I have made the decision... It is hard for me to blog about Winston-Salem, North Carolina in At Home in Mexico. Everything is so different that I feel I am being betraying the uniqueness of Mexico and also sabotaging the possibilities of North Carolina . Each place has its own charm and character, and I feel it depends on oneself to find the beauty in each. One has to explore places, meet locals, discover and adventure....
Because of all this I have created a new blog.
Its name is Adventures North of South. The name is born from the contradiction that although I am in the Southern part of the US....I am so far North of Mexico and Puerto Rico!!
So I invite all of you to visit my new blog at adventuresnorthofsouth.blogspot.com and live with me
my adventures in this new wonderful place!
Thank you for following me, hope I see you in my new home..

Angie

Sugar Mountain, North Carolina

So this weekend I went ice skating.... Yes, it snowed in the mountains! And I loved it!
Went with my Romanian friend, Daniela. We had an awesome time. It snowed all the time, first softly, then by the time we left it was really falling!
Awesome, awesome, awesome!!!

Daniela, from Romania...

Happy!

Skating rink..

Incredibly, I learned how to skate in Puerto Rico!!!

Sugar Moutain

Daniela had NEVER ice skated in her life!!!

Yay!!!

Nice view..

Daniela and me.

There are still lighted trees.

Beautiful!

Ready to go home after a wonderful day!

It is snowing right now in Winston-Salem. Luckily, I have a 1996 4-wheel drive Tracker!!! So no getting stuck in the snow for me. We will have some more snow the next few days, and that will be just about it. So keep safe everybody!
Have a nice week!

Winter....

Having lived most of my life in  tropical and sub tropical countries (13 years in Puerto Rico and 28 in Mexico), and even though temperatures in Mexico could go down to at least 35 F, I had not really experienced what many would consider "real" winter, as in snow and ice.

Since living in Winston-Salem, I have experienced both!! Many residents do not really care for either, but them being a novelty for me, I really, really enjoy it!!

I've become an "expert" in winter clothes (L.L.Bean, Patagonia, North Face, oh my!), although most of my jackets and sweaters have been bought in the "Goodwill" stores. I've gotten excellent deals! I am certainly a Goodwill fan! :)

So here are a few of photos from last year (January 2014) of my experience with "Winter"....Hope you enjoy!

On my way to work after the storm...

The hospital

On the hospital's roof

Where I live..

White roads, blue skies...

Ice on my Tracker...

More ice...

Footprints in the snow

From my apartment's balcony..

View from the hospital's roof

More snow after the storm...

Thanks for reading!!!

Long time no post...again!!

Hello again!! I have to stop this habit of coming back from hiatus, just to do it again..... Anyway, I'm back but not in Puerto Rico anymore. I was there for almost 3 years in which I held 2 jobs. One was as a Kindergarten English teacher (boy, was that TOUGH!!), and then worked as a Sales Representative for a shipping company with offices in Newark, Chicago, LosAngeles, Jacksonville, and Miami. I enjoyed that job very much! In both jobs I made really great friends. And now, well, while I was in Puerto Rico, I was offered a job in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, as a Spanish Medical Interpreter at Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center. I've been here for the last year and a half and it has been a great experience!! I never in my life even thought I could hold a job like this, but apparently being an English AND Science teacher in Mexico gave me great bases to do this today...It has been a rewarding job, helping patients who do not speak English and Doctors who do not speack Spanish, understand each other! I work throughout the whole hospital, including clinics, therapy, emergency department, etc!! An incredible experience!! So now I am debating....keep writing about Norh Carolina in THIS blog or have a new one....? I know many followers are mostly interested in Mexico's culture..but I hope you will continue following me in this new adventure. I will try not to be away long while I decide what to do..In the meantime, some photos of my adventures here.....



Myrtle Beach, S.C.




Myrtle Beach, S.C.



Winston Salem, N.C.

On my way to work on 421, Winston Salem, N.C

Ocean Isle Beach, N.C.

BB&T Baseball Park, Winston-Salem, N.C.

Charlotte, N.C.

Pumpkin patch, Kernersville, N.C.

Reynolda Road, Winston Salem, N.C.

Grandfather Mountain, N.C.

Grandfather Mountain, N.C.

Where is Angie?
Wow, long time since I've been here. So, where am I? At the moment I've been working in my hometown, San Juan Puerto Rico for a year........
Circumstances brought me back home, and I am currently living with my mother in this beautiful island. I miss Mexico very much and am planning a visit in a few weeks.
I will be posting for the time being from the island.
Hope anyone who reads the blog is doing well....
Hasta pronto!

Demasiado tiempo.....

Wow, more than two months without posting. It's been too long...

Lots of things have happened, but mostly my time has been taken up by my changing of workplace. I had been working at my old school for eleven years, and I thought a change would be good. Little did I know that this change would be so time consuming.

Among other things, I had to renew my working visa. Since the old one had expired, I had to leave the country and come back in with a new tourist visa to start the whole process again. Having no money for a plane trip, a friend and I decided to go by bus to Laredo, Texas, a 12 hour bus ride. I'll talk about that adventure in another post. Then getting all the papers ready for the visa, and taking them to León, a city about a hour from here, I had to go two times.

I also had to attend a course at my new school. So much information! I thought my head would explode, but everything went well. Then I had to take out all the things I had accumulated in 11 years from my old school and prepare my new classroom. That was very time consuming!

Also I had to prepare all my son's school things. Here notebooks have to be covered with colored paper chosen for each grade (his is yellow), afretwards they have to be covered with plastic (I use contact paper). And the books have to be covered with plastic also. In total, I covered 11 notebooks with yellow paper and plastic, and 10 books with plastic (whew!).

Now, don't think I'm complaning. Summer was good. I planted some pumpkin seeds and they are looking pretty goo. Hopefully we'll have pumpkins for Día de Muertos. We also attended weddings, Quince Años, and a whole bunch of good-bye parties.

I'm posting photos of the mini pizzas my ex-students made the last days of school, and some of co-worker Montserrat and Beto's wedding...

As always, my girls went overboard with this project.
The pizzas are made with flour tortillas, tomato sauce,
and lots of different toppings.
This one has pepperonni, tuna fish, green and black
olives, and mozarella cheese.
Yes, they ate this strange combination!!

They HAD to make faces. Love the cat!

Here some have pinapple with ham (it's called Hawaiian pizza).


And here is Montserrat's wedding.
She looked beautiful, these photos don't do her justice.

At the church with the "lazo" tied around them.

At the reception. Love the new fashion of having
a vegetable and fruit bar. Jicama, carrots, and cucumber
with lots of lime juice and different hot sauces.
Watermelon, canteloupe, honeydew..
In the back you can see the "chamoy" sauce
fountain.

And a photo of a few of the teachers that went to the wedding.
We had a great time.

Still have a lot to post about the summer...

In the mean time, have a great week and wish me luck at my new job!

Ceviche (de soya).

Ceviche is a dish made with raw fish which is "cooked" with lime juice. Ceviche exists in most Latin American countries, each with is own variations. Most Mexicans LOVE ceviche, and it is very popular during lent, and also during the hot summer months.

Mexican ceviche is prepared using finely chopped fish fillets, and marinated overnight in the lime juice, in the refrigerator. Afterwards the the fish is put in a strainer so the excess juice drains from the fish.

Although fish is Mexico is relatively cheap (at least compared to other countries) making ceviche for a large family can be a bit expensive. So Mexicans, who are very adaptable people, came up with a variant for the fish ceviche: SOY PROTEIN CEVICHE.

Yes, my neighbor taught me how to make soy protein ceviche. I love it, my husband loves it, my kids love it. It is very cheap, and if you are vegetarian, there is no need to worry-no animal was harmed in the process!

Ingredients:
-Dry soy protein-I use the small piece protein
and the amount depends on how many people
Here I used 750 gms. which is about 2 1/2 pounds.
Remember it will almost double its size when hydrated.
-Limes- a lot of them, I used about 15 here.
-White onions
-Cilantro
-Tomatoes
-Avocado
-Salt to taste
-Tostadas
Optional:
-Chopped serrano chiles
-Salsa Valentina or San Luis

The first thing I do is re-hydrate the soy protein.
I put it in a pot full of water, heat it just
till it starts to boil, turn the heat off, and let it cool.

Here is a close-up of the hydrated protein.

Then I put it in a large strainer, and "wash" it.
I let the water run through it while squeezing and "scrubbing" it.
It has to be very well rinsed, till the water runs almost clear.
Then it has to be drained of all the excess water,
I usually squeeze it, and then leave it in the strainer a while.

In the meantime I squeeze the limes, and chop
everything that is going to be added.

After the protein is drained, I add the lime juice, chopped onions...

Chopped cilantro and serrano chiles (optional) .....

Chopped tomatoes....

Mix everything very well adding salt to taste...



And this is what the finished stuff looks like.
You can put it in the fridge a few minutes,
and it will taste even better.

Mmmm, I love this dish.

The tostadas, and salsa San Luis.

At this point the avocado is sliced and put on top.
There is no avocado here because I forgot to buy some.

Great summer dish. Very cheap and tasty.
If you get to make some, let me know how it came out.

Hope you have a great weekend, and just in case I can't post tomorrow, have a Happy Father's Day!