Cancellations

Just when I bragged about being ready to jump on airplanes our trip has been postponed. Ohhh I'm really frustrated and disappointed. Unfortunately Seb has this horrid secretary who's really incompetent and nosy and she lost some papers she was supposed to send off for my visa. His papers are ready but mine are not and we didn't find this out until yesterday, two days before we leave. She's also been wondering aloud to anyone who will listen why I get to go to Shanghai and passing around my personal information for anyone who wants to have a looksee. Grrr.

So we're going in a couple of weeks but I'll have to take Little S out of school to go stay with the in-laws and they weren't thrilled about the last minute change of plans, (which I understand). We tried to plan this all around school vacations so that's the most frustrating part of not being able to go now and his teacher probably won't be happy about him missing school since he's so far behind. I'm dreading telling her especially since I have to take him out again in May for our US trip. Oh well, life is different for us what can I say.

So next week, hmmm. No big plans because I thought I'd be gone. My car should arrive at the dealership next Friday but that doesn't mean I'll be able to get it right away. I'll be stranded in the house doing lots of little diy projects and finishing up my cv. It went from being a fun and exciting travel week to a boring utilitarian week full of obligations. Poo.



We finally had to open the crates for our artwork since the basement flooding was getting me worried. The question is what's worse dust or humidity? I started getting worried that they might get moldy and to be honest I was really eager to see everything again because I'd pretty much forgotten what was in there. I bought three painting while I was in Mexico, you know kind of considered them my going away presents (along with my dishes and pottery) and I no sooner bought them then I had to have them packed. I basically chose this one the last week, asked Seb to pick it up, left for our flight to Florida and then the movers packed it the following week when I wasn't there. Two years later I finally get to see it again. It's as tall as me and I love it but there aren't a whole lot of places to hang it except the hallway. It had to be hung right away so the kids don't run into it with their toys or Seb doesn't accidentally drill though it (which I could definitely see happening!)

My other paintings are also modern but more Mexican. I really wish I'd bought a few more. I definitely would have if we'd stayed longer.

A couple of things

I'm finding myself in a bit of conundrum. I'm missing Mexico. I guess it's only natural since we're feeling a little unsettled this summer and we were finally starting to feel settled there. I do miss it though and all that wonderful light and the food. I miss a whole list of other things too. I just wish we could have stayed longer, met more people and travelled around.

Yesterday was a little nuts. Both kids had ER episodes. We are the ER family! First Charlotte with an eye cut open on the corner of our metal bed and then Little S who got his finger slammed in the car door. It was a crazy. There was a lot of blood and bandages and tears all day. Little S had his finger episode just as I was leaving my neighbor's house feeding her cat. Anyway, I ran back inside to get a few paper towels because there was blood gushing everywhere and S was howling but somehow I lost the keys to the house in all the chaos and we couldn't leave. I looked everywhere! I had to search for a spare one to lock the door all while compressing S's gashed finger and trying to make sure he didn't get blood on the walls. I still don't know where I laid them and I have to go back and look for them tonight.

I just hope today is calmer.

The singing elephant

On Monday at the end of the fete for the workers party (very similar to the communist party) I wandered over to the American booth out of curiosity. Each country had an information booth, usually with a themed restaurant next to it which made it fun and I'd noticed the American booth early in the fête but it wasn't until Monday that I got around to checking it out. The woman managing the booth acted a little odd, didn't answer many questions and mainly spoke to Little S in truncated French (we call that cave French around here, Seb gets it a lot when we visit the States, "moi Tarzan, toi Jane") "Hi are you here to represent the workers party in the US?" I ask. She doesn't answer and turns to Little S, "moi je traville dans les etats unis ici" and she points to a picture of a factory "Oh that's an auto plant" I say. "which one?" She looks around to see if anyone's within earshot and whispers "FORD," and I get even more curious "so what brings you to France for the Fête de la LO? and then suddenly she stops talking points to a singing elephant all the way across the field, going off on this explanation of how wonderful this clown elephant show is and how my son would love it, and then just disappears. So odd.
***
Last night Seb walked into the bedroom, over to the shutters and said to me in french "tu as oublier de fermer les chomages" (you forgot to close the unemployment). I laughed "what did you say?" He said it again, this time right and I told him what he'd said how I thought maybe he was finally once and for good losing his mind. My poor husband.
***
When we were in Mexico most of the expat families, well okay ALL of the expat families worked for the automotive industry. If you get sent to another country it usually means you're pretty high up in the company and they had all the typical perks of the high rolling expat family, --a new car (usually leased), a nice house, domestic help, free trips home etc. The families with the biggest perks though were the GM families. They all drove huge SUVS and had full time live in maids. They were members of the best golf club, the elite sport club and they often had every Saturday and Sunday booked for months in advance with trips all over the country and dinners in expensive restaraunts. It was a strange world viewed from the outside looking in and it was impossible for me to fit in, not because they weren't friendly and gracious and fun, mostly because of the conservative politics and the religious zeal. Other things made me uncomfortable too. It was strange to read in the news about the drastic cutbacks at the company but then turn around and see a GM mom drive up to the school in a brand new Chevy Yukon, a 50 thousand dollar car. It's not that her car had anything directly to do with the problems at the company but it just made me cringe a little to think how unbalanced it all was.

I often wonder how much longer the corparate GM families will be camped down South. I suppose maybe they'll eventually change production and start producing their politically correct hybrid vehicles, and the high profile cadres will be able to finish out their careers with a little help from the government. I'm not so sure that the perks will be the same though and psst...I can't say I'm disappointed to hear that,...

now go over and check out that singing elephant.

Herbie loves Mexico: 3

Yesterday after picking Little S up at school I drove to the neighborhood where we had hoped to rent a house over a year ago. It's a lovely spot high on a hill with views overlooking the city. We were smitten by a little house there last May, but it just wasn't meant to be and we were a little sad about it. It isn't healthy to dwell on a thing that doesn't work out, we all know this, but I did regret that we didn't get to rent that little hillside house and I would have so enjoyed the panoramic views from the upstairs rooms. It was a lovely home built with nature in mind.

Seb and I often return to this little hillside neighborhood to take pictures and study the city from another perspective or just simply take in the view. It's another place in the city where you can disconnect from life, plugging in "self" and absorbing the nature that surrounds you. I have been really yearning for this lately and I try to get bits and pieces of it when I can, where I can. I am looking forward to getting back to my home and the lake and the mountains where I can get it in large enough doses to quench my thirst for it.

Yesterday it was important for me to bring Little S with me and let him do some of the same reconnecting by running around in circles and studying the bees in the wildflowers growing all around us. He loved it and released some of his boundless energy (where does he get all this energy--he barely eats anything!). We only stayed about 20 minutes, no more and then drove around the housing development where there is nothing but new construction and a good chance of finding a Herbie since it's often a working class car that a lot of construction workers and young Mexicans drive. We had two or three successes in finding some, one beautiful silver babe parked high on the hill with the panorama of the entire city sitting behind her. I threw my rented Chevy into park and grabbed my camera, heart surging in excitement, only to see the owner saunter over to his car keys in hand. Not today my friend, damn! I considered asking him for the picture anyway but I don't take pictures very well under pressure and it probably would have been a blurry shot or a badly composed one. I think I need to work on that because I'm missing capturing some beautiful moments and I love photography with people in it. In this case I thought he might think I was nuts because we were the only other people up there besides construction workers and it was probably already a little odd to see us photographing bees on the flowers by the ridge. So we carried on through the posh finished part of the neighborhood and I got a picture of a lovely red cutie that was about as adorable as a car can get. I love the wheels!

And later on a side street I spied another red one parked near a yellow gate and blue wall, primary colors 'a la Piet Mondrian , particularly with the vertical lines in the gate. It's funny how your perspective changes the more you take pictures. Someone stood there watching me shooting this picture with a puzzled look on his face and I thought, "does he not see the colors?" because it was even prettier in person.

Finally my photo of the day was found, this lovely gray guy hidden in the foliage and parked in such a funny way that it looked as if he had chosen the spot himself and was coyly hiding from his owner so he wouldn't be asked to drive anywhere. (oh dear now I'm beginning to believe Herbie can communicate, okay loony lady time)

I took about 57 photos which is an average for me given the fact that I will shoot at least five pictures or more of the cars I find, and of course in looking for Herbie I always find other photos that I like. The flower project is still fresh in my mind. I still take lots of flower photos because some projects just get into your blood and then you continue to be passionate about them even though everyone around you is saying "enough with the flower pictures!" but it's just natural to obsess about something for a while. I know lots of people guilty of being consumed by a project and you know what? It's a beautiful thing because it means you are inspired by life.

Guilty pleasures

There is comfort in a routine and for me that is my nightly bottle of Coronita, a 250ml smaller version, poured in a frosted glass with fresh lime. It's a simple pleasure, slightly guilty and it will no doubt change to some other guilty pleasure when we move back home. Perhaps a chocolate reunion?

What's your guilty pleasure?

30 days: day 26

Yesterday like many days here I had that urge to escape to the wilderness and be in the open air away from concrete, and brick buildings, gates and automobiles. I dropped Little S off at school and then drove around to a neighborhood I often visit when I have this urge. It is situated on the outer western edge of the city, high above a hill not far from the Montesorri and it has the loveliest views of the hills and the valley. There I can breathe.

One of the most difficult aspects of Mexico for me is fulfilling this need. It isn´t possible to just walk outside and be in nature. And unfortunately it isn´t safe to just go off walking. I have a constant urge to hike and walk and escape from the confines of my home and this privada where we live. I have a constant urge to get away and feel the earth crunch beneath my boots, study flowers, collect rocks, get lost, run my finger over well-worn map, feel the wind..., to discover a cow pasture or stumble upon a small lake at the base of a mountain. I imagine walks like this all the time, in my mind´s eye I am pulled in to a world where I am regenerating, shedding a layer of myself as I sit on a broken tree stump pulling a half warm bottle of water from my backpack.

Without these walks I am a lost soul, bumping aimlessly about. I am not the me that is me. The me that I know.

Our Mexico is urban, closed. We are prisoners trapped in the most pleasant of circumstances but here furthering someone else´s agenda and not our own. It will be good to get back to our world, --mountains and forest. It will be a nice feeling to pull on those boots again and have an open path in front of me.

My little walk was good. I didn´t leave the neighborhood. It wouldn´t have been wise, but I did soak in the view enough to be able to breathe a little better.

Dog days

I had a zinger of a day today, a very Mexican day,-- green, white and red if you will. I think I can use that expression from time to time and in fact I think I will ask that it be put in the dictionary. I was in a terrible mood and I realized that if I stay here this will continue to happen to me and I will eventually go mad, become posessed and start speaking in tounges. There are just some things that are insanely impossible here and if I started sharing all the stories of all of the crazy things that happen to us on a daily basis it would fill three blogs or more, and who has the time to write three blogs I tell you.

I guess it didn´t help that lot of crap happened in one day today. You always know those days are coming and when they do you just have to get through them somehow. This morning we were so tired. I'm not sure why--we don't sleep well here and I think it's our body's way of reuperating every few weeks. So we wake up late, even the baby which is really unusual, and I´m rushing to get my grumpy kids dressed and changed and fed in twenty minutes and don´t you know we go to school and find out that there's no school today. I think it´s a holiday. I'll have to get back with you on that. So then I go to the bank and wait in line for an eternity to get the rent money for our ferocious landlord who beats on our door the DAY the rent is due, and the bank tells me that my name is on the account but I´m not authorized to take money--only my husband can do this ...huh?. So I am allowed to take bits from the ATM over the next week with my card but not more than X amount per day which is really stupid. Basically it means we can either eat or pay the rent for the next week. I hate Mexico for this! The bank manager knows me because I´ve been in there with Seb a lot. Isn´t that what a manager is for? Mexicans drive me nuts with this blind rule following thing. It´s such an oxymoron, --carefree, funloving perpetually late folks who are obsessed with rules and regulations. I actually had a guard chase me down in the grocery store last week because I had accidentally taken the wrong store´s grocery cart in their store. The carts were impossible to tell apart but HE knew. It was his JOB. So he made me switch out all my groceries, my purse, my grocery bags and my two kids while he stood there with his arms crossed and then confinscated the illegal cart....ohhhh...beware of those sneaky American cart switching women!

So yeah I guess I will just take my little ATM card allowance for the next week and try to squeeze in some grocery money while I´m at it so I can you know, feed my family. Maddening. It´s MY money and I can´t have it.

Okay there´s my rant. And here is my new device... let it all go. I think you have to when you live in a foreign country. I think you have to when you move as much as I do. And I think if I have any more days like today I am moving at the end of the week and leaving all of my things behind for the moving company because I am tard!

Family travel time

Our weekend started out bad! On Friday morning poor Seb got plowed into from behind by a huge GMC pick-up truck without insurance. The police came to sort out the matter and actually did a pretty good job of it --after being given a generous tip of course. We will get our car fixed thanks to our great insurance but it's painful to see our pretty car all tangled to shreds. It has over 3,000 dollars worth of damage. Seb felt bad for the guy who hit him but not bad enough to accept his offer to "let a buddy of his fix our car." We are selling the car and already kind of have a buyer in mind....uh err had a buyer in mind that is. I think driving without insurance is just asking for trouble. Apparently the guy had a nice truck and it was practically totaled. Not only does he have to reimburse our insurance company but he has to fix or replace his own car.

We tried not to let this spoil our plans though. Since Seb had work in Queretaro two hours from home yesterday we decided to go as a family the night before and stay in a hotel. We are trying to maximize as much of our time together as possible before he leaves on Tuesday so we really wanted to be together. I'm glad we did this little trip.

Queretaro is south of us following some really pretty, winding mountain roads so it was a nice drive. The Holiday Inn Centro of Queratero where we stayed the night is gorgeous! It's fashioned after a typical Mexican hacienda and it's all covered in vines. We had the hugest breakfast buffet ever --fresh cut fruits, yogurts, pancakes, cookies, refried beans, chilaquiles, chicken tacos ...and the food was all served on those blue and white floral patterned dishes that are so typically Mexican (and that I so hope to be bringing home with me when we leave). There was also a great children's play area that had a little white stucco playhouse I would have loved to have had as a kid. And the swimming pool was a big attraction for Little S. We didn't get to see much of the city except for a quick drive through the centro. It seemed like a nice town but the industry was really overwhelming on the outskirts and I think it ruined the charm. Industry is overtaking the little towns of Mexico which is good and bad news for the country--mostly bad. I hope it at least improves the standard of living and the minimum wage for the Mexican people.

You can click on the grid for a closer look at my pictures of our hotel day.

Proof

papers and photos ready for the consulate

This afternoon we leave for two day trip to Monterrey where we will try to register the birth of our little nanette at the US Consulate. Hopefully we´ll get her passport too and she can finally travel to the US without having to be smuggled in on a French passport. I think everything will go okay even if the paperwork and proof of presence in the US and citizenship requirements on my part are a little daunting. Because Seb isn´t American I have to go out of my way to prove my citizenship. It all strikes me as odd because my friend Haley who is American and living here just went throught the same process and didn´t have to bring in any papers other than the forms. Her husband is also American though and apparently there is a big difference *scratches head* .

Proof of presence and of citizenship is done through college transcripts, W2 forms and old photographs. You know stuff everyone travels to Mexico with, naturally. Of course I have all this stuff lying around! Why not? You are also required to make a list of all the times you left the country came back since your were born. Apparently they can "quiz" you on this list which is really daunting because not only did it take me four hours to make the list with the help of an old passport, I would have a hard time remembering that in 1997 I flew into Munich and out of Barcelona but on the next year´s trip I flew into Paris and out of Rome. Then there are all the aller-retours when I met Seb a few years later. Sometimes I flew into Geneva and then it depended on what was cheaper, I flew into Paris or Lyon. Dates, dates, dates, there are tons of them! Looking at the list after I completed it, it looked more likely that I was a very suspicious international spy than the innocent mom of two I was pretending to be. There will be a juicy promotion to a post in Bora-Bora for the agent who uncovers this little coup.

After I prove that I am indeed an American who has lived in the US for 5 years or more, then there´s the pregnancy to prove. The proof consists of ultrasounds photos, doctor´s affidavits, photos of the hospital and photos of the doctor and hospital staff, hospital bracelets and the crib card. I have to prove that she was born here and is ours (just look at dad´s ears I´ll say), and I have to I suppose prove that we are not trying to pass off this little Mexican chiquita as our American/French baby or some other mysterious babe swapping extravaganza. Piece of cake.

Then there are the forms for the CRBA, the Social Security card and the passport with photos and copies of all of my documents and all of Seb´s documents. Whew! I just hope and pray that everything is correct. I am cross-eyed from filling out little forms and brain dead from trying to decide on addresses I should use. Do I have everything sent here or to my parents or in France to the in-laws? Should my official mailing adress be our old house since we´ll probably eventually get back there? Decision, decisions.

I have already uploaded my 30 day photo for tomorrow and we will hopefully be back in time for me to post the next installment. I´m trying to be disciplined about this.

Wish us a smooth ride! Sometimes this stuff is much easier than we make it out to be.

The routine

The weather here has suddenly turned fom mild to downright hot and we would normally be able to leave the sliding doors open if we didn´t have the swimming pool to worry about. The original plan was to gate off the back portion of the garden to allow us access without worring about the pool but the expense of doing that seems frivilous with our leaving in two months. I just hope it doesn't get much hotter. I am always sweating like a sow anyway because of my breastfeeding hormones and I´m running out of deoderant options as it is.

Life around here suddenly got a little more difficult since Seb left to start his new job in Paris. We were a little sad all weekend knowing that this is the start of what will be a lot of time apart. The plan is that he will come back every three weeks for a small week until the month of July when we will leave for good. It´s going to be a long two months but at least Little S will get to finish school and we won´t have to move so quickly. This also gives us time to do Charlotte´s American birth declaration and passport which takes about three weeks from the date you apply. She can´t enter the US without this so it would mean I couldn´t take her on vacation this Summer to meet everyone. So once again I'm destined to be the single mother.

In order to survive I have divided my days into little parts. Here is my daily routine --the morning after S is at school it´s all about breastfeeding and getting Charlotte down for her 10-11 o´clock nap , which is a chore let me tell you--she needs to be held until she drifts off, then there is house cleaning which isn't so difficult with only us three here, then it´s time to pick up Little S at school and eat lunch. After lunch it´s play time for him while I take care of cleaning up lunch dishes and finishing off the laundry and by then it´s our craft time which we do for an hour or more. At four o´clock I´ve started this new thing where we go to the big park for an hour and he can invite a little friend if he likes. Many of the moms don´t want to go out because of the heat (which is not really all that bad...it´s in the 80´s here) so we´ve been going alone and Little S has been making lots of little Mexican friends! Then we come home at 5:30 for the six o´clock bath and hop into pjs and then it´s dinnertime. After dinner we often continue our craft and drawing time together but he can watch a little tv if he likes. I have been trying to steer him away from tv more and more which is great, but I do need a break from time to time so I let him watch a half an hour dvd or one Discovery Kids program as long as it isn´t Barney in which case I will not be relaxed but annoyed. Then it´s story time in his room for 30 minutes and then bed by eight o´clock. Once he´s in bed I can breastfeed Charlotte for the hour she takes to fall asleep in my arms while I check my mail and read a few blogs, then both are in bed, whew--mission accomplished! Once they´re in bed I can sew or maybe have my tv time on the internet which is either an episode of ANTM* (my superficial vice) or American Haunting which I am totally addicted to but can definitely not watch while Seb is away lest I hear growling coming from the back bedroom. This show scares the crap out of me. A lot of good Seb would do in this case though because the husbands on this show always tell the wife they are overreacting to the demons throwing teacups across the room.

And so there is our day. I hope my little routine gets us through the two months and serves as a distraction. I only wish I had another adult around to talk to.


*America´s Next Top Model

Hope

We´re back, tired and rundown from our two day drive home. We had an amazing time. We stopped a few times along the Mayan route and saw the pyramid and ruins of Chichen Itzá. It was so amazing and beautiful. We were in awe.

I loved the drive so much because for the first time we actually experienced Mexico. We saw the beauty, the craziness, the funny side and of course the sad poverty. It was the poverty that shocked us the most. How can the country allow this to continue? We were sad and angry for the people who have to live subordinate to a government so corrupt. It´s a disgrace to the people of Mexico that their people are forced to live like this. It made us realize how truly spoiled we are, French and Americans living with whatever we want or need an arm´s reach away.

We got ticketed for not having an "emissions inspection paper" in Mexico City. We weren´t even sure what this was but since our car is new and all the papers were done by the dealership we were sure if we didn´t have it then it probably wasn´t necessary. It was just the usual ploy. The cop said the fine was 500 dollars and our car would be impounded until we paid it. We were nervous like you get in these confrontations but we know how it works. We stayed polite and Seb slid him the minimum we had in change, a 20 dollar US bill I had tucked in my international wallet. He groaned shaking his head, "no ...5000 pesos!" But he finally accepted our little tip when we added a bit more and then he let us go. This is the third time this has happened to us since being here. All the locals tell us not to support the corruption but when faced with a gruff policeman in a foreign country it´s hard to stand up for your rights, especially when you have your entire family in the car and your language skills are limited.

On the way to Cancun and just before the cop incident Seb´s cell phone rang. It was someone from a company he´d sent his c.v. to in Mexico. They were interested in meeting up with him. We got very excited because it was a chance to stay here--a life ring tossed in our direction! Maybe we could stay longer and not have to move. As a result we spent our vacation full of exciting what-ifs rather than ill tempered resignation. So far nothing has panned out but the call itself was a blessing because it filled us with some much needed hope and happiness and let us truly enjoy our vacation.

Staring up at the sun

In the land of the mayans

We are on vacation, something we seemed to skip a lot these last few years because we have tended to use vacation time for packing, renovating and taking care of family business. It took us two days to get here because we drove. Yes we are nuts to spend that much time in a car with two small kids.

But we are here now, relaxing one beautiful week in the Yucatan alongside the Mayans. We have a car so we can go visit the ruins. And for a few days here Little S is in heaven running between the swimming pool and the sea. Charlotte is having her first sensation of sand in her toes and sea breezes blowing through her brittle baby locks. If only life could freeze right here just a little longer.

The new season

We are heading back to our Mexican life Saturday morning, be it ever so brief . We will take what is left of it and enjoy ourselves. Seb and I are both happy that we at least got to come for the near year we will have been in Mexico. It's been a fabulous experience and we love the people and the country. Our daughter will grow up with this special attachment to the country because of her birthright and maybe one day she will travel there and discover where she was born.

I've had a very strange week being in mil's house. Maybe it's that feeling of being weighted down from all these dried flowers tacked up on the walls and the little doilies posed on every table.* It was very nice of them to let us stay here so I shouldn't really complain, but it made me feel even more out of sorts being trapped alone in such an abandoned landscape, the winds whistling against the house from the vast field across the way. As if that wasn't enough to put me on edge, I had a few incidents this week where my faith in humanity and common decency were completely rocked. It must be the week for it.

* Eighteen doilies in total. I counted.

Reveiwing the intinerary

Adios Mexico! gotta love that song...

We're heading out tomorrow for another three week stay in France. Yes I said another. It feels like we just got back from one of those. When I think of all the travelling we've done these past months it boggles my mind. Charlotte will have done two international voyages before she´s four months old (not to mention the two she did while she was in my stomach)! She´s either going to grow up a nomad or a rebel homebody who refuses to ever move again. I always told MY mom I´d be the latter because we moved a lot when I was a kid. Look what happened to me. She still thinks that´s funny.

Anyway, the reason we are going to be gone for so long is because The Company wants Seb in France for some meetings related to the Proabable New Position and they wanted him to come next week then come home and then come back again a week later. Seeing as he didn´t want to abandon us that long (and I´ll kill him if he does that to me again), he worked it out so we could come with and hang out in Paris doing the check out visit thing and strolling around sighteseeing (sightseeing with a toddler and a small baby in the freezing rain ...hahahaha!)

Afterwards we will head to Normandie to see the family for a three or four day stretch and then maybe go and see our house in Haute Savoie for a day or two, (against my better judgement because I honestly don´t want to stir up the I-miss-my-house emotions on top of everything else going on right now--those emotions are pretty fierce). Then we´ll head back to Paris for more Company Business (and presumably more sightseeing for me *sigh*).

Gone for so long our grass will certainly die here in Mexico and the carefully planted trees and plants we invested in will surely suffer. The pool will turn murky again and the bottom will take on a fine layer of black soot. This house requires a lot of maintenance! When I think of what we did, bringing the barren lawn back from the dead it makes me crazy to think we will leave it all to die again. The landlord doesn't care about this house.

And we´ll miss Mexico while we´re gone. Right now I am digging out winter coats for our trip. My sister in law said on the family blog that the children enjoy the videos we post because they like to see the sunshine and they wonder out loud why we´re never in pantalons. I will explain to them when I see them that Mexico is not a place where you have to wear pantalons very much because thewonderful sun is always shining and pantalons are usually opitional. Then I will give them their firey-hot bon bons and as usual their imagination will reel with excitement about this place where tata and tonton live. I´m going to miss that wonderment effect if we move.

Tomorrow is protein day

It's my turn to bring the snack tomorrow for all the kids in Little S's class. With twenty-seven kids It looks like I'll be up until the wee hours cutting the crust off of little sandwiches.

When I asked about the snack requirements the directrice of the school told me that it should consist of three elements, main course, side course and a dessert. I was a little shocked that the kids had that much to eat at 10:00 am! The teacher explained though that many of the children don't have time to eat breakfast so this is their main morning meal. It made more sense then but still I have a hard time wrapping my head around how people can't get their kids eating breakfast when first of all school doesn't start until nine am and secondly everyone who has their kid in this school has a housekeeper and a cook. It's nuts.

The directrice gave me a list of food I might think of preparing for my days (tomorrow is protein day by the way). Much of the list was foods that are quite local so I haven't really given it a second look. I think if I bring flautas I'll be looping a noose around my anglo neck. I'm not even going there because I can just see Little S being referred to as "the kid whose mom mixed chicken with too little chipolte and no lime" or "the one who used flour tortillas not corn" or some other embarrassing gastronomical gaffe that would shock even a preschooler. No, no I'm sticking to what I know and it has French twist-- ham and butter sandwiches (posh deli ham and French butter, yum!), Danon petit suisses, and apples cut in quads. And I'm really hoping that's enough!

Chaos rules--driving in Mexico

I am getting the hang of driving here, realizing that as a person who has driven in a relatively sane environment most of my life I have to make allowances for the fact that this is the country of anything goes driving wise (well other wise too but that is an entirely different post for another day).

Today as usual I took the short two mile trip to drop off Little S at school I was once again agressively overtaken in the rond point and then rudely cut off before I could exit the rond point. This isn´t the first time this has happened. I´m really finding rond points hard to figure out in Mexico. I´m not so sure that the Mexicans have them figured out either. It´s pretty much a free for all in the rondpoint. Once you´re in it´s like "yeeha! Adios suckers!!" and it seems to me you try to cut off as many people as possible. Or is it? In our neighborhood whenever I encounter someone already in a rond point they always stop and wave me on to go. It´s like they feel like once you´re in the roundpoint you have to be super curteous and let everyone go ahead of you. I laugh imagining them in this rond point in Paris. They´d never get out!

Somehow chaos works though. In leaving the drop off point for S´s school I have to make a left on to a busy highway. The highway traffic should have the right of way, followed by the people turning right, but as is often the case I am encouraged to GO by the angry driver laying on the horn of his large, clackety Ford truck behind me and so I GO. I always get out into the flow of traffic and so do about six other cars and we all flow into the path of a very large bus or truck barreling down the highway, and somehow it all works (meanwhile the right turn guy is still waiting for some odd reason...I never get that part). I always think to myself "how did that work!?" but there is no logic to driving in Mexico and I sort of believe if you analyze the chaos of it too much you will only find yourself in the middle of a huge accident. For some reason it works and you just accept it.

I´m still cautious though. Chaos works for Mexicans but maybe not for me.

In Mexico you often see people with missing limbs, even young people and Seb and I always surmise car accident. If you combine all of this chaos with the no seatbelt policy of so much of the country, it is inevitable that a good chunk of the population will show the signs of wear and tear. I think we all want to leave here with our limbs intact so our policy is to let them be loco and we will continue to cruise at gringo speed keeping our eyes peeled at all times.

Turn and face the ch-ch-changes

We had a really nice weekend, barbecue by the swimming pool and hanging out next to each other a lot in the office at our respective computers (bliss). We finally bought Little S his cute skate-bike that he´d been promised for Christmas. We found a place where we can buy direct from the manufacturer so it only cost 40 dollars, next to nothing really for S´s bike and it´s really made well.

This weekend we talked a lot about the future and what we can expect the next few years--our life is a perpetual roller coaster and we have no idea why. It especially hasn´t been an easy past few weeks.

But we are together and we are a little family and that´s all that really matters to us. We have so much to be thankful for.

We may not be staying in Mexico after all and admitting that has been tough. We could stay here if we wanted to, the situation will allow for it but we will have to make sacrifices. Seb´s career will suffer. The contracts he was here to work on have been delayed a few years and he will have to sit and twiddle his thumbs while things come together. He isn´t very good at that and he will be bored. I know he needs something to excite him. It´s what makes him happy. And he will have a two year stretch on his resumé that says "thumb twiddling" and that would be a shame.

We love the life here. For the first time since we bought our house we have had family time together. The weekends haven´t been spent in building supply stores, entire paychecks dropped on bathtub plumbing and we haven´t once had a shower outside. Mexico is beautiful and the people are friendly and helpful, often late and unreliable but usually willing to do what they can to help. If we leave we will certainly miss this place.

And doing another international move so soon? Honestly you may as well just shoot me. My friend Bea says they will always refer to their move back to the US as "the year we MOVED" said in a loud thundering voice. It all came up in their marital counseling to which the counseler said "a move like that is very difficult on a family...let some more time go by." And I told her "I completely understand where you´re coming from." (except try being pregnant for the move and you´ll be even more on the edge of insanity).

Maybe a miracle will come out of the sky and we´ll get to stay a few more years. We always hear people say that Mexico is closer to God than other countries. If so maybe he will hear my plea a little louder, ..."make it work somehow, pleeeeease!"

I love you

Valentine´s Day isn´t really celebrated at school by kids in France so I had more or less totally forgotten about it being a kid´s holiday for the past decade. Now that we live in Mexico though I have found to my pleasant surprise that it seems to be celebrated at school here just like it was when I was a little American school kid. I used to love this day at school when I was a kid.




Little S* loved it too. He had a grande old time today and came out of school overloaded with presents of flowers and cards and of course candy. Mexicans love any excuse to hand out sweets.



I don´t know who gave him the "I love you" note. Obviously he already has older women in his repetoire of lovers. Nobody in his group can write yet.


*(his name is revealed here but it´s no secret really. I just don´t print it on my blog because it has an unusual spelling and I don´t want it on The Google.)

Mexican kiddie birthday parties

This is the baby chick Little S received as a party favor at the last birthday party he attended. I tried desperately to say no but the mother giving away the present shoved it into Little S´s hand and said "this is your little PRESENT young man...especially for YOU" as I stood there protesting saying "no thank you..." and knowing full well I´d never get S to give it back without a huge scene. So it´s currently living in one of our showers until we can give it to our neighbor´s housekeeper who has a farm.

Mexican kids parties are nuts. This is the fifth one we´ve been invited to. They are usually held in rented halls with trampolines and blow up castles, an outdoor playground and little playhouses, face painting, food and costumed people walking about. There are lots of sweets and of course a piñata to bash. Each kid has his turn to break it open and get the treats inside which for some reason are not inside but scattered on the ground by the parents after all the kids have had a turn at bashing.

At this last party there were at least 60 kids and that´s not even counting the babies and their mothers, the numerous nannies and the photographers. I don´t see us ever having a party this big this for S so hopefully he´ll just enjoy the ones he gets to go to while we´re here.