I'm back

I'm back in Toronto. Puerto Vallarta and Mexico were good, and I'm really glad I went, and might even go back sometime, but I missed my friends and family and needed to come home. So I did.
Now I need to find a place to live and a job, but I feel soooo much better. I was pretty bummed.
Lenchu moved to Canada with me and has gone to live with a friend of mine. His name is now Santo, and they are very happy together. I'll get to visit him, and I know he's being loved, which is what I wanted for him all along.
Yay!

Home Time

I'm moving home June 3rd.

Lack of Sticktoitiveness

Lenchu is visiting with me again, while his family are on vacation for a week. This time, I'm not stressed out, and he's better about biting (kinda), and I'm going to ask his family if I can keep him. I think they'll say yes, as they don't have much time for him, but I don't know for sure. Also, I found out that after 4 months of calling him LenchU, his name is actually LenchO. But, whatevs, he's still Lenchu to me!
I finished my first month of teaching, and it went very well. Then, the school was closed for a week, and my friend came to visit. Awesome!!! It was great to see her and we had a super-fun time. Today was the first day of the new course at school, and so far it's gone very well. I'm a little nervous about tonite's classes, I have 2 new levels I've never taught before, but I'm sure it will turn out okay.
I played the ukulele for an hour or so yesterday and today. My big hit right now is "Promised Land", or maybe "Wind Beneath My Wings". Who can tell which will be the bigger smash?!
Obviously I have no news, sawry.

Teaching, Finally!!!!

I finished my teacher training and am now totally teaching!!! Yay!!!!
It's week 2 and it's going pretty well, I feel. I have 5 classes and they are all good. Today, one of my students told me that she LOVES my class!!!! Woo-hoo!!! It feels really great to enjoy a job and know that people enjoy what you do. Awesome!!
I had 3 weeks off between training and starting work. My parents came to visit for the first week, and it was great. We did a lot of touristy things, including an ATV ride in the jungle and a boat cruise that included some whale watching! It was really fun to do all that stuff, and great to see my parents and get to hang out with them.
I spent the last two weeks of my holidays dogsitting the neighbours' chihuahua, Lenchu. In all, he was here for 3 weeks. He was quite a handful! It made me realize I'm not at all ready for the responsibility of a dog, or at least not a puppy, who still needs a lot of training, etc. I'm glad that I found out thru dogsitting and didn't get a dog and then feel insanely overwhelmed and not know what to do about it. Hopefully, someday, I'll be able to look after a dog of my own. That day is not any time close to now, though.
That's about it.

One with the Birds

There are pelicans here! I can see them from my balcony! Funny guys.
My roomie and I went out for breakfast yesterday morning (French Toast with sugar and cinnamon and strawberries and syrup and a Grande Orange Juice. Yummers!!!!), then to Gay Beach for an afternoon of sunning, swimming and a lil' bit of sleeping. Very nice!
School is going really well. I really enjoy both my TEFL course and my Spanish class. It feels good to be learning useful things, both with teaching and language. I'm busy, what with the split schedule and all, but I'm pretty happy.
The only thing that is making me unhappy right now is that my former place of work, Suspect Video and Culture in Toronto, Canada, burned down last week!!! It was the Queen Street location, where I worked on and off for over 5 years! It was the first job I had that I ever REALLY liked and looked forward to going to. I'm really sad the building is gone and that my friends are now suddenly jobless. I know everything will work out, though, and that they have plans in the works for the future. I miss those guys!
I'm about to practice my ukulele, for the second time in over 3 months. When I first got my lil' uke, I was playing it all the time, serenading friends whenever they came over, whether they wished it or not! But, once I moved I got all busy and, some would say, lazy about uking it up. However, I just read a post on my friend's blog about how he bought a sweet lil' uke this past week and he's loving it, and it's totally inspired me to get back on the uke horse! Plus, I have a band I need to be practicing for, my band partner's playing her guitar all the time and I'm getting way behind with my own playing.
So, yeah, gotta go. The uke calls to me.

I get so emoceanal, baby

Okay, so, Grade 1 lasted a week. Let's not talk about it. I'm now taking another TEFL course, at a school that I'm going to be working at. I'm learning to teach "their way" and it's going pretty well, I think. But, enough about work, more about life!!!
Puerto Vallarta is beautiful, and I really like living here. The sun, the ocean, everything. The people are nice, horchata is delicious, and there are a tonne of tiny dogs! Now, for the last year or so, I've wanted a chihuahua. I think especially since I decided to move to Mexico, I'd been thinking about it a lot. So, I'm going to get one!!! Probably next month, as I have a few weeks off between training and beginning work. I'm hoping to adopt one from a pet shelter. I'm really excited about it! I've never had a pet of my very own, but I think that, at the age of 32, I'm finally ready for the responsibility. I have a friend here that has a chihuahua and a chihuahua/pekingese mix, and he said he'll give me tips and stuff, and I have another friend back in Toronto that used to have a chihuahua, and I'm sure she'll help me out as well. Awesome!!!!
Also, I'm taking Spanish classes. Yay, me!!!
Yep. It's all good.

Back to Grade 1

So, I´m back in Puerto Vallarta, about to start my new job, of teaching, this Monday. I thought I was going to be teaching Grade 5, but, I found out today, when I finally met the Director of the school, that I´ll be teaching Grade 1. Yikes! I went to the school and decorated my classroom (really, it was pretty much ready, I just took down the Xmas decorations), and got the textbook I´ll be working from. I´m sure things will turn out fine, but I´m pretty nervous about Monday, meeting the kids and all that.
This week back here in PV, I´ve just been beaching it up and reading all the time. I got two more Ann Rule books, and bought a boogie board. The Ocean´s a harsh mistress, and flipped me heels over head a couple of times, but it´s still very fun! I reallllly want to learn how to surf while I´m here.
We´re trying to find a furnished apartment as soon as possible, we´ll see how long it takes.
I have to go finish reading about the I-5 killer.
Hasta Luego!