Saturday, February 27, 2010

High Tide




Tom and Anne and Harry and I took a little road trip to the Sea of Cortes yesterday and because of the earthquake in Chile watched as the 12 hour tide cycle was reduced to 30 seconds. This is a picture of high tide and below is a picture of low tide. Both pictures taken within 30 seconds. When we drove onto the beach a man approached us and told us what what happening. It was a most amazing thing to watch. Posted by Picasa

Low Tide/30 seconds later

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Saturday, February 20, 2010

view from the balcony

As our friends here have learned of our plan to return to Minnesota this summer we have been encouraged by them to look at the condos currently up for sale at Laguna Vista. We decided to do so this week when our friends Tom and Anne arrive. Anne is a realtor and Tom the consummate handy man, having rebuilt their beautiful Lake Minnetonka home will undoubtedly have sage advice and opinions for us. The real estate market is depressed here, like everywhere else, so it certainly would be a good time to buy. We also have owners who live above us who are going to be gone for a couple years on a sailing adventure who are interested in renting their unit. Number 19 Laguna Vista is lovely, but it is not our home. (Harry misses his bath tub and kitchen and Theatre in the Round. I miss all my sets of dishes and entertaining.) I know I would not find teaching jobs as rewarding as the ones I now have here in San Jose back in Mpls. We have a wonderful new group of friends here. Harry and our friend Mel have even created a Wednesday night poker group. Our kids are pretty stable now in St. Louis and NYC and Cabo has been a great vacation destination for them. Many of our dear friends have visited us here and it has been wonderful to share this lovely place. We miss our friends and family who have not been able to come down for a visit. After nearly 60 years of ice and snow and cold I certainly do not tire of the sunshine and warmth everyday during the winter months. Then of course there is the view that is so magical; looking out over Highway 7 will never be quite the same.



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Saturday, February 13, 2010

Fabritzcio

Religion has once again raised it's ugly head. Yesterday at school the group of fluent English speaking 9th graders put on a play they had written. Patty had given them the freedom to write a play which incorporated the phrasal verbs they had been studying as part of their exam. The play's plot consisted of six couples who were competing to get married on a game show and a host who interviewed each couple to determine who was worthy of winning the prize of an extravagant television wedding.

The play was set to be performed to the other not so fluent group of 9th graders but just as the play was about to begin the 8th graders arrived along with several members of the prepa (10th-12th graders). Fabrizio, dressed in drag with his blue balloon boobs and veil, played the host of the show. The audience loved the play and the cast did indeed incorporate phrasal verbs in their script. All seemed to have been a great success but later in the day I looked out my classroom window int0 the courtyard and saw the English coordinator and Patty engrossed in a serious discussion. I could not hear anything but it didn't look good. I was to learn later from Patty that the Spanish coordinator was very upset that Fabrizio was dressed in drag and had been parading about the school in full view of the primary school children on his way to the performance.

After the play the cast had apparently been formally disciplined about the inappropriateness of Fabritzcio's costume. The students pulled together and made sure that Ms Patty, who allowed them to put on such a play, was not impuned. (She had no idea of what the costuming would entail.) Fabrizio made the point during the inquisition that in Shakespeare's time, men had to play woman's parts because women were not allowed to act. (Harry of course taught them this in their Shakespeare class and he also told them in all likelyhood Shakespeare was bi-sexual after a close reading of some of the sonnets.) Fabrizio has come out as gay to his classmates and is accepted, not ridiculed, by the enlightened group. I am not sure but think the powers that be at the school yesterday sent Fabrizio home early because I did not see him at the school Valentine's Day party in the afternoon. We are a fundamental-type Christian school after all and the students have told me that they are taught with great furvor in religion class that being gay is a sin. I would argue the sin was making Fabrizio and his classmates feel that their play and actors were in the wrong.

Proving once again that the shortest distance between two points is from one ear of a bigot to the other.







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Friday, February 12, 2010

Best Friends

Our dear friends, Brian and Vicki, left today. We took them to our favorite places here in Cabo, including a whale watching boat trip and the art walk last night in downtown San Jose. The weather was a little unusual this past week, cool and cloudy, even a bit of rain. Not too bad considering what is happening in most of the USA. Brian and Vicki had no complaints. Vicki said that people in town yesterday were all complaining about the cold as she went shopping for her grandchildren. Brian and Harry got to the golf course yesterday and both got to see my school. We are sad to see them go, but we won't be alone for long: Tom and Anne are due in a week and a half.
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Sunday, February 7, 2010

The Pez Gato


This is the whale watching boat we took out into the ocean from Cabo last weekend. We saw two California Gray whales. The experience reminded me of my times sailing on Lake Superior on a really windy day: a lot of bounce and chop!!! Posted by Picasa

Tuesday, February 2, 2010

Rain all day today in the desert

It started to rain today about 11:00 am and has not stopped. It is a desert rain, a nice gentle, constant rain. I do not remember rain like this other than during the hurricane season for the year and a half I have lived here. Things will look beautiful tomorrow, all lush and green. (or more correctly: lusher and greener) At school today the kids went crazy of course, like they always did in Minnesota when it snowed unexpectedly. Our dear friends, Brian and Vicki, arrive on Friday so they can enjoy the lush, green desert. This sounds crazy, but it is nice to have a change from the blue skies and sunny weather we have day after day here. When I woke up this morning, late, because there was no sun, I could not believe the cloud cover. Thus the rain this late morning..that continued all day. Change from routine is always nice. I know that a change from ice and cold would also be nice for most people I know living to my north. Life is tough here in paradise!Posted by Picasa

Monday, February 1, 2010

Town Square Dancers






We walked into town last evening with the neighbors currently living above us, Kathy and Scott. After dinner on our way through the town square we stopped to view Mexican folk dancing being performed on the stage. There is entertainment in the town square several nights a week. Sometimes it is good and other times not so good. Last night it was pretty good. Kathy and Scott are from Victoria and we have really enjoyed getting to know them over the past few weeks. At the end of March, just the two of them are going to begin a several month sail to the South Pacific on their 38 foot sailboat. They came with us to Arroyo Academy on Saturday and jumped right in to help. We had four new students who were brought in by their moms. One mom stayed for the lessons with her child and helped us out when she could. We have a good routine going now. Dennis, one of our neighbors, was a gym teacher and coach and he had the kids up and moving around while they worked on counting and the names for parts of the body. The space we have to work in is very small. It consists of two blankets on the dirt floor in an outdoor family kitchen. There is a small table and chairs, no running water and no appliances. It is hard, but the kids don't seem to mind at all. I just hope new kids do not keep showing up because we there is no more room in the inn.

children, not dogs, in small cars here

In Florida, if you recall from an earlier blog, they like to put their dogs in small cars and push them around. Here in Mexico however they prefer children who drive themselves around in battery powered small cars. (Especially cute girls in their own pink Mustang convertibles.) Either way, both modes of transportation are environmentally correct. This adorable child was was temporarily stuck, having trouble getting her car into reverse as she drove around in the town square last night. I took out my new tiny camera, I try to take it with me everywhere now, and she happily posed for several pictures. She reminded me of another adorable child, my granddaughter, Eva, who also loves to pose for pictures. She was so cute I wanted to take her home with me!!! I couldn't because her grandmother was keeping a very close eye on her. (and me)


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