Category: Uncategorized

Sept 2015…

Level 7 students

This photo pretty much illustrates what’s been going on for the past 3 months here. This is one of my classes from ELS Academy. I’ve taught three 1-month sessions in a row, which is my record there. Mostly, I have a wonderful time with my students but, occasionally, I succumb to the constant onslaught of lazy excuses, texting in class, and stunned surprise on exam day. Like all students at this age, in other words. But they sure make me laugh.

Most of the students are Saudis, their government offers them a generous scholarship program to study English and attend an American Univ. We also have Asians, Brazilians, Turks, Libyans, and the odd European. By the time they go back home, they will have had many adventures, believe me. In this picture alone I recognize two arrests and one serious hospitalization.

After Rancho Mirage, we left for Málaga for 2 whole MONTHS. Fantastic as always. I took some Sp classes at nearby CILE Academia, a very small school right next door to the Cathedral and just 2 blocks from home. There were 3 students in my group and I loved them, as well as the grammar instructor, Pilar. Anna is from Poland, Francesco is from Sicily. We all bonded, even though their combined ages did not quite equal my own.

Hector traveled for a month in LatAm and I just practiced and pretended I was a Spaniard who speaks only rudimentary Spanish. We had a great little top floor flat with a small roof deck, in the center of town. Needless to say, I wanted to stay forever.  Made a few trips to nearby towns to visit friends. Discovered that Torremolinos is indeed the gay trash pit you’ve always heard it was.

After that we went to Carlos Ramirez’s graduation in Kentucky. Lots of attention as he was accepted to Columbia Univ in Manhattan. He and sister Vanessa have turned out to be such great people. They are so fortunate to have had the encouragement of their two uncles!

Then we did our usual month of June in Puerto Vallarta, staying as Casa Faro. It felt like home, as it always does. PV was beyond hot, no surprise, but seemed even more so this year. We enjoyed our beach club, and restaurants, and a fun visit from Tere and Martin over the 4th of July. Made a visit to the steamy Jardin Botanico, with lunch on the patio. Afternoon ride to snorkel at the arches and dinner at Ocean Grill, reachable only by boat.

Ocean Grill

We’re over in Rancho Mirage now, which is just the fancy edge of plain old Cathedral City. But we are staying at the Ritz Carlton, (5 nights , 160k Marriott points), a very nice property with great views across the valley, two beautiful pools, and the kind of customer service you don’t see much anymore in the US. Friendly and fawning is an attractive combination.

Poor Hector has been traveling so much that he just manages to adjust his time zone when it’s time to take off again. At least this time he had a full week after Saudi Arabia before leaving for Dominican Republic, so we decided to just go someplace within driving distance.

We used to come here a lot, when we used our time-share in Palm Desert. It’s nice to sleep in those comfy beds the size of an aircraft carrier, have good meals, go to the movies, casino, pool. I can’t imagine living here full time but there’s plenty of retirees who do. The movie theaters are always full of chattering, coughing old people, like in Santa Fe. The mens room is like a scene from a zombie movie, with all the shuffling and moaning to get to the urinal.

A lot has changed here in the 5 years since we were last here, but it’s good to see some old familiars, like Grill-A-Burger, our favorite burger in the whole world. But, sadly, some things are gone. This area can’t quite sustain their occasional growth squirts. The new shopping center, The River, is now only about half full. All the little shops are boarded up, with just the chain restaurants still running. In Palm Springs, the hipster section of Palm Canyon has moved a few blocks north without actually expanding much. We didn’t make it to the gay bars this time but Arenas St looks pretty much the same.