Practice Exam 3 Bloopers...

Short Answers: Answer the questions with short answers (respuestas cortas):

1. Are you a student?
Yes, I'm.
Yes, I do.
A'you a student. (apparently poor Moises thought he had to use abbreviations)
Yes, I don't.
Yes, are you.
Yes, I'am.
Yes, I doesn't.

5. Is your mother beautiful?
Yes, I'do.
No she don't.
Yes, I does.
No, I not.
No, she doesn't.
Yes, she is't.
Yes, I am.

Write 5 complete sentences about your daily routine (rutina):
I get to bus for the school at 7:50am.
On Monday I get up at 9:00 for the vacation.
I bed 10:35pm.
I take favorite class to English.
I usually not dinner.
I am student Enghish at nive-ten. (this one pains me to share, poor Angélica!!)
I every day studient in the school.
Im in school eightin o'clock and seven o'clock.
Im in husban mornig and afternoon. (I really wonder what Merced meant to say??)
I lisent music in the momen.
I never eat hot dogs. (a good sentence, but where did it come from? Thanks for sharing, Lucia)
I driver very good.
I goes to bet at 8 o cloks.
I breakfas at two thee.
I do yo gen up at 9:30.

Another weekend in paradise

This weekend I went with my crew (aka Allison, Margee and Matthew) back to San Agustinillo. I'd been craving the beach since the first day I was in frigid New England for Christmas vacation, so it was glorious to finally be there... I know it had only been 6 weeks since my last beach escapade, and perhaps I'll get little sympathy from my friends to the north, but I felt like I was seriously sun-deprived. It was like the days in Massachusetts had sucked all the warmth out of my system, and only by soaking up the sun this past weekend did I begin to become human again.

We'll be returning next weekend for a "Girls Beach Extravaganza" (or something like that, haven't actually named it yet!). We have a 3-day weekend, and Katharina is coming down from the OC (Oaxaca City) to spend an evening in our fair pueblo, and then all the ladies head to the beach.

Here are some fotos of where we stayed, aptly named "El Pelicano" as numerous times I saw flocks of pelicans flying overhead...



And a couple more of the beach. Yes, it really is this beautiful...

Better UltraSound Pics

Here are the first 2 pictures, when my baby was just a frijolito (little bean)...



And here are the newest ones, which are particularly exciting because you can see how well developed the baby is, even at just 8cm long... Pretty amazing...

Telling the boss...

I just officially told my boss that I won't be staying for the 2nd semester. It was a tricky conversation, because he and I have had issues communicating well in the past (to put it mildly)... But I wanted to tell him now so that he has plenty of time to hire someone to replace me. I also let him know the reason I'm leaving, so it's all out in the open and I can stop watching my words all the time. UNSIS is a very small and gossipy place, so while other people will soon know that I'm leaving, they will only know why if I choose to share it with them.

I decided that February 27th will be my last day working here, which gives me a few days after the final exams to finish my students' grades and get everything cleaned up. I still don't have my flight back to Massachusetts, but it will probably be somewhere between March 6th and 9th, so that I have plenty of time to pack up my things and say my goodbyes.

We're planning a party with/for our students on the night of my birthday (February 12th, FYI), at one of our favorite restaurants in town. We're going to reserve the upstairs section, and have food and drinks, good music... It will be a goodbye to our students at the end of the semester, as well as a goodbye from me to my students. I plan to tell them about my departure in early February, I don't want them to be too shocked.

And that's all I have from this side of the border. I should have some better copies of the ultrasound pics to post either today or on Monday. Ulises just got a scanner so he's going to scan them, and I'm sure these will be WAY easier to see than my fotos of fotos... :)

Drum roll please...

So, here's the "incriminating" foto... Please remember that the doctor told me numerous times that she can't be certain until next month... But if she had to guess, she would say that it's a boy! This foto (again, sorry it's blurry like the others), shows the baby from the bottom, like it's laying on it's back with its legs up in the air... And so you can see its two legs on the sides, and there's a rather incriminating "protuberance" that appears to say "I'm a boy"... But it could actually be something else, the baby is super super small right now, so we won't know 100% until next month...

Bun in the (proverbial) oven

I debated a much more subtle (or carefully worded or eloquent) title for this post, but I decided to just stick with the facts. I think most of you know by now that I am pregnant. :) I tried my hardest to tell as many people as possible face-to-face or live-voice, but dang it, I live in Mexico, so some of you are just going to find out the e-way. Sorry.

Last Friday I had my 2nd doctor's appointment (after much trial and tribulation, that story to come on my next blog post!) I am now at the beginning of my 15th week, and I'm feeling wonderful (thanks for asking). The baby is 8 cm long, and is expected to arrive between July 14th and July 18th (depending on what measurement is used). I'm very excited and happy (apart from a few bouts of hormone-induced mood swings, but don't worry, usually just the baby's daddy is the recipient of it all).

My plan is to come back to Massachusetts in early March, definitely by March 10th, when I have to be out of my apartment here! I'm looking for an apartment in Great Barrington, which is where I feel the most confident about flexible employment possibilities, and also where I know and trust the hospital. It's kind of cool to have my baby in the same hospital I was born in, so many years ago (sigh)...

The highlight of the appointment was definitely watching the wee one on the screen, apparently this doctor does an ultrasound as part of every appointment. It was so wonderful to see a human baby moving around (not just a tiny, immobile bean!!), it looked fully formed and beautiful! Definitely made it much more real now, easier to imagine this tiny creature joining me in the outside world one day...

I'm attaching 2 of the ultrasound pics that I received on Friday. I can't find a scanner anywhere, so I had to take a picture of the pics, and needless to say, the quality is less than optimal. But you get the point! And if I DO find a scanner that I can discreetly use, then I'll re-post better quality pics.

I have one other picture, but it's related to the whole "is it a boy or is it a girl" question... The doctor had a preliminary guess, and I know some people told me not to tell them. I'm going to give you 24 hours to respond if you don't want to know. Otherwise, tomorrow afternoon, the pic gets posted!

And the rain came...

This afternoon, leaving my final class of the day at 5pm, I heard something. Vaguely familiar, but strange to the ears, like a song you haven't heard in years.

It was thunder. Rolling thunder, announcing imminent rain.

Of course, Oaxaca is no stranger to the rain. When I arrived in July, it was raining every single day. Sometimes for the entire day. I brought my raincoat with me at all times, and everywhere you looked you saw people armed with umbrellas.

But that was the rainy season. Here in Miahuatlán, we haven't had ANY precipitation for months. Not a single drop since late October. The formerly muddy roads have totally dried up, the flowers and greenery have almost disappeared, and the remaining plants are visibly thirsty. The bus ride to and from school is ridiculously dusty, and we shut the windows (despite heat and a crowded bus) to minimize the clouds of dust that can enter our lungs on the journey...

So, needless to say, it caused quite a buzz among my co-workers and I to hear the thunder, and see lightning and rain in the distant mountains, making its way towards us. We took a walk around campus, to admire the rare sight and talk about all the benefits some rain would do. But even though it's starting to feel like a desert here, and there are days when we fantasize about some rain, we still didn't want it to rain TOO much, we weren't prepared with our rain gear (which has been stored away for months, I don't even know where mine is!)...

In the end, we got the best of both worlds. It rained a bit, while we were all safely in our offices and not en route to class, and then it stopped. We enjoyed the beauty of the rain, and the knowledge of how much our town needed the water, while the smell of fresh rain spread throughout our offices.

I'm getting ready to leave for the day, and I'm looking forward to breathing on the bus, without the dust particles!

One month from today...

That's right, it's just one month until my birthday. I feel that it's never too early to start reminding friends, family and students about the big day. Ah... February 12th...

I was so sure after my last blog that I would be able to stay more current, but last week was crazy on so many levels. Work issues, boy issues, problems sleeping, constant hunger and urination needs... Last week was a whirlwind of all of the above. This week promises to be much calmer; at least, I'm determined to make it so.

I went to Oaxaca this weekend, and had a marvelous time. I left Saturday morning, skipping breakfast (despite intense hunger) because I had to have some blood work done and I had to arrive fasting. I didn't understand all of the results, but from what I could interpret I am in good health. And my blood type is B positive.

I had lunch with Katharina, then went to the movies for the first time in Mexico, with a friend from the university (Hadya). We saw Australia, which I enjoyed, although I definitely found it quite a bit different than I expected. But the theater was amazing, it was the biggest theater I've ever watched a movie in (including in NYC and Chicago), with stadium seating that just engulfed the masses of people that were also there to watch the movie. It felt like there were no bad seats...

On Sunday I wandered around town, alternating between browsing bookstores and reading in the sun. Katharina's boyfriend Ruben cooked us lunch on Sunday afternoon, then I headed back to Miahuatlán. I got back in time to meet up with my güero co-workers for what we like to call "zocomida," AKA zócalo food (french fries "con todo," hamburguesas "con todo," and corn "elote" delicacies).

I guess that's it for now... Did I mention my birthday is coming up soon? :)

I've been a bad, bad girl...

(Am I the only one who hears the Fiona Apple song "Criminal" playing in their head while looking at this title?)

I promised my mom (and thru her, my grandma) that I would post a blog update a few days ago, now that I am back safe and sound in Miahuatlán. And I didn't. So first and foremost, please let me state for the record that I am alive. And I'm not sick. I've just been quite busy and catching up on sleep after my exhausting trip back to the "other side."

I left Massachusetts in the wee hours of Sunday morning, and 2 flights and 8 hours later, I arrived in Mexico City, an hour ahead of schedule. I flew threw immigration, but was stopped at customs because of the large number of "suspicious food items" that I had in one of my bags. The customs officer was a bit skeptical as she unearthed various packages of gluten-free pasta and bread, but I explained my gluten allergy (in excessive detail), and she soon decided this wasn't worth her time.

I took a taxi to the main bus station in Mexico City, excited that I had arrived ahead of schedule and optimistic that I could get into Oaxaca city in time to catch one of the last vans to Miahuatlán. Alas, I was told that the next 4 buses leaving were totally full, and so I had to wait over two hours in the station with all of my luggage. I managed to lug it all around with me, long enough to get something to eat and then get settled in the waiting area. I befriended a couple with a small daughter, and after an hour I pretty much begged them to watch my bags for 10 minutes so I could use the bathroom and buy some water.

I had an uneventful 7-hour bus ride from Mexico City to Oaxaca, where I checked into my hostel at midnight and had 4.5 hours of sleep. I had to catch an early van to Miahuatlán in time to drop my bags off, shower, and catch the bus to the university for work.

So that was my journey back. I was totally exhausted, but Monday and Tuesday night I stayed up ridiculously late, catching up with my co-workers and friends. Last night (Wednesday) I finally went to bed nice and early, and got a great night's sleep.

I've been thoroughly enjoying all of my gluten-free goodies, it's wonderful to have pasta and cookies and bread again! I received a delicious jar of passion fruit marmalade, and I was so thankful to have something to put it on... And I'm planning a dinner of pancakes soon (maybe tonight!), made possible thanks to the special flour I brought back.

Classes have been going smoothly, but we're covering difficult material in my 3 level one classes... So I've even been busy in the hours I don't have class (normally reserved for e-mailing, blog updates and online word games), planning my classes and figuring out how to get my students on board with the present simple.

And I think that's it! I'll have time to post more tomorrow, seeing as Fridays I don't have any classes (and even I can only play Word Twist so many times)...