Yesterday illustrated a few of the things I love about San Miguel. First, I went out early again and took more door photos which I will publish as tomorrow morning’s blog post on www.iDigHardware.com. I love walking the streets in the early morning – the weather continues to be absolutely beautiful and there are so many interesting things to see and absorb.
After my short photo safari I went home to get Norah up for our ceramics class. To be honest, I wasn’t all that excited about spending the day with a lump of clay – my creativity is more linear and my perfectionist tendencies makes clay a difficult medium for me. But Norah had seen an advertisement for the class way back at the beginning of our trip, and a few days later we were approached on the street by Andrés, who was organizing the class. Apparently we looked artistic, or maybe it was just the allure of filling 5 spots in the class. None of the other kids were interested, so Andrés told me that some moms had signed up to take the class with their kids. At that point there was no way Norah was letting me off the hook, so the two of us signed up.
On the way to el Sindicato, we stopped at the Bagel Cafe. The bagels were really good! I met a lady there who has lived in SMA for 21 years and we had a long talk (food takes longer to serve in Mexico) about how much we both love it here. Then Norah and I sat in el Jardin to eat and watch the goings-on before heading to the class, where we sat down with an American girl about Norah’s age and a mom-looking person who turned out to be a family friend. The dad was there with her little brother. Then another girl about the same age came in, with her mother. I started to think I’d at least have some interesting people to talk to – did I mention that it was a 5-HOUR class? As the class began, all of the parents said goodbye and took off, and I spent the day under the scrutiny of three 6-year-olds (“you’re older than my dad”, “you’re getting gray hair like my mom”, “you need to practice with clay more”). At one point early-on Norah said I should leave too…no way kid – we’re making some mother-daughter memories today whether you like it or not.
The class was actually fun, and I made a ratoncito which for some reason that I haven’t figured out yet seems to be a symbol of SMA. I also made a flaming heart – another common symbol. I made a bunch of other things but they all failed spectacularly. Norah made a “dead guy” that she saw at the mummy museum, along with a mug, a heart, and a rat of her own. After working with clay in the morning, we painted some already-fired pieces in the afternoon. At lunch-time we were serenaded by a few musicians, one of which was playing the jawbone of a large animal by running a stick along the teeth. There are so many opportunities for classes, camps, and workshops in SMA, most of which are much less expensive than they would be at home. Considering that 2 weeks for 3 kids at day camp in Framingham cost almost as much as a month’s rent for our beautiful house in SMA, I can see the writing on the wall for future summers.
Helena, Lola, and Norah getting started on making their clay the right texture to work with:
Norah was afraid of the stairs leading up to the dance studio because they were open to the first floor about 12 feet below, but her new friends helped her out. The allure of peeking in on the couple dancing was too great to ignore.
I think the thing I love most about SMA is how open and friendly people are. I’m a connector – I love connecting with people and connecting people with each other. I’m sure there was a time when Ben disliked that particular character trait – I was always bringing home random people and he was extremely shy. But he has adapted very well and not only is he a huge help with the preparations and clean-up for my gatherings, I think he is actually starting to enjoy meeting new people.
On Friday night we met a mom and 20YO daughter right outside our door – the kids had all starting playing soccer in the street and the other mom (Lisa) and I realized that we both spoke English and started chatting. She lives in Mystic, Connecticut and her daughter (Amy) goes to UConn, and they were renting a house down the street with her sister (Deedee) and her two daughters, who live in NYC. By the end of our conversation I had invited them all to dinner the next night, when we had already planned to have dinner with our friend Becca from Casa Hogar Santa Julia. When Norah and I headed off to our ceramics class, I left Ben and the other kids a scavenger hunt list of dinner fixings. We had rotisserie chicken (so good!), roasted cauliflower with garlic and olive oil (another big hit), mashed potatoes, asparagus, chopped salad, fresh bread, and carrot cake with homemade ice cream from the ice cream man down the street who Norah calls “my guy.” And I think we had a fair amount of wine because I have a slight headache. It’s nothing a mimosa with fresh-squeezed OJ from the guy at the end of our street won’t fix.
We had a fabulous dinner with our new friends, and the kids were extra-excited when they found out that the other family’s house had a plunge pool. After another game of street soccer the kids went down to #20 for a plunge. Since Lisa and Amy are leaving Monday, they invited us to dinner at their house tonight, and we’re going to take Deedee and her daughters to the orphanage with us this week. I don’t know if San Miguel tends to attract interesting people or I just think everyone is interesting, but it was a great time.
Today is an unplanned day and tomorrow we’re headed out on an overnight horseback riding trip, so if you don’t hear from me again it means that I was washed away in a flash flood down in the canyon or eaten by whatever predators live down there. Hopefully we’ll live to tell the tale of how we survived overnight without electronic devices. TTFN!