Random Photos

I can’t think of everything we did this week (along with a regular work-week for me), but here are some random photos…

The 14th was Adlani’s birthday, and we had breakfast for dinner with the Taggarts.  Finding the cupcake store, ordering the cupcakes, and carrying them home on a tray without a box or cover was an adventure in itself.

Adlani  aa don cooking

aa breakfast

aa cupcakes 2

aa eleven  Present

One of Adlani’s favorite gifts, from the Taggarts:

Nada

We found a cat in front of the cupcake shop:

aa cat

Norah had a wiggly tooth, but suddenly the tooth next to that one (which was not wiggly) fell out, and then it took about an hour of drama to finally get the wiggly one out.  El Ratoncito Perez brought her 200 pesos, which she promptly spent (plus another 50) on a new bathing suit.

aa tooth

We’ve had several BIG rainstorms (usually at night) plus a storm with some hail.  When it rains, the street at the end of our block becomes a river which leads down to the storm drain that Andrew’s phone fell into.

aa hernandez macias

We found some cool shops, including this one where Aliya fell in love with an elephant which she is desperate to have as her “only birthday present.”  She is my kid.

Skeleton  Elephant

I have not bought anything in this pottery store yet, but it will happen before we leave Mexico.  I love it.

Pottery

We met a new friend in Parque Juarez and the kids tried out the Mexican elliptical machines.

Elliptical

I took a day off and we spent the day at Xote, a hot spring / water park outside of town.

Xote

More fun with the Taggarts before they headed home…

Terrace

Legos

Los Milagros

The only time they get along…

Sleepers

Unidad Deportiva

Back in the ‘Ham, all of our kids played soccer, and Ben coached Norah’s team. He also played in an “Over The Hill” league. We hoped to find teams in San Miguel, at least for the girls – Adlani wants to take a break, but it was difficult to get any information online. That has been typical here…so much information is only available by word-of-mouth, and you have to find the people “in the know.”

We heard from Katie O’Grady of Los O’Gradys in Mexico that her daughter played on a team at Unidad Deportiva, and our other new friends (the ones we met at Geek & Coffee) told us that most of the classes there are FREE. It’s outside of town so it will likely involve a taxi or bus ride each time we go, but we can combine it with a trip to the big supermarket nearby if we need anything.

We visited la Deportiva with Los O’Gradys and another family that just arrived in SMA, and Katie (a former Spanish teacher) helped me get some information about a team for Norah. Aliya decided she’d rather take boxing classes, and Adlani may do that as well. All of the current classes were posted outside the office, and you can jump in any time – there doesn’t seem to be a start or end to the season, although new classes will be posted in October.

Soccer for girls was posted as Monday-Wednesday-Friday from 4-7, so we went on Friday to check it out. Aliya and I basically told the coach Norah’s name, that it was her first time there, and gave her a push. She was a little shy for the first few minutes but the girls were nice and the drills and practice-games seemed familiar so she really enjoyed it. The group at practice was divided into smaller girls and bigger girls, and it turned out that the younger kids (7ish to 12ish) practice from 4-5:30, and the older girls (13ish-17ish) practice from 5:30-7. All of the times are “ish” too…someone told me yesterday that “time is not worth as much in Mexico”…I’ve never thought of it that way but it explains why nothing here seems to happen at the time it’s scheduled.

While Norah practiced, Aliya, Adlani, and I checked out the facility. It’s REALLY nice, and it’s true – most classes are free or have a very minimal cost. Aliya needs a card to take the boxing class, but it is 40 pesos ($2.36) for the year. I’m not sure why she needs a card and Norah doesn’t, but I am just going with the flow – I’ve realized that I don’t actually need to know the answer to every single question. I’m trying to model that behavior for Norah because she makes me insane wanting to know every detail of what’s going to happen waaaaaaaay before it happens. The other day she asked how she will know which 5th-grade teacher she has and which classroom to go to. She hasn’t even started 4th grade yet! Anyway…I still don’t know the situation with games or uniforms for her team, but I’m sure we’ll find out when the time comes.

Here are some photos of la Deportiva…

Norah’s practice:

Norah Practice

There are multiple turf fields plus the grass fields:

Turf Field

Basketball Courts:

Basketball

Covered court for basketball or soccer:

Covered Court

 

Tennis Courts (I think there are 5 or 6 + a volleyball court):

Tennis

Very exciting for Aliya…they are putting the finishing touches on a new track!

Track

Cool weight machines where you are lifting/pushing/pulling your own body weight:

Machines

Bench Press (sibling spotters seem like a bad idea):

Adlani Spotting

Aliya Spotting

And a playground that has the same equipment that I spent my childhood on (and survived just fine):

Dismount

They even have Zumba (with an added level of difficulty if you grapevine across the decorative corner medallions)!

Zumba

We’re psyched to have found this facility and so many options for activities!

La Comida

When we came to San Miguel, one of my goals was to cook at home more – to stop eating out and ordering take-out. Take-out is not healthy and it’s expensive. Since we’re on one income now, the added expense of eating out is a luxury.

Well, I’ve fallen off the wagon. Yes – already. While I’m sure there are plenty of expensive restaurants here, we’ve found several that make it not worth the effort to cook. Tonight we went to Vivoli Café, just up the street from our house. It is a nice Italian restaurant – we all liked our food and the service was great. They have a combo deal which includes an appetizer, an entrée, a dessert, and a glass of wine for 229 pesos – $14. My half of the bill, with 2 glasses of wine, 6 drinks for the kids, 4 entrees, an appetizer, and a dessert was $50 + tip. Last night we went to a less expensive café called Dana at the Market, also within walking distance, and a quarter of a chicken with coleslaw and fries was 60 pesos – $3.75. We went to Via Organica on a whim and it was delicious but we were also surprised to find that they have a big organic store that sells all kinds of great stuff. I bought a jar of really delicious granola and I think we’ll be frequent customers. The pizza place we like, La Grota, charges about $25 for 2 large pizzas including delivery and a tip. And of course, Geek & Coffee, where a great salad runs less than $4.

We won’t be eating out EVERY day, but with the reasonable prices and the healthy food, it’s hard to resist! Plus I don’t have to worry about cooking one of the 6 foods Adlani will eat, along with something the rest of us like. That alone is worth the extra cost!

My salad from Via Organica…

Caprese Salad

The store at Via Organica…

Via Organica Store

Aliya’s burrito at Via Organica…

Via Organica

Dinner at Vivoli Cafe…

Vivoli

$3.75 chicken dinner at Dana at the Market…

Dana Chicken

Geek & Coffee salad…

Geek Salad

Down the Drain

I finished writing an article today and was feeling pretty accomplished so we headed to Geek & Coffee with most of the Taggart family. I had Annie, and Aliya and I were leading the pack about a block from our house. Norah and Andrew were each carrying beach balls, because I figured those were safe for them to kick around in the yard at Geek & Coffee. The sidewalks are narrow here, so we were walking more or less single file.

Suddenly, I heard Don yell, “ANDREW!” which is not an uncommon occurrence but I still turned around to make sure he wasn’t doing something that would get us kicked out of town. I saw him running after a beach ball, in the street, with cars approaching. Then he was in the middle of the big storm drain grate yelling, “MY FOOT IS STUCK!” as the ball carried on down the street. While trying to extract himself from the grate before getting run over, I saw his iPhone fly out of the pocket of his sweatshirt and into the storm drain.

Down the DrainWe attract our share of attention under normal circumstances…5 kids, a dog, beach balls, Don, and me, but now we had a kid stuck in the middle of the road, and Don holding his head and yelling, “OH MY GOD! THIS IS TERRIBLE!!” multiple times. Andrew freed himself but by then the neighbors were starting to peek out of their doors to see what was so terrible.

The kids attempted to open the giant grate and Adlani had the brilliant idea of opening the smaller grate and crawling through the pipe that led to the area under the large grate, but the grates wouldn’t budge. We thought about going home to get a broom and a roll of duct tape, but before we had a chance, a workman came off of a nearby roof where he must have been watching the whole scene unfold.

He had a piece of wire about the thickness of a light-weight wire hanger, and he bent it into a long handle with a rectangular section at 90 degrees, and fished the phone out of the storm drain within minutes, while cars drove past him lying on the road. 200 pesos later (he tried to refuse but Don insisted), we were on our way again.

Andrew’s take-away was that if this had happened in the ‘Ham, nobody would have rushed to help. Is that true? I’m not sure, but I do know there’s a lot more foot traffic here and more people with time to stop and lend a hand.

~~~

As an aside, I think the kids have become a little too comfortable with Don over the last couple of weeks, but occasionally Don wins…

Don and Aliya 1a

Don and Aliya 2a

Fin de Semana – Fabuloso!

I don’t know why it’s different being here on a weekend (fin de semana) vs. being in the ‘Ham. Maybe it’s the leftover work that I used to feel obliged to tackle, the household projects waiting to be checked off the mile-long list, or the multiple scheduled events on the calendar. Here, we have no scheduled events, no household projects, and although I do have to get my work done, I’m trying to finish the mandatory stuff during the work-week and spend the weekend recharging.

Yesterday we went shopping with the Taggarts at the Organic Market and another arts and crafts market that had sprung up (where I showed amazing restraint and bought only edible items), and then we all came back to our house and ate the quiche and fresh bread that we had just bought, and some chips and guacamole I whipped up. It was SO NICE to just wander around town, on foot, and then sit around and eat until the wine ran out.

A thunderstorm began during my afternoon nap so the kids and I hung out waiting for it to stop so we could take Annie for her evening walk. It hadn’t stopped by 8:30 but the lightning seemed to have passed by, so I made the kids some quesadillas and took Annie out in the rain by myself. I can hear some of you questioning my judgement…walking in Mexico at night by myself (rain aside) but a) I didn’t have a choice because the dog had to pee, and b) I didn’t feel unsafe at any time. I’m not stupid, but I’m not going to live in fear, here or anywhere.

Adlani and Aliya have been having some tummy troubles so yesterday we asked the pharmacist whether they had any fiber gummies and instead she sold us a medicine called Treda. The information online ranges from “Treda is a miracle cure,” to “It’s better to avoid medication altogether and let it flow,” to “Treda can make you deaf.” They’ve each had 2 doses and are feeling much better, and they still seem to be able to hear me except when I tell them to pick up their crap.

Today we all slept late and then got ready for a date with some of the kids from our new school. Adlani was being lazy so he stayed home (all of the kids were girls), and I headed out with Aliya and Norah. About 3 houses down from ours I saw an old man passed out in a car, with the car door open and a dozen roses on his lap. It was a very surreal scene – like from a movie. A female police officer was walking by, so I asked her to check on him and we waited while she tried to rouse him – honestly, I was afraid he was dead. He finally moved – I don’t know if he was drunk, sick, or just got super-sleepy at the exact moment he tried to get out of the car, but from the look of the roses he had been sitting there a while. We gave him a glass of water and left him in the care of la policia.

The owner of our school had given me the email address of one of the moms from school – CC, and we made arrangements to meet at an amazingly wonderful café near our house, called Geek & Coffee. It’s a mix of an internet café and coffee place, with a bit more substantial food than a coffee place would typically have. The “geek” in the name is because there is usually a technology expert on hand to help with any issues you may be having with your laptop, tablet, or smart phone. There is a huge grassy courtyard with wifi throughout. We would have never in a million years found it because it’s off the beaten path behind the parking lot of Fabrica la Aurora, a beautiful art and design center that is a bit out of our budget at the moment.

We sat there chatting for about 3 hours, and it was fantastic! There were lots of dogs running around and we had Annie with us – there is also a resident cat. CC has 2 daughters around Aliya’s age, and one of their friends also joined us, plus a family from Missouri that sold everything and just began a trip that will end when the money runs out or when they find a place they want to stay for a while. They left 12 Rubbermaid bins and a rocking chair in storage, and they each have one bag with them. I’m so excited for them – what an adventure! Aliya and Norah hung out with the girls at CC’s – it’s just a little over ½ mile from our house to theirs. Annie and I walked home to check on Adlani, but not before Annie puked on CC’s floor. CC didn’t even flinch – my kind of friend. 😀

Geek and Coffee

Inside

Under the Tree

New Friends For Dinner