Bichos, Bichos, Go Away...

I didn't realize how much I disliked cockroaches until this year. I mean when we first moved in we saw dead cockroaches, mostly dead, I think there were a few live ones but no biggie. We had the school exterminate and it didn't seem like too big of a deal. Then, sometime at the end of April, I had three cockroaches in three days, and I didn't like it. First, I saw one lying dead in my shower. Not terrible, not pleasant by any means but fine... at least it was dead. The next day during math, my kids all started shouting "cucaracha!" I look over to the window where they are all staring with their eyes filled with equal amounts of disgust and wonder. There he is, just crawling along the windowsill like nothing’s up. Thankfully half of my class was in Spanish at the time so I only had 9 kids freaking out instead of all 18 screaming and running around. I got a cup and piece of paper because I loathe the feeling of squishing bugs with exoskeletons! ew, that crunch is sick. And proceeded to carry it to the office and tell Miss Eren (the one who is in charge of the maintenance staff and general upkeep). She tells me to 'just take it outside and step on it,' all matter of fact. Well, sorry, but no thank you! So she comes along and smashes it with her own foot, with just as much apprehension as I would have had I might add. So, ok, class back to normal in a few minutes and I have only a few hours in this room everyday.... still fine. But then later that night I found ANOTHER! and that was almost it for me. I was doing a load of laundry, gotta have clean towels, right?! I take out the first one to hang on the line to dry and notice a very big cockroach leg with the gross little feeler things on it!?!?! SICK, not ok. so I check inside the machine and ta da! just a cockroach body stuck to the side after the spin cycle, sin piernas. His legs were everywhere but his body, ergo all over my towels! Of course they all have those stick-y things so I had to pick them all off one by one, not cool. …Here ends the first segment of this insect-ified saga.
Around the same time, I woke up one morning with my legs covered in what I assume were mosquito bites. The first day it was kind of bad….then the second day I woke up with even more! They were so chicken pocked I had to wear pants, if not for vanity reasons, for a small attempt at obstructing the scratches. I even took a trip to the school nurse to beg some miracle cream to make the itch go away. I talked to the school and they came in to fumigate so the third night I didn’t add anymore and I slept like a baby with the Benadryl. Side note: It is funny how medicine works here… Most drugs are over the counter, at least in comparison to the States, and everything seems to have a second/unadvertised use. Vicks VapoRub is a sensation here (try saying with a Mexican accent, its better that way). It is the cure-all drug. Its much like the father in the movie Greek Wedding, “Just put some Windex on it.” When I was eating with Victor’s family I showed off my wounds to his aunt who is known to have a head full of great home remedies. Vicks was, of course, the answer to the itching. I didn’t end up getting it, although the cream I did get was recommended by another person and also not listed as an antihistamine (and kind of just seems like a glorified Neosporin, but their slogan is promising, “Que buena medicina!”). Thus the spots faded and there ends part deux.
The third portion of this tale takes place in the kitchen. Twice now this year, in a short amount of time, we have had a pantry infested with ants. I mean, who hasn’t seen some ants in the kitchen before, set out a poison of some sort and badabing-badaboom… But this is like a massive ‘the-ant-hill-has-changed-location’ ant infestation. They weasel their way into all open boxes and bags, even swarming an unopened bag of chips! So it costs us not only the time to clean that out and get it sprayed etc…. it costs us the unusable food they polluted and pilfered for themselves. Annoying.
The last section comes more recently and brings in the new era of detestation. Now I don’t remember exactly why, but I had not had the best of days at school (robably just some frustrations with behavior issues or lack of help…) so when I went to bed I only wanted to sleep and to forget… I was definitely not prepared for the day to get worse. The nightly routine began normally, I brushed my teeth, washed my face, and headed to the bathroom. I sit down on the toilet and think I hear something to my left, I look over and eye level with me not more than 2 feet away there is a cockroach crawling up my shower curtain! Sorry to use the word so many times in this blog, but SICK! I quickly shut the bathroom door and run downstairs to tell everyone what has happened. Like I said, I don’t really want to be the one to squish it. [just so you know… I have twice saved my roommate Emily from cockroaches running through her room. When I have to be the strong one I can, but sometimes I just don’t choose it] I went back up and tried to take care of it myself….because of my weird fear, I instead caught it and flushed it down the toilet. I know, I know, probably more work to catch and flush than to squash, but just let me be :) I go back downstairs for a bit of composure and reassurance, and finally decide its still fine, I’m still fine, I will just ignore my newfound little phobia. I sit on my bed getting ready to turn off the light and thinking ‘isn’t it weird that I heard the cockroach before I saw it. I mean big brown spot on a green shower curtain, how does one miss that?’ when suddenly I hear the noise again. That ticking scraping shuffle of bug feet. At first I think I am just imagining it and really do have full-fledged phobia… but I glance over to my shelves and see the creature crawling all over my backpack and some clothes that I have laying on the floor (not surprised are you mom?! :)) Ok, this is far too close for comfort! He’s creeping all over nearly 3 feet from the foot of my bed where I realize my blanket is hanging off onto the floor! I yell and freak out like the girl that I have now become about bugs. I grew up playing in the country outdoors…aren’t I supposed to be immune yet? I actually just left him wandering while I went downstairs for assistance. Jenna valiantly came up to save the day this time. The creepy thing is that when she came into the room armed with shoe, she couldn’t spot him. Only because I had watched him scuttle over, did I know he was in the corner right next to my headboard this time only 1 foot from my bed but hidden against the black baseboard thing! How many times have I walked in a room and unbeknownst to me there have been live cockroaches? The thought is revolting. I decide there is no way I am sleeping in this room tonite… no way. So I dont. :) The next few nights though, all I picture behind closed eyelids is a cockroach or two scurrying around in the dark, I can’t even put on my shoes or pants without checking them first. Good thing I keep my floor clean as a whistle, right mom!?
[what is with that phrase anyway… when I think whistle I don’t automatically go to ‘wow that’s clean!’ ???]
Not my story to tell but goes along the same lines…. I heard that this weekend one of the other teachers here was at a club and while she was in the bathroom she felt something crawling on her arm (don’t you hate when that happens? Especially when there is really nothing there, or its dark and you’ll never really know. It gives some sort of adrenaline rush, or panic attack whichever way you look at it, and you immediately swat at the spot in question.) Anyway, this night there happened to really be a bug and it wasn’t dark, so she knows… it was a cockroach! EWWWWW! My question is, how long had it been on her, to make its way all the way to her arm? Sick, sick, sick.

And now you know…. The rest of the story. No, just kidding, I was going to say Now you know that I am really just a frightened little girl when it comes to bugs. Thanks, Mom. Hahaha just kidding again…. But really ;)

Happy Baby Shower, Xochitl!

After Spring Break we had just two short weeks of school and another 5 day break to look forward to. The first full week of school went by pretty well, I think we all recovered from no longer being able to do as we wished but actually having to work. The second Monday rolls around and I arrive at school in our 'happy day of the student' spirit week theme for the day: pijamas. Ironically appropriate as I found out we would not be having school! Swine flu break out was scaring everyone and schools across the nation were canceling. And the rumor was that the Swine Flu Break would last until May 6 [this day being April 27]. When that date got closer we found out that the real return date would be May 11, two full weeks off for swine flu. We had a two week break, went back to school for 5 days and got two more. It was awesome. :) Anyway, during that time was the pre-planned 5 day break...

It was really touch and go on the decision to continue on the already paid for, 5 day/4 night, all inclusive resort trip to Acapulco. On one hand we wanted to get out of Torreon, everything being closed and everyone wearing masks that we were told didn't really help unless you were the infected saving it from others. But the other hand told us that travel on airplanes was one of the most dangerous due to the recycled air, I heard that one sneeze of infected air and by landing everyone would be carrying it. Plus we had to stop in the heart of the action Mexico City, DF. After asking around to people we felt would have the right answer we decided there wasn't really much risk involved after all and went ahead on our long weekend getaway.
Tye, Stephanie, and I packed only the most comfortable shorts Ts and swim suits and were off! Our hotel was pretty nice, the last on that stretch of beach, right at the water, complete with umbrellas to lay under. Each day was pretty much the same rundown. We slept in late, woke up for some breakfast, got ready for beach/pool, laid out on the chairs reading and getting served, every once in awhile rising to walk the beach, then clean up and supper, followed by card games on the patio for the rest of the night. It was another perfectly lazy vacation and I loved it. The beach was fun to walk down, we got in some goofy pictures, collected a bunch of ocean glass, I got stung by a bee, we got henna tattoos - Stephanie and I matching but opposite twins while Tye became Vin Diesel: XXX. The food wasn't spectacular and we joked about every [terrible] dessert being prison food, but there was still plenty of fun to be had. Turns out it was the best time to leave as well because the pool malls and the theater in Torreon closed! So if you have to be stuck somewhere.... make a resort in Acapulco!
[and I'm still a month behind in updating! I'll keep going, don't quit looking. Three weeks left and I'm out!?]

Round 2: Oaxaca

Finally, sorry about the delay, no excuse but laziness?! ...

So I arrive early in the morning from Las Vegas/LAX in Oaxaca by myself, take a taxi with a kind gentlemen to the centro area so as to make it cheaper. He was interesting, an art dealer who is on his way to meet 'the best artist since picasso.' whatever that means. he seemed enthusiastic though which is all that matters, and loved to talk about my teaching as well because his 12 yr old daughter is aspiring. Hostal Paulina took me in even at the early hour of 630am and thankfully had my room open. I promptly dropped my crap on the floor and took a 3 hr nap. It sucks to travel all night long especially with changes in transport because what little sleep you can get is always interrupted. I woke up and hung out in the zocalo, or town center. A fine place to be solo... plenty of people to watch and restaurants in which to dine. Erin arrived a few hours later and by the time we fell asleep the other Aaron had also joined. Oaxaca, Oaxaca is a pretty city, it reminds me a bit of Spain with its smaller streets and little plazas. Its at least more like Spain than Torreon, thats for certain :) Even though I have visited before, it was fun to see again and to do some shopping. The summer of 2005 brought me here after a stay in Mexico City. I liked recognizing small things as being the same or remembering where we ate what. The area seems to be best known for its paintings and crafts along with textiles. I ended up buying 2 wrap-around striped skirts that were sold everywhere, and a birthday present for my sister (I'm not telling, but I hope you like it!) I even had to pick up a new book, found a cool english bookstore and bought a chicana book to enjoy in the right atmosphere. After a few days of enjoying the chillaxing there, we made plans to get ourselves to Puerto Escondido, spring break requires a beach. We decided on a 'suburban' which would be one of the cheapest and fastest routes...... not always the best decision, at least comfort wise. It ended up being a very old very raggedy 15 passenger van with the luggage tied to the top, and the roads as only one would expect them to be from looking at the topography of the state - very, very windy. I had the unfortunate experience of sitting in row two behind the driver, a three person row that has room on one side so people can still squeeze into the row behind. That space meant that on alllllll of these curves I was either thrown against Aaron sitting to my left, or the foot of empty nothingness to my right before the van door. Impossible to sleep with this predicament, or risk sliding off my seat and slamming my head into the van on some unsuspecting corner. Although, how could a corner come unexpected in this trip, I dont think there was ever a stretch of more than 30 straight feet. And of course, the driver was trying to get to the destination as fast as possible and probably having done the trip hundreds of times felt comfortable to take these corners at high speeds as well as passing on the very same blind corners. Best to sleep.

Once in Pto we sweat off 10 lbs instantly. haha, no, but really. it was so humid there! unbelievable! Our hostel was very hippie... upon arrival, the manager (from WA) didn't know what day it was, and when he didn't have the correct change for our cash, told us he would just stock the fridge with extra beer instead. Ok?! It was cute though, I liked it a lot. The room was big complete with porch and hammock. The water pipes only provide one temp, Cold, but even for me that was perfectly fine. There was a bbq station and a small pool with a bridge and everything. While hanging in the pool you could also watch the big screen tv. every time we were there no matter what time of day, a movie was playing. often a new movie that meant only one thing- piracy :) But it showed the feel of the city, everyone goes as short time tourists and realizes that hanging on the beach and partying all night is the life and they stay longer. Erin and I had a different idea of vacation. I wanted as much skin damage as possible (as safe as possible of course!) and nothing more than a good book and a beach umbrella. All taken care of! We rented umbrellas and the chairs came with. Unfortunately in the uber high humidity the plasticy-leathery cushions only caused/held all the sweat your body would produce. 15 mins laying in the sun you had to flip the cushion?!?! ew! So much of the hours passed on the beach were simply hanging in the shade and reading (not even close to the same amount of body fluid loss there). All three of us had books and after devouring a large chunk would take a break to the water, come back, do the same. Even broke it up once and got ourselves some foot massages! From the most interesting lady... from New Zealand, and can read your entire being based on your feet. She said she new I was a dancer and that my feet were very sturdy and flexible... thanks.
Near our hostal we visited a Domino Pizza, and not the american kind! We ordered the Oaxacan which was sounded really strange but was so delicious! Refried beans, jalapeños, cheese, , and ketchup! So good we had it twice.
For awhile I had a little scare with my plane tickets being cancelled, but other than that it was a wonderfully stress free beach vacation. We took the overnight 'luxury' bus back to Oaxaca in order to actually obtain a little bit of sleep. Though the trip was a little longer it was roomier and took a less curvy route. It even entertained us with some old William Hurt movie based on a true story about a kid who was terminally ill but desperately wanted to catch a blue morpho butterfly. bad things happened and it looked like they were in trouble, but then miracles happened and the kid walked! back to camp to get help. Came home cancer free?! Ha, we couldn't really believe it captured our attention so well.... Back in Oaxaca we patroned the same hostal though not as much luck as I had the first time. our room wasn't ready for us and it was still as early, thankfully they let us into a dorm and let us sleep on those beds! So one more day of shopping and hanging out and then another early morning of travel back to home sweet home Torreon. ha.
back to school.... back to school.... to prove to my dad that I'm not a fool... :)

Consequence of Swine Flu

So, just to let you all know... (sorry this is coming pre 'the end of my spring break' post)
Swine Flu is out there. Its here, in Mexico, and yes, so am I. But supposedly there are no cases found in my state of Coahuila (maybe the drug lords scared it away). The president did decide to shut down alllllll schools in the country in hopes of preventing the numbers of infected/fatalities from mushrooming any more than they already have. This means I am not in school until May 6 as of now. Its like a really long snow day, or another spring break immediately after the first, just not as filled with joy.... It was to be a long weekend this week already and two other teachers and I did book a trip to a resort in Acapulco.... yet to be decided whether we can go or not, having to fly through DF first... I'll keep you updated. Stay healthy

Easter Break Pics link

So far I have only loaded from Phoenix but I will update it later. Maybe tomorrow I will finish ...the rest of the story. (as the late Paul Harvey would say)
here's the link, check it back once the mexico portion of the week is up here!

http://picasaweb.google.com/millerbreanna/SemanaSanta09#

Semana Santa - Week 1: PHX and Vegas, Baby!

The saga begins in Torreon. After school on Friday the 3rd, I frantically finished packing desperately hoping there was nothing I forgot. Victor and I then get picked up by his aunt and taken to Gomez Palacio, the neighboring town in which said aunt lives. We get all of her things together and do our best to squeeze the three of us and our belongings into one of the ever so small taxis here to the bus station. The luxury first class bus then drives us through northern Mexico to the safest city I know, Juarez. [If you are not so familiar with Mexican politics and goings-on, this is actually probably the most dangerous city. Recently acquiring something like 5,000 troops to try to quell the drug war. It is said that last year there were three times more murders there than in the most murderous city in the US. Almost entirely our fault though as the US is the largest consumer of Mexican heroine, cocaine, and methamphetamines, while at the same time being the largest supplier of weapons for them. I digress...]
A fairly uneventful, yet roomy, 10 hr ride later, we arrive at the border town. Victor's parents had driven there, and a cousin and her children also met us there to join in on the fun. So now we are - Victors parents, Tía Lily, cousin Bere, her children little Victor and Angela, Victor, and I. Eight in a four door F-150 (I believe), only slightly crowded, 5 in the back, 3 in the front. First meal back in the US, McDonalds breakfast, of course?!
After dozing on and off for the better part of the day, I was feeling lazy and just wanted to relax. Actually, come to think of it, that's pretty much how I felt all week! It was good to be in a comfortable home, complete with such pleasures as carpet, dryer, HDTV :), and food and entertainment that I am used to. All of this comfort of the US but still so much Spanish around! Victors family doesn't really ever speak English, his brother and sister of course use it almost all the time, while his parents know it but only use it with gringos, and his aunt and cousin don't really know it at all. Plus, South Phoenix has every other billboard in Spanish and the radio stations in Spanglish. It was fun! Especially to play with the kids, we laughed a lot. Victor only calls me Blue, so his whole family does as well; sometimes I was Azul, and sometimes Blue amongst the rest of the Spanish words in their sentence. I showed off some of my face tricks (if you know me, you know the ones) which were a big hit with the kids. From then on I couldn't be seen without hearing "Hazlo" meaning, do it! They're so cute!
Things we did: GoKart racing. which I apparently suck at ... at least I didn't crash ;) Going out to eat: In N Out which is only in AZ and CA, some really good pizza joints because they are lacking in Torreon, and Jamba Juice which I was excited about! Watching movies - two in theater and a few rentals. I am pretty behind in my pop culture trivia! Visit to the Cardinals Stadium. or Heaven as Victor calls it. Shopping! found some excellent deals got a few things, fun had by all.
On Friday the whole family (minus sister, plus me and plus brothers guest) packed up into two vehicles and headed for Vegas! There was a large stretch of stop and go traffic around Hoover Dam, and Cesar got pulled over for speeding, but otherwise uneventful drive. We were of course playing the 50 state game, looking for all the license plates (again, if you know me, this is a given). In the end we had 41 throughout the week, including both AK and HI! Once in Las Vegas and all settled into our hotel room, we hit up Circus Circus for their cheaper tables for the guys. True to Vegas form, we stayed out til all hours of the night. Slept in pretty late and then got ourselves tickets for the Deuce! We visited a few different hotels, rode on the NY, NY rollercoaster and got some gelato at the Venetian, which I was surprised was a pretty re-creation, complete with street performers and people getting married and serenaded in gondolas. Then unfortunately, even though 24 hours in Vegas almost seemed like enough :), it was time for me to head to the airport to catch my flight to my next spring break adventure.
From LAS to LAX to OAO.... to be continued.

Easter celebration

On the Friday before break, the whole school celebrated Easter. For the week prior, we painted all the egg shells the students brought, this turned out to be over 200! My assistant also made the cutest little easter baskets for them to each bring home 2 of the eggs along with some candy. The day of the party, we brought all the kids to a room in Primary to watch some of Pixar's shorts in order to kill some time for some of the teachers to hide the eggs around the preschool area, in the gardens, the playground, etc. As we walked them back over, there was a mad rush of kids scrounging to get as many eggs as they possibly could. It was so cute. And the tradition here is that the egg shells are found and then smashed over the heads of whomever crosses your path. The secondary kids got to put flour into their shells so theirs was a messier fight. It was quite funny to watch though. And of course the kids thought it was hilarious to get a teacher but being 3'+ taller than them we had to crouch down for them which takes away from the element of surprise but was still a good time. Then once that settled down a bit, Miss Charo got on the loud speaker and said that the Easter bunny was spotted in the sandbox! so all the kids mob over to that area, the opposite side we teachers know the bunny is coming from and clearly visible so it was kind of funny they all still ran over to check. then she said oh no, maybe she's in Miss Irma's room and so on until finally the bunny showed herself from the office door and the kids finally spotted her and then the whole mass bolted over to greet her. I can't imagine having been in that bunny suit seeing over a hundred little people rushing at me?! But the kids loved it. Then there was also cake served, funfetti, my favorite! among many others. Why not hop them up on sugars before sending them back to class for the last hour of the day?! Oh yeah, thats a great idea, let's also chuck candy into the crowd so they can get some more! So after all this excitement, they were sent back to the classroom and I was expected to do what with them?! haha, we played with toys after we got the room all back in order.
Here are the pics of the event:

our Easter Baskets

three of my boys, and my assistant, I mean the Easter Bunny :)

chaos

200+!!!