Teacher Appreciation Day

I have to admit it is strange to get hit with holidays so soon into the school year, but Teacher Appreciation Day falls just two short days after Independence Day, and they spoiled us with a surprise 4-day weekend! I like their zest for celebration. The teachers were cordially invited to a lunch at Hotel las Glorias Saturday Sept 17, and we had a great time! It was a very small group, but that just made it easier to get to know some of the other teachers a little better. Indra is one of the Preparatoria teachers. She lives in Santa Cruz with her husband and two adorable sons. She invited me out to cook with her one weekend, and there is a zoo in her town. How crazy is that? Elida teaches 3rd, 4th and 5th a couple of Spanish classes. I got to know her a little before school started, but it's always fun to learn more. She lives in Las Vegas (not Nevada) and that's a fun place to walk around, so I'll be visiting her some too.

Indra was a little nervous on the bridge...

We were all sitting around enjoying a nice cup of coffee with slices of lemon cake when this little train rode by, apparently a free service giving people tours of the property. We skipped off like little girls excited to take the train! The driver said they were just finishing the ride, and were about to start another...we're still waiting for our train ride. We thought the train drivers (conductors?) might have been taking a short break, so we thought we might wander a bit while we waited for them. Mrs. Bueso and Magdalena headed to the pool for a swim (I should clarify that they did NOT skip off like little girls, they just nodded and laughed when we headed on our way)--and Elida, Indra, Maryann, Irene and I frolicked around the grounds like little girls.

Maryann got a picture of me with Elida, Irene and Indra

So like I said, we're still waiting for that train ride, but it was such a nice walk with the girls. We walked across the bridge that has such a great view, and it was Indra's first time walking on it. She was so nervous, and mean Elida started shaking it which made things even worse! But the bridge was fun, and we had a mini-photo session once we'd walked across. I'll load some of those pictures once I have them from the other girls. Then we just wandered--I snagged a pretty flower, we looked at the horses, checked out a fake alligator that looks way too real, a few of us even pretended to milk some plastic cows. I guess we all just needed a few hours to be silly; school can be stressful! It was a really pretty day with bright blue skies. That actually seems to be the standard here this time of year. A little overcast in the early morning, bright blue skies all day long and then the thunder rolls in anytime between mid-late afternoon and bedtime. 

When we got back around to the train we were a little disappointed to see it still unattended, but we decided we could pretend to drive it. We then hopped onto the train and swung around the hand rails singing and laughing. Silly girls :) 

We got back in time for lunch, which was tasty, and were joined by Chris and Maria. I sat beside Indra at lunch and we chatted more about Santa Cruz and her family, she shared photos of her boys and her husband. I can't remember his name right now, but I do remember what she said they call each other. She said she knows he's upset when he calls her Indra, because normally they refer to each other as Cielo (heaven) which I find incredibly romantic. Warning for my future husband, he will likely be lovingly llamado Cielo from time to time. Maryann and Elida had some fun with hot sauce during lunch; the pair of them were cracking me up. Elida was picking on Maryann for showing her thighs, and I could not stop laughing. Irene says she thinks she had about five cups of coffee throughout our morning/afternoon at Las Glorias. Dessert just tastes better with a sip of coffee between bites :) Not long after lunch the party came to a close, but that we heard from Eulogio earlier in the day and we were anxious to get back and either hike or row out on the lake...