non-stop.

we still are fighting the neighbors association for the electricity problem - we had to kick the guy out of our apartment last night because he wouldn't shut up and, well, i told amalio that if he stood up to look down on me one more time i was going to punch him in the face.

we have since de-bunked all of his lies - the non-existant debt with edenorte (the electric company), the non-existant rule that we must have a proven income of $30,000 pesos a month in order to sign a contract and some things he said about the lawyers office who used to be in charge of the collection of maintenance fees.

so, me and some other neighbors are planning a coup d'etat. to say its difficult is an understatement - especially since we're dealing with (grand generalization to follow) a culture who is overwhelmingly afraid of confrontation. but, i think we're going to do it... and that it will be a proud moment for a lot of the "housewives" who are involved and have expressed concern that they "don't really do anything meaningful with their lives."

other than that, i've been crazy planning and promoting the institute.
i got offered a stellar job (with a stellar paycheck) at a bilingual school as the director of their elementary program - but i'm not ready just yet to leave samil with someone else... and i won't give up the institute to balance the time. so i told them no, sadly, since it's a job i think i would really like. (and obviously a really good opportunity)

we'll be up and running soon - especially now that we're all back into a routine, one that so far seems to be working much better than the semi-routine we had before i left for the states... but we'll see how it continues once i start teaching again...

i hope you all are having a great week, and i promise some pictures coming up - i just put the camera battery in the charger so i can get a video of one of samils new tricks. stay tuned.