Great weekends are hard to find...

Hey folks, I had a great weekend. What did I do? Well, I went out for a great dinner on Friday night (a good-bye dinner for one of the students--she's heading home to France and then on to Norway for the summer--and a lot of my favorite students at the U were there) at a place in Santa Ana called TexMex. It had: lots of space, ambiance, margaritas, a tortilla soup to die for, and fancy mexican sombreros. Funniest moment of the night: Watching the Africans in the group put on the fancy mexican sombrero. A Rwandan in a sombrero is a sight to see!

Saturday I called in (like a talk show guest) to a good friend's bridal shower back in the States. She was very saurprised! And afterward, I went to the dreaded MultiPlaza to see a movie. The movie is calle "The Pacifier" in English (La Ninera de...something in Spanish). I went with a friend who'se only stipulation in seeing a movie was that she didn't want to see an action movie, and she definitely didn't want to see anything dubbed into Spanish. Hilariously, the following happened when we got into the theater:
1. because we arrived too late (although we bought our tickets over 45 minutes before showtime) we had to sit in the middle of the second row in the theater. Our necks were not happy...
2. When the movie started, Vin Diesel started speaking in Spanish (Aw crap! it's dubbed!).
3. In the first scene of the movie, Vin Diesel's team of Navy SEALS attacked a heavily guarded tugboat in what can only be described as an action scene.

Thankfully, all of this negativity was saved by several things:
1. Vin Diesel's body, if not his voice, is present in almost every scene.
2. Vin Diesel is somehow even sexier in Spanish.
3. The plot was actually quite clever for an action/comedy/romance.
4. The Mom from the Gilmore Girls was in it.
5. One of the Dads from The OC was in it.
6. The brother from Everybody loves Raymond was in it.
7. Vin Diesel's character changes diapers, sings lullabys, trains a brownie troop to kick ass, teaches a teenage girl to drive like she's at Indy, and encourages a boy to be in a musical.
8. Did I mention Vin Diesel is in it?

Only drawback of movie: Just finished reading Cynthia Enloe's book Maneuvers, and therfore, had some feminist wincing at the militarization of a family, the diliberate militarization of a brownie troop, and the gender role questions raised. Sometimes being a feminist is no fun.

Oh, and Sunday, I got to go to Church (first time in a LOT of weeks). Still don't know what's going on during the homily, but this time I distinctly knew the first reading was about Moses. Which, in Spanish is pronounced "m-oy-sis". In the afternoon, we had an entirely too long visit from my host mom's niece and her three destructive little hellions. Three stocky boys, all under age seven, all little bullies with no manners who leave a wake of broken things, people, and feelings in their wake. They also eat us out of house and home. Ugh. I got to largely ignore them, because I had a 600 page book I was reading in English, and managed to convince them I couldn't play until I finished my book :) Eventually they left, and peace reigned in the house until we all went to bed.

What a great weekend!