English as a Second Language

I have now successfully applied to three different jobs.  I've tried to contact a whole bunch more but haven't heard back from any of them yet.  One is at an English school in town & they said they are going to email me back with a time for an interview.  Another is at a private school literally across the street from my apartment and they said they will call me after reviewing my resume.  Another is for a preschool English teaching position.  Octavio called the preschool today and asked about the job.  They told him he could apply but they were actually looking more for a woman for the preschool position.  So he said oh ok, well do you have an email address to send information to because I have a friend who might be interested. AKA-me!  So that is how I got out of calling them on the phone but still applying.

Octavio has started school.  He came home yesterday worried that it was going to be harder than he thought and his French class was really hard.  Then he came home today with a question from his English class.

"What is to essay?"
"An essay?" I said, "like a paper you write for class."
"No, to essay.  Does it make sense to say I like to essay."
"No, that's not a real thing."
"Yeah!  That's what I thought!  My English teacher asked what we like to do after school and someone said ensallar mi piano, (which means to practice my piano) and he wrote on the board 'to essay the piano.'"
"Yeah...that's not a real thing."

Now Octavio is skeptical of his English teacher because he seems to know more English than him.  The teacher also told them acceptable responses to the question how are you? are I'm blue or I'm peachy.  I told him they made sense & people would understand but no one really said those things.  Except my mom.  (also the reason Octavio already knew about the use of the word 'peachy')

In other news:  Here are pictures of our furnished apartment!  And some of a very studious Octavio. 

Octavio putting our couch together.  He claims that Mexicans don't read instructions.  Which really only means I read the instructions to him.

Octavio studying like the good student he is at our kitchen table.  I think he's just really excited he finally has a chair to sit in!

Our little kitchen area.

More of our kitchen & my beautiful curtains billowing in the breeze.

Our table with our new chairs.  We were definitely the most excited for these to arrive.  We got them on sale because they were a little damaged.  The legs are slightly uneven but nothing a little cardboard folded up under one leg won't fix!  We were waiting for these guys who carry chairs they've made on their backs & walk around neighborhoods selling them to come by.  Octavio said he saw them every day practically before I came but once we needed them they were no where to be found.  My dad said a sure fire way to find them would be to buy different chairs.  Sure enough, two days after these arrived the guys were back in our neighborhood toting their chairs for sale around!

Our "furnished" living room.  Octavio thinks it's funny I called it that since all it really is is a futon and a table.  Still. better than nothing!

I tried to get a better shot of my curtains :)

Part of our bedroom.

Desk area of the bedroom

Closet area of the bedroom.

And now you've seen it all!  Well except the bathroom but that's pretty standard.  So now that you've seen pictures it's probably about time to see it in person...aka come visit me :)

I need a job.

Our chairs & couch finally came!  We waited and waited and of course during the 2 hour period we gave up waiting, they came.  Luckily we were only next door at my host moms house so Octavio could run over and help them unload everything.  So now our apartment is complete.  The only thing missing is Lola, my kitten graduation present!  Octavio's sisters cat had kittens when he was living at home & he picked one out for my graduation present.  Then the sneaky little guy told me once I got here we had to go to Tres Valles to get her.  If there's one way to get me over my nervousness of meeting his whole family at once it's bribery with a kitten and he knew it. 

Octavio's started school now.  His first day was cancelled due to the hurricane.  Apparently there were supposed to be big storms as a result of it in Xalapa but it just rained for part of the day then was sunny the rest of the day.  I used the day to apply for some jobs at English schools in town but so far have heard nothing back.  Octavio's really excited about school, his (second) first day went well and he can't wait to start cooking things.  I can't wait either because they get to bring home everything they make, including what they make in his pastry class! mmmm...

Now I'm just looking for jobs and hoping I find one soon because it's really boring all day by myself!

I would have a classic first day of school picture to post here but Octavio wouldn't let me take one.  He says once he gets his uniform though he'll let me take one so look forward to that. 

A Laid Back Saturday

Much to my disappointment, our couch & chairs did NOT get delivered yesterday.  Apparently there was some problem with the truck so they will be coming on Monday.  I was very frustrated so I let out a string of a few of the cuss words I knew in Spanish, much to Octavio's amusement.  It probably sounded a lot like a little kid cussing what with my pronunciation and all.

Speaking of small children, we had the pleasure of having lunch with one today.  We had lunch in the centro after we went to an orientation for Octavio's school that starts Monday.  They invited all the students and their guardians so I went as the role of guardian.  I am his emergency contact after all.  We were starving afterwards so instead of making lunch at home we ate downtown immediately following his meeting.  When we were shown to our table there was a little girl already seated at it.  She was reluctant to go back to her own table with her mom but did anyways, for a while at least.  Her mom was deep in conversation with someone at the table so she either didn't notice or couldn't be bothered that her daughter kept running over to our table.  She sat next to me, she crawled over me & sat on the back of our booth, she stole our sugar and salt and poured it in her hand and licked it out.  Then she proceeded to steal Octavio's bread.  It was funny at first, especially because the little girl was really cute, but it got serious when she tried to steal the strawberries off my pancakes.  Luckily all it took was a lo siento, no and she backed off.  Then she decided I was messy & needed help because she took my napkin & tried to tuck it into my shirt as a little bib.  I had to admit, that was pretty funny.  The girl was nuts though, running around barefoot causing havoc in the resteraunt with her mom barely noticing.  And when she did she would go pick her up, laugh, and call her a "salvaje"  or "savage"  A cute little savage but a savage all the same.

Then Octavio & I walked to Walmart, like a 30 minute walk, to get groceries and a few things we needed for the apartment and decided to save the 20 pesos on a cab home and walk back with our bags.  So we used the money we saved by walking on beer.  A good trade off.

We let our stomachs rest a bit in the park after lunch before walking home.  

These people were some sort of security patrol in training.  I just liked the pink backpacks they all had, super intimidating.

 

I'm a sucker for anyone in a cowboy hat so this cute little old man in the park caught my eye.

 

I saw a bunch of Boone's Farm at the store in the wine section & it reminded me of home :)

Octavio & I treated ourselves to beer after saving money walking to and from Walmart instead of taking the cab so we bought my favorite beer, Indio.

Octavio enjoyed his watching the Mexican vs. France soccer game on his computer.  Mexico won.

 Tomorrow we're going to translate my resume so hopefully I can find a job next week.  Everyone, cross your fingers for me!  Maybe say a little prayer, send good thoughts my way, anything really, I'll need the help!  I hate interviewing in English, let alone Spanish!!

A picture's worth a thousand words

To start things off, here are a few pictures of our unfurnished apartment.  Slowly but surely we're getting it put together but you can consider these the "before" pictures:

Here is our completely empty living room.  Our couch is being delivered tomorrow!

                                            

Here is our little kitchen with Octavio cooking.  Contrary to popular belief, I have made meals in here (2 to be exact, spaghetti & macaroni & cheese.  I leave the rest to Octavio.)

Right now our table is in our little hallway by the bathroom but soon it will be moved to the living room.  Which I guess will make it a living/dining room.  Right now we only have a computer chair so Octavio eats his meals leaning against the wall like this.  I try to convince him to take the chair but he's ever a gentleman & won't accept.  I don't complain.  Tomorrow though we'll finally have 2 official chairs for the table!

This is part of our bedroom and my pride & joy, the curtains.  Note the craftmanship.  That's right, I made those puppies with my own two hands.  They started out as nothing more than a strip of fabric and with scissors, a needle, and thread, I made them into the masterpiece you see before you today.  Soon to come, curtains for the kitchen & living room.

This sign in a park downtown at first just said if you bring pets, pick up their excrements but some smartypants with a marker wrote in "ninos" about the mascotas word (sorry it's hard to see in the picture!) to make the sign read, if you bring pets or children, pick up their excrement.

 Part of the park downtown that we wandered around

I was of course attracted to the horses for children to ride in the park.  

Wall mural on some random wall downtown.

A little piece of Irish pride, even in Xalapa.

I couldn't pass up the Shalom sign either.  Some sort of restaurant next to the Irish Pub.  They were closed when we walked by though so we'll have to explore them at a later date.

A different park downtown with loads of vendors, shoeshine men, and balloons for sale.  (Octavio got his shoes shined here before he picked me up at the airport!)

And last but certainly not least, a little homage to my tropical sno days:  the traveling shaved ice cart.  This guy hand shaved the ice!  Too bad it was no good.  I should have given him some pointers from my snow cone knowledge learned over the years.

As if child birth wasn't a rough process already...

I am currently writing this from the kitchen because Octavio is spending the afternoon sleeping in our room after getting zero hours of sleep on a concrete sidewalk while I enjoyed a solid 7 hours in a comfy bed.  Why, you might ask?  Because his sister was having a baby of course!  Wait...I should probably explain that.


So Octavio's younger sister was due to have her baby towards the end of this month and went into labor Tuesday.  They took her to the hospital outside their home town but her blood pressure was high and the doctors were worried they were going to have to preform a C-section and weren't equipped for that so they sent her to the hospital in Veracruz City about 2 hours away.  Octavio got a phone call explaining all this from his dad and he went straight into big brother mode and started worrying up a storm.  We were going to wait to meet the newest baby girl until they got home to Tres Valles but he was worried and then his other sister called and said they might need him to give blood (more on this in a bit..) so we hopped on a bus (so handy to be able to do that!) and made our way to Veracruz City.  We met his dad & oldest sister in the parking lot of the hospital and right away I could tell I would need some things explained to me about this whole process.   Holy smokes, I have never seem so many people in a hospital!  I got overwhelmed just standing outside!  Well it turned out his sister had had her baby at 4 AM on Wednesday morning but no one had been able to see her or the baby yet (as of noon on Wednesday)  No one is allowed in the area where the women give birth, all the families have to wait outside until a social worker comes and gives them news or tells them they've been transported to the maternity floor of the main hospital.  So we waited.  And waited.  And then waited some more.  I watched nervous fathers jump at the sound of their wives names being called and race over to the door of the hospital for any news of their wives and new babies. In between the waiting we went to the blood bank (a really fancy sterile looking building with a bunch of rooms for donating blood) because since Octavio's sister went to the government hospital her stay was free but someone had to donate blood as a form of "payment." (there's really no none creepy way to say that)  I liked that part because I was thinking how I don't mind giving blood but I sure hate paying bills! (Well, my mom sure hates paying bills...) Octavio's blood failed the test because he was still getting over an infection and his white blood cells were low but they gave us the sheet of paper we needed anyway.  His sister added that to her folder of official looking papers that she was gathering in order to get her sister released from the hospital when the time came. We then went back to waiting outside but tookbreak to get dinner then headed back to the hospital by 6:00 before the next round of news was announced.  They told us everything was fine & she and the baby were healthy but they were just waiting on a bed to open up on the maternity floor to move her.  When it became clear that wouldn't happen anytime soon Octavio's aunt took her sister (who had spent the previous night on the sidewalk outside the hospital with her dad) and I to her house 20 minutes away.  Octavio decided to stay and keep his dad company outside the hospital as they waited for more news.  I was lucky enough to be able to go to his aunts house, shower, enjoy a dinner of Domino's pizza and sleep in a real bed.  Octavio, on the other hand, spent the night on the sidewalk outside of the hospital.  His dad was able to sleep (probably because he was exhausted from spending the previous night on the sidewalk as well) but Octavio stayed awake the whole night.  At 11:00 PM the social worker came out & told them his sister had been moved to the maternity floor and gave them a pass to her dad could go bring her some things she might need but he couldn't stay to visit.  He then returned to his "cama de piedra" as he jokingly called it or "bed of rock" for the night.

The next day Octavio's sister & I woke up at 6:30 AM to get back to the hospital.  The masses of people from the night before were still there spread across the hospitals front steps and sidewalks reminding me slightly of what I imagine a refugee camp might look like.  One man was complaining because his wife was ready to be released the previous afternoon but didn't have his paperwork completed and the correct copies of certain official documents and the hospital couldn't release her without everything.  He was complaining because no one told him what he needed to do and wasn't aware of the entire process because in his smaller town the hospital just does it for you.  All I could think while watching him was 1) how frustrating that must be to know he could have been home the day before with his wife & new baby 2) how pissed his wife probably is sitting in a hospital after giving birth waiting for her unorganized husband to get his act together and 3) how that would totally be me fumbling around not knowing what to do.  I'd be doomed.

We ended up leaving before getting to see his sister & meet the new baby because it was going to be until at least 4:00 that afternoon before they let her go but the doctor said it would probably be the next morning because they wanted to observe her more and make sure her blood pressure and everything was stable before they let her go so Octavio & I basically gave up & went home deciding to see her later this month in Tres Valles. 

Hence, him sleeping right now while I type this! 

A few pictures

Here are some pictures I've taken throughout the week. I've kind of been forgetting to bring my camera places and then I hear a little voice in my head (my mom's) reminding me to take pictures. So here you go, Mexico so far:

Octavio & I on one of the balconies at the hotel we stayed at in Veracruz City, we thought you'd be able to see the city in the background but apparently our heads are too big. (all the brains.)

Octavio in the Zocalo (town center area) of Veracruz City enjoying a beer while I had coffee in 105 degree weather because I was still tired after waking up at 3:30 AM the day before for my flight.


A birds eye view of part of Veracruz City from our hotel.


More of Veracruz City. It's the oldest city in the americas by the way, it's where Hernan Cortez landed & built a house before going on to bother the rest of Mexico.


A picture Octavio took of me (after the little Jeanette Burlbaw voice in his head reminded him to take pictures also) at a point in the park overlooking part of Xalapa.


A view from the roof of our apartment building.


A different view from the roof of our apartment building.


Yet another view from the top of our apartment building. the snow capped mountain in the background is Pico de Orizaba, the highest point in Mexico.


an olive bar in the supermarket in Xalapa. People looked at me funny for taking pictures in a grocery store but I thought my dad would appreciate knowing people in Mexico love random olive bars as much as he does. (you can't send him to the grocery store alone or else he comes back with random gourmet olives that cost about as much as the rest of the groceries because he loves olives & picking out fancy olives even more I think.)



More views from the roof of my apartment. I didn't realize we took so many similar pictures up there.


Xalapa is very rainy. While walking home from one of the many stores Octavio & I visited in an attempt to furnish our apartment we got caught in some sprinkles that quickly made their way into a full blown storm. Luckily we were only a block away from our apartment when the rain started.
The beginning of the storm we narrowly escaped.


Turns out heavy rain + strong winds does not equal good things for our apartment. Water made it's way in through the bottom of the front door and Octavio had to try to sweep it into the shower with a broom while I followed behind mopping with a towel & my foot.


This is me walking home from one of the home goods store with our giant trash bag full of loot.
I bumped quite a few people with it but it was mainly plastic kitchen things so no harm done.

In the next addition: Pictures of the curtains I made, I'm quite proud of them.


Also, I made a small change to the about me section since many people seemed a little skeptical about the "quiet kansas girl" part..

In the beginning...

After much anticipation I am finally in Mexico. My plane left Kansas City at 7:00 AM so we woke up bright and early (3:30!) to get there on time. We avoided overweight charges on one of my bags by taking some books out but the other one there was no hope for, it was enormous. Probably no surprise but I had a few problems navigating my way through immigration & customs in Mexico City. I lost half of my immigration slip somewhere between the plane and the counter and had to move to the side to fill a new one out. Then I heaved my two enormous and heavy bags off the baggage claim belt only to drop them and my carry ons right before going through customs. After a few failed attempts though I successfully made it to the other side. When I reached Veracruz City I must have looked somewhat sketchy because the security officer asked to see my baggage receipts to make sure they were really mine. Octavio thought it was funny because I was the only person they stopped.

We spent a few days in Veracruz City and explored a little bit. We went to the aquarium and a wax museum. We went to breakfast the first day there & I ordered what I thought was coffee with milk. It was, but the part I missed was the milk was straight from the cow. Not quite the same as the milk you get out of the carton at the store...

The last night there we went to a cookout with Octavio's aunt & uncle who live in Veracruz City. It was fun and the food was good but I got attacked by mosquitoes. I'm like one big bug bite. Now we're in Xalapa getting settled. Octavio's been living in our apartment for a month by himself and there are little tell-tale signs around that a boy has been living here alone-like the fact that there is no mirror anywhere in the place! Our apartment is pretty empty except for the things my host family lent us like the bed, table, and refrigerator. Octavio waited until I got here to buy everything else so I could help pick them out. So that's what we're doing today, hopefully buying a couch, chairs so we can eat at our table, and some sort of drawers so I can finish unpacking. And curtains so the sun doesn't wake us up everyday at 6:30!