Yeah, yeah, I´ve been away. I´ll skip all the excuses and get to this: Sandra Cisneros at the San Miguel Writers Conference. Sandra solved the problem of crime in Mexico! She says for those citizens of Los Asustados Unidos who are afraid to come to Mexico, don´t worry. She, Sandra is going to tell the government to put all the abuelas of Mexico to work. The abuelitas and their chanclas. They need to go around behind the bad guys giving chanclasos until they shape up. You know, the grandmothers and their raised, threatening slippers.
Whew. I feel better knowing there´s a plan.
Meantime, ín Advanced English/Secundaria at Colegio Siglo XXI, there are eight shiny new Dell laptops. They are blue and pink and purple and so pretty!
So my students are blogging again. This past week, in honor of Valentine´s Day, the kids wrote about love. Check is out: http://siglo21mirror.blogspot.com/
Blue Iguanas, Cold Caguamas, Blinking Jesus and other surprises found in Mexico diario
Tuesday, February 22, 2011
Wednesday, September 15, 2010
Viva Mexico!
So my guest essay on Rebecca Walker´s blog on the Huffington Post is up!
Find it here: http://huff.to/bJfd2j
It´s about my psychic teenaged daughter, Carla, whom I´ve written about here.
Our recent drama with Carla is that she took a giant government test to get a certificate saying she has finished secundaria, or, through ninth grade. This was necessary because for seventh, eighth and ninth grades she was in private schools that were not part of the Secretaria de Educacion Publica umbrella. Well, she failed one of the math sections, and as a result, can´t go to high school this year, as technically she is still in middle school. So she is doing government math tutorials until she takes the test again, and getting used to not going to school.
While this sounds like a shocking idea to Americans, it is not uncommon here. I´m not alarmed. Carla is not a gal to be idle. She has many jobs riding horses, and then, she has her own horse to take care of. Plus, this year off gives her time to realize a dream, that of going to high school in the United States of America. A dream fueled by lots of shows on the Disney channel of kids in US high schools.
My brother Dennis and his lovely wife Margaret in Frederick, Maryland have offered to host Carla for a semester. So now I have to figure out what kind of red tape I need to cut through to get here registered as a student in the US.
You know, the ol´ silver lining thing...
Hey, ít´s not only the day that the Mexican Independence celebration starts with the mayor making El Grito at 11 pm in the town´s central square - "Viva Mexico!" it is also the 200th anniversary of Mexico as a free country. The town of San Miguel de Allende, as well as my fingernails, is awash in red, white and green!
Find it here: http://huff.to/bJfd2j
It´s about my psychic teenaged daughter, Carla, whom I´ve written about here.
Our recent drama with Carla is that she took a giant government test to get a certificate saying she has finished secundaria, or, through ninth grade. This was necessary because for seventh, eighth and ninth grades she was in private schools that were not part of the Secretaria de Educacion Publica umbrella. Well, she failed one of the math sections, and as a result, can´t go to high school this year, as technically she is still in middle school. So she is doing government math tutorials until she takes the test again, and getting used to not going to school.
While this sounds like a shocking idea to Americans, it is not uncommon here. I´m not alarmed. Carla is not a gal to be idle. She has many jobs riding horses, and then, she has her own horse to take care of. Plus, this year off gives her time to realize a dream, that of going to high school in the United States of America. A dream fueled by lots of shows on the Disney channel of kids in US high schools.
My brother Dennis and his lovely wife Margaret in Frederick, Maryland have offered to host Carla for a semester. So now I have to figure out what kind of red tape I need to cut through to get here registered as a student in the US.
You know, the ol´ silver lining thing...
Hey, ít´s not only the day that the Mexican Independence celebration starts with the mayor making El Grito at 11 pm in the town´s central square - "Viva Mexico!" it is also the 200th anniversary of Mexico as a free country. The town of San Miguel de Allende, as well as my fingernails, is awash in red, white and green!
Saturday, September 11, 2010
psychic Carla
Last night, before we went up to the light show on the Parroquia, we had ceviche and Corona at my business - Jasmine Day Spa - and our 15-year old Carla said there was another "entity" in the place. She saw a little child-like form, no higher than three feet.
"Ask it to leave," I said. I´m afraid these beings suck up all the good energy in our place, or scare away business. Carla went up into the front room and came back. "I invited it to move on to the next dimension, where it wants to go anyway," Carla said.
Another agent has requested some pages, and Carla feels good about this one. That´s all I´ll say. I´m afraid of jinxing things if I blab too much about this agent process.
"Ask it to leave," I said. I´m afraid these beings suck up all the good energy in our place, or scare away business. Carla went up into the front room and came back. "I invited it to move on to the next dimension, where it wants to go anyway," Carla said.
Another agent has requested some pages, and Carla feels good about this one. That´s all I´ll say. I´m afraid of jinxing things if I blab too much about this agent process.
Mexican Bicentennial
There are red, white and green flags all over town and a Disney-worthy light show on the face of the Parroquia on weekend nights this month. Welcome to the place to be for the Mexican bicentenial - my home town, San Miguel de Allende. Last weekend, along with the light show, were a grupero band in their turned-up cowboy hats and some barechested fire jugglers on an opposite stage. All of this takes place in the Jardin, or town square, accompanied by hamburger sellers, corn-o-the-cob sellers, popcorn vendors. There are bars on surrounding side streets when the need to have a tequila shot can´t be ignored.
In the coming week, there will be bullfighting events, equestrian events - my girls will jump in a demonstration competition at Los Senderos - foot races, parades and princesses. All in all, why would anyone want to be anywhere besides San Miguel de Allende in September?
In the coming week, there will be bullfighting events, equestrian events - my girls will jump in a demonstration competition at Los Senderos - foot races, parades and princesses. All in all, why would anyone want to be anywhere besides San Miguel de Allende in September?
Wednesday, July 21, 2010
July
On July 4th, my teenaged girls held little American flags and waved them around for the first time in their lives. Born here in Mexico, they´ve been to the States several times and think it´s "cool", mostly because my dad makes an after-dinner run to the ice cream shop routine when we visit.
July has been a woefully tourist-light month. July is usually our biggest month but apparently all the Texans are afraid of driving south. You might see me selling sno-cones on the street soon. Or micheladas-to-your-door! Naked messenger service! Lack of business does inspire one to think creatively.
There are SOME Americans in town. They probably flew. We like Americans-In-Town because they like massage, and they like OUR massages and services and prices. But not a single one of them walked through our door today and now I think it is because we are spooked. I did a 90-minute massage in the spa on Sunday and interrupted my work once when I saw my husband standing behind the screen. But when I went around, there was nobody there. Yesterday, Carlos saw a girl in a jeans jacket in the same room were I saw "him". He went in to see what she wanted but there wasn´t anyone there. Psychic Carla, our 15-year old, is going to check out the situation this afternoon when she returns from her job riding horses.
I don´t mind ghosts. I just don´t want them chasing business away.
July has been a woefully tourist-light month. July is usually our biggest month but apparently all the Texans are afraid of driving south. You might see me selling sno-cones on the street soon. Or micheladas-to-your-door! Naked messenger service! Lack of business does inspire one to think creatively.
There are SOME Americans in town. They probably flew. We like Americans-In-Town because they like massage, and they like OUR massages and services and prices. But not a single one of them walked through our door today and now I think it is because we are spooked. I did a 90-minute massage in the spa on Sunday and interrupted my work once when I saw my husband standing behind the screen. But when I went around, there was nobody there. Yesterday, Carlos saw a girl in a jeans jacket in the same room were I saw "him". He went in to see what she wanted but there wasn´t anyone there. Psychic Carla, our 15-year old, is going to check out the situation this afternoon when she returns from her job riding horses.
I don´t mind ghosts. I just don´t want them chasing business away.
Monday, July 5, 2010
manuscript request
So I got a request from a NY agent for the full manuscript to Flirting in Spanish today. Yeah! It´s not the one that my psychic daughter predicted would be interested. News to come...
Thursday, June 17, 2010
Go Mexico
Mexico just beat France in World Cup soccer! Car horns are blasting outside the Jasmine Spa (my business) window and two gringo tourists in golf shorts are taking photos of people in the streets.
I just sent a query to an agent. Maybe all the good feeling in the Mexican air will help it arrive with a special Read Me, Love Me vibe.
I just sent a query to an agent. Maybe all the good feeling in the Mexican air will help it arrive with a special Read Me, Love Me vibe.
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