happy birthday amy! this damn blogger thing is not working again i am afraid.

another update- the last post i wrote over a week ago and have been trying to publish. maybe i will keep this site. i must say i hate blogger right now though.

in oaxaca there is more violence and almost 7 months later there is no solution to the conflict. 7 people died last weekend and it will probably just get worse as neither side appears to be giving anything.

hokies? uva(uva, by the way, means ¨grape¨ in spanish- vt means nothing. not sure what that says). i did not watch the game but read about it today. sweet. action.

i went to a blues festival on saturday. this city is incredibly fun and has something new everyday. i cannot say enough how happy i am here.

hope all is well up there. we are in exams right now so i am at school less but grading more. give and take.

I am done with blogger. i made a few posts that showed up blank over the last two weeks, and it sapped my desire to write more. if you have ever written a document/paper and had the computer not save it before being able to print, etc., then you you know the feeling.

I am going to look for a new blog site that is better and actually works.

it has gotten quite cold here. nights in the 30´s, days in the low 40´s. i have a vest and a rain jacket. slightly unprepared for this weather, but i bought a new blanket which keeps me warm at night. just like air conditioning, there is no heat in this country (outside of upscale hotels where i dont go unless a friend comes in town that works for a big company that will pay all sorts of cash for a huge, comfortable room- yes, for this and other reasons, i want my friend to come back and visit again). thus, most teachers are sitting around in their offices in big sweaters and gloves. the students look like icecubes. for the most part, i love it. when it gets cold i put on a stocking cap and am fine. i love the cold. i cant wait for it to snow (it snows in the surrounding mountains). most of the cold weather has to do with the location i believe. we are well over 8000ft, higher than flagstaff actually, which offsets the fact that we are so far south. chilly.

to counteract this, i have been eating incredibly spicy food. i now make my own salsa, which really has been a long time coming, and doing a fantastic job of it. two of my friends who live in apt building and i cook about twice a week, and one person always makes the salsa (we all like very spicy food). it has been a lot of fun actually. i like cooking in general, but it is more fun with a few friends and a dart board. it passes the time i guess.

i also began making hot wings. really, this was bound to happen as my penchant for our fine feathered friends has exponentially increased each month i went without them. i also make my own sauce for these bad boys, which although does not quite burn your fingers, sets every other part of the skin (and tongue) it touches on fire. not a good idea to touch the wings and then touch any other part of your face (a lesson i learned when trying to blow my nose- the sauce is also a wonderful decongestant.) good times.

yesterday was revolution day. holiday. long weekend. i stayed in town and hung out with friends and actually did some work yesterday. the runner-up in the presidential election officially declared himself the ¨official/moral¨ president of the country and a few parades were canceled due to protestors marching in the streets. good to know that almost five months later there are still problems with the presidential election. no was killed, however, so i think that is a positive.

i have my schedule for next semester. i will not be full-time in name, but will be working almost 19 hours a week and getting paid more. although i wont make as much as a full-time person, it will be more than enough to relieve me of having to do private lessons. i also will have a new schedule- i start teaching at 730am every day. this is good and bad. more good than bad though as i will finish each day at 1330. this leaves my afternoons free, although i will be teaching a small portion of my friend´s university literature classes twice a week. he has meetings during the first 30 minutes of each class, so i will begin with them. pretty good deal, he pays me, and i get to teach the literary theory component of the class- cuban b, who is taking another lit theory class right now knows how much fun this should be. no, i actually like theory and only teaching these kids basic concepts and major theorists should be fun.

i am no longer teaching esl classes. i am teaching 3 literature classes (folklore-mythology from all over the world, including a lot of native american works) and two media and culture classes. the second set of classes should be very interesting as it is essentially a rhetoric and lit course blended together. this schedule is perfect for me. i am actually teaching the courses i went to school to teach. i did not think i would be able to do this in a foreign country. in short, i am extatic. i am also going to start of literature group with a colleague of mine and we are going to recruit other professors and university students to participate. our goal is to create publishable texts: articles, short stories and poetry. this is also something quite exciting as 1 year ago i never imagined anything like this happening.

as usual, i am quite upbeat about everything. a few weeks ago there was ver bad news from my pops, not a health concern thanfully, and though this put me in a bad mood for a while, you cannot live like that forever.

i will extend an invitation to any and all who would like to visit mexico, but i know that it is extremely unlikely anyone will take advantage of it. understandable. if peaches is still out there, please know that you are also invited. do you have any more hints for me peaches? your identity is as unknown to me as the number of times i have died my hair.

and jimmy d, yes, you are correct. i do need a digital camera. let me get through december and once i start getting paid again in late january i will make an investment.

on a side note, i have thought of unplugging my refrigerator to save money. if the air in the house is as almost as cold as that in the frig, it would be silly not to do so (unless you want to argue that the internal thermostat would automatically stop the motor from coming on if this were indeed the case- you would be wrong bc the freezer portion is also located inside the regular frig part. and as the only thing in the freezer is coffee my friend caro brought me in september, i think this would be ok.).

if any of you have any favorite mark twain short story title you want to share, let me know. i am working on the assignments for my folklore-myth class and want to find some good writers(preferable from the usa and also from the south) to introduce the kids to. if these stories can be found online, well, you just made my job that much easier.

this had better work this time.

Happy Birthday Doughman!

i hope you have a great day and a relaxing weekend. If you find out the news today, or by monday, please let me know (not through the blog, send me an email to will_i_m@hotmail.com).

also, yesterday was my god-daughter´s, alexi natalia chavez rodriguez vega, birthday. she is now the big 1.

here is to you both!

today is the second day of the dead. today is for adults, yesterday was for the children. a celebration of the dead and remembrance of the departed. really, it is a lot more healthy than it might initially appear on the surface. the dead are said to be able to communicate with the living, and this is why there are offerings on graves. to appreciate the dead, the living make offerings of the dead´s favorite things- food, drink, clothing, anything.

i must say that in oaxaca this holiday was a lot stronger. perhaps the people in the city have lost some of their heritage. perhaps they have other things to do. i wont judge this, but i must acknowledge the difference. it is striking.

on a positive note, my papa´s birthday is tomorrow! happy b-day doughman! man, 75 years come and go like a flash don´t they? the last time i saw you, over a year ago, you didn´t look a day over 73, so you´ve got that going for you at least. good to hear you are getting the crops up with little problems. are you playing tennis? shooting?

a positive for me is that i will have a slightly different job next semester. i am going to be teaching bilingual students (their english is comparable with an average high schooler in the states amazingly) in an advanced program. we will do literature, cultural analysis (advertising, film, bias, government and media, propaganda, etc). also, i will be teaching advanced writing and critical thinking skills. in other words, this will be like teaching very high level school kids or low level university students. in short i am really excited. my main supervisor and another friend spoke to the main boss and told her that what i am currently teaching (esl) is not utilizing my training and background. i will know next week what my schedule will look like, but this is something i am very happy about for numerous reasons. i like what i am doing now, but as i have said numerous times, this is not really my future. teaching literature and critical thought courses, on the other hand, is exactly what i want to do.

however, until a contract is signed, this is all just possibility. fun to dream a bit.

after a long wait, i have an address. it is very very long, but here it goes.

ITESM-CCM
William Davis
Departamento de Inglés
Oficinas 2, 3 piso
Calle del Puente 222
Colonia Ejidos de Huipulco
C.P. 14380
México - D.F.


yes, there are 8 lines. i recommend doing it just like that and try to remember the accent marks (although if they are missing, it should not be a problem).

i welcome any and all mail and thank you in advance for it. do tell me when you send it so i can tell the secretary to be on the lookout for me.

ok, off to grade exams. just over two weeks left of class and then final exams! wow.

last night was interesting for numerous reasons. a friend from oaxaca (she is from the capital city not feliztepec) came to town for work and called me to go out. as i dont work on friday until 1130, of course i went. we went to dinner in a fancy-pants area, her company put her up in an amazing hotel in the zona rosa (which is, along with roma and condesa, the trendiest to place in the city right now) and then went to get a drink.

she begins telling me about the teacher strike in oaxaca (yes, almost 6 months later, the kids are still not in school and nothing is really being resolved). a rather beautiful colonial city has gotten uglier and uglier as more people live in the street, spraypaint 400-500 year old buildings with childish graffiti (no matter what you think of the cause, the decorations look like the handiwork of the 8 year olds who are not currently in school- save for the fact that 8 yr olds give a good god damn about politics). the kids cannot go to school with professional teachers (i use the word professional quite loosely here) and when a group of parents got together to teach the kids a few hours a day, they were physically blocked by teachers. sweet.

also, the children cannot go to the parks and play because so many of the union members (it is not just teachers who are angry, many other groups have jumped on the pile) cannot all fit into the shit-strewn (this image is literal and figurative) historical center (zócalo) so they have spread to some neighboring parks to, well, protest (read- make handicrafts to sell to foreigners who stand under spraypainted walls that say- fuera extranjeros- foreigners get out and other anti-capitalist propaganda). thus, the kids are rather afraid to go the parks as they dont want to get involved in any of it. also some undesireables are part of the cause, and this worries parents.

one teacher went against the union and stated that he wanted to return to work. he was found with his throat cut soon after. no arrests were made.

can´t you just taste the pride that i feel when i tell people here in the city i was ¨a teacher in oaxaca¨?

if you are caro, or one of the stragglers from oaxaca who is reading this, you will probably mock me (as caro did numerous times) for my new stance. i have turned a bit on this teacher revolution. true. however, i also feel that the initial struggle was somewhat just. i do not think that this continued effort to remove a (corrupt) politician (i think the two words are redudant: you choose which one you want to use) is winnable, nor do i think that this should stop school (keep in mind the teachers are still being paid normal salary).

see caro, you can leave the country but not completely.

my friend visiting from oaxaca who told me a lot of the above wants the govt (military) to come in and bulldoze everything. including the people. i will leave that for you as a sentiment that many in this country have (not all of course).

anywho, enough seriousness for one day.

while having a few drinks, chatted for an hour or two and listened to some incredibly loud enlgish 80´s music, mixed with mexi-rock. as my friend was essentially dancing in her chair, and doing her best to involve me, i asked if she wanted to go find a club to dance (if you have known me before this country, you understand the lunacy of this proposition coming from me). this, apparently, was what she was waiting for, as she finished off her drink and attempted to kill mine as well in an effort to get to the club asap.

we went to one place with a cover (boo), so i hesitated and she kindly assented. we found a second place (they are literally feet away from each other in this neighborhood) without a cover. my my, i mused when we entered, sure are a lot of boys in here. hmm, there seem to be 4 girls, and one of them is with me.

i need not tell you that i was welcomed with open arms and offers of drinks, until they saw my friend holding onto my arm (the moment of confusion in their eyes was precious). we (my friend and i, not the dudes and i) danced a bit, then, shockingly, closed at midnight. i know. how does that happen?

well, the next place had a small cover but live music. we entered.

mistake.

the band, though energetic, was a salsa band. this is not exactly something i can fake too well (dance floor in center, women and men twirling rapidly, somewhat frenetically, in all directions). next thing i know, i am in the middle of semi-professional dancers and making a fool of myself. not to mention sweating like a whore in church. but, i must say i had a grand time. my friend is a good dancer and did her best to lead me, well, into not hurting her or other people in the general vacinity. success.

i want to learn how to salsa dance. it seems like a lot of fun, but i fear it may be beyond me. let´s be honest- it is beyond me.

in case you were wondering, the answer is yes- i have now shaved outside, in front of about 150 spectators. i also shared a sink and shaved simultaneously with a young man who has the beard capabitlities of me at 13(nonexistant). as you might have guessed, there was a free promotion and i received a vibrating razor (don´t laugh as this is quite real and made by gillette), a little towel that i can now use as a sweat towel at the gym and deodorant. there was no way i was passing this up anyway, but all my students (this happened out in front of the classroom building) were trying to get me to go. one of my best students, whose english and knowledge of coloquial phrases is often frighteningly good, told me the hottest girls in the world ¨touched his face¨ and he fell in love. in his words- ¨billy, you gotta go¨.

as advertised, the girls were gorgeous and argentine (south american women, at least from brazil and argentina, what is up down there?). i walked down the steps from the building and found a beautiful young lady speaking to me in italian-sounding spanish- again, i so want to go to argentina- about the beneits of vibrations aloe-vera and vitamin e. ya, i was not really paying attention to the words perse, but then she reaches out and cradles my face in her gloved hands. weird. her hands, oddly, were vibrating (special gloves that imitate the movement of the razor). she asked me if i wanted to try a demonstration, get free shit, lah blah blah. i asked if she would be in line wth me, she said no. as my heart sank, i saw the prize in the crappy box of cereal- free stuff. also there were plenty of other women to entertain us in line (women were turned away, even those who wanted to shave part of their legs, not just get a free razor for their boyfriends). sorry girls. boys only. yahtzee

i will write more about this next week bc it just turned funnier and funnier. have a good weekend knowing that the hokies crushed clemson (after getting whipped twice earlier this month, i know).

do you ever do things to provoke a reaction? i like to ¨tap on the glass¨ so to speak. this was the way i described my personality in the istmo, to a large extent. i brought up politics and almost always chose the opposite side of whomever i was talking with. it was fun. for me. well, my post about ladies from the istmus has indeed provoked a reaction. i thought there might be a few lingering students from there who read this blog. i was right. and apparently, at least one of them is a female. and she seems nonplussed to say the least (that was the comment about me not being able to handle istmeñas and that chilangas (females from the d.f.) were more my speed. touché). sometimes you have to rattle the cage to see if there is still anything left inside.

anyway, that is that.

peaches. we are going in circles here. i again claim that i have never been to the four corners, which means that some of the information you have given me is difficult to place. ok, so it has only been a few years since we saw each other/ spoke. where was this? va? ca? az? co? nm? nv? i need a tad more info because i am still a little lost. also, you could write me using a nondescriptive email addy.

doughman- why are you going to switch from corn in the middle of the harvest? is the corn too moist? that is too bad about butchy. tell antney that if he needs someone to help him run the new business or any help at all to let me know. but tell him that if he needs money, he better talk to a bank. or is the First Doughy Bank still open?

c-line- let me see if i can explain what is going on with me. i work for the tecnológico de monterrey, a great high school/ undergrad/ grad school with 33 campus in the country. there are two in the capital city (where i live now- el distrito federal, d.f., or mexico city to be clearer) and 31 others spread throughout the country. the high school has about 3,000 kids. the uni about 7,000. a good size really. it is one of the best schools in the country, and it is definitely the most expensive. the campus is technologically hooked up- there are power sockets at every bench and table on campus, and wireless internet allows everyone to use their laptop (required) anywhere and at any tme.

the campus is in the south of the city, about an hour by metro from the city center. i live about 15 minutes walk from campus in a residential area with trees, great restaurants, big grocery stores, a movie theatre and just about everything you could want. it even has very little traffic and only light pollution.

i work 15 hours a week. 2 hours m/w/f and 4.5 tu/th. easy load really. i have an offer for next semester although i doubt i will get full-time. my classes next semester should be more advanced and i will be teaching more advanced writing and critical thought classes (there are some incredibly advanced students here).

the kids are good on the whole. quite trendy, a little bit like 90210 as far as dress and fashion go- they make me look like an old man with no taste. the truth hurts i guess.

i love where i live. there is something to do at all times, which is a nice change. also i have some very good friends here.

my spanish is still progressing. i take a class twice a week with a prof on campus- my dept pays for the class. fluent is not a word i would use to describe, but very funcitonal. i can do and explain almost anything i want- although i felt stupid in the grocery store yesterday. i was checking out and put my little basket under the conveyer belt (the store is owned by wal-mart so it looks the same as the usa grocery stores- with many of the exact same products actually). the man at the check looked at me and asked me for something. i had no clue what he wanted; i dont drive-obviously- so i had no ticket for him to validate; i have no savers-card- you know, vip, mvp, whatever. thus, i was stumped. he repeated his question when i asked him what he said. i then blankly, and quite sadly, said a phrase i hate to use- i don´t understand. he then explained it- i want the thing you just put on the ground- ah! the basket. well, at least i learned a new word. i felt stupid, but it wont be the last time.

in other words, i still make mistakes and my vocabularly is not on a par with my english vocabulary. however, i can normally get the gist of conversations and movies, etc. my friends gave me a t.v. so i watch a little at night (the news is easy, so are telenovelas- soap operas- but some humor is difficult. the simpsons, dubbed in spanish, is damn difficult. so it goes.

my job is great; i like where i live; i am reading a lot of books in spanish; i am meeting new people- although i always want to meet more. no complaints really. i could be making more money- i teach 3hours each week of private lessons- but i am doing ok there as well. three months in to this new city i would say i definitely made the best decision possible for me.

i think i answered most of what you asked. let me know if not.

and jimmy, you said it my friend: somebody wake me up when the sloppy joe´s are done.

now peaches, let´s be fair. it has been a long time since i have talked to anyone in the usa, save my father who i spoke toon the phone in april. so, certainly it has been a long time since we have talked. please, feel free to send me an e-mail, stillwill.i.m@gmail, and we can catch up. i have never been to the four corners. as far as long walks, i have been on many in my life, although i must say that the junction of utah, colorado, arizona and new mexico is a place i have never been.

perhaps you have me confused with someone else peaches. although, to your credit, you have driven me somewhat crazy over the last six or eight months trying to figure out who you are. dine´e, hopi?

little blue dune buggy, in the sand. little blue dune buggy, in my hand.