when i have lost socks in the process of washing clothes, there is always the moment of sadness, regret, possibly a flicker of, ¨i remember¨ sniff ¨the last time i wore you¨ sniff ¨mr sock,¨ and then, because deep down (ok, this is clearly on the surface as anyone who has ever seen a room i have occupied will know) i am a packrat, i put the single sock back in the drawer with his friends and light a candle in hopes of one day finding his lost brother. sometimes, remember dreams do come true, i will find said stray sock in the leg of a pair of pants or the arm of a shirt that i washed him with; however, all too often my drawer just fills up with more unmatched pairs of socks until the day i have no more clean socks and begin wearing unmatchables. at one point i think this was in fashion. not sure when that was, but i have faith that one day it will again be in vogue, thus i rarely throw socks, whether bachelors or not, away.
i am often saddened by the loss of articles of clothing, mainly bc i do not buy that many and thus remember most of the ones i have. there are two long sleeve shirts i am thinking of that i lost in flag. one, a black long sleeve capilene shirt that i wore snowboarding (and on mardi gras almost two years ago when i had the bright idea to stuff two balloons under my shirt and, well, i will let you imagine how that went. interestingly, though i had long hair at the time, i was still denied access to the ladies room at a local watering hole in flag and was informed in no uncertain terms, that if i went in, i would be sure not ever to be allowed to enter the bar, much less one of its bathrooms, again. killjoys.) and another dark grey with orange block letters of a snowboarding company, nixon, that i bought in san francisco. i look for long sleeve t-shirts like some people look for new cars. i shop around, bide my time, complain about how overpriced they are, then after a few months, find one i like and, possibly, buy it. hence, replacing one of these bad boys isn´t as simple as heading to the store to get more milk.
why i am regaling you all with a strange story about my somewhat odd clothing habits? the easiest answer is that i am miffed. i washed my clothes this weekend and hung them up to dry just outside my apt. the neighbors, the lone set who do not also work at the university, had left to dry the funky ropa of their rugrats for numerous days, i so i pushed some of the tot-tees out of the way to place my clothes on the line.
well, when the neighbors returned and plucked from the line their own set of clothes, they took a pair of my pants with them. the next day, after i had cleared all of my clothes, i found a pair (keep in mind i have only four pair with me down here) of khaki pants hanging, looking lonely all by themselves, on the line. pirates! they had looted my clothes repetoir.
as you might imagine, i immediately went inside and rooted through my repertoire of other clothes to see what might be amiss. shock. horror. two t-shirts were missing.
take a breath with me here. i was definitely nonplussed to encounter such a loss. i have five t-shirts with me in mexico. this does not jut deplete my supply it nearly wipes it out.
alas, the brigands have absonded with half my wardrobe! and when i say they took off, i mean there is no sign of them. their drapes are shut, their rats have ceased screaming day and night and all that remains, like dirty plates after thanksgiving, are their plastic clothes pins on the line demarcating the last-known wherabouts of 2/5 of my non-school attire.
although i could not hope to match the girth of the male neighbor, i certainly have a good foot or more in height on him, thus my shirts would be the kind of shress (shirt-dress) that some females like to wear. all he needs is a belt and some daisy dukes to join the other cross-dressing, oh wait, i should bite my tongue on that one (assuming tron reads this and remembers the prom for adults we attended in flag in the summer of 04). nevertheless, it is clear that the clothes are not for him.
i am sad. had i plethora of clothes to lounge around in, this would only be a minor setback. as i am leaving town tomorrow (stina, we will have so much at the beach!), this presents more than a slight problem.
life will go on, but ames, you must know, they have taken my ¨dawgs¨shirt hostage. as no ransom note has emerged i fear the worst (greasy man has worn the shirt and spilled all manner of food all over it or one of his offspring has soiled it with who-knows-what). join me in the hopes that my return from vacation will also mark the return of my pilfered camisetas.
pinche vecinos. (dont look up the first word, it is bad, but vecinos means neighbors)
15 December 2005
14 December 2005
i am definitely excited about my trip to the beach for a few days to see kristin. however, i was waiting to find out where to stay first. my friend´s wife is from there and she just found a place yesterday for 10 bucks a night, which is awesome and will make for such a relaxing few days. start practicing your spanish stina, i am going to let you talk to all the bus drivers, cabbies, and restaurant people. just kidding, they will all speak english.
two and a half days left of school!
missy, hospitals, no love? what about the backless dressing gowns? those have got to be your favorites. they provide a cool breeze in an area where a breeze is needed most.
well, i was wrong. papa bill has not actually had surgery. the nurses, sorry missy, made a mistake yesterday and misinformed my informer. but, dough man is pushing through nonetheless (ni obstante) and showing the true hokie spirit that clearly separates him from all the hoos in hooville. although all indications point to a wahoo influence that may have landed him in said hospital in the first place. feel better soon papa bo!
write a comment and tell me what you are doing over the holidays. i am interested to hear how you all will be spending your time off. unless you are going snowboarding, then i want you to lie to me.
two and a half days left of school!
missy, hospitals, no love? what about the backless dressing gowns? those have got to be your favorites. they provide a cool breeze in an area where a breeze is needed most.
well, i was wrong. papa bill has not actually had surgery. the nurses, sorry missy, made a mistake yesterday and misinformed my informer. but, dough man is pushing through nonetheless (ni obstante) and showing the true hokie spirit that clearly separates him from all the hoos in hooville. although all indications point to a wahoo influence that may have landed him in said hospital in the first place. feel better soon papa bo!
write a comment and tell me what you are doing over the holidays. i am interested to hear how you all will be spending your time off. unless you are going snowboarding, then i want you to lie to me.
13 December 2005
in a sad note, papa dough man has been hospitalized. he has been through surgery and is ok. amazingly, the root of the problem is that he has been harboring deep feelings of anguish over speaking out against the hokies, and with the loss to fsu, his grief finally overcame him. although he still does not admit his true love for all things hokie, i think witholding this information of his impending hospitalization proves, more than any confession he could make to me, his unwavering and steadfast devotion, though it be in silence, to the beloved hokies. do not fear papa, the big hokie in the sky is watching out for you, even if you do live so close to the infidel capitol of charlottesville, va. the hokie nation will certainly come together and welcome you with open arms upon your release (assuming you are wearing more than that little half-robe they give you at the hospital).
like a stray calf who has injured a hoof attempting to escape through a barbed-wire fence, your cries were heard by the herd and they have summoned help (although not ant-ney in this case).
good to hear you are ok papa bo.
in other health news, i am on the mend. my cough and fever are gone almost completely and i finish my medicine today. the infection, i hope, does not return. it is very strange because everyone down here calls nearly every sickness, ¨la gripa¨ which pretty much means flu. but, to me it sounds much worse, like some ancient plague and i cringe every time someone sagely remarks after a fit of coughing- ¨tienes la gripa, ¿no?¨ no. you dont say? thank you doctor for your diagnosis.
ok, i am pretty much completely mended so it is funny now, but last week was boo. six days in a row of work. sick on top of it all. oh well, three more days and vacation starts! i cannot wait to do some travelling on the cheap. i have found free or nearly free places to stay in each city, puebla and san cristobal de las casas, as my friends have houses there and i can stay with their families. excellent.
take it easy every one and i will try to write more this week. if not, happy holidays- channukah, kwanza, christmas, festivus (for the rest-of-us) and whatever else i am forgetting.
like a stray calf who has injured a hoof attempting to escape through a barbed-wire fence, your cries were heard by the herd and they have summoned help (although not ant-ney in this case).
good to hear you are ok papa bo.
in other health news, i am on the mend. my cough and fever are gone almost completely and i finish my medicine today. the infection, i hope, does not return. it is very strange because everyone down here calls nearly every sickness, ¨la gripa¨ which pretty much means flu. but, to me it sounds much worse, like some ancient plague and i cringe every time someone sagely remarks after a fit of coughing- ¨tienes la gripa, ¿no?¨ no. you dont say? thank you doctor for your diagnosis.
ok, i am pretty much completely mended so it is funny now, but last week was boo. six days in a row of work. sick on top of it all. oh well, three more days and vacation starts! i cannot wait to do some travelling on the cheap. i have found free or nearly free places to stay in each city, puebla and san cristobal de las casas, as my friends have houses there and i can stay with their families. excellent.
take it easy every one and i will try to write more this week. if not, happy holidays- channukah, kwanza, christmas, festivus (for the rest-of-us) and whatever else i am forgetting.
10 December 2005
Staring at my computer wondering why every day this week there has been no Internet connection when i arrive at work, i realized that it is about time for a recap. Kind of like when a tv show decides to do a lame ¨best of¨ episode. This will be slightly different bc I wont write too much about things y´all already know about. Consider it my quarterly earnings report. Except there will be no mention of earnings and it can only loosely be defined as report.
First, it is Saturday, and I am at school. This ain´t no snowday make up or anything similar. Ok, it is similar kind of, but I am going to ignore that because it makes my complaint stronger.
As I feel the need to reference billy madison all the time (and I do think some of this stems from the fact that I am from madison county, va and my name is billy, to some) I also have kind of skipped some grades in my learning of Spanish. I started, as you might remember with third grade. The pictures, the charts, the dearth of hard words or concepts; those were the days. However, as I knew practically no Spanish, it was not all that easy. Fourth grade rolled around and I was more determined. Unfortunately, the authors of that book were ready for me and they supplied me with lots of useless words (I know they are not useless but I found myself looking up words like ¨chapapote¨ which means asphalt. Right. I use that one every day).
Anyhoo, it took my longer to get through those pages than I anticipated. Then I skipped a grade and went directly to sixth grade. There were short stories and grammar in this book (because it was a Spanish Spanish book, intead of a Spanish history book) and suddenly I was in my element. I rocked through the 200 pages in about two weeks and I was on a roll. I took a slight detour to begin reading ¨Olor de la guayaba¨ a book of interviews with Gabriel garcía marquez. The book is amazing; he discusses so much and references all the works of his I have read. It is amazing to finally be reading the words of this author in his native language. Best of all, it is an interview book, so I am getting a feel for intelligent conversation at the same time. But instead of reading that straight on through, I am back into the school book phase.
Brace yourselves. I am now in my second year of high school. I know. I went from 6th to 10th grade overnight. Rockstar. I know.
The best part is that so many of the words are cognates or, amazingly, part of my vocabulary. i should clarify this first. When I read a word or hear a word, I know what it means. I cannot actually remember all these words to use in sentences of my own creation, but I am letting that go right now. I am feeling pretty confident.
My speaking and listening ability could of course be better, but I am where I want to be with my reading ability, so I am going to focus on that positive right now.
I came to the centro de nada, knew no one, met a bunch of people, then began weeding out the baddies. First, there was psycho roomie. No more needed there. Then, I was hanging out with some seemingly cool guys who later turned out to be jerks. Arrogant, ignorant and/or pathetic. Ok, there are only two like that, but out of 5, that is a high percentage. I have since moved on and mingle with a slightly different crowd during the week. I no longer go out to eat with the boys or hang out in the square and listen to them babble about crap that never concerned me. I go home and read. I am much happier with this self-imposed solitude.
Basically, I have streamlined. It means I have no real social life right now, but a social life in these parts is quite the relative term anyway. Fun is there to be had, I just do it with different peeps or by myself.
Doing more things alone, going to the bank, doctors, etc. has forced me to be more self-reliant in my Spanish ability. I am a fairly self-reliant person, but I was super nervous down here bc at first I understood no one and could not make people understand me. I still have issues with the super backwater peeps whose Spanish is so horrible that they cannot tell when mine is correct (I only say this bc my friends have told me on certain occasions that I have said things correctly and that the other person just did not get it).
A big breakthrough was last weekend when I went to get a telephone. I know I said I did not want one, but as I am travelling over vacation it is safer to have a phone. I am meeting some mexi friends in different cities and now I can text them when I arrive and they can tell me where to meet them. Not too expensive and I am only going to use it for that, so it is ok. Also, it is a prepaid deal so I don’t have some monthly bill, I only pay for the texts or calls with a prepaid calling card (plus, I received 300 pesos worth of free calls and texts when I bought the stupid thing so conceivably that could last me another six months. Each text is one peso and each call is 4 pesos a minute, so it will take me a while to use them up).
So the breakthrough was that when I bought the phone, the guy at the store handed me the phone as it was ringing. I had no idea what was going on, but basically I had to talk to an operator and tell him my information and answer some q´s. I was stoked bc I understood everything he said on the phone! Normally, phones are intimidating as they are unclear and I cannot see the person as s/he talks to me, which makes understanding more difficult. But I did it! I was very happy and my confidence has continued to grow since then.
The number is 971-115-4109. not sure what the country code is or how you call it from the states, but if there were an emergency, there you go.
Am I fluent in Spanish? Hell no. can I understand most things people say? Depends. But, I can do everything I need to do and have some random conversations about topics that are interesting to me and be fairly comfortable. The next six to eight months should just build on this foundation and so I am hopeful.
Here I am. Almost 4 months in and pretty comfortable with everything. It feels good to be here and each day keeps getting easier. Some things are just difficult: heat, lack of rapid transport (buses are slow), a large group of tight friends, but whatever. If it was going to be easy, it would not have been this much fun. I sometimes cannot believe I have made it this far. Conversely, it is funny that I ever doubted that I could. Life, in short, is still good.
I was reading my high school book last night and it said that there is a link between happiness and genes. Basically, some people are predisposed to be happy and others, no matter how hard they try and going to be unhappy. I don’t know if I really believe this. Amy, what do you think about it? It sound like crap to me but they quoted some study done at uni of Illinois urbana which seemed official. Is this true? Is this an oversimplification? Are people born happy and sad? Kind of scary to think about if it is true.
Oh well, don’t believe everything that you read. Is this English 105 at NAU again? Have fun grading argument papers Cuban b. we are watching a movie in my classes today, so I am essentially taking the day off. My sickness has not really improved that much so I look forward to a day off tomorrow when I can sleep and rest and read. Then, back to work on Monday for my last week of class before vacation. Yahtzee.
Ok, how frustrating is it to realize that the moment the freezer ladies (computer people) get to work the internet connection comes back. I swear they simply unplug our connection at night and then everyone, 90% of the faculty, who start work at 8am have to wait until 9am for their lazy asses to roll into work. Absolutely ridiculous. They don’t even try to play it off like they fixed something and it took ten minutes. I hear their door close (the refrigerator, their office, is next to mine) and then the connection appears. I love the unistmo (the uni where I work)!
First, it is Saturday, and I am at school. This ain´t no snowday make up or anything similar. Ok, it is similar kind of, but I am going to ignore that because it makes my complaint stronger.
As I feel the need to reference billy madison all the time (and I do think some of this stems from the fact that I am from madison county, va and my name is billy, to some) I also have kind of skipped some grades in my learning of Spanish. I started, as you might remember with third grade. The pictures, the charts, the dearth of hard words or concepts; those were the days. However, as I knew practically no Spanish, it was not all that easy. Fourth grade rolled around and I was more determined. Unfortunately, the authors of that book were ready for me and they supplied me with lots of useless words (I know they are not useless but I found myself looking up words like ¨chapapote¨ which means asphalt. Right. I use that one every day).
Anyhoo, it took my longer to get through those pages than I anticipated. Then I skipped a grade and went directly to sixth grade. There were short stories and grammar in this book (because it was a Spanish Spanish book, intead of a Spanish history book) and suddenly I was in my element. I rocked through the 200 pages in about two weeks and I was on a roll. I took a slight detour to begin reading ¨Olor de la guayaba¨ a book of interviews with Gabriel garcía marquez. The book is amazing; he discusses so much and references all the works of his I have read. It is amazing to finally be reading the words of this author in his native language. Best of all, it is an interview book, so I am getting a feel for intelligent conversation at the same time. But instead of reading that straight on through, I am back into the school book phase.
Brace yourselves. I am now in my second year of high school. I know. I went from 6th to 10th grade overnight. Rockstar. I know.
The best part is that so many of the words are cognates or, amazingly, part of my vocabulary. i should clarify this first. When I read a word or hear a word, I know what it means. I cannot actually remember all these words to use in sentences of my own creation, but I am letting that go right now. I am feeling pretty confident.
My speaking and listening ability could of course be better, but I am where I want to be with my reading ability, so I am going to focus on that positive right now.
I came to the centro de nada, knew no one, met a bunch of people, then began weeding out the baddies. First, there was psycho roomie. No more needed there. Then, I was hanging out with some seemingly cool guys who later turned out to be jerks. Arrogant, ignorant and/or pathetic. Ok, there are only two like that, but out of 5, that is a high percentage. I have since moved on and mingle with a slightly different crowd during the week. I no longer go out to eat with the boys or hang out in the square and listen to them babble about crap that never concerned me. I go home and read. I am much happier with this self-imposed solitude.
Basically, I have streamlined. It means I have no real social life right now, but a social life in these parts is quite the relative term anyway. Fun is there to be had, I just do it with different peeps or by myself.
Doing more things alone, going to the bank, doctors, etc. has forced me to be more self-reliant in my Spanish ability. I am a fairly self-reliant person, but I was super nervous down here bc at first I understood no one and could not make people understand me. I still have issues with the super backwater peeps whose Spanish is so horrible that they cannot tell when mine is correct (I only say this bc my friends have told me on certain occasions that I have said things correctly and that the other person just did not get it).
A big breakthrough was last weekend when I went to get a telephone. I know I said I did not want one, but as I am travelling over vacation it is safer to have a phone. I am meeting some mexi friends in different cities and now I can text them when I arrive and they can tell me where to meet them. Not too expensive and I am only going to use it for that, so it is ok. Also, it is a prepaid deal so I don’t have some monthly bill, I only pay for the texts or calls with a prepaid calling card (plus, I received 300 pesos worth of free calls and texts when I bought the stupid thing so conceivably that could last me another six months. Each text is one peso and each call is 4 pesos a minute, so it will take me a while to use them up).
So the breakthrough was that when I bought the phone, the guy at the store handed me the phone as it was ringing. I had no idea what was going on, but basically I had to talk to an operator and tell him my information and answer some q´s. I was stoked bc I understood everything he said on the phone! Normally, phones are intimidating as they are unclear and I cannot see the person as s/he talks to me, which makes understanding more difficult. But I did it! I was very happy and my confidence has continued to grow since then.
The number is 971-115-4109. not sure what the country code is or how you call it from the states, but if there were an emergency, there you go.
Am I fluent in Spanish? Hell no. can I understand most things people say? Depends. But, I can do everything I need to do and have some random conversations about topics that are interesting to me and be fairly comfortable. The next six to eight months should just build on this foundation and so I am hopeful.
Here I am. Almost 4 months in and pretty comfortable with everything. It feels good to be here and each day keeps getting easier. Some things are just difficult: heat, lack of rapid transport (buses are slow), a large group of tight friends, but whatever. If it was going to be easy, it would not have been this much fun. I sometimes cannot believe I have made it this far. Conversely, it is funny that I ever doubted that I could. Life, in short, is still good.
I was reading my high school book last night and it said that there is a link between happiness and genes. Basically, some people are predisposed to be happy and others, no matter how hard they try and going to be unhappy. I don’t know if I really believe this. Amy, what do you think about it? It sound like crap to me but they quoted some study done at uni of Illinois urbana which seemed official. Is this true? Is this an oversimplification? Are people born happy and sad? Kind of scary to think about if it is true.
Oh well, don’t believe everything that you read. Is this English 105 at NAU again? Have fun grading argument papers Cuban b. we are watching a movie in my classes today, so I am essentially taking the day off. My sickness has not really improved that much so I look forward to a day off tomorrow when I can sleep and rest and read. Then, back to work on Monday for my last week of class before vacation. Yahtzee.
Ok, how frustrating is it to realize that the moment the freezer ladies (computer people) get to work the internet connection comes back. I swear they simply unplug our connection at night and then everyone, 90% of the faculty, who start work at 8am have to wait until 9am for their lazy asses to roll into work. Absolutely ridiculous. They don’t even try to play it off like they fixed something and it took ten minutes. I hear their door close (the refrigerator, their office, is next to mine) and then the connection appears. I love the unistmo (the uni where I work)!
09 December 2005
The question i am asking myself this lovely Friday morning, is what good is an english teacher, who is being paid mainly because he is a native English speaker and thus has the accent desired, when the English teacher cannot talk?
I was feeling uber sick the other day and so I went to the doctor. Those who know me also know that I do not like going to doctors in general, and the docs down here, well, let me just say that they do not necessarily inspire total confidence. We wont even get in to the fact that it is quite possible I never had worms and that there is a strong likelihood I was misdiagnosed (I mean, the guy asked me questions for a few minutes and then suddenly realized I had worms. Who knows, maybe divination is one of the subjects they are teaching down here now.) Either way, it is now highly likely that I never had the evil parasites in my belly; however, I took the medicine which keeps them away for another 4 months, so that is something good.
Doctors. Don’t love them.
When I went to the pharmacy, where the doctor´s office is located in the back, there was the a man chatting up the clerk. Thus, when he came back to the office after me I was a little surprised that it was actually the doc who was hitting on the girl at the front. Anyhoo, I jump right in with my problems and he listens then takes my pulse and bp. Ok. Then he hands me a thermometer, the digi kind, but without the disposable little plastic cover that goes on the end. I was almost hoping he would tell me to put it in my mouth so I could laugh at him, but no, he told me to stick it (I know what you are thinking) under my arm. He proceeds to ask me bunches of questions about where I am from, why I am in mex, do I like it, how long will I stay, blah blah blah. Three minutes later, I just go ahead and take the stupid thing out from under my arm bc it is clear he has forgotten it was ever there. I inform him I just took some bc powder stuff for my fever and headache about an hour before (thank you again c-line, that stuff saved me).
He smiles knowingly and once again complements me on my Spanish. I am feeling pretty good at this point bc I have understood everything he has said. No small feat, but then again, not rocket science either. Either way I am pleased to know that when people do not use a bunch of slang and even slightly correct grammar, I can get about 90% of what they are saying. That rocks considering where I was three months ago.
So ya, then he pulls out two bottles and tells me he is going to give me an injection and prescribe me some meds. He says the injections will work faster and should make me feel better that day. The needle is big but I have no really issue with those things, the problem I immediately began contemplating was, oh god, where does that needle go.
To set the scene a little better. There is a store front (no doors down in many places here, when a shop is open, it is wide open) and a hallway about 20 ft long and then a door to an office with a big desk, bed-table-thing that you find you find in most examining rooms and a bookshelf.
As he motions for me to lie down on the table, butt up, I contemplate the open door. No one has made a move to close this door, and my white behind is about to grace the stage. No one cares.
So I got a shot in the butt and not a lollipop in sight. Stinks.
Anyway, I don’t feel good today. My voice is going in and out and the infection, which is what he called it after his thorough, uh, conversation, with me, is not getting any worse at least. Oh well. Life goes on, but I do not like being sick down here.
Back to the original q, if I cannot talk, what good am I as an instructor? I can play cd´s, that´s what I can do. We are listening to music today and all is right with the world.
Have a good weekend. I, on the other hand will be here tomorrow as we complete our 11 out of 12 days at work streak. I am ready for this 6 day week to end. The benefit is that we get the 2nd of January off. Vacation starts in less than 8 days. Woohoo!
I was feeling uber sick the other day and so I went to the doctor. Those who know me also know that I do not like going to doctors in general, and the docs down here, well, let me just say that they do not necessarily inspire total confidence. We wont even get in to the fact that it is quite possible I never had worms and that there is a strong likelihood I was misdiagnosed (I mean, the guy asked me questions for a few minutes and then suddenly realized I had worms. Who knows, maybe divination is one of the subjects they are teaching down here now.) Either way, it is now highly likely that I never had the evil parasites in my belly; however, I took the medicine which keeps them away for another 4 months, so that is something good.
Doctors. Don’t love them.
When I went to the pharmacy, where the doctor´s office is located in the back, there was the a man chatting up the clerk. Thus, when he came back to the office after me I was a little surprised that it was actually the doc who was hitting on the girl at the front. Anyhoo, I jump right in with my problems and he listens then takes my pulse and bp. Ok. Then he hands me a thermometer, the digi kind, but without the disposable little plastic cover that goes on the end. I was almost hoping he would tell me to put it in my mouth so I could laugh at him, but no, he told me to stick it (I know what you are thinking) under my arm. He proceeds to ask me bunches of questions about where I am from, why I am in mex, do I like it, how long will I stay, blah blah blah. Three minutes later, I just go ahead and take the stupid thing out from under my arm bc it is clear he has forgotten it was ever there. I inform him I just took some bc powder stuff for my fever and headache about an hour before (thank you again c-line, that stuff saved me).
He smiles knowingly and once again complements me on my Spanish. I am feeling pretty good at this point bc I have understood everything he has said. No small feat, but then again, not rocket science either. Either way I am pleased to know that when people do not use a bunch of slang and even slightly correct grammar, I can get about 90% of what they are saying. That rocks considering where I was three months ago.
So ya, then he pulls out two bottles and tells me he is going to give me an injection and prescribe me some meds. He says the injections will work faster and should make me feel better that day. The needle is big but I have no really issue with those things, the problem I immediately began contemplating was, oh god, where does that needle go.
To set the scene a little better. There is a store front (no doors down in many places here, when a shop is open, it is wide open) and a hallway about 20 ft long and then a door to an office with a big desk, bed-table-thing that you find you find in most examining rooms and a bookshelf.
As he motions for me to lie down on the table, butt up, I contemplate the open door. No one has made a move to close this door, and my white behind is about to grace the stage. No one cares.
So I got a shot in the butt and not a lollipop in sight. Stinks.
Anyway, I don’t feel good today. My voice is going in and out and the infection, which is what he called it after his thorough, uh, conversation, with me, is not getting any worse at least. Oh well. Life goes on, but I do not like being sick down here.
Back to the original q, if I cannot talk, what good am I as an instructor? I can play cd´s, that´s what I can do. We are listening to music today and all is right with the world.
Have a good weekend. I, on the other hand will be here tomorrow as we complete our 11 out of 12 days at work streak. I am ready for this 6 day week to end. The benefit is that we get the 2nd of January off. Vacation starts in less than 8 days. Woohoo!
08 December 2005
last sunday i went grocery shopping, which is fairly normal in itself. the grocery store i go to, there are really only two big(this is a relative term as usual) stores are Manzur, ya, no idea where that name came from and it has a drawing of seemingly middle-eastern or aladin type character on the outside, so.... then the other place is called the Super ISSST. i forget what all the s´s stand for, but basically it is a govt run store. everyone gives part of their paycheck to an issst acount, or somethinglike that, so it is kind of like social security. right, so there is a social security grocery store. right.
anyway, the place is not huge or anything, less than half to a third of the size of grocer in the us (yes, much smaller than the bashas on hospital hill in flag) yet it has a decent variety of stuff. dont forget about nafta, so every major food brand is represented in some form down here. the interesting thing is that some days they have no bread. none. or no milk. or no juice. something is missing every day, but not the same things each day. weird. you never know what you are going to get, so i kind of like it. it is like playing those games at the fair where you pick up a floating duck and hope that underneath it says you won a prize. not really a lot like that, but i am sick, so i am struggling for similies this morning.
anyhoo, so i went in on sunday and it was packed as usual. i started my shopping and noticed something a little different. the people in front of me were, well, grooving. there was a four year old girl doing what i can only imagine britney spears and the like do in their videos ( have not had mtv for four years, so not sure what she dances like, but i have been to clubs and i know what the, well, ok, i am not going to be able say that without being offensive.) anyway, to say it was lude might be an understatement. then i notice 40 yr old men and women doing a similar kind of thing. everyone is getting down in the grocery store. then i notice that there is a dj in this balcony type area where the boss people sit and watch the cows as we do our shopping. no joke. i asked if this was normal and one my fellow patrons responded that they were trying it out on sundays.
by the end, i was bouncing up and down the isles to techno and latin trip hop. the check out ladies were also dancing. the lady who sells meat was boppin. it made the whole shopping experience more fun. well, except for the lude four year old who clearly has a future on soul train, assuming they do with don cornelius what they did with lenin in russia, as a soul train dancer in a cage or on some platform. scary.
yes, so i am sick. not happy about it but i went to the doc yesterday
anyway, the place is not huge or anything, less than half to a third of the size of grocer in the us (yes, much smaller than the bashas on hospital hill in flag) yet it has a decent variety of stuff. dont forget about nafta, so every major food brand is represented in some form down here. the interesting thing is that some days they have no bread. none. or no milk. or no juice. something is missing every day, but not the same things each day. weird. you never know what you are going to get, so i kind of like it. it is like playing those games at the fair where you pick up a floating duck and hope that underneath it says you won a prize. not really a lot like that, but i am sick, so i am struggling for similies this morning.
anyhoo, so i went in on sunday and it was packed as usual. i started my shopping and noticed something a little different. the people in front of me were, well, grooving. there was a four year old girl doing what i can only imagine britney spears and the like do in their videos ( have not had mtv for four years, so not sure what she dances like, but i have been to clubs and i know what the, well, ok, i am not going to be able say that without being offensive.) anyway, to say it was lude might be an understatement. then i notice 40 yr old men and women doing a similar kind of thing. everyone is getting down in the grocery store. then i notice that there is a dj in this balcony type area where the boss people sit and watch the cows as we do our shopping. no joke. i asked if this was normal and one my fellow patrons responded that they were trying it out on sundays.
by the end, i was bouncing up and down the isles to techno and latin trip hop. the check out ladies were also dancing. the lady who sells meat was boppin. it made the whole shopping experience more fun. well, except for the lude four year old who clearly has a future on soul train, assuming they do with don cornelius what they did with lenin in russia, as a soul train dancer in a cage or on some platform. scary.
yes, so i am sick. not happy about it but i went to the doc yesterday
06 December 2005
i have only two small shorts for today, but i believe both to be entertaining. ok, three, because i just heard a new library story.
i will start with the library bc it is the most exciting. so the other two eng profs just realized that their books were super overdue. i am talking like five days, if you include the weekends, which is stupid as the campus is closed, but anyway the library is a freak zone, so whatever. so they ask me if i want to go with them to renew. of course i said no. i mean really, who wants to share in that kind of thing.
so the boy at the desk takes the books behind the glass and then announces that their privileges have been suspended for one week. one week without textbooks. but, he informs them, they can have them back on the 14th. vacation starts onthe 16th. so arash, who knows the most spanish as he has lived in mex for a year, gets upset. he tells the boy it is ridiculous. he then turns to one of his students who is standing in the lobby, probably shaking in fear of the mass of evil that lives behind the refrigerator door, and informs him that class will be canceled for one week because the library has a ludicrous policy. sweet action!
the boy behind the glass gets nervous. insists he is only doing his job and finally goes for the head lady at arash´s insistence. she floats over and tells arash and sally that she will make an exception for them this time. somehow, the sleeping giant, formerly known as rashy-rash, awakens. he informs her that this is not good enough. he explains the stupidity of having to return every two weeks to check out books. they have about 20 books out, and the attendant checks each page for marks, so you can imagine how long this takes. he tells her he has better things to do with his time than wait 30 minutes every 14 days. he does not abuse the books, he confirms, and thus the policy should be ammended.
take a breath with me here. this is not the arash i know. quiet, unassuming even. as he is telling me this story i look to sally to see if she will finally set the world right and deny the whole thing. tell me it is a joke and that they really have been suspended for two weeks. this is not unheard of by the way. prof´s get suspended fairly frequently. i am ready to express my unflagging and full support for the cause. no more english class! screw the library! we demand better treatment. i see the smile creep across sally´s face and i know the farce is ready to come to an end. the truth will be heard.
and so arash finishes. silence. utter disbelief. wow. that is all i can manage to say. i look at both of them expecting one to burst out laughing. but no. their books have been renewed for the rest of the semester.
now the other stories dont seem quite so fun.
a trashy story-
where does the trash go? some people have large dumpsters, so have to take it to the curb, so compost and recycle. down here, i know where it ends up. in a big huge pile that never stops smoldering just outside of town. like the springfield tire-fire, but with more wild animals, and sadly, domesticated ones like horses and cows (get why i dont eat much meat down here?). they just rummage through the pile along with the people looking for, you know, treasures in the trashpile (i stole that from ween, it is, sadly, not mine).
so for the past three weeks me and pac have just opened our gate on the second floor, slung the little grocery bags of trash across the way to the other side of the outdoor patio, washroom, clothes hanging place, community area and been done with it.
and then the pile began to grow. i assumed someone would come for it. you know, take out the trash or whatever. ole victor had a boy who, oh wait, that is another story. no, really, he had a boy who took out the trash once a week. easy. i dont´think about trash too much, so i just tossed wherever pac had tossed the last bag. well, on sunday i found that no one was going to take our trash. i found out bc a neighbor complained about the smell (did i mention that the ¨other side of way¨where we had been tossing the bags, is actually the wall of another apt, and that it, coincidentally, is also underneath their kitchen window?).
so i find out that we have to get up around 6am and take the trash to the street where there are a few small trash cans. screw that, i am taking it the next time i walk down the stairs, right?
wrong. 6am is before the street sweepers come through (these are people not machines) and clean up all the crap that people just toss on the ground. and believe me, no one uses trash cans. the ground is a trash can.
thus, we have to sneak out our trash early in the morning, while it is still dark, so that no one sees us. i dont know if this is really the only way, but i think this is funny.
ya, me too. i also feel like the last story just kind of died. i am losing motivation after the first one. i mean, it was pretty funny.
hence, the last one will be postponed. enjoy your day and now, think about where your trash goes. how funny is it that i have to sneak mine out? one more funny thing, one more reality.
i will start with the library bc it is the most exciting. so the other two eng profs just realized that their books were super overdue. i am talking like five days, if you include the weekends, which is stupid as the campus is closed, but anyway the library is a freak zone, so whatever. so they ask me if i want to go with them to renew. of course i said no. i mean really, who wants to share in that kind of thing.
so the boy at the desk takes the books behind the glass and then announces that their privileges have been suspended for one week. one week without textbooks. but, he informs them, they can have them back on the 14th. vacation starts onthe 16th. so arash, who knows the most spanish as he has lived in mex for a year, gets upset. he tells the boy it is ridiculous. he then turns to one of his students who is standing in the lobby, probably shaking in fear of the mass of evil that lives behind the refrigerator door, and informs him that class will be canceled for one week because the library has a ludicrous policy. sweet action!
the boy behind the glass gets nervous. insists he is only doing his job and finally goes for the head lady at arash´s insistence. she floats over and tells arash and sally that she will make an exception for them this time. somehow, the sleeping giant, formerly known as rashy-rash, awakens. he informs her that this is not good enough. he explains the stupidity of having to return every two weeks to check out books. they have about 20 books out, and the attendant checks each page for marks, so you can imagine how long this takes. he tells her he has better things to do with his time than wait 30 minutes every 14 days. he does not abuse the books, he confirms, and thus the policy should be ammended.
take a breath with me here. this is not the arash i know. quiet, unassuming even. as he is telling me this story i look to sally to see if she will finally set the world right and deny the whole thing. tell me it is a joke and that they really have been suspended for two weeks. this is not unheard of by the way. prof´s get suspended fairly frequently. i am ready to express my unflagging and full support for the cause. no more english class! screw the library! we demand better treatment. i see the smile creep across sally´s face and i know the farce is ready to come to an end. the truth will be heard.
and so arash finishes. silence. utter disbelief. wow. that is all i can manage to say. i look at both of them expecting one to burst out laughing. but no. their books have been renewed for the rest of the semester.
now the other stories dont seem quite so fun.
a trashy story-
where does the trash go? some people have large dumpsters, so have to take it to the curb, so compost and recycle. down here, i know where it ends up. in a big huge pile that never stops smoldering just outside of town. like the springfield tire-fire, but with more wild animals, and sadly, domesticated ones like horses and cows (get why i dont eat much meat down here?). they just rummage through the pile along with the people looking for, you know, treasures in the trashpile (i stole that from ween, it is, sadly, not mine).
so for the past three weeks me and pac have just opened our gate on the second floor, slung the little grocery bags of trash across the way to the other side of the outdoor patio, washroom, clothes hanging place, community area and been done with it.
and then the pile began to grow. i assumed someone would come for it. you know, take out the trash or whatever. ole victor had a boy who, oh wait, that is another story. no, really, he had a boy who took out the trash once a week. easy. i dont´think about trash too much, so i just tossed wherever pac had tossed the last bag. well, on sunday i found that no one was going to take our trash. i found out bc a neighbor complained about the smell (did i mention that the ¨other side of way¨where we had been tossing the bags, is actually the wall of another apt, and that it, coincidentally, is also underneath their kitchen window?).
so i find out that we have to get up around 6am and take the trash to the street where there are a few small trash cans. screw that, i am taking it the next time i walk down the stairs, right?
wrong. 6am is before the street sweepers come through (these are people not machines) and clean up all the crap that people just toss on the ground. and believe me, no one uses trash cans. the ground is a trash can.
thus, we have to sneak out our trash early in the morning, while it is still dark, so that no one sees us. i dont know if this is really the only way, but i think this is funny.
ya, me too. i also feel like the last story just kind of died. i am losing motivation after the first one. i mean, it was pretty funny.
hence, the last one will be postponed. enjoy your day and now, think about where your trash goes. how funny is it that i have to sneak mine out? one more funny thing, one more reality.
05 December 2005
happy birthday, tomorrow, to cuban b and country fried potatoes. although country f.p. has never actually written anything on this blog, i will still wish her well because she has the good fortune of sharing a bday with cuba, who we all love. hope you have a wonderful time living in up in flag and that it snows so you can go boarding. i miss the snow. it is about 97 here and i am a bit tired of the heat. oh well, no relief in sight, so i better get used to it.
yes, kristin, there are many more bugs and critters here than in flag. and considering cuba and i went the whole winter without using the main heater, any bug strong enough still would have frozen in our living room. i mean, we had house-sweaters and stocking caps. what could an ant wear?
also, happy birthday to my sister ames. her bday is the 7th so this is a bit early, but it never hurts to start celebrating early. she will be 29 this year. or was that last year?
yes, kristin, there are many more bugs and critters here than in flag. and considering cuba and i went the whole winter without using the main heater, any bug strong enough still would have frozen in our living room. i mean, we had house-sweaters and stocking caps. what could an ant wear?
also, happy birthday to my sister ames. her bday is the 7th so this is a bit early, but it never hurts to start celebrating early. she will be 29 this year. or was that last year?
i guess this is one weekend i am glad i had no television. so sad. oh well, life goes on especially as down here no one knows anything about american football.
so i have been failing to report on some of the wildlife i have seen. ames, dont read any more of this.
two weeks ago there was a very large snake killed by one of the grounds crew people. after decapitating the poor beast, they found a large frog, completely undigested, that came out of the body of the snake. of course, it was left on display next to the sidewalk that every one uses to go to and from classes. ineresting.
then of course there are the hundreds of geckos. they are litterally everywhere. my friends in my building are somehow afraid of these extremely colorful little guys, so they are always asking me to come into their offices and round up one or two to release outside. amazingly, their tails do not fall off when i grab them, yet their tails are a completely different color from their rainbow-like bodies.
scoripions (alacránes) are everywhere, but i am smart enough not to try to pick up those bad boys. they dont really bother people that much, and i am lucky i have never seen one in my house.
bees, wasps, etc. are also everywhere. as this is the tropics, there is no off season for them. great. i keep my distance and we dont bother each other. i still have my injection pen, so no worries on that end.
ants. i hate ants. ants are also everywhere and get into absolutely everything. big ones, little ones, flying ones, i dislike all varieties. i kill at least 10 a night in my room as they run across the floor while i am reading. luckily, i dont have to clean them up because their friends act as undertakers and wisk them away within minutes of death. i like that part.
spiders. currently, i am watching one walk across the wall behind my computer screen. i like them for the most part because they trap mosquitos, which are the bane of my existence as they really love my sweet sweet blood. spiders, however, also like to bite me sometimes in my sleep. i have woken up on a few occassions with a swollen finger or toe, oddly just those body parts, and i know i had a visitor the night before who was surprised by some sudden movement from me and thus bit me. these are mostly the small variety, but there are so many different types it is hard to tell.
mosquitos. there are big ones, little ones, mean ones, and evil ones. ok, they are all evil. almost once a day i find a bite, and sometimes multiple. the worst is when i am working in my office and ankle starts itching. they get under the pants and bite my ankles or the back side of my wrist as i am typing. there are not so many that they are swarming around in my office, so it is difficult to tell when one or two are hiding and waiting for my blood. i dont like them either.
i purposely left this until last on the chance that amy did not take my advice and stop reading. tarantulas. these suckers are huge. they are as big as my hand. not my palm, my hand with the fingers included. the guards had a dead one at the front gates the other day and i thought it pretty intersting. then, on friday, there was a ginormous one crawling along the window sill of our building on the outside. my friends have pictures, but i will refrain from posting them out of respect for ames. someone eventually killed it, one of the students, but they are also everywhere.
this is just a very small offering of the crazy insects and little creatures that live everywhere down here. of course, there are the roaming packs of dogs, the cows, donkeys, horses and goats that seem to like the roads more than the grass covered sides of roads. that is always interesting.
ok, enough animal planet for today. have a good one and, hokie fans, remember that there is something good that comes out of every loss. i dont know yet what that is, but i am sure it will become clear sooner than later.
so i have been failing to report on some of the wildlife i have seen. ames, dont read any more of this.
two weeks ago there was a very large snake killed by one of the grounds crew people. after decapitating the poor beast, they found a large frog, completely undigested, that came out of the body of the snake. of course, it was left on display next to the sidewalk that every one uses to go to and from classes. ineresting.
then of course there are the hundreds of geckos. they are litterally everywhere. my friends in my building are somehow afraid of these extremely colorful little guys, so they are always asking me to come into their offices and round up one or two to release outside. amazingly, their tails do not fall off when i grab them, yet their tails are a completely different color from their rainbow-like bodies.
scoripions (alacránes) are everywhere, but i am smart enough not to try to pick up those bad boys. they dont really bother people that much, and i am lucky i have never seen one in my house.
bees, wasps, etc. are also everywhere. as this is the tropics, there is no off season for them. great. i keep my distance and we dont bother each other. i still have my injection pen, so no worries on that end.
ants. i hate ants. ants are also everywhere and get into absolutely everything. big ones, little ones, flying ones, i dislike all varieties. i kill at least 10 a night in my room as they run across the floor while i am reading. luckily, i dont have to clean them up because their friends act as undertakers and wisk them away within minutes of death. i like that part.
spiders. currently, i am watching one walk across the wall behind my computer screen. i like them for the most part because they trap mosquitos, which are the bane of my existence as they really love my sweet sweet blood. spiders, however, also like to bite me sometimes in my sleep. i have woken up on a few occassions with a swollen finger or toe, oddly just those body parts, and i know i had a visitor the night before who was surprised by some sudden movement from me and thus bit me. these are mostly the small variety, but there are so many different types it is hard to tell.
mosquitos. there are big ones, little ones, mean ones, and evil ones. ok, they are all evil. almost once a day i find a bite, and sometimes multiple. the worst is when i am working in my office and ankle starts itching. they get under the pants and bite my ankles or the back side of my wrist as i am typing. there are not so many that they are swarming around in my office, so it is difficult to tell when one or two are hiding and waiting for my blood. i dont like them either.
i purposely left this until last on the chance that amy did not take my advice and stop reading. tarantulas. these suckers are huge. they are as big as my hand. not my palm, my hand with the fingers included. the guards had a dead one at the front gates the other day and i thought it pretty intersting. then, on friday, there was a ginormous one crawling along the window sill of our building on the outside. my friends have pictures, but i will refrain from posting them out of respect for ames. someone eventually killed it, one of the students, but they are also everywhere.
this is just a very small offering of the crazy insects and little creatures that live everywhere down here. of course, there are the roaming packs of dogs, the cows, donkeys, horses and goats that seem to like the roads more than the grass covered sides of roads. that is always interesting.
ok, enough animal planet for today. have a good one and, hokie fans, remember that there is something good that comes out of every loss. i dont know yet what that is, but i am sure it will become clear sooner than later.
02 December 2005
ok, i have recently received a notice that i am giving too many shout-outs to the non-sf´ers. i am guessing that my constant references to the bay area, and my people in cali is not specific enough. so first, go 9´ers. i mean really, this has not been said enough in any forum. love what the team has done with themselves.
second, the people i give shouts to make comments. once in a straight nightclub in sf i get a comment from an sf´er, but that is as rare as, well, i think i already made the link.
bipolar? i prefer to think of myself as eccentric.
so toyster, kreistan, wall-eyed eddie, if he is still reading, keifa sutherland, i doubt he ever did, jonny utah, again doubtful, k ¨i have had enough of gay men and now i want angry men in philadelphia¨ kuo, the entire millberry funkadelic orchestra, and, for a random one, ter ¨is maine really that cold and white?¨ hea, what up? i am jealous of every snowstorm that tahoe gets, every halloween, every pride parade, gay to breakers (is this kind of the same thing as the last one?), and bonfire on the beach, still not sure how cliff claven cut his hand open so bad. have a pint at chancey´s (you know that means like 4) and remember to always avoid that evil evil little sham. that´s right, it´s a sham bar. i dont know what that means, but that is what it means. mexico is damn close to cali, so get on down here. you know it is cheap and all that cali cash goes a long way down here.
to everyone else, drop a comment and i will try to remember some random event and glorify it. like taking pictures of spiritual places in sedona when one is not sure whether you have to pay to get in, what is this a club? love in c on three. 1,2,3 c´s-love.
have a great weekend, root for the hokies so that they once again do not become the chokies, and the cowboys, and hell, why not, the 9´ers as well. but really, should we be hoping that theylose so that they can get reggie bush or what?
what up inner-outer sunset! keep on reaching for the stars!
second, the people i give shouts to make comments. once in a straight nightclub in sf i get a comment from an sf´er, but that is as rare as, well, i think i already made the link.
bipolar? i prefer to think of myself as eccentric.
so toyster, kreistan, wall-eyed eddie, if he is still reading, keifa sutherland, i doubt he ever did, jonny utah, again doubtful, k ¨i have had enough of gay men and now i want angry men in philadelphia¨ kuo, the entire millberry funkadelic orchestra, and, for a random one, ter ¨is maine really that cold and white?¨ hea, what up? i am jealous of every snowstorm that tahoe gets, every halloween, every pride parade, gay to breakers (is this kind of the same thing as the last one?), and bonfire on the beach, still not sure how cliff claven cut his hand open so bad. have a pint at chancey´s (you know that means like 4) and remember to always avoid that evil evil little sham. that´s right, it´s a sham bar. i dont know what that means, but that is what it means. mexico is damn close to cali, so get on down here. you know it is cheap and all that cali cash goes a long way down here.
to everyone else, drop a comment and i will try to remember some random event and glorify it. like taking pictures of spiritual places in sedona when one is not sure whether you have to pay to get in, what is this a club? love in c on three. 1,2,3 c´s-love.
have a great weekend, root for the hokies so that they once again do not become the chokies, and the cowboys, and hell, why not, the 9´ers as well. but really, should we be hoping that theylose so that they can get reggie bush or what?
what up inner-outer sunset! keep on reaching for the stars!
01 December 2005
back to veracruz. the z�calo at night. the building in lights is about 450 yrs old. tons of people, not just foreign tourists, meet in this square every night to listen to music, watch dancing, or just stroll. pretty cool place. every city has a z�calo, and i prefer the one in oaxaca. a bit bigger and just, i dont know, better. 
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