My, That's a Large Garden

Pretty much every day last week, I was out in my new garden plot, trying to get things in the ground before the summer solstice hit to try to give them a chance to actually sprout and produce some interesting goods. The garden plot is approximately 65' x 65' (4,225 s.f.), which is like 10 times larger than our old garden, that was under 8 feet of water.

Here's a picture of the full garden:
In the front are small mounds, planted with squashes, pumpkins, zucchini, cucumber, water melons, and other vine-type plants.

Beyond that is 2 rows of tomatoes, peas, and beans. Then a row of herbs, then root type veggies, like carrots and radishes. Here are the root veggies, under string rows:

As you can see, we haven't gotten a fence up yet, as we're not sure exactly how to fence such a large space without creating a huge eye sore in one of the higher-end neighborhoods in town. We need to figure it out this week, since we know for sure that there is a family of rabbits that live near-by and that there are definitely deer in the area.

We planted a majority of the new garden as seeds, which is why in the above pictures it looks like a giant dirt patch. But we do have some starts, including all the tomatoes, as well as some peppers, eggplants, and giant pumpkins. Also, we already have radishes poking up out of the ground, which is very exciting. As we were planting things last week, we were getting dispirited since it was so late in the season; but the radishes have given us hope that all this insane amount of work and money spent will at least yield us some small amount of produce.

Since we're right outside our work, we get a fair amount of razzing from our co-workers. But we also have gotten a fair amount of adoration, and have had several people come out during work to either help, inquire about what we're doing, or to bring us snacks, like iced tea and ice cream. We've also had several people from the neighborhood stop by to see what we're up to; apparently a lot of people who use the neighboring gym watch us as they run on their treadmills and are curious as to what we're up to. One guy even told us what a novel idea it was to start a garden. All I could thing was ' We're in Iowa, what else would we do with a big piece of vacant land?'
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On another note outside our front door, I planted a bunch of sunflowers, which have taken quite nicely. Here they are, including one that fell over, but has made a comeback and is growing strong again.


I'm thinking these guys will be 10 feet tall by the time all is said and done, with some giant sunflower heads.

Quitting Time

I gave 3 weeks notice at work today. Despite the fact that I don't really like my job because of the constant physical and mental stress it puts me under, I was a little sad. The people I work with are pretty cool. And occassionally, I have a good time at work, even when I'm really busy and want to stab people with knives (can you believe that someone once ordered a peanut butter & jelly sandwich to-go from my restaurant. A PEANUT BUTTER AND JELLY SANDWICH!!!!! I refused to make it, I was so upset, both that I had to make it and that someone would actually order a PB&J to go).

Anyways, in 3 weeks I'll be heading south of the border to meet up with Kimberly in Mexico for 10 days, then I start school in mid-August. We've been in Iowa for almost a year. Time really flies here in the middle.

Food

For updates on food... check out What we're eating
Off to Mexico City (DF) this weekend and should return with great photos of some of my favorite places!

Easier said than done

So many adventures, so little time to write. Today you get to join me on a grand shopping adventure. Mexico is an interesting blend of Old World (each shop selling one thing and one thing only) and the Us (WalMart, Costco etc).

Join me as I search for contact solution....

Trip 1 (giant mega grocery store a la Fred Meyer): I wander around the Farmacia section and finally discover the eye care. Hooray! My excitement is short lived as I discover that they don't sell me brand (I wasn't really expecting them too) AND they don't sell saline.

Trip 2 (downtown to the land of tiny shops): I stop in the first farmacia I pass. I tell the young woman that I'm looking for liquid for my contacts. Hmm, does 'solucion' mean contact solution in español? We negotiate a bit and then she points me to the selection. Same as at Megastore. Oh well. I move on.

Trip2b: Optical store. This seems promising! They sell glasses and give eye exams, they definitely must have what I'm looking for. Same conversation ensures (but I learn how to say 'multipurpose'!). I enquire about 'salina' for my eyes. The young woman gives me an odd look. No, she says, we just have this. Ok, I reply, do you know where I can find 'salina'? She directs me to the next farmacia down the street.

Trip2c: Farmacia. We start over with the conversation. The young woman directs me to the display of eye care. Hmm, again, not my brand and no saline. I ask her, do you have 'salina'? Strange look on her face. You know, I plunge ahead, water and salt? Like tears? Why do you want that she asks? Well, I say, it put it in my eyes sometimes. You don't want this multipurpose stuff? she wonders. Well, I use a different brand and I don't think I want to mix them. Hmmm... this conversation is getting strange. She consults with an older woman and then goes to the back. She returns with a clear bottle of liquid. This is salina she states. I look at her funny. Hmm I say. She explains that the salina is used to give IVs. Oh, I exclaim, that's not quite what I want! I begin to wonder if I have a vocab problem. I explain that in the US, the companies that make the multipurpose liquid also sell salina in the same boxes just for the eyes. They look at me like this is the weirdest thing they have ever heard. The older woman says that this bottle is just water and salt, so I should be able to use it, if I want to experiment. I laugh and say that I'm not quite ready to experiment on my eyes.

Trip 2d: Another optical store. I've resigned myself to not finding anything, but now I'm just curious. People here don't use saline? But it's so cheap! And this is a fairly dusty place, you'd think that people othe than me would want to wash their eyes from time to time. So, another optical store it is. I've gotten comfortable with my topic, so I know that I can express myself. I confidently walk in and explain what I'm looking for. The young woman explains that no, they don't have my brand or the elusive saline. But, she confidently explains that I should have no problem switching to a new brand, just maybe a little irritation at first (!). I sigh a little, express my thanks, and head off to my second mission (where the hell is the post office and how can 5 people not know?)

Trip 3 will probably be to WalMart (sigh). I've never been inside one, but I should probably check. Just because no one else has encountered the mysterious saline, does not mean that it doesn't exist.

Patience is indeed a virture.

It's raining everywhere!

So, I've been following Peter's stories of the flooding in Iowa. In fact, the floods in Cedar Rapids have made CNN en español here, which is interesting and a little strange. But, I 'm not missing all that much, because it is rainy season here too. This part of Mexico really has two seasons (like Portland really). Wet and dry. But, unlike Portland, wet = summer and dry = winter. So, we are just beginning wet season. The monsoon like rains come in the afternoon or evening usually, and they downpour and then stop very dramatically. We're in a valley, so you can watch the storms come in from the north and make their way down the valley, with full thunder and lightning shows. It's dramatic and exciting.

The other weekend, in Guanajuato, we endured epic rain (all day long). Since Guanajuato is hilly unlike Queretaro, the water rolls downhill.

It looks like this.

Instead of streets, we had rivers. And we waded through them to get from place to place.

Here's poor J trying to make her way across the street

We got through just fine, of course, but they told us that during the real rains, people can't leave their houses due to the water levels. Flooding everywhere it seems.

¡Soap Opera Stars!

Sometimes you just happen to be in the right place at the right time. Mostly, for me, the opposite of this is true. But very occasionally, I happen upon some pretty cool things.

While in Guanajuato, we happened upon a large group of people, hanging out outside the basilica Saturday night. This is a fairly unusual thing to do. Certainly, people go to chuch at night. So that wasn't weird. But these crowds were outside the church, lolling on the steps. And there were the Federales, the National police (kinda like the national guard I guess). They were hanging out too, watching the people. And there were the guys with the little doodads in their ears wearing suits... they kinda looked like Secret Service guys. Hmm, we starting thinking. Something is going on here! So we waited to see what would happen. Cuz, really, clearly something was up.

And we waited and waited and passed the time telling stories of ... well... nevermind. Lets just say we waited.

And THEN! Some people began leaving the church! By this point we had deduced that there might be a wedding (the sounds of mass giving us this idea). And the fact that there were news reporters with video cameras and microphones around led credence to this theory. So, we wondered what famous person was getting married. Clearly, someone important and interesting (and, yes, this is the long version of the story, I want you to appreciate the suspense we were under). So, FINALLY, people were leaving. And this quite attractive guy walked out (alone) and the girls started screaming 'Geraldo' really loud in that Elvis or The Beattles sort of way (and no, not that Geraldo). He posed and smiled for the cameras (everyone's cell phones were snapping photos) so we took pictures too, of course. He pushed his way through the crowd, walking right by us and touching us!! Woo hoo (granted, we had no idea who Geraldo was). A girl ran past us and grabbed him and kissed him. Clearly, he was the heartbreaker of middle Mexico.

We watched the rest of the wedding leave, the bride and groom posed for pics but weren't as popular as Geraldo. And then we wandered off to find beer and dinner (beer as the reward for finding our way home as described in this post). Later, I recounted the story (en español) to my friend from Paraguay. She didn't know who he was, but when I showed her this picture

She exclaimed 'Oh, he's from the telenovela!' So, it turns out that Geraldo is a famous soap star. Isn't that exciting?

Guanajuato- city or stairmaster?

J and I went to Guanajuato last weekend for a little excursion. We had a great time that involved many, many stairs. So many winding paths leading to stairs.

We went to the Museo de Momias (pictures in a separate post in case you're uncomfortable with mummies). It was surprisingly tasteful and was interesting to learn about how the soil and weather combination in Guanajuato leads to the creation of mummies (some were only 20 years old). We also saw the birthblace of Diego Riveria, a muralist and painter who I adore. NExt weekend we head to D.F. (Mexico City) and I'm really looking forward to seeing his grand murals in Palacio de Belles Artes. I'm planning on taking Mom and Peter there as well, that's how much I love these murals. Anyhoo, we toured his house and saw some of his earlier works (he had an impressionist phase inspired by Picasso) as well as some of the sketches for other works.

We treked and treked through the city....


And walked and walked and walked...

And then, we got lost. You see, Guanajuato is small. A Tiny City, really. 70,000 people, but lots of those live out in the suburbs. So getting lost? Really, that takes some special talent. Luckily, both J and I have this specical gift. So we saw on our completely ineffective map (published by the tourist bureau) that Calle Alameda went rightish and upish and then connected to this other street we wanted. So, we went rightish and upish. And kept going rightish and upish. And Kept going. And Kept going. Calle Alameda didn't have any cross streets. None. We'd round a corner, thinking, oh here it is, only to find that is was just a corner. We ended up walking a least an hour, through a tunnel,


which had its own stalagtites

and a parking lot before we found our way. In fact, we basically ended up walking in a gigantic loop. We ended up back where we started. See, that takes talent.


And this is the view from my bedroom window at Casa de Pita.


Even better, these are the views of the INSIDE of our room!

The door to our bath

J headed to the shower

Our pretty sink and mirror

J and our bunkbeds

I tell you, it sure was cute!!

The Rebirth of Garden

First, a quick note to all of those who have contacted me over the last couple days: we are not being flooded in my area of Iowa. Besides the garden plot that is down in the flood plain, and some other areas of the city which are built in the flood plains, the town is relatively dry. It certainly isn't anything like Cedar Rapids, Saylorville, Des Moines, or Iowa City, all of which are, respectively, being evacuated, having their reservoir overflow, having a levee break, or being flooded and the art museum being in danger of floating away. So we're pretty lucky here. Unfortunately, most of the eastern part of the State has been fairly well damaged. One guy I work with was supposed to move to Iowa City in August, but he thinks the restaurant he was going to might shut down. And another guy I work with has his parent's basement flood, thereby losing lots of his old stuff, including lots of old books.

Thanks for contacting me to check in.

Now back to the real news: I have a new garden plot. Hooray!

I think I mentioned in my last gardening update that a co-worker had secured the plot next to our restaurant. Well, we got a long enough break in the weather that we were able to till it. Four of us went out yesterday and dug up a 60 x 60 plot. It's freaking huge.

Tomorrow, me and one other guy are gonna go out and erect a fence, hopefully scavenging as much stuff as possible from our old plot.

Here's a few pictures from the planning session we had earlier tonight to figure some stuff out:

The main players are the two guys looking at the camera: the Retro Librarian and 'The Guy who looks like he's from Iowa'. The others are either significant others or co-workers who were just there to mock us. We'll see who's laughing come harvest season. Hopefully.

Our seeds and some light reading. Retro Librarian went a little overboard with the seed buying.

Iowa Guy being sad after being told that he can't smoke around the tomatoes because of Tobacco Mosaic virus. I have no idea if this can really happen, but he was sad.

While we were outside, we saw all these little baby rabbits running around. Then eventually, we saw their momma, and then we saw this:

Those are little baby bunnies feeding from their mom's teet.

Updates to follow.

I'll never be a photographer....

Just for fun, here is a series of photos I took, attempting to get you all a great shot of Bos, our house dog.

Nope, he looked away. How about attempt 2?

Not even close, although you can see how flexible he is. Attempt 3?

No, not even with J's help. One more attempt?

Well, you can kinda see his goofy face, but this picture doesn't even do justice to the very strange face of Bos. I think my photography career is over. Luckily, I like writing.

Stories from the house

I promised earlier some stories told by Alfredo and Cristiana. They are great storytellers and also have tremendous patience with my varying spanish ability. My favorite recent story tells about the orgins of their house.

Cristiana's father was just married to her mother and they were living in a tiny house on the edge of town. While he was sleeping one night, he was awoken by a ghostly woman. This woman told him about some money that was buried beneath the orange tree. She wanted him to dig up the money (that had been buried when there was a war against the Christians) and release her soul. He did this and found a huge stash of money. He used the money to buy their big house near the centro and raised 11 children there. Alfredo and Cristiana later bought the house from him.

Cristiana spent a lot of time making sure I understood how these ghosts are not frightening, because they have no strength of will over a person. They can only hurt you if you give them the power to hurt you. However, she said that they are stuck here until someone can help them finish whatever they were doing before they died. It was a facsinating conversation, not particularly sentimental or emontional but rather matter of fact. She was just describing reality, not something mysterious, or something to really exert much energy on.

Other stories don't translate as well, but I've been learning lots of great words and jokes... in particular, two handy words. A fresa (strawberry) is a person who's kinda stuckup. A mango is a person who is so sexy that you drool.

fun fun!

Crickets...

No, not because I haven't been posting..

In my tacos. Yep, we had cricket tacos. No pics (cuz we were trying to be cool!!). But they were salty and crunchy. Not bad, but a little too salty for my tastes. And small enough so that the legs didn't get stuck in my teeth. Man I hate it when that happens.

Gardening/Weather Updates

A quick update on the gardening/weather situation:

• Our community garden plot is still under some water. I walked down to the plot, through ankle deep water, and found that there are actually still some plants standing, notably the pepper plants and some of the squash. And one of the sunflowers. The tomatoes were still standing, but they were black and didn't look like they were going to make it through. Additionally, the water that is flooding the field smells really, really foul. Up river, there must be lots of farms and hog farms, so all the fertilizers and other stuff has settled into our field.
• Two of my co-workers have also secured gardening plots, one in one of their back yards, the other on a vacant lot near the restaurant we all work at. Unfortunately, since the weather has been so terrible and rainy, we can't till the soil, so we can't plant anything. Although the growing season here does extend into October, it's getting a little late for planting.
  
• As for the weather, Iowa is experiencing one of its worst floods since 1993. Apparently, we've just been through one of the worst winters in recent memory and are now experiencing one of the worst springs/rain seasons in recent history. It's really amazing. We haven't had 2 consecutive days of non-rain for at least the past 3 weeks, and maybe longer. There are reservoirs and lakes and rivers and streams that are all about to burst and overflow their banks. The City of Des Moines closed all their bridges last night because they needed to open up the reservoirs to release water, and the water was almost to the tops of the bridges. It's actually really bad throughout the state.
  

Hopefully, things dry out and we can get some plants in the ground.

The Life is a Cruel, Scary Place Sometimes

I am writing this from my secret hiding place. This place is so scary that I need to hide in this cool, dark place, where no one can find me, for 20 hours a day. Fortunately, I sleep 20 hours a day, so the overlap is nice. But let me tell you this, being awoken by loud cracks of thunder coming from the sky is not a fun time. Even when I'm in the happy dark place.

This is the scariest place I've ever been. EVER! It's so loud, and the flashes so bright, it's scares the poop out of me. Literally. I've been pooping all over the place, I'm so scared. So scared. And my favorite Kimberly isn't here to cuddle with me. So much sadness layered over the scared.

Damn, that was a loud one!

These storms are just the latest in a string of unfortunate events over the last few months.

First, there was the whole bird incident: We had this little bird come visit for a week. At first, I thought to myself 'Yum, what a delightful looking snack that little guy is. He's all bright and green, I bet he's very tasty.'


So I tried and tried to meet my new 'friend', but alas, the defenses around him were too strong for my little paws. Also, he yelled really, really loudly, which is so off-putting. Eventually I just sat with him and fantasized about chewing on his little tasty wings.


A little while later, Kimberly and Peter were hiding things from me in a small room. They were trying to be all sneaky, but I knew there was something in there. I could smell it.


Eventually, I was able to break in, and I went to work right away, investigating what was in the giant bag. I got to eat some tasty paper while searching for something that smelled suspiciously like tasty food.

Peter stopped me once, but I wasn't going to let him stop me from my new quest.

I eventually was able to break in again, and this time I wasn't letting go of that special bag. I wanted in, and no matter how hard Kimberly pulled, I wasn't letting go of that tasty paper. I did my best sucker fish impression.

Eventually, they moved the secret bag and, unfortunately, I haven't been able to find it yet. But my quest continues for it, and other tasty snacks through out the house.

Now if only this thunder would ever stop, and Kimberly came home, then all would be well again.

Plans!

Well, plans are happening! The confusion of yesterday seems to be over and we have some tenative plans in motion. Today J and I taught our first English conversation class. There are 14 students and they're very eager and chatty, so it should prove to be fun. I'm excited to get to know them a bit and also to be back in the classroom. It'll also be interesting to work with J. She's a lot younger and new to teacher, which means that although there's a lot she might not know, she's also very eager and willing to try things out and see what happens. She's close in age to our students, so I'm also expecting that that may provide some interesting topics for conversation. Tomorrow I should know a bit more about them and perhaps a bit more about the schedule of teaching that I can report back on.

As for my classes, I think I've worked out a plan that will get me both what I need and want and also satisfy the rules and regulations. I'll stay in the grammar class (gosh how I need to work on grammar!) and then not attend the conversation class with the other American kids (I say kids because a lot of them are 19 and this is kinda like SPRING BREAK with ALCOHOL for them). My grammar teacher loaned me a review grammar book as well for the summer so I can brush up on verbs and conjugations. Then, there's a girl here from Paraguay who needs to prepare to take classes in English. The Tec is moving to teaching its content courses in English, so all students need to demonstrate proficiency. Thus, we're going to meet and focus on our different needs. I want speaking practice and someone who will correct me when I make mistakes. She wants practice listening and some writing and speaking as well. We'll meet up tomorrow to sketch out a plan! Hooray for plans!!

And, speaking of plans, J and I are headed to Guanajuato this weekend for a little sightseeing. It's a cool, historical town and I should have stories to tell about mummies! Keep tuned to find out!!!

Adventures in Mexico (the first weekend)

Well, when I left you, we had just gotten settled in and were waiting for things to happen. We had a very busy weekend. After visiting San Miguel de Allende on Saturday, we were exhausted. It's almost a mile up here, and I'm really feeling the elevation. So, on Sunday, we hung out and slept a lot. However, Prof C found out that it was the last night of a play that she had wanted to see last summer. Conveniently, the play was held in the Old Train Station which is literally across the street from the house (the tracks are still functioning - unfortunately- but not for passenger trains). We ambled off and what a neat experience it was.

The play told the story of Carlota, wife of Maximilian. Max was put in charge of Mexico by the French, but didn't luck out very well. Eventually, there was a revolution and he was executed here in Queretaro by firing squad. Carlota went crazy and never recovered. The play told a rather interpretive version of the story, but was fantastic. They used the set of the train station and very little else. First, we all stood out on the platform and watched as Carlota missed her train (as an actual train went through the station!). Then, the station master (the only other actor in the play) ushered her and the audience inside to a waiting room. The rest of the play took place here. By turns, the actor who played the station master became Maximilian, Bentito Juarez (the first president of the Republic of Mexico and the one who authorized the assignation of Maximilian), Napolean, and a few other people. He played the accordian, clarinet, and harmonica as well. Carlota cried three times and as we were in the front, we could see her actual tears. She went slowly crazy during the performance and it was quite excellent.

On Monday, we came here to the Tec to try to make plans. Note that I've written try. It's very difficult to plan in advance here and we were pretty unsuccessful. But, all was fine. J and I headed back to the house and after our siesta, we decided to walk to the centro and people watch a bit. We stopped for ice cream (not quite as good as gelato) and parked ourselves in a plaza. After a while, we were approached by four girls. They asked us if we would help them with a class project. Being teachers, we had to say yes of course. So, we became actors in a video! They were making a video as a final project for a communications class. We never quite understood the point of the video, but it was a lot of fun. The girls were clearly persuasive and soon had a group of 15 people standing around them. They instructed us to dance like we were at a concert. After they were satisfied, the group dispersed. Then, they asked us if we'd help some more. They had us fight with each other, slowly savor a bottle of water and some popcorn, and listen to their ipod. We gave them our emails, so hopefully we'll get to see the final product of the video!

Today the Spanish classes began. We still aren't quite sure what, when, where, and who we'll be teaching, but we do know where to go for Spanish. However, my class is full of some pretty reticent students and since I'm only auditing, I don't want to dominate them. C and I talked about whether I'd drop the class, but for now I'm going to go to the grammar portion and try to arrange an English-Spanish language exchange with a student here for the rest. I feel like I'm a bit more motivated than my classmates, and I certainly don't want to spend 20 hours a week sitting on my hands (4 hours a day for 5 weeks... it's very intensive). We'll see if we can get this deal agreed upon by the people in change... well, it's definitely going to be an adventure!

The Day After

On Friday, I informed you all of the small scale flood we had here in our middle-American town. We were supposed to keep getting rain and thunderstorms, adding to the water level, for the rest of the weekend; fortunately, the weather was more or less dry.

So on Sunday morning, I walked down to the field where our plot is to assess the damage. I have to say, I was expecting the worse. In reality, it wasn't as bad I thought it would be.

Here's a view from the embankment, the same place I took some of the earlier pics:
As you can see, the soccer field has become a water polo field. But, as you can see in the back, there's our fence, and it looks like it isn't in too bad of shape:
I walked down the path on the east side of the field to see if I could walk to the plot, but there was still a significant amount of water on the low ground, including on our plot. While I was down the path, I did get this better shot of our still standing fence:
Since I couldn't tell if the plants had survived from that distance, I tired to use the digital zoom on the camera to get a better look. Unfortunately, with the digital zoom and my shaky hands, I wasn't able to get a good look at ground, although it does look like it was still underwater:

Unfortunately, we're supposed to get more storms over the next 3 days or so. If somehow it stays dry here, I'll try to walk down to the plot to see if anything made it through.

Life in Mexico

So not much has happened yet, we're still spending our time going from office to office to get id cards, classrooms, placements test, and figure out when. where, what, and who we're teaching. Not much to report on that front, so I thought I would give you an overview of a typical day here thus far.

We get up in the morning andgo upstairs for breakfast (desayuno). The father of the house (Alfredo*) prepares breakfast. We always have fresh squeezed juice (orange, guyaba, etc), fruit (platanos, papaya, pina etc) and then eggs or quesadillas or toast and jam. Alfredo also roasts his own coffee. He sits with us and we talk about various things. Often he'll tell us historical stories or legends or teach us something. All of this is in Spanish, although Alfredo speaks English and will translate a word if we just don't get it.

After breakfast, we'll typically go to the Tec (our university). It's a short bus ride away which is always an adventure. J and I will take spanish classes from 9-1 M-F (I placed into Intermediate 2). We'll teach English and lead a language exchange after that (exact times and days to be determined... hopefully soon!). Then we can either head home for comida, the big meal of the day, or eat out. Much like in Italy, Mexicans eat a big lunch with several courses. A siesta is also typical after that (lunch break is typically from 2-4). Dinner, if any, is a light snack around 8. J and I are still adjusting to the sun and the altitude. It's about 5400 feet here, and any amount of walking is surprisingly tiring.

Cristinana* is the mother of the house and she prepares comida and dinner and sits and talks with us. She speaks less English, but is an animated storyteller. She adds lots of sound effects a gestures to help clarify her stories. She tells us about the history of the house, the town, and her family. Thus far, it's a great place to stay and really feel involved. I doubt it'd be possible to feel isolated here.

I'm looking forward to sharing more stories with you. Today wil be busy again, trying to figure things out. But tomorrow our real schedule begins. I'm not sure I've ever audited a class before, and though I need to do the homework, I'm looking forward to being motivated solely for learning, rather than for a grade or transcript. The American kids seem pretty young, so it'll be interesting to see if I'm the 'old' lady. Most are around 20... which is more than a decade difference.

My love to you all. Let me know if there's something particular you're interested in learning about.

(*Note that as always, all names have been changed)

Devastation

First of all, thank you all for the wonderful comments in the original garden post. I appreciate them.

Second, remember how mentioned I would keep you updated on said garden? Well, this may be the last post in that thread.

So, I mentioned that it was raining and we were having thunderstorms, right? Well, I awoke this morning to a co-worker who also has a plot near us: 'The rain gods are fickle.' I know he's trying to plant his plot, so I thought there was too much water still and he was sad.

I was so wrong.

When I walked down to the garden plot, I noticed an unusually large number of cars coming through the complex. Then, as I got close to the plot, I saw this:

You're looking at a soccer field. And that's water. A lot of water. More water than there should be. Like, say, a flood.

And this is where our garden plot is/was/should be:
There is a river that runs a couple hundred feet to the south of our plot, and apparently it crested overnight (I heard someone say it crested 5 feet, which sounds really bad):
Now the river is like 10 times as wide as it was before. And flowing really fast.

And if it looks deep, it is. See these basketball hoops, they're 10 feet tall. Keep in mind that the original height of the river was at least 5 feet BELOW our garden plot.
There's also a golf course across the street, which is along the river. Guess what happened to that:
I think that hole now has a water hazard.

It's supposed to thunderstorm pretty much non-stop until next Wednesday, so I think the water might continue to rise. We're fairly high up, so I think we'll be ok, but I think the units down near the filed are in trouble.

I don't know what happened to the fence and plantings at our plot, but I'm going to go ahead and assume they're all gone, based on how fast the water was flowing.

Here's the schematic of our plot now:

I'm not sure what it will look like once the water falls, so I'm not sure if I'll replant. right now, I'm a little shocked.

Goodbye dear garden, we barely knew ye.

[More pictures of the devastation on Flickr]

¡Hola de Mexico!

Hi all! We arrived in Mexico last night after a long flight (with transfers) and then a 3 hr bus trip (unfortunately we arrived during rush hour). We got settled in and slept like the dead.

I'm here in Queretaro, Mexico with a classmate J and professor C. We're working at the Tech, one of the 15 universities in this city. J and I will be teaching a conversational English class for the Mexican Tech students, and also hosting a language exchange between them and the American exchange students.

Eleven years ago, I did my own study abroad in ths town, but at a different uni. A lot has changed. The city is even bigger (1.2 million now) and there's more traffic. But the centro is stll historic and the churches are amazing.

I'll ce keeping you all updated and hopefully will have pictures of exciting travels and local scenes. Mom is going to be joining me after school lets out and then Peter's coming after that. I'm sure that means that lots of adventures are in store!

I have regular access to emails, so send them along like normal. Thus far the weather is fine, warm but not hot and a slight amount of humidity. Apparently, there was a heat wave before we got here. Sounds like I'm bringing the cool weather with me wherever I go. It sounds like we might be headed to San Miguel de Allende this weekend for a little trip.

More news to follow....

I Will Soon Be Very Sick of Eating Tomatoes

Here at our housing complex run by Farm U, you can sign up to get a community garden plot. Since our existing outdoor space consists of (1) a concrete, fenced-in patio almost completely screened of sunlight; (2) a concrete patio that is regularly terrorized by the neighboring dogs (so much so, in fact, that we can't really use it at all - dog poo smells terrible); and (3) a small patch of land that I commandeered from our former neighbor that doesn't really belong to us, and which I already planted with sunflowers [Quick sunflower note: most of the sunflowers I planted in that spot died, since I waited too long to put them in the ground and they were all weak and falling over. I started some new sunflowers inside and planted those earlier. They are now flourishing], we jumped at the chance for a community spot.


After the-longest-winter-in-the-history-of-the-middle*, the weather finally calmed down right after Mother's day enough for us to go investigate our plot. We had asked for half a plot (about 8' x 16'), so were surprised when we were given a full plot (16' x 24'). We weren't sure what we were going to plant, but now we could plant even more of it.


Our first task was to put up a fence, since the rabbits around here are fruitful (and cotton-tailed cute) and deer live right next to our plot. After a trip to the local chain hardware store for supplies, we constructed a pretty sweet fence, using plastic stakes, wooden stakes, wood lathe, and 3-foot chicken wire. We're pretty confident that the fence will keep out rabbits, since we staked it down to the ground, but we're pretty sure the deer could just walk through it or jump it. We have some home remedy type ideas to keep them out, but we haven't done anything just yet - please let us know if you know of anything that might work.


After constructing the fence and raking out all the hay, we drove over to our local, actually local, plant nursery, which was super cool. We ended up buying a bunch of starts and seeds, most for about $1.50 each, some $1.50 for 3. That seemed cheap to me.


A couple days later, we got down to the plot, fence still standing, and put everything in the ground. We have lots of good stuff, too much of which to list, so here's the schematic we drew up after we planted:

(click on the picture to actually be able to read it)

And corresponding photo of the actual planted garden (looking southwest towards the big pumpkin):


Anyways, within 2 days of planting everything, we left town for a week to go to a wedding in Arizona. We were worried that everything would die from lack of water, but the opposite happened. It rained almost everyday we were gone, and now things are looking good. We already have some cayenne peppers that are maturing. The beans and peas are all coming up. The tomatoes look happy and we've had to pinch a few flowers already (although one of the Romas is dead, I think). The sunflowers are already ridiculously large. And that 'Big Pumpkin' - it's supposed to grow to 100-lbs. Only the watermelon doesn't look so happy right now. It's pretty exciting.

The only thing is that Kimberly left for Mexico today. She'll be there for 2 months, leaving me in charge of all garden matters, including pruning, weeding, eating, and (potentially) canning if the Romas decide to mature really fast. And as if to taunt me, we are having insane thunder storms right now, with the same predicted over the next few days. I'm a little worried that everything is going to drown now, rather than get killed by drought. This gardening thing is nerve wracking.

Anyways, I posted some pictures on Flickr and I will try to keep the blog updated as things progress. I also just got a call from a friend that he's been given permission to plant some stuff on a vacant lot near work, so I might put some more stuff in there, like more 100-lb pumpkins or huge watermelons. Because if there's anything I'll need, it's more produce.

*verified by real Midwesterner