Whew…So much has occurred since a week of arriving here! I have been through the upper, lower, and middle schools, as well as learned my around checking in books, checking out books, applying to be a coordinator of 21st Literary School Improvement teams in the 21st Century through NCTE, accepted a possible trip to Chicago Illinois for a presentation on that topic, am exploring uploading the sign out sheets for the labs, library, and computer carts in the Upper School Library, and am trying to justify the Media Center/Librarian position to make Elaine’s (my awesome boss) job easier!

So what about Mexico? Everyone keeps asking! 🙂 I found an open market of all items (watches, clothing, dog beds, fabulous art, furniture, a sports bazaar having Steeler and NFL items! – everything you could imagine there! 🙂 I found a laundromat 2 blocks away, another open market selling fresh fruit, and tons of items 2 blocks away, walked into a totally different neighborhood and found my landlord’s apartment, so that made me feel good I found it so easily not knowing the colonia Del valle!

School is great, I found a fridge at a second hand store, which is great as i can now go shop and store food and this works out well! 🙂 I know the route to and from school via metro – I am beginning to rely less on the use of cabs…

Thanks to Mark Bazzell, the awesome masseuse here, I figured out a place to buy the material to make curtains in place of buying curtains outright, much easier, at a store called JUNCO. I keep adding important things to know on the tab here marked for bits of info in Mexico!

I might be returning to Chicago in November for the NCTE Conference as a co presenter, and this might give me a chance to have some things sent to me in Chicago to take back with me in Mexico! 🙂

I love the weather, chilly at night, I did my own clothes washing this weekend so that was a sense of independence! 🙂 I am nervous about school starting Wednesday here, and I am not in the physical classroom this year, but want to do as crucial a job as possible supporting the teachers with their planning and lessons as I know what a help that was in Seaford with Mr. Moore’s help!

I found many plants that I took clippings of and have put them in aqua, so if they take, I can fill the roof with plants instead of buying everyone!

Mrs. Salisbury was heading to the Aquarium today and I miss the trainers so much! 🙂

I ate at this awesome Indian restaurant Friday as the start of a Weekly Friday dining out, initiated with the idea from Elaine, it was an AWESOME restaurant and we had a great time to unwind and just breathe about our experiences so far. Next step for me is to actually cook some meals and so I am off to find meats tonight to cook for dinner…:) It should be exciting 🙂

Kudos to Monse, Danielle, and mrs Vaughn as they are helping keep peace of mind with things back home, that always makes me nervous with so many things going on and trying to tie up loose ends there.

I enjoy the fact I have time to think these things out instead of taking so many things on, and I think that is the way to do things right….Regarding Mexico, the things I am most impressed with – the Bangladesh blankets the owner of Taj Mahal has, the beautiful scarves here, handmade items such as wallets and purses, the paintings and pottery are gorgeous, the food of course is so much a variety, and the ability to have the curtains made for the apartment, wow. Of course the Mexican rugs and indigenous items, from handmade toys to jewelry, there is so much to take in.

Crime is not what it is made out to be here, there is little but still as much danger as there is in new York with being careless. Travel is inexpensive and easy with the metrobus, underground metro, and the correct taxis. The colors of green, orange, yellow, and rust color are beautiful and all around. The open markets everywhere are excellent, and I do not feel confident enough to do any buying until I learn the language better. I am enrolled in Spanish classes starting the end of August. I can not wait.

Questions? I am possibly investing in a camera this week a member of the faculty has for sale, Olympus x920 which seems to be not a bad type, and reasonable compared to the prices that are wanted here in Mexico for ANYTHING electronic. I am off to see about buying that meat, and finding some empty pots for the clippings I retrieved…:) Funny how I can think of all the things I have at home I could use…:( Isn’t that life? I am all about consolidating, so if anyone back home is interested in two barbecue grills, for cheap, let me know…I have begun to think of the things I can do without, which is a good thing…)