Settling In

From the first morning when we woke up in San Miguel, I have felt like we moved – we’re not on vacation. There’s no pressure to see all of the sights before it’s time to go. We can buy food and cook at home without worrying that there will be a refrigerator full of leftovers when we leave. On the flip side, things that would be a temporary inconvenience if we were here for a short vacation become things we need to address. Like the little friend we found in the washing machine last night.  On the bright side, the presence of escorpiónes (and unknown other critters) is good motivation for keeping dirty clothes off the floor and shoes put away.  Our property manager said the scorpions here aren’t dangerous, although our friends’ housekeeper said, “Muy peligroso!” when we told her.  We may get some of those sticky mousetraps which I’ve heard can be used for scorpions too.

We spent the first few days settling in…

Saturday was my 48^th birthday, and our big agenda item for the day (other than celebrating) was to take a taxi to the home of a woman I “met” online, who was selling her kids’ bunk beds. Adlani’s room doesn’t currently have a bed, so that was a priority. We also bought another very important item – a Christmas tree stand!

We had my birthday breakfast at Rincon de Don Tomas, where our favorite waiters were still working. One of them – Felix – told the kids they are not allowed to speak to him in English, and he’s helping me with my Spanish too. I swear, I’m already starting to understand a lot (again). While we were having breakfast, one of the many guys selling hats, bracelets, etc., stopped at our table, and it was our pal Carlos. He looked at the kids, then looked at me and said (in English), “I remember!” and broke out into a big grin (unlike the fake smiles below).  We also hit the Organic Market which is held every Saturday.

After shopping for some pantry staples, our friends the Taggarts took us out to dinner at Chopino for my birthday, followed by a lemon meringue tart at their house. Dinner was great – they even had my favorite cocktail – a lemon drop martini! Don told the manager that our family was here for the year, and after chatting with us a bit he said, “Welcome home.” I was very touched by that, and also by the birthday card signed by lots of my friends from the ‘Ham.  So thoughtful!

On Sunday I caught up on some work before heading out for more food shopping. We have had no technology problems (knock on wood) – except that the wifi is so good it has been hard to keep the kids off their screens. Once school starts we’re going to have to set some serious rules for screen time. I’ve been able to do everything I need to do for work, including my monthly call with my boss using the wifi phone. He said I sounded like I was next door.

We had dinner at our house with the Taggarts on Sunday night, so we went to the local grocery store, Bonanza, to stock up (yes, food-shopping is a daily occurrence). We visited our favorite fruit and vegetable lady, Rubina, and when she saw us she said, “Que milagro!” (what a miracle).  After that we walked over to San Antonio (another part of town) to buy rotisserie chickens with onions and peppers that are AMAZING.

Monday was a work day for me, but Aliya went on a run in Parque Juarez with some of the Taggarts, and at noon we went to the kids’ new school which is a very short walk from home. The owner of the school, Victoria Robbins, is originally from the Northeast, and is a super-cool lady who runs a small school with multiple grades per class. She thinks she will put Aliya with the 9^th-grade group because of her maturity, which doesn’t mean she skips a grade – just that she’ll be spending the day with the kids that are most like her. There are 10-12 kids in each group. It’s possible that Norah and Adlani will end up together in the same group, which could be interesting.

We met our housekeeper Adela, who is really friendly and chatty. She seemed to love Annie, and I could hear her talking with Norah while she was cleaning. We’ll meet our property manager, Norma, and our gardener, Fernando, later in the week.

The only issue we’ve had so far (besides the scorpion) is that half of the lights in the house went out along with the washer and dryer. Norma sent Artemio, the electrician, who turned the circuit breaker back on (I didn’t know where it was) and started turning on lights, the dryer, the fountain, etc., until the problem became obvious when one of the outside lights blew up. He fixed the light and the switch, and we were back in business.

If anyone is wondering about the missing cat, Wally, he is still wandering the neighborhood, but Ben caught another cat in the trap. I read that cats and chickens are good at keeping the scorpion population at bay. I’m voting for a chicken.