Caguama, Antenna, CellPhone And An English Class

living.boondockingmexico@yahoo.com

Wow, what a day!  I didn't sleep worth a darn last night.  Thunderstorms and heavy rains kept the cat jumping off and on the bed.  He doesn't like to be held or under the covers.  He's a cat and has his own way of doing things.   Plus I think I had a bad bit of something in my porridge.  Anyway, I got back to sleep but didn't wake up until almost seven.  Sinful as far as I'm concerned.  I mean really, who sleeps until seven.  The cows can go dry in that short of time.

Went to the gym anyway and picked up my 4 kilos of laundry which included two blankets.  Usually, blankets are charged separately.  The whole deal was 56 pesos.   She even let me pick out certain items for line drying only.  What a deal.

FedEx said my package wouldn't arrive until 2 p.m. so I headed back up the hill.  BTW, if you don't know, SMA is undergoing several road projects.  Yep, you can conserve the historic center but the rest of the city demands growth.  It's actually faster to walk than drive these days.   I have to say, I used the GPS coming back from the school today and it showed me a route I didn't know existed.  Much faster but also interesting.  Looks like a good hike while I'm here.

So now you know that I am teaching.  It is a small group of kids and the are taking summer classes in Español, English and Art.  Today I worked with the Spanish teachers.  They are seventh semester university students studying pedagogy.   They like me showing them new ways of teaching and how to make the classes interesting.  They were a bit leery at first with me being a gringo and teaching Spanish.   We´re talking elementary basic Spanish so it´s not hard.   It´s the approach they need to learn.

Back to the laundry.  I came home and stopped by a construction site.  I offered them two caguamas (two liters of beer) if they loaned me a ladder to climb on the roof and fix the antenna.  Sure enough, they scurried right over willing to help.   I found the cable was broken in two.  I spliced it and the television works.  Now I can watch Mexican national news in the mornings with my coffee.  What a life!  What more could a person ask for; a warm bed, a hot cup of coffee, my  mascota (pet), and national news.  Wait!  Something or someone is missing.  18 days now.

I got the house cleaned up, changed the sheets and swept the floors and rugs.  That was my duty (deber) before enjoying a plate of enchiladas at the Tuesday market.  Way too many gringos.  I guess frizzy hair is the "in" thing now.  Oh well, I did what I wanted and goofed on gringos.  The enchiladas were the best.  

After, a quick nap and a stop by FedEx.  Messenger service in Mexico is very reliable.  I told Juan not to put insurance on the phone.  Packages always arrive.  I have used Estafeta, Red Pack, DHL, FedEx to send reports, books, materials and personal stuff since 1994 when I started working for publishers and have never lost a package.  For a few years it was a weekly event.  Even the Mexican post office with their special MexPost is very reliable and trackable.   I now have my old phone with camera that fits easily into my pocket.  

I watched a good movie last night; Marie's Story or in French it is called Marie Heurtin.  A great French movie about the savage deaf and blind girl who was taught by a religious order and became a teacher herself.  Similar to the story of Helen Keller.  European movies are more romantic and story-line driven. It was very good.