Registering for things. I went today to Intercam, a service that will change dollars or euros to pesos and vice versa, cash checks, send money to local or international banks, etc. They usually gove a better exchange rate than the bank, not by much, but hey every penny..ok or peso...counts, right? I think I shared about this place last week, when I was going crazy driving back and forth between there and the bank, trying to get the best rate and not be in line for an hour....both places were gonna be closed Thurs and Fri for the Easter weekend holiday. Anyway I ended up changing my money there, but not with the best rate cause I wasn't a "client" yet, and standing in the at the bank too ha ha. I kept going back and not having the right documents....fun day...oh wait...NOT!
So today I dropped in there, they're only open until 2pm every day, so I went this morning, and yipee I had all the right docs; passport, FM2 visa, and the telephone bill to prove residence (luckily it's in my name). Anyway, if I had signed up at this place when we first got here I would have gotten frustrated, probly mad, indignant for the ridiculous things they were asking me, but now I understand this is Mexico, and things are different. Besides all that, my SS#, what town I was born in, but not my mother's maiden name ....but I did have to mark a diagram by writing in cross streets and my street, then describe my house; second house on the left, one story, red, no trees on the street, kinda crazy eh? But you know what? Things don't get mailed here, bills or other wise. Someone drops them off in your mailbox. The electric bill and the water bill are not even in envelopes, but the telephone bill does. The cable bill doesn't come at all; it just shows up on your television screen from about the first week of the month until it's due on the 14th...unless you pay right away..then it drops off.
But it's good to have a backup plan, a second choice for moving or changing money. If we ever sell the Guerrero house, we're gonna want to move some of that money back into the states, and I'm not sure I want to do it thru our bank here,maybe this service is better...but I'm pretty sure I have some time to figure it out ha ha.
Ok now for dear diary...Spanish class is going good. I realize I just gotta let it go and not pressure myself to learn....just get what I get when I get it. And tiny things are coming together that I know make bigger things. My students in English class told me my Spanish is "more better" ha ha than it was when I first started teaching them. And "more better" gave us a topic for discussion for class!
So we have a special project, top secret going on...I came up with the idea and figured either they'd tell me NO WAY or they'd think it was a good idea. Luckily they all love it! I showed them the words to the song "Still the One" by Orleans...you know..."..we're still havin fun and you're still the one...". I told them about the song, it's a love song, but fun, and happy. Anyway the directors out there are this couple; Karen and Mark, actually they are Living Stones Ministry. I am not into their Christian beliefs, but you know what? I am into helping people who need help. They feed people 5 days a week, they teach gardening, and if you're interested they go to your house and help you start your own garden. I mean these guys grow worms! They grow worms to put into the ground to enrich it. They recycle, they have a free spay/neuter clinic twice a month. There are literally hundreds of stray dogs just here in Puerto Penasco. Sometimes I know Karen feels like she hardly makes a dent, but they also rescue dogs, they take care of them and move them to a no-kill shelter north of town, and then up to another no-kill shelter in Arizona. They give away dog food, and flea/tick medicine.
There's a new project that's already growing; sewing. They got sewing machines donated and now are getting together with another community center in town who also has a group of women who want to participate- they are sewing purses and bags, maybe clothes, I'm not sure. But a woman from San Diego is contracting them by the piece, so they make something, they get paid. She then sells the stuff online.
They make purses and mats from recycled plastic bags. They look amazing, and the mats work really good as door mats, you know? They also do knitting, hats and scarves, cell phone holders, purses, and they sell them at this weekend market. They teach kids English. They have health awareness classes. They help people to get community service hours and then this other group will build them a house! A tiny house, yes, but better than the cardboard house or the house made of pallets, or the back of a car or an old trailer. So they do a lot. They give people hope. They bring hope. It's pretty damn cool.
Ok- so back to our top secret project. This song could be song between spouses, right? It's about love and how after all these years, you are still the one I want to be with. SO- I played the song on my telephone and we all agreed- let's do it. So I passed out sheets with the words, and we only got thru the first stanza this week. Some of the words are hard to wrap your mouth around when you're first learning a language. So we went slow, and they wrote the words phonetically for themselves. So Wednesday I made CD's with the song on it so everybody can practice at home. Some of them are going to put them on their phones, but some have no phones, and some have no cd players, either, but I heard a couple of them talking and they will work it out. So- they will learn the song, probly in about a month, then we're gonna have Karen & Mark stand together, and they will sing it to them as a gift, a gift of thanx for everything they do. So cool eh? And the students are having fun. That's important cause they struggle, we struggle, with pronunciation, with remembering...make sentences...and I have a feeling it's the problem I had in Calif and Southern Mexico- nobody to practice with...So I also started an extra class on Wednesdays for the students who are really having a hard time, and I enjoy that smaller class too. You will have to stay tuned to see how it turns out!
Oh and I almost forgot- I wanted to say I love looking at my stats- the most pageviews of my blog are United States, Mexico, Russia, Germany, Ukraine, UK....then "onesy-twosy" for lots of places like South Korea, Panama, Jordan, France, China....etc etc etc
Viva!!
So today I dropped in there, they're only open until 2pm every day, so I went this morning, and yipee I had all the right docs; passport, FM2 visa, and the telephone bill to prove residence (luckily it's in my name). Anyway, if I had signed up at this place when we first got here I would have gotten frustrated, probly mad, indignant for the ridiculous things they were asking me, but now I understand this is Mexico, and things are different. Besides all that, my SS#, what town I was born in, but not my mother's maiden name ....but I did have to mark a diagram by writing in cross streets and my street, then describe my house; second house on the left, one story, red, no trees on the street, kinda crazy eh? But you know what? Things don't get mailed here, bills or other wise. Someone drops them off in your mailbox. The electric bill and the water bill are not even in envelopes, but the telephone bill does. The cable bill doesn't come at all; it just shows up on your television screen from about the first week of the month until it's due on the 14th...unless you pay right away..then it drops off.
But it's good to have a backup plan, a second choice for moving or changing money. If we ever sell the Guerrero house, we're gonna want to move some of that money back into the states, and I'm not sure I want to do it thru our bank here,maybe this service is better...but I'm pretty sure I have some time to figure it out ha ha.
Ok now for dear diary...Spanish class is going good. I realize I just gotta let it go and not pressure myself to learn....just get what I get when I get it. And tiny things are coming together that I know make bigger things. My students in English class told me my Spanish is "more better" ha ha than it was when I first started teaching them. And "more better" gave us a topic for discussion for class!
So we have a special project, top secret going on...I came up with the idea and figured either they'd tell me NO WAY or they'd think it was a good idea. Luckily they all love it! I showed them the words to the song "Still the One" by Orleans...you know..."..we're still havin fun and you're still the one...". I told them about the song, it's a love song, but fun, and happy. Anyway the directors out there are this couple; Karen and Mark, actually they are Living Stones Ministry. I am not into their Christian beliefs, but you know what? I am into helping people who need help. They feed people 5 days a week, they teach gardening, and if you're interested they go to your house and help you start your own garden. I mean these guys grow worms! They grow worms to put into the ground to enrich it. They recycle, they have a free spay/neuter clinic twice a month. There are literally hundreds of stray dogs just here in Puerto Penasco. Sometimes I know Karen feels like she hardly makes a dent, but they also rescue dogs, they take care of them and move them to a no-kill shelter north of town, and then up to another no-kill shelter in Arizona. They give away dog food, and flea/tick medicine.
There's a new project that's already growing; sewing. They got sewing machines donated and now are getting together with another community center in town who also has a group of women who want to participate- they are sewing purses and bags, maybe clothes, I'm not sure. But a woman from San Diego is contracting them by the piece, so they make something, they get paid. She then sells the stuff online.
They make purses and mats from recycled plastic bags. They look amazing, and the mats work really good as door mats, you know? They also do knitting, hats and scarves, cell phone holders, purses, and they sell them at this weekend market. They teach kids English. They have health awareness classes. They help people to get community service hours and then this other group will build them a house! A tiny house, yes, but better than the cardboard house or the house made of pallets, or the back of a car or an old trailer. So they do a lot. They give people hope. They bring hope. It's pretty damn cool.
Ok- so back to our top secret project. This song could be song between spouses, right? It's about love and how after all these years, you are still the one I want to be with. SO- I played the song on my telephone and we all agreed- let's do it. So I passed out sheets with the words, and we only got thru the first stanza this week. Some of the words are hard to wrap your mouth around when you're first learning a language. So we went slow, and they wrote the words phonetically for themselves. So Wednesday I made CD's with the song on it so everybody can practice at home. Some of them are going to put them on their phones, but some have no phones, and some have no cd players, either, but I heard a couple of them talking and they will work it out. So- they will learn the song, probly in about a month, then we're gonna have Karen & Mark stand together, and they will sing it to them as a gift, a gift of thanx for everything they do. So cool eh? And the students are having fun. That's important cause they struggle, we struggle, with pronunciation, with remembering...make sentences...and I have a feeling it's the problem I had in Calif and Southern Mexico- nobody to practice with...So I also started an extra class on Wednesdays for the students who are really having a hard time, and I enjoy that smaller class too. You will have to stay tuned to see how it turns out!
Oh and I almost forgot- I wanted to say I love looking at my stats- the most pageviews of my blog are United States, Mexico, Russia, Germany, Ukraine, UK....then "onesy-twosy" for lots of places like South Korea, Panama, Jordan, France, China....etc etc etc
Viva!!
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