scorpions, recording studios, yoga on the roof

Alright, to catch up...
I went to the massage (and another one since then) and they were nice, but not anything too special. It's kind of like a good backrub. But ahh well. It's something, and it's cheap, so I can't really complain!! The sushi was DELICIOUS and I think we're going to go again this week. The concert was interesting. It was more like a play (in Spanish, obviously, so I didn't understand much) with a bit of operatic music. That part was good!

For the past week or 2 I've been doing yoga on the roof each morning when I first wake up. It's a really nice way to start the day, by greeting the rising sun, over the mountains in the distance. I could really get used to it. This past weekend I went for a coupld of long walks. One to the next town, and beyond, (and I would have kept going, if I didn't have to come back to go to the music store with Jen.) There were lots of cactus, but unfortunately I missed the flowers. They were, however COVERED in these prickly fruits called pitallas, which are delicious!! On Sunday I walked up to the Cristo Rey, which is the huge statue of Jesus (the 3rd largest in the world, if I haven't already mentioned it) at the top of the hill in Sahuayo. It was great to be out walking, and I had a bit of cloud coverage, which was good because it meant it didn't get too hot.

I'm afraid the rainy season may be coming along shortly. Last week we had a couple of days in a row where it was CLOUDY!!!! Now, if you knew Sahuayo like I did, you would know that 2 days in a row without consant sunshine is WEIRD!!! And it rained for a few minutes each day. I said to my roomates "what is this foreign substance falling from the sky??" But I've heard it gets much worse! It won't rain all day, but when it rains, it POURS! The streets (which all have very high sidewalks) fill with water, I'm told. I'm NOT looking forward to this! I much prefer pure sunshine!! But ahh well, hopefully it won't be too bad until after I'm gone. Lauren says she likes the rain, so she can have as much of it as she wants... after I've left!!!

I have an interesting story to tell! My student Florencia couldn't come to class last week, but guess why! I've never in all my months of being a teacher (haha) heard such a good excuse. Her mom called Ana, our administrator/principal, and said, "Florencia can't come to school today. She was stung by a scorpion-like thing. I can't remember the exact name, but it's like a small scorpion, I'm told. She did come the next day, and told me all about it. Apparantly it really hurt, and continued to hurt for the next few days! She had to go to the hospital and get an injection so that she wouldn't DIE!!! Kind of scarey! So I let her off the hook... hehe

Oh yes, and on Saturday, Jen and I went to practice music, and start recording. Victor has promised to send me home with a CD and perhaps a music video if we can get our act together in time! So I recorded a couple of songs, and you'll just have to wait to hear them till I get home! CDs will be onsale beginning June 26th. hahaha...

Alright well I guess it's time to go to the market. I'm all out of veggies and fruit. The countdown had begun, though! I'll be home in about 25 days, I believe!

Be sure to check out my photo site! I posted pictures from Guanajuato, and soon I'll post pictures of cactus' and such, from my weekend walk.
http://hanahbananza.spaces.live.com is the website. Enjoy!

sushi, Mozart, masajes

It's Friday!!! Hooray! The weekend again. This weekend Jen and I plan on walking up to Cristo Rey (the huge hill with the huge Jesus statue on top) and also to the next town over, El Rincon, to see if the cactus' are blooming with beautiful flowers yet! I'm excited to see them. I'll post a picture if they are!

Well, not too much news this week. I was sick in Tuesday, which was Teacher's Day here, so that was too bad. I skipped the afternoon, in favour of sleeping and going to the doctor. I ended up sleeping from 12:30 until 9p.m. (minus an hour or so where I was awake) And then, had a full night's rest. I awoke feeling much better, but I still have a throat infection. I am taking medicine for it. Since then, I've found it really hard to tell if I actually have a fever, or if I'm just hot, cuz it's sooooo hot here, that it's honestly hard to tell which it is, and I don't have a thermometer. But I don't think I have a fever anymore...

I've been eating really delicious food these days. For breakfast, I usually have a bowl of strawberries with cereal and milk on top. Hehe.. The strawberries are soooooo cheap here! half a kilogram for 5 pesos! (like 50 cents!) And I also bought 8 mangos for 10 pesos and nearly had a heart attack! I don't know what I'm going to do when I'm back in Canada, and will only be able to buy 1 mango for the price that I used to be able to buy 8... And limes!! 1 kilo for 10 pesos as well. That's a LOT of limes for a dollar! Yesterday I had tostadas with guacamole, onions shrimp, hot sauce, and this ketchupy sauce they have here for lunch. That was tasty!! For dinner, I used the rest of my shrimp, plus tomato sauce (and of course limes and onions!!!) and made a pasta. The onions here are like candy!!! When I was in Canada, I didn't really eat onions raw, but I'm wondering if it's just because I hadn't tried them. All I know, is if Full Circle Farm onions are even HALF as good as the ones here, mom and dad had better watch out! I now LOVE cebollas!!

Today is going to be a big spending day. I've decided to go for a massage, now that I've figured out where to go. I'll try not to get too excited, but I hope it's good! It's only 100 pesos for an hour though, I think, so that is pretty ridiculously sweet! After class, I'm going to go to a Mozart concert, although I'll arrive late, because my last class goes until 8:30, and it starts at 8. But, this is the first pieces of real culture in Sahuayo since I've arrived, so I HAVE to go!!!! I'm very excited! I'm going to take my Spanish teacher Evelia, because she's been a wonderful help, in learning how to adjust to living in a different culture, so it will be my way of saying thank you.

What else... we have a new cleaning lady, I think. We used to have this girl who was about 15, and I taught her English for awhile, but she stopped coming. And this week, she stopped coming to clean the school and our house. So I don't know if she's been fired, or if she quit, or if she's sick, or what... But there's a woman, who's now at our house. We are soooo spoiled to have someone come every Friday to clean our kitchen and 3 bathrooms! I always feel soooo weird on Fridays.. I never really know where I should go in the house while she's here, cuz I don't want to get in her way. I also hate leaving a messy kitchen for her to deal with, so I usually try to at least rinse the dishes, and pick up some of the mess that's on the counter, before she comes. I'm really not accustomed to having a cleaning lady!! It's still so weird for me. Well, the only good thing about it all is that I'm pretty sure I'll never be able to afford a cleaning lady again, so I won't have to be put through this awkward feeling. It's soooo common here though! Every one of my students has someone who cleans at least once a week, sometimes twice, sometimes every day! And the crazy thing is that the mothers are homemakers, so I don't really see the need... Anyway, just a different custom. That's all.

Ok, well Lauren should be getting home soon, at which point we're going to go for SUSHI!!!! Horray!! I'm very excited! Sushi, massage, Mozart... What more could I possibly ask for on a Friday???

Still missing home, and all my peeps. Only 5 more weeks, though!
Love, Hanah.
P.S. for those who don't know, Full Circle Farm is getting 2 goats at around the time that I get home!!!!

Guanajuato

Well, I´m home, and it was soooooo worth it! The city was beautiful. Definately one of the best I´ve been to! So much history, because the main fight for independence against the Spaniards started there. Miguel Hidalgo was one of the important figures, and there was another guy, who I don´t know the name of, but people called him Pipila, and he supposedly stuck a huge rock to his back, and then tried to attack this building, and the rock protected him... Anyway, eventually the Spaniards re-took the building, and cut off the heads of these guys, and stuck them on the top of the building at each corner. Very gory, but history can be the scariest thing sometimes... But this building is still standing, and inside are vibrant murals, depicting all of the history, as well as rooms set up in different decades, to show the progress of the area, through the years. Guanajuato was also a HUGE mining town, and produced between 20-40% of the worlds silver at one point in time!! So there´s lots of gorgeous silver jewlery around, at pretty reasonable prices.

Soooooo much shopping happened during this past weekend!! There are beautiful artisans in every block, so we sometimes had to tell each other ¨put on your blinders!!¨ so that we could actually get around the city to see all the sights.

We were lucky to have my friend Hugo as our knowledgable tour guide, and he showed us all around the historical downtown center, as well as provided a place to stay 2 out of the 3 nights! The first night his roomates were all home, so Lauren, Jen and I stayed in a hostel, but after that, they left for the long weekend so we stayed there. It was good to see him again, as we had only seen each other for about 5 minutes last summer, and before that it had been about 5 years!! He was on an exchange program at PCVS in my grade 9 year, and we´ve just kept in touch all the while, through the internet.

So, the reason Guanajuato is so wonderful isn´t only because of all the beautiful old buildings, but more importantly for the quality of people, and the rich culture! Every single person I met (and there were quite a few, because Lauren and Jen already had a number of friends from their previous visit, and of course Hugo knew people, and I met a bunch myself) were sooooo friendly and good to talk to!

Also, Hugo and I went to a Tchikovzky concert, performed by the University of Guanajuato´s Symphony Orchestra, and it was a lovely evening! The musicians were from all over the world, but they all came together so beautifully to create a wonderful experience. There was a violin player who even made the high notes beautiful!! (and those of you who know my sensitive ears, know that´s quite an accomplishment!! hehe)

Anyway, we went out to a really cool bar called Barfly, which is kind of like the Only in Peterbrough, except wayyyy cooler with different sections with different kinds of music, and a live band one night, and great people. We also went to a salsa club, which was pretty fun.

So, after taking a 5 hour bus ride (3 different buses) all the way there, we were lucky to have our friend Victor who lives in Sahuayo, be kind of passing through, on his way home from Mexico city, and he drove us home in about 3 hours!

It was soooo good to have 4 days off in a row. We all really needed it, after the stressful presentations, and report cards, last week. We came home kind of worn out, but in a good way. In a touristy did everything kinda way. So, I´m quite content now, and I should probably go, because I´m just taking a quick break from school as none of my students showed up during my 7-20 class. But, now it´s time to get back for my last class of the night.

Take care, and love!!
Hanah

Yo tengo mucho trabajo

(I have lots of work) because it's report card time (mid-term marks) so I've been calculating up a storm. Just wanted to say hello, and let you know, "You've gotta fight for your right to paaaaaarty." Well, really that's just a song. What I really meant was that I have been arguing for another long weekend, because our only days off for the rest of the semester were either on Tuesdays or Thursdays, and really, who wants that??? Finally, my boss listened, and has given us this Thursday and Friday off (Mother's Day is on Thursday, so our students wouldn't have come even if we did have class. It's like a HUGE deal here, and rightly so!!)

So, Jen, Lauren and I are off to Guanajuato to visit my dear friend Hugo, who's studying at University there. He's going to show us around the town, and Jen and Lauren already have a couple of favourite spots from when they went during the vacation, so I'm sure we'll have a great 4 days. I'll definately post when I get back, and hopefully have some good pictures on my photo site.

Take care!

50 days left!!!

So the countdown begins. I have 50 days left in Sahuayo, Mexico, then it's back on the plane, and back to Ontario.

I've been quite homesick lately. Damien left just over a week ago, and it's been really different without him being here. Everything is starting to irritate me a bit more, like the CONSTANT fireworks that seem to be going off (yesterday was some holiday or another, but there seems to be a celebration every day or two, and May is supposed to be even worse than most months, so I'd better wash off those earplugs that have been sitting on my floor...)

The weather is pretty much sorching every day. Our apartment, which used to be nice and cool because of the marble floors, is starting to become in a permanent state of unpleasantly hot... And that means, the coocarachas are coming out full force!! Yesterday I went into my bathroom and turned on the lights, but as I stepped forward, I accidently squished one, and it turned on its back, with its legs up in the air, in a pretty clear state of death, so I went to pick it up with a piece of toilet paper, and it then started scurrying away again!!! I screamed, needless to say... We have these little dough balls, that apparantly have poison which is supposed to attract, then kill them, but so far all the little dough balls all around the house lay by themselves, without the corpses that they are supposed to have surrounding them.

Anyway, life isn't as terrible today as it was yesterday. I am still generally enjoying myself. Last weekend Jen and her friend who owns a music store in Sahuayo, Victor and I went to Uruapan, via Paracha. They make BEAUTIFUL handmade guitars in Paracha, and so of course, mine in Canada being broken, I had to buy myself a new guitar using my birthday money. Thanks so much grandma and grandpa and mom and dad!!! It's gorgeous, and sounds beautiful and resonant, so now I have something to do with my evenings before I go to bed. I am quite anti-social, it seems (I know you don't believe me, dad, but it's true!) Jen and Lauren have friends over almost every night, but after dinner, I tend to just want to go relax in my room, so it's nice to now have an excuse to leave... "Well, I'm going to play my guitar" instead of just "I'm going to bed. Goodnight." So now I don't seem as boring, perhaps. Haha.

On Tuesday we had a day off from school, because of Labour Day, here in Mexico. I have a mother and daughter in my morning Colors Basic class, and they had invited me the day before, to their farm. So, on Tuesday afternoon, they showed up on their motorbike (or I guess maybe they're called mopeds) and I hopped on. It's pretty much the most common way of travelling around here, but it was the first time I'd ridden one! It was such fun!!! So when we arrived at their "farm" it ended up being more like a ranch-resort! Beautiful huge pool with about 3 different sections (a smaller wading pool like thing, for the kids, another side part, with a bridge over top, and then the main big part) and a huge chalet house, with a large open section with lots of long tables and chairs to seat all of the huge family and extended family, as well as a couple of bathrooms and bedrooms, and another side building for the kids to play nintendo in. The yard was beautifully landscaped by the mother of the family (oh to be a homemaker...) covered in cactuses, bushes, trees, and even small orchards of all kinds of things (apples, oranges, limes) and some which I didn't even recognize. At the back of the property, where I thought it ended, there was a gate, and the woman asked me, "you want to see the animals?" so we went through the gate, and there were huge cages of individually separated roosters, and also cages of hens and chicks. Also, a few peacocks roaming around, and in cages. I asked her if they eat the eggs, and she said no, and that she didn't even eat the meat!!! She said she buys her meat at the market! I couldn't believe it! Having a poultry farm, and not even eating your own meat! Anyway, she said she didn't like it. I guess maybe it's kind of tough or something, but still!! You'd think they'd buy some chickens that the liked, instead of buying them! They certainly have enough property! I guess money's not an issue in that family, though. They own a Farmacia here in Sahuayo, and so the farm is just a "hobby." I was thinking, "well, so is my families, but at least we eat the food!!!"

Anyway, the table was laiden with piles and piles of food including fresh fruit (pineapple, papaya, mangoes, and another fruit which I'd never tried, but which is DELICIOUS, guyava. They look like little wild apples, and their tart, and filled with little seeds which you can eat) and guacamole (avocado and cucumber!) and spicy peppers, tostadas, chips, and lots of pop and water. I ate until I couldn't possibly eat anymore, then I ate some more. I moved away from the food table with my student who's about my age, so that we would stop eating, and sat at the side of the pool to let all of our food digest, then got changed into our bathing suits. There were lots of kids (which was really good for me, because they speak simple Spanish, so I had a better time understanding them) and we played ball, and raced and swam for a long time. Then, of course, we ate some more. Desserts and seconds and thirds....

We sat around, chatting for the whole afternoon and into the evening, me kind of leading a group English lesson, but some of the family members spoke some English, as they're all quite well educated. Got home around 9p.m. and was invited to return this Saturday, along with Lauren and Jen, so I think that's where you will find me! Lounging in a pool in the most beautiful place in Sahuayo, and eating until I can't eat anymore! Sounds like a pretty good Saturday, eh?

Wednesday was presentations at Culturlingua, so we had all of our bosses, as well as many parents come each hour to watch their children perform what they know. It was very stressful, and I was EXAUSTED at the end of the day, but it went really well, the parents went away happy and proud, and surprisingly so did Cecilia, our boss! So that was good! Our students made us all so proud, and did a wonderful job.

Well, that's about it for now I guess. It's Friday, so I might go check out the Friday market, and then I'll probably have a nap or lie on the roof for a bit, before going back to school.

Happy weekend!