Updates

Well we didn't get to go horseback riding yesterday.  The owners daughter got sick so he cancelled all his appointments.  The previous weekend we were also supposed to go but it started pouring early in the day and didn't stop until the next day.  I was all for riding in the rain but apparently most people don't find that fun.  What?  So we just stayed home and kept an eye on Lola.  She was stray bugs and poking her head in boxes so basically business as usual.  It was probably good horseback riding got canceled because although Lola slept soundly that night I couldn't sleep at all!  I was still worried she might have some kind of injury that hadn't presented itself yet so, much to her annoyance, I kept petting her randomly during the night to make sure she was ok.  I'm sure she appreciated the reprieve when we went to the grocery store the next day so she could sleep without anyone poking her!

One exciting thing we did do this weekend though was book our vacation for break.  I found a super cute little hotel in Tulum for only $50 a night.  We'll have to walk to the beach because it's in the town but we walk everywhere here so that's no big deal.  All the rooms are themed and we picked the Santo room, decorated for the famous Mexican wrestler who never took his silver mask off.

http://www.itourmexico.com

it's really cute, you should check it out.  Octavio was skeptical about the $50 a night but now he's as excited as I am.

The Many Adventures of Pobre Lola

And I said nothing exciting has been happening....

Today was exciting but not in the good way.  Today, Lola fell out the window.  Two stories she fell and landed on a tin garage roof.  Luckily that garage was there or she would have fallen 3 stories.  We had to get keys from the people who own the store beneath us (luckily it wasn't Sunday & they were open!) to get to the area where she fell.  Then we couldn't get her off the roof.  We borrowed a ladder but she wouldn't come to the edge so we could pick her up and the tin roof wasn't going to support Octavio or I (although I was willing to give it a shot in order to get Lola) finally she inched close enough that Octavio could reach out and grab her & boy did she howl!  We were both sure she had broken something by the way she was howling but turns out she was just scared (understandably!)  We took her back up to the apartment and she could walk so we knew her legs weren't broken but we still thought we should take her to the vet to have him check her out.  He poked and prodded and felt around and Lola stayed quiet and everything looked good. He gave her a shot of painkillers to help with any soreness and help her calm down some and sent us on our way.  We picked up some beer to help us calm down some as well.  Our poor kitty has been through so much in her short little life!  Operations, trips on buses, now falling out windows!  ay yi yi. 

The one thing I learned out of all of this is a) keep Lola away from windows from now on and b) Lord help me when I have real babies because I think I was freaking out more than poor Lola I was so scared and worried!  What kind of a mess will I be when I have people babies to take care of?  Good thing I have plenty of time to figure that one out... for now, I'll just keep an eye on Lola.

Teachers: Saints walking among us.

So my first day of work was...how to put this nicely...a mess.  Oh my gosh, I always believed that teachers were extremely underpaid and now I very firmly believe it!  If I could find another job here, I'd do it.  Those little kids wore me out!  And who's idea was it to teach English to three year olds!?  Those kids can barely speak Spanish let alone English.  They just spent an hour staring at me.  My next class was the older preschool kids, the 5 year olds.  They were pretty good.  There was about 18 of them I think and they would at least repeat after me when I said things in English.  I brought out the Buddy puppet though and they just looked at it like really lady, we're a little too old for this thing.  And the three year olds just stared at it the same way they stared at me.  So Buddy the Bear was a flop.  The first graders weren't too bad because there were only 10 of them.  They didn't really want to listen to anything I had to say though and I spent about half the class trying to get them to stay in their seats.  Then there was a lot of excitement because two girls went to the bathroom and came back shouting excitedly about a paloma, or dove, and then all of a sudden everyone had to go to the bathroom.  I didn't fall for that though.  I don't know what was so exciting about a dove but there was no getting their attention back after that.  The real test of my day, that I failed, was the second graders.  Oh my goodness.  These kids were the reason why when I got home and Octavio asked me how my first day went all I could think to say was "please don't make me go back there!"  There was 23 of them and they all wanted to ask me a different question.  My favorite was "How's Australia?"  I had just explained that I was from the United States and this kid apparently thought that meant I'd been to Australia too.  He was all disappointed when I told him I'd actually never been to Australia so I didn't know.  This class was a disaster.  A complete and total disaster.  There's no other way to describe it than that, it was awful.  They were all over the place and talking to everyone and throwing things at each other and rolling on the floor.  A mess.  There was no way I was going to gain control of that classroom.  I was doomed from the start.  So now I'm going back to the drawing boards and going to revise my lesson plans in a hope to first, get their attention, and then hopefully keep it.

Luckily today was the day we had to pay rent and water and the phone bill and all that good stuff so it was a reminder of why I need a job.  Otherwise, I might have been tempted to play sick tomorrow.

In other news, Octavio & I went to Tres Valles, his home town this weekend.  Here are some pictures.

Welcome to Tres Valles!  The city hall all lit up at night and decorated in preparation for Independence Day this month.

Brunch on Saturday morning.

Octavio's sister giving his baby niece a bath.

His quiet little niece.  She had to be bribed with juice to give me a kiss.

After the baby's bath.  Octavio's little brother and niece were watching from the sidelines.

Octavio's aunt with his new niece.

Octavio's grandma.

His aunt taking a break from the heat in front of the fan. 95 degrees with humidity feels a lot hotter when there's no air conditioning to escape in!

Homero, Octavio's aunts parrot.  He whistles at all the cute girls.

Chailo, the cute little hoppy puppy I got to play with at his aunts house.

I was in kitty heaven.

Watching a movie/taking little naps in the afternoon.  Well, I was taking little naps anyway.

Octavio's aunt & I.  And his little old man hat.

Octavio's adorable chatty-cathy niece peeking at Lola (our kitty!) in her carrier.  I think my Spanish got 10 times better just answering her questions.  She is too cute.

Octavio & his mini-me.  Better known as his little brother, Jose Maria.

Octavio's niece, Irani, and I.  She got good at rephrasing questions when she could tell I had no clue what she was saying to me.

Octavio sleeping on the 4 hour bus ride back home. 

Mountains- we've made it back to Xalapa and cooler weather!

cuddling with my graduation present from Octavio, Lola.

Lola found her own bed.

But quickly found a better bed on Octavio's pillow.

The start of Octavio's pineapple upside down cake that I get to enjoy tomorrow!

ready to bake with his teammate Rosy.  Can't wait to eat it after another long day of school tomorrow!