i dont know how i forgot to write about this when i was in new mexico last month, but i did.

we were in taos, which is a small town with ski resort and one of the oldest still occupied dwellings in the usa (the taos people have lived there for about a 1000 years i believe). cool place to visit if you find yourself in new mexico and want to see indigenous housing that is still in use and well preserved.

anyway, we were in taos for the afternoon because we got out of class early and there was a bus going that way from the campus (and as the campus was 5 miles from the nearest town, there was that desire to escape). after a thoroughly obnoxious 2 hour bus ride in a high school type bus (uncomfortable), we spent about 2 hours at the small reservation. then, with about 2 hrs more to kill before returning to summer camp (pretty much it was summer camp in that everyone ate at the cafeteria, and you had to get there with your friends or you would be sitting with the losers-arguably as we were all teachers we were all losers, but i digress.) i was with a texan, a canadian (we teach in mexico) and a guy from mexico (he teaches in houston). we walked around for a while looking at the cheap crap on sale at every little store (who doesn´t want their name engraved on a cheap key ring!) and then we decided to eat.

there was a little restaurant close by, and as i had pretty much determined to eat appetisers everywhere i went in the usa because my favorite food from the usa is still bar food, i flipped through the menu looking for some sampler platter. to my surprise they had fat tire (new belgium brewery out of northern colorado) beer and i was stoked. this was once my favorite beer, at the very least favorite beer company, in the usa and it was happy hour so it was cheap. i made some stupid comment about how much i loved the beer and my friends decided to get it as well because i recommended it so highly.

the waitress arrives and i was so excited i jumped at the hesitation by the others to order first.
¨fat tire, please.¨ ¨sure, can i see your id first?¨

what? id. i am 28 years old.

¨sorry, new mexico state law requires me to see everyone´s id¨
no shit. i worked at a bar for years in college, i know the law. but damn, no one actually follows that law. if they did, where would tips come from? how would 19 yr olds go out and have fun with their older friends?

my friends produced their passports and i sat there looking stupid.

about a year ago i decided to stop carrying a wallet as a precaution against theivery and general imbecility (loss). since then, i dont use any identification when i go anywhere. i carry cash and sometimes a bank card. i went to buy some clothes with my friends a few weeks ago and was confronted for the first time in mexico by someone asking me for an id to accompany my card. i was more shocked that they would not sell me the clothes without the id and i cursed them as i left the store, swearing never to return. and i shant.

thus, carrying a passport outside of the airport was not even a consideration. wtf? i am, dammit, 28 years old.

immediately i thought back to the beard days and wished i still had it.

the waitress got back around to me and asked for my id again.

my first question was if they had sweet tea. no.
i ordered water.

then i remembered how kids under 21 drink with their friends who are older. my friend from texas arranged all the drinks in the center of the round table, then, she quietly passed me her beer.

strange to think that in less than one week i will be in virginia. my friends from here ask me if am going to be nervous going home. i dont think i am but, it is still a long way away so maybe i am just not thinking about it yet.

this week and next i am pretty much by myself on campus. all the full-time profs are on vacation, except one or two, so the buildings are pretty much empty. i love it. it is nice to read in my office and know that no one will be by to bother me. because i am just starting full time, i dont get the two week summer vacation, but it is cool with me because i am still getting paid this summer. unlike last summer when i made no cash for about 1.5 months. also, i worked a lot of hours last semester, so i have saved a good bit of money anyway. although working the entire time means i dont go away to visit other places so that means i am not really spending any loot. anyway.

i must say that pirate dvd´s have taken over the lives of myself and a few friends. 2bucks for a movie? sweet action.
recently we watched rome, from hbo. i was sad that the second season meant the end of the show, but it has also been one of the best shows i have seen recently. of course, battlestar galactica is amazing. there are about 10 of us who have seen all the episodes and have strange dialogues that most people dont understand who never saw the show. but you know this has all happened before and it will all happen again.

currently, i am watching deadwood and the wire from hbo. both are great.

in the end, it was a choice between crappy dubbed televesion (desperate housewives, ghost wisperer- i hope you dont know this show-, bones, gray´s anatomy, dr house, and telenovelas. i still like the novelas, i have to admit, but it is so much better to watch tv without commercials.

i love the weather in this town during the summer. the mornings are chilly, around 55-60, and the days never really get over 88. nearly perfect. it rains, monsoon style, almost every afternoon between 5 and 8, for about an hour and then everything is nice and cool at night. mosquitos do suck, but what can you do. could be worse.

well, i have another two hours to kill so i am off to the library to rent some dvd´s for the weekend.

if you want to see more pics, go to http://www.kcult.org/ellie/acuaducto

this was a camping trip that wasn´t. i think this was the 10th or so of june. damn rainy season.

rainded out. this is what happens when you wake up extremely early, eat a lot of food, play football and frisbee in the rain and then find out that the rain is not going to stop and you must drive 2hrs back home. we all managed to stay upright because our shoulders are wedged together (in other words, we fell asleep). forks? well, that is a funny story....

a good shot of the center of the acueduct. i recommend scrolling down and start at the beginning of the pics as they are posted in reverse order. so begins ¨under the acueduct¨

lunch now over, these clouds appear. boo. not what anyone wants really.

really, an extra long fork and machete are indespensibe on these kinds of outings

lunch preparation begins. still sunny and beautiful.

this is about half of the acueduct that you can see. height at the center is about 150-200ft (i have no idea how to judge that kind of distance really).

nopal cactus and the acueduct. still early, maybe 1000am. we are about to get the grill going and then cook lunch.

pretty much the coolest guys in town (left to right: rafa, neill, billy, clark). this is a great shot where all of us are looking in different directions (it is about 8am, we have been up since 415 or so). this is a small town near sahagun where the acueduct is and where you can buy goods. the day looked perfect at 8am. things change rather quickly in the mountains (we are around 9500 - 10000 feet).

stemming from the start of my last entry is this: the world seems to wait years in between major events. lots of years between world war 1 and 2, am i right?

the point? after two years, the billy returns. ok, i did go back to the usa two weeks ago for a conference, but that does not really count. i saw no one i knew, and hung out with teachers and worked. not a real visit. plus, the people harassed me at the airport about why i had been absent for two years from the usa. what do i do in mexico? teach. why? umm... how long am i staying? 5 days. why so short? i have to go back to work.

and so on.

anyway, i return july 19th and leave the 24th (thurs arrival, tues departure). if you are available and able, come to va and see me. i will regale you with lively tales and treat you to some salsa i am bringingback. watch me struggle in public as i randomly speak spanish to people because it has been two years since i bought anything without speaking spanish. i think it will be amusing. it may be the last time you see me with short hair for a while also, and that, in itself, is a treat. or not.

right. i hope you can make it. if you cannot, i will understand (but secretly curse you- i also have many many stories of witchcraft which i am, literally, afraid to write on this blog for fear that something might happen to me).

two years is a lot, especially if you are a dog (because then it is 14).

interesting thing about the world in general that the usa does not really share. sporting events, major events, take place every few years. world cup: 4 years in between. copa america: 3 years. america´s cup (sailing): ni (no idea, but it is not every year).

my point is that the rest of the world seems to have more patience than we do in the states. super bowl: every 12 months. every major sporting event has championships every year. ok, mexican soccer has 2 champions a year, but that is off the point.

perhaps this is why when i go to take a shower at 7am and there is no water, no one else seems overly concerned. i roll into work looking dishevelled and rather rough, but then again, it is summer. i really cannot describe to you, have you never experienced it, the feeling of having shampoo in your hair, soap under your arms and no way to rinse it away. just getting your eyes open at that point aint so simple. you must find the towel, and if you are like me and shower immediately after waking, you really are not quite awake yet, so that damn towel could be anywhere and the longer you take to find it the more searing pain you feel as the soap works to clean two objects that were never meant to be cleaned with soap. i am talking about the eyes here people. sensitive.

if you are up for something different, i have an idea for those of you who live with others. roommmates, wife and children (jam dougherty i am looking at you on this one, of course i do no believe you have not sired a youngun´ somewhere along the line), if you are in mexico, mother, father, sister, brother, uncle, aunt, grandparent, cousin, etc. all of these would work.

step 1. reconnoiter your property (i count rental property as your own as long as you occupy it). get to know things like the electrical box, plumbing pipes and, while you are at it, learn how to turn the hot water heater on and off. these are good basic things to know. they have nothing to do with our experiment, but consider step 1 the precursor; you cant take calculus without algebra can you? can you? this is a question people.

step 2. now that you are familiar with pipes and such, you probably know that you can shut those pipes and restrict, nay stop, the flow of water coming from said pipes.

step 3. yes, you know where this is going, but continue with the steps. it is about the process. the journey not the destination. the path not the... whatever, you get it.

step 3. (the last step was not really a step) wait until someone gets in the shower and turn off all televisions and radios. wait maybe 3 minutes. if possible, talk to the person in the shower and find out where they are in the cleaning process (shampoo, conditioner-if they use it- soap, shaving, etc.). ideally, you want shampoo in the hair and soap on the body. this may or not be possible, but you know, we all gotta have goals in life.

step 4. find that shutoff valve and close it. slowly. you want to do this slowly because you want the person in the shower to hope the water will come back. if you are really cunning and creative (notice i am not using words like ¨cruel¨ ¨evil¨ ¨ruthless¨ ¨heartless¨ or any of these pejoratives you might be considering) then you will shut off the water only partway, then turn it back on. if you have you turned off all electic appliances (and sent any children outside), you may hear sound wonderful sounds of anger and disbelief coming from the bathroom. this will be the person in the shower coming to terms with the unexpected. do not shy away from this. embrace it as a fruit of your labor.

step 5. once shut off, run, do not walk, to the bathroom (with a camera if possible).

step 6. enter noisily. dont try to hide anything. let the profanity be your guide here. snap your pictures (digital, film and mental) and laugh and laugh and laugh.

step 7. depending on the stage of undress, send me the pictures. or, better yet, start a blog and post them on the internet.

step 8. never tell the other person how to turn the water off. you may have to lie at this point. stand firm. you are morally right on this (say that if necessary and then tell the person, if they dare question how you are ¨morally right¨ that even asking that question of you means they have much to learn. drop them a copy of aristotle´s ¨nichomachean ethics¨ or even ¨crito¨written by plato. they will never read it, so you are totally safe and, of course, morally superior. if they do read it, well, send me an email and we can discuss your options and i will send you some other authors to peruse, namely nietzsche, who will fill you with a sense of superiority no matter what).

feel free to thank me later for this idea. onwards and upwards.

21 hours ago i was livid. or, to use an expression i often heard my father and anthony say, i was hot.

first, let´s go back 46 hours. the office secretary came by and gave me a slip of paper. she did so casually, as though there were nothing special about it, and sauntered off to do whatever it is she does. noticing that in my hands was a note from the postal service of mexico, i was pleased because the package my sister amy sent had arrived. finally. then i noticed the date, june 18 (this was june 26th), and that the slip said ¨second notice.¨

i had left for the states on june 18th, so if this was the second notice, the first should have arrived at least 4 days earlier. june 14 saw me at school, teaching, normal routine. where was notice the first?

unable to make it to the post office before it closed (did i mention i was offered a full-time position at my school on this same afternoon?), i put off the trip for the next day. one day. big deal.

my friend gave me a ride to the post office and i arrived 15minutes before closing time. when i left 40 minutes later, i was, to say the least, nonplussed.

as i handed the woman behind the counter my slip, she asked me for my id. she wrote my passport number down on the paper i gave her and shuffled off to find my package.

do you ever think you know when there is going to be a problem? you order food, without onions would be a great example because onions are evil, and yet you know when it arrives that the food will have onions. people might call you paranoid, negative, a pain in the ass, whatever, but you know you are right. and then, when the food arrives, fucked up, you look to the other person to confirm that you were right. but, being right, does not make you happy. if anything, it pisses you off even more. naturally, you seek a vent for this frustration. profanity? depends on the scene. surly attitude toward any and all ¨help¨? definitely.

thus, as the older lady returned and informed more than asked that i had already received the package, i looked to my friend, who, alas, stayed in the car, and then paused before responding.

¨no¨

sometimes it is very pleasing that english and spanish coincide so. it was perhaps, i see it now, my pause that made her hesitate. she opened a red book with lots of lines, pages, signatures, and other scribblings of, probably, the five year olds who run el servicio postal mexicano.

¨look again¨ i said as curtly as possible. she complied and, if it were possible, crawled into the back room. clearly, i was ready to jump the counter, damn the sign informing that the area was for authorized personnel only. i refrained as the man with the uzi, i shit you not he carried an uzi, outside the door somehow calmed me.

i was then informed that my package had indeed been picked up already. i told her as cooly as possibly that my twin did not live in this country and either way, we spelled our first names differently. this confused her just long enough to prove to me she was at least listening.

five minutes later she returned from the overseer´s office (i think he is probably like 7yrs old) and motioned me to enter.

was this a trap? would the uzi man gun me down as i crossed the line into another world, a realm without reason where packages are distributed willnilly on a first come first served basis? no. it was not.

amazingly, i think the overseer was inclined to think that showing me a photocopy of identification of the person who retrieved a package clearly addressed to william davis would assuage my growing hostility. hmm. alberto flores zamora. well, we both have two ¨l´s¨ in our names at some point. looking into the eyes of the head of such an organized and professional outfit, i saw the one thing i knew i could never fight against and win.

indeed, what i saw in his eyes is not something you easily forget, nor is it easily feigned (although i certainly do not rule out he feels this way, or acts like it, daily). i restated the obvious to him hoping his look would change.

¨so you are telling me the mexican postal service gave a package addressed to william davis to alberto flores? what, then, is the purpose of showing you an id? can i have someone else´s package? i will show you my id first.¨

no, sarcasm went right past this one, as i feared it would, because he was, sadly, simple. in his eyes i saw that he did not really understand. he believed in what he had done. to him, he acted like loyal employee and faithful worker. on the package were the words ¨itesm¨. this is where i work. alberto flores told him he worked for itesm. ergo, the package went to the correct person.

flabbergasted and rather deflated, i accepted the situation as it was (you cannot browbeat a child who does not understand what it did was wrong any more than you should whip a horse for wanting the apple in your hand). what, praytell, did the mexi postal servce intend to do? well, first i needed to write explaining i wanted the matter looked into by them.

right.

did i have a pen on me, inquired the cretin. no (of course i did, but i was going to take his and keep it).

sitting at the desk, so kind that he offered me a seat, i thought of how i wanted to word the letter. oh, he told me what i needed to write, but i brushed aside his advice in favor of something more, how shall i put it, more strongly worded.

did i know that this letter would never leave that office? that no matter what i asked for i would not receive? that the mexi postal service ¨team¨ no more interest in me than i have in embroidery? yes. did i feel the need to release some hostility? indeed (a huevo- this is rather vulgar so i dont suggest repeating it the next time your spanish speaking server asks you if you would like another beverage, more salsa or the check).

¨i, william davis, arrived at the mexican postal service on (address) today at 1645 hours to retrieve a package. unfortunately, the workers of the m.p.s. had decided to give my package to alberto flores zamora of (address) without my consent or knowledge. acting for more me is not something i ever wanted the mps, or (and here i wrote the names of the kind staff who had assisted me so far) to do, nor would i ever like them to do so in the future.

negligence (i asked the overseer how to spell this word, to which he looked quite surprised and somewhat taken aback before slowly spelling it for me) by the staff of the m.p.s. is clear in this case; therefore, i request that said staff look for and find alberto flores zamora. then, i want my package delivered, preferably intact, by whom is not important, to me at (school address).

sincerely,
william davis


so ya, that took me about 10 minutes to write (partially because i knew the longer i was there, the longer they had to wait around (they closed at 5)). i watched as the mexi postal service´s chief intelligence officer perused my written request and smiled as he savored my description of the handling of events.

he then told me some bullshit about the how they were going to seriously look into the matter and get something done. as i had already copied down alberto´s home address and full name, i nodded and wished him luck in finding the package. i was assured that it would be found and delivered to me with all the haste within the power of the postal service (my friend sent me a letter when she was in chihuahua- this is part of mexico- 5 weeks ago and i have still not received it).

my anger had mostly subsided but disappointment grew in its stead. apparently, someone from my school had gone to the postal service after the third notice to get my package and deliver it to me. why had alberto waited three days without informing me? was alberto even an employee? was that even his name (i mentioned, i believe, my trip to where fake id´s are made, and the amazing authenticity they seem to possess)? where was the package? would someone else be ankle deep in russel stover coconut nest packages with traces of chocoloate on their cheeks and the stray jelly bean rolling around on the floor waiting for a cat, dog or rat to find it?

in the end, my package was delivered to me today, but not by alberto. i inquired about him through the school´s search page and indeed he is a worker in the package office. when i went to find him he was out tracking down the package of someone else. my package was on its way to my building to be delivered to me.

did the m.p.s. do as promised and come to the school to help find my package? was this why it was actually delivered to me this afternoon? one of the many things i have learned is simply not to question such occurrances. i have my package, unopened it appears and full of all my sister told me about. does anything else really matter? of course it does. but does anyone here care about my own misgivings? of course not.

hence, as i enjoy the chocolately goodness of a coconut nest, i think of alberto flores, wherever he is, and hope he rescues another package before the owner can get there to claim it. spread the joy to all, i say.

hey guys sorry for not writing sooner. the computers here wont let me log in very easily. i am staying on campus in a dorm with a roomie, who is cool, and am learning a lot. i will try to call you again soon dad, sorry we missed each other sunday. i think you were out or asleep when i called the last time.

all is well and if not sooner, i will write next monday and let you know about all the fun i had. i feel like i am 15 and at summer camp. but this is actually a lot of fun and very educational at the same time.

hope you are all well.

happy father´s day doughman! hope you are well and enjoying the summer in virginia.

to all you other father´s, i am looking at you jimza, happy day.

father´s day is fairly important down here, but it does not compare to mother´s day. for example, father´s day is sunday here every year. mother´s day, on the hand, is during the week, usually, and all mother´s who work get the day off. odd, no?

anyway, i leave for the good ole usa on monday morning. after a two year absence, i will be back in the us(sr) for about 5 days. going to las vegas! new mexico. ya, doesn´t quite have the same ring to it all. it is a tiny little town in the mountains of new mexico east of albequerque and santa fe. there is some tiny private university and i will be staying on campus, in a dorm, for the duration of my stay. i am going to talk about literature and teaching and the fun that is the international bac. program. should be pretty cool actually because i can make a lesson plan for an entire year during one week. of course, that is assuming i stay teaching where i am next semester.

as usual, my plans are up in the air a bit. i am not 100% sure where i will be in a few months, which is somewhat disheartening as i was hoping to stay at this school where i am. unfortunately, it looks as though there will be no full time positions for the coming year, and that means i make less money for doing about the same work. boo.

i dont know. i might suck it up and stay anyway. i certainly did not come to mexico only to make money. i am teaching literature classes i might never have a chance to teach in the usa (science fiction/future fiction for example), so there are many benefits to staying. i think i am just miffed that i thought there was going to be an opening and now there is not. oh well. suck it up.

enjoy the father´s day weekend and i will write from new mexico if i can (not sure if ¨talent night¨, i shit you not there is a talent night on the final night, will take up most of free time as i prepare my routine. it sounds like summer camp, westview on the james i hope it is not. could be worse i guess. i get to miss a full 5 days of class. that is cool).

anything interesting going on up there?

time flies. hard to believe it has been over a month since i wrote here last.
funny stories, let me think. the problem is that there are many many events i find hilarious, but they have to be pg13 for this blog. if you thought i talked a lot before i left (and i know you all think this), be prepared to listen to stories for days when i return.

so i was at the supermarket yesterday (wal-mart essentially) and was in line with my groceries (raisin bran, juice, milk, habañero peppers, turkey, cheese, apples, avacado- it was a light day because i have been sick and am just getting my taste back). there is a promotion at this store that when you spend 100 pesos (10 bucks) you get a coupon that discounts a future purchase. this month the promotion is towells. ya. not into that.

anyway, a woman and her daugter are in front of me (both wearing large, obnoxious chanel sunglasses that cover their entire faces) and the mother looks me up and down (this is still normal- not only am i dead sexy, but foreign) and then makes her move.

¨do you collect the coupons?¨ she asks.

her daughter´s face goes red and ¨maamaaaaa¨ escapes her lips as she flips through soap opera digest (all names are changed to reflect what you would see in the states) and attempts to put some distance between herself and her mother.

¨why do you always get so embarassed, it is an honest question, and besides, he doesn´t mind. do you, sir?¨ is mamá ´s reply to daughter.

¨of course i do not mind you asking, and sure, the coupons are yours¨

the mother continues conversation with me, explaining her daughter, standing there the whole time, is always shy and embarassed in public when with her. but she, the mother, never understands why. the look on daughter´s face through all of this is priceless- she turns from red to crimson rather quickly and once the line in front dissipates, makes a b-line to the ice cream stand 25 yards away.

just before i pay, she turns to ask me if i am from the states. i smile and respond that yes i am. she says she has always liked gringos, even though so many think negatively of us. very magnanimous of her.

as my items go through, scrutinized by the mother of course, she remarks to the clerk that i should get ¨double points¨ for certain items(clearly she picked me out because she had scanned my basket and knew i would get more coupons based on what i was buying). a brief argument ensues while the clerk says i need to use a certain bank card to get double points. the mother then looks at me, my card (not the one that earns double points) and asks me if i have another.

no shit. she actually tried to get me to pay with another card to get her an extra coupon. well, after that, i expected something more (i paid with my original choice despite the pain it caused her to only earn one coupon instead of two).

she waited for me to collect my bags and noticed, she was on it, that i did not get my parking stub validated. was my car at home? after informing her i did not have a car in mexico (she was rather deflated), she offered me a ride. her daughter, who had returned, was about to explode. and i could tell she wanted me to say no.

so, of course, i accepted the ride.

unfortunately, the daughter was rather young, although mother tried to push her off on me in the car ride, so there will be no dates in the future. i assured her my future coupons were hers and offered my services of private lessons, which may or may not work out.

in the end, an eventful shopping experience. sometimes being foreign is lots of fun. i do not tell the worst stories, the ones where being foreign sucks, for obvious reasons.

i have almost cleared my second sickness in one month (my first was a stomach virus and i ended up halucinating at one point during the fever´s high point, the second was a cold) and hope this fills my quota for at least 4 more months. the stomach illness was vile, so i wont go into details, but it is worth noting that i get sick from eating at restaurants with running water and not stands on the street (i often eat at those places and am fine after). not sure what lesson i should learn from this.

i am excited about my class this summer. i am teaching a science fiction literature class. plus, there are only five students and they are all guys. if i never mentioned this before i must say that teaching only boys is the best situation. true, they can be assholes and little shits, but so can i. in the end, i know what to expect from guys. girls? crying? no way. boys are predictable. i know what they expect and their tricks to get what they want. would i teach at an all boys school? hell yes. teach at an all-girls school? no and never.

anyway, the class should be cool, even though it is two hours long, five days a week. i hope we have interesting conversations (today´s was great- we discussed acceptance, beauty standards ad how they have changed, plastic surgery, etc- we are reading ¨frankenstein¨ so it is all relevant. talking about these things with just guys is very relaxing).

i will do more writing this summer (my recent one entry a month is not exactly a high standard). hope all is well up there and you are having a good start to your summer. the weather here is perfect. 80´s during the day and high 50´s at night with consistent afternoon storms and showers. ok, if you wanted weather, you could check that yourselves.

i am sad to see duke lacrosse lost in the finals on monday. i never liked john´s hopkins. but, i am glad the guys are getting back to normal (to a very small extent) after all that they have gone through in the last year. i hope events like that dont happen more frequently now.

now that the suns and red wings have lost, again, i am done with both the nba and hockey. damn if the braves didnt start well only to choke over the last week. oh well.

in other news i combed my hair for the first time in two years today. strange. i have not had a haircut since december and my hair is finally getting long (relative) again. no camera so the pictures will come when they do, but i thought i would add that. two years. pretty amazing how short hair eliminates the need for hair grooming. or i am just a slob (probably the latter).

let me know if there is anything specific you want to hear about (new abortion law that has the pope seriously pissed off with mexico, teachers not teaching-strikes, etc.).

take it easy y´all

walking to school every morning i pass a taxi stand (this is about the length of one block-just one curb- and at the corner is a little shack where the dispatch, normally a kid, sits and watches a big tv), and every morning i see some strange movie, normally dubbed or subtitled from english. at 6am or so, the tv i see is usually the last thing on my mind, but i always glance at it as i walk on past.

today, as i was coming to school, i saw something i thought i would never see on mexican news. blacksburg, va. virginia tech. massacre.

almost all of my students today asked me where i was from again. had i ever heard of a uni in virginia called virginia tech?

the questions that people often ask, regarding the usa and its proclivity toward violence, begin again. this time, however, i do not feel so separated from the questions; i do not have the same sort of detached perspective i usually do when i answer them. i saw some pictures of the campus today, mainly of police and wounded students. i have not seen the campus in about 4 years, and it was sad to see it the way that i did. i hope that if anyone reading this knew someone on campus that day that they are ok. i guess there is not much else to say.

Drawing to a close, this semester will be one that at the very least leaves an aftertaste. Not that I dislike getting up and being at work before the sun rises. Nor that I decry going to work six days a week. Even the fact that I regularly spend 12-16 hours on campus is not enough to really get me in a pissy mood (although many would argue that I am often in this kind of mood, or at least that I am an irritable person - enojon is the word used here, and as you might have guessed, it is stronger than the English near-equivalents I have listed). I have made a promise to myself this semester not to bitch about things that I cannot change. Clearly, I have failed to accomplish this completely, but like all ideas in this vein, thinking about it has been helpful (at the very least I like to tell myself this).

Either way, there are just over two weeks remaining until exams. Amazing how fast it has gone (which is probably a testament to the idea that staying busy makes time seem to pass more quickly). But, it is sad that I have not done much traveling this semester (none, really). On the bright side I have gotten to know the city much better and visited many places and areas that I have never seen before. A friend who I met about two months ago and said my Spanish has improved a lot (I saw her for again on Saturday after not seeing her since February). Unfortunately, I had to stop taking my Spanish class because this semester because there was no time. On the bright side I have been seeing a girl here, so I practice my Spanish with her a lot. Give and take. My writing in Spanish is still quite horrible, syntax, etc. (you could also argue my English is not perfect either), but my conversational abilities have improved greatly. Mainly, it is the same problem I have felt since I arrived: reading books in Spanish is awesome, but no one talks like authors write, so in a sense it is not productive.

I read a quote from mark twain the other day I found very funny. The gist of the quote is: every time you want to write the word ¨very¨, write the word ¨damn¨. That way, when you go back and edit, you will simply remove the word.

Spring is here in the city. But it is much like a flagstaff, az, summer in that the nights are still chilly- this makes me happy because I like to sleep in colder weather rather than the heat. The campus is beautiful: green trees, manicured bushes, walks, flowers, everything. There is a small army of grounds crew here that begin at the crack of dawn and go until near midnight. They are here when I arrive at 6am. Weed eating, leaf blowing, watering, grooming in general. Unnecessary? Of course. But it looks amazing. There are lots of benches and areas to sit in the shade (8400 feet up, the sun is still intense) and the whole campus is wireless internet (along with power outlets everywhere), so you can do work wherever. I must admit this is an island in the middle of a sprawling concrete cacophony. And I definitely appreciate how peaceful and safe it is compared to other parts of the city. Living within walking distance means I don’t have to ride transit during the week, so I feel quite isolated at times. But, it is like having a pool in your backyard: you just have to go out and jump in when you feel tired of the everyday.

Ok, I never had a pool in the backyard.

The earthquake here last week never even woke me up. Everyone in my building, except my coworker and fellow compatriot, went into the courtyard (this is merely a fancy name for a grassy area between my building and the landlady´s house) at 2am. Good Mexicans. In 1986 there was a huge quake in the city that killed thousands of people, so since then, the people have learned their lesson. Of course, they forgot to wake us up, but no matter.

All of my students were shocked that I did not wake up for the quake. I told them I lived in Oaxaca for a year and there are quakes all the time there, so I was somewhat used to them. Ya, I am so cool. I know.

While in my class I checked my email and saw a headline on msn about Blacksburg. My first reaction was happy; I thought tech had done something good for a change. As you well know, the news was not good as I had hoped. I am not sure what to write about it; I think perhaps it is better to say nothing right now. On that note, I think I will go.

zoos. i went to the zoo on sunday (this was a 3 day weekend, no work on monday to honor the president Benito Juarez´s- and c´s also- birthday- yahtzee) with a friend. i got a little sunburned, damn evil sun, but not bad. i also saw elephants and lots of monkeys. i really like monkeys and have decided that one day soon i, too, will own a monkey. sure, i could go to the market here, where they sell everything, and buy an illegal one (and yes, this thought has crossed my mind at least 4 times), but i have chosen against it. my friend who is a vet tells me bad stories about how i would be contributing to the brutal monkey trade, horrible treatment on their journey from the jungle, etc. i basically stopped listening when i heard that i would be asked to leave my apt if her mother, my landlord, found out i had a monkey. sure, the other stuff is concerning, but let´s get down to brass tacks- i, will, will not be homeless just to have a monkey. now if a place opens up that allows monkeys, well, that might be another story.

i am toying with the idea of getting a used motorcycle. ít will occupy my time (working on it) but might also kill me. up in the air on that one.

not up in the air on buying socks tonight. laundry was closed yesterday because of the holiday and i have run dangerously low because i was lazy and did not walk the laundry down the street last week. oh well, i will buy a pair socks to tide me over until i can get my clothes back on thursday.

speaking of laundry, yesterday i cleaned my apt (i know, i am also surprised) and as usual, i mopped myself into a corner. luckily, this is a planned corner, also where the door leading out of the apt is found, and i do this when i mop to make myself leave and let the floor dry. so, i have the plastic bag of laundry (big and clear so that everyone can see my dirty underwear- actually it is what i receive my laundry in when they clean it so i just use to stored the next load) outside on the balcony ready to rock and roll as i make the last sweep and i am off.

i realize i am wearing flip flops, a tshirt and shorts. it is hot, high 80´s, so this should not be a problem. well, yes it is. no one wears shorts here. well, almost no one (me). flip flops, for guys, are also out. t-shirts, a former staple of my attire, are also out. yup. i wear a collared shirt, pants and shoes every day of the year here. sundays included. even going to the grocery store i dress up more than i did when i taught college in the usa.

ok, so i make my way down the four blocks to the laudry place where they wash my clothes, avoiding the stares of the 10am holiday crowd loitering in the streets, trying to blend. right.

as i near the laundry, i notice the metal storm door is closed. dammit. i walked all way, embarassing myself as the rest of the mexicans stare at the gringo, for nothing. well, i was sweating and dirty (i had been cleaning a not-so clean apt) and decided that i needed to giddy-up over to the other laundry place. i walked five more blocks only to find them closed.

thus, my walk of shame included me returning with head low (could not look the people in the eye who i had just seen 5 minutes earlier). i had brought no money, or i definitely would have scored a cab and avoided it all, but i did not plan ahead as i was mopping myself into the corner.

wait, zoos! i forgot about that. i learned that elephants in captivity have developed a bad habit of rocking back and forth which essentially involves them producing a chemical that numbs their brain to the outside world. this only happens in captivity. also, zoo keepers (even the name ¨keeper¨ sounds negative- nothing escapes. they might as well just say wardens) cut the wings of the parrots and other beautiful birds so that they can be ¨free¨ from cages yet incapable of ever flying.

this might be the first time i have ever been to a zoo. this was probably the last time. disturbing to say the least.


i also saw a kind of monkey that is strong, and mean, enough to kill people.