This is the outside of the newly refurbished English cottage our friends Eileen and David own and let us stay in when we visit England. Harry had lunch at the cottage last month encouraging his old school chums to come and visit us this year in Mexico and it looks like they are seriously considering it. Eileen and David have always been so kind and generous we are hoping very much they will make the long trip to Cabo this winter from Paris, where they live most of the year, to visit us.
Harry's cold and cough dissipated quickly when he returned to Cabo last weekend. The heat here has miraculous powers. He feels good about what he accomplished for Olga but it was very difficult to see her in such a deteriorated state. She now has carers 4 times a day and her financial worries have been worked out. She sent me a lovely piece of jewelry which I did not expect and will cherish.
Patty and I met with the owner of the school, Elsa, this past week. It was a good thing too because both of us were talking seriously about looking for work elsewhere. Somethings about Mexico will never change and even my Mexican co-worker was fed-up. Prayer did not fix the air con in Patty's classroom, which had been broken for two weeks, and then a week ago the copy machine broke down as well. Patty said we should get our resumes polished up and spread them all over town because it certainly did not seem like English classes were a priority at Libertad. I think a little bird got wind of our serious complaining and that little bird talked to Elsa. She decided to step up, after all, it would not be easy to find 2 English teachers who do the work of the 3 English teachers. The air con is now fixed and Elsa is buying us our own copy machine. Her daughter, Greta, will fly down from the states with the copier on Monday. She also is moving the noisy 7th grade class next to us to another part of the campus. I guess we are appreciated after all. I have always felt that Mexicans (excluding a few I have known here, not mentioning any names) are the hardest working people on the planet and now, after living here for a year, I now know I am right. I am just too old to work like the natives. I continue to adore these students wishing only I was young and energetic.
I am trying to recruit Harry to teach yet another class besides Great Expectations at Libertad. If he agrees he will add a senior high writing class to his schedule. One of the boys in his Dickens class came up to me at lunch last week and said that Profe Baxter was like having the master Jedi from Star Wars as their teacher. I hope Harry will decide to sign on. I did not really expect to be orchestrating the entire secondary English program at Libertad but that is what has happened. They are very short-handed here in Paradise and my supervisior does not have a clue about secondary second language learners. I have had to learn fast as teaching second language learners is not my area of expertise either. I am bumbling through, learning as I go, with the aid of the Internet, Patty, these adorable students and the master Jedi.
Looks like this well may be our last working year here. I do not want to ever say a permanent goodbye to Cabo, just a working woman goodbye. We know many wonderful people down here now and hopefully, in the future, it may be possible to find a reasonably priced place to rent for some of the winter months. It is our second good rainstorm this week, thanks to tropical depression Olaf. The desert landscape here is beautiful after of the rain. It does not take much moisture for things to go green. We are hopeful, after all this rain, that the temps will cool off by mid October which is the usual turning point. Last year it was hot until the end of November. Last night we slept without air con for the first time since we arrived back here in early August. I am currently as sick of the heat and humidity as I would be of the snow and cold in Minnesota. I dream of being one of those Minnesota snow-birds who comes to Cabo in the winter. Seems I'm always dreaming of something.
NEWSFLASH!!! I just booked Brian and Vicki into the Baxter Cabo Hotel from February 5-12
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