Many Mumbling Mice are Making Midnight Music in the Moonlight Mighty Nice

I had the chance to go to a teacher's conference in Mexico City this weekend and because of that, I am absolutely pooped!

I will just make this short and sweet because I have a confession to make....

I have lived an hour away from Mexico City for about 8 years of my life and the only time I really "chilled out" there was when I was 17 years old visiting Mexico for the first time when I was on a high-school trip.  I'm not really sure why I don't visit more often.

It is quite beautiful.

Quite modern, and I have yet to see a donkey there, just in case you were wondering.  

I have seen many donkeys around my house though.  Not that you asked.

I walked out of the hotel to find this lady working.

and selling her wares....

and I remembered for about the millionth time, that Mexico is a magical place.  

Whereever you are you can get caught up in the day to day.... sometimes you need to break out of the  routine to remember that whoever we are, whereever we are, there is most likely something magical around the corner, we just sometimes forget to look for it.

Sometimes we forget that we have magic inside of us.  I quoted Dr. Seuss because I remembered that I like to rhyme and write poems and read these kinds of books with my students and it is thanks to a very talented speaker and author that I met at the conference that I am on a quest to find even more magic....

What is Going on? Topic 1 Job or not a Job

Mexico's got its own Monkey business going on


I imagine that there are tons of things that go on in the United States that are pretty strange for foreigners.  Things that we take for granted.  Things that we think are common everywhere.  But I bet they're not.  When my mom put rice in our salt shakers, I thought that it was something only my family did.  Then I saw salt in restaurants, so I thought it was something we did in my town....  as my world got bigger, so did my realization that pretty much everybody puts rice in their salt shakers, pretty much everywhere in the world, no matter where they are.

Well, just as this is true about so many things, the opposite is also true.  Things we think are really normal are maybe, well, not.

I have lived here in Mexico for long enough to notice some pretty strange things happening.  Things that to a Mexican may seem perfectly normal.  However, to me, a full fledged American girl, it made me wonder what in the heck was going on. 

TOPIC 1 
THAT'S A JOB? The Viene Viene

Literally translated a viene viene is a come come.  What a come come does is work in a parking lot, (or sometimes on the street.)  They wait for you to come out of the grocery store and ask if you want help putting your things in the car.  They take your cart, and then stand behind your car saying come come come when it is "safe" to pull out.

At this point it is customary to hand over a tip.  The amount depends on many things.  Did s/he take your cart?  Did s/he move your things into the trunk.  Do you think this is a useful service?  Is the come come extremely old.  Is it possible that this person stopped someone from breaking your window and stealing your radio.  If you answered yes to any of these questions you should probably hand over something.

What do you think?  Is this a job.

Something Fishy Going On.....

So many incredible ideas out there...

so many creative people sharing the things they do...  

i have no recollection of where i first saw this, 

but i am ecstatic to say that i finally put it 

together and the smaller of my

smalls is already having

a blast

soooo....

maybe you don´t

need a blow by blow description

of how i went about this, but maybe one

or two tips will make it easier.  step one... gather the supplies.  if you are anything like me, this will be by far the most time consuming part of the process.... ok, find an ignored wooden puzzle among your wee one´s 

forgotten treasures... dust it off.  now the hard 

part... find pictures that you like. of the 

family, friends, pets, really anything

you decide....  i love the idea of

distant relatives if you happen

to have any of those.

the tricky part

is being

flexible about 

your picture choices.

our fish puzzle has 11 pieces

so i had about 

• 25 picture possibilities.  

once 

you have done this, 90% of the work is over!  collect 

• glue
•  scissors
•  pen... 

you are almost done! simply grab a piece of the puzzle, put it over the picture and if it fits well enough to see the face, trace it!

 if you like what you see, start to cut... word

to the wise... cut inside the line by...

well, a bit... i can´t be more

specific, it depends 

on how much of 

a perfectionist

you are!

 since i don´t get weighed down

by things needing to look

nice, i just did a trial

and error attempt

for a bit... some

turned out 

better

then

others, but

generally about

a 1/10 of an inch should 

be good... try it, if it fits, glue it in!

big strange hand in the forefront, mine.  your  welcome

if it didn´t fit, don´t worry

give it another whirl.

it will the next

time

then do the glueing business!

yippee!!!

my 2 year old has started naming the fish

papi fish (her papi is behind that

one!)  mommy-grampy fish

i but you can guess

who´s behind 

that one

and 

so on 

sooooo... i

do plan to take this one

step farther by sticking another pic

on the back of the piece.. to do this, flip

the puzzle piece over so that it is backwards before

you trace it.  once that is done, you can say something like

put mommy with papi, or cousin timmy with cousin adam!

you get the picture...  yes, that pun was intended too..

the great thing about this business is that you

can bring new excitement to an old toy

and keep reviewing everyone´s

name and face with

the tiny ones!

have fun, any variations on this, take a pic and tell me about

it!

Mucho Monkeying

This week has been a wild one!

Many of us never consider what a bunch of Americans might do 

if they found themselves in a new world.

In this case Mexico!

I lived here in Cuernavaca for about three years before I found ¨them¨  the ExPats....I found them through my desperation 

for an American style library.  My daughter asked

me (about 2 months after moving to Mexico)

¨mommy, where are all the

libraries?¨ My heart

broke.

Had I made a mistake 

coming back here?  She was

six and she was accustomed to infrastructure.

What an important word that has become to me.

Well.....  finally after several years of searching I found

the ¨American style library¨ my words, not theirs!  From there

I got on the list serve and another world opened up 

to me....  who knew?  So just a word...  before I 

share what I just posted on the listserve...

The foreigners in Cuernavaca

are known as wild (spring 

breakers) to many.

However,

we are also known

as a charitable, generouos

caring, and thoughtful people.  In a

time where everyone is always repeating how

much Americans are despised everywhere we go, I 

want to say that I don´t think that this is true, or at least not

a complete picture.  Many people do seem to have a love-hate relationship with us....  but even that ¨haters¨ seem to recognize

the excellent things we (Americans) do when they are pressed.

So, I for one, am attempting to carry on this tradition with 

what I think is a pretty incredible project with 

my 5th and 6th grade monkeys...  I 

simply copied and 

pasted!

oh, and a heads up... a barranca is a ravine, and 

a tope is a speed bump....

Hello Community,

My name is Lucy  and I have been living and working as a teacher here in Cuernavaca (this time) since 2008.

I have 5th and 6th grade at Excelencia Bicultural in the Pradera.  I have always been proud of the Ex-Pat reputation at places like the Salvation Army.  Our community is known for continueing the traditions of volunteering and giving outside of our home countries.  I have always wondered why more people here don´t lend a hand.  So over the years my students and I have tried different ideas... clean up the barranca (too much work) donate to Haiti... success....  I have seen my students really get motivated to help others... many of the kids and their families simply don´t know how or where to start.  Until now.

My 5th graders identified a federal school for children with special needs whose famililes don´t have even the most basic supplies.  My students decided to go along with the SEP (secretary of public education) calender´s value of the month which is generousity. They are accepting donations of all kinds and with the goal of going to the school at the end of February to donate the items and to play with the children.  My students are also making friendship bracelets and keychains to collect money to buy school supplies.  It is incredible to watch as I have put the project in their hands and simply guide when the hit the proverbial tope!

My 5th and 6th graders are starting an ongoing campaign of ¨adopting a classroom.¨ The director at my school is also a teacher in a federal school.  He has identified 3 families whose children often miss class because they are searching for cardboard in the trash in order to get a few pesos to buy food.  My students are attempting to provide these 3 families in particular with some food each week.  As well as donating toys, school supplies, clothes, shoes, etc. to the children and their families in a 5th grade class at the same school.

I am writing to invite all of you to make donations at my school for the same purpose!  I know my kids will do a great job but as my great aunt always says ¨many hands lighten the load!¨  

Fruit from your trees, items from your homes that are in good condition, yet no longer useful to you.  Really, these families are in need of everything.  However, I do not feel comfortable with cash donations. If this is your intent, maybe ordering basic staples from a grocery store that delivers could be an option?

The office at Excelencia Bicultural is awaiting your donations between 7:30 and 3:30.  I apologize in advance that I am unable to make pick ups, but honestly I am spread rather thin as it is.  I am taking this project on with my students for as long as possible....  maybe years?

In the interest of clarifying, I don´t believe in enabling people, but I personally don´t feel like that is what we are doing.  I feel that these kids need help and that they don´t have a way to get what they need without someone stepping in.  When I asked my bosses for permission to contact all of you, I was quite proud to feel that I had back up from so many people, even though I don´t personally know many of you.  If you are able to stop by my school, please consider asking for me so I can introduce you to my students.  They would LOVE to speak to you in English, and I would love for them to see that we have a strong community here as well.  Not to be redundant, but fruit from your trees as well as anything else you can spare will be greatly appreciated.  I plan to post pictures of the kids in action so you can see the  ¨fruits of their labor¨ (yes, the pun was intended)!

Thanks for all you do! So what do you think?

Who's Making All That Racket?

Monkey business is my middle name.  I used to be 

surprised that there was monkey business 

going on whereverver I went, but then I 

came to realize that had more to 

do with me than where 

I went.

My monkey business mostly takes place south of the 

border these days.  I am an American living, 

working, and playing in Mexico.  

I have 2 main monkeys (my girls 12 and 2) yes, 

you read that right.....

and I have about 35 supporting monkeys.  These

are my 5th and 6th graders here in 

Cuernavaca.

These guys are so incredible that I just have 

tell someone what they do, what 

we do, and what I do!

The problem I have is one you

probably have too...

Just when

you 

get started

it's already time to stop.