PAVEing a Blog

…picking right up from my last blog – yes, we were packed into the metro like SARDINES – on the way back from the Mexican/U.S. game, and then on the way back, as we were the only small group of small gringos, (lol), chants such as “PARTY AT THE GRINGOS!” and “Gringos!  Gringos!” echoed all around us making the ride home…interesting, but it was a hysterical aspect of coming back from a  spectacular night of futball.  The comment was made that Mexico is always the best group to celebrate despite losing a game, and yes, it seems fans out rank Americans when it comes to celebrating despite a loss, they are still so proud and supportive of their teams, we saw this as we walked out of the stadium and witnessed small groups celebrating all around us.

After we switched trains, I reached into my backpack and realized, oh yes! – someone was smart and had finangled my wallet out of my pack…the realization that my credit cards. driver’s license, store cards like Barnes and Noble, Best Buy, etc , even my Efectivo card were in there! – so yes, on our way to the World Trade Center for an Internations’ event, my mood was slightly dampened…but I was resolved to see the night through…:)

We arrived at the World Trade Center restaurant/Sky Bar, what am amazing view – AMAZING!  The only disappointment was to get right against the windows, you needed to have a reservation/table, we were in the upstairs lounge/bar and we were separated from the windows by about 7 feet, but still, the view was spectacular!  I was lucky enough to meet many nice people thanks to Deb Lawrence, but still had the feeling items were overpriced, and this on a 50% level was looking at each other’s position, status (turnoff) yet among those social climbers (as you will have anywhere) there was some pretty amazing people that I was lucky to meet.  In the back of my mind, I was wondering who was using my cards, who was accessing my info, but I tried my best to push that away until…tomorrow?  🙂

Alas, we left and arrived safely back at home, Deb and Julien helped with a cab that took us all back, I still had 100 pesos left that fell out of the wallet before it had been lifted from my bag…:)

Let me tell you when I came home, I was like what?  The pipes in the bathroom were leaking and when I tried to turn the faucet on, then off to tighten the handles broke, and the water would not stop…:)  Awesome night, right?  I was able to go to my truck, get a pair of vicegrips, and crank that faucet tightly shut, so that a constant drip was all that was occurring, and I placed a Polar water bottle container under the faucet to catch the dripping water – but in the process, I was thinking, what the ^(#&@( –  why this night?  Why so incredibly on thing after the other?!  🙂  lol…however, I decided in the wee hours of this next day, August 16th, I was not going in until the water problem was fixed, also fixing the issue of my cancellation of credit cards, bank cards, etc.

HC – let me tell you, ASF HC was AWESOME – I mean AWESOME – they helped me cancel all my cards and Efectivo card and all was done by mid morning, thank you Elisa and HC – this helped my crazy fix everything day almost 100%!  On top of that, my awesome landlord was able to get someone to come over that day and the leaks, all seals needing sealed, etc, was fixed by 3:00 PM, everything fixed, showing me that things brighten if you maintain the course…

Looking back, this worked out so much better than it ultimately could have, and the result was an absolute, great final outcome with not one person accessing my financial info despite all cards disappearing – what more could you ask for ?  With Rodrigo at Bancomer, and HC saving the day in a matter of hours, things were so unbelievably fixed, it was worth taking all complaints and thoughts of “Ugh, Noooooo!” back thanks to the help of those mentioned above.

Stepping back from my Mexico at hand events – I keep thinking how miraculous things have been for me thanks to several people…ONE – The Fields’ – Mr Fields making a tune up on my Mercury Mountaineer that was amazing, the SUV ran like a different vehicle completely, I ran  it hard, with ranking just under 1000 miles the first day making it from Delaware to Mississippi, and between Katie, Tim, and Mrs Fields all having major events, life changes, and just working through so many things, and still having time to make room for me as their second son literally, there are so many unseen things/aspects that I am thankful for – I can’t begin to say as I first get that urge to complain!  (I often do not think of these things at first when I am angry upset, etc..).

Kudos to the Fields’ who work so hard for others, yet always put themselves second, which is why I attribute their personal successes and their ability to make anything work – their attitude makes the difference in everything they do and approach.   My Mom, Melinda Duryea, as well as Charlotte Vaughn, Nancy McGee, all facilitated so many smooth transitions for me coming back to DE, then as well, Mrs Cox Cannon who also helped facilitate so many issues for me involving storage, removal of items from my house, and on and on, I cannot believe how lucky I am to be surrounded by so many supportive individuals!

It HAS been awhile since I have written in my blog, and over the last few weeks, I just have had the need to separate myself from the nickpicking, gossipping, devotion to going out and get drunk that many live for, complaining, on and on that so many people tend to fall into the trap of, and just want to take in the quiet, the calm, the good there is around us instead of being so sucked in by the negative and the things that you can look on and just complain about.

Having the luck to have found still currently my new found Afghan puppy, I have learned alot of lessons from her.  Take your time, don;t worry about the swirl of the world around you, if you’re not happy, content, and peaceful, then no one around you will be.  I have decided to separate myself from all that junk that has brought me down in the past, the superficialness of people, their complaints, their negativity, their anger, and just find a middle ground where I feel content, peaceful, and motivated to achieve so much.  It’s so funny, and this remains to be true, there is so much more maturity in the students that surround me, than the adults.  This is the one thing that remains the same – Mexico and Delaware, I have been, and still am, lucky enough to be surrounded by students that make me smile so much, while so many adults around me spend so much time on conversation and issues that are negative  – I am constantly renewed by those students here in Mexico that yes, have their down days, but they are so much easier to bring up from a plateau of complaining and being down than the adults – with some exceptions.  I know I say this all the time about “my students”, but they never were “my students”, I just liked to consider them that – but they are so full of life and motivated when they have someone that believes in them, more than any other group I met.  My former yearbooks staffs, PAVE members, XC team, track members, Key Club members, and now Repentino Staff exhibit what it means to ride the high surf of life, and reap what it has to offer while so many others spend so much time on other fruitless thoughts, actions etc, we have a constant state of renewal and recharging from each other, hence they are my mentors, source of inspiration, etc.  I am blessed more than any amount of money, job location, or position could give me, even in my worst hour, I am a better person for the people better than me that look and feel all that life has to offer, both good and bad – sweet and sour! 🙂

Since the fateful wallet missing evening, I have visited a few new restaurants worth mentioning in the next few days, as well as got back on course with a schedule filled with park visits with my new pet, as well as learning life is better with so many things I often full my day with that do not matter – by the way….

GREAT PICK – the book,  The Art of Racing in the Rain – it made me think of all these things I mentioned above and made me realize, and allowed me to take a fresh breath inside out and realize – Life is precious, good and too short to carry the attitude of the things that can bring you down.

I sit here now at the first annual Google Summit, amazed at how and where technology, education, and life is headed…so many philosophical aspects that deserve time to reflect on – life is revolving and we decide where we are in the process…I am thankful for the people around me that help me evolve while we revolve, lol.  Stay tuned for updates to restaurants this weekend!  🙂

August 7th – seriously, that was the date of my last post finding the dear pooch mentioned in the last blog, as I am starting at an August 23rd date wondering where the time went!  A – Maz -ing – flying by! In that time span, a thousand events seem to have progressed by!

Following acquiring a sweet and obedient-positioned dog, Wednesday brought on the chance to go to the United State vs Mexico futbol game, and I was thinking there would be a 1 in 75 chance we would get tickets.  Then, going onto Ticketmaster for the first time in Mexico, traveling to Polanco to obtain my new credit card since the trip from DE to Mexico and my original not really working, I was able to purchase tickets for four to attend the futbol game here in Mexico…and we got them!   I was geared up the whole time, then realized the day of I had no idea how to get there…:)  Through the wise sage Moct at the Upper School Library, we realized we rode the end of the blue line, then crossed onto another from of transportation, the rail train, which took us to Azteca Stadium for the game at 7:00 PM.

I was amazed at the crowd that had gathered for the train, but even more amazed that we found every nook and cranny in the train to fit.  We literally spilled out at the Azteca Stadium entrance, and the site of so many vendors crowding the path on the way to the stadium was – amazing…we found ourselves passing sites of entertainment like swings that you usually see at a fair that trampoline like and suspend you high in the air, with models showcasing them that looked like they just walked off a stage, this was truly a show inside and out.

We made our way into the stadium, the whole way I am marveling at the enormous size of the stadium making our way up into what seemed would be peanut heaven.  Arriving in our section, we realized, “Hey, we are United States and Canada represented here (Julienne, Nena, me and Deborah) and Mexico is playing the United States!  That was when we saw the four people in front of us give us the sign as if they were going to lie us in our sleep knowing we might be the only individuals from the United States in the stands in this section But…..at least those four people were smiling when they gave us that death sign?!

What do you do, cheer for the U.S, or cheer for Mexico, never thought I would need to be in this dilemma, I started rooting for the U.S, but then seeing their uniforms resembled a barbershop quartet, and seeing anxious glances our way to see who we were rooting for, I was pulling for Mexico as I lived here now, and Mexico had just won the gold in futbol!  We did this cool trance-like futbol chant when it was the goalie’s turn to send out the ball – and by the end, we saw Mexico fall to the U.S, 1-0, a little diconcerting.  However, the fireworks that went off, as well as the parading on the field of the Mexican team that had brought home the goal was amazing – and very unexpected but amazing just the same.

The whole night had an air of excitement – including the thrown items.  Yes, we were high up, but we realizing aside from being able to see the game perfectly, we also escaped the items that fans hurled down below them when they were upset.  I totally mean HURL.  Pizza boxes, items of chicken, pizza, full glasses of beer, full glasses of a substance that looked that beer that was NOT beer, you named it, anything within reach would end up flying below us to the crowds below – it was kind of like the Gong Show, or some other type of strange warped show, where the judging of the largest object to be thrown, or most full, would catch us by surprise, but wow….I realized we were smart for cheering for Mexico AND for sitting in these seats!  🙂  We were rooted int he seats until the end, and then looked around dubiously as we realized that the U.S. won and we were the obvious American leaving the stadium, lol.  The four that had heckled us on the way in asking us for a photo on the way out, and we did the photo shoot with a beautiful view of the city behind us from the stadium. amazing night, I mean amazing.  Did I mention the belt guy?

Going into the stadium if you are wearing a belt, you have to take off your belt, and a number is put on it where you can come back out and claim it after the game.  No kidding, I realized if people were going to throw the items they did on the crowds below, the belt lashing was game as well.  Leaving, we saw the “belt line” looked longer than the ticket line or train line coming in!  LOL but after 10 minutes, wow, belt in hand, Julienne was amazed as I he was able to claim back his same belt!  The way out we noticed the Mexico fan were better fans at losing a match than any American fan, still dancing and singing and celebrating their gold win at the Olympics.  On the way out we had the best meal at a stand of meat and torta stuffed ingredients, I can still taste it!  If we thought this had been an exciting night, we didn’t know what was in store as we boarded the train…

Coming into work Tuesday (correct me if I am wrong, Tuesday, right?) – I spied a note on my desk, lying discreetly in the middle of my desk “Call Gabriella at extension xxxx).  Hmmm, Okay, Gabriella, which one? (I thought).  I called and before I could place I name I heard, “Harry!  You have to try and do something.  There was a dog on campus and the police kicked her out of the campus to die.  Please try to do something!”  Having just arrived in the AM, my brain was trying to process the words past “Harry” and then it began to process….I thought – what could I possibly do?

I replied (wondering how I had become so popular?!) – how would I find the dog without knowing WHERE in Observatorio or the direction she had been released?  We had little to no information about that and as I hung up with a tearful Gabriella wanting to do something, I thought, “Okay, what the heck, WHAT is it going to do to look?  Right?”   I grabbed Moctezuma, my awesome library partner in crime, and we took a walk around the seeedy, and mysterious alleys of Observatorio, on the alert for an Afghan-looking dog.  (This truly could not be difficult to miss if we spotted it, right?)

I mentioned as we walked the “Needle in a haystack”  chance of finding this dog, stopping even at a butcher to inquire of a dog had been seen (throwing all old stereotypes out the window – Butcher, there will be a dog nearby).

We made our way down Observatorio, hoping NOT to see the dog near the highway , turned right in front of the Hospital ABC, and a blur caught my eyes to the left…and BAM!  NO freaking waaaaaay!  A very dirty, harried (love THAT word) and undirectional Afghan dog!  Running through the parking lot of ABC!!  What were the chances?  We ran into action, Moct on one end of the lot, me on the other, trapped it, and boom!  ut the side, through the bushes, back to Observatorio!  We trailed here as he instantly made a beeline for the ASF School and true enough, right to the main entrance of ASF – where the security grabbed her and sat her down.  Moct played babysitter to the newly found pup (large one though) as I ran inside to make a plan.

What kind of plan do you make when you find a stray Afghan dog in the streets of Observatorio?  Well, you make the plans that I did, last minute and sudden ones.  They will either pay off or bankrupt.  I’ll let you decide which occurred here.

I called Jessica from the Middle School, arranged for Lilia to hold my library meeting, talked to Gabriela, who was inquiring with Mr Williams on the best course of action, and finally, through Jessica’s keys, and Carlos’ directional know how, Carlos drove me back to my apartment, in Jessica’s car, with a newly found, but quite dirty, Afghan in tow.  She patiently and quietly waited in front of my apartment door, as if asking, What next?!  

I arrived at my apartment, took the amazingly well-behaved dog ) who was sitting in the backseat taking it all in quietly) promptly into the shower, and watched the grease, grime, and dirt flow down the drain, as she (I found out later, SHE) patiently stood there letting me purify her from the streets from whence she just came!

Next step – water, food.  Water, she gulped down.  Food, two hamburgers and 7 hot dogs later ( I know, I know, I should have stopped at like 2 food items) – I realized her stomach was reacting to food in who knows how long.  Soaking wet, but a little whiter, I left her on the bed, as she began to take in the idea no dodging of cars would have to occur.

Days go by, and my week is now designed for late, early and midday walks, almost a blessing in disguise as amid the rush detail, I have an excuse for some air, solitude, and time to let my mind wander and wind down.  I always saw others with  dog, and never imagined it would be me, but then again, it is kind of difficult to imagine things when they just occur for a reason or for no reason at all, right?

Thursday becomes DDay for the dog, and we make a reservation on the recommendation of Naomi Pawlik, to the Condesa Pet Center

, and sure enough, we have a 6:30 appointment.  I am in the middle of transition a friend into his new apartment, and I am able to drop the dog off at the vet, where they immediately take her in for a major scrubdown and groom.  Needless to say, with the kerchief, when I came back, I had no idea whose dog this was.  This was not the same dog?  With some prescription and good dog food, we left and I thought I had hit the jackpot, not only was she well-behaved, and now looking like a hundred dollars, she appreciate these little tasks much more than most humans appreciate acts of kindness, and that is worth money in the bank, no matter the amount.  So here we are, a dog in Mexico without a name.  Let the games begin, names names, we need a name, please suggest!  (And yes, this story still boggles me mind how fast and how easily this all happened, but at this point in the blog, is it best to question fate or just record it?  I vote the second one)  🙂    Newest picture of her:  

This must be the month for funny quotes…sorry, I was looking through some images of a conference where librarians were assembled and noticed you do not see alot of librarians that are well, honestly, attractive…meaning alot of the female librarians (few men which is kind of cool) – are just well, Mr. Potato-ish and less active physically looking I guess – okay well, I feel bad for noticing and stating this now – but I hope by getting into 5-6 5k’s this year, bettering my diet, and just being more active outdoors – the stereotype of a librarian that is a hermit and indoors shelving texts all the time can be broken….:)  Still, it was a funny quote at the time, 🙂

Today alot of cool firsts – at ASF we had out first real day of orientations for new staff – we remarked, myself as well, how cool this group of new teachers are – compared to my group last year, these individuals are not whiners, complainers, pessimistic, and they are optimistic, SO much more than my group last year, and that has made this year so much better already!  🙂  I vented about frustrations with people being a little too picky about things, and by the end of the day at school we managed to cover the bulletin boards with backgrounds, hold an orientation of the library, chat in a catered lunch, arrange a 9:00 AM meeting tomorrow for the library, as well as finish the day with a good sense that 2012 -2013 is starting!  YEAH!

It gets better, while my gas had been disconnected while I was gone over break, and I paid it, and the new teacher Julienne who has been staying with me, from Canada, have been taking freaking cld showers wondering why the gas has not been turned on – we found out today, thank to the prodding of HC – we HAVE HOT WATER AGAIN!  YEAAAAAH!  This was exciting as we could finally cook meals too – and not have to freak in a cold shower in the morning – and yes!  It gets betters!  The television I bought from Helen gets near perfect reception with the rabbit ears she gave us – no freaking way!  Free high speed internet AND free television?  AND hot showers?  Good day.

This brings me to a good point, some people expect the best of everything, and when one little thing goes wrong, that’s it – done.  Life sucks.  Then there is that group of people that keep an open mind through the bad events that occur, and can actually enjoy life’s smallest victories and smallest events that make life just, well, grand!  I like those people in the second group as it seems the details of life do not escape them so much as people that expect the grand things in life to happen all the time.  Life is funny, yet, your perspective is everything!

This week is a MeetUp event in Condesa, and next week, a dilemma between Jack Little’s poetry reading a chance to dine in the Internations , at the Mexican World Trade Center for a gathering there, 150+ expatriots – which seems to be an opportunity.

Cool evening as I reconnected with the schedule of graduate classes at Mansfield University getting ready for fall classes – 2 more for the fall, 2 more for the spring, one for the summer, maybe 2 for the Fall of 2013 – and…..DONE!  YEAH!  I can hardly wait!

I made traditional milkshakes tonight and that made everything all right…:)

It is exciting that Mexico is so vibrant and active – filled with culture and new people every turn of the way that can make life, well, just worth experiencing.  Again, perspective is everything!

Hands down, the last week has been mega exhilarating – yet – super duper frustrating in moments, and yet – I am so excited with the prospects of the new hires – their attitudes, patience, and overall view – it has been so exciting having them arrive!

I am writing this on Sunday – skipping the events on Saturday – because….we are having a surprise to present Saturdays’ events, so stay tuned – trust me it will be worth it LOL – but today was full of new hire Julien from Canada –  hanging out here at my place, sleeping freaking in – the first time in AGES – felt AWESOME!   🙂  – then slowly getting awake and heading to the Sumesa to pick up an awesome breakfast – ate tons of bakery goods back at the place – then off to the Alvaro Obregon bazaar where we shopped and gawked – then we caught a restaurant in Condesa that showed the events at the Olympics- and whoa Jamaica!  Bolt was amazing!  It was an exciting view of the Olympics! – THEN we headed home to the cool restaurant – Wok this Way – YES – DELICIOUS MEGA!  We spied a mother, father, and beautiful daughter outside waiting for a table so we grabbed our items and cleared the way for them to come in and use the table – our good deed for the day!

https://www.facebook.com/wokthisway.fanpage

We arrived back at the apartment, and crash!  Sleep a rama!  It was a beautiful day – and just an awesome day to be creating a second year and life in Mexico!  🙂

Oh, thought I would leave you hanging on the quote?  We went to Helen and Alejandro’s Saturday (only thing I will reveal about Saturday) and she generously gave me the game Cranium, but I paid for it, ( her mother in law was awesome, tracking the sales and giving receipts for items – and Alex and Helen making a progress bar of all items sold!) – hence the text as she wanted to GIVE the game to me, but I paid, lol.  Awesome text, I think I need to memorialize this quote, lol.

IF anyone is needing items from Helen’s, I posted pictures on my wall facebook for people to see!

https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10150972890366003.411676.572656002&type=1

It has been a packed – filled week – and exciting, as well as very reflective – amazing people and amazing moments – as we slowly head to the beginning of a new 2012 year – I am thankful for all the moments – both tough and fun – that have led me to this moment 😉

It was the end of a long week, LOOOONG WEEK  – and I remembered El Ocho filled with games and space, but never had the chance to try it out!  On a cool and clear night, we met at 9:30 PM to try out El Ocho.  Well not exactly – after a huge long and active day – I headed home and collapsed, doing something I had not done in awhile – CLEAN!  🙂  I cleaned, vacuumed, cleaned, vaccumed, it actually started to look like a normal apartment!

Helen Kang and Alejandro Martinez brought Hangover  – over to the apartment and he settled in his own room, lol, and still seems to be quiet.  I refrained from pictures until we see how he settles in…:)  I do not like they are leaving for Korea!

They dropped me off at El Ocho and at 9:30 I was worried, would anyone come?  Turns out – they did on perfect Mexican time!  We had a cool and AWESOME group – as pictures show – we waited a bit,  but the seat by the game table was AWESOME!  lol…

Playing space invaders, to Frogger only with food, spin the bottle, lol, to lots of others this was the whole side of El Ocho I missed and with a little wait, worth the wait thanks to the space!  This was a welcome evening to just relax and let ourselves think not of anything to do with orientation, just think of how exciting the year will become – yeah!

Intensity during the game helped set the tone, and overall, this was a whole different aspect side from the delicious food, the company was EXCITING, upbeat, and fun despite the pace everyone has been on!  The intensity given to the games were better and a nice change than trying to remember all the details on this Friday night!  

Sorry for the title, but it will work itself out in the details below, promise!

As being Thursday August 2nd, so many events have happened, so many!  All memorable! Strange too – hail the other day the size of dimes came down pounding my umbrella – and I was just caught in the rain, then hail, and had – was relentless!  Moving onto the week of orientation – wow, I have met so many amazingly positive and excited people – this is AWESOME!  The thrill of finding apartments for people and giving them your viewpoint honestly – it very difficult for you not to enjoy – and we are now standing back seeing a sense of accomplishment as each person gets more comfortable.

Tonight was dinner at Paul Williams’ (ASF head)  house and as usual, all was as positive, exciting, vibrant, and happy as you could imagine – it was awesome seeing everyone forget their worries, and enjoy good food, good friends, and just overall a great  atmosphere.  Getting there, a different story…

All seemed normal, we meet at ASF, bus in front, then I noticed Maurico stating the driver was being taken away by the police?  What the heck?  Sure enough the driver was NOT supposed to park in front of the hotel, and therefore had a boot placed on the bus – the bus we were supposed to go to Paul’s on!  LOL….We figured out that the police were asking for the fine (400 pesos) to remove the boot, only catch is the driver had to pay at the station 5 blocks away.  I JUST happened to grab money and was initially not bringing any – the fine was 500 pesos, which I happened to have, so I paid it to the driver so we could get to our destination.  He went to the police to pay the fine, we waited, and sure enough, he came back we hopped on, and yeah!  We got there!  In the meantime, the other bus, at ASF, had been called to pick us up in case the driver could not go where he needed, and met us just as our bus was leaving – it was a caravan!  lol….

As always, with some excitement, we headed our way – arrived, and settled into an evening of fine dining and hospitality thanks to Mr. Paul Willams and the HC staff!  The newly arrived educators were so excited, and their excitement was contagious as we all felt lucky to be surrounded by so many fun and light-hearted conversations.  Overall, it was the first time all of us could be together and let our hair down – so to speak – and we enjoyed every moment of it.  A great night, a great group of people, and Mexico is a good place to be.

It was ironic, Elisa made the comment that driving incidents and excitement involving driving seemed to follow me, I agree and might have to wave off driving until I know these “adventures” involving driving am down – Karla gave me the best compliment ever – that I seemed to go with the flow and not let the burps (so to speak) bother me – can you imagine someone saying that say, 3 years ago?  I was strung at tight as a guitar string – and I feel how good the change involving Mexico has made me – honestly that was a compliment that made my evening!

No, Mr Williams, I promise, I did NOT tell people the bus was here at 8:15 to get everyone to leave early, and I did listen to Karla – Laughing.  No Jessica you did have enough, lol.  It is exciting to be surrounded with such the dynamo group of this year’s teachers and that alone made it a great night!

Despite the previous incident, accidents, and “fogetcidents” (love that Brakism) – Mexico City is AWESOME.  Arriving and quite exhausted, and despite my key breaking in the lock and me being ransomed by a LOCK and KEY in my apartment, lol, my neighbor in #4 came to the rescue and grabbed a locksmith from down the street who sprung me free, I replaced the lock, (1000 pesos) and wondered, did I ever wonder if I would have a dull experience here?  Yet- each moment was countered with an act of kindness.

I crashed and was excited to be in a real bed! – so glad to see the youngsters (Dewey,

 , Decimal,  and a currently unnamed saved feline) – and met some amazing new people the Sunday I arrived back as well as Monday, the first day of orientation.  Individuals ranging from Iowa, Serbia, Rio, San Diego, Lebanon, and all over!  I took a small group to show them the Chedraui, Wal Mart, Sam’s Club, and how to navigate the metro.  Aid juggling helping people with trying to locate apartments, the first day seemed to be much productive and an exciting start to a fresh year.  I think if you can keep an open mind, when alot of downsided things occur, it is a major major challenge not to grumble, complain, or just feel awful inside, but hope is very real and optimism is stronger to make ever situation that occurs a walk away learning lesson. The more individuals we help out along the way, the Pay It Forward occurs and that sentiment will carry through.

Tonight – I offered to work the desk at the Buddha Bar, for an Internations event where, we will meet even more people – tons!

…so as we walk into a very sterile and quiet white room, I sit down at a desk with two secretaries, explain my situation with the now worn out copy of my Fm3 – lol, an they make a call.  Within minutes a man comes in, I explain my whole, “I had an Fm3, no idea where it went before my trip (skipping over the fact that I was able to board without it by feigning ignorance) – I made a copy of it – but I am scheduled to create a new one when I return to Mexico- can I just sign in as a tourist until I obtain the new card and I can carry my copy id with me?” – Okay well up to this point, I figured I was pretty um, screwed?  lol…but – mysteriously it turned out I could obtain a FM3 here ( I think only because I had proof that I had one before  🙂  strange, huh?

I was asked for 5 pictures of myself, as luck would have it, I had photos (extra) of myself taken when I had my initial FM3 taken – so I pulled these out, but I was shy 2 photos…:(  Sooooo, I was drawn a map and shown where to go a few blocks away to retake some photos specifically for my FM3.  I figured, I am going to do this quickly, because Bill had left already and was on his way and I did not want to be here until midnight!  🙂

I followed his directions, came to a photographer’s studio, and it seems this was a very professional and formal studio.  However, they did not do quick/instant photos, they did just formals and you order later, etc, so they pointed to a photographer a block away that did. I went there, and yep!  No prob!  100 pesos, and I had by 5 photos for the FM3!

I raced back to the immigration office at the border, presented these, and then was told the difficult part would be needed ( the difficult part?!  What?! LOL).  I needed to have an affadavit created, and signed of/stamped by the local police station stating that I in fact did lose my Visa – um wow.  Generously, the guy  across from me found an old stamped statement, and he retyped the whole thing for me – then I signed and  inked my thumbs to the affadavit and now – I was put into a taxi and taken to the police department about 10 minutes away.  Surprisingly, the taxi driver walked up with me, but could not go farther than the front gate, then I went on, found where I needed to go on the second floor, a police representative named Uri! (reminded me of Uri Rebolledo!) and went into her office  I explained my situation again, ( I was getting good at this! and we chatted about how I had a former student named Uri, etc.  She was awesome as she signed/stamped it within 5 minutes, I left and headed back to the immigration office, and the whole process cost about 300 pesos and 30 minutes by the time you added in taxi, photos, etc.

I made it back again, we worked on the FM3, and despite closing at 1:00, the representative stayed until  we had a FM3 created.  Now 3:00 PM, I would try my luck back at the original stations I had been at – thanking the office profusely for their life saving tactic to get me an FM3!  🙂

Back at the original station – I went through station, 1, 2, and now 3 again.  They recognized me at this point at station 3 (I was trying to hide) and we decided I had all the paperwork necessary – processed all the info, and when we went to swipe my U.S. debit card for the 284.00 for the permit cost for my vehicle the teller was surprised when I gave her my FM3, she thought I had found it, but I explained it was was new one!  This was not y problem with this transaction THIS time though.  of course, the card came through denied.  SO close, yet, what?!  I figured, I would just call the bank and see what they said, and I was told when I talked to the bank, just jump back into the same teller, not at the end of the line, 🙂

I called my U.S. bank, all the while wondering, and thinking, “You know, if I would have received my income tax funds back as I had back in March – then scraping the barrel would not be an option, lol” and the other thoughts of “Where am I going to sleep, in my car, that is safe in Laredo?!”

In talking to the bank, I realized that I did have an overdraft protection allotted, and could go over by 350.00.  In doing so, I would be charged a feee, but would have that funding there.  However, I DID have money in my account, it just was the upper admin did not receive my permission to use in Mexico m somehow the email was overlooked I had sent them.  Stephanie told me to wait 5 minutes, the card would be cleared, and then all would be well!

Not wanting to draw more attention to myself, I got into the back of the line, station 3, and waited.  Oh this would not do, lol – I was spotted by the teller next to mine! – waved up to the front and we started over again…:)  10 minutes later, ba bing!  Can you believe it – it went through!  LOL –

I grabbed my decal, thanked them profusely after telling them they would have nightmares of me from being here so many times, and got into my vehicle as fast as I could, lol.

I had talked through this process several times with Bill as he was now outside Monterrey by 20 minutes, but felt confident that after this, anything would be possible  🙂  I had this excitement as I left Laredo that I was actually driving in Mexico!  KWAZY!  🙂  As I believe you know the rest – the 103 degrees in Monterrey as I left, the first for me of ordering at a McDonalds in Spanish – (they have no SWEET TEA in the McDonald’s here, AGH!) – and just the amazing scenery – along the drive, again, take away the wonderment of how I was going to get home after funds disappeared mysteriously, and the FM3 dilemma, you had a pretty cool adventure, take into consideration those two elements, Batman overcoming the odds would be a little more appropriate, lol.

Oh, so, get this – I enter Mexico on Friday about 10:00 AM – not even in the Observatorio area for 5 MINUTES and police pull me over – I show them every paper I have and explain I JUST arrived here, and I need to go for my emissions testing next, and then I will have all despite my DE plate.  They let me go, no bribe forced on their part – super excited and surprised!

That honestly wasn’t the major event I am referring to though, I was referring to the call to Moct, who had been watching my apartment (“Man!  Guess what?!  I found your FM3 slid in between the cabinets in the kitchen?!) The rest of the conversation was like a Charlie Brown teacher conversation…

The pictures that will accompany the blogs the last few posts as well as to this post are AMAZING.  I will do that in a few days to keep up with everything!

Being in Delaware was for this trip, more about revisiting my storage and organizing, removing, selling, downpacking, etc.  I did realize I need to put less importance on papers and “things” and do not let them hold me back – which they have a tendency of taking up precious room that could be invaluable in other places.

I think this might be one of the most hysterical blogs ever, so let me begin with the newest chapter not known to others (that is a good band title) – let’s start with the day before I was to leave Seaford on my cross country driving trip.

Last Monday – I had decided to wait one more day – so that I would have enough time to see Alison Schwinn (BACK FROM JAPAN AND THE NAVAL ACADEMY!)  YEAH! – and Fabricia together at Davelli’s.  I did not realize how much I missed them until we were all together, I did not want to stop hugging them!  So…..Monday I had spent heading to Davelli’s, I spent not enough time just chatting with them 🙂 – loved it – LOVED it and I had a chance to tell Alison, a Biden story – I had been carrying that around forever!  🙂

Then I was lucky enough to come across Chris Michaels, Coach Smith, Tynetta Washington, and alot of people I had put into the former post.  You could tell the mixed emotions of being in two worlds – two places, with people that are not able to be left behind was catching up to me…the day was CRAZY – literally spent with a portion of everyone I needed to desperately see and so many more needed!  🙂  no matter what occurs, there is NEVER enough time, EVER – 🙂  packed my truck so tight the whole ordeal with being searched was a major issue but I did not come to have half of my items left behind, right?  🙂  You could not even fit in an extra shirt that is how tightly packed I made it – LOL – so – I was nervous to say the least – but by giving my Mom a small computer, my stereo, speakers, and some other items, I made room for so much, that it seemed to be okay and I had to put my trust in the border and getting lucky at passing over.  Monday I was so incredibly lucky to have had the chance to spend time with so many, yet my stomach was turning cartwheels on nervousness.  CARTWHEELS!  I was so nervous I made one big boo boo – (still kicking myself) – when I was loading items in, I bumped the front windshield with my one speaker and made a small crack in the front windshield!  I was so incredibly MAD – I did not want anything to be wrong with the truck – AGH!  And now there was this small crack in the passenger side, so I resolved to repair that on the way to Mexico…

Heading out at 4:00, I actually was driving at 4:15 AM and I was so tired, it was difficult to be nervous!  My mom packed me food that truly lasted the whole trip, and without that, I would have been hurting VERY badly.  Also, the Fields’ did the courtesy of fine tuning y truck My GOSH – the engine was so clean you can eat off it (this is after my trip!) and the car was so smooth the whole way, I was sure I had been switched trucks!  AMAZING, and wow, talk about a “finely tuned machine” that was my saving grace, even when I was in 103 degree, yes, my gauge clocked the temp at 103 when I crossed into Monterrey on Friday – yet I did not shed one ounce of sweat, amazing what no humidity can do.

I crossed across the bay Bridge and remembered what it was like moving to DE and I was in shock, that I was actually moving to a state full of the environmental topics I loved – and look where I was 6 years later – moving into MD, then I crossed into VA – then Georgia, – onto Tennessee – Alabama, and I found myself in Mississippi.  I called Danielle Levredge and found out she had almost turned her ankle into a fact from the “Alien” movie, yet wanted her “eye-witness” that I just cleared under 1000 miles, about 20 miles short, but I was SPENT.  SO far, the drive was amazing, as I captured pictures from every state as I spent through, and made a pattern of filling up gas when my tank became half full, so I did that every time, I have the actual mileage and amount spent each time I stopped, so I will make that the next blog I just do not have the energy to look through the receipts right now, lol.  I had a body pillow, thanks to Tim Fields’ grandmom, and THANK GOODNESS.  I was playing it safe and erring on the side of caution, I found an AWESOME rest stop that had wireless, and when I stopped, I was so tired I didn’t even get out of the truck – I simply grabbed the pillow and sacked OUT.  Yes, I could have done a hotel, motel, or hostel, lol, but I wanted the road experience an things I learned…And this Was the GRAND DADDY of Rest stops at Toomsuba, Mississippi.  There is security on patrol 24 hours to watch over people that stay there and sleep – there is wifi, the facilities are HUGE – I learned how to shower with a wet nap – and my gosh, the food packed was a saving grace, as well as being able to SAVE tons of money along the way – however, my first night sleeping in the truck was aok as this rest stop was awesome for cleaning up and getting ready for the next day!

I sacked out – woke up – around 4:00 -AM-ish again? – mapped out the Public Library in New Orleans – after hearing a 96 degree day and feeling like 105 – I was headed to a public library to check in with Wifi, banking, info, and just to let the heat die down!  🙂  The day was awesome, hot yes already like 86 degrees at 6:00 in the morning! – I stopped at the Louisiana border to just refresh with making sure I was on track- but what I was really shocked about, when I came to the bridge leading to New Orleans, the length of the bridge heading to the water, I had no idea!  I took plenty of pictures, but the ribbon-like look of the bridge was amazing, you couldn’t see anything past the bridge it was so long – I didn’t know what to expect but was so excited to see New Orleans – and just had no idea what the layout Looked like – the view – and I snapped many, was amazing!

I came into New Orleans, and found the public library surrounded by construction, after a few passes, I found a garage for @6.00 all day!  DEAL!  I made it to the library – got some GREAT info on Overdrive to use in our library – took pictures of the library then headed OUT!  I was able to see the front harbor, the French section, the Mardi Gras layout of streets, the stadium, all the stints you could see in a day – and surprisingly, I found that I liked it, yes, but was not drawn to it as I thought I would be ?  The pictures I have are AWESOME – you will like ALOT – but I realized that when I was at the library – my credit, debit cards had been frozen – I had no new access…this presented a new problem..this was….Wednesday – Monday was our true paycheck day, but we get our pay early – zoo…good chance this was going to be in (our pay would be in) tomorrow – sooo…do I keep the truck in the garage where it is safe and guarded, but risk sleeping in the truck in the garage and being stopped by security – OR – (I had 3/4 tank of gas)  take the risk and push forward and get into Texas and stop and chance a truck stop there and be that much closer to the border?  –  If our pay was not in on Thursday – I would be stuck in Texas hopefully at a place I could “camp” out until our pay came through, AND I could try to figure out why my debit cards, credit cards, all were frozen….I was a little distressed…but I just had this pit in my stomach that I DID NOT WANT TO STAY overnight there, it was just a feeling.  True, I could wake up – and have instant wireless at the library before heading out but weighing the chance of not finding a place to clean up or shower and having to remain awake for many miles…I took the risk with my heart beating and made for the Texas border.  I, not having a GPS and doing unbelievably good so far – made the one dumb mistake of not taking a ramp right outside of New Orleans to Route 10 and instead went route 12, then to route 10, and I wasted literally almost 1 hour worth of gas – I was BEATING myself on the head when I passed the exit for the New Orleans front where I have been earlier today and now passing one hour later after having left – mistakes like that cost you being stranded in the middle on no where and I was ALREADY nervous about making to the Texas Border and how far in I should go – could I make it to Beaumont? – Houston?  I doubted I would make it to Houston as I had 15.00 available right now – and I was in Louisiana with a little lest than half a tank – and trying to get to Baton Rouge – made it, and still gas…sooooo what the heck….pushing to Lafayette – stopped for gas – 15.00 saw the had a caged tiger for display at the Grosse Tete , Louisiana Gas Station – wow is all I could say – I could not go over and see him, I did not approve of that small concrete cage – but held my breath as I crossed bayous and it seemed Lake Charles was doable – I found a Love’s Truck Stop right before Lake Charles, and had  a little of 1/3 tank of gas left but wanted to find out if there was a place here, like I had in Mississippi, I signed up for $4.99 wireless at the truck stop but then it stopped working so no wireless to see, when our pay came in I could transfer the funds to my American Bank to have access there, I was sure the restrictions was because someone saw the charges from state to state, and despite the call I made ahead of time clearing this, I was sure this was the case – NOT GOOD when you rely on that on the road and go from state to state wondering – will I make it?  (That took my anxiety level to new highs in certain locations…) BUT – I am a gambler and thought – moving to at least make Texas tonight, and if I was stuck anywhere, I needed to see I was making progress.  I also thought, if I wound NOT have given into the temptation of seeing what New Orleans was all about, look where I would be? – OR – maybe not since I saved tons of gas by using the garage for 6.00 in New Orleans!  (So far, I found by filling up when I was at half a tank of gas, worked well – and I managed to pay all the way from 3.20 a gallon to 3. 11 in places, I was getting to be a guru of gas pricing!).

The only bigger bummer was on the way – somewhere,  truck had a large object fly out of the back of the truck, and yes, you guessed it, happened to hit where that crack was in my windshield.  Um yeah, not a small crack anymore, it was spreading across to the middle!  I had only obtained liability, I found out that the windshield was not covered, and well, this was only one year old too – I had had this replaced before – but only a year ago – so all that combined, it was hard to put my anger over the windshield below my conscious level every 5 minutes,  but I would find out there were more pressing concerns…

When I asked if there were places other than this truck stop in Lafayette, LA that I could park and sleep – well, little favorable response helped me to decide to move forward to Lake Charles, the next stop, which I did.  Something persuaded me to keep going to Vinton, LA, as close as I felt comfortable going to the border without further notice of funds for gas, so just short of the Texas border, I found the Longhorn truck stop, saw a 18 wheeler pulled of, parked beside that truck, and that was the last I remember when I passed out exhausted!  It;s funny sleeping in my truck, that was already packed to the hilt – I look at my truck COMPLETELY different now, LOL, bur I realized when you are so tired from driving, I was grateful to just be able to have someplace to stop – sleep, and nothing else!

I woke in the morning, and knew this stop had showers  – I went to the restroom planning on changing and cleaning up in the bathroom, and saw a shower stall someone had left open.  This is the deal, truckers come in, pay at the desk for a shower – return the key when done to the shower room – (four of them) and close the door.  Someone had left the shower #4 open!  – I slammed in there so fast – getting a shower was HEAVENLY – and walked out with a different shirt on but it seemed none the wiser – (I left the door open too).

Feeling 100 times better, AND seeing we DID get paid early on this Thursday! – YEAH!  I felt BOLD – confident, and Texas here I come!  I had a little less than a 1/3 tank of gas left, but I headed for Texas, stopped at the Welcome Center, called Bill Cox, the Seaford teacher ahead of me, hired at ASF, he was in Houston, and told him I was headed into Texas and would meet him in Laredo this evening – (I didn’t want to take in too much how far I was looking at, but figured, after driving nearly 1000 miles the first day – the second leg would be nothing compare to that!).

I arrived in Beaumont, Texas, and almost pulled off the road, there was a Bancomer Bank there!  I could find out why my credit, debit all were frozen, and said there was money according to online, yet when I tried to use them, declined every time!  AGH!  I pulled in like I saw the Embassy, amusedly told my story to the Bancomer member I hit through the door first, :), and found out no one spoke Spanish there!  – Ironic! – but I tried to call the numberon the bank of my Bancomer card, and when I did yesterday – was told that no English speakers were available until the next day (which did not help me – I needed gas NOW to get out of Louisiana when I had called!) –

I tried several things and still – NOTHING – I was dying!  🙂  But I knew the transfer I had made would be going through today – Thursday! – so I headed to the nearest mall they directed me to get wireless.  I went into the Barnes & Noble in Beaumont, an went to it.  Money there !  – transferred from Intercam (love them!) to my American Bank – YEAH! Here is love for ya – I bought the books for the ASF library requested by various people, and that was my first purchase even though I had been stressing if I had enough fumes to make it to the Mexican border, so if anyone questions my loyalty to ASF, please direct them to this page!  I proceeded to fill the tank up, line up the Mexican insurance to cover my truck, purchased some board games for the library – then to check about getting my windshield repaired.  Looked like 298.00 and if I learned anything from this trip so far,I decided to NOT and have the money if something else would occur – so I did not do my windshield repair) this KILLED ME knowing it needed fixed! – and called Bill telling him I would meet him in Laredo this evening.

The thought occurred to me that money is a major comfort but in different ways to people.  SO many let it go to their head, but here I was, just grateful to have the amounts I needed to get me on the road – to get home – and that was everything to me!  I love the fact that I was brought up to not let it get to me, and still share the wealth even if I had lots of money – and I was sooooo freaking excited to have funds (even though no news on the Bancomer funds yet) – however I had been able to transfer them to my American account – I so felt like I had lifelines or something….:)

I left Beaumont, Texas around 3:00 PM and arrived in Laredo, Texas around 11:00 PM, filled up with gas, got the Hotel 6 where Bill was at, and CRASHED.  Literally.  The mental exercise of trying to figure ahead if I don;t have enough money here, I can pull from Here, then here, then there…well you can imagine.  My next fear was exactly how much I would need to get my vehicle permit and immigration cost – what if I did not have enough?  What the heck would I do? I still had no original FM3 (my Mexican work visa) and this weighed heavily on me too, could I come back in as a tourist even though I could not locate my working visa?  I was so tired, the best thing that could happen was to fall asleep…

We woke to pouring rain in the AM – but despite that headed out by 6:00 AM – I followed Bill (our first time we travelled together, LOL) – and made it with a wave of hand through the first step of vehicle inspection – I couldn’t believe it!  All the items I was worried about coming across, NO PROBLEM?  WHAT THE HECK?! This was  GREAT sign!

We rambled a little before finding the vehicle permit building, but then sure enough found, it.  There are three stations, first for showing immigration papers, passport, etc, second for copies of these items to take to the third station, where all is checked to allow for your permit for your vehicle and pay for it then you are free!

We both made it through all the way to step three quickly, and then I was hung up on the copy of my FM3 at this point.  No, I cannot get a vehicle permit unless I have the original.  I told the staff there impossible, because I lost it and I did not know where the original was, just this copy – and I was scheduled to get a new one when I arrived in Mexico.  Still no, so yes, this was an issue  🙂  – I was told to go back to immigration – the step one stage – they looked at it again and said it is okay – I went back to stage three, they said no – impossible without original!  LOL – I went back to stage one, got at the END of the line, got up told them the same thing again, and this time – was told to go with this one individual to an outside where I first drive in – first thought was for me – I am SCREWED – this is like an interrogation room, right? – Bu this time – Bill -(by the way, he had two dogs that he was bringing in, and when we had gone through the lines, and he presented his form to have his pets pass, they said they were not worried about that!)  WHAT?  I could have brought a million animals and I do not think they would check!  I couldn’t believe it! He was cleared and ready to go, so we decided he needed to start to not let his dogs sitting in the card for who knows how long so he started ahead on the Mexican adventure!

Sorry reader at this point, if you are not tired from the above experiences, I have to say, I am exhausted.  Reliving this whole scenario has wiped me out, but this is not eve the best part YET.  I am going to let you soak all this in, and then you will see what happened what occurred when I walked with my escort to the other office building for immigration, so until tomorrow?