport Beach, and we watched the sunset at Laguna one night. So I had a relaxing weekend before coming back to school and starting up again. And the last month seems to have flown by. And Im having a real hard time remembering what Ive been up to! Hmm, oh well the other weekend Stu, Nate, Roxanne, and I bought tickets to a Norteña music concert. Los Tigres del Norte, one of the most famous groups of that genre, were coming to Pachuca and we knew a long time ago that we had to go. Well norteña music is like bandera and ranchera music in that it is true Mexican music and if you pass any Mexican in his truck in southern California or Texas it is exactly what youd hear. It is Mexican country music. It always has a repetitive bass beat. It always involves an accordian. And it is extremely unique. We find it funny. So we went to buy these tickets at the fairgrounds at 7 pm out of the back window of a bus and were told that the Tigres didnt even come out till midnight. So we left and came back a little after 12 and entered the wave of cowboy hats and boots but the Tigres still didnt come on till 1230! Apparently they played until the early hours of the morning but we didnt stay that long. Everyone was dancing and we danced a little and gave a little Mexican cry now and then and tried to stay awake. It was fun.
So then my 23rd birthday crept up on me last week. My coworkers made it real special and bought me a cake that I shared with my kids and they sang me Happy Birthday and presented me with a beautiful birthday banner with all their handprints and names. And then I got lots of cakey kisses. My 2 adult classes teamed up too and after school threw a party for me and brought cake and food and it was so nice. Then after school I came home to a beautiful flower arrangement from my parents and Nen and Stu bought me gifts too. Stu took me out to eat at our favorite Argentinian restaurant and I ate a steak with A1 sauce (I love that they call it Ah-Uno). It was a great birthday. And last night we kept celebrating by going out to Sushi Bol and eating sushi and going bowling. Im happy to say I broke 100.
So I havent made any big trips since spring break but this weekend 10 of us took a fun trip to a mountain lodge near the state park outside Pachuca and spent the night there cooking hot dogs and marshmellows and listening to people play guitar. In the morning Stu, Chrystian, and I hiked some behind the lodge to this lookout point that was really high up and real cool.
Oh and big news, Stu has a kitten. He found Quique cold and crying in the streets and had to take her in. Shes only like 7 weeks old and shes a beautiful white gray Siamese kitty. Shes a real people lover and a talker and she follows Stu around and curls up on his lap. Shes so cute. Funny thing is he gave her a boys name before he found out for sure she was a girl. Quique is a nickname for Enrique, haha.
So this week is a short one, just 3 days and we get a long Cinco de Mayo weekend. This time Im finally making it to Veracruz and a beach or two and well be back Monday night. Cant wait.
Hope you all are doing great and enjoying some spring weather...Ill send some sunshine....

La vida loca

I feel like I am living la vida loca. I feel like Ive been on a whirlwind ride and I will be for the next week or so.

So I am in Puerto Vallarta with my parents and it is beautiful. We enjoyed the shops and the great malecon or stone beach wall walk and the hot sun on the beach. We have eaten so well here. Ive had seafood twice a day every day. There is no lack of restaurants of all kinds, beautiful people, families, spring breakers, gay couples, and locals selling you everything from day excursions to straw bags to a piece of rice with your name engraved in it. We got here yesterday by 3, but it was overcast so we walked the beach and checked out downtown. Later we went out to eat at this great restaurant and then went to the local supermarket to stock our suites kitchen. Today started out cold really and overcast again so we just shopped and walked downtown. But then it really cleared up by noon to be a beautiful sunny hot day. So i hung out on the beach in the hotel lounge chair and im proud to say i got tan and not burned. Haha! The white gringa did not turn red. So it was a great day and Mom and I checked out the hotel spa for later in the week. Tomorrow we booked a day trip to snorkel and go to some white sand beaches south of Puerto. Should be looooovely...

Before Puerto..... meeting Stu's parents went really well and we spent a great day in Mexico last sunday. we showed them around a bit and ate at los girasoles and watched a good game in gigantic Estadio Azteca. it was a real hike getting there and back and by the end we were exhausted! Tuesday we took them out for pozole at our favorite place and then to a Lucha Libre fight in Stus neighborhood. it was hilarious, better than the last fight we went to, and I think his parents liked it. Stu got a picture of me with El Maldito, haha. Wednesday was Stu's 29th birthday and I came over for his presents and the four of us went out to eat at our favorite Argentinian restaurant, La Chacra. Then we came back and celebrated with cake with his adopted Mexican family as well and Nate came too. It was really nice. It was fun watching him translate between his Mexican family and his parents. His parents brought him a big can of Foster's beer from Australia, haha. So it was a great birthday.

Thursday I tripped it to the airport to find my parents, who by the way, never sent me their flight information, and we miraculously met up without a hitch. We got into Pachuca late, I made them quesadillas and we went to bed. The next day they came to school with me and saw all my kids and the rest of the preschool groups all dressed up for the Spring Festival. It was a carnaval theme and it was so cute, my kids danced just great and my parents loved it. I showed them around the school and they met a lot of people and we left around noon. Later that afternoon we hiked it up the 2 pyramids of Teotihuacan and my legs hurt for the next 2 days! Friday night we took Stu out and they got to meet him. We went to this really fancy restuarant that served ginormous servings of tasty steak. My parents then claimed they were tired (i cant see how) and didnt join us in going to the St. Pattys Day party that another teacher was throwing. Saturday we had a great day and the rents got the real taste of Mexico. We did some errands in the morning and I showed them my dance studio, our favorite places to eat, the chaotic Mercado Juarez and I finally picked up my fixed camera card. We met Fabis at the market and took the combi up to Real de Monte. We had a nice time and they got to try great pastes, tortilla soup, and real enchiladas. Its such a cute town. Later that night we took Jenny out to El Carboncito and they got the real mexican experience with tacos al pastor and horchata and then Santa Clara ice cream. It was such a good night. and they just love Jenny.

Sunday we got to Mexico City by 11 and had a rude taxi driver woman take us to our hotel. I guess she didnt like the luggage in the front seat next to her or the fact that her front door didnt work after we got out. But we made it and our hotel was great. We even got a discount cuz we paid in cash. I gave them the whirlwind tour of Mexico starting in Chapultepec park at the enormous Museum of Anthropology and then the hike up to the Chapultepec Castle with stunning city views and then downtown to see Alameda Park, Diego Rivera's mural of Alameda Park, and we walked by the Fine Arts Museum on our way to dinner at Los Girasoles. It was a bit of dejavu to what i did with Stu and his parents the week before. Were going to get in in time on Friday to see some more before they leave. Anyway we had no problems getting to the bus station on Monday morning and flying out of Toluca to get here.

And i think that about covers it all so far. Im out of breath.

Also, i had a big adventure with my camera card, it had a wicked virus on it and after three trips to the fixit shop and a lot of waiting, I finally have a clean card and my pictures saved to my USB. So it looks like Ill be able to put up some pictures soon!

Keep praying for the Otts. Its been tough to be down here when wed rather have been up there.

Disculpenme

So i really planned on putting up more pictures this half of the year and believe me I want to but im having an issue in trying to get my pcitures off my camera. Apparently the guy who used to work at my internet cafe had the software installed to do it but he left and now Im stuck. As soon as i figure out another way ill put some up!

Bienvenida a la Primavera

Today is a wicked beautiful day.

Too bad Im sick. But on the upside I became a legal worker in Mexico today. I was one of the 4 chosen extranjeros today to leave school and trip it to the new immigration office of Pachuca. Upon arrival we were told wed have to wait an hour, go get a cafecito or somethign and came back. We went to the mall, drank coffee, killed time and returned only to wait an hour more. Finally we got called in one by one to sign and fingerprint our passport size FM3 booklets that look like they were issued in the 60s. My birthdate year was printed wrong, after 7 months of waiting, and they fixed that up fast, I dont think I look 12 years old. So it was exciting.

Bob Dylan was really cool, we had a fun time, it was cool to see him, he played some classic songs like Lay Lady Lay and Like a Rolling Stone and Boots of Spanish Leather but they did really resemble what they sound like from back in the day, his voice is just not the same. His new stuff was pretty good though.

Last weekend Stu had a birthday bash for all the forgein teachers birthdays that fall in March including his own. He stopped the music and counted down from 10 before midnight to yell Happy March. haha, it was a good time. Sunday we went to the international film festival theyre having here in Pachuca and saw an independent film from Spain called La Influencia. Very silent, depressing, and interesting film. Then we went out for tacos. Wednesday we went back to see another film, an American one called Paranoid Park and it was really a good film. Very cool. After that we celebrated my neighbors birthday at the Sushi Bol, an interesting Pachucan combination of bowling and sushi, go figure. Its real cool though, we had a great time and I broke 100 so i was happy.

Stus parents come tomorrow and Saturday were going to Mexico City with them to see an America game in la Azteca stadium, which is huge. And Thursday my parents come to Pachuca!!! or Chapuca as Tiev calls it, haha...

Send up your prayers for my Aunt Lynne and the Ott´s .... I think of them every day.

Sending you some Mexican sun, until next time.

Mas noticias

So Queretaro was good and ... I honestly can´t remember what we did the next 2 weekends! We spent them in Pachuca so I´m sure I went to a Pachuca soccer game and ... I can´t remember what else, hah. Tomorrow we are going to a Bob Dylan concert in Mexico City. Chrystian is driving and Stu, Nate, Hilary, and I will fill up the rest of the car. Should be a fun night, we probably wont get back till late but it will be worth it. Hmm, our spring break is approaching fast, my kids already have spring fever, and I am counting the days until my parents come down to Mexico. Hopefully they are preparing their stomachs for the trip, haha. What would a trip to Mexico be without some digestive problem. I also anticipate a lot of sightseeing and cant wait for them to meet everyone from my life in Mexico. 2 weeks!

Noticias de Febrero

The very first weekend of February we had off that Monday and so, to backtrack a little, we ended up going to San Miguel de Allende. It would have been the perfect weekend to go to Veracruz, which we had originally planned, but we didnt realize that that was carnaval weekend and by the time we found out and looked for lodging the city had been booked. So instead we scratched off another place on my list, San Miguel de Allende. Famous for its huge amount of stinkin wealthy expats, mostly from the States, this precious town sits 4 hours above Mexico City in the state of Guanajuato. It´s really nice, cobble streets, classy restuarants, and it was strangely common to hear English spoken among the strangers we passed. We had a nice time, the main cathedral is the highlight of the town. It looks absolutely magnificent at night, like a pink fairy tale castle glowing in the dark. We saw newlyweds leave the church that Saturday and chuckled at the pairs¨ painful smirks as rice was whipped at them by smiling guests. We strolled through a beautiful park filled with flower and plant sellers. We hiked to the lookout point of the city and drank horchata and ate pasta at a nice restaurant. We found a quiet rooftop bar later and hung around in wicker chairs and watched the locals. The next day we visited a little flea market and I bought some beautiful handpainted ceramic bowls. We had an extra day left and decided to leave San Miguel de Allende and make our way home via the city Queretaro. I hadnt heard much of Queretaro before but its a really nice city, very livable, with tons of pretty plazas and an awesome still-working aqueduct that leads into the city. We happened by a parade of stomping people dressed up in traditional Aztec getup (you wouldnt believe how much leg those men show!) and we found a bar that had the Superbowl game on (so sad Pats :-( ).

Mariposas Monarcas

Well that was the longest break Ive ever taken from writing on my blog....woops! I have been up to some cool stuff in the last couple weeks...where do I begin?
Well this weekend was pretty cool. Saturday Stu and I went to see one of the famous Monarch butterfly sanctuaries in Mexico. It was a total mission in getting there, lots of different little transports and then a steep 2 km climb but it was worth it. It was exciting to see more and more butterflys as we went higher until finally the air was filled with mariposas and they were running into us. There were alot of people there with us because the butterfly festival had started that weekend. It was pretty incredible, ive never and probably will never see again, so many butterflies in one place. They coated the trees to deep orange color and I was able to get some really closeup pictures of them. Theyre gorgeous! We bought handpainted butterfly mugs and trekked back.
Ok more later.... i promise...:-)
My parents come to Mexico in 2 weeks!!!

weekend news

Well, Mexico City was interesting....traffic was tough getting there but after we finally surfaced near Alameda Park it was fun to show Nate around, being that it was his first time ever in the D.F. It was a beautiful day and the park was hopping. We came with a mission to get Bob Dylan tickets and although the lady in the bookstore who worked the Ticketmaster desk was out to lunch when we came through we drank coffee for a half hour till she came back and we got the tickets. Its gunna be a fun time, our friend Chrystian is driving us into the city and we're taking a full car of Stu, Nate, Hilary, and I. Its like the 27 or something, a wednesday in February.
Oh i made the big mistake of accidentally leaving Stu's Lonely Planet guide book, our travel Bible, in the taxi as I was getting out at the bus station in Pachuca. It would have been real helpful on Saturday. We went to four bookstores in Mexico City looking for another one but they were all sold out everywhere. We had wanted to see Chapultepec Park but it closes at about 5 so we werent going to make it. We wanted to see an incredible huge art exhibition in the main zocalo too but the line was literally a mile long....all day long. So instead we thought wed check out the yuppie area of Condesa and Roma but without a good guide book we spent a couple hous walking around big peopleless boulevards trying to find a good place to eat or even a sign of life. We were definitely in the wrong side of town. It was supposed to be a pretty popular neighborhood. So we gave up and took the metro back into the centro and came up near the Zocalo. We sat down at a touristy restaurant, too tired to talk, and after waiting for 15 minutes for them to take our order, quickly all agreed that good old McDonalds would be perfect instead. We suddenly were filled with new energy as our trained gringo noses found the closest fast food restaurant. A quarter pounder never tasted so good. Exhausted we got back on the metro to go home. But that turned out to be quite a trip (it always is because we have to change trains twice to get to the bus station) because at our first change we realized the entrance was blocked and we overheard that someone threw themselves in front of the train and that entrance would be temporarily closed. Well we didnt know how long that would be so we came up to the road to find a taxi. So did everyone else and their brother. We were three gueros flailing down taxis and we still couldnt get one. So we went down again. This time the metro was cleared out and we got on fine. But 2 minutes into our trip and the train stopped and all the lights went out. Ay, caramba. The city's been plauged with power outages a lot recently. Too bad the train was packed so full we could barely move and it was stinking hot. We sweated it out for over 5 minutes until we felt the engines gear up again and the lights came back on. That was the first time that every happened to us. Finally we made it to the bus station and made it home to sweet old Pachuca. What a day.
Jenny's friend from college, Drew Cooper, aka David Spade, came to visit us from outside Cuernavaca where he volunteers at an orphanage. He is a ton of fun and lives and loves Mexico like we do so we hit it off right away. We took him up to Real de Monte on Sunday for brunch and then later that afternoon hung out with the huge crowd that gathered at the baseball field by our house. Drew claims that if he lived in pachuca hed be there every Sunday. I'd been there once with Stu but the crowd hadnt been that big. They were really into the game. It was a blast.
So anyway, tranquilo weekend, but stilll a good time. I did see the main Cathedral in Mexico City for the first time and the ruins of Templo Mayor that lie behind it. So that was cool.
Have a great week!

Lucha Libre and Ziplines

Well I haven´t written in awhile and you are definitely due a story on Lucha Libre. I dont know how this crazy sport began but it is uniquely Mexican but resembles the States´ WWF. Storied characters come out to the wrestling ring in high laced up boots, tight pants, bare chests, and colorful masks. Its really hilarious. They toss each other around and throw each other down and do a lot of hand slapping but its all in fun and these guys are actually more athletic than I imagined because they do all those stunts and dont get hurt. It was pretty entertaining. I took videos and lots of pictures and found it funny how many people in the crowd were wearing a Lucha Libre mask as well. We went to see EL MISTICO who was the reason for the special fight night and he came out in the last fight in his white pants and mask and the crowd went wild. Good times. Made me laugh. And Stu got a great picture with a novice luchador. We bought El Mistico posters too. I was pretty shocked by the lack of security at the event though, in between fights little kids stormed the ring and it would always take a while to clear them out for the next fight.
Interesting.
Schools been going well, we´re doing letter Ss this week and that is just fantastic because we get to talk about Superman and Spiderman and snakes. I had my first open house ever on Monday and all my kids parents came to see our class. It went well. We have good parents. Also, got 2 new kids in 2 weeks and we have the smallest Kinder room! Ami is a sweetheart and always tells me I´m pretty - Eres muy bonita, Miss - and Diego was a trip yesterday, his first day, he screamed and cried for the first hour and a half. By the end though he was fine and happy and talking it up with his new friends. And theres a rumor today that we might get another student transferred from the other Kinder class. So that would be 18 kids! Yikes.
This weekend was good, we went to Pachucas season opening game and they beat Los Tecos 1-O. Good start. We really missed our Tuzos, its good to be back. Sunday Nate, a new teacher here from Idaho, Hilary, our favorite veteran from Toronto, Stu and I went to the National Park near Pachuca called El Chico. We had a great day, it was so nice to be among trees and go hiking. Its up in the mountains and their are these crazy rock cliffs that appear out of nowhere around the town. We hiked down the road behind the church to find the river, or Miracle River, so called, according to a local who we passed along the road, because couples used to go down to the river and make miracles, haha. It was a long walk down, lots of caves and some waterfalls and around a bend were some little shanty restaurants so we sat down and ate the local specialty, river trout. It was really tasty. As we were sitting there eating we realized that there was a zipline set up and people were zipping over our heads. Hilary was interested in doing it and I said Id do it with her. She´d never done a zipline before. So without much hesitation after we paid our bill the 2 girls in our group found the zipline guides and trekked up the side of the mountain to the launch point. I think the trek up and down and not the zipline itself were actually the most dangerous parts. Hilary and I were huffing and puffing by the time we got to the top and laughed out loud when we said to each other, dont we have to sign a waiver or something for this?? Nope, harness up and go. Hilary took a bit to get off but she loved it, I loved it too. The view was amazing but unfortunately I left my camera with Stu down below. Hes afraid of heights so he wasnt even close to climbing anything. It was a lot of fun though, I´m glad we did it.
I started up dance again this week, it was good to see everyone again, they were afraid Rod and I werent coming back! I´m probably going to Mexico this weekend to do some more sight seeing and buy Bob Dylan concert tickets.
Have a great day in the USA.

Back in Mexico

I cant believe Ive already been back in Mexico a week! Time flies here. I had a great holiday and loved seeing my friends and family again but its good to be back. My kids have gotten cuter and my stomach is getting used to Mexico again. It was soooo good to see Rodney and Jenny and Stu again, my second family, I really missed them. We were all over the place for the holidays, Rodney in Colombia, Jenny in Chicago, Stu in Cuba, and I in Boston, so we´ve spent a lot of time catching up. The first week back went fine, took a break from dance classes with Rod and just relaxed. Last night 2 teachers threw a birthday party and today we are about to go see a Lucha Libre fight! We`ve been looking forward to it for a long time. Tonight comes the famed El Mistico to Pachuca and we`re going to see him. Going to be a good time.
Thanks for reading, and Happy New Year!
Talk to you again soon!