Pavlov

When I got to my second group of first graders, I texted Maribel saying, "Are you on your way here or what? :)"  Within thirty seconds she was calling me.  She was stressed!  She thought I was serious and that she was supposed to be there and wasn't.  I explained my humor and we hung up.

School was normal for once; I taught all four of my classes for the first time this week.  I got home and crawled into bed.  I needed a long nap to make up for all the outings I'd had, not to mention that night would be Marco's birthday at Wings Army and possibly an outing to a tourism event in Culiacán (Johana works for the tourism industry).  It took me a long time to fall asleep.  The instant I got into a deep sleep, my phone rang.  It was the English office.  I was out of it, so I silenced my phone and rolled back over.  Before I could fall asleep again, I heard the house phone ring, so I knew I would have no chance.

Mamá came knocking ever so softly on my door and had the phone in her hand.  It was Maribel, who was super stressed out.  "You have to get to Casa Achoy immediately.  Now.  Can you get a ride or does someone need to pick you up at the church?!"  Mamá was about to go pick up the grandkids, so I knew she was out.  I told her I needed a ride.  I considered not eating.  The day before, Maribel had called checking in after I was finished.  She asked if I'd eaten lunch and I said no, that they had ordered food but hadn't invited me.  She said that Rocio had called and asked but she didn't know since she'd left to get her girls.  I told her it was no big deal.  She had told me that Rocio would ask me at yoga so to be ready.  Thankfully, Rocio didn't make it to yoga on Tuesday!  I knew she'd be upset.  Especially since Maribel had said the whole reason they were ordering food was for me!

Anyway, I hadn't eaten lunch yet on Wednesday and I was hungry.  I also needed to wake myself up.  I had been in such a deep sleep that my voice was going to tell on me.  I chugged some water quickly and threw together a tuna fish sandwich.  Then I jetted out the door toward the church.  I got there just as the white Sentra was pulling up.  I got in and chatted with the girl.  I had no idea who she was and she looked peeved to be driving me around.  Once we got a little closer, she was more friendly.  We got there to a locked door, but it was quickly opened by the custodian.  We went straight to the recording room and they all joked about how quickly I was back (I had told them I was coming back to Culiacán within the next year to visit and they said I must stop in to see them.  One day later was so much sooner than a year.  Hardy har.).  They took awhile to get to the point, so I was nervous I had screwed something up.  What I really thought was that I had done my part too quickly and that the video was too long.  That would just mean reading it again.  I could handle that.  It turns out that something had been changed in the original.

ONE PHRASE.  I had to change the number 800 to 948.  I was almost in shock (yet not because we're talking Mexico here).  It had seemed so dramatic and important.  This English video was actually just a nice thought Rocio had had.  The actual video would be in Spanish.  This version was for me to show friends, family, and colleagues back home.  I didn't tell them this, but I knew inside that none of you would care if 800 teachers had been certified with this test or 948.  (As a side note, after yoga on Thursday, Rocio took me home and thanked me for changing it since that was such an obvious and important difference.  I guess it all depends on which lenses you wear...)