=6= or, the discovery of symbols

Man, I’ve only posted 5ish (Vish) lousy times since September??!  What a bum I am.

You know, it seems a pretty reasonable goal to post enough such that an apology is not necessary to begin each blog post.  So reasonable, in fact, that I think I’ll go ahead and enact it right now (call it a resolution, if you like-- what with the season and all):

I will post at least once every two (✌) weeks for all y’all friends, family and supporters of lo de sally ‘n anders.  I’ll do my best to keep m’self honest, but if I lag, feel free to let me hear about it for the rest of my life.  Or in the comments section.

SO, an update on life of late:

X-mas day on the ol' cactus reserve!

- We celebrated Christmas in San Miguel de Allende with old friends and new (old: Mathias Svalina & Jules Cohen [pictured above]; new: Jules’ ‘rents and bro, Adam), enjoying the more intimate comforts of old friends (intimate ≠ sex in this instance) but in an exciting new(er) setting.  We drank micheladas on the streets (recipe time, Sal?), cooked and ate yummy homemade meals, visited a cactus reserve X-mas day and drank tequila shots before bed.  We were even able to give our gracious hosts a short tour of Qro after they dropped us off in time to receive our second round of guests the following day(!) when…

Check their passports-- these two could be illegals!

- … STACEY AND BERNADETTE CAME TO MEXICO!!!  In fact, they’re still here (as of the initial time of writing, this was true, but as of 00:45 last night, Stacey moved on to Puerto Vallarta to spend her last few days in Mexico in/on the sun/beach instead of the rain/streets ☹)!  My employer/pal Adam was kind enough to drive us to Mexico City— and to get lost on the way back.  We got home around 2a and proceeded to spend the next two weeks showing off what we’ve come to know of Qro, Mx, and some of the surrounding area.

X-mas time spectacle miracle at a big ol' church.

Fortunately, with Stacey’s self-employed schedule, she was able to visit during a time when we were both largely free of work duties and therefore able to do some tripping nearby.  Tequisquiapan was a first for all of us— a sweet little town where we did a little shopping, touring and had a delicious Italian meal on the last afternoon of 2009.  Another highlight was the following weekend when we revisited our standing favorite of Mexican towns, Guanajuato, though this time we were bold enough to bring along our four-legged white fluff of personality, also known as Bernadette.

Fear not, Mom, she got none. ;)

Bernadette has been something of a celebrity in her short time in Mexico; her breed does not seems to exist here, as people are always curious as to her raza (breed) and hopeful that they might get to touch her coat.  It’s been a great vocab-learning experience for gushing dog-related cutisms; unfortunately Bird has yet to pick up on/appreciate (seemingly) any of the many enchanting nuances of her second language to-be… 

Back to Gto, though!  Yes, we were able to get Bird on four (✌ x ✌) taxi rides, a couple of 1st class buses (poor thing got to ride along with luggage in her kennel down below) and into the hostel we’d stayed at in Gto the first time.  She has now visited— in Mexico— one federal district, three states and three capital cities, plus a couple other little guys.  Though it was a real pain to convince the taxi drivers of her hypoallergenic/no-shed qualifications, she was a real labradoodlian trooper and seemed to enjoy the adventure of walking and sniffing the numerous unwalked/-sniffed locales of ol’ Mexico.

On the way to visit el Pípila (hope that isn't too much butt-hole for you).

We ate, ate, ate in Gto, and though it rained, rained, rained on Saturday, we still had a lovely time.  We had delicious coffee at an American-owned spot called Café Tal (and took a kilo of the dark roast to go), ate beautiful lunch at La Capellina, took Stacey for her first elote (there ended up being another given to both her and Sally after we stopped into a dude-infested cantina— more on that in a moment) and dinner at a burger stand our friends Chris and Veronica had taken us to (Chris, if you’re reading this, the burgers were delicious again ☺), where we considered taking an extra burger to go so that we could dissect it to determine just what made it so damn scrumptious (though now we’re pretty sure it’s the carrot spread/stuff with cinnamon in it on top).  We topped the rain-soaked evening off by stopping into the aforementioned cantina— the ladies’ idea, FYI— where upon sitting down in the last available corner spot, Sally and Stacey quickly took note of the rather conspicuous pisser/trough in the corner of the entirely open room, and the fact that a number of fellas just came in off the street, used it, and then bounced right out of there. In its figurative corner, though, the place did have some cold-ass beers.  It wasn’t long before some friendly, mostly older gentlemen took an interest in “us” (I was largely the mouthpiece so they had to go through me, I who claimed to be their bodyguard) and started chatting us up.  One younger fellow— rather drunk, this one— told me of how beautiful he found them both, hovered for a bit, and then disappeared.  Not ten minutes later, he was back with two foil-wrapped Mexican corn(s?) on the cob, (elotes— RECIPE, Sally!) which of course made us all laugh and the two of them even more full.  We left shortly thereafter and were laughing at least as hard as I have so far during our time Mexico. 

It was a really great and easy time having Stacey here, and we’re so, so grateful to her and already miss having her here. :’(

Ah, would love to be back there, sipping café...

- On the biznass front, Sally started work!  She’s holding things down about a 15-minute walk from our place at a well-reputed language school called United English.  Her schedule is the traditional split English teacher schedule: mornings from 7-9a, then a good long break until 4 or 5p when she goes back in until 8 or 9p; and she seems to getting the hang of the work experience at UE and is glad to have some non-house-related responsibilities to fill her day.  We view it as money, another opportunity to meet and make friends and a new brand of teaching experience for a skilled and experienced English teacher whose students are undoubtedly lucky to have her.  ¡Vaya Sally!

With that, I’d consider you all more or less caught up with lo de Sally and me.  Again, I’ma do me best to make this a once every couple of weeks-type project (at least), as reading my depressing off-season Royals blogs and kicking major ass at Bejeweled are all well and good, but keeping up with our friends and love ones who we miss (and missed!) this time of year is infinitely more valuable and rewarding— unless of course the Royals win the AL Cental and/or I win some kind of cash award for breaking the 500k mark in Bejeweled.  I’m off to make coffee and to take Bird to go pee under the arches— making Queretaro’s most famous landmark that much more famous-er!

¿Fudge = Diablos en español?

Love to you all, hope you had a Merry Christmas and are experiencing a quality start to the new year!  Go snow! ☃

Best x 3,
Anders