Friday- preparation for depression

Alma took off work Friday, but spent her whole day running around. I think she actually ended up working quite a bit, too! She had deliberately told everyone she was going to Los Mochis on Friday night to catch her flight on Saturday so she would have time alone on Friday night. Alone, though, of course meant time with the 4 amigas (Johana, Ocyé, and Karina).

Alma came to pick me up later in the afternoon (5ish?) and we ran by Centro de Idiomas to pick up her last check before she left. From there, we were dropping in on a quick dinner at Italiannis for some Inglés en Primaria teachers that were moving or leaving for a year on some sort of exchange. I had just eaten there earlier in the week with Shania (I totally forgot that night when filling in the events for this week- one of Shania's friends from "grad school" had a birthday and we went to eat with them. It was good food, but too much both in quantity and in price.).

In complete Mexican style, they told the waiter it was my birthday, so they sang "Hoppy Beerthday to Jew," while serving me free bread pudding. I had to admit that it was to die for.

Anyway, back to Alma's last night! So she and I made it to Italiannis. It was Alma's last night, but it was also the last time I would see some of these teachers. The English Program paid for the meal (so I probably should've enjoyed some of it), and we chatted. The girls were planning on a Girls Night In, and we committed to going, but of course, the true intentions were never there...

I got one last picture with Imelda:

After that, Alma and I left to run an errand. We had to go pick something up for my "surprise" party on Saturday. It was the larger-than-life size Radamés, the politician who had run unsuccessfully for something while I was there.

From there, she dropped me off at home, while running the poster man to Iván's house- keeping the "secret" from me. Everyone still thought I didn't know. Yeah right. Terrible secret keepers.

Once she got back (almost an hour later), we waited on the girls to come pick us up and we went for some late-night tacos. I must admit they were good. I was trying to be a little healthy to prepare for re-entry into the US, but I also figured, "Who knows how long it'll be until I'm here agin, so I should eat everything I can that I don't get at home." That definitely included late-night red meat packed tacos.

We had a fun time and I was super-sad when I realized it was time to go home and that I might not see those girls again. We got back to the house and all teared up a bit, and then they went on their merry ways. Alma went to her room to get in bed so she could be well rested for the US. She had been told that her days would be long and to be ready to work once she arrived. I'd never seen her choose sleep over fun before, but she definitely did this time.