Sometimes, You Just Gotta Laugh

It has just been one of those weeks!  A whole bunch of things went wrong, stuff that was out of my control but that made me crazy none-the-less.  Insurance problems - regarding prescriptions, Insurance problems - regarding the damages to our furniture from the move, Landlord problems - those are becoming too frequent!  And the regular everyday run-of-the-mill stuff that keeps my days busy, shuttling kids to / from school, Spanish lessons, got my first Yoga class in this week; I really need to learn that meditation portion of Yoga, if I could learn to let my mind "go blank" during that chanting and stuff, I would have some significant reduction of stress. Back to the crazy week... of course these things all happen while Patrick is out of the country.
So, it really is no wonder that my mind was not quite right the other day... I picked up Danielle & Zachary after school, returned to our apt. building, and immediately had to return to school to pick up Kirsti - D & Z had to be home earlier for a Spanish lesson - that was subsequently cancelled that day.  Danielle asked for the apartment keys to let themselves in while I went back.  I reminded her she would have to let us into the apartment later, so she had to listen for our call.  I get Kirsti, we get back.  We have to take the service elevator because we do not have the keys to ride the regular elevator (you can only access your apartment directly by inserting keys into the elevator keypad).  We wait for that elevator, and wait, and about now I am wishing I had not been drinking quite so much water!  So we decide to take the stairs, it is only 6 flights.  Up we go, interestingly, the floors are not marked, and on each floor there is a door from the stairs to tkkhe service hallway.  Kirsti tells me that last time she took the stairs, the door on the 6th floor was locked...I tell her it was a fluke.  She checks the doors on floors 1, 2, 3,... up we go to the 6th floor, and.... THE DOOR WAS LOCKED!  uggg!!  So I remembered that there is an emergency access door to our apartment on the other side of the stairwell.  We go to that door and we were pleased to see it had a doorbell.  So we rang it. 1tx, 2txs, 3txs, 4txs...now we start banging on the door!  I decided to call the kids in the apartment.  Zachary answers.  I tell him we are locked in the stairwell outside our apartment and he needs to open the emergency exit door.  He is totally confused of course, he had no idea there was another door, and where was it anyway??  I give him step by step instructions, walk past this, you will see that.. listen to me bang on the door, OPEN IT!  Nothing.  He asks if we are in the service hallway, NO! then he starts to fade away... and I lose the call.  At this point I realized he had walked out of the apartment with the phone and had gotten on the service elevator, UGGGG!  Kirsti decides she has had enough, she will go down a floor to a non-locked service hallway, catch the elevator, go to our apartment, and then let me in, maybe along the way she will find Zach... I am at my boiling point!  We have been trying to get in the apartment for 10 minutes or longer.  And just where is Danielle?? She is supposed to be listening for us!!  I bet she had her earphones on...So I decide I am going to press the doorbell - NONSTOP - until Danielle hears me! And when my finger got a little tired I kicked the door a time or two.. then I was tapping out a tune on the doorbell, when I suddenly hear Kirsti's voice.  And she said, "Mom, where are you?"  I tell her I am at our door of course, where is she???  She answered, that she was at our door, and I was not!  I ran to the stairwejll, and there she was, 1 floor above me.... oppps  (Thank God, our 5th floor neighbors were not home to  see me acting like a lunatic at their door.)
Pati our helper is so awesome, she is helping me with my Spanish, she is a cleaning machine, she is a great cook.  I have really learned a lot from her in the few short weeks she has been helping us.  And this week was no exception.  I was having a Spanish lesson, when the Condo Administration personnel came to the service door.  I am sure they were relieved to see her and not me, since they could deliver their message to her, not to me, and there would be no awkward confusions over our lack of understanding each other.  After my lesson, Pati (who speaks enough English to get a main point across, she understands more than she speaks..) tells me we need to talk about my garbage... I almost laughed, umm, OK!  Then she takes me to the service hallway.  In this hall is a tiny closet, in the closet is a trash chute.  She points to the chute, she says Organico SOLO!  and I ask her again.. Que?  She said, NO TRASH, solo food, and pointed to the chute.  I gasped!!!!! I wanted to confirm, only organic trash in the chute? No other garbage?  she said yes, and I of course turned red, and she asked what I had been putting down there?  I could hardly keep a straight face, as I told her I put my recycling of plastic and metal and cardboard down the chute...and all my garbage since we moved in... The stupid little closet did not have a sign that says ORGANIC only, I can read that much in Spanish, had it been posted there!  Plus my stupid Landlady told me the garbage goes in the hallway chute.  But considering her language, she probably thought she was telling me, garbage in the hallway, rest in the chute...  Man, telling that to the kids later, they were cracking up, because the chute really is kinda small.  We have had to really cram our garbage bag into that chute in order for it to close!
And Finally, I had to go to the new underground mall, to make arrangements for Zachary's bowling birthday party this weekend.  The ENTIRE mall is underground.  The entrance to the parking is at street level, but at street level it looks like a little garden.  Everything is underground!  So parking is really down deep because that is under the mall, which is 3 levels itself!.  So I park somewhere near the center of the earth and make my way to the mall entrance.  At the bowling alley, they will validate your parking pass - because you have to pay to park absolutely everywhere you go in Mexico, period, the end, no exceptions!  After the long tedious process of arranging bowling for 10 kids - it took 1.5hrs - I get my parking pass validated and I start my journey to the center of the earth to find my car.  Now I am sure you have not given it any thought, but just so you know, the most space efficient way to drive to the center of the earth is in tight corkscrew circles.  That is how I got down there, that is how I would get out.  It is rather dizzying... I think I counted 5 full revolutions as I ascended to the surface.  And as soon as I did surface, a small panic attack set in... The parking structure had given me a ticket.  I had it validated.  I had not seen an obvious place to pay, so I did not pay, and now here I was, at the top of the corkscrew, with an unpaid ticket and a little metal ticket box...and a small button... that I pressed.  A guy answered, I spoke my few words of Spanish, asking for help, but I could not tell him what help I needed.  I just stumbled one Spanish word after and English word trying explaining my stupidity as simply as possible.  After a few minutes cars were starting to back up from behind me, realizing something was wrong... Fortunately there were 2 exit gates.  But there was NO WAY I could reverse back down to the center of the earth, 5 full revolutions to pay my ticket!  A man finally showed up and he figured out my problem.  He said I needed to pay 15pesos. So then I thought he would raise the gate right away after I paid him, WRONG, he had to traipse back down the black hole with my money.  So then I thought he would raise the gate from down there, so I planned that I would think him by using the call button one more time.. And I waited... with my hazard lights on now, because I had been there quite some time. And then, they guy showed up next to my car again!  Then he swiped my ticket and the gate was raised.  I could not believe that poor man had to travel up and down that journey to the center of the earth 4 times for me!  I cannot believe I am the first to make this mistake, nor will I be the last!  I surely hope they get a better plan in place to access the gate from the control center in the black hole...  I just about wanted to die, AGAIN, for the 3rd time this week!
It is Thursday, I have managed to be completely normal and un-obnoxious today... hooray!

Helping Hand

Everybody needs a helping hand... maybe some domestic help..??

In this country, there are jobs that are simply 'created' for the sake of a person having a job, so that they can earn money & be of service and use to the community, because not everyone has the good fortune of an education that helps them get a good paying job.  So there are jobs that Americans would NEVER consider doing... like the Parking lot Attendants - this is what I call them now.  I use to call them the useless guys who try to help you park your car.  Really, they walk around whistling at cars, telling people where to park, and then when you want to leave, they make a huge production about standing behind your vehicle so everyone knows you are about to back out.  Then they whistle and and wave their arms to alert you its OK to back out, and how far you can back out.. Its a big production.  Really...I have a vehicle that is equipped with a rear camera, so I have a really nice screen shot of what is happening behind me - and even if I did not, I have been driving for a long time now, I know how to back out of a parking spot.  So I used to think these guys were rather useless and just looking for a handout, and I was not usually too inclined to TIP this guy, because I had usually just tipped a few others before him. 

So if you go to the grocery store, they ALWAYS have grocery baggers... You never have to bag your own stuff because there is NO SELF CHECK OUT! And the Cashier does not have to bag groceries either.  This is because of the need to create extra jobs whenever possible - this goes back to everyone deserves a chance to earn an income, some how, some way..  So the grocery store baggers take care of bagging up your stuff, and you MUST TIP them, because I found out fortunately in the first week here, that these people DO NOT GET ANY SALARY..they survive only on TIPS!  And quite often, these people, are very old, or very young.  I don't mind the very young, they have life ahead of them, they have a chance to make choices to make a better life for themselves, but it kills me to see people the age of my parents, doing this job, living off TIPS.  So I tend to TIP these people generously. 

Then you have your groceries in your cart and off you go....Until you reach the exit of the store and you encounter the next level of assistance.  I calls these guys the Pushers/Unloaders (and they are often quite pushy) ... The guys who want to push your cart from the store to your car and unload your bags.  Some guys just offer assistance, you can answer Si or No, and others just grab your cart from you.. I suspect the grabbers/the pushy ones tend to make more money, but I like these people less.  So these guys are usually polite and quite efficient at unloading the bags in an orderly fashion in the vehicle, but now you have to TIP these guys too!  Seriously, this gets a bit stressful if I am going to the store, I have to look at the change in my purse in advance to know just whose services I can allow/afford that trip!  

So, on Thursday, Pati, our maid started (gasp, I succumbed!).  She is coming to the house 2 days a week to help with cleaning and to help me with my Spanish, because she only speaks a little English, and I want her to help me with things like shopping and learning to cook Mexican food.  Pati is a cleaning machine!  She is very nice, it was great to have some companionship in the house for the day and we did shop and she was helpful in several ways.

So it was Pati that explained to me about the 'Parking Attendant' guy that helps you park and backout.. I usually just wave and smile at the guy, because as I said, seriously, I did not even need his help!  But She told me that his job is to monitor the parking lot, to watch out for theft and vandalism and his very presence there makes people more careful getting in and out of cars so they do not 'ding' or scratch other people's cars.  So he has an actual real purpose, besides the big production of waving people in and out of spots!  So she told me I really do need to TIP this guy!  Fortunately for the guy, I had to turn around and circle past him, so we could stop and give him a Tip.  Thinking back to my previous 'smile and wave, smile and wave' technique, I now realize the Parking Attendant probably had his own ideas about waving a 'lil something back at me....ha ha ha, but that would never happen here in Santa Fe...(in Mexico City, totally!!).

So after we tipped him, it had me thinking a little, since I was shopping with Pati, I was not approached even once by a Pusher/Unloader... because they realized I already had a helping hand... That was a really nice added perk of that trip to the store.  Of course, it takes a little getting used to having help in the first place, Pati and I both kept reaching for the grocery cart and practically fighting over who was going to push it.. She won.

I am sure Pati is going to help me in so many ways besides the cleaning... In just the one day, she has already taught me about cleaning products (there about a million to choose from), helped me pick a much better mop (I figure if she was willing to use it, she could pick out a new one to go with the correct cleaning products, right?), she helped me with my new washer/dryer with about 15 different cycles, all in Spanish of course, and the Parking Attendant tip (nice pun, huh?) ..and I had the extreme satisfaction that mmy house was cleaned in one day between the two of us working together.  Not to mention I practiced Spanish and Charades (which goes hand-in-hand with my Spanish, lol).
I was able to work on her English with her a little too, and I introduced her to Pretzels, and Edamame.

I look forward to the new adventures with Pati....