It's July 6 I think- ha ha I kinda like not being sure about the date, day of the week, or even the time! Some days are filled with errands which by definition must be done out of Playa Ventura and so take most of the day...driving to, making required small talk getting around to the business at hand, more small talk and then the next thing. I imagine this is the way in many countries, and really, getting used it kinda makes it ok. That the process is the goal. Talking to people, waiting for 2 cute pigs to scamper across the road...Then other days are spent in the hammock reading a book. When I was a teenager I read alot. My best friend Teri and I read like crazy and traded books. This is the end of 4 weeks and I've read 6 books i think. Fiction, I like mysteries, lawyer books, Richard North Patterson is one of my favorites, finished the last few pages of Eclipse that I started yesterday, this morning as soon as I woke up. 

So the bug bites are back in force to kill me. Huge splotches on my legs and arms. They got better for awhile but are back in full force. Everardo wants to spray this shit like Raid every day in the house but I think it is poisoning us and so its only sometimes because I can't ALWAYS have my way (even if I know I'm right ha ha). But after chemo- I'm totally paranoid about poisoning myself. hmmm maybe that's kinda silly- but I think half the shit that's used here is banned in the U.S. But people here have more pressing concerns...like eating, drinking clean water, etc....I am SO not the judge of anybody!

The rainy season is not very rainy, maybe this is a gift for us, however even when it rains life simply proceeds. It's not cold, we even went swimming n our friend's pool during the hurricane. It rains mostly at nite and that's the way it usually goes in June & July. We are told to expect alot of rain in August and Sept, and then it will be done. hopefully by then we will be involved in enough things around the house and/or with friends that when the electricity is out (the only down side I see so far to the rain) that we won't care. There's no internet or tv then, and maybe no phone altho we aren't sure about that. I now have a tiny purple cell phone which of course only works away from Playa Ventura, so I haven't used it yet either.

Everardo is trying to learn to fish with a net, he goes with our friend Gume, he hasn't been too successful yet, but we are invited there to eat today cause Gume is very good at it, and they went this morning.  My Spanish is coming along but I am not good at poco a poco in this area and have to stop myself from getting frustrated. But we are happy here and are seeing how beautiful life is. The big news is they are paving our road, maybe this month- there is heavy equipment around and sidewalks being built further down from us, so we'll see. It's a good thing for us since our first week here the rains were pouring sand and dirt down our driveway into the living area faster than it could drain thru. Everardo was our there on the road for hours trying to dig trenches to divert the stream (ok river) of water to the other side of the road and down to the ditches.

 

Well English class was GREAT today!! I only had 4 kids, and did not get the 13 yr old I was expecting but he may still show up another day. Then a fifth showed up, the 15 yr old girl. I had her stay for an extra 45 min and we did harder stuff, but concepts I didn't think the kids could master, and it was good. Back to the kids- they remembered some of their first class! And they are eager learners! They can only concentrate for almost an hour, and 2 of the four can't read yet, so the handouts for them at first I thought wouldn't help much- but they really liked getting papers from the teacher and then I stapled them in order for each kid...anyway they had fun today and their enthusiasm really encouraged me! We used flash cards for colors and alaphabet, and numbers up to fifteen. Making your tongue do thirteen is not easy when you haven't ever done it. Heidi (15yr) is gobbling up info, and we laughed about "here and hear". She writes down everything and asks alot of questions, she will be my big test. She's easier and harder. I can explain a concept, but then Engish has too many exceptions!! So I am on a very big high this afternoon cause this was so cool.

 

Now I'm just trying to talk to my younger daughter (19) today before she leaves for a 17 day trip in Europe next week. My sister is in France and it would be cool for them to meet up. She also asked my other daughter for advice on what to bring for clothes who told her, just bring everything and you can keep it in the hotel! ha ha I need to offer my opinion of well, what countries? Did you google their weather? Probably hot if not at least warm, just bring 5 pairs of shorts, and 5 summer dresses- you can wash them out in the sink if you need to,,,,well maybe you'll read this Halla! Love you baby...ok I don't think you've looked at my blog.... but enough for now- I wanna stay this happy for awhile!

OK new News Flash! The big plastic jugs that you buy off the truck for consumption, that you keep in your kitchen- well they are different! The one you want for drinking is the one with the label and the handle; you buy them off the Pepsi truck. The other one is ok for cooking & coffee, but not great for drinking, especially for a newbie like me. Found this out this morning chatting with our friends and said my stomach was bothering me again. I figured it was just my system trying to acclimate like I am to the heat (and ha ha the language). To be well, rude I guess but what the hell this is my diary, I am back to pooping green. And sometimes crampy stomach, which like I said I think my body is figuring out that I'm not leaving so just start processing as normal as possible! And yesterday I drank alot of that water cause we had it in a pitcher in the fridge and it was really hot. So....today I did not frink any of it; luckily on our Costco run we bought 2 flats of the 12 or 16 oz bottles so I just put a bunch of those in the fridge...and hey...haven't gone all day. That's very encouraging! So the Pepsi truck comes by again Saturday and we'll get 3 big jugs of "the gooood stuff".

Makes me think of Costco again- you know even the products they carry in Acapulco- priced well or not are pretty shitty. The plastic wrap is the worst! And the aluminum foil is in this fall apart box and is in sheets, not on a roll. ok enough Costco except to say that Wallmart here has everything and good prices too. I've not been a big Wallmart fan in the past cause of the way the employees are treated, but I don't know about here in Mexico, what I saw was alot of people working...so bascially I don't know except that I'm mad at Costco ha ha.

Got to talk to my daughter for 2 hours today on Skype. That was soooo cool. It was like she was right down the street and we talked about everything. I walked my laptop around the house so she could see it, and she did the same to show me where she put up some artwork and stuff. There is only one bad thing about this whole move and that is missing my daughters. But talking face to face is pretty good, so I will be happy with that. We talked about some stuff from a long time ago and it was very cool. hmm after this I think I'll try calling the other one.

Today was a good day, started with a walk on the beach and Sam (dog) chasing coconuts into the ocean, he loves finding them on the beach and having us throw them into the water like a ball. Got to read in the hammock, walked down the road to a tiny store in front of somebody's house to buy these cookies call Giro that i swear are Oreos. Yesterday when I wasn't here Everardo sprayed some mosquito killer (barely works) in the house and my pkg of Giros was in there so with great sadness I threw them away...it was open and I just couldn't eat them... and he was actually surprised that I was like ...arrgghh my cookies are in there! ha ha oh well if you don't worship the cookie then you can't really understand. Then we just had dinner, tongue tacos yummmm, and just got called to walk down for a swim. Nice. Yeah we still need things, like furniture -well a dresser for clothes at least, and some tables or shelves for my knicky knack stuff I collected over the years- AND I got rid of tons of it but still have some...like earlier when I started trying to move the glasses we don't use and fill the space with coffee cups we don't use- but they have pictures of my kids, and are from our wedding in Reno, and from Paris, and from camping,,,,see just gotta keep 'em. Oh and the space is for my one left unopened box of fragile stuff from my kitchen...not actual kitchen stuff but that stuff I've collected... oh and the kids showed up today for English class...which was yesterday and tomorrrow. I probly would have done it but I was talking to my daughter on Skype...and I think I got another kid, 13, and maybe the older kids need a different class. But at least the kids  are excited! I only had 2 yesterday because some famous singer (Belinda I think) was making a video here on the beach and they were all mesmerized.....
ah the pool calls

News Flash! Costco is not a good deal in Mexico! We drove up to Acapulco today and our last stop was Costco. We brought our friend Chela, who hadn't hopped there before. Of course I told her how much cheaper it was, and since she has a restaurant in her house, she wanted to buy big packages of stuff. Ok they are pretty good for dog food. But that was it. A pair of shorts was $37 U.S.! Meat was expensive, so was cheese, cereal, and peanut butter, even in the huge size. That was the kind of stuff I bought, she bought cooking oil, rice, clothes soap- none of it was cheap. Wallmart here had much MUCH better prices than Costco. It may be that most of the products are imported from the U.S., whereas Wallmart merchandise is either made in Mexico or China. I read somewhere online that Costco imported and so expect higher prices...so take that for what's it worth- you can read anything online. But just in case anybody thinks a run to Costco to stock up is a good idea....well maybe not so much.

ha ha Plus the 2 hour drive home with all the stuff in the back of the truck in this heat?? Luckily we hit no traffic, federales, etc, so although the bread looked a little limp and I have some doubts about the cheese, also lucky we didn't buy anything frozen cause it wouldn't be, and yeah forget popsicles!
We were stopped by some cows on the road on the way up- and these were not ook out the car window at black & white cows munching grass or the talking cows from the commercial (altho' I like those crazy girls), these are very large bony brown cows, some with huge horns that sort of swoop across their heads like a buffalo or something...ok maybe those are not cows- bulls? Then later these totally cute pigs went scampering ( and yes! They were scampering) so freakin' cute, across the raod but we only had to slow down for them. Anyway that was on the way- on the way back we only had to stop & wait once very quickly on the road into Playa Ventura for these horses. There's like 5 or 6 of them and I now used to them just walking along the road or even walking in the beach. There's never anyone with them and they have no ropes. Hubby says this town is so small everyone knows who's random animals are who's ha ha. The only thing I don't see wandering is chickens. Pigs, goats, horses, and burros. And I have a favorite burro now, he's not walking free- there's this field on the road in where cows and burrows graze. This guy is always standing on this mound, probly 3 feet high, and I wonder what he's thinking about. I'm the king of all I can see, or I be I could jump the fence from here, or as soon as that car goes by with that nosy bitch I'm gonna spread my wings and go for a fly!....

After a long day in Acapulco, starting with the decision to get over myself and my precious Iphone and I bought this miniature phone, purple of course, with pay as you go. I don't need internet, I can do that at home- when it's up- which is up, down, up down since we got it the other day. But when it's off, just keep swimming cause it will be back...at Telmex they said Telcel can unlock the Iphone, At Telcel they said, well these guys (somewhere else) work for us, they do it, then we can give you service...the nice thing was I could choose pay as you go (unlike the states where with Iphone you have to have data). But the thing is, there is no cell service here in Playa Ventura, so I have to drive 10 min away to get service. I also don't have to have email and/or internet on my phone, and that tiny purple phone was so cute....eh what the hell. If I ever decide I want to use my Iphone I still have it and can go thru the whole unlock thing. For now it's a pretty good camera, and a good alarm clock (ooops also not needed too much yipee), so that's that. Hubby found everything he needed at Home Depo and so has projects for tomorrow. We ended the day with a 9pm swim in Chela's pool. God how refreshing! We splashed around for awhile and chatted with Chela and Gume and played with their youngest, and walked home along the beach about 10:30. hat was for Sam since he was very sad he was not invited into the pool.

The other big news is they filmed some famous singer Belinda something doing a video on the beach and tomorrow they're doing more down by the lagoon.We missed all th excitement today (good), but tomorrow s another day! She's very famous with the younger crowd I think, but maybe I'll find out more tomorrow. Hmmm I wonder if the kids will come for English class...Oh well I'll be here. I'm thinking of some new things for that too- of course I haven't read any of the info I requested ha ha. ok now I so sleepy.

Ok teaching little kids is alot harder than it looks! Today was my first attempt and they did all say they wanted to come back on Wednesday ( I think that's what they were saying...). And another thing- 2 hours is too long for 6-9 yr olds. 6 kids, and later a 15 yr old girl joined. Big surprise- she was the best student....but my husband says once the little ones start getting the hand of it they will pass her. So I started simple- at least I was thinking it would be simple- you know the first try at a new language when your tongue hasn't twisted that way before, or you haven't made the "th" sound pressing your tongue against your teeth- AND your teacher doesn't know enough of your language to explain to six wiggly kids what the concept is....ok simple is not a word that comes to mind, And oh yeah like I learned yesterday I should be saying "easy", not simple!

2 kids had tiny whisper voices- big surprise- brother and little (6) sister. All but 2 brought notebooks and tried to copy everything I wrote on the whiteboard. I bought 20 spiral notebooks at Office Depot for a buck each before I left so was able to supply them. All we did was "what is your name, my name is" and "where do you live, I live in Playa Ventura" but it was not...easy. I had them ask each other the questions and answer. We also did days of the week. An finished with my box of surprise items. 10 things taken out one at a time, identified and practiced, then Wed we'll see who remembers. O'm gonna try next class review and then add something new. I need to red all the crap I subscribed to when I first agreed to do this months ago. I have an email box with  couple of lesson plan ideas, also a "teachers book of lists". Like I started with this- my hat is off to all teachers, you have a gift. I'll do my best.

Then at the end of the day I got to talk to my younger daughter for about an hour which was very cool cause I keep missing her, very busy at 19. And unfortunately for me at this age her and I don't always see eye to eye and know just how to push each other's buttons whether we mean to or not...but today was great. She told me about school, her job; & it seems we agree alot on politics. I'm so proud of her. My older one is 26 and we had mostly the same mom-daughter problems at that age, but now we are super close, we could talk every day. I can hardly wait to get there with Halla. She was laughing at my escapades here, and we talked about patience being the number one trait to have here to be happy.

Tomorrow is Acapulco again, this time to see if Telcel can unlock my cell phone- I really like touch screen, and a trip to Home Depot for hubby for electrical stuff to make our little casa better, so we'll see what fun things happen...

Well this morning I woke up feeling great! Yesterday we switched out songle and a half bed with 2 single beds that we pushed together and used ou king sheets and I REALLY slept for the first nite since we arrived! Oh man it was sweet. My alarm actually woke me up at 3am to take that pill- the antibiotic from the water poisoning- yeah I have one more day after today of 7pm,3am, 11am....anyway I was awake at 3am the previous nites but not last nite- yipee. I adore my husband and always respond to snuggles and hugs- but man when it's about 100 degrees and sticky sweat just from turning over....yeah usually I like to fall asleep with my head on his shoulder, right under his chin...then of course turn over later cause I like to stretch out my arms and legs, sometimes all at once...but in this weather we love each other, kiss and as of last nite, get a WHOLE side to ourselves! So this is the heat during the "rainy season"! Well to be fair we've been told that we have seen nothin' yet- that we will see big big storms. When we first got here it rained every nite the first week but not during the day. Then the hurricane came and it rained for about 3 days. Since then it's rained a few nites and once or twice for a couple of ours during the day, so not too much. Ha ha the other nite a bolt of lightning flashed so bright and I swear the boom started before the flash ended. Remember when we were kids and counted between the flash and the thunder to see how many miles away? I think this hit in my backyard! I think I jumped across the room onto my husband who was saying don't worry don't worry but it scared me! The teenager daughter of our friends laughed at me the next day and said.....just wait.

The fact is over the past couple of years I have become and toss & turner. I wake up- alot. The nice thing is Everardo sleeps right thru it. And although he's happy too about the bigger bed, he was still sleeping pretty good.I'll say this, I'm not sure if I'm having hot flashes anymore because I'm always hot ha ha. I get achey knees and sometimes wrists from this damn cancer medicine I take. Arimidex. I was taking Tamoxifin and that killed my knees and ankles- achey all the time.Now this new stuff was so bad on my wrists that I bought a couple of those braces, which help alot. My hands were going numb. But the truth is my hands have not been bothering me since we got here and my knees only once in awhile, I think it has to do with the heat. good.

This morning the electricity went off about 7:30am and came back about 11:30. Our friends said it never goes out for 2 days, always less. Ok well that's good to know I guess. So after breakfast (gas stove) eggs, tortillas, cheese, banana- at least I'm eating better...we walked down the beach to Chela & Gume and they had electricity! Apparemtly they have a different line or something. But when a little car sped by later with what looked like a telephone pole sticking thru the window, Chela said the power must be back for you. Now it must have been smaller than a telephone pole right? But it didn;t look like a ladder, anyway things break alot and get fixed quick. hmmm ok. Actually when Gume asked if I was unhappy about the electricity being off I thought about it and said- really- no, it's light outside, I can read in my hammock, play on the beach with Sam. I love my life here, it's simple. Now all this was in Spanish, so my conversation contributions can be pretty minimal, but they are so patient and correct me so I try every day to get my point across or understand before giving on to a translation by hubby. So when I said simple (simplay), Gume & this other guy looked surprised and and asked again. As it turns out in Spanish (in this region so I don't know if always), simple is a negative thing. Like not having anything or any prospects, it would be sad if your life was simple. So I said I meant tranquillo (peaceful), and they said oh like facil (easy). So the we talked about that cause it's peaceful to live here- but it was not easy when I was puking off my deck uncontrollably, and it was not easy when the ATM had no money, or when I had to spend the entire day in Immigration....but each of those things had relatively easy (simple to me) resolutions. The dr was fast and really cheap, we went for a nice drive to get money, and they gave me residency.ha ha The biggest lesson I'm learning here I think is patience. Everything works out. Getting frustrated does not help, and people seems puzzled by it. I think I want a new tattoo that says "everything is possible in Mexico" (todo es posible en Mexico). I won't get it cause I think I'm done tattooing...so anyway after all that I now know to say when asked my life is peaceful and/or easy, but not simple. And they learned in English it has another meaning. And really the electricity is out? ok I can just do something else...oh- and everyone here says the electricity going out is just a rainy season thing, that from Oct-May no problem...ok that will be very cool...

Tomorrow I am going to start my project with the kids- teaching them English. I am not a teacher by profession, but these little sponges really want to learn, and their parents want them to learn. When they get older and want to go to work, maybe in a resort town or come to the states, or really any country or big city in Mexico, if they are bilingual they have much better opportunities. These kids are 7,8,&9 and hopefully I'll only have 3 or 4 tomorrow but at least 10 have come up to me asking when I'm going to teach them! I think I'm gonna try 1-3 pm, Mon Wed Fri & see how that goes. It is totally up in the air, I am open to go with what works. I think tomorrow I'll start with everybody's names and then each others...I also have with me about 20 spiral notebooks and 20 kid dctionaries Spanish English with pictures, crayons, pens, pencils, a whiteboard with a stand. A teacher's book of lists I bought of Amazon for teaching ESL and a website with suggested lesson plans...so we shall see.