joy

The highlight of this day was the lunchtime walk along the Malecon, with the endless Pacific on one side and taxi drivers and shopkeepers hounding me with their come-hither-you-unsuspecting-tourist incentives. I ignored them and took in the blue blue blue of the ocean, a few fishing boats bobbing near the shore. Twenty minutes later I was sitting in a colorful restaurant for a comida corrida of ensalada and enchiladas with agua fresca. ahhhh mexico. my heart soars each moment more that I am here.

Puerto Vallarta welcomed me last night with all the familiarity of what I left behind nearly 8 months ago. As the immigration officer smiled at me, it was as if he knew my joy at returning to Mexico and I practically danced my way to baggage claim. When I literally fell over after putting on my ridiculously heavy traveler's backpack (lower compartment filled with TEFL guides and Mongolia phrasebooks and medical Spanish books - TOO BOTTOM HEAVY) ... yes, I literally fell over, while reaching for the duffel bag to pull out the shoulder strap; several young American vacationers squealed and asked if I was alright. They probably thought I was insane, as I sat there guffawing, laughing so fully and deeply at my clumsiness as I pulled myself out of the pack and started again, loaded down and headed for customs declaration. I got the green light at customs, and headed out into the night.

While nesting and checking emails in my beachy abode, I received confirmation that my visiting professorship placement in Mongolia will indeed go through as planned. Icing on the cake that is this current blessing! Though they are late in submitting the papers for my visa (which I got to them nearly 2 months ago), I have been assured that I will have a competitive salary, and housing provided by the university at no charge to me. Correspondence exchanged into the late hours of the night was specific to the Mongolia opportunity; serenaded by the loud banda music coming from the nearby cantina, I agreed to the terms and have now officially committed to University of Khovd for the upcoming academic year.

Last night the air was full of excitement, humidity and music; the apartment shook with the sounds from the banda en vivo playing in the cantina next door while Tamara and I caught up on too long of a time apart. As we said our goodnights and retired into our respective bedrooms, the music blasted on and the relentless humidity rendered my 'refreshing' shower nearly useless. I slept like a baby anyway, and awoke to the sun rising over the jungle covered mountain vista and the roving water salesmen hollering in the street below. A breakfast of mango and tea, and off to the Centro and to the Spanish Experiencia, where they honored my status as a language teacher and gave me a 15% discount on a week of superintensivo spanish classes- 3 hours of grammar and 2 hours of conversation per day for the week I'll spend here on the beach before my return to Guanajuato. The classes will do me well, as the last 7+ months in the USA have been havoc on my spanish. Funny, the written exam was no problem and I got nearly a perfect score, and they praised me and took me in for the placement interview. Ahhhh that's where the truth came to show itself; as always with me and languages, reading and writing come easily, but speaking, that's a different story. Fluency but not fluidity they say: comfort in speaking with appropriate speed, but self limiting, an inability to retrieve vocabulary, confusion in the subjunctive. The teacher laughed, and said this is normal at this level between upper intermediate and lower advanced. So I'm in a limbo-level? Figures. So anyway, 25 hours of instruction this week should get me back on par with where I should be. And I guess I shouldn't be too frustrated with myself, as any formal spanish instruction I have had was unconventional in its lack of continuity (a month here and a month there at the school, until we added up to 4 months total before I decided to save my pesos). That's not much in the classroom really - everything else came from the streets and bars. haha.

The rewards of being open to the great things that come my way are making themselves known. The journey continues and the adventure fills my heart with joy. And now, the midday sun has lessened its harshness and the ocean breeze cuts the sensation of the humidity a bit. It looks to be time for an hour by the water, to contemplate everything, meditate and be thankful.