A very good day

Here are the good things that have happened so far today:

1. I received a call from the lawyers at the U and I now have a letter from immigration stating that I am authorized to work. This is not the same as a work visa, but we are on our way and the work visa should arrive in the middle of next week. This call came about 3 days BEFORE I was expecting it, which means, in the bureaucracy games it’s US – 0, Mexico – 1.

So, I may be able to go to work as early as tomorrow and will be in the office on Monday at the latest (pending HR difficulties).

2. I went to the grocery store this morning, before I got the call from the U, and I found the turmeric! I saw these little knobby things next to the ginger and I thought – that looks like fresh turmeric. I asked the guy stocking the veggies if he could tell me what it was (just to confirm) and he said, confidently, “That’s saffron.” Umm… It was most definitely not saffron, but I recalled that my dictionary had listed the translation for turmeric as both cúrcuma AND azafrán. I said, “Are you sure it’s not turmeric (cúrcuma)? And he said, “Here we call it saffron,” end of discussion.

I thought, well as long as they don’t charge me for saffron, I’ll be happy. When I got to the check out, the check-out-girl asked me what was in my little bag. I said, “I believe it’s turmeric (cúrcuma) but the guy told me it’s saffron.” She asked the girl at the next checkout what the number was for ginger! I could have cared less. In fact, surely it is cheaper to buy fresh ginger than to buy fresh turmeric, right?

3. And, while we were eating lunch the buzzer rang and there was a deliveryman with a bunch of my books from California (I had accidentally left), a computer program for Adolfo and my new Cook’s Illustrated! Yea to Adolfo’s brother and mother for coordinating the shipment!