So you know what really annoys me....

Well, I know a lot of things annoy me, like when people stand in the middle of your walking path and feel that it is your fault you can't get through or when people snap and me and then there's when people repeatedly tell me things I know (not stories, cause I know I annoy people with this, facts- like 2+2=4...although what is a fact anyway). All this is besides the point and mostly comes from growing up with the two parents that I was sent to. I love them (you) dearly but they both have their neurotic tendencies, which have now become my neurotic tendencies that I curse them and bless them for almost everyday.
But back to what really annoys me. Why do people get all frustrated over something so quickly? Now I understand there are sometimes circumstances out of your control, which automatically makes humans mad, but there are many things that you do have in your control before you have to throw in the towel.
Now for a specific example. Say someone had to shred carrots for their son's teacher one day and they waited til the morning of to do it. Now this could never happen in my family since my mother would have bought a prepared things like 5 days in advance with a written map on how to do it. Or maybe a bunch of whole carrots would have been sent with a grater and a note saying, "Sorry my daughter didn't tell me until 8:45 this morning." Whatever way, there would have been some exhasperated sigh and life goes on.
Ok, now say these carrots had to get done by not my family. Well, of course you could use the food processor that comes in handy for quick preparation. Three minutes into grating you hear a snap and there is plastic in your perfect carrot shavings. Ok, stop the processor, dump the carrots and move on. (This can be done with a lot of swearing...although this is what starts annoying me.) So now you try again. But something inside the processor is broken. More swearing, more annoying. You pick up the blender and take it to better light to better assess the situation. Good move. You take it apart, swear at the pieces and without really looking at what needs to be in place for this to work you reassemble the pieces and try again. Bad move. Do this a couple more times...take apart, look mad, put together, turn on, curse repeat.
So, we all know by now that this has gone way past hypothetical and is totally about my morning. I was just dumbfounded at how many minutes a person can waste not doing anything about their situation, not even thinking, well at least appearing to be not thinking. I think this annoyed me most of all, the not thinking part. If you stopped swearing and moving pieces and really looked and thought about what occurs when you turn on the processor and press the carrot onto the grater you might have seen the way to put it together. Now granted it was still broken after this, but let's at least TRY for some intelligent grating.
And when you see it is not going to work, what do we do next? This simple question, taught to most first graders when reading stories and problem solving, saves a lot of time. So why not look for something else that will grate a carrot, use your frustration and grate the carrots before someone punches you in the face.
And this is the end of the lesson on how not to annoy me, or how to do it perfectly.

ok, now i'm really being bitter

but it's a pretty good article for dummies like me who don't understand stupid oil problems...

taken from http://www.nytimes.com/2008/04/29/business/worldbusiness/29oil.html?_r=1&partner=rssnyt&emc=rss&oref=slogin

clipped from www.nytimes.com In the United States and through much of the developed world, the higher fuel prices have led drivers to reduce their consumption, and gasoline demand is expected to drop this year. But that drop will be more than offset by the rise in energy demand from developing countries. In the next two decades, demand is projected to jump by 35 percent, and developing countries will consume more oil than industrialized countries.

Hace mucho tiempo

Ok, so I'm long overdue. Sorry, but I just haven't felt in the blogging mood much, but I have been busy and have plenty to write.
First, an update in the Cucaracha Chronicles (this is what Lauren and I have taken to calling the unavoidable cockroach stories). Sunday night (well I think it was Sunday night), I was in th shower cleaning off a day full of dirt. There is a lot of dust here since it is so dry in the dry season, imagine that. Anyway, I was having a lovely time, when I looked down and there was a black smudge moving around the shower floor. I had not yet recieved my contact package so I was pretty blind, but I knew it was moving and therefore, had to be a cucaracha in my shower. I tried to get it to run out, but it was afraid of the water and every time I moved it charged towards me. Trying another strategy, I turned off the water hoping this would encourage him to get out of the shower. All of this was done with lots of those funny little hops people make when they see a bug or a mouse, as if this helps keep the bug from seeing you or being able to predict your next move- although they always do, as well as with me coaching the cucaracha, "Pelase leave...Please....Get out, please." I am very polite with bugs.
Ok, so finally it left. I finished my shower but then realized I had to figure out how to get the cucaracha out of my room without having to crunch it's little body below a shoe. It decided to crawl all the way up the wall as I chased it and rested behind my bathing suits that are hanging on the shower pole. I figured it was safe there for a while so I went to go talk to Nadine and Clemence. I returned to my rom after a few minutes with determination. It crawled even farther up the wall when I exposed it from behind the swim suit so I had to throw my shoe at the ceiling while yelling at it. Nadine thought it funny I decided to talk to the cucaracha, and we all had a good laugh as I climbed on the toilet and treid to get it to come down far enough for me to do something about it. And then it fell form the ceiling and disappeared. We looked everywhere for it, but the sucker had just vanished.
A while later, I was thinking about going to the bathroom (yeah I was thinking aobut it- you would to if there was a large funky looking bug lurking somewhere in there) and had an idea. Maybe the cucaracha had fallen into the toilet paper roll that was sitting on my toilet bakc. And sure enough there it was. So I slid the roll between two books and let it back out into the wild so that it may return someday to delight you all with another story.
And while we're on the topic of bugs, I saw my first scorpion yesterday. Nadine called me downstairs while I was reading to the children to help her with something. When I got to the bottom of the stairs she was standing there with a shoe in her hand. She told me there was a huge scorpion. Now being form the suburbs of New Jersey, I have not seen a scorpion outside of a museum or the televsion. I am picturing a monster with claws beared ready to eat my hand off. We get ot the laundry room, and there's this scorpion hanging out on the wall close to the ceiling. The tail was curled in and it was probably about an inch and a half long. I was less than impressed. But Nadine assured me that this little bug could kill Louis and cause serious problems for all of us if it bit. So she bravely killed it, with me standing behind with a shoe in case it should fall before being completely obliterated. Then we had to look for the "other one" because according to everyone they always come in pairs. When we did find the other one I realized why she said this one was huge. The second was tiny, probably the length of the word second. So then we searched everything.
Last night was interesting. Besides the scorpions there was a lizard in the house (good thing, because they eat the scorpions). It was cute with really buggy eyes. The power also went out for a while and we sat in the candlelight until it came back on.
Last weekend was good. Again Nadine said something about my effort, which, after working hard the whole week, really hit me hard. But she explained that sometimes Juan Carlos doesn't ask for things because he just expects you to do them and when you don't he gets annoyed. This is hard, especially because I am coming into their family and most of the time I am taking care of the children with their parents present (ok all of the time they are present) so I sometimes feel I am stepping on toes. However, just hearing that helped, and I am working harder and I do believe that Juan Carlos is making an effort to aks if he thinks I am not doing something I should.
Saturday we went to a botanical garden. It was beautiful and cool which was nice because sometimes it really is very hot. Anyway, we saw monkeys and ducks and some funny animals I don't know the name of. wE also went to the petting zoo they had with exotic animals such as cows, sheep, chickens and bunnies (which were soooooo cute and you could hold them).
Sunday we got up early and went to an hacienda. It was built in the 1500s and was beautiful (pictures soon, I promise). The kids, Juan Carlos and I rode a horse in a boring little circle, but Clemence loved it so much it was worth it. We ate breakfast on a really old deck of a really old hotel. After that we walked through teh gardens and took pictures and such. At around noon we left and I assumed we were going home until we didn't return to the highway. I got really confused but figured they knew where we were going.
We ended up going to visit Juan Carlos's aunt and cousins at their weekend house in Cuernavaca. They all live in Mexico City, but a lot of people there have houses out in Cuernavaca. Anyway, we spent the whole afternoon eating and playing and talking (well I mostly listened, but it was a good time in Spanish).
Monday and Tuesday were pretty uneventful. Yesterday, an accountant came from Mexico City and Clemence had a play date, so Nadine asked me to make some special food. I made oatmeal raisin cookies, which turned out good because I learned on Monday that you do have to adjust for high altitude when baking. I also made a fruit salad, fish, and a tomato and cheese salad. I started at 10:30 and wasn't finished until the kids walked in the door at 2 something. Then I had to go right into watching the kids. I didn't sit until like 4 or something and then after that I was going and going and going until the lights went out at 8 something. It was a long day to say the least.
So I am happy that Amelia is here today. I went to the pool and swam and read this morning. It was relaxing. Then I helped Amelia with the food. We made chipotle salsa again, but last week Nadine broke the blender so we did it the old fashion way, with a mojate. It's something like a mortar and pestle, made out of heavy stone. Because most of you have never done that, let me just say, crushing tomato and onion skin between two stone surfaces is not easy. Be happy we have blenders.

So sorry that was so long. I just did do a lot in the last few days. Hope you didn't give up on it.

Jenn

Oh and because I'm bitter, here's an article about how Europe also contibutes to Global Warming...Europe sucks too! Let's move to the moon...

Estoy Cansada

I'm tired (as I said above) but I have told so many people that I was going to blog that I just have to do a little something. Not much interesting has occurred. Last weekend was a bit rough as I worked almost the whole time, got no thanks and got yelled at for not helping enough. But Nadine was gone Monday and Tuesday which helped a lot, not because I don't like Nadine, but because it gave me a chance to establish some kind of routine for the kids. Now they go upstairs to look for their parents less, they whine less and everyone's day is better.
This week I have figured out how to give Louis a bath without him crying, actually get both kids to eat, get the kids up to bed without a huge fight (even when I turn the TV off in the middle of their favorite show and how to get them to actually say please and thank you for things I do (If only this applied to the parents as well). Anyway, these may seem like little triumphs, but to those of you who remember your children young...you know what I'm talking about.
This week I also touched a piece of raw meat, beef even. I know...gasp! It's the first time I'm ever done this that I can remember. But when an elderly Mexican woman asks you to cut the meat muy chica, you don't really say no. It's just not a thing you do. So I'm not dead yet from this experience, so I guess it was a building character thing. Maybe I don't have to run sick every time I'm in a meat secton of the store, although I think it will take much more touching meat for this to be possible, and it's not really something I'd like to continue in my life.
Let's see...oh, so I find it really funny what people decide to get hung up on. Juan Carlos is hung up on the kids always having on sunblock, although I don't know if he realizes that 100 proof sunblock does nothing better than 45 and that you have to reapply. Nadine is hung up on the environment and health. This is all fine and good, buy organic food, buy organic products, drive a small car. But if you are really concerned about all the SUVs in America and how much we are ruining the planet maybe you should look at how many times a day the washing machine is running. I have never in my life had to do 2 loads of laundry a day or more in order for things to stay clean. Nobody's perfect, but lay off the SUVs. Yes they are gas guzzling, environment ruining machines, but a lot of people can actually use the space in America. And we have enough parking to fit them all.

Jennifer

I would also like to say that if I have things in all of my ten million hands, please do not ask me to carry something like you can't hold it for one more second. I will carry it, but I don't have more hands than you and your ten seconds is not more precious than mine, so just let it go. This is a random rant. Surprisingly I'm not mad tonight, I'm just tired and was mad like 5 days ago and writing about it helps. So thank you to all of you for being a great therapist. Good night.

Cumpleaños

So, as an anthropologist and a rational human I know that stereotypes don't just show up out of thin air, there had to be some place they came from. Maybe they are not always one hundred percent acurrate or fair, but they are based on some truth- either picked up by the "others" or used to create inside jokes.
When I think of Mexico, I think of tacos (and other tasty foods), the chihuahua (which I have learned is also the name of a mountain range), and piñatas. And that's exactly what there was at the birthday party we attended today. Ok, there really wasn't a chihuahua, but one woman did actually use the expression "Ay, chihuahua," no joke. I thought it funny because when I thought about coming to Mexico I did not think it would actually be the way I imagined. I thought that they would eat things like we do at home, which they do, but there is always some kind of chili or salsa or tortilla to accompany the green salad or beef. There are a lot of things that are different from how I might have expected if I had time to expect anything, but a lot of things really are how they are. I guess that some Mexican traditions have become so ingrained in America now that it seems that they shouldn't really be Mexican...or something like that.
Anyway, the birthday party was a lot of fun. It was at a place kind of like chucky cheese, but a lot smaller. Really I should compare it to the McDonalds Play Place, because that it was it was more like. There was lots of food and I got to listen and practice my Spanish some. It also gave me a day to not have to constantly run after the kids (although yesterday was not hard since Clemence and Louis are both sick- with different things might I add).
The strangest things about the whole situation was the amount of foreigners at the party. Since the kids go to a French school many of the people are French (mostly the women). I met some women from the US as well. One woman I had met previously at Louis' swimming was born and raised in Mexico but has French parents and spent a year in Michigan as an au pair. Another Mexican woman had spent three years in France as an au pair. The people all have very interesting backgrounds and it will be cool to see if I get to talk to any of them more because, again, as an anthropologist all this is entirely intriguing to me. Often Nadine asks me if I am bored because I guess I appear to be completely spaced out, but it is just that I have to concentrate hard when listening to conversations in Spanish at a distance.
Anyway, I have to get to bed. I have not clue what I will be doing for the weekend, but I'm sure it will bring on more crazy thoughts for you to suffer (I mean read) through.

Jenn

Hace calor y cucarachas

So I've seen my first (and second and third and fourth) Mexican cucaracha! Today one crawled across my bed as I was talking to people online. But at least they are friendly, unlike the scorpions. Luckily I have not seen one of these, but Nadine said she has killed two this week. Oh the wonders of living in paradise!
Last week nothing of too much consequence occurred. I learned how to make a tomato soup with alphabet letters and fish heads from the Mexican woman, Amelia, the family has to help with cleaning and other things. It was surprisingly good. She returned today and will stay through Friday afternoon, so I will hopefully learn some more traditional Mexican recipes. It's pretty cool to learn from someone who just knows these things. Although I should write them down so I don't forget.
This weekend we went into town and I saw some of the old cathedral, a market and some other building in the town center. I will have to return at some point to take pictures and to explore more. It is a little intimidating because the city is huge so I must take a taxi, or a very very long walk to get to the center, and I am a little timid of the taxis since I don't speak Spanish natively and I don't know where anything in this city really is. I am hoping to talk to the former au pair about this, as Nadine has given her my email (and if she does not contact me I will ask for hers).
I spend most of my time with the family and the children, though in the morning I do have a few hours of quiet to myself. So far it has not been a problem that I have not made any friends. I get to talk to different people when I take Louis to swimming and when I go to the pool around here. I do not know if this will become a problem in the future. The only reason it would be nice, would be to have someone to go places with since I would love to go see the pyramids and the rest of the center of town and maybe some other places outside the city. But either I will do it alone or I will find someone to do it with eventually. It is only my second week, so for now I am happy.
This job is fun, but hard. It should be required for everyone who desires to be a housewife. I do many household duties in the morning before I get my 2 or 3 hours off and then I go from the time I start cooking around 1 until 9 o'clock at night. It is a good eight hour job, and most of it I am on my feet doing something or carry someone. As a job it is fine, but I could not dedicate my life to this forever. Although it is not mindless work or useless by any means, I feel after a while it would lose some entertainment value. And in the end the kids are not mine and the house is not mine, so the entire responsibility does not rely on my shoulders. I do not know if I want to have kids, but if I do have them, I have no illusions that it will be an easy task, especially if, as I would like to, work as well. So thank you to all the mothers (and don't forget the fathers...I will explain later why here it was an after thought) out there. You do a pretty damn good job!
Now as for Mexican family relations, I do not think I could do it. Nadine and Juan both own the company that they work for, but Nadine also has all the household duties. I have no clue how she did it without an au pair. Juan helps with the kids often, but when I said that my father often cooks at home she was shocked. Juan has never cooked a day in his life. I find this frustrating. And I know all families work differently, ut the division of labor does not seem to be equal here. There are cultures that divide duties of men and women into separate categories in order to keep the burden of labor somewhat equal, even though the tasks are different. This is how it used to be in the Western world. Women has the house and men worked outside in the work world. But once women enter the work world (and the debate whether this is good or not has nothing to do with it) out of want or necessity it seems that there should be some balancing of the duties. Although this seems common sense, and most people I know share these beliefs, it is interesting living it for real.
Also, I have no clue what the history between France and US is, but I know there is tension. I will have to read up on the problems, but it is definitely apparent. Although, I think in Europe most countries have some stereotype of Americans that I and many would not fit and would be offensive if it weren't laughable. Nadine, as a French woman (and perhaps a Mexican), definitely has her ideas about America. Though she is never rude about it you can tell she thinks we are all wasteful people who don't care about the environment and continually consume packaged products that are bad for us. AND that we are too stupid to see what we are doing.
The latter part is the problem I have with this. Now, yes, many Americans are this way. But there are many countries who have decided to subscribe to this way of life. Are they all stupid too? Because, the US may bring their products somewhere and advertise them and maybe they know they are bad and shouldn't even be selling them, but the people in these other countries could just say no. I understand there is blame to be placed on the US, but not all of it. It is not the fault of Coca Cola that the people want to buy their products. Someone will always buy it regardless of the fact it is bad for them or it kills the environment or small companies or whoever or whatever cause we are defending this week.
These are not well thought out arguments, I know, I am not composing a paper on this at the moment, but they are just some interesting things I have noticed. They are not new arguments and will not be old arguments anytime soon, but it would be nice to not feel it is completely the problem of the US that the world weather system is going crazy. I may be paraphrasing a bit...

OK....

Sorry it's been so long, there was the week at home and then there was the coming to Mexico and a problem with the internet, but finally everything is fine.
Anyway, first things first, the end of Spain. Normally I would not bother, but this seems a story worth telling.
So I went to bed at midnight, a little late because I had to get up at like 4:30, but it took me forever to pack. I set my alarm and all and warned myself to get up. So I woke up at some point and I was lying there for a long time wondering when my alarm would ring. Eventually I looked at the clock, it was 6 o'clock. I mumbled a few curse words as I jumped out of bed and got dressed faster than I ever have before. I ran out the door, looked for a taxi stand and tried not to panic too much. At some point I realized there was no taxi coming and that I didn't have enough time to get to airport anyway. The bus station was just a block away. I walked to it, hoping all the way there would be a train that got to Madrid on time. Luckily there was, and it left at 7, a half an hour from the time I arrived at the station. I bought my ticket without problems (although when the man said cien euros I almost had a heart attack) and got on the train. I chatted a little with the woman next to me and then watched the movie they had on, though I hardly understood it.
The train arrived at the station on time and I got a txi to the airport. It cost a lot, but I had a lot of cash from my deposit, although the night before I had decided to use it for something special for me at the airport shops. Anyway, I had a few cafe con leches and shopped a little bit and then got my plane to London. The flight was delayed because of the weather and then I think we circled over London a bit because the weather there was also nasty. It was 5:30 when we got to security for the connection. After we got through we had to wait in another line to get our tickets. I befriended the guy behind me, which ended up being good because we ended up staying in London for the night and I at least had someone to comiserate and eat with. The hotel Iberia put us in was beautiful and the food wasn't too bad. We went and watched a wedding that was going on and then went to the bar for a little bit where I had yet another political discussion with random strangers.
My flight the next day was at 8:55. Everything went smoothly and I ended up home one hour before Easter dinner.

And as for Mexico...
The flight here was uneventful. I collected my baggage and was so happy to have Juan Carlos there to greet me when I came through the gate. The drive from Mexico city was maybe an hour, but I slept through most of it. I was very tired from the night before and waking up early. When I arrived Nadine welcomed me and I met the children, Clemence and Loius. They are adorable. Clemence is five and Loius is two. Both of them have way too much energy but it's good because at least they are fun.
Saturday night we went to Costco and some Mega store that reminds me of Walmart. Then we had Santa Clara ice cream bars. Clemence was shocked I didn't know what these were, but they were good.
Sunday we went to breakfast with some of their friends. After we went to the mall and then to the house of the friends to look at the work they are doing rebuilding the house.
Everything here is very colorful and very beautiful. There are palm trees and blue skies. The house that Nadine and Juan Carlos live in is called a condominium, but unlike at home, all the houses look different on the outside at least. I have been inside one other house and it is similar but not the same. We wnet to visit a neighbor whose daughter had had a baby. Here in Mexico when you have a baby you go to live with your mother for the first couple of weeks.
My days so far are pretty full. I get up at ten of seven and go to the school with Juan Carlos and the kids. It is about a half and hour away by car in a tiny pueblo. There are already many people out by this time of morning and it is already 22 degrees celsius when I wake up. During the day it reaches more than 30 and inside the house it is usually 33 in the upstairs.
After returning from the school and whatever errands Juan Carlos has I have free time. I usually read or go ot the pool and swim a bit. Yesterday (Wednesday) I took a taxi back to teh school and helped with Loius's swim class. There is an instructor but basically every kid is paired with their mom or a family member and then we just hang out in the water for a little while. After an hour we return to the school and I read until Juan Carlos came for the kids.
After the kids return from school we eat a large lunch. Yesterday we ate at the mall at a sushi restaurant, but usually I make something for lunch for everyone and then I play with the kids until around7:30 and then it is bath time. After that we eat a light lunch and then the kids go to bed. Usually I go to bed soon after this because I am very timered. The sun is strong here and the heat is killer at times, so it is necessary to sleep enough or I can't function.
Anyway I will write soon.
Jenn