Laughs

Alex recently went to the birthday party of one of her good friends from school.  It was an "all girl" event (with one little brother) and it was just perfect.  A trip on Nuevo Vallarta for a kids movie followed by some ice cream...on a school night.  Simple, fun and memorable...the way it should be.

It takes a village

(Written on May 18)

I just got off the bus at the airport.  This last week and yesterday especially I was ready to go to the US to work, not because I wanted to go to the US and work I just wanted  life to be a little easier and convenient for a minute. 

I wanted a dishwasher
I wanted the power to work and not trip over extension cords that we rigged up.
I wanted to car to be fixed and I wanted to know when it would be fixed
I wanted to call an exterminator to spray around the outside of our house to kill the ticks
I wanted cell phones to work
I wanted to not have maggots
I wanted air conditioning but could not because of the power problem
I wanted Ozzy to find a shop

Then I realized that it is not Mexico that I wanted to get away from, it is the fact that this is life and sometimes when it rains, it pours and it felt like it was hailing, with no car, power, air, communication and lots of creepy craw lies including a scorpion. And there was no time to surf because we had so much going on.

So enough about what I want and am missing and what brings me to the reason for this post. This country of Mexico and its people.  As I was sitting on the bus able to do nothing but watch and think of all the help we received this last week from local Mexicans.

1) Our neighbor Juan Paul came over on his own to help Ozzy try to figure out why we had no power.  He called his friend who suggested we turn off power to the whole house until our electrician, Armondo could come take a look.  When Ozzy called Armondo he was next door working on a neighbors house and said that he would be right over. He came, found the problem, went to town to buy a part came back fixed it and done.  All of this in the time of less than an hour. No calling the electric company, waiting for someone to come take a look at the problem anywhere from 10-4 sometime in the next two days.

2) The car... We took the car to our awesome mechanic, Abel.  He called around to look for a part.  Land Rover in Guadalahaura could not get the part for a month and it was going to cost 12,000 pesos.  So Abel found a part for 6,000 pesos and we would have in in a day or two.  When the part arrived, it was the wrong part so Abel had a part custom made.  It took all day and many trips back and forth to his welder to make this part work and fit perfectly.  We had the car back when he said we would, he guarantees the part and he said that he owed us 1000 pesos.  We told him to keep it.

3) Many locals have offered to help Ozzy find a shop.  If they don't know of something then they know someone to ask. 

4) I had a horrible ear infection and needed to see Dr.  Richard.  In order to see Dr. Richard all you need to do is go to his office and if you do not see him or his wife then knock on the door to their house and you will be seen. No appointments, no paperwork to fill out, usually no waiting, no 1st, 2nd, or 3rd nurses before you have to wait to see the doctor.  And he has most of the medication right there.  So I had Dr.  Richard look at my ears,  he gave my three different medicines and it cost $50 us.

5) We finally got the car back.  The kids were at a birthday party where there was no cell service so I didn't know when to pick them up.  The parents said around 8:30 and when they got into town they would call.  It gets to be nine and I haven't heard from them so I go to get in the car and it is dead. Shit.  I have to walk to town and look for them.  I am down there for about an hour.  I sit in the plaza, go to Virginia's, no kids,  (she and her two boys were at the party also and I asked her to make sure my kids were okay) go back to the plaza, nothing!!  Finally I see Ozzy walk up.  A different parent called Ozzy to let him know they were back and at Virginia's.  When Ozzy went to call me to tell me, all of his minutes were gone (he butt dialed someone and it used all of the minutes he bought the day before) and Virginia got cut off from phone service due to a discrepancy with her bill. No one could call me so Ozzy had to walk down also to tell me where they were.   So we got the kids and took a cab home. This morning Ozzy asked Julio, the house gardner, to jump us and he happily did, just in time to get me to the bus stop to get to the airport.

So, to get to my point.  The local Mexicans here are always happy to help, it is what they do, and many times without being asked,  they see that someone is in need and they step up.  They are never too busy or put out.  They do not have attitudes or look down at you. It appears to me that they never feel like anyone is better than anyone else. It is so refreshing especially coming from Park City. Life is slower paced, they live for today and the now. For the most part they seem happy, not stressed or burned out.  They seem to always be with family, whether it is working, playing or chilling at home.

After that bus ride I realized once again why I love it here. Living here can definitely be a love hate relationship but what I have experienced in the last week and being on the bus with 3 generations of a happy Mexican family watching people work together, watching the Mexican way of life roll by I thought, why would I want to leave? It is so much more my speed in so many ways.

Once you get used to it you realize that life here is easier.  Some stuff you have to wait for but some stuff happens now and you never really know which one you are going to get and because it takes a village and this place is definitely a village.  We see it, live it, experience it, contribute to it.  I don't know how we ever lived without it.

I have to say that I know that no matter where you live it takes a village and I have witnessed many villages.  I just especially like mine.

Alex and Chewbacca

Alex just loves this dog who belongs to her friends Luna and Elena.  He is a pretty cool dog.  Always up for anything.

Competition for The Sundance Film Festival?

Look what's coming to Sayulita!  Spend the first weekend of The Sundance Film Festival here in sunny, warm Sayulita avoiding the "PIBS", traffic, watching film, enjoying tequila, music and surfing.  Then head to snowy Park City, Utah to ski some and catch the remaining seven days of the Festival.  Perfect right?  See you next winter!

In A Backyard After School Somewhere In Sayulita

Photo by Stonefish Skateshop Sayulita, Mexico

Damn Ticks

Yep, that is right, my new worst enemy is the tick.  Not only is it a blood sucker but it has become a major time sucker.  I don't know if it is the new plants our landlord had planted or the time of the year but holy crap...they love Dillon so therefore they end up in the house, just walking around like they own the place, which they probably do. In fact they almost did until I found this fine lady today under a piece of furniture right beside where Dillon sleeps.

Mommy and her eggs, isn't that cute!

Did you know that a tick can lay up to 18,000 eggs?  OMG!  So the time sucking comes in because every time Dillon goes out to take care of business I have to do the once over to get all of the hitch hikers.  Tonight after he went out and just before bed I took off 25 ticks!  Seriously, look:

Hitch hikers looking for blood

And that happens more than once a day.  The thing is that 99% of them are the same size.  I have only gotten a few giant ones, I guess the rest are laying eggs in my house getting ready to take over.

 Poor guy, he looks so sad, like he has leprosy or something, but actually he gets SOOO much more attention and rubs than ever before.  I give him a full body look see and rub down three times a day.

The other time sucker is the research on ticks, how to get rid of them, what to do if they are in your home, etc.  Luckily they have not gotten on us yet as we all know what nasty creatures they are and the diseases they carry.  The cleaning, sweeping, looking, taking down the curtains and putting all of the carpets and other linens that aren't a must (bed linens) away in plastic bags.  I can literally spot a tick the size of a large knat 20 feet away and the ticks here are immune to Frontline.  So what is one to do?   

1)  We could get or borrow a chicken, they eats ticks and they are a dime a dozen here, which I am very close to doing.  But then I need to learn how to keep it around.  I have seen that the chickens in town are not in cages and pretty loyal to their owners.  I need to do more research.

2)  People say put the dog in the ocean every day, but then he will get bacterial and yeast infections as we have already experienced.  No bueno!

3) Fumigate your house but it doesn't help if the dog keeps bringing in the ticks.  Your first step is to make the dog unacceptable to ticks. OKAY! or have your chicken eat all the ticks around your house.

4)  Go on a long work bender and let Ozzy worry about it:)

I vote for # 4

I don't have time for this s@#t!  I have less than one week before I go back to work, I am preparing an hour long presentation that I have to give to both Alex and Trace's classes on Thursday, separately, on airplanes, the business and places I have visited,  (I don't think I ever prepared this much when I was in school), I had to prepare lunch for Alex's class tonight, which I totally forgot about until 2 this afternoon.  These lunch preparations can take all day sometimes.  Luckily I picked an easy one.  And the topping on the cake, if you follow our blog you can probably guess... yes, the car is broken and in the shop, we were out of power in most of the house for two days, go figure, most of the house, ie.. we are getting power from two different sources in the town, only in Mexico, luckily the refrigerator worked so we ran an extension cord from the multiple outlet on the fridge to run the router for the Internet and other miscellaneous things, and made it work and it is light enough long enough so we really didn't need lights and we had food.  I have something going on with my ears, infection, sinus, maybe a tick is making a home in one of them but  I cannot lay down long enough to put the right medicine in to help them, that should be fun on the airplane and for the next two weeks at work.  The good news is we have water and we do not have lice! But if we get lice maybe the ticks will eat the lice and then the chicken will eat the ticks.  It is all about using the food chain that is available to you.

Ahhh, another day in paradise!  Who wants to come visit?;)  We have room.

Chacala 2013

We just returned from our second annual Chacala trip and oh what a trip it was. This year we went for three nights and four days.  We would have been shorting ourselves if we were there for any less amount of time, but I don't think we or the kids could have physically handled being there any longer.  Our friend Kirstin found an amazing house right on the beach.  There were eight families and a total of 28 people.

Group photo minus a few

 Yes, this house slept that many people.  Actually Kirstin and her family took one for the team and slept in a tent for two of the nights.  The house was so spread out and the grounds so large that we never felt on top of each other.  This house had an infinity pool and jacuzzi, beach volleyball court, hammock that got lots of attention from the kids, a Hobie cat sailboat, tons of surf and paddle boards, not that we all didn't bring our own, a main house with three bedrooms and two casitas with two rooms each, two kitchens, two dining areas, it just goes on.

As you can see in the picture there were quite a few kids all around the same age give or take a few years and they all got along so well and had such a blast.  They were pretty much on their own all weekend which gave the parents a weekend off.  Yes, we checked on them at least once a day and fed them when they were hungry.

Group play time.  We never had to encourage them to play together  or suggest activities , it all just fell into place.

Trace and Somers buddied up all weekend.  It was great to see Trace "hang" with an older boy, especially one as physical as Somers.

Trace didn't spend ALL of his time with Somers.  He made sure he shared some time with the ladies also.

Finn, Maggie, Ava, Alex, Tallulah, Somers

Alex getting her very first pedicure, with Ava.

Ozzy, Alex, Robert and Summer taking out the sail boat

Aren't they a good team?

This was Alex's favorite activity all weekend, with Summer.

Some of the other activities included:

Taking the boat out to the surf break

Surfing was actually the main reason for the trip but it wasn't very good.  Just meant we had to stay at the house and have fun.

Siestas

A bonfire making smores

Awesome games of beach volleyball

Trace, Somers and Finn snorkeling right in front of the house.

The house also came with a staff that cleaned and cooked for us.  We only had them cook dinners and one breakfast but had we known how inexpensive and delicious it was going to be we would have had them cook every meal.  Next year definitely!

Chille Rellenos, SOOO GOOD!!!

I was headed back for seconds when someone, suggested we all go for a night time swim.  So we all run down and charge into the ocean not knowing it was infested with jelly fish.  We were in and out in a flash though not before being stung all up and down our arms and backs.  Thank goodness for all of the tequila and wine in our systems which helped numb the pain a bit.  I had my seconds for breakfast the next morning.

Fabulous salad

Packing up to go home:(

Adios to another great trip to Chacala.  It was a much needed vacation, being spoiled, spending time with great people, eating well, playing hard and a little relaxation thrown in there.  The best part is that it is only about an hour away from Sayulita, so we didn't have to go far to get home, and we weren't returning to work, or traffic or strip malls.  We were returning to a beach, and friends and hopefully good surf.  If only I could have had the house staff come with me.

Tamales!!!!

After a day on the beach what is better than a shower and chicken tamales from the "tamale lady"?

Good eating even with no teeth.

School Projects Over Spring Break

At the kids' school, Escuela Del Mundo, much of the effort to keep the school up is placed on the shoulders of the parents and it's expected that every family contributes in some way.  Grounds keepers, maintenance staff, custodial positions etc just aren't in the budget like they are up North.   During this years' spring break the kids were off for two weeks and Ozzy was put in charge of getting some new playground features built before the kids came back to school.  During the break many of the parents spent their spare time contributing various talents and energy to come help get these things done for the benefit of the children.  Three playground features were built, a temporary classroom was erected and a significant portion of the school's campus was reclaimed from the jungle.

The kids were eager to help.

No steel toe boots here.

Power tools and product testing.

Dragon construction complete.

The artists take over with paint.

Dragon complete with temporary fangs.

After three days of work, some of the dads have a beer.

Frank cleaning up the grounds.

Tomas, the real "pro" doing what he does best.

The temporary "yurt" classroom goes up.

The ideas for the playground elements came from the kids themselves and then the parents tried our best to build what they wanted.  Each children's group at school had it's say about what they would like to see added to the school campus.  Before construction they also designed playground "mock ups" and presented their designs to the other kids and to parents.  I was very proud of the parents and kids and what we accomplished for the school in a few short days.  Bringing together people from many different countries, experiences, backgrounds and sharing ideas about how we should get it done, choosing the best idea and implementing it successfully was a great experience.  The results speak for themselves but the biggest compliment for me may have been when a few of the local parents were speaking together in Spanish and later shared that what they were discussing was how "different" this project was compared to what they knew and considered normal.  They said basically that these projects were very organized with a plan in place, with the right tools, materials and know-how and we got the projects done efficiently, in a timely manner and with quality.  I'll take that compliment.  Big thanks to all the parents who came out to help.  That is what it's about.

You gotta pay to play

I am just coming off of 25 days of working straight with only one calendar day off during that time. A calendar day and a 24 hour period are two completely different things in the airline world and probably a lot of worlds. And no, I didn't plan that. What could have been twelve days turned in to 25, but each day for two weeks it all could have changed.

It all started when schedules came out on the 19th of February. I get my schedule and think okay, cool, not bad. But then I pour myself a glass of wine and think back to the last six months and remember that I haven't really worked all that much. I need to break down and work! Of course you think you can handle it after one or two glasses of wine. So I go in and pick up two trips. Plus we actually had a non stop every day from PVR to ATL so the commute is no problem. I pick up an 18 hour two day trip, which is unheard of and a 8 hour turn the next day, so essentially I am flying 25 hours in three days This is like flying to Lagos, Nigeria and back but that trip is a four day. So, I scored! I am thinking that if I get burned out then I will just drop my Cancun turn and my Paris and come home. So off I go, mentally ready to do this. Even if I don't drop Cancun and Paris that is not so bad I will be home on April 3. It is still a lot of days but Paris wont be so bad. I can do this.

LALALA, life is good, I can do this, UNTIL schedules come out on the 19th of March. I need to explain the schedules coming out thing. So you bid for what you want to work, days off, trips, report times etc every month. It goes in seniority order. We have around 20,000 flight attendants, the oldest being 89 or 90 by now (yes, that is years old), so you see what it does for peons of my ripe young age of 42. Nadda! So I get my schedule. SCREWED!!! I have reserve days on April 5-7, when I was planning on going back April 3 or sooner, and don't have to work again until April 20. Okay, not only did I bid for those days off, and bid to avoid having reserve days at that time because when you have reserve days you cannot do ANYTHING to manipulate your schedule to get the time off you want, especially when those days are a weekend and when the final four is in Atlanta!

So I try to swap, drop, anything and no one is biting. I hem and haw for weeks as to what to do. If I cannot get rid of my reserve days then I might as well pick up a trip because I have two days off between Paris and my reserve days. I am here in Atlanta, make money, right? So I do it. I have a choice of flying A line (flight attendant in charge)  to Venezuela or non A line to Panama. I pick non A line to Panama. I am mentally fried at this point. I flew A line up until Cancun and at that point I knew that I need to be an Indian. So this is how I worked 25 days in a row with one calendar day off.

The funny part is, that what got me into this craziness in the first place, wine, is what I decided to give up during this working stint. I knew that I had to stay healthy and sleep well to make it through. I tried to eat well (as well as you can when living in tubes, hotels and airports)  and sleep a lot, which I love to do anyway. Actually I had no choice, my body would not let me do anything else on most layovers. I learned to become invisible while being physically present. Meaning I was a robot. Just smile, and don't loose your job. I also learned how to walk away from a fight. I think the exhaustion saved me this time because I usually like a good fight with a passenger, especially when I know I am right, but this time I threw in the towel walked away and no longer interacted with this particular asshole. My crew members were awesome! They got me through it with their laid back mentality, and support of my weaknesses and forgetfulness and just being there and drama free. I missed my family so much, I would often take a long moment and go inside myself and hug and smell my children. It really helped. As did Face time. Thank you Apple computers and grandparents!!! I eventually had to get back on the juice (wine), but in very small doses.

I am finally back at home, sitting on my couch,  watching the ocean, surfing, sleeping and most importantly loving my wonderful children. Cuddling and smelling them, looking at them and thinking how wonderful they are and how well they adapt to me being gone and what a wonderful job Ozzy does with them when I am gone. He has raised some pretty incredible kids. I have to add that the usual happened, if you have read other posts, the car started acting up, but somehow fixed itself, Dillon got worms, and the kids had a three week vacation in which Ozzy had to entertain them all day without help. Luckily the water to the house continued to work!

My 25 days in pictures:

This is how it started. Snow, snow, snow, cold, cold, cold flying around the northeast. Isn't it Spring yet?

Brr, I think I was in Wisconsin between two lakes thinking how awesome this place would be in the summer

Ahh, St. Martin,  I was great to be back by the water in warm weather.  I want to stay, nope gotta go back north to...

Next stop, Maine, and back to the cold. Had all intentions on venturing out and seeing Portland, the water, boats, but it was cooold. Decided to stay in the hotel with the crew and eat lobsters. The whole crew, pilots and f/a's did dinner, for four hours. Ate a wonderful lobster roll.

The lobster roll was so good even the lobster  that my co worker ordered wanted to eat it

Next I was supposed to have a 17 hour layover in Charleston, SC.  I was looking so forward to it, getting back to my roots, walking around, we actually stay at the same hotel where my brother got married. I desperately needed to buy a pair of work shoes, (I depend on layovers to do my shopping because I just can't get what I need in Mexico), and I was looking so forward to eating at my favorite sandwich shop, Grouchos. I could already taste it and I was going to buy two. As I am dreaming of this wonderful layover I am about to have I hear ding dong. Ding Dong has the potential of being one of the most dreaded sounds to a F/A on the airplane. It usually means that the pilots are trying to contact you, and depending on what phase of flight you are in the dreaded ding dong means different things. This particular ding dong was to tell us we had a reroute, in other words we were not going to Charleston anymore.  My dreams were crushed and I actually think my mouth started to cry. Oh well, next time I guess.  My next trip has a layover in Salt Lake, which I bid for so I could get my mail and visit with Carrie.  I have to get to SLC! As you can see, my layovers are very important for me to take care of my north of the border business.  Sitting in MSP waiting to go to SLC, all right I am going to get my mail. Oh no, why is there a mechanic on board?  Plane is grounded, not going anywhere.  Are they going to cancel the flight? reroute us? we just have to sit and wait, as my dreams of mail are slowly  getting beaten down.  Luckily they found another plane, oh but it is not going to be here for another two hours.  So my 13 hour layover just turned in to maybe 9 hours if we are lucky.  So Carrie and I just switched our plans to have coffee in the morning.  Luckily she is in the airline biz as well so she completely understands.  It is always great to see Carrie, though being in Salt Lake was a little strange for me this time. I lived here, I have a house here, I was based here for 15 years, I know this place. I really wanted to jump in my car, drive to Park City and see my husband and kids. Even a we walked off of the plane I knew the crew that was very unhappily standing there waiting for our very delayed flight at 12:30 in the morning, because they needed our plane to fly to Portland, OR.  I am glad I am not them!! I had to pinch myself and remember that I live somewhere else now. I am based in Atlanta and live in Mexico, but I am back in SLC.   It was bitter sweet.  And yes, I got my mail.  Once again, thank you Carrie!!

Next up, Cancun, not much to say here. It was good to be back in Mexico for 50 minutes but it doesn't feel like Mexico.

That water is beautiful

Finally Paris!  I knew that if I could get this far I was on the home stretch.

Obviously me in at the Eiffel Tower

 Awesome trip, awesome crew. Haven't been to Paris since the mid 90's. We hit the ground running. Walked the city and visited the Eiffel Tower which was just a few blocks from our hotel. Were headed to the Notre Dame but exhaustion kicked in so we took the train back to the hotel, got some wine and cheese, chilled and crashed, HARD.

France's Statue of Liberty taken from my hotel room

Arc de Triomphe.  We drove right past it on our way back to the airport.  Nothing like doing your sight seeing to and from the airport. 

And then Panama.  The quick two day to kill time.  The only comments from here is that the hotel we stay at has a really good inexpensive breakfast.

My last trip, the reserve days that turned what could have been 12 days into 25 days.  Wonderful crew, nothing too exciting except that when we were flying out of Newark I just happened to look out of my little window to get a perfect view of our Statue of Liberty.  Wow, I think to myself,  I have really gotten around these last 25 days.

You know, the job is hard, tiring and trying, we miss our children's milestones, birthday's, holidays and everything else in between.  Our families adapt because they know no difference.  The husbands are the primary caregivers, the children are very well behaved and well mannered, they are worldly, independent and patient. It is a job that pays pretty well, has benefits, tons of freedom and flexibility, if you can work it, and you don't take it home with you. I am so grateful for technology so I can communicate with and see my children in real time and for windows so I can see the world as I am flying around it.

I don't ever want to do 25 days again but YOU GOTTA PAY TO PLAY!

Spring Swell In Sayulita

As the spring vacation came to an end the waves started up in Sayulita.  This fantastic shot by Donna Day is of our friend Kirsten doing what she does best...  Killing it.