I am so excited for this record to come out now! Josh Ritter never fails to please!
Monday, June 18, 2007
Two things
Kara blogged this survey thingy, and since I've never really filled one out before, I thought I'd go for it (and she posted that I would do it, so it's a little predetermined...) By the way, I may have to copy a couple of her answers...
Two Names You Go By:
1. Kelley -- Especially since I don't want to go by my middle name.
2. Mrs Lewis -- When people are trying to make me feel old.
Two Things You Are Wearing Right Now
1. Tennis shoes
2. An old Rodes City Run shirt, because I like it!
Two Things You Want in a Relationship
1. Sex -- It's that important!
2. Comfort and understanding
Two of Your Favorite Things to Do
1. Crochet
2. Speak Spanish, even better when I don't have to think about it too hard.
Two Things You Want Very Badly at This Moment
1. Dinner.
2. Sleep.
Two Pets You Have or Had
1. Charlie the cat, brought to us from Illinois by Dan's parents.
2. Tybalt, prince of cats, who decided running away was a better option than living with my dad.
Two People Who Will Fill This Out First
1. Actually, probably no one...
2. See number 1.
Two Things You Did Last Night
1. Unpacked my suitcase.
2. Zoned out with the internet and dreaded returning to work.
Name Two Chores That You Do Not Like Doing
1. Weedeating. I simply won't do it.
2. Dusting. It gives me a headache.
Two Things You Ate Today
1. Turkey sandwich with cheese and avocado.
2. I haven't had it yet, but Qdoba is on it's way
Two People You Talked to Last
1. My mom on the phone.
2. My lovely husband
Two Things You are Doing Tomorrow
1. Working.
2. Crocheting would be nice.
Two Favorite Holidays
Holidays have become so stressful. This will be tough.
1. Christmas, even with all the stress and work, I love giving gifts.
2. Derby -- Yes, it's a holiday around here.
Two Favorite Beverages
1. Mojitos. I've just learned to love them.
2. Coca Cola. I've tried to give it up, I just can't.
Two Names You Go By:
1. Kelley -- Especially since I don't want to go by my middle name.
2. Mrs Lewis -- When people are trying to make me feel old.
Two Things You Are Wearing Right Now
1. Tennis shoes
2. An old Rodes City Run shirt, because I like it!
Two Things You Want in a Relationship
1. Sex -- It's that important!
2. Comfort and understanding
Two of Your Favorite Things to Do
1. Crochet
2. Speak Spanish, even better when I don't have to think about it too hard.
Two Things You Want Very Badly at This Moment
1. Dinner.
2. Sleep.
Two Pets You Have or Had
1. Charlie the cat, brought to us from Illinois by Dan's parents.
2. Tybalt, prince of cats, who decided running away was a better option than living with my dad.
Two People Who Will Fill This Out First
1. Actually, probably no one...
2. See number 1.
Two Things You Did Last Night
1. Unpacked my suitcase.
2. Zoned out with the internet and dreaded returning to work.
Name Two Chores That You Do Not Like Doing
1. Weedeating. I simply won't do it.
2. Dusting. It gives me a headache.
Two Things You Ate Today
1. Turkey sandwich with cheese and avocado.
2. I haven't had it yet, but Qdoba is on it's way
Two People You Talked to Last
1. My mom on the phone.
2. My lovely husband
Two Things You are Doing Tomorrow
1. Working.
2. Crocheting would be nice.
Two Favorite Holidays
Holidays have become so stressful. This will be tough.
1. Christmas, even with all the stress and work, I love giving gifts.
2. Derby -- Yes, it's a holiday around here.
Two Favorite Beverages
1. Mojitos. I've just learned to love them.
2. Coca Cola. I've tried to give it up, I just can't.
Friday, June 15, 2007
¡Lo extraño!
I`ve spent the last two weeks ready to just leave here and go home. Now I`m not so ready to leave. I still miss home, sure, but I`ve really gotten used to being here (and not going to work!) So I`ll be home very late tomorrow, and will have Sunday to settle back in, and go back to work Monday. So I`ll see you all a few days! Thanks for visiting to hear about my trip. It`s been a blast!
Tuesday, June 12, 2007
The moment we`ve all been waiting for...
Our Mexican Karaoke debut! I know you`re excited. I was actually roped into singing Karaoke last night at La Regadera (which means showerhead in Spanish, for those playing at home. Notice the showerhead and curtains, we were singing in the shower!).
I was actually pretty terrifed, so Juan agreed to go up there with me. I don`t know any songs in Spanish, and having the words there doesn`t always help. Somehow, I sang 6 songs (and I wasn`t even drunk!), 3 with Juan in Spanish, one with him in English,
Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds with Shelly,
and Time After Time ( ah, Cindy Lauper!) with Shelly and Sharon.
With all these pictures, it felt like the paparazzi was there!
I was actually pretty terrifed, so Juan agreed to go up there with me. I don`t know any songs in Spanish, and having the words there doesn`t always help. Somehow, I sang 6 songs (and I wasn`t even drunk!), 3 with Juan in Spanish, one with him in English,
Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds with Shelly,
and Time After Time ( ah, Cindy Lauper!) with Shelly and Sharon.
With all these pictures, it felt like the paparazzi was there!
Monday, June 11, 2007
Was it prayer, luck, or Juan?
By the time we got back to the apartment yesterday, the electricity and water were back on. Shelly had prayed while we were at the church that if God found it in His heart to fix the electricity, to please make it happen. Only if He wanted to though... (That`s apparently how the Catholics do it) Juan had called CFE (like LGE)to see what the problem was, so I guess he had a hand in it too. Whoever it was, I`m just glad I got to take a shower!
Here are a few pictures that I wanted to post yesterday:
There are sculptures all along the oceanfront.
The altar at the church:
¡Mas escaleras!
Here are a few pictures that I wanted to post yesterday:
There are sculptures all along the oceanfront.
The altar at the church:
¡Mas escaleras!
Sunday, June 10, 2007
¡Que aventura!
What an adventure! No pictures today, because my camara batteries are dead, so I´ll post some tomorrow, if I can get them charged. There was a storm last night (the first real rain of the year, thus beginning the rainy season), and we lost electricity last night, but only partially, sort of like a brownout instead of a blackout. Some lights are working, some are not, and some are working half way. The fans are moving a little bit, but not much. The fridge is only a little bit cold, so I think we lost all our food. So much for all the grocery shoppping and leftovers... Also, the water pump isn´t working, so when we got up this morning, there was no water. Hopefully it will be fixed tonight so we can get showers. The problem is with the electric company (read the government) so it may not get fixed right way, where in the States the electric company would have been out overnight fixing whatever was damaged in the storm. In the meantime we´re cleaning off with face wipes, but we can´t wash our hair that way! I´m sure something will be worked out soon.
We tried to go to Mass today at La iglesia de nuestra señora Guadalupe, and we were told by a taxi that Mass was at 9am, 11a, and 6pm. We showed up at 10:45 for the 11am Mass, only to find out that Mass was at 8am, 10am, 12pm, and some times in the evening. So, we were either early or late, depending on your perspective. We stayed for the end of the 10am service, bought something from the nuns, and went for breakfast.
Sharon went to visit a resort, but Shelly and I opted to stay in town and do some shopping. We wanted to get off the main tourist street so we weren´t accosted every two steps to buy a timeshare or visit a resort, and ended up walking up a very steep hill through a residential area to get back to an area that we´re familiar with. Even though I wasn´t sure exactly where we were, I had a map, and wasn´t for a moment scared. It was interesting to get out of the main shopping area and see where people lived. Shelly got some pictures since my camera died on me. We´ve all agreed to give each other copies of whatever pictures we take, so we´ll all have lots of pictures to show off.
Yesterday we went to a beach town called Yelapas. It´s not possible to drive there, you have to take a half hour water taxi ride across the bay. I wasn´t sure how my stomach would handle it, since I only have experience with being on a boat on a river, but I was fine. The beach was nice, and apparently there are waterfalls if we´d walked for about 45 minutes into the jungle, but by the time we´d thought of it, it was too late. It did confirm for me that I´m just not a beach person. I like the sun, I like the water, but I really prefer the river or the pool. I´m just not a fan of all the sand, I guess.
Tom had some more questions from an email (I´m glad he´s doing this, because there are things I forget to write about), so here we go:
I think Puerto Vallarta is between the size of Louisville and Jeffersonville. Tourism has built it up a lot, and on the drive to the water taxi you could see all the big oceanfront developments - for better or for worse. On the streets we´re meeting locals, but also Americans who work for the time share real estate companies. We try to talk to as many locals as we can, and avoid the ¨time share guys¨. Last week there were four of us in my class: Sharon, myself, Mike (from California) and Sara (from Holland, and speaks 5 languages!). Sara left Vallarta yesterday, so next week it will only be three of us. La profesor, Cinthia, is from Mexico City, and has a degree from UNAM (Universidad Nacional Autonoma de Mexico) in tourism.
I just noticed how long this has become. That´s enough for one day. For those of you with ADD, sorry! :)
We tried to go to Mass today at La iglesia de nuestra señora Guadalupe, and we were told by a taxi that Mass was at 9am, 11a, and 6pm. We showed up at 10:45 for the 11am Mass, only to find out that Mass was at 8am, 10am, 12pm, and some times in the evening. So, we were either early or late, depending on your perspective. We stayed for the end of the 10am service, bought something from the nuns, and went for breakfast.
Sharon went to visit a resort, but Shelly and I opted to stay in town and do some shopping. We wanted to get off the main tourist street so we weren´t accosted every two steps to buy a timeshare or visit a resort, and ended up walking up a very steep hill through a residential area to get back to an area that we´re familiar with. Even though I wasn´t sure exactly where we were, I had a map, and wasn´t for a moment scared. It was interesting to get out of the main shopping area and see where people lived. Shelly got some pictures since my camera died on me. We´ve all agreed to give each other copies of whatever pictures we take, so we´ll all have lots of pictures to show off.
Yesterday we went to a beach town called Yelapas. It´s not possible to drive there, you have to take a half hour water taxi ride across the bay. I wasn´t sure how my stomach would handle it, since I only have experience with being on a boat on a river, but I was fine. The beach was nice, and apparently there are waterfalls if we´d walked for about 45 minutes into the jungle, but by the time we´d thought of it, it was too late. It did confirm for me that I´m just not a beach person. I like the sun, I like the water, but I really prefer the river or the pool. I´m just not a fan of all the sand, I guess.
Tom had some more questions from an email (I´m glad he´s doing this, because there are things I forget to write about), so here we go:
I think Puerto Vallarta is between the size of Louisville and Jeffersonville. Tourism has built it up a lot, and on the drive to the water taxi you could see all the big oceanfront developments - for better or for worse. On the streets we´re meeting locals, but also Americans who work for the time share real estate companies. We try to talk to as many locals as we can, and avoid the ¨time share guys¨. Last week there were four of us in my class: Sharon, myself, Mike (from California) and Sara (from Holland, and speaks 5 languages!). Sara left Vallarta yesterday, so next week it will only be three of us. La profesor, Cinthia, is from Mexico City, and has a degree from UNAM (Universidad Nacional Autonoma de Mexico) in tourism.
I just noticed how long this has become. That´s enough for one day. For those of you with ADD, sorry! :)
Thursday, June 7, 2007
Lost it
I had a whole post done, and then lost it. I no longer have the groove. Tom asked me some questions, and I´ll answer those again, and maybe I´ll get some motivation tomorrow to recreate it. We´re in class 4 hours a day - 8am - 10am and
10:30a - 12:30p. I finally talked to my profesora about some more advanced grammar practice, so she recommended a book. They aren´t teaching a higher level class until the next session, so, since I´ve already paid, I´m SOL. We are learning a lot of culture though, and how to pronounce those difficult indigenous words! We haven´t had anything too interesting to eat, although we did go to the marina for crabs (jaiva) and paella Tuesday night. It was pretty fantastic, and a lot of food.
The marina:
I was amazed at how fast the sun went down when we watched it last night. Here it is:
And two minutes later, it´s gone.
We´re probably not going outside of Puerta Vallarta while we´re here, but who knows. There aren´t any ruins that the public can go to nearby, so that´s out. We´re planning to go to mass at a beautiful church here in town, and probably take a cab up in the mountains at some point. Sharon really wants us to sing kareoke in Spanish, so, even though I won´t even do it in English, we´ll probably do that one night. Sharon and Shelly are going to the beach later today, but I think I´m going to stay by the pool and try to get some writing done for school, since I´m not a big fan of sand in my hair. Maybe try to do some shopping. It´s pretty safe as long as I watch out for those crazy drivers!
¡Ciao!
10:30a - 12:30p. I finally talked to my profesora about some more advanced grammar practice, so she recommended a book. They aren´t teaching a higher level class until the next session, so, since I´ve already paid, I´m SOL. We are learning a lot of culture though, and how to pronounce those difficult indigenous words! We haven´t had anything too interesting to eat, although we did go to the marina for crabs (jaiva) and paella Tuesday night. It was pretty fantastic, and a lot of food.
The marina:
I was amazed at how fast the sun went down when we watched it last night. Here it is:
And two minutes later, it´s gone.
We´re probably not going outside of Puerta Vallarta while we´re here, but who knows. There aren´t any ruins that the public can go to nearby, so that´s out. We´re planning to go to mass at a beautiful church here in town, and probably take a cab up in the mountains at some point. Sharon really wants us to sing kareoke in Spanish, so, even though I won´t even do it in English, we´ll probably do that one night. Sharon and Shelly are going to the beach later today, but I think I´m going to stay by the pool and try to get some writing done for school, since I´m not a big fan of sand in my hair. Maybe try to do some shopping. It´s pretty safe as long as I watch out for those crazy drivers!
¡Ciao!
Tuesday, June 5, 2007
Your questions answered!
I got a lot of messages from home today, which is awesome, but I don´t have time to respond to everything individually, so I`ll do it here. It`s an FAQ everyone!
The water in all of Puerta Vallarta is filtered, so no problems there. In our apartment it goes through 3 filters and UV, so the water is very good. The only thing we have to do is soak the vegetables in water and something that will kill amoebas. This means I likely won`t get sick while I`m here, thank goodness.
Our apartment is on a mountain, and Mom, it is as cute as the pictures from the Internet, and very secure. I`m the one who decided to get a place on the mountain instead of the beach, so it`s sort of my fault that we have to hike up there to get home. The road`s pretty steep. The only thing that will kill me here is the traffic. Pedestrians don`t have the right of way, and drivers are crazy. You think driving in the east end is bad? Try this place!
And for our Spanish lesson for the day... Tom - descalzo means barefoot. I did walk on the beach barefoot. Shelly is teaching me curse words. She actually has an instruction tape on her mp3 player. He says things like "Go f·$% yoursel" in English and Spanish, and is somehow really hilarious.
My class level is too low, but we are doing a lot of conversation, which is helping. I`m going to talk to the profesora tomorrow about getting practice for some harder grammar. They don`t have any teachers available for private instruction or tutoring apparently. There are only two teachers; he said a few left recently.
We actually cooked last night; salchichas, peppers and onions, and hominy. It was great. Tonight will probably be eggs and potatoes, and tomorrow shishcabobs, since there`s a grill on the terrace that we can use.
I will not be coming home with a Volkswagen Bug. The cab driver said they are just called "Volkswagen" and "They are very good cars." I will leave you with this (That`s our apartament building to the right):
and this:
Adios!
The water in all of Puerta Vallarta is filtered, so no problems there. In our apartment it goes through 3 filters and UV, so the water is very good. The only thing we have to do is soak the vegetables in water and something that will kill amoebas. This means I likely won`t get sick while I`m here, thank goodness.
Our apartment is on a mountain, and Mom, it is as cute as the pictures from the Internet, and very secure. I`m the one who decided to get a place on the mountain instead of the beach, so it`s sort of my fault that we have to hike up there to get home. The road`s pretty steep. The only thing that will kill me here is the traffic. Pedestrians don`t have the right of way, and drivers are crazy. You think driving in the east end is bad? Try this place!
And for our Spanish lesson for the day... Tom - descalzo means barefoot. I did walk on the beach barefoot. Shelly is teaching me curse words. She actually has an instruction tape on her mp3 player. He says things like "Go f·$% yoursel" in English and Spanish, and is somehow really hilarious.
My class level is too low, but we are doing a lot of conversation, which is helping. I`m going to talk to the profesora tomorrow about getting practice for some harder grammar. They don`t have any teachers available for private instruction or tutoring apparently. There are only two teachers; he said a few left recently.
We actually cooked last night; salchichas, peppers and onions, and hominy. It was great. Tonight will probably be eggs and potatoes, and tomorrow shishcabobs, since there`s a grill on the terrace that we can use.
I will not be coming home with a Volkswagen Bug. The cab driver said they are just called "Volkswagen" and "They are very good cars." I will leave you with this (That`s our apartament building to the right):
and this:
Adios!
Monday, June 4, 2007
Puerta Vallarta - Day One
We made it into Puerta Vallarta just fine, but tired. I don´t think anyone slept well on Saturday night, but we still got up early and went out into the city. First I took some pictures from the apartament. Above is one view from the balcony.
We went out for lunch at a resaurant on the beach, walked around town a little bit, changed into our swimsuits, and went back to the beach.
Every few minutes vendors walked up and down the beach selling dresses, necklaces, skewers... They´re very persistant, but we were able to fend them off. We actually spent a little too much time out in the sun yesterday, especially since we walked everywhere. Grocery shopping was also an experience. The prices on some products, like apples, are higher than in the US, and some things you simply can´t find (fresh orange juice). We´re going to start cooking for ourselves now that we´re settled in a little bit. Since Shelly isn´t taking a class, she´s going to make up a menu for us to work from.
Some random photos from our walk:
This will become a design for an afghan, for whenever I can crochet again.
Sand art.
There are old VW bugs everywhere, and a couple that I want to photograph because they´ve been repurposed in some funny ways!
And for the record, my cell phone doesn´t work!
I need to find some lunch and get back to class, but I´ll update again in a couple of days... ¡Hasta luego!
Friday, June 1, 2007
Leaving on a jet plane...
The frequency of my blog posts is sad. However, it should pick up over the next couple of weeks. Tomorrow I hop a plane for Houston, which will put me on a plane to Puerto Vallarta, Mexico for two weeks of Spanish immersion. Passport - check. Clothes for really hot weather - check. Hurricane - check. Really, a hurricane is supposed to hit south of Acapulco, which, in turn, is south of Puerta Vallarta. Here are the photos, ripped straight from the internet. First, a map of Mexico:
Now, a picture of the expected path of Tropical Storm Barbara (not yet a hurricane, mind you):
Puerta Vallarta is not even on that second image. So those of you calling me at work in the morning freaking out about a hurricane that doesn't even exist and trying to get me to CANCEL MY TRIP THAT I'VE BEEN PLANNING FOR 8 MONTHS can calm yourselves.
I'll check in here periodically with updates, photos, adventure, homesickness, and whathaveyou.
Now, a picture of the expected path of Tropical Storm Barbara (not yet a hurricane, mind you):
Puerta Vallarta is not even on that second image. So those of you calling me at work in the morning freaking out about a hurricane that doesn't even exist and trying to get me to CANCEL MY TRIP THAT I'VE BEEN PLANNING FOR 8 MONTHS can calm yourselves.
I'll check in here periodically with updates, photos, adventure, homesickness, and whathaveyou.
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