I’m in!

We got home in the early hours of Monday morning so I didn’t even look at my huge pile of mail until yesterday evening when I got home from work. I happened to be catching up via cell phone with my dear friend Sara when I saw two small envelopes and one big one from Marquette in the mix. I interrupted our conversation while I opened the big one to find this inside:

I also received an acceptance letter from the Law School and a note from the Assistant Dean of Admissions commenting on my writing skills/experience.

I’m not exactly surprised but frankly I hadn’t thought much about law school in the past month, between planning and then being on vacation. Besides that I had no idea when I would hear from Marquette, whose deadline for part-time students isn’t until June.

Needless to say I am relieved and happy, and newly motivated to complete my FAFSA (Free Application for Federal Student Aid – that’s such a blast from the past!) after I pick up my tax return tonight. But first I have to go vote in the exciting (for once) Wisconsin primary!

More on Mexico later!

back in the land of huge potholes

Seriously, I have never seen potholes like this in my life! It snows, then it melts, then it snows a lot, then it drops well below zero, then it warms up, then it snows. Well, I actually missed most of that because I was in Mexico for two weeks. But the roads can’t take it anymore.

My husband and brother-in-law were joking on our ride home from O’Hare airport in Chicago the other night that it was like Tlacuela, referring to the VERY rural, hillside town where Fermin was born. They barely have electricity there, chickens and geese run free and people get milk from the family cow. It’s beautiful countryside, but modern in very few senses. And their roads look like ours right now. Ironic.

Well, I have so much to say about so many things right now that my posting will hopefully be quite regular over the next few days, weeks. Vacation does that. My inner writer is re-energized. Also I have news, but I will save it for a little later.

viajando!

Greetings from Oaxaca, Oaxaca, Mexico. For those of you in Wisconsin, we have heard of the big snow and are very glad we missed it. My friend Britta and I are at an internet cafe a block off Oaxaca´s wonderful city center (zocalo), relaxing a bit and catching up on e-mail, photo downloading and research for the next and final leg of our two-week trip. The weather here is in the 80s each day, dropping into the mid-60s at night, sunny and gorgeous basically. It´s a wonder to be here in February.

I´ve been taking pictures with two cameras, my trusty Minolta Maxxum film SLR and my new Samsung digital. I´m still very attached to my film camera but I do have some decent shots now on my flickr page. Feel free to take a look. It takes forever to upload here so you´ll have to wait until I get back to see photos here.

Britta´s purpose on this trip is culinary research so we´ve been very purposeful about learning ¨real¨Mexican food, not only some of the very traditional dishes that Fermin´s mother creates, but also the many local specialties of Oaxaca. Today we took a four-hour cooking class at Casa Crespo with Oscar Carrizosa, a painter, graphic designer and self-taught chef who has traveled all over the world and offers wonderfully intimate cooking classes out of his gorgeous home. The whole experience was a delight, and I will have a full description of what we made with pictures after I return.

Fermin left this morning as he has to go back to work on Monday, so last night we went to Cafe La Olla, owned by Pilar Cabrera, owner of another cooking school, Casa de Los Sabores, and after the amazing meal Britta decided to take Ms. Cabrera´s class as well. Tuesday we will be off to the coast, Puerto Angel specifically, to enjoy a few days on the beach before returning to cold, wintery Milwaukee.

Saludos a todos!