Kahanek...Mayan in the Yucatan

Living in South Texas, everybody knows the name Kahanek is "Bohemian". No questions there. In other parts of the US, Terry and I often get asked if it is Hawaiian. I can see how you might think that...I always kinda liked the idea of being married to a Bohemian...but, being married to a Hawaiian sounds pretty exotic. Well, never thought anybody would ask if we're Mayan! But, while in the Yucatan nobody has trouble pronouncing our last name...in the US a lot of times people stumble around when trying to pronounce it. The reason being - here, they associate it with Mayan words. And we have been asked more than once if we are Mayan. I want to say:"Go ask the 6-year old kid next door". Let me tell you - there isn't a kid in all of Merida that would mistake us for anything but American. I don't know how they know, but they do and the first word out of their mouth is always "HELL-o"...with the accent on the "hell". (they all know the word "hello".....kinda like us and "adios").

While dealing with the Notaria Publica (lawyer/abogado specialized in real estate) during the house thing, we had a conversation where Enna was talking about the seller's email name: mondochuck....Terry and I always forgot and called him "Chuck", but his name was Jim. Anyway, Enna laughed at his name and said in Mayan "chuck" or "chuc" meant to dunk...as in dunk your pastry into your coffee. I thought about all this early this morning because I had postres and coffee and did a little "chucing" ...like this -

Chucing (chooking)

 Feeling pretty chipper this morning---another mission accomplished! Hot water heater installed, gas tanque installed, gas line installed, stove arrived, gas installed to stove, and stove working. Thank you, Paulino. You are such a gem! And he's coming back manana to replace 3 drain covers that have this nifty little thing that makes it so insects can't crawl up from the drains....so no more scorpions, and I never even mentioned the huge spider in the shower!

Today, I have to go back out to the store where I bought the stove and try to get another little black thingy that covers the burner as one was missing. This should be a really good Spanish conversation. Shoot! I don't even know what you call it in English...how the hell do I say "black thingy" in Spanish??? Will be time for another game of charades.

Also, there was a gas line connector that wasn't in the stove box. When Paulino arrived he told me that "Boxito" have one...walk to Boxito. I walked the 3-4 blocks to Boxito (another interesting conversation) and bought one. While Paulino was working he left at some point and was gone about 20 minutes...never said why. Well, after he left I saw where the connector I bought wasn't the one installed behind the stove. He had left to go get the one he needed. I think he didn't tell me because he didn't won't to hurt my feelings.

It was back to work for Terry yesterday. He had a very good day and is looking forward to the project he will be working on. So that makes me happy too. Life is good! and I am feeling especially blessed today!