Two Weeks Left!!!!

I can hardly believe that the time has gone so quickly, but I only have 2 weeks left here in Puerto Vallarta!!  This coming week is my last week of Spanish classes, then I have one more week to just relax and enjoy PV before Louie gets here and we head out on our road trip to Guadalajara, Tequila, Guanajuato, and San Miguel de Allende.

April seems to have flown by, probably partly because my family was here for the first 10 days!  Actually, Kellie and Joe arrived on March 29, and stayed in a hotel downtown near my house for 3 nights.  I had a great time showing them all the sights of downtown Puerto Vallarta, including the zoo of course.  The rest of my family arrived on April 1, and Kellie, Joe, and I met them at their hotel.  I got to spend several afternoons at the hotel with my family, including Easter weekend (when Maya got lost!).  Also, the rest of my family came downtown for an afternoon/evening to see my apartment and go out for dinner at the best taco place in PV. 

Tacos at Panchos in Old Town

After my family left, I realized that my time was ticking down very quickly, and there was still a lot of things that I wanted to do while I was here!!  So of course, I made a list!!  And I have been steadily checking things off for the past two weeks, but I still have lots more things to do!  One of the most important things on my list was to visit at least 2 new beaches (one down, one to go).  There are a couple of beaches here that I just love, so I always end up going to those or to the one closest to my house, but there are so many great beaches here, and they all have their own character.  Last weekend, I visited Playa Conchas Chinas for the first time, and I loved it.  Here is the description from the Puerto Vallarta website.  It really was as good as it sounds!

Conchas Chinas Beach, is one of the most fascinating beaches you are likely to find here. Only a few minutes south of downtown Puerto Vallarta, flanked by lush mountains on one side and aquamarine waters lapping at the clean, white sandy beach. Enjoy natural pools formed by encircling rocks, a fried fish on a stick, relax & enjoy yourself as you rarely have before. The transparent waters offer you a clear view into the depths where you'll see a wide array of fish and other sea animals that are found in the area, an experience you will likely never forget. Proof that is is one of the cleanest Vallarta town beaches available.

This weekend, I have also been busy checking things off my list.  I went to the movie theater to see the Lorax in Spanish.  I was pretty impressed that I could actually understand it pretty well.  I went to the farmers market to get some tasty snacks.  I went to a play at the Puerto Vallarta Theater, Blanca Nieves (Snow White) of course in Spanish.  And finally, I went to the Marine Museum.  I'm doing pretty well on my list, but I still have lots more things to do!!

Maya was Missing!!

I have had family here visiting for the majority of the past two and a half weeks, which has been so much fun (although not very good for my spanish)!!  With the exception of Joe and Kellie who braved a weekend in downtown PV (and I think they enjoyed it!), the rest of my family stayed in an all-inclusive hotel in Nueva Vallarta, about 20 kilometers north of Puerto Vallarta.  It took me about 90 minutes on the bus to get to the hotel from my house, so for the weekend of Easter when I didn't have classes, I wanted to stay in Nueva Vallarta, closer to the hotel.  Of course, the Rui Palace did not allow dogs, but one of my Mexican friends here lives in an apartment in Nueva Vallarta and invited Maya and I to stay at his house for the weekend.  This was perfect, as the apartment was only a 15 minute bus ride to the hotel, and I could still spend the nights with Maya to give her her medicine. 

Little did I know that there was going to be about 8 other people staying in the apartment as well, mostly visiting Puerto Vallarta from Guadalajara for the Easter holiday.  Maya and I did have the bedroom (with the only bed) to ourselves, which actually worked out fine for everyone since it seemed like I was the only one who actually wanted to sleep at night!!  Even Maya wanted to be out partying in the livingroom on Friday night, but her mean mother wouldn't let her!

On Saturday night, everyone (except Maya and I, of course) went out somewhere, and didn't get home until 6 am!!  I am definitely too old for that kind of partying these days!  When I left for the hotel at 8 am, there were literally 7 or 8 people passed out on the livingroom TILE floor!  I woke up my friend to let him know that I was leaving, and that my family and I would be by around 5 in the afternoon to pick up Maya, since my family was actually going to leaving their all-inclusive hotel for a few hours to check out my apartment and have dinner downtown.

When we arrived at my friends apartment on Sunday afternoon and walked in, it seemed like everyone was acting a little weird...and I didn't see Maya.  I finally asked my friend's roommate where my dog was, and he just shrugged his shoulders and said that he didn't know!!  Apparently when he woke up (at about 1pm) she was already gone!! 

My family and I immediately headed out into the neighborhood to look for her, but I have to admit that I was not feeling very hopeful since it was already after 5 pm and she had been missing for at least 4 hours, probably more.  As we cruised around the neighborhood, it seemed as though everyone had seen her at some point during the day.  She really must have been making the rounds!  My mom and sister talked to a police officer that said he had seen a dog earlier that afternoon, but when he tried to pick her up, she bit him!  Well, we knew we were on the right track then.  After enlisting the help of 4 little neighborhood boys and almost 2 hours of searching, we finally found her outside one of the neighbors houses.  The neighbor had put out food and water for her during the day. 

I was beyond relieved, and Maya also seemed very happy to be found, although she was definitely no worse for the wear and it seems like she had a really fun adventure!!  It was an Easter miracle!!! :)

Maya...happy to be back in her own bed!

Volunteering

I have been volunteering now for a couple of weeks at a kindergarten after school program in Bucerias, a neighboring town to Puerto Vallarta.  The afterschool program is run by a program here in Mexico called PEACE, which does a lot of great things around here.  Around 8 to 12 children attend the program, and they range in age from 3 to 5.  They are so cute!

Getting ready to paint

Volunteering is excellent practice for my Spanish!!  Neither the teacher or the kids speak any English, so it is definitely a struggle sometimes for me to figure out what is going on!!  And often, the kids have a hard time understanding my American accented spanish.  But it is kind of amazing how much can be said with non-verbal communication! 

Little Pajaros :)

This is a very different experience than volunteering in Africa.  The teacher has lots of supplies, and although the classroom is small, it is filled with books, art supplies, puzzles, games, and toys.  The teacher does an excellent job of working with the kids at different levels, doing a variety of art projects, outdoor games, and learning activities.  It is really fun for me to work with this age level on a volunteer basis, but I would never want to teach kids this young full time!!  I'll stick with my 4th and 5th graders!!!

Louis visits PV

As many of you saw from the pictures on facebook, Louie was here visiting me the first week of March.  I can't believe that he has been gone already for almost two weeks, and I am just sitting down to write this blog!  Of course, we kept very busy and had so much fun!!  I had a list of nearly 20 things that I wanted us to do, and we did pretty well on the list.

Our dorky list of activities :)

Since we are both on very tight budgets, especially since we have a lot of fun expenses coming up, we tried not to spend too much money while he was here.  Good thing there are so many free and fun things to do around here.  Also, I had taken a couple of cooking classes at my spanish school, so I made dinner at my apartment a few nights as well, which was a lot of fun.  I think that Louie was impressed that I was actually able to cook something that did not come out of a package!! 

Louie enjoying tacos dorados con papas y chorizo

Of course, I had to take Louie to the zoo.  I knew that he would love feeding the animals and playing with the baby tigers!!!  Really, who wouldn't??  We also took an evening cruise on a pirate boat.  There was a pirate show, and also all you can eat and drink.  We had a lot of fun, and even found Louie's long lost twin!!  I had to go up on stage to dance during one part of the show, and I think that Louie took like 50 photos (all of them extremely flattering, of course)!!  Our biggest adventure, however, was our bicycle trip up into the mountains to see and swim in a waterfall.  It was a VERY difficult trip up, but we had a blast swimming and playing in the water (but Louie was too afraid to jump into the water from the rocks!).  And the ride back down the mountain was super fun!  Although I was a little scared to get going too fast!  I didn't want to crash! 

Louie was loving the pirates!!

 Besides those three big activities, we spent a lot of time at the beach, shopping (well...looking mostly), and trying lots of different restaurants and street foods.  And of course, hanging out with Maya.  I made Louie watch Dirty Dancing for the first time, and we spent a lot of time practicing "the lift" on the beach.  We successfully executed it several times, but I still need to work on my form!!

I was very sad to say goodbye, but Louie will be back on May 5, and we are renting a car to travel around Mexico for a week.  I am very much looking forward to that adventure!  And for now, I have lots going on with studying spanish and volunteering.  I definitely don't speak spanish well enough yet to come home, but I am definitely getting better!!

For more pictures, check out my facebook album: 

http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10101186654376997.3092674.8644195&type=1&l=e0e7b0ad71

I am not very good at Spanish.

So I am officially halfway finished with my spanish courses, and I am just not very good at Spanish!!  Sure, there are plenty of things that I am not very good at.....sports, trivia, sports trivia, etc.  But I have always been really good at school.  And I hate not being very good in my Spanish classes.  Now don't get me wrong, I am a model student.  I come to class every day, on time, and with my homework completed.  I don't just do my written homework exercises in the evenings, I actually study words and make sure that I understand all of the sentences.  I have made hundreds of flashcards for vocabulary words.  And I make poor Louie listen to me read aloud in Spanish almost every night (thanks honey!).  So it is not as if I am not trying my best.  But during class, I feel like I am doing fine and understanding the teacher...until she actually asks me a direct questions.  Then I get nervous, forget every spanish word I ever learned, and stare blankly at the teacher for like 30 seconds until I remember how to say "como?"  And I consistently get C's on my exams.  And did I mention that these are take-home exams?? 

Lots of flashcards!

I am looking on the bright side though.  If nothing else, I am at least developing a whole new understanding of my own students' behaviors.  I am going to be a much better teaching when I get back to Chicago.  Every teacher should be required to study a subject that is difficult for them every couple of years because I think that we really do forget what it was like to be a student.  It is sort of ironic that I am a special education teacher, when I, in fact, have never struggled with a school subject in my life (until now).  So this is definitely a great experience for me in that regard. 

My old classmates (who all spoke better spanish than me!) and our teacher Jovanny.

And I am getting better.  I actually got a 100% on my exam today.  I was super excited since my previous high score was an 89% (my lowest score was a 73% my first week....not good!).  I notice that I am able to read signs in spanish automatically now, without even thinking.  And I am starting to be able to converse with people without thinking too much...but I still have a loooonnnng way to go!!  I started volunteering at a kindergarten this week, and that will really help my spanish since neither the kids or the teacher speak english.  And the kids speak so fast too!!  It's a lot of fun though.  So....at my official halfway point, I am optimistic :)

One Day at a Time

While I was home for Christmas, my grandma asked me if I ever got homesick while I was traveling so much this year.  I answered yes, I did get homesick sometimes, but that's just part of being away from home.  And I always tell myself that the homesick feeling doesn't last, take one day at a time, and you will definitely feel better tomorrow.  In Africa, I was really only homesick a couple of times.  The first few days after I left were pretty bad, especially when my dog bit my sister in the face!!  I was also homesick on Mt. Kilimanjaro, since it was pretty miserable at some points, and I had no internet and very limited phone access!  Here in Mexico, I was homesick after my first week here when Maya and I moved into our own apartment, mostly because Maya was all excited because she thought that we were going home, and that made me sad.  I also get a little homesick when I know that all of my family or all of my friends are getting together for something special and I am missing it!

I am definitely homesick today, but I am going to allow myself to be since I think I have pretty good reasons.  First, I just got home from taking Louie to the airport after a wonderful 9 days together!  We did so many fun things together this past week, and it was so nice to have him here.  Although, as I predicted, it didn't really help my Spanish too much!!  It was really hard to say goodbye today, even though we will be together again in just 8 weeks.

Louie Maya and I today in Puerto Vallarta

Second, all of my family is together today, but not for a fun reason.  My grandma died this past week, and her wake and funeral are today and tomorrow.  My grandma was a really wonderful woman, and it is really sad for me to not be there to celebrate her life with my family right now, but I know that my family will be here visiting me in just 3 weeks from today, so I just keep focused on that.

My whole family with my Grandma at Christmas

Even when I am feeling a little homesick, I still know that this trip is a wonderful experience for me, and I am so lucky to have been able to do it.  I seriously cannot believe that I am nearing the end.  It is the middle of March already, and I will be home by the middle of May!  I'll be sad for my year of travels to be over, but I'll definitely be happy to be home again.

Pesos

So far, I have been spending A LOT of money in Mexico!!  Of course I realized that Puerto Vallarta would be a bit more expensive than Tanzania, but it's not a lot more expensive, so I really had to analyze why I am spending more money here.  This is what I have come up with.

1.  My friends here have more money, hence, suggest more expensive activities.  The general standard of living here seems a bit higher than in Tanzania, so even my local friends here have more money than my local friends in Tanzania.  And even Sofia from Sweden (fellow volunteer in Tanzania) was on a pretty tight budget, which really helped me out!!  I usually hang out with my classmates here in PV, and most are here only for a few weeks, so they are looking to experience as much as possible in a short time!  And of course, I have a hard time saying no to fun activities!!

My expensive friends and I cruising around PV!

2.  I live right in downtown Puerto Vallarta, whereas in Africa, I lived a good 20 minute, very shady, dala dala ride away from downtown.  Here I am super close to shopping, restaurants, and activities, whereas in Tanzania, I was pretty close to the orphanage and....not much else.  It is so tempting to spend money when everything is so close!  Which brings me to number three....

Hanne and I dining on the beach!

3.  There are so many great restaurants here!  I had really good intentions of getting groceries weekly and almost always eating at home, but so far, that has not really happened at all!  I have gotten groceries exactly once since arriving here, and I still have quite a bit of food left in my cupboard.  I just love to go out to eat, and when there are probably 30+ restaurants within 10 minutes walking distance, it is pretty hard to eat at home.  And Mexican food is so good!!  I have actually decided to seriously limit my semi-expensive, touristy restaurants, but allow myself as much street food and local Mexican food as I want!!!  In Tanzania, unless I wanted to take the 20 minute shady ride into town, I had exactly 2 food choices near my house....chips mayai and cassava.  Hence, it was a lot easier to convince myself to eat at home.

Mmmm....quesadilla!

Mango donut snack

4.  Shopping.  My street is pretty much the "cute boutique, accessory, and shoe store" version of Michigan Ave.  I have thus far restrained from buying any new clothes or shoes (I can't say the same for accessories), but it is SO tempting!  And I don't even like to shop that much, but I walk past these cute displays every day on my way to school.  I simply didn't have this temptation in Africa!  There were very few stores in the whole city that sold new clothes and shoes, as most people bought their clothes second hand at the flee market.  By the time I was finished with my 14 weeks in Africa, I was pretty sick of wearing the same clothes that I had packed, but here, I am getting sick of my clothes already!!  I want cute NEW ones!!

New beach chair and new inner tube......obviously I needed these things!

5.  Maya is doing great, and I love having her here with me, but she is certainly an added expense.  Dog food, treats, poop bags, a new bed, not to mention that we've already been to the vet twice since she developed some sort of skin allergy from the humidity here!  But besides that, her health has been great, thank goodness, and hopefully her medicine will be cheaper here.

Me and my baby

Next week, Louie will be here visiting (I'm so excited!), but I swear after he leaves, I am going on a strict budget!!!  We'll see how that goes....