jaimemarge's blog

can't shake this cat love

Found a stray kitten last week.  I brought him to the humane society and gave them a donation to sign up for the ANSWER program.  It's where they follow up with you if the cat gets adopted, or, my concern; if it doesn't get adopted.  I know they have to euthanize animals that stay there too long, and if that were to happen I would have gone back for him.

Turns out that neither happened.  He was healthy there for a week, and then I got a phone call from them saying that one morning he just went downhill and died.  He must have had some kind of congenital heart defect or something.  The woman who called me said they see it a lot in kittens, but they don't usually go downhill so fast.  Well, I was really sad.  I bawled like he had been my cat for years. 

We only spend 9 hours together, but he spent most of those 9 hours snuggled up around my neck.  The dogs liked him a lot, and he wasn't afraid of them at all.  I am a dog person, but the cat person in me came back out that night.  I just fell in love with him. 

The superstitious part of me of course feels like the kitten died because he loved me so much and I gave him away, thus leaving him to die of a broken heart.  I tried to go back and visit him twice, but they wouldn't put him out with the public until he was big enough to be neutered, and he weighed less than their pound and a half requirement.  I wish I could have spent more time with him, or that he could've lived a long life with a family who would adopt him.

I feel slightly crazy, of course, and think I probably need therapy for being so obsessed with my little rescue kitten.
Maybe I can learn to judge others less harshly for their crazy hangups because of this.

Here's a photo of how happy we were together:

Photo 3

1:41 pm

Not bad, considering I am all packed and ready to go and my bus doesn't leave until  10:30.  And I get to sleep a lot on my flight ....

I've had lots of great goodbye moments today, like when I walked past the iguana (twice Jack's weight) on my way to the house this morning -- it scared the shit out of both of us.  I've never been that close to such a large (and wild) reptile before!!  It was really cool, but it took a while for my pulse to go down.  I also took the Lord's name in vain loud enough for the whole park to hear.

Today was TOO fun... pool party with cookies, juice and piñata with the kids, and a dance party with our adults.

piñata

Oh, and Balam even jumped in my window earlier tonight to come and purr on my lap for a while. 

You could say I'm leaving on a high note, but I can't really think of any real low notes to this trip!  I highly recommend it to anyone who's interested ...

G'night!  See you tomorrow, Minnesota!

Nice students..

My class for niños has had low attendance this week, probably mostly due to our daily afternoon thunderstorm as  of late.  I hope that I see a lot of them tomorrow for the last day of class/pool party.  They are so daggone cute.

1:00

I was really touched by the reaction in the adult class for our last official day of class today.  There were just 3 women present; all my age or younger, and they were so nice, telling me how they were going to cry tomorrow and that they would miss me.  We exchanged emails and they all took pictures with me on their cell phones.  I felt like a real teacher.  I also got to feel really tall, as the "chiaparritas" standing next to me were a head shorter than I.

it was a good rain; the kind that you wait for

I wish I could take this place home with me ...

3 noches más

I can't tell you the number of times I've started an entry and messed it up somehow. Vox can be a bit testy.

It's hard to believe that my six weeks are almost up!  I'm really going to miss this place, but also can't wait to get home to my husband, my dogs, the kids in Cimarron, and my friends and family.  If only I could take Valladolid back home with me!

Centro

I'm definitely going to try to come back here soon, soon, soon!  This has been a good reminder that traveling is one of the most rewarding things on which to spend money.  And for all you skeptics out there, Mexico during the summer isn't much hotter than MN in the summer, so come on down!!

Can I come back?

I'll try to post again before I go, but if not ... Hasta MN!

hasta luego, familia

My family and I had a great time in Valladolid and on Isla Mujeres.  Each place was unique from the other and had its benefits.

Dave's funny fish night

 Isla had the wonderful beach, and we had a  whole lot of fun (and sun) on our golf cart adventure.

On the south point of Isla

Valladolid was calm and charming, and Casa Hamaca is incredibly comfortable.  (In fact, I'm glad to be back, enjoying the comfort of my room.)

Mom and Tamie left today.  We spent a bit more time at the bus station than we planned and were nervous about cutting it too close with getting to the airport in time, but it all worked out in the end, thankfully.

I miss my family already and feel a bit lonely here, but of course by the time I got back this afternoon there was plenty to do.  I prepared for my 5:00 class, which went long tonight.  Then I chatted with the staff and got invited to the festival in Xo Cen, so I called David early and we left around 9:30. 

A really nice Mormon family is staying here for a few days and they drove us to Xo Cen.  With 8 in their family, plus me and Gabino, we filled their rental van.  The lights in the town had gone out, but there was live music playing already and LOTS of firecrackers going off.  Then a procession with candles went around the main square of the town, accompanied by brass and drums and singers.  They carried the Virgin (of Guadalupe?) around, and then I think brought her to the church.  Afterward, they introduced all of the dance groups that had come for the festival.  They wore traditional mayan dress and came from all of the nearby pueblos as well as far away towns.  They are the dance instructors from their town.  After everyone was introduced and promenaded around the basketball court, the band began to play dances and they all danced.  It was a wonderful festival that seems to celebrate Mayan as well as Catholic traditions. The only really difficult part was watching a toad as big as my fist get caught in the dancing circle.  It lasted quite a while, but finally was stomped on by a woman's high heeled dancing shoe.  The poor thing hopped away with one of it's eyeballs hanging out of the socket.  Thankfully, I don't have a picture of that.  In fact, I would have gotten more pictures if my camera hadn't run out of battery before the dancing began.  Gabi took all the shots.

We left early, at 12:30 p.m.  The party should go on until morning.  I must say, it's much cooler down here at night!

La isla bonita

Off to Isla Mujeres with David; meeting up with family there.  Have I mentioned how much I like this guy?

Valladolid - even more fun w/ my dude

tomorrow I get to see this guy:

I love this guy

and I can't wait! Hopefully there will be more photos to come ... I'm going to the Disco tonight!

Whoa

Just had ancient chinese therapy, using magnets and acupuncture.  What an experience.  Very different from my experience with Western medicine.

No accompanying photo for this post .  :)

Busy week!

I can't believe it' been a week since I've posted.

 Well, it's been very exciting teaching classes.  I finally settled on a class schedule that goes from 1-4 teaching English and swimming for youth and English for adults (and youth) at 5pm.

So far I've had 45 students attend.  The swimming classes are especially attractive to the kids on hot days.  I also have a group of very eager and bright teenagers.  It's super fun to teach them, although I think I have more fun hanging out with them than teaching.  And I'm still not schooled in the methods of teaching, so I don't think I'm as good at it as I could be after taking more ed classes.

amor y paz

So far I'm pretty sure that they're teaching me more than I'm teaching them.  But it's good practice on both sides!

Last sunday we went to Xo Cen Pueblo for dinner.  Yolanda, Gabino and Ángel's family live there.  They made tamales the old way, baked underground.  How cool to watch the men dig our lunch out of the ground!  I was a bit sheepish about taking pictures; I wish I'd taken more.

after digging, before eating

 Also, it seems customary here for people to invite you to dinner, sit you down at the best table in the best room of the house, and then either watch you eat or leave you alone to enjoy your meal.  It's flattering to receive the best hospitality, but there is the desire to share the table and the food with the hosts, as is customary in the U.S.  It's just different here.

I did get sick on one of our rainy days.  It was awful.  Montezuma burned a fire through my cola that wouldn't go away.  With some TLC from the staff, rest, special diet, and only 2 tabs of immodium, I was back on my feet after 24 hours, back to normal. 

I missed the chance to eat Brazos de Reina - arms of the queen - which is a tamale made with chaya, spices and hard boiled egg.  I did get to watch them make it, though. 

assembly line

masa w/ chaya, eggs, spices

This was my lunch: rice water and noodles with about a tablespoon of chicken broth.

rice water

almost dry noodles

Balaam gave me some attention and love, which was sweet, but I think he's also just trying to mark his territory everywhere he goes.  There is a kitten in the house and now a cat-sized dog to compete with.  Denis needs to chop Balaam's balls off, but the machismo in him hasn't been able to do it yet.  How many more articles of furniture need to be marked with his urine before this tyranny ends?

therapy cat

I think he digs me

He is cute, though.  he reminds me of my childhood cat, Tumbles. 

Only one more week until David arrives!  I know I need to soak up as much spanish as possible before then.  We're going to have so much fun!!  This will be a bit like a honeymoon for us in that our real honeymoon only took us as far as Duluth. 

Hasta pronto!

Best part of the day (besides skypeing my husband):

Today was the second day of my english/swimming class for kids/youth.

They arrive at 1:30, they leave at 3:00, and the time passes by really quickly.  They learn some english first, and then their reward is getting to swim/swimming instruction.  They are super eager to learn and they are awesome.  Yesterday I worked with a girl named Belén who had no legs, but already knows how to swim a bit.  She was so fun, and not shy at all!  I love being in the pool every day now.  It has been really hot here; even the locals say so!

Here's a brief glance at my class today:

clase de niños