OMG!
It's going to get down to 59 degrees tonight! That is the COLDEST it has been here - ever. (ok, not ever, but as long as we have been here, which is ever to me)
Burrr!!!! Get out your scarves and mittens kids, it's gonna be a brisk one!
Tuesday, January 30, 2007
Rummy Marathon, more Movies, Rosie the Cat, and American Football
Well, it’s a good thing they are right this moment fixing our cable because I have launched an all out Rummy attack on Paul at the last second and the scores are now as follows:
Paul: 98,570
Melissa: 98,130
Back from a 1500 point deficit, I am feeling pretty good. It was a little touch and go there for a while when we didn’t know if the cable was going to be fixed or not and I thought, well crap, we might have to play to 150,000. I mean it is only January… to which Paul hung his head and said, “No! God no!” After our marathon he has solemnly vowed never, never to play rummy again, ever.
The heat wave finally broke I guess last Friday and we spent the weekend saying, “I’m chilly, how wonderful!” It is still nice today and we hope it continues for a good long while! It was pretty funny this morning I was waiting for the bus and this guy was waiting with me with a scarf and toboggan on and there I was in sandals and a long-sleeved t-shirt. You’d think it was a blizzard! Brrrrr!
We watched Munich Friday night (which sucked terribly and that does not make me an anti-Semite, the movie just sucked - terribly). Saturday we listened to UNC beat down Arizona, which was fun and then we had tamales and apple pie at Noche Mexicana and walked home. That was fun because the weather was good and we hadn’t done it in over a month. Sunday we watched The Interpreter with Sean Penn* and Nicole Kidman, which we decided deserved a C (Munich getting an F/U for ‘u’nwatchable). It wasn’t so much a bad movie as it could have been better.
*We noticed that while Sean Penn used to be incredibly repulsive to look at, he has aged rather well and looks, well not handsome, but close. Nicole Kidman looks great in the movie which begs the question WHY did she do that dumb Chanel commercial? She looks like an evil fairy who is mentally challenged in it. “I love to dance!” Bad idea, Nicole, bad idea.
We almost had a cat. Well, kitten. This tiny kitten followed us home from the park one night all purring and meowing and being cute and everything. And we thought, crap, we have a cat! But luckily she found some kitty friends who live in a tree a couple houses down from us and she lives with them now. I named her Rosie (but I think Paul named her/him Ronauldino, which does not suit her a bit, btw) so now when we go to the park and we walk by her tree I’m all, “Hi Rosie, Rosie!” and Paul’s all “Ronauldino? Ronauldino! vete p’aca!” The neighbors must think we are so weird.
I guess that’s all the news; we are looking forward to having cable to watch the Super Bowl this weekend (the first black coach to win one, right?) and Paul is making spaghetti and garlic bread tonight.
Much Love
M & P
Paul: 98,570
Melissa: 98,130
Back from a 1500 point deficit, I am feeling pretty good. It was a little touch and go there for a while when we didn’t know if the cable was going to be fixed or not and I thought, well crap, we might have to play to 150,000. I mean it is only January… to which Paul hung his head and said, “No! God no!” After our marathon he has solemnly vowed never, never to play rummy again, ever.
The heat wave finally broke I guess last Friday and we spent the weekend saying, “I’m chilly, how wonderful!” It is still nice today and we hope it continues for a good long while! It was pretty funny this morning I was waiting for the bus and this guy was waiting with me with a scarf and toboggan on and there I was in sandals and a long-sleeved t-shirt. You’d think it was a blizzard! Brrrrr!
We watched Munich Friday night (which sucked terribly and that does not make me an anti-Semite, the movie just sucked - terribly). Saturday we listened to UNC beat down Arizona, which was fun and then we had tamales and apple pie at Noche Mexicana and walked home. That was fun because the weather was good and we hadn’t done it in over a month. Sunday we watched The Interpreter with Sean Penn* and Nicole Kidman, which we decided deserved a C (Munich getting an F/U for ‘u’nwatchable). It wasn’t so much a bad movie as it could have been better.
*We noticed that while Sean Penn used to be incredibly repulsive to look at, he has aged rather well and looks, well not handsome, but close. Nicole Kidman looks great in the movie which begs the question WHY did she do that dumb Chanel commercial? She looks like an evil fairy who is mentally challenged in it. “I love to dance!” Bad idea, Nicole, bad idea.
We almost had a cat. Well, kitten. This tiny kitten followed us home from the park one night all purring and meowing and being cute and everything. And we thought, crap, we have a cat! But luckily she found some kitty friends who live in a tree a couple houses down from us and she lives with them now. I named her Rosie (but I think Paul named her/him Ronauldino, which does not suit her a bit, btw) so now when we go to the park and we walk by her tree I’m all, “Hi Rosie, Rosie!” and Paul’s all “Ronauldino? Ronauldino! vete p’aca!” The neighbors must think we are so weird.
I guess that’s all the news; we are looking forward to having cable to watch the Super Bowl this weekend (the first black coach to win one, right?) and Paul is making spaghetti and garlic bread tonight.
Much Love
M & P
Monday, January 22, 2007
Movie update:
We finally watched Apocalypto this week. Having read some fairly scathing reviews of it online and being fairly reluctant to watch it at all, I was not expecting much, and that’s what I got. The language (Yucatec Maya) was pretty bad, the script was obviously written in English and then translated, and the speakers, well what can you say, the protagonist is from Oklahoma or some crap so all in all his Maya wasn’t that terrible, though Paul’s is WAY better.
The blood and gore was over the top enough that it was pretty funny to watch.
The landscape was what really got to me. Yucatec Maya is only spoken in the Yucatan. The Yucatan has very distinct geographical features such as the fact that there are no rivers, only cenotes (sinkholes but not really). That said, when the river/waterfall scene occurred I was like, wow, that’s great that Veracruz has dramatic rivers and waterfalls but Yucatan doesn’t. What Veracruz does have that Yucatan doesn’t (excluding Cancun of course) are big luxury resorts for your Mel Gibson types to hold up in while filming a movie about a people who never lived in the part of the world your filming in, but let’s not get me started…
Besides some other anachronistic stuff like the hammocks (which were brought from the Caribbean by the Spanish) and just plain dumb stuff like the sleeping in the kitchen structure (kooben) instead of the home structure and the absolute stupidity of the ravaged village not to have some “look outs,” just seemed to me a little irresponsible. The temples referenced in the film were weird too, unidentifiable yet Tikal-Chichen-looking, which is funny b/c Chichen is primarily Toltec, but whatever, no one will notice.
The ending is totally laughable but not surprising because the whole time you’re thinking, how is this going to end? How can it resolve itself, and you think, “they couldn’t use the worst, most obvious conclusion could they?” could they? oh yeah! barrel of laughs.
But don’t take my word for it. Wait until you are super bored and then go for it.
In other movie news we saw The Holiday. Paul was disappointed because he thought there should have been more Jack Black scenes, on which he is totally right. The funniest part of the movie is the boob graze but we’ve all seen that from the previews so that was a little disappointing There was an inordinate amount of footage of the “beautiful” Cameron Diaz and what’s his name? that guy who cheated on what’s her name? oh yeah, Jude Law, him. I agree but the movie is ok and actually pretty funny at times. And, I was totally jealous of all the cold weather England scenes with snow dusted fields and a hot chocolate by the fire… alas…
Oh yeah, I forgot to mention why we are back on a movie kick. The cable is out. Grrrr! So we are off to spend WAY too much money at a sports bar to watch football that is totally on TV but we can’t get reception. More on this little annoyance as it happens…
That’s my two cents. Hope global warming is treating you well. It was 93º here today!
M
We finally watched Apocalypto this week. Having read some fairly scathing reviews of it online and being fairly reluctant to watch it at all, I was not expecting much, and that’s what I got. The language (Yucatec Maya) was pretty bad, the script was obviously written in English and then translated, and the speakers, well what can you say, the protagonist is from Oklahoma or some crap so all in all his Maya wasn’t that terrible, though Paul’s is WAY better.
The blood and gore was over the top enough that it was pretty funny to watch.
The landscape was what really got to me. Yucatec Maya is only spoken in the Yucatan. The Yucatan has very distinct geographical features such as the fact that there are no rivers, only cenotes (sinkholes but not really). That said, when the river/waterfall scene occurred I was like, wow, that’s great that Veracruz has dramatic rivers and waterfalls but Yucatan doesn’t. What Veracruz does have that Yucatan doesn’t (excluding Cancun of course) are big luxury resorts for your Mel Gibson types to hold up in while filming a movie about a people who never lived in the part of the world your filming in, but let’s not get me started…
Besides some other anachronistic stuff like the hammocks (which were brought from the Caribbean by the Spanish) and just plain dumb stuff like the sleeping in the kitchen structure (kooben) instead of the home structure and the absolute stupidity of the ravaged village not to have some “look outs,” just seemed to me a little irresponsible. The temples referenced in the film were weird too, unidentifiable yet Tikal-Chichen-looking, which is funny b/c Chichen is primarily Toltec, but whatever, no one will notice.
The ending is totally laughable but not surprising because the whole time you’re thinking, how is this going to end? How can it resolve itself, and you think, “they couldn’t use the worst, most obvious conclusion could they?” could they? oh yeah! barrel of laughs.
But don’t take my word for it. Wait until you are super bored and then go for it.
In other movie news we saw The Holiday. Paul was disappointed because he thought there should have been more Jack Black scenes, on which he is totally right. The funniest part of the movie is the boob graze but we’ve all seen that from the previews so that was a little disappointing There was an inordinate amount of footage of the “beautiful” Cameron Diaz and what’s his name? that guy who cheated on what’s her name? oh yeah, Jude Law, him. I agree but the movie is ok and actually pretty funny at times. And, I was totally jealous of all the cold weather England scenes with snow dusted fields and a hot chocolate by the fire… alas…
Oh yeah, I forgot to mention why we are back on a movie kick. The cable is out. Grrrr! So we are off to spend WAY too much money at a sports bar to watch football that is totally on TV but we can’t get reception. More on this little annoyance as it happens…
That’s my two cents. Hope global warming is treating you well. It was 93º here today!
M
Thursday, January 18, 2007
It's Snowing!!
… in Chapel Hill. As for Merida, I got sun burnt waiting for the bus today!
Here are some updates that I keep forgetting to post:
The Rummy Game is not looking good for me. I had the lead down to 1150 but then I lost a big one 215 to 10. Ouch. The scores are:
P: 93,540
M: 92,020
Paul says once he hits 100,000 he will never play rummy again!
We took off to Santa Elena last weekend and on our way there we finally finished the Ruta Puuc. The smaller sites that we had never seen were great. Plus it was really easy with a car and not having to wait for the bus for hours… and hours…
Classes are going well. Paul likes his classes except one is once a week for 4 hours! wow. My class is great and the bibliography is superb. The only bummer is that we are focusing on Anglophone Caribbean literature. I would prefer to be reading Spanish lit. in a Spanish speaking country, but the critical material in Spanish is great and I’m not sure I would have found these critics on my own.
Gosh, January is half over! I really need to get to work!
More Soon
Here are some updates that I keep forgetting to post:
The Rummy Game is not looking good for me. I had the lead down to 1150 but then I lost a big one 215 to 10. Ouch. The scores are:
P: 93,540
M: 92,020
Paul says once he hits 100,000 he will never play rummy again!
We took off to Santa Elena last weekend and on our way there we finally finished the Ruta Puuc. The smaller sites that we had never seen were great. Plus it was really easy with a car and not having to wait for the bus for hours… and hours…
Classes are going well. Paul likes his classes except one is once a week for 4 hours! wow. My class is great and the bibliography is superb. The only bummer is that we are focusing on Anglophone Caribbean literature. I would prefer to be reading Spanish lit. in a Spanish speaking country, but the critical material in Spanish is great and I’m not sure I would have found these critics on my own.
Gosh, January is half over! I really need to get to work!
More Soon
Tuesday, January 16, 2007
Check out the New Link
Hi all,
Just wanted to let you know there is another blog to check on periodically. It can be found under My Links (to the right). Our friends Melissa and John just arrived in Mexico (Melissa will be doing Anthropological Fieldwork in the Yucatan) and have started a blog. It's great but don't forget we were here first. just kidding M and J!
We got to see them on Monday for a while as they blew through Merida on their way to Felipe Carrillo Puerto (a city southeast of here, 4-5 hours by bus, I think). It was great to see them and we chatted a lot - a lot of times all at the same time! It's too bad they'll be so far away but alas, I must keep speaking Spanish.
That's all for now, check them out, they're really cool.
More Soon
Just wanted to let you know there is another blog to check on periodically. It can be found under My Links (to the right). Our friends Melissa and John just arrived in Mexico (Melissa will be doing Anthropological Fieldwork in the Yucatan) and have started a blog. It's great but don't forget we were here first. just kidding M and J!
We got to see them on Monday for a while as they blew through Merida on their way to Felipe Carrillo Puerto (a city southeast of here, 4-5 hours by bus, I think). It was great to see them and we chatted a lot - a lot of times all at the same time! It's too bad they'll be so far away but alas, I must keep speaking Spanish.
That's all for now, check them out, they're really cool.
More Soon
Tuesday, January 09, 2007
Things I will (not) miss when I am back in the States
Things I will miss when I am back in the States:
1. coke in a bottle
2. tacos al pastor and panuchos
3. yummy, cheap avocados at every meal, even in January
4. kinder buenos – whatever will I do?
5. laundry service – maybe this should be number 1…
6. park walks
now that it is “winter” and it “cools” down to a “frigid” 70 degrees at night, Paul and I have gotten into the habit of taking park walks after the Law and Order re-run (or during if we have already seen it). The park is neat (mental note to take a photo) and takes up a full city block. Around the perimeter is a walking (or if you are so inclined a jogging) path. We pretend (because we really don’t know) that one lap = ¼ of a mile so we go at least 4 laps a night sometimes more when we lose trackwhile we are jabbering. There is also a very friendly homeless black cat that lives in the park and likes to nuzzle with your feet as you walk by her. I’ll miss her too.
Things that I will NOT miss when I am back in the States:
1. the rooster that lives next door
which is kind of a funny story, if you don’t wake up to said rooster every morning at 4:30am. Paul and I have a running joke about the rooster. The rooster lives much closer to our apartment than he does to the owner’s house. The woman who lives in the house probably doesn’t even hear the rooster in the mornings like we do. We like to take walks in the evenings, sometimes fairly late when the air is cooler, and we joke on our way back as we pass her house that we should stand under her bedroom window at about 12:30am and start crowing like roosters! ha! Maybe we’ll do that on our last night here!
2. the crappy tea/coffee served in restaurants. A yummy cupful of ashtray! Exactly what I wanted! (though I do have to admit that Wal-Mart (I know, I know, but you don't LIVE here) that Wal-mart carries a fair selection of Twinings and Celestial Seasonings. I have recently purchased both "Chamomile and Spearmint" (Twinings) and "Sleepytime" (Celestial Seasonings), which I highly recommend. I never bought it in the States but I slept great after a cup of Sleepytime last night. Go figure.
3. lighting the hot water heater in the morning. I think the thing doubles as hot water heater/mosquito sanctuary – not the best way to wake up in the morning.
4. chicken death smell
This one may need some explanation: There is a chain restaurant by our house (luckily it is 4 blocks away) called pollo brujo (witch) – yeah she’s a brujo alright, a long dead and decaying one because the place smells like raw (dead) chickens were left out back like 3 years ago and still haven’t been cleaned up. Clearly this is not the case because the rat-ferrets (our lovely Yucatecan Opossum) would have taken care of them by now but you get the idea of what the place smells like. It smells like chicken death. Technically the fastest way to walk to the park in our neighborhood (see above park walks) is past chicken death restaurant but we now go around to avoid the smelly raunchiness.
5. ants – all of ‘em
6. the bus system
Being passed by a bus that you want to take, being told to pay twice, sitting on the sunny side of the bus on a hot day. I will not miss this.
Random Adendum:
Here’s a story for you:
Paul went to this photocopy shop to have some things photocopied. (Still with me?) They said Sure! we can photocopy these things and they’ll be done at 4pm. Paul says ok and comes back to the shop at 4pm (which is his mistake because 4 here means like quarter to five, but anyway) so at 5:30 he’s still sitting there waiting for his stuff to finish being photocopied and he notices the guy who is doing the photocopying is trying to hurry. In an effort to speed up the process for Paul he is skipping pages as he photocopies! And Paul’s all like Sweet! ‘cuz what I really wanted was every 4th page of the book! So now he has to go back to have them fix it. I bet they’ll tell him it’ll be ready at 4!
More as it Happens!
1. coke in a bottle
2. tacos al pastor and panuchos
3. yummy, cheap avocados at every meal, even in January
4. kinder buenos – whatever will I do?
5. laundry service – maybe this should be number 1…
6. park walks
now that it is “winter” and it “cools” down to a “frigid” 70 degrees at night, Paul and I have gotten into the habit of taking park walks after the Law and Order re-run (or during if we have already seen it). The park is neat (mental note to take a photo) and takes up a full city block. Around the perimeter is a walking (or if you are so inclined a jogging) path. We pretend (because we really don’t know) that one lap = ¼ of a mile so we go at least 4 laps a night sometimes more when we lose trackwhile we are jabbering. There is also a very friendly homeless black cat that lives in the park and likes to nuzzle with your feet as you walk by her. I’ll miss her too.
Things that I will NOT miss when I am back in the States:
1. the rooster that lives next door
which is kind of a funny story, if you don’t wake up to said rooster every morning at 4:30am. Paul and I have a running joke about the rooster. The rooster lives much closer to our apartment than he does to the owner’s house. The woman who lives in the house probably doesn’t even hear the rooster in the mornings like we do. We like to take walks in the evenings, sometimes fairly late when the air is cooler, and we joke on our way back as we pass her house that we should stand under her bedroom window at about 12:30am and start crowing like roosters! ha! Maybe we’ll do that on our last night here!
2. the crappy tea/coffee served in restaurants. A yummy cupful of ashtray! Exactly what I wanted! (though I do have to admit that Wal-Mart (I know, I know, but you don't LIVE here) that Wal-mart carries a fair selection of Twinings and Celestial Seasonings. I have recently purchased both "Chamomile and Spearmint" (Twinings) and "Sleepytime" (Celestial Seasonings), which I highly recommend. I never bought it in the States but I slept great after a cup of Sleepytime last night. Go figure.
3. lighting the hot water heater in the morning. I think the thing doubles as hot water heater/mosquito sanctuary – not the best way to wake up in the morning.
4. chicken death smell
This one may need some explanation: There is a chain restaurant by our house (luckily it is 4 blocks away) called pollo brujo (witch) – yeah she’s a brujo alright, a long dead and decaying one because the place smells like raw (dead) chickens were left out back like 3 years ago and still haven’t been cleaned up. Clearly this is not the case because the rat-ferrets (our lovely Yucatecan Opossum) would have taken care of them by now but you get the idea of what the place smells like. It smells like chicken death. Technically the fastest way to walk to the park in our neighborhood (see above park walks) is past chicken death restaurant but we now go around to avoid the smelly raunchiness.
5. ants – all of ‘em
6. the bus system
Being passed by a bus that you want to take, being told to pay twice, sitting on the sunny side of the bus on a hot day. I will not miss this.
Random Adendum:
Here’s a story for you:
Paul went to this photocopy shop to have some things photocopied. (Still with me?) They said Sure! we can photocopy these things and they’ll be done at 4pm. Paul says ok and comes back to the shop at 4pm (which is his mistake because 4 here means like quarter to five, but anyway) so at 5:30 he’s still sitting there waiting for his stuff to finish being photocopied and he notices the guy who is doing the photocopying is trying to hurry. In an effort to speed up the process for Paul he is skipping pages as he photocopies! And Paul’s all like Sweet! ‘cuz what I really wanted was every 4th page of the book! So now he has to go back to have them fix it. I bet they’ll tell him it’ll be ready at 4!
More as it Happens!
Friday, January 05, 2007
Part Two of the Family Extravaganza in Mexico
Paul and I got up early on the morning of the 28th, took our bags to the Hyatt, and checked in. We were pretty dirty since we didn’t have hot water in our apartment so the Hyatt people were kind of like, um, are you sure you have a reservation here? But they were nice and we got our room and then headed to the airport. The Manley flight was delayed (the same flight and same delay the Worleys had) so we waited, ate at Burger King, and waited some more. Just ten minutes before they were to arrive, the flight was delayed again by more than 2 hours. We drove back to the hotel and I took a fabulously hot shower and was in better spirits to meet the parents in a much cleaner state. Paul checked the flight online and we headed back to the airport. The Manleys arrived safe and sound and later that night Mom and I went to go get Uncle Larry who flew in from San Diego.
We relaxed and visited until everyone was about to pass out and made plans to meet for breakfast the next morning. (BTW: The Hyatt is super nice and the buffets are amazing so we ate there a lot.)
Friday: we went to Dzibilchaltun and had the same guide as we did when the Worleys were here. He was excellent (again) and we got to see the ball court in the back part of the city behind the cenote.
Saturday: we got a guide who took us through Chichen. He was good but didn’t really have tons of extra information that Paul didn’t already know. We did take some extra time (although it was quite hot) to visit the observatory and temples in the old part. It threatened to rain but never did so we headed off to the buffet in Piste where we ate with the Worleys and it was yummy food again with more Yucatecan dancing. After the buffet these boys from the town wanted to trade something from us for a statue one of them had carved. Paul (to my happy surprise) decided to trade his old hemp necklace to the boy for the statue. They boy was excited and so was I to get rid of that thing! He had it on by the time we were leaving the parking lot and we had to tip all the boys for “watching our car!”
For dinner we went to Los Almendros and had panuchos, which everyone agreed were yummy.
Sunday: We went to Merida en Domingo for shopping. I had the bad idea to tell Mom that Nancy had bought some dresses for grandchildren that didn’t exist and she thought that was a super idea and bought three! Um hello? So now the pressure is not only on Kate and me to produce female heiresses, but on Bryan (sorry, you’re going to have to have more than just Mavster) and Mary too. Sorry all, I take full responsibility…
For New Years we decided to do the package the hotel had to offer and what fun it was! We had a scrumptious buffet with California rolls, marinated olives, every meat you can think of plus 10 more, salads, sides, and then the desserts! We think there were over 20 desserts to choose from and I’m pretty sure that between all 5 of us we tried them all! After that Uncle Larry treated us to a bottle of champagne to ring in the New Year. The actual ringing was kind of weird because no one actually “rang” it so we just decided after a while that is was the New Year and then celebrated! I think we were all in bed by 1am!
Monday: we just relaxed. It looked like rain but we walked around some and had frappachinos (sp?) downtown. Pretty much everything was closed for the holiday, which surprised me because there were many more tourists in town for New Years than there had been for Christmas.
We relaxed and visited until everyone was about to pass out and made plans to meet for breakfast the next morning. (BTW: The Hyatt is super nice and the buffets are amazing so we ate there a lot.)
Friday: we went to Dzibilchaltun and had the same guide as we did when the Worleys were here. He was excellent (again) and we got to see the ball court in the back part of the city behind the cenote.
Saturday: we got a guide who took us through Chichen. He was good but didn’t really have tons of extra information that Paul didn’t already know. We did take some extra time (although it was quite hot) to visit the observatory and temples in the old part. It threatened to rain but never did so we headed off to the buffet in Piste where we ate with the Worleys and it was yummy food again with more Yucatecan dancing. After the buffet these boys from the town wanted to trade something from us for a statue one of them had carved. Paul (to my happy surprise) decided to trade his old hemp necklace to the boy for the statue. They boy was excited and so was I to get rid of that thing! He had it on by the time we were leaving the parking lot and we had to tip all the boys for “watching our car!”
For dinner we went to Los Almendros and had panuchos, which everyone agreed were yummy.
Sunday: We went to Merida en Domingo for shopping. I had the bad idea to tell Mom that Nancy had bought some dresses for grandchildren that didn’t exist and she thought that was a super idea and bought three! Um hello? So now the pressure is not only on Kate and me to produce female heiresses, but on Bryan (sorry, you’re going to have to have more than just Mavster) and Mary too. Sorry all, I take full responsibility…
For New Years we decided to do the package the hotel had to offer and what fun it was! We had a scrumptious buffet with California rolls, marinated olives, every meat you can think of plus 10 more, salads, sides, and then the desserts! We think there were over 20 desserts to choose from and I’m pretty sure that between all 5 of us we tried them all! After that Uncle Larry treated us to a bottle of champagne to ring in the New Year. The actual ringing was kind of weird because no one actually “rang” it so we just decided after a while that is was the New Year and then celebrated! I think we were all in bed by 1am!
Monday: we just relaxed. It looked like rain but we walked around some and had frappachinos (sp?) downtown. Pretty much everything was closed for the holiday, which surprised me because there were many more tourists in town for New Years than there had been for Christmas.
That about sums it all up. Paul has his first class of the semester right this moment and I start on Monday, at 8am, yuck! Wish us a fast and productive semester!
Wednesday, January 03, 2007
Happy New Year
I hope everyone had a Happy New Year and all are recovering from the food extravaganza that is the holiday season. We had a wonderful time with family, so much so that it may take me a couple of posts to get everyone up-to-date.
The first thing I should say is that Tom and Nancy arrived safe and sound on December 20th and before we could say ‘hellos’ and ‘how are yous,’ Paul and I were voraciously munching on all the tasty home-made treats they brought. Kate sent some spoon cookies with a homemade raspberry filling that were, while a bit smashed by the TSA, perfectly scrumptious!
Then we chatted for hours it seems about all the funny things the dogs do and all the creative snacks Tom likes to give them in the afternoon to keep Masha from getting cranky before dinnertime. That and how cute they are when they are sleeping. After that is was full-vacation mode:
We ran Paul’s parents around in our sporty Dodge Stratus all week.
Let’s see they arrived on a Wednesday so we relaxed that day and ate panuchos, yum.
Thursday: we went to ruins called Dzibilchaltun then we had tacos with the Ramirez’s for dinner.
Friday: we went to see the church at Izamal, where Pope John Paul II visited in the 90s.
Saturday: was Chichen Itza, where it rained just as we were leaving so Paul bought really cheesy tourist shirts to wear for lunch so we wouldn’t be all damp and gross, instead cheesy and mis-matched, but dry. That evening we had tomales at Mexican Night after which we had coffee and assorted pies. We love the coffee and assorted pie woman at Mexican Night so much we go almost every week. In an effort to make ourselves feel better about eating assorted pies, we walk home if it is not raining.
Sunday: Merida en Domingo, the main square is full of vendors selling all kinds of handicrafts and such. Oh right, I forgot to mention that on Friday we also stopped at Kimbila where Tom bought a snazzy guayabera shirt for himself and Nancy bought two cute dresses for her granddaughters – what granddaughters you ask? Exactly, future granddaughters. No pressure, none, zip, zilch. At least the pressure is shared with Kate and Neil who now must also produce said granddaughter.
Monday: Christmas Day so we relaxed again until dinner.
I don’t know if you got what you wanted for Christmas, but I sure did* I received the first season of The Closer on DVD. So far I have only watched 2 episodes. We are going in order. It is sort of like your favorite candy bar, if you eat it too fast you won’t relish it so Paul and I are on a strict Closer regimen to maximize the enjoyment potential. Of course, Paul noted that when we watched all of them we could just watch them again, which is true, but somehow not the same…
* of course what I really wanted for Christmas was for family to visit me and pay for my every whim during their stay, which they happily did, which I happily let them do. But I got this also…
Tuesday: we said good-bye and Paul and I took the Dodge to Mani for dinner and then back to Merida because all of the hotels were full in Ticul. When we arrived we realized we had no hot water (my favorite) so we did not take showers on Wednesday or Thursday. Wednesday we took our laundry to be washed (at least our clothes won’t stink) and Thursday we packed up again for round 2 with the Manleys and Uncle Larry.
Next installment coming soon - you can't wait I know you can't...
Melissa
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