Teacher's Convention Weekend 2010

For the last several years we've planned getaways for Teacher's Convention weekend. Nothing solidly planned this year turned into a pleasant hodgepodge that provided a little taste of many things. It didn't have all the expectations of something you plan in advance and it breathed some spontaneity into our normally quiet weekends. There's freedom in deciding what you'll do at the spur of the moment and real enjoyment in discovering new things. It makes me feel like an explorer.

Thursday

I took off work to attend a continuing education course related to substance abuse at the UW-Madison Extension. Ry tooled around all day doing his own thing while I sat in a day-long course at the Pyle Center. The course was useful enough and it's always invigorating to learn something new that will stretch me professionally. After the course ended we met a friend of Ry's back from his college student teaching days named Darcy. We dined at Graze (a down-market sister of L'Etoile that uses locally sourced ingredients) with Darcy and her husband Andy. It's rare that you do the couple "first date" thing and it ends up swimmingly. However, this was the exception to the rule. They were super cool and I enjoyed myself quite a bit. They are into cooking, gardening, canning, literature, home projects and all things interesting. So, rock on Darcy and Andy.

Friday

We had firm plan to visit Ikea to purchase some sort of sidebar/buffet/shelving system to fill up our very long and empty kitchen wall. We'd been looking around for a while without much luck, so we figured the Swedish giant would have something. I've only been there one other time on a Saturday, we walked through a tiny portion of one story and I almost flipped out in a full -n panic attack and we left right after we found what we came for. The store was bearable on a Friday during the week and we had a mission, so we stuck it out for three hours looking at all of the options until we came up with the perfect option.


Having a little too much fun with the cart!


I made Ry pose for this pic, which apparently embarrassed him. I learned afterward that he's not all about this type of tom-foolery in stores. You learn something new about your partner every day and I can respect that for the future.

The combination we picked out wasn't actually assembled together anywhere on the floor, but we dreamed it up and were happy with the results. The pics don't do these justice, but they look very nice, especially with the track lighting system we've got that shines right down on it. Ry got the great idea to put our china in it and the silver detailing just sparkles in the light. This sparkling-bling-china-thing seems a little upscale-snooty for my taste, but I was so happy with the results. It looks downright classy.


Full-frontal.


Another kitchen angle.

We took so long in Ikea that we weren't going to be able to do some of the other things we wanted to in Chicago, so we decided to drive into the city and spend an impromptu night. Ry has been jonesing to eat at a vegetarian restaurant he used to frequent when he lived in the city called The Chicago Diner. We enjoyed delicious vegan potstickers, lentil cakes, a seitan gyro and a vegan reuben with bubbly beverages. Weirdly enough, our waitress was a girl who has served us at Beans and Barley many times. We also knew the Manager who happened to be a friend of a friend.


Mural under the 'L' on the way to the restaurant.


Neon with hipster waiter rushing through.


Bill with little note indicating Wisconsin love from our server.

We called up a boutique hotel called the Hotel Burnham and were able to get a room. It was luxurious, cozy and historical, just what the doctor ordered. We stopped into the Walgreen's next door and bought toothbrushes and some candy (funny combo). We chilled out in our complementary robes and watched movies until late into the night.


View of the Trump tower from our window.


Hanging art exhibit in Burnham lobby.


Breakfast in the Atwood Cafe, the house restaurant.

Saturday

At least once a year we visit the National Museum of Mexican Art Day of the Dead exhibit and the Lincoln Park Conservatory for a stroll down memory lane. We went to both of these places on a chilly December date about a week after we first got together. It was a magical time and it's nice to relive it with warm fuzzies each year. Not to mention that we also like hanging out in Pilsen for its Mexican flavor. This year we added the Lincoln Park Zoo to our agenda. The weather was warm and sunny, but also cool, a perfect mix for a fall lakeside stroll.


Ah, Pilsen, you're such a colorful neighborhood.

Beautiful little urban treasures.

Hmmm, Chiapan artist...not quite sure what you're trying to say here. Just kidding.

Day of the Dead offering.

La Guadalupana.

Flamingos at the zoo.

Fiddler at the zoo.

Cool old-fashioned sign. I highly recommend their winter seasonal exhibit starting in December.

In the Palm Room.

In the Orchid House recreating a shot from one of our loverliest dates ever.


Dessert at Pizzeria Spacca Napoli to finish off a sweet day.

Sunday
Ry spent a good chunk of the day assembling Ikea shelves while I raked the yard. We also hung up some items we hadn't been able to get to yet like our colorful Oaxacan cross purchased at a mercado in Mexico City, a decorative leaf wall sconce above our bed, papel picado paper cutouts to celebrate the Day of the Dead and our chat lunatique sign in the kitchen. The house is starting to feel much more like our house now that we are getting the last of our items up.

We had only a few trick or treaters who got a kick out of us having our cat out on a leash. There were many comments about his pretty silver coat and his green eyes. We carved punkins together at night and Silvio escaped and climbed up a tree. Ry was able to grab him down by his tail at the last second. I roasted punkin seeds and cleaned up while Ry finished his crazy-super-detailed carving.



Colorful tree. This is actually deceiving since I raked the whole yard except between those two bushes.

Cat on a leash.

Ry with his super complicated stencil. I just want to point out that he carved the Mexican revolutionary Zapata, while I carved a smiley face jack-o-lantern.

Punkin guts.

From the curb.

Up close.

Roasted seeds. Yeo family recipe.

All in all, it was a wonderful weekend! I wish for another pleasant little odyssey just like it sometime soon. Well, maybe not just like it, but full of the same spirit of variety.

Post Trip Reflection

After having the opportunity to meet some of Ry's former students and spend some more time in Mexico, I have been feeling very, very proud of the work he does. Since I've known him I have become progressively more aware of the immigrant experience here in the United States, specifically the Mexican immigrant experience. I've learned that the immigrant experience is even more nuanced than I thought depending on generation, legal status, papers, and social class.

I see now that his job is more than teaching language. He serves as an advocate and source of support for his students. He shows them he is interested in their culture, their wisdom and the richness of their varied backgrounds. He helps them navigate an unknown world and helps them feel more comfortable in a place where no one speaks their language, they are culturally isolated and idiots say things like "you're in America, learn to speak English damn it!" and "go back to Mexico" (or worse they can't even correctly identify their country of origin).

All of this and these students are trapped between two cultural worlds feeling out of place, many of them literally trapped by rapidly evolving witch hunt-style anti-immigration legislation designed to deny them basic human rights. It didn't make sense to me before and it makes even less sense now. We need immigration reform!

The killer is that most Americans have no conception of the richness of Mexican culture. I only experienced a slice of it on our trip and I can say it's vibrant beyond my wildest notions. Most of us Americans don't see Mexicans for anything beyond small, dark-skinned people who have come here "illegally" to take their jobs. Most of us don't know anything about Mexico beyond our vague ideas that it is an "exotic" and "dangerous place". Why don't we learn about Mexican or Canadian history and culture in school? We're all North Americans, right? Shouldn't it be mandatory for us to learn something about our closest neighbors?

This trip has left me feeling more knowledgeable, blessed and conflicted. I marvel at what I learned and what I was able to experience in such a short amount of time. I feel lucky to have met and interacted with more Mexican people. I also feel sad that we know so little about a vibrant, ancient culture right next door. I feel inspired to learn more.

As a side note, I've added pictures to every post from Mexico City and am done. Be sure to scroll back for something colorful!

Home Sweet Home

Just a quick note to let you all know that Ry and I made it home safely at about 3:30am this morning. I managed four hours of sleep before I had to get up to lead a new staff training event in our apartment. I ran out to buy doughnuts and was very saddened that I could not partake in the chocolate long-john goodness, 'cause today is our first vegan day until April 11th, 2011. I'll just have to keep reminding myself that I'm doing this for awesome health. Who knows, maybe I'll perfect a vegan chocolate long-john recipe. My newest mission is to create one for sopa azteca, since my tast for it has been recently heightened.

I have started adding pictures from our trip to my Mexico City themed blogs, so scroll back and check them out if you please.


All packed up on our last afternoon in the DF.

La Turista and Pyramids

I've been out of commission for blogging due to the combination of low level food poisoning, my "female gift", a migraine and some intense sunburn. In spite of my fluctuating icky mood we have been able to get out into the city and do some things over the past few days. A brief run down:

Wednesday: Ry drank espresso at Tuesday's dinner and was up half the night, so we decided to postpone Teotihuacan for another day. We returned to Coyoacan to visit the Frida Kahlo Museum located in her famous Casa Azul. Not much actual art there but very interesting artifacts, photos and writings from Frida and Diego's life together. We walked through the neighborhood again and headed toward another nearby, San Angel, where we visited a wholesale flower market.


Outside the Kahlo's Casa Azul, no pictures were allowed inside regretably.


Sopa Azteca.


Tacos Al Pastor.


Outside a tiny old yellow church in a Coyoacan neighborhood.










Everything is prettier in Coyoacan.

In the evening we met another former student, Henory, at a bar in a trendy hotel called Condesa DF. Henory brought us several homemade Mexican toys as a present. The one I enjoyed the most was a colorful, wooden giraffe on a platform that bends down when you press a little button at the bottom. We traveled together to a mezcaleria, a bar that specializes in serving different types of mezcal. Mezcal is similar to tequila, but less refined. It's more of a commoner's drink that has a smoky flavor. This bar, however, had a million varieties each with their own characteristics and flavors. We sat in the tiny bar, which was really more of a hole in the wall (literally) with a big open door facing out. This place was low-key but clearly very trendy. There were plenty of mulleted or braided rat-tailed, fresa (rich kid) hipsters present. All the tables were full so we had to share one with this peculiar man wearing a huge new-age crystal necklace, a Cancun wife-beater tank who was reading a book about self-hypnosis for mind control. He was formerly American but seemed to have grown up everywhere. He spoke in a strange mixed international accent and explained to us all about how mind control is the future.

Thursday: Needless to say, we were up late drinking shots of mezcal, so again we did not make it to the pyramids. We decided to visit the National Anthropology Museum in a huge city park called Chapultapec, or hill of the grasshoppers. We focused mainly on the Aztec portion of the museum, though there were areas that focused on all of the unique cultures of Mexico. Mid-way through our visit the power went out in the entire museum, so we all sat out in the beautiful central courtyard until it came back on. While we were waiting a small rainstorm hit that cooled things off and made everything a bit more pleasant. After we made it through the Aztec region I started to feel sick, so we headed home in a taxi. Our taxi drove us a long way down the Paseo de la Reforma, a huge boulevard thoroughfare modeled after the Champs d'Elysee with lovely statues and monuments. We had the driver drop us off at the Alameda, a Spanish-era city park with fountains, food carts and performers. We stopped at a small restaurant that sold tortas (sandwiches) for a quick supper. On the way home from the museum I had started out with a little stomach sickness but by the time we left the restaurant I was cold, shaky and dizzy. We made it home and I plopped into bed for the next four hours. I was up many times during the night taking my temperature and trying to find a position comfortable enough to sleep in with my massive migraine. The long and short of it is that la turista sucks. I'm not sure what I ate that was bad, but I guess I'll have to be more careful next time.


I have much love for street quesadillas.


Handpressed masa flour made into fresh tortillas.


A view of the streets near the Zocalo.


A cheeky organ grinder.


Kissing a namesake grasshopper statue in Chapultapec park.


National Anthropology museum with Aztec statue and skyscrapers.


Beautiful purple jacaranda trees in bloom.


Ry is happy about his mangos with lime and chili powder.


We realize they are too-chilied out for him. Rare.


Monument in the Alameda.


Fountain in the Alameda.


Artful graffiti outside the Beaux Arts building.


I wanta Fanta in a glass bottle here!


The nail in my intestinal coffin: al pastor torta.

Today: We finally made it on a bus to see the pyramids at Teotihuacan! They were well-preserved and wonderful. We climbed up both the Pyramid of the Sun and the Pyramid of the Moon and traversed the Avenue of the Dead. After our time at the monument we walked outside the park to a little tourist restaurant called Techinanco, where I enjoyed Sopa Azteca and Carne Asada. Ry had Huitlacoche Mole, which he says was the most awesome thing he's eaten during our entire trip. We lived up to our gringo expectations of getting embarrassingly sunburned. I have a wicked farmer's burn; Ry says it looks like I'm wearing a "skin shirt".


Just arrived at Teotihuacan, along the Avenue of the Dead.


Pyramid of the Sun from a distance. We took the handicap trail so as to avoid many people and the annoying vendors selling big cat growl whistles.


Nopales buds.


People look like ants crawling up the Pyramid of the Sun.




On top of it, looking at the Pyramid of the Moon.


Me looking out.


My beautiful man.


Feet!


Remains of a puma fresco.


Looking at the Pyramid of the Moon.




Atop the Pyramid of the Moon with rainshower off in the distance.


Looking back to the coutryside.


Climbing down. This thing was not made for short people. Some of the steps were up to my knees.


Aww shucks, we're beautiful.


Maguey or Centennial Plant. Huge! Mezcal is made from these.


Advertisement for a banquet hall. I love handpainted signs.


Awesome tourist restaurant where we ate lunch.


Little garden outside the restaurant.


Masks on the wall of the restaurant. My favorite is the one with the dog hat.


Lobster man. Beckie, if you ever wonder if your son Ryan is a strange, strange man. Here's your answer.


But don't worry, he's found a good partner. Me showing off my "skin shirt" burn.

Exciting news: We got word from our realtor yesterday that the bank has accepted our short sale contract. So, if all goes well we'll close on April 23rd and be homeowners within two weeks. Crazy how something that was moving at molasses pace has now picked up into some quick, quick business.

We leave tomorrow afternoon. We're going to bum around the city and finish up a few last odds and ends before heading to the airport. See you all soon!