kind comment politely 5/19/05

Getting out of US to visit another country, Canada, Japan or my recent Mexico, kind of gives you reverse culture shock and see the US culture in a new set of eyes. This time I felt how "friendly" and "informal" US culture could be. In class, I always say, especially to advanced students that "I need ...." is not a request and I go on to the lesson of modals. Yesterday, a lady came up to me by saying, "Excuse me. I wanted to commend you on your workout. You have really toned down." So I wore a big smile and said "Thank you!". A few people have commented at the gym, but this was the politest, I thought. Of course, that made my day. However I am not ready to take another fat content test, though. Grrr.

Mexico III (Tropical fruits and pumpkin seeds) 5/18/05

Regular readers may recall my obsession with mango (mango smoothie entries) and roasted pumpkin seeds (around Halloween time). Although Cd. Juarez is in the state of Chihuahua where there are a lot of ranches and is famous for its vaqueros, it is still Mexico and seems there is influence from coastal parts of the country. I couldn't believe my eyes when I saw raw octopus and oysters were being sold at the store front! And I couldn't believe how tasty guava (guayaba) flavor of La Michoacana ice cream (paletas). (I must thank Javier for helping me identifying the names. Because I didn't write them down, I didn't recall at all....) I also found a store that sells dried foods. They were selling salted (salado) and unsalted (crudo) pumpkin seeds. If my memory serves me right, they were selling unsalted ones (which I would LOVE to have) for about 30 pesos a kilo. With my Spanish, I got as far as I will be in trouble if I try to cross the border with them. So, I had to pass. WHAT A SHAME! However Javier told me that there is a store locally where I can buy paletas. I am going to check it out soon!

Thalia remix 17/5/2005

Cuando visité Cd. Juarez en la semana pasada, compré un disco de Thalia, que se llama remix. Es mi primero disco de ella. He visto unas entrevistas de Thalia y por eso no me gusta ella como persona, pero su música es perfecto para bailar. Anoche recibí una llamada de una amiga quien trata de conseguir un trabajo para mí. Ella necesitaba más informacíon y anoche no pude dormir muy bien preocupando del asunto. Afortunadamente encontré un documento que tal vez la sirva. Estaba bien emocionado y cunado tengo ese tipo de energía, necesito utilizar música para expresar mi emoción. Tengo que cantar o mejor, bailar. Estuve muy nervioso esta mañana, por eso no fui al gimnasio. Bailé con la música de Thalia por unos minutos y ya me siento mejor. Espero que ese sirva como el ejercicio de hoy.

new semester, new schedule 5/16/05

It has been a couple of days. Yesterday my cable connection was down and I was connecting with backup telephone connection. It is fine, but I am so spoiled with wireless connection and I don't want to do much when I am hooked with wire. Anyway, the new semester started. My Monday and Wednesday class finishes at 3:15pm and it is an amazing feeling that I get teaching done that hour. Actually I have days off from Sears, too, so I am all free in the evening. I should go to Will's yoga class or at least ask the dog if I can do it here... (More Mexico entry will come...)