alright. i’ve come to accept that seeing students when i go out is inevitable.

last weekend, lisa and i went out for a really nice dinner at a place a co-worker recommended called archie’s wok. we were so stuffed afterwards that we walked the malecon about five times, and after we got sick of doing that, we decided to go to de santos, a swanky lounge-bar w/ a rooftop patio. as we were heading down the street towards the place, i spotted a grade 12 student standing on the balcony of another bar, and she saw me at the same time. she started shouting out to me, and this drew more students to the balcony, of various grade levels (the lowest being grade 9--they start drinking at around age 14 here). when the attention became unbearable (approx. 10 seconds later), we made a beeline for de santos. i personally wish we’d walked around the block first just to cover our tracks a bit, but lisa walked right in, so i followed her.
we headed up to the rooftop, and about 30 seconds after we’d been up there, i heard ppl calling me by my last name (seriously, it weirds me out to hear ppl calling me by my “teacher name” outside of school), so i turned around and there were three of my students standing behind me. they’d freakin’ followed me up there! they claimed i’d ignored them when they were shouting out to me from the balcony (truthfully, i hadn’t seen them; i guess the whole damned high school was up there or something), and they’d followed me to be properly acknowledged. so acknowledge them i did, and then they went away, which i will admit was quite nice of them, considering how they could’ve stayed there and made my night that much more mortifying.

i’ve also realized that this town really is way too tiny. yes, other ppl have told me this before, but it didn’t genuinely sink in until friday night, when lisa, kim and i were heading down to olas altas (a really cute street in the zona romantica) towards a martini bar that, believe it or not, some of my grade 12’s had recommended as having the best cocktails and martinis around (they also told me that they rarely go to that part of town b/c it has the stigma of being the church st. of vallarta, which made it even more appealing to me, since this makes it much less likely i’ll ever run into any of ‘em there).
anyway, as we were making our way down there, we ran into these guys that we met the previous night, and seriously, every five mins., we’d run into another group of guys that we knew. i think we’ve met all the local dudes that hang out downtown on weekends by now. there are no more. i’m going to have to become a tourist-shark(ette) soon.

this all brings us to saturday night, where alex & jen, dave, kim and i attended a millionaire’s wedding along w/ some other teachers from the school. the invitation said to wear white and not to bring any gifts. (what could you possibly buy a rich couple that they couldn’t buy for themselves, anyway?)
our taxi pulled up to the house (which is quite new; they’ve only lived there for nine months, and it’s supposedly for sale now), and the place seriously looked like one of the art museums i visited in europe this summer. there were pillars, fountains, and gold trimming. i think the little girl that invited us (she’s kim’s student in gr. 5, and the sister of the girl who spotted me heading to de santos the previous weekend) looked very out of place (but very cute in her white dress w/ orange-ribbon trimming) standing at the gate to greet us.
i like this girl very much; she was kidnapped from that very house and held for ransom at the start of the school year, and she handled it all very well (her father brought in some kidnapping experts from guadalajara and they managed to rescue her; it’s a long story). she was back at school two days later, and seemed barely affected by any of it. she’s a strong and smart kid (although i worry all the baggage that comes w/ being a rich man’s daughter will catch up to her one day) and she is in no way spoiled or bratty. i just think she may be feeling a little lost and confused about her life, and the reason why i think this is b/c she gave us a tour of the house and her room also looked like an art museum display, save the one humongous spongebob squarepants doll she had on her dresser. her father told us he was a big fan of the baroque period, and her room was chockfull of religious artwork and even contained something that looked like a shrine to some saint, but was kind of devoid of stuff a young girl would want to have in her room (her older sister’s room didn’t look much like a teenaged girl’s hangout, either). she showed us the games room in the basement and it had a wurlitzer jukebox that she didn’t know how to use. how could she feel comfortable in this home? it was very impressive (the kitchen looked like a restaurant’s kitchen, w/ the staff to match, and there were even small spiralling stairs that led down to the wine cellar; the guest bedroom was bigger than my whole apartment; the backyard had three bars, a swimming pool, and a lower-level lounge area that i think was set-up for the wedding) but didn’t seem very liveable.
i don’t want to feel sorry for her b/c i don’t think she needs sympathy--i just hope that she’ll eventually be able to figure out how to handle everything and be okay.
anyway, back to the event. it began at 7 p.m., and at around 7:30, the girls learned that there would be a ceremony. they didn’t really know what they had to do or where it was going to take place, so i’m guessing it was all kind of last-minute. either that, or they just hadn’t been informed about it for some reason.
the bride wore an orange dress that flattered her busty cleavage and the groom wore an orange shirt that matched it. (i guess it’s like what miranda from sex and the city said when she refused to wear white at her wedding: “i have a baby: the jig is up.”) the ceremony took place in english and in spanish (american groom, mexican bride) and was all kind of informal. many of the guests were talking and some didn’t even get up from their couches to witness the ceremony.
it was pretty sentimental, though. for the first dance, all the children were rounded up, and it turns out they’re kind of like a backwards brady bunch; the bride has two sons and the groom has three daughters. the eldest kids cut in and danced w/ their respective parents and then the next eldest took their turns and so on. i was surprised to see the eldest daughter had tears in her eyes while she was dancing w/ her dad, since she supposedly thought the wedding was going to be “stupid.” i guess a moment like that would make anybody feel emotional.
as for us, we hung out w/ the older teachers that were there (they all seem to have mexican spouses or partners) and took advantage of the open bars that were stocked w/ just about everything. we also lingered around some of the kitchen doors in order to attack any poor server guy carrying a food tray that walked out of them. for dessert, there was a table full of cakes, fruit pastries and chinese spoonfuls of creme brulee. there was also a chocolate fountain where you could drizzle or drench the stuff all over your skewers of marshmallows. yum.
dave got smashed and started dancing on the makeshift dancefloor outside by himself until some of us felt sorry for him and joined in. i ran into a few students that had been invited, and decided there was nothing i could do about it (except claim that i was only drinking “water”), so i accepted it and had a good time despite it all.
the PTA parents were dancing up a storm, and i have to admit that they were pretty fun to have on the dancefloor. they pulled me in to dance w/ them and laughed at how young i was. then they started doing crazy, yet hilarious dance moves that i’m sure their children would’ve cringed at, and when the dj started playing undanceable crap, they made us all stage a sit-in on the floor until he played something we liked.
oh, and there was also a mariachi band interlude and an impressive fireworks display (and it’s hard to have impressive fireworks when they literally have them every night here) somewhere in-between it all.
we ended up leaving at around two in the morning. it was kind of a surreal night, and i don’t think i’ll soon forget the sight of that jawdropping house all lit up and filled w/ people dressed in white staring down at us while all of us crazies from the american school burned up the dancefloor.
to be honest, it was kind of odd to be there, and it reminded me of this summer when i was in europe and went to see the vienna boys choir sing at a sunday mass. almost all of the ppl there were there to see a spectacle, and didn’t really seem to realize the actual meaning of the event (nor did the organizers of the mass seem to discourage the ignorance).
eh. i enjoyed myself last night. i guess i should leave it at that.

view from the backyard

serenaded by mariachis!

i know i keep intending to write about the males in vallarta, but i always seem to end up having too much to say about other things, and really, there isn’t that much to say about them. so here’s the gist of it:
- they all seem to marry very young here. most ppl my age have kids already
- they can be charming, but 90% of the time they’re not my type (it’s pretty hilarious to see what they come up w/ to say, though--from catcalls in the street to pick-up lines in bars)
- they can usually dance well, but i’ve never been good at that partner-style dancing stuff (unless it’s pre-choreographed!)
- i don’t think they’re trustworthy--99% of them, anyway (i actually got to have a pretty fascinating conversation w/ a cabbie once at something like two in the morning. we discussed the hypocrisies of male-female relationships here, and he was pretty candid about how he was married w/ children, but also had a daugher w/ another woman. he would never allow his wife to have an affair though, and doesn’t think she ever would. he was all so matter-of-fact about it, like it was almost normal, and to be honest, it probably kind of is here.)

the weather here has really mellowed out lately. it's noticeably cooler in the mornings now, and the rain has stopped completely. there was actually one morning last week where i was ashamed of myself: i felt so cold that i wore a long-sleeved sweater to school--me, a canadian, not being able to stand above-zero temperatures!
i have a feeling i'm going to freeze to death when i head home for christmas break (which, btw, will be from dec. 22 to jan. 5). a teacher that used to live in canada, but has now lived in mexico for about 20 years tells me that my feeling is absolutely right. greaat.
it's funny how i haven't really been hit by an overwhelming bout of homesickness yet. i've never been away from home for longer than two months before, so this is the longest i've ever been outside of canada (almost four months now). of course, i miss certain aspects of home (some ppl, live shows, real record stores, lemon meringue pie), but i don't feel like i can't go on w/out those things. maybe it's easier to handle b/c i know i'll be home next month. or maybe losing the tip of my finger, being stung by a bee and catching pink eye have distracted me from feeling culture shock (or would they all just speed up the process?). who knows.
i do feel a little sad for my housemate though, 'cause i'm pretty sure she's been bit by the homesick bug pretty hard. i suspect it may have hit her harder b/c before moving here, she'd only been outside of alberta once, for a two-week vacation or something. hopefully, she'll feel better soon.

this weekend is a long weekend b/c the school is celebrating the U.S. thanksgiving. i've had two turkey dinners so far this year, one being the one that left me bloated for a week last month and the other was last night at a restaurant which a father of two of my students owns. both were delicious. it was cute to see my grade 11 student working w/ his dad last night, learning the ropes and preparing to take over the business.
truly, these kids are, for the most part, a very good-natured bunch. they're not the snooty, bratty, stuck-up children of privilege some ppl would expect them to be. it's true that some of them (the grade 12's in particular) are very immature and whiny, but i'm pretty sure i prefer dealing w/ that than a bunch of asshole-ish punks.

thursday was a half-day at school, and the second half of the half day was taken up by the high school talent show. the student council hosted it and gave it a saturday night live theme, sprinkling comedy sketches in btwn the talent acts. some of it was actually pretty funny. there was a spartan cheerleaders sketch, an appearance by hans & frans, and a weekend update which included a news bit about how my pink eye was beginning to fade and how my finger had "miraculously" regrown (it kind of has, too--the nail is almost fully back, but the feeling in the tip is odd and you can see the scar where the stitches used to be).
most of the talent in the show consisted of students singing showtunes or pop ballads in english or spanish to recorded accompaniment. two acts had live guitar accompaniment. there wasn't very much variety. only one duo did a dance routine. nevertheless, it was an enjoyable 90 mins, especially b/c a group of us (3 teachers, 8 students) sang "seasons of love" from jonathan larson's RENT (those of you who've known me long enough know i was OBSESSED w/ this musical in high school) to close the show.

tomorrow some of us teachers are going to the wedding of a father of three of our students. this man also happens to be a millionaire (perhaps even multi-?), and the nuptials are going to take place at his home, which i recently saw described as "palatial" in a local rag. i have to admit that i'm probably going to feel a little awkward and out of place there, but i don't think the opportunity to gape at the lush and lavish lifestyle of the rich comes along everyday, so i'm willing to trade in a little discomfort for a peek. i'll let ya know how it goes.

[i know in my last post i said i'd write about the testosterone-heavy gender this post, but i think i'll save it for next time.]

so...
let's backtrack back to when i didn't have pink eye.

hallowe'en. i guess the american influence has reached this place after all (not that i didn't have an inkling, what w/ the walmart and mcdonalds and domino's pizzas everywhere). a bunch of kids in our complex came around to trick-or-treat, stomping around in a herd, wearing vague costumes and screaming, "QUEREMOS HALLOWE'EN!!!" they sounded like such a loud, psycho mob that kim and i were almost afraid to open the door for them.
afterwards, a few of us new teachers headed out to a hallowe'en party at a classy lounge spot downtown. i'd somehow missed the memo about the maxim magazine girls that were going to be making an appearance there. the place was madness; bright lights, photographers and video cameras were everywhere, and there was barely any room to move. it was a little too psycho in the mainroom, and the rooftop patio and restaurant sections of the club were swanky, but it all felt a little too soulless for me, and in the end, my friend and i ended up heading over to the new taco burrito king (the wacky thing is that this new franchise started in CHICAGO and decided to open up its third, but first mexican store in vallarta) down the street to gorge ourselves instead.

i forgot to mention that at the hallowe'en festival at school the kids made a gravestone for me that joked about my finger (which, btw, looks a tad better than it did before, now that all the stitches are out and the nail is growing). it was kind of endearing, yet embarrassing at the same time. i took a picture w/ it. ;) a group of us teachers also snuck out halfway through the night for a little beer break at the local hole-in-the-wall bar; i felt like a rebellious high schooler, which is kind of ironic, considering the circumstances.

last week, the 2nd annual puerto vallarta film festival came to town. i made good use of my ISIC and got a student pass (10 films for $150 pesos -- beat that, toronto film fest!) which i tried my best to use up for the rest of the week. unfortunately, i'd very unwisely spent my saturday night partying with my friend lisa until the sun rose and didn't get home until around 11:30 a.m. the next morning (it's funny how when it's 4 a.m., we think it makes sense to stay out until 5 a.m. so that the buses will be running, and then at 5 a.m., we think it's worth it to wait another two hours in order to have breakfast at the pancake house, which leads to stopping off to buy film fest passes afterwards, which leads to not sleeping and feeling like a zombie for the rest of the day...). this directly led to me getting sick and not feeling up to watching all the movies i'd wanted to see.
i did get to watch elizabethtown though, and despite the lukewarm reviews i've read, i liked it. cameron crowe is great at writing romantic-comedy roles. he makes the lead characters watch-worthy. the dysfunctional family stuff wasn't all that engrossing, but it was tolerable, and overall, i enjoyed it. not his greatest film (that would be either almost famous or say anything followed closely by singles), but not his worst, either (that would be vanilla sky, save the soundtrack). it made me want to take a roadtrip.
the festival itself wasn't all that exciting. the films were all screened at the cinema right by my place, so it was convenient, but there wasn't very much glamour or hoopla going on. mostly, it looked like a bunch of trendy, hipster lookalikes had magically appeared in vallarta and were congregating outside the theatres for that week. it was kind of odd seeing them there. sadly, it kinda felt like home at times.
even more sadly, diego luna nor gael garcia bernal showed up. at least i don't think they did, and if they did, i no longer want to know.

so, yes. last thursday, i woke up feeling wonky. i'd gone to see two movies the night before (the constant gardener: good, and roman polanski's oliver twist: loooong) as well as a post-filmgoing trip to subway. maybe i caught it from one of those places. who knows. but after first period, my eyes kept forming disgusting eye guck which i kept wiping away w/ a tissue, which turned my eyes red, and my students started chanting, "miss! you have conjunctivitis! miss, you have PINK EYE!!!" and they were right. so i missed school on friday and monday (there was a huge pink eye epidemic at school last year, so i don't think they wanted to take any chances), which in theory sounds awesome 'cause that made it a super-long weekend, but in reality it sucked 'cause i couldn't really do anything and i felt isolated from humanity the majority of the time and all i did was lie in bed and watch movies and complete seasons of sex and the city. hmph.

alright, this post has turned out semi-long and very whiny, so i'll stop for now. next time, a report on my take on men in mexico (well, i guess mexico is a little broad--maybe just vallarta, but i liked the alliteration).

apparently, i have pink eye.
that is all.