Cafeteria Beauties...

As I'm preparing to return to Massachusetts, I know I have to say goodbye to lots of people, and to Mexico in general. And I've been mentally preparing myself for the "big goodbyes," to my friends and co-workers, who I've gotten so close to over these months. (Luckily, I can postpone those super-sad goodbyes for another few days, at the going-away party we're having Tuesday night). Today is my last day at UNSIS, and I'm finding myself saying so many "peripheral" goodbyes, to people that I see every day, but I didn't really think about how difficult it would be to say goodbye to them. With all the moves I've done, you'd think I'd be used to it by now, but I'm not.

One such group is the family that runs the cafeteria. They're an extremely nice couple, with 2 young daughters (who are almost always at work with them). Their youngest daughter, Madison, is 8 months old (I believe), and the mom says I have to come back to Miahuatlán with my son so they can meet. Allison is already trying to play matchmaker with them. :)

Chelsey didn't want me to interrupt her meal, and as she was eating her quesadilla she stretched the cheese way out... Her dad told me to take a foto of it, to show people what real Oaxacan cheese is like (called quesillo).





And fotos of the 2 girls (Madison and Chelsey) together:

Quick Update...

I just wanted to post an update before I start getting complaints...

I had a super relaxing weekend, decided to stay in Miahuatlán and sleep and eat and watch movies... It was a great weekend, I realized I really needed sleep after the past week or two, lots of parties, preparing tests, preparing STUDENTS for the tests, then grading finals...

So no good pictures or stories from the weekend. This week is my last week at work, and we found out yesterday that our boss is encouraging us to take Friday off (without pay, but still!)... Not sure exactly why he's so keen on us taking the day off, might be because HE wants it off, and he feels more justified if we also request it off. Or maybe he's trying to save the department money, and it's a good time because there's nothing to do. We've been filling our days with card games (Euchre and Pitch), online games (Word Twist and Challenge Sudoku), excessive meals at the cafeteria (which works out just fine for Frijolito and I!), and walking laps around campus.

The bottom line is it looks like we'll all take Friday off, and head to the beach a day earlier than planned. Which is perfect for my last weekend in Mexico, I'll soak up as much sun as I can so I'm armed for the New England March weather that awaits me... (still NOT looking forward to the weather, but besides that, I'm getting excited to be back!)

Everything is going well, I'm eating well and sleeping okay (Frijolito is moving around more than ever, so I wake up numerous times during the night, trying to find a comfortable position). I feel good about my pregnancy, every time I get a glimpse of my growing belly or I feel "pregnant" all of a sudden (after not thinking about it for a few hours), it makes me very happy to think that there is actually a human being forming in there, growing like crazy, and that one day he'll finally be with me "on the outside." :)

My student fan club

Ah, it's nice to have student fans... :) These students have been coming to visit me all week, even though their final is long over... 2 of them are my students, 2 of them are Allison's students (but from the same major, Public Administration, so they're really part of the same crew)...

In this picture (from left to right):

Remigio - Allison's student who is desperately in love with her (humorous to all except for Allison); Maria de Lourdes - one of my students, she is very very funny, and a favorite with all Centro de Idiomas staff; Jairo (pronounced HI-row) - my student who has suggested that I marry him and stay here forever ("all of Miahuatlán could be yours..."). I think the poor guy truly thinks there's a chance for us (despite that I'm pregnant with another man's child, moving back to the US, and he's only 18 years old). Poor boy... (Grandma: he is the one I'm dancing with in the pictures from my party, so I thought your e-mail comment about him was particularly funny AND appropriate!) :)






In this picture: Remigio, Jairo, Yours Truly, Maria de Lourdes, and Eder. Eder is a very sweet, innocent-looking boy, I think the other boys are corrupting him, slowly but surely... Right before we took this picture, Jairo reminded me how important it is for me to not drink (I haven't touched a drop of alcohol since early November), telling me if I drink my baby would come out like Eder... It was cruel, but funny... (and just for the record, this shirt makes me look much more pregnant than I really am. I'm definitely showing, but not quite THAT much, it's just how the shirt hangs...)

Class fotos...

I managed to get a picture of each of my classes (actually, 2 of each, because there's always someone with their eyes closed or a horrible mid-laugh grimace...)

My 9am Level 1 class of Public Administration students:



My 10am Level 1 class of Nursing students:



My 1pm Level 3 class of Public Administration students:


My 4pm Level 1 class of Business students:

Ultrasound Pics (at 18 weeks)

As I mentioned, these pictures aren't as clear as the ones from the last set, they're rather blurry (Frijolito was moving around quite a bit!)... The key to this appointment was finding out that he is a little man, and he seemed quite proud to show off this fact. :)

Doctor's appointment

Saturday was a busy day... Before going to Humberto's wedding, I had a doctor's appointment in Oaxaca city. It was my last one in Mexico, I already have an appointment with Dr. Craig Martin in Great Barrington for March 12th, a week after I get back to Massachusetts.

The most exciting thing about this appointment was finding out (for sure) the sex. As you might remember, at my appointment last month there was a rather incriminating foto that suggested my little frijolito is a boy, but that was at 14 weeks (quite early to determine the gender). My doctor told me that this appointment, with 18 weeks, we should be able to know for sure. And she was right, it was pretty clear that this is a boy! So, even though many seem to have been hoping for a girl (Emma said she'd even prefer a girl with a tail!), my wee one is a boy.

The ultrasound pics aren't as clear or as interesting as the last batch, but I will post them once I get them scanned. Other factoids of note... I am now up to 57.7 kg (127 pounds), which means I've gained 2.5 kg (less than 6 pounds) since my first appointment, when I was 8 weeks pregnant. So I haven't gained very much, but what I HAVE gained is very localized to my abdomen... I've noticed a definite and steady increase in my belly over the past 2 weeks, there is no doubt (to others or to me when I catch a glimpse of a pregnant lady in the mirror!) that I am truly, visibly, pregnant. :)

Humberto's wedding

On Saturday, Día de San Valentín, I went to my friend Humberto's wedding. Humberto is from a small town outside of Oaxaca city, San Agustín Yatareni, but he's been living and working in the Berkshires for a number of years. I met him when he was studying English, and we've remained friends. He came down to visit his family back in August, which was wonderful because I was really needing to see a familiar face then. He told me he was planning to propose to his girlfriend (who is from the same town), and when she said yes, their wedding was planned for May of this year. I was disappointed that I'd miss the wedding (leaving Mexico in just over 2 weeks), but then I received a surprise call from Humberto saying they were getting married on February 14th. So I was able to attend after all...

These first 2 photos I tried to take discreetly during the "official" wedding shoot, when the professional photographer had them nicely posed and well-lit... But because of issues with my camera's flash and my unwillingness to interrupt too much in order to re-take fotos, they came out less-than-optimal. But you get the idea...

And some other fotos, the only ones that came out (lighting was tricky, there was almost always the shining glare of either the sun or an artificial light when I tried to take a picture!). I also felt uncomfortable taking too many fotos, as nobody else had a camera and I was already sticking out like a sore thumb (a feeling I'm certainly getting used to down here!)



This last picture I took the morning after, while I was waiting for the taxi to come and take me back to Oaxaca city... Humberto and his new wife Fabiola, and Humberto's parents (whose names I never learned, strangely enough!)

Copulating Spiders. Nuff Said

Sorry, Grandma...

Grandma, this is just for you. I'm SO sorry that I continually promise updates and pictures, and then it takes me a ridiculously long time to actually follow through. You are my most loyal blog reader (Mom tells me that you inform HER of when I've posted an update) :) And I've got to keep my best customer happy!

Just for the record... I'm NOT sorry about the "copulating spiders" picture... That's just good, old-fashioned, wholesome, family fun...

Thanks for being so good about checking my blog every morning. I love you and I will see you soon! I'm home in less than 3 weeks...

Birthday festivities - Round 2: El Refugio "discoteca"

It was a great time, with lots of drunken craziness and drama. Luckily, as perhaps the only sober person there, not only was I not personally involved in any of the drama, but I have the joy of remembering it all, so I can replay all the details at will... :)

Birthday festivities - Round 1

In addition to the overwhelming amount of birthday wishes I received, we had a big party in honor of our students and the end of the semester. It just so happened that it fell on my birthday :)

Round 1 took place in a restaurant-cafe called "Meet"... We arranged with the owners to reserve the upstairs section, and we had trays of tacos dorados, tostadas and nachos. They also served jars of horchata and jamaica water, and we brought 2 delicious flans from the local Brazilian pizza place (which oddly enough has a dessert counter, too)...

We had a HUGE turnout of students, and had to keep upping the food and beverages (including numerous "beer runs" to supplement the mezcal and tequila students brought).










Not surprisingly, because of the large amount of alcohol being consumed (and NOT being purchased from the host establishment), around 11pm we were asked to wind down Round 1 and leave the restaurant. I was more than happy to end Round 1, and move on to Round 2, where I wouldn't have any feelings of responsibility for rowdiness and/or drunkenness of students (and fellow teachers, not mentioning any names.... ALLISON) :)

Dear Anonymous Hacker...

I must say that was quite the unexpected surprise! I first saw in my e-mail account notifications that people were commenting on my blog post "Anonymous Hacker infiltrates..." and I was SUPER worried that I was going to find some XXX message or an offer for free Viagra samples. :) It was a very nice surprise to see my own cute face (albeit decades younger!) smiling back at me!

It was a wonderful start to a great day, and it's not even noon yet! My Mexican friends, co-workers and students all remembered my birthday, and combined with the e-greetings from loved ones north of the Rio Grande, I feel pretty darn special.

I will have lots of pictures to post tomorrow. We have a big party planned for tonight, to celebrate the end of the semester with our students (and of course, my birthday and my goodbye with my students).

Thank you thank you thank you, dear Anonymous Hacker! And although I have NO IDEA who you might be, I send you a big hug. I will see you very soon (just 3 weeks from today!)

Anonymous Hacker Infiltrates Erica's Blog To Say...

Happy Birthday Erica!!!!

Yes, today is the day, 32 years ago that a whopping 10 and one half pound baby girl was born. She was sunshine then as she is today. She may be a little miffed at the intrusion on her privacy by the hacking into her blog so please make it alright by sending her a birthday greeting. Whether you email, post on this blog or call (oh that's right, we can't call her can we?)....anyway you get the message. So Erica, these anonymous posters wish you the most happiest of birthdays.....this year will be a wonderful one for you and all of us. Luv ya.

Inconsistent Blogger...

So this weekend I was accused (perhaps correctly) of being an inconsistent blogger. Thanks, Mom. And I guess it's true. Sometimes I actually don't have time, especially because I am only on the internet when I'm in my office, and occasionally I am actually working. Or teaching classes. You know, earning my pay. But other times I just don't have anything that seems "blog-worthy" to say, no pictures or interesting stories...

Seeing as I have only a few more weeks left in Mexico, I will do my best to post updates more often, even if they're somewhat lacking in adventure and drama...

This past weekend I went to Oaxaca. I met up with a former student from Massachusetts, Humberto, who has moved back to his town just outside of Oaxaca, San Agustín Yatareni. He and his soon-to-be-wife picked me up and brought me to their town, where I met both of their families and had a delicious lunch. They're getting married next weekend, on Valentine's Day, and I'm very happy I'll be able to attend. They're expecting around 500 guests!!! Sounds like it's almost the entire town, as well as some friends and family from other areas. I will definitely take pictures.

I also went to the super-luxe movie theater with Margee, where we saw Revolutionary Road. It was an intense movie, disturbing at times, but luckily we had 2 big tubs of popcorn to get us through. One buttery and the other caramel, both nice and warm... It was a wonderful treat. I think movie places in the States should offer caramel popcorn, it was SOOO delicious.

On Sunday I met up with Katharina and her boyfriend Ruben, for some entomatadas verdes that she said "would change my life." And they were definitely good. And I will now consider ordering entomatadas over enchiladas, but only when salsa verde is possible... (if that counts as life-changing, so be it)

I've been having some lower back pain for the past 5 days or so, probably related to Frijolito's rapid growth... I've been doing some special stretches and back exercises, and I'm doing much better now. In the past 2 weeks I've noticed a big difference in my stomach, I'm definitely "showing" now, and I find most of my pants uncomfortable to sit in. (usually I have the top button and maybe a bit of the zipper undone when I'm sitting for a while, I've become a master at rapidly and hopefully secretively re-buttoning when I have to stand up again!) I'm trying to avoid buying any real maternity pants until I'm back in Massachusetts, I'm going to have a hard time fitting all my stuff as it is!

And besides that, nothing to report. Next week are final exams for all of my students, so this week I have to write the Level 1 Final Exam (I'm almost half-way done now) and also prepare my students for the final. That is, if they decide to come to class. Unfortunately, most of the students view this week before finals as optional, and so it's hard to review... We'll see how it goes...

Girls' Weekend - Beach

These pics speak for themselves. And with this post, I'm done for the day! (I have to get SOME actual work done!!)