Thursday 20th September 2018.....into the routine!!!!

Well that was a busy first day spent most of the time getting Casita Doris looking the way I want it...Jen my super friend and owner has added a few nice touches which I like and it was great to connect with her again....

So now I have everything in it’s place....Little Bluey got a make over..it is really amazing full power wash...inside vacuumed and wiped spotless....she looks great and all for the grand total of 100 pesos which includes a healthy tip..see what 100 pesos is in your currency.

I did try to get in touch with the head guy at the poker group but did not hear back so I went to where the poker is played every Wednesday but there was no answer ..so I will have to check into that this week!!

The only minor drawback is I have to go to the cable company and resume my internet and cable service...I am going to go there tomorrow and hopefully they will just give me the modem and sign me up again!!!

Tonight was my first teaching class and it was great....I had six students and what the administrators have decided is that level six only has three students so they have combined them with my level five class so what that means is that I get the three students from my class last year back in class again plus the new six level five students....all their English is very good at the same level but it does mean that my students from last year will get some repetition so it will be up to me to keep the classes I nteresting......of the three new students I had tonight ..one is sixteen years old and is the brother of Jorge from last year so now I have the two brothers in class......another one Saul is the son of Gloria one of my students from five years ago....and the other new student is an amazing young man 26 years old who is a qualified lawyer but chooses to work with his Uncle and this is for you Linda..his Uncle is Felix..from Taco Don Felix’s!!!!

So a great combination and we of course finished the night with chocolates and I instructed them about the positive act of paying it forward for home work next Wednesday....fabulous to be in class again.

Tonight just sorting and putting a few things away... your life is a tad different without internet..how did we ever manage years ago!!

I will continue this tomorrow and blog when I can!!

Thursday morning and I had a really good sleep and was out the door by 8.45 am heading for the tennis courts....this is the church close to the courts that you can see when we play...

One of the sayings here in town is that you never know what is behind a SAN Miguel door and how true is that saying of this door!!

There are about 12 apartments...

3 of these...

And a space for 12 small motor homes and this’s where Ramona and I spent five great winters!!

It was really good to see my tennis buddies again and to be back on the courts...but the views of the church are gone as this new condo building started since I last was here...

An amazing fact about the workers here in Mexico is that they work so hard for very little pay....they have a team of young men whose job it is to ferry up bucket by bucket the cement used for the bricks ....they just form a line and do it most of the day for this they get paid 30 pesos and hour for a 240 pesos day!

This really is totally unfair and I must admit to feeling some guilt as the workers sometimes stopped to watch us play with me knowing that I had just paid 120 pesos to play two hours of tennis!!

On the walk home I passed by the gym

 I was going to before and I went inside and met Aaron the young Mexican that was my trainer...I really like him and he was very good with me and I have signed up with him twice a week starting on Monday at 4.30pm and also Wednesday at 4.30pm....the timing is great because the location of the gym is right by the school where I teach English....so on Monday I can go to the gym then school  and on Wednesday after poker walk to the gym and again go straight to school...so that is all settled!!

On the way home passed this man..

And I bought myself a dozen roses for 50 pesos...yes that is not a typo!!!

These are the photos of my place starting with the outside of the main house...love the colour...

A safe place for Little Bluey...

Laundry room..

The entrance to my casita...

Casita Doris after my Mum!!

My mural..

The garden outside my window....

My private stairway...

My private rooftop space...

Coming in the door...

The bathroom ...

Bedroom..

Hallway...

Looking out the window...

And the many sky lights..

In think you will agree I have a pretty amazing place for 550 US dollars......in a great neighbourhood and it takes me about 10 minutes to walk to tennis...the same time to school...15 minutes to the Centro and about 15 minutes to Gracie’s casa!!

Came home made myself a smoothie and went up on the roof and read and thought about what can happen in the space of 11 days.....going from the US open tennis in New York to being on this roof top in Mexico.....I am a very lucky man!!!

Gracie came to pick me up at 2 pm and we went to the cable company where I signed up again for service andhave to wait for the service man to come  out and connect my modem.

We them drove up to the big Mall where I signed up for a year for telephone cell service for 125 US dollars which allows free calls to US and Canada and internet with good memory and texts if I knew how to text....I was on another plan that ran for 23 days for a  💯  pesos....but this eliminates having to keep renewing and it is a better plan......

Gracie and I went for a nice light dinner and then out to St.Pauls Church where for 30 pesos they have their Play readers night....they do this every Wednesday and Thursday night... you cannot beat the price and depending on the playwright the entertainment is very good...tonight was a lovely performance!!

I am at Gracie’s doing the post???

Life is good here in SMA!!!!

Yashi Kochi!!!