La buena vida...

I know it’s been a bit too long since I last blogged. But well, for a few months or so I was too absorbed with ESL teaching, preparing for the wedding weekend, and all of that. The last bit of Anapra I got was amazing. The kids! I want my kids back! The wedding was beautiful –exactly like I had hoped it would be. I’m very grateful to my family for all their hard work. Mom and Dad were so supportive! Misael was awesome too. And Abi was the best sister/maid of honor in the world... I miss them... It was also good to see Q’s family (most of them were there) again. They were great, especially Q’s parents. And it was so awesome to see Janie and Fer and Eric and the Chapels and all the good friends. Seeing my family together with the friends I made during very different stages of my life was quite an experience. It was a strange, mixed sense of completion and disparity. They are each such an intrinsic part of me, and yet they are all so different. I think that Q and I did a good job of finding true friends.. it seemed to me that their relationships with him or with me were enough of a common ground, and I was very glad to see some unexpected friendships arise. We had lots of music- mariachis, a soprano and quartet, and some seriously good musicians at church- and we had lots of good food, and the church and the reception hall both looked amazing. It was a whole lot of fun.

Well, it’s been almost two months now, and Q and I are extremely happy, living the good life. I am especially getting the good end of this deal though. And I am sure taking advantage of it. I think it won’t be a normality –being able to clean, disinfect, and organize to my heart contempt; sleeping in; reading for hours at a time; listening to his music; visiting campus (everybody at the department has been very welcoming); collecting recipes from friends and family and experimenting with new flavors… being home with dinner ready just on time for him… so yes, I’ve been doing a lot with the precious free time I have now. We’ve also been doing lots of immigration paperwork.. and even some more ordinary marriage paperwork has been done. We’ve been visited by both his and my parents (YAAAY for parents visiting!!) and we’ve gone to O-town to visit the Bugs a couple times. She and Q’s parents liked the changes in the apartment :). My parents were also very happy to see the place where we live. It’s a very walkable distance from campus (I like that very much), and its very new and very much a safe place. I was very glad to see them again. While they were here we visited the churches of KS and saw some very good old friends. Our friends at Manhattan even organized a wedding shower for us. It was a wonderful thing for them to do. We felt very loved. It was because of their shower that I started collecting recipes like a mad woman. They did a recipe-themed shower, and many gifts consisted of good old family recipes and even their necessary, non-perishable ingredients. So now that I’ve started trying recipes out, I can’t stop. Every time a cooking show comes on on TV, I run for the notepad and a pen. I’ve even been trying out the recipes that come with the kitchen appliances! It’s been a lot of fun, though, and Q hasn’t been sick yet (hehe).

So yes, life is good. As long as I am able to intentionally deceive myself, ignoring the irresponsible, misinforming, sensationalist mass media content on health and safety that CONTINUES to spread -like a viral infection more contagious and damaging than any other given virus- growing the already xenophobic sentiments of many American people, feeding on man’s natural need for gore and suspicion, proliferating at the expense of many Mexican people… (okay.. sorry.. couldn’t help myself). Life is good.

Winter Break

Q is back and safe at home by now...
I miss him lots!

The computer broke down (actually, it exploded in the middle of the night, according to Dad. I was asleep and did not hear a thing) which means that the pictures that Q downloaded from his camera are now all gone... and I have to download them all over again :P SooOoo.. that's why this post has no pics.. but I will post them soon :)

Christmas was amazing... New years was amazing too... It was good to be home, and it was good having Q with me for the holidays...
Q and I got here on the same day.. hehe.. after crazy flights. We got some wedding planning done before Xmas. Misael and Abi were in the youth group's Christmas play, which was so much fun to watch! Christmas at home and at my grandparents was lots of fun: all the usual cooking and eating, and even some karaoke! It was great :)! Then we headed to NM, where we visited Q's parents and had a great time meeting their family friends and doing puzzles ;)! we also went skiing, which was quite a fun, exciting experience :)! we enjoyed the Mexican taqueria too! hmm.. and the craft paper we got during our little shopping trip.. hehehe...
Q and I also finalized our engagement in Mexican tradition :) We had the pedida de mano our second night there.
New years we spent at my aunt Sandra's. Hm.. I just realized Q didnt have much turkey this season. We had ribs and pork (what was it?pork something.. I forget the fancy names) at home, tamales and guisado and more ribs at my grandmother's house, and chicken and pozole at my aunt's. We did have ham and turkey for the Susana Wesley dinner, though. And we had leftover ham with his parents... I think ham counts as American traditional Xmas food, right?
Dia de Reyes was last Sunday. Sarai and Daniela got monitos from the rosca. Q and I pretty much just sat in the living room and ate and watched the familia.

Estuvo todo bastante bien, creo. Fue lindo tenerlos a todos juntos. Q se fue hace unos dias, despues de Dia de Reyes. La planeacion de la boda sigue bien... parece que vamos a tiempo con todo. Q fue conmigo a ver los lugares, y fue muy cooperativo y puso atencion a todo. Sus comentarios han sido siempre alentadores y de mucha ayuda...es un amor con patitas, mi nin~o!
Hoy lo extran~aba un poco mas, y cuando estabamos hablando y se iba a despedir me sentia tan solita que le dije que me acababa de acomodar... asi que aunque estaba cansado se quedo conmigo hasta que me senti mejor. Son esas cositas que me hacen ver lo bello que es tener a alguien como el...

Sigh.. Im ready to go to bed now..

So.. by now everybody knows...

...But in case you don't, the tentative date is March 15th, 2009. Yup, 2009. Still (sorta.. not really) looking for a place, so it's (definitely) not official yet. But hopefully we can stick to it... So yeah! Save the date! Or the weekend... hehe... and send us your addresses! We're getting married :-D !!!