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OOF! …been awhile, no?

Sorry for the absence, but getting thangs set up ‘round Querétaro, México, has been something of a full-time job (not to mention that pesky full-time job I’m also responsible for...)! 

There are a great number of things to report (including not one but two sightings of Mexican Jeff Goldbum in one day in a city of 1+ million peeps!), perhaps not least of which being we’ve taken at least one great stride in the last week of life here: getting a place!  Here 'tis:

Our new digs/dog (Frida), bay-bee!

Alright, so not quite...  Ours is actually a bit more of a fixer-upper, but the price and location are right (oh are they! And the view!), the rental sitch is groobs (we know the owners and are getting a friendly deal, you might say) and we’ve got more furniture than we know what to do with— this in a town/place/country where you’re halfway lucky to have there be a stove in a rental (and more so an oven!) and can pretty well count on there being no way to refrigerate your food upon move-in day ‘less a) it’s really cold out (aka not here), b) you own a cooler (not us— yet!), or less likely, c) your butt or feet get so cold (I’m thinking at night, whilst one sleeps here) that they can keep dairy products from spoiling :\.

Our actual view (but a bit further away & on the other side of the street)— really.

Fortunately, Sally and I are both excited and predisposed toward the setting up of living spaces, so it figures to be a fun experience— after all of the full weekend’s-worth of cleaning is done, that is.  We’ll be sure to do some before/after photos for all y’all in the coming week(s), and rest assured that we can keep you and your three closest friends imbedded here (plus the couch!) when you come to visit.

Sadly, to this point we’ve skipped over our time in San Miguel de Allende: a place where we first went for a Spanish-speaking respite with parents’ of friends, and ended up with some fine new friends and an ultra-fab place to visit on weekends.

Also not our new place: the Parroquía de SMA.

Some time ago, Don Cohen and Diane Berman, parents of one of our favorite new Denveronians, Julia Cohen (loves to Mathias too, whom we have to thank for knowing Jules in the first place— and lots of long-distance web laughs), put us up in their lovely modernista home for a weekend that turned into a friendship for which we’re most grateful.  Aside from their myriad day-to-day kindnesses, these two introduced us to a beautiful home/art gallery outside of town, the best roadside gorditas known to man (I’m sure of this) and a network of people that nearly had us settling there, along with 10,000+ other North Americans.  Obvio, we opted for nearby (and much larger/job-rich) QRO, but look forward to returning their kindness by hosting them some weekend post-Thanksgiving, which is almost sure to include delicious food a la Sally (me on dishes, yo!) and a Costco run for good measure.  My favorite moments with the Mexican contingent of the Cohen/Berman crew included, but are not (thus far) limited to:

• Wine, cheese, chats and Don’s sangrita(!) on their pillowy 3rd floor/rooftop terrace;
• Planet Earth on a 60-some-inch flatscreen until we all almost fell asleep (The Bourne Ultimatum was good one night too, especially as Sally's inspiring smells from the kitchen lured us away from the action);
• The aforementioned gorditas and trips to Galeria Atotonilco (their [not our] grounds pictured above)— neat-o!
• And a candle-lit dinner/lovely conversation that may or may not have been have had something to do with a late (read: UNPAID) electric bill.

Truly wonderful people and the best bit of San Miguel sans doubt (honorable mention goes to friends Chris and Veronica who stayed a couple days before heading back to San Diego, but not to the SOBs who wouldn’t quit blowing off not visually pleasing fireworks, but obnoxious aerial rockets [think “boom” constantly] of which the town seemed to have an endless supply both weekends [we were there two weekends] we were there!  BALLS!).

I’m sure I’ve left a ton out, but in the interests of getting things back up to date to where we can relate even the more banal aspects of daily life in QRO, that’s where I’ma gunna leave it; ‘sides my TWO-HOUR lunch break is nearing its end (don’t worry, you just work later into the eves) and I need to get back to selling/teaching/training/translating my day away (‘guess I’ll talk about me job next time)!  Love to all; thanks for sticking around ;).

-A