One other thing about buses (and I can’t believe I didn’t notice it until this week): The other day I got on and handed my money to the driver. As he pulls away, in between shifting gears, checking the rear-view mirror, and handing me my change, he crosses himself (catholic style). Very quick, very subtle, but unmistakable. It registers in my head as I drop the change into my pocket that I saw another bus driver do that too. I’m thinking to myself “must be a bus driver thing” but as I turn to walk down the isle of the bus I notice a passenger is also crossing herself.
So I started paying attention, and it turns out it wasn’t an isolated incident. On any given morning fully 10-20% of the passengers on my bus will cross themselves as the bus pulls away from my stop. I assume they do it at every stop, but my ride is so short that there are no other stops between where I get on and where I get off, so I can’t say for certain. Maybe it has something to do with me getting on? Are gringos considered bad luck?!
Anyway, speaking of buses, last Sunday we rode one to the Macroplaza downtown. It took a bit of trial and error to find the right bus (ruta 214), but it was worth it. We all had a great time. Ostensibly we went because we wanted to go to the public library. There’s only one, and it’s at the Macroplaza. I didn’t even want to think about trying to find parking in that part of town, hence the bus trip. The library turned out to be closed on Sundays, but as I said we had a great time anyway so it didn’t matter.
The Macroplaza, as the name implies, is huge, and is surrounded by various municipal buildings, museums, theaters, the library, etc. The north and south ends have grassy areas with trees, which are very pleasant. There were lots of families relaxing there in the shade. In the middle of the plaza there are some large statues and stuff. The only bad part was crossing the plaza in the afternoon heat. With the sun beating down from above and also reflecting up off the paving stones it was pretty intense. But aside from that, it was great, and just really nice to be out of the house doing something. At the south end they always set up a dance floor and have a public concert on Sunday evenings, but last Sunday something special was going on because there were huge lines of people waiting for food. Judging by the length of the lines, I assume the food must have been free. A big crew of people were working under a shade canopy to cook it. They had big kettles and skillets about five feet in diameter, and three or four people with spoons the size of canoe paddles stirring each one. At the concert stage some kind of musical show for kids was going on that was hosted by a very slim women in a skin-tight blue bodysuit. Her name was Lilly. She wore silver mascara and lipstick, and had two enormous blond ponytails. Her co-host was a giant chicken (well, someone dressed in a giant chicken suit anyway). It was all very loud and goofy and confusing. Enid loved it.
The library isn’t open Sundays, but it is open on Saturdays. Since we know which bus to take now, we may go back there tomorrow. We brought quite a few of Enid’s books with us to Mexico, but not enough to keep me from getting quite bored reading them over and over again at bedtime each night. Hopefully we can obtain a library card and start bringing home fresh reading material from time to time.
Friday, September 28, 2007
Friday, September 21, 2007
Another workweek has come and gone. Enid and Robin are slowly getting over their colds. Just a few sniffles and coughs now. I never got it. Don’t know what I did to deserve that. Enid seems to have gotten over her reluctance to go to school. I started walking her over there with Robin every morning. I don’t know if that had anything to do with it. Probably she just has gotten used to the new school. Anyway, she is very cheerful now when we leave her there in the morning, which is quite gratifying. Today her class had their “venta de dulces” selling candy to raise money to buy a class pet. Next step is a class trip to the pet store. I think the plan is to buy fish.
At work I continue to spend my days mostly reading the scientific literature. But there seem to be some signs of movement recently towards getting some experiments started. Possibly some work on a gene called Protein Kinase C Zeta in follicular lymphoma, and possibly some work on a gene called TRAF3 in multiple myeloma. Plus hopefully a little microarray analysis of some breast tumor samples. I’m doing what I can to make some things happen. But I’m not stressing about it as much as I was at first. That was starting to keep me awake at night.
Just for fun, here’s my typical morning: Wake up whenever Enid does, hopefully around 7:30am but often earlier. Get Enid some breakfast if Robin hasn’t already. Take a shower and shave if I didn’t the night before. (When it’s hot I sometimes like to take a cold shower just before bed. The water isn’t really that cold, just cold enough to be refreshing). Iron my clothes. Help get Enid dressed. Usually by then it’s time to walk her over to school. The walk is nice. All three of us together, and it’s still cool outside at that hour. It’s only three of four blocks to her school, but Enid walks slowly so it takes about ten minutes. We usually talk along the way. Once there Enid gives us a series of alternating hugs and kisses, an invention of hers that she calls a “shamboni”. She asks us to walk out to the garden where the children play until class starts. All the teachers say “Buenos días Enid. ¿Cómo estás?” She’s getting less shy these days and will often smile and reply “¡Bien!”. Then she climbs up on top of the big plastic caterpillar and gives us a huge, joyful smile that says “Look at me!” I open my eyes wide with amazement and give her a big smile back that says “Look at you!” then wave goodbye and leave.
I kiss Robin goodbye at the corner and start walking to the bus stop. About a 15 minute walk. Careful crossing the streets. People don’t stop for stop signs here, sometimes don’t even slow down. Flock of big green and red parrots in the trees at the park making a hell of a noise. Trash in the streets. Lot’s of litterbugs in Mexico. The parks get cleaned, but not the streets. None of those crews of petty criminals in orange vests along the highways here. The other problem is that people put their trash out in any old bag or cardboard box they have handy, not city-provided containers with heavy lids. Stray dogs and cats tear open the bags. The trash gets spread all over, and it likely stays there until the next heavy rain washes it away.
Women sweeping carports and sidewalks in front of houses. Every morning see the same ones. I thought they were housewives at first. Now I realize they are domestic servants. Make the family breakfast and then tactfully disappear while they eat. Better to sweep outside while it’s still cool anyway. You also see lots of nannies here taking care of little children. They wear uniforms, kind of look like nurses. What do the mothers do all day? Not cooking and cleaning. Not raising their kids. Shopping at the mall?! Strange living among the rich…
Walk past a manhole cover with water gushing out and flooding the street. Third day it has been like that. Wonder when it will get fixed. Smells a little like sewage. Move over to far edge of the sidewalk so passing cars won’t splash me with it.
Pass the American football field. Home of the Pumas. American football is very popular here. When I walk by in the afternoon on my way home the field will be swarming with hundreds of little Mexican boys in shoulder pads and helmets. Parents in SUVs dropping them off. But in the morning the parking lot is used by students from CEDIM, a design college a few blocks away. As I walk by the guard asks me the time. I tell him, and think how odd it is that he doesn’t have a watch. Watches are pretty cheap.
Start down the hill now towards the bus stop on Morones Prieto. Other people coming up the hill, alone or in pairs, probably just got off a bus. At the bottom of the hill, by the fire station, someone stands waiting. He’ll flag down a bus, even though he’s not at a marked stop. People do it all the time. Buses stop anywhere, just flag them down like taxis. I could wait there with him, but I always walk to the marked bus stop farther down. I don’t know why. Walk past the main parking lot for CEDIM, right below the building. Always a line of cars waiting for a space. Wonder if they pay more to park so close? Notice there are more female students than males. Could be students at any U.S. college. Same clothes, hair, faces. Surprising how un-Mexican they look.
Get to the bus stop and wait for the bus. Never have to wait more than a few minutes. Lots of different routes go by here. Almost any bus will work, since I’m only going half a mile or so. First bus that comes along is the 202. Raise my hand (they’ll go right by if you don’t). Bus stops and I step on quickly (they don’t like to stop for very long). The fare is eight pesos. I hand the driver a ten peso coin as he pulls away from the curb. In between shifting gears he hands me a little stack of coins already stacked together in his change box: a five peso coin, a two peso coin, two one peso coins, and two fifty centavo coins. I put the two peso coin in my pocket and drop in rest in the fare slot. I wish the bus drivers back in Hawaii would make change. You’d never see that in the U.S.
A scruffy looking man with a beard is standing in the aisle in the back of the bus, struggling to stay balanced in the swaying vehicle as he plays the recorder. When he’s finished he’ll walk up and down the aisle collecting money. First time I’ve seen that. I sit down. People on the bus look more Mexican than the design students or my rich neighbors and their football playing kids. Dark skin for a change. My ride is very short, about three minutes. The bus swerves down a ramp and passes under Gonzalitos. No way to cross it except in a motor vehicle, otherwise I could walk or ride a bike. Once past Gonzalitos, the medical school is right in front of me. Reach up and press the red button. Beeping noise alerts the driver and he deftly swings over across two lanes of traffic and pulls up to my stop. Nobody argues with a bus. I step off before the bus has come to a complete stop, and as my feet hit the pavement the driver slams on the accelerator and the bus lurches away.
It’s starting to get hot now. Outside the med school cars and trucks and lots of little green taxis are turning the corner from Morones Prieto onto Calle Dr. Cantú. I wait for a break and dash across to the other side of the street (which is wet; seems like it’s always wet. Why?). A man stands on the other side waving a dirty rag in circles over his head with one hand and beckoning to the passing cars with the other. Couldn’t figure out those guys at first. Always waving those rags over their heads. Turns out they’re just selling parking spaces. 20 pesos, park as long as you want, pay when you leave. Nice to know someone is watching your car while you’re gone.
Something smells mightily of dead fish. That’s new. Enter the gate and cross the medical center parking lot, pass by the hospital entrance (saw actual, honest-to-god conjoined twins walking out of there the other afternoon; first time in my life). Cross the concrete plaza in front of the med school. Gets awfully slippery when it rains; can’t believe they did a trowel finish, should have broomed it. Through the doors and up five flights of stairs (swore off elevators; stairs are the only exercise I get these days). Building still smells new. Automatic doors open. Walk in and say “Buenos días” to Marisol, the receptionist. Ladders in the hallway, wires strewn on the floor. They’re working on something again. Unlock the door to my office. “Marc Crepeau Cull” the sign says. Still can’t get used to seeing my mother’s maiden name stuck on the end like that. When in Rome.... Enter, put down my briefcase. Unlock the cabinet and take out my computer. Plug it in and turn it on. Get my bag of coffee out of the cabinet (first things first!). Chiapas. Smells good. Three scoops. What the hell, four scoops. Down the hall for water. Pour it in the machine and press start. Hiss…gurgle, gurgle. Such a happy sound! Sit down and get to work.
At work I continue to spend my days mostly reading the scientific literature. But there seem to be some signs of movement recently towards getting some experiments started. Possibly some work on a gene called Protein Kinase C Zeta in follicular lymphoma, and possibly some work on a gene called TRAF3 in multiple myeloma. Plus hopefully a little microarray analysis of some breast tumor samples. I’m doing what I can to make some things happen. But I’m not stressing about it as much as I was at first. That was starting to keep me awake at night.
Just for fun, here’s my typical morning: Wake up whenever Enid does, hopefully around 7:30am but often earlier. Get Enid some breakfast if Robin hasn’t already. Take a shower and shave if I didn’t the night before. (When it’s hot I sometimes like to take a cold shower just before bed. The water isn’t really that cold, just cold enough to be refreshing). Iron my clothes. Help get Enid dressed. Usually by then it’s time to walk her over to school. The walk is nice. All three of us together, and it’s still cool outside at that hour. It’s only three of four blocks to her school, but Enid walks slowly so it takes about ten minutes. We usually talk along the way. Once there Enid gives us a series of alternating hugs and kisses, an invention of hers that she calls a “shamboni”. She asks us to walk out to the garden where the children play until class starts. All the teachers say “Buenos días Enid. ¿Cómo estás?” She’s getting less shy these days and will often smile and reply “¡Bien!”. Then she climbs up on top of the big plastic caterpillar and gives us a huge, joyful smile that says “Look at me!” I open my eyes wide with amazement and give her a big smile back that says “Look at you!” then wave goodbye and leave.
I kiss Robin goodbye at the corner and start walking to the bus stop. About a 15 minute walk. Careful crossing the streets. People don’t stop for stop signs here, sometimes don’t even slow down. Flock of big green and red parrots in the trees at the park making a hell of a noise. Trash in the streets. Lot’s of litterbugs in Mexico. The parks get cleaned, but not the streets. None of those crews of petty criminals in orange vests along the highways here. The other problem is that people put their trash out in any old bag or cardboard box they have handy, not city-provided containers with heavy lids. Stray dogs and cats tear open the bags. The trash gets spread all over, and it likely stays there until the next heavy rain washes it away.
Women sweeping carports and sidewalks in front of houses. Every morning see the same ones. I thought they were housewives at first. Now I realize they are domestic servants. Make the family breakfast and then tactfully disappear while they eat. Better to sweep outside while it’s still cool anyway. You also see lots of nannies here taking care of little children. They wear uniforms, kind of look like nurses. What do the mothers do all day? Not cooking and cleaning. Not raising their kids. Shopping at the mall?! Strange living among the rich…
Walk past a manhole cover with water gushing out and flooding the street. Third day it has been like that. Wonder when it will get fixed. Smells a little like sewage. Move over to far edge of the sidewalk so passing cars won’t splash me with it.
Pass the American football field. Home of the Pumas. American football is very popular here. When I walk by in the afternoon on my way home the field will be swarming with hundreds of little Mexican boys in shoulder pads and helmets. Parents in SUVs dropping them off. But in the morning the parking lot is used by students from CEDIM, a design college a few blocks away. As I walk by the guard asks me the time. I tell him, and think how odd it is that he doesn’t have a watch. Watches are pretty cheap.
Start down the hill now towards the bus stop on Morones Prieto. Other people coming up the hill, alone or in pairs, probably just got off a bus. At the bottom of the hill, by the fire station, someone stands waiting. He’ll flag down a bus, even though he’s not at a marked stop. People do it all the time. Buses stop anywhere, just flag them down like taxis. I could wait there with him, but I always walk to the marked bus stop farther down. I don’t know why. Walk past the main parking lot for CEDIM, right below the building. Always a line of cars waiting for a space. Wonder if they pay more to park so close? Notice there are more female students than males. Could be students at any U.S. college. Same clothes, hair, faces. Surprising how un-Mexican they look.
Get to the bus stop and wait for the bus. Never have to wait more than a few minutes. Lots of different routes go by here. Almost any bus will work, since I’m only going half a mile or so. First bus that comes along is the 202. Raise my hand (they’ll go right by if you don’t). Bus stops and I step on quickly (they don’t like to stop for very long). The fare is eight pesos. I hand the driver a ten peso coin as he pulls away from the curb. In between shifting gears he hands me a little stack of coins already stacked together in his change box: a five peso coin, a two peso coin, two one peso coins, and two fifty centavo coins. I put the two peso coin in my pocket and drop in rest in the fare slot. I wish the bus drivers back in Hawaii would make change. You’d never see that in the U.S.
A scruffy looking man with a beard is standing in the aisle in the back of the bus, struggling to stay balanced in the swaying vehicle as he plays the recorder. When he’s finished he’ll walk up and down the aisle collecting money. First time I’ve seen that. I sit down. People on the bus look more Mexican than the design students or my rich neighbors and their football playing kids. Dark skin for a change. My ride is very short, about three minutes. The bus swerves down a ramp and passes under Gonzalitos. No way to cross it except in a motor vehicle, otherwise I could walk or ride a bike. Once past Gonzalitos, the medical school is right in front of me. Reach up and press the red button. Beeping noise alerts the driver and he deftly swings over across two lanes of traffic and pulls up to my stop. Nobody argues with a bus. I step off before the bus has come to a complete stop, and as my feet hit the pavement the driver slams on the accelerator and the bus lurches away.
It’s starting to get hot now. Outside the med school cars and trucks and lots of little green taxis are turning the corner from Morones Prieto onto Calle Dr. Cantú. I wait for a break and dash across to the other side of the street (which is wet; seems like it’s always wet. Why?). A man stands on the other side waving a dirty rag in circles over his head with one hand and beckoning to the passing cars with the other. Couldn’t figure out those guys at first. Always waving those rags over their heads. Turns out they’re just selling parking spaces. 20 pesos, park as long as you want, pay when you leave. Nice to know someone is watching your car while you’re gone.
Something smells mightily of dead fish. That’s new. Enter the gate and cross the medical center parking lot, pass by the hospital entrance (saw actual, honest-to-god conjoined twins walking out of there the other afternoon; first time in my life). Cross the concrete plaza in front of the med school. Gets awfully slippery when it rains; can’t believe they did a trowel finish, should have broomed it. Through the doors and up five flights of stairs (swore off elevators; stairs are the only exercise I get these days). Building still smells new. Automatic doors open. Walk in and say “Buenos días” to Marisol, the receptionist. Ladders in the hallway, wires strewn on the floor. They’re working on something again. Unlock the door to my office. “Marc Crepeau Cull” the sign says. Still can’t get used to seeing my mother’s maiden name stuck on the end like that. When in Rome.... Enter, put down my briefcase. Unlock the cabinet and take out my computer. Plug it in and turn it on. Get my bag of coffee out of the cabinet (first things first!). Chiapas. Smells good. Three scoops. What the hell, four scoops. Down the hall for water. Pour it in the machine and press start. Hiss…gurgle, gurgle. Such a happy sound! Sit down and get to work.
Sunday, September 16, 2007
Rough night last night. First Enid woke up with a coughing fit (lingering cough from a cold she has had for about a week). I had to get her a drink of water and put her back to bed. Then she woke up twice later in the night and vomited. Not much vomit and it wasn’t accompanied by a fever or much discomfort, but it was enough to prevent us from getting a decent night’s sleep.
Fortunately she seemed completely recovered this morning. Not me. But I did my best to stay positive anyway. And it actually turned out to be a good day. We all went to the coffee shop first thing, then played around the apartment the rest of the morning. Enid created a pet store with all her toy animals, and Robin and I were her customers. After that Enid took a trip to the moon in the cardboard box spaceship I built for her. Then we all took showers and got ready to go visit some new friends. They are the family of a woman named Patty who went to graduate school with an old friend of ours named Monica. Patty and her family were super-nice and easy to get along with.
Half of the family was totally deaf, which made for an interesting social dynamic. They could read lips a little, but even so Robin and I couldn’t communicate directly with them very well. But the family members that could hear interpreted with sign language for the non-hearing, and everyone had a good time. The best part was that Patty’s sister had two children (both hearing) that Enid was able to play with. They all got along well, and at the end Enid said she wished we could have stayed longer. It was just what Robin and I have been craving: a chance to have fun being adults with other adults while Enid had fun being a kid with other kids. Hopefully we’ll see Patty’s family again, although Patty herself is doing research in Taiwan and has to fly back there the day after tomorrow. She was only home briefly for the holiday, and to see her ailing grandmother.
One of the things the kids did today was draw with crayons. When Enid showed me her drawings I was totally blown away. The little girl that did nothing but scribble a few months ago is suddenly drawing recognizable people, trees, houses, rockets and ice cream cones. And signing her name to the drawings! When did she learn to do that?!
Fortunately she seemed completely recovered this morning. Not me. But I did my best to stay positive anyway. And it actually turned out to be a good day. We all went to the coffee shop first thing, then played around the apartment the rest of the morning. Enid created a pet store with all her toy animals, and Robin and I were her customers. After that Enid took a trip to the moon in the cardboard box spaceship I built for her. Then we all took showers and got ready to go visit some new friends. They are the family of a woman named Patty who went to graduate school with an old friend of ours named Monica. Patty and her family were super-nice and easy to get along with.
Half of the family was totally deaf, which made for an interesting social dynamic. They could read lips a little, but even so Robin and I couldn’t communicate directly with them very well. But the family members that could hear interpreted with sign language for the non-hearing, and everyone had a good time. The best part was that Patty’s sister had two children (both hearing) that Enid was able to play with. They all got along well, and at the end Enid said she wished we could have stayed longer. It was just what Robin and I have been craving: a chance to have fun being adults with other adults while Enid had fun being a kid with other kids. Hopefully we’ll see Patty’s family again, although Patty herself is doing research in Taiwan and has to fly back there the day after tomorrow. She was only home briefly for the holiday, and to see her ailing grandmother.
One of the things the kids did today was draw with crayons. When Enid showed me her drawings I was totally blown away. The little girl that did nothing but scribble a few months ago is suddenly drawing recognizable people, trees, houses, rockets and ice cream cones. And signing her name to the drawings! When did she learn to do that?!
Saturday, September 15, 2007
This is “4th of July Weekend” in Mexico. Happy Mexican Independence Day everyone! The weather is cloudy and comfortable again, after several hot and muggy days. Afternoon thundershowers today and yesterday, including a rainfall that thoroughly soaked me on my way home from the bus stop yesterday after work.
Today was a typical weekend day: coffee shop in the morning while Robin slept in late, then playing around the apartment all day with Enid, with one trip out for shopping. It always starts off fun, but by mid-afternoon I begin to lose energy while Enid does not, and by late afternoon it is essentially a test of endurance. How horrible to get to such a point of exhaustion that you can’t enjoy the company of your own child, especially one as fun, charming and well-behaved as Enid. But being the primary playmate of a three-year-old all day long is just too much for any adult. Especially one carrying around the kind of sleep debt that I am.
She gets tired too, but doesn’t recognize or admit it. It becomes obvious though as her attention span dwindles and she gets increasingly manic and loopy. Just about the time I am too tired for active play and really need her to focus on a simple, structured activity (like a game or coloring book) she has gotten to a point of tiredness that those activities are impossible for her. Instead she devolves into Brownian motion and an endless, shifting stream of consciousness narration that leaves one thought echoing through my weary mind: SHUT UP ALREADY! I become increasingly edgy and short-tempered, and finally enjoy the wonderful experience of having one half of my brain castigate the other for such lack of forbearance and for taking all my blessings for granted and for not appreciating my wonderful daughter, etcetera, etcetera, and then I pin the “World’s Shittiest Dad” medal on my own chest and go searching for alcohol.
But then finally the light appears at the end of the tunnel and her bedtime arrives. An hour of brushing teeth and reading stories and singing lullabies, and then it’s over. Next morning, far too early, I get up and do it again. Amen.
Today was a typical weekend day: coffee shop in the morning while Robin slept in late, then playing around the apartment all day with Enid, with one trip out for shopping. It always starts off fun, but by mid-afternoon I begin to lose energy while Enid does not, and by late afternoon it is essentially a test of endurance. How horrible to get to such a point of exhaustion that you can’t enjoy the company of your own child, especially one as fun, charming and well-behaved as Enid. But being the primary playmate of a three-year-old all day long is just too much for any adult. Especially one carrying around the kind of sleep debt that I am.
She gets tired too, but doesn’t recognize or admit it. It becomes obvious though as her attention span dwindles and she gets increasingly manic and loopy. Just about the time I am too tired for active play and really need her to focus on a simple, structured activity (like a game or coloring book) she has gotten to a point of tiredness that those activities are impossible for her. Instead she devolves into Brownian motion and an endless, shifting stream of consciousness narration that leaves one thought echoing through my weary mind: SHUT UP ALREADY! I become increasingly edgy and short-tempered, and finally enjoy the wonderful experience of having one half of my brain castigate the other for such lack of forbearance and for taking all my blessings for granted and for not appreciating my wonderful daughter, etcetera, etcetera, and then I pin the “World’s Shittiest Dad” medal on my own chest and go searching for alcohol.
But then finally the light appears at the end of the tunnel and her bedtime arrives. An hour of brushing teeth and reading stories and singing lullabies, and then it’s over. Next morning, far too early, I get up and do it again. Amen.
Thursday, September 13, 2007
Culture Stymie
A funny thing happened on the way to the dictionary...
It didn't tell me that here in Monterrey when the school invites you to an open house; it means the kids stay at home.
Maybe it's just our school? Maybe it's Monterrey? Maybe it's Mexico? The point is, I have no idea. I only know that I double-checked the invitation to see if it said anything remotely related to this issue. Maybe I just didn't understand the Spanish. But no, just everyone knew that is was adults only. And it was fancy. All the teachers were dressed up, and the parents too. And there were tables with table-clothes and a full buffet of real Mexican food, not just snack type stuff.
I figured I should dress nice and luckily, thanks to Enid, I realized before we went that there wouldn't be any other children there. We were talking about the open house while walking home from school and she started talking about who was going to be looking after the other kids in her class. She said in a disappointed voice, "but grandma and grandpa aren't coming to Mexico". At first I reassured her that grandma and grandpa would visit but then I realized that she meant specifically that they wouldn't be here tonight! It became clear to me that the kids were not meant to come to this event. Which in some ways made perfect sense because it started at 8pm. I just figured it was the culture of staying up late that would make people take their kids out to something that started at 8pm. And maybe they would; but not to this particular event.
So we went anyway, with Enid, and pleaded dumb Americans without any relatives and no one had any problem with it at all. Enid loved it. She didn't want to go home.
Here's another thing:
Here in Monterrey (or perhaps all of Mexico?) they use the term piñata interchangeably with birthday party.
When Enid came home with a little note saying (in Spanish) "The kids are selling candies to raise money to buy a class pet. Please bring candies. You don't have to buy them just bring the kind from home that you get in piñatas", I thought, "well, shoot what kind of candy do I make that goes in a piñata?" "Now I'm supposed to make candy?" "The kind that goes in piñatas?" "What the heck is that?" Of course, my first approach was to go online and search "piñata candies".
Finally I asked one of the teachers. She explained that a) nobody makes candy for a piñata. b) most kids / families have a bag of candy sitting around the house - leftovers from all the piñatas (birthday parties) that they have attended. c) it's just the regular old kind of pre-packaged, prewrapped, buy it at the store kind of candy.
HA! I went back to read the little note. It says bring "dulces de casa". I took this to mean homemade. Buuuuuzz. Correct answer is "candies that are sitting around at your house already". The note says "de los que le dan en las piñatas" I took this to mean the kind that they give you in a piñata. Buuuuzz. Correct answer is the kind that you get at a birthday party. Admittedly, I would have assumed that I don't know what kind of candy you get at a birthday party either. But then it said "No es necesario comprarlos". You don't have to buy them. So if it tells me to bring dulces de casa that I'm not supposed to buy - what else am I supposed to think?! : )
So, I went out and bought all the things I needed so that Enid and I could make caramels. We went ahead and made them anyway, even after the teacher explained. They turned out really good. Not too difficult either. (Accept for when I forgot to grease the tin foil and then ended up having to pick bits of it out of a 9"x13" block of gooey caramel.) I cut them into little squares and individually wrapped each one in wax paper. I was so proud. Who's the good Mexican Mama now?!!
Robin & Enid’s Piñata Caramels:
2C light corn syrup
2 1/4 C sugar (the recipe says brown sugar but for the life of me I cannot find it here)
14oz sweetened condensed milk
1 C butter
Put it all in a pot, get a good whisk and bring it to a boil, stirring constantly. Keep stirring while its boiling until it gets to the “soft ball” stage (this means that if you put a spoonful of the stuff into cold water it’ll form a ball but if you take it out of the water again, it’ll flatten out). Then stir in 1 C salty peanuts (or whatever nut you want, if you want). Pour into 13”x9”x2” pan lined with lightly buttered wax paper or tin foil (my opinion is go for the wax paper). Let cool. Invert. Peel off paper. Cut into squares. I found it was easier to cut it into pieces if it was refrigerated first. But, it’s also about 90 degrees inside of our apartment – literally. Enjoy!
It didn't tell me that here in Monterrey when the school invites you to an open house; it means the kids stay at home.
Maybe it's just our school? Maybe it's Monterrey? Maybe it's Mexico? The point is, I have no idea. I only know that I double-checked the invitation to see if it said anything remotely related to this issue. Maybe I just didn't understand the Spanish. But no, just everyone knew that is was adults only. And it was fancy. All the teachers were dressed up, and the parents too. And there were tables with table-clothes and a full buffet of real Mexican food, not just snack type stuff.
I figured I should dress nice and luckily, thanks to Enid, I realized before we went that there wouldn't be any other children there. We were talking about the open house while walking home from school and she started talking about who was going to be looking after the other kids in her class. She said in a disappointed voice, "but grandma and grandpa aren't coming to Mexico". At first I reassured her that grandma and grandpa would visit but then I realized that she meant specifically that they wouldn't be here tonight! It became clear to me that the kids were not meant to come to this event. Which in some ways made perfect sense because it started at 8pm. I just figured it was the culture of staying up late that would make people take their kids out to something that started at 8pm. And maybe they would; but not to this particular event.
So we went anyway, with Enid, and pleaded dumb Americans without any relatives and no one had any problem with it at all. Enid loved it. She didn't want to go home.
Here's another thing:
Here in Monterrey (or perhaps all of Mexico?) they use the term piñata interchangeably with birthday party.
When Enid came home with a little note saying (in Spanish) "The kids are selling candies to raise money to buy a class pet. Please bring candies. You don't have to buy them just bring the kind from home that you get in piñatas", I thought, "well, shoot what kind of candy do I make that goes in a piñata?" "Now I'm supposed to make candy?" "The kind that goes in piñatas?" "What the heck is that?" Of course, my first approach was to go online and search "piñata candies".
Finally I asked one of the teachers. She explained that a) nobody makes candy for a piñata. b) most kids / families have a bag of candy sitting around the house - leftovers from all the piñatas (birthday parties) that they have attended. c) it's just the regular old kind of pre-packaged, prewrapped, buy it at the store kind of candy.
HA! I went back to read the little note. It says bring "dulces de casa". I took this to mean homemade. Buuuuuzz. Correct answer is "candies that are sitting around at your house already". The note says "de los que le dan en las piñatas" I took this to mean the kind that they give you in a piñata. Buuuuzz. Correct answer is the kind that you get at a birthday party. Admittedly, I would have assumed that I don't know what kind of candy you get at a birthday party either. But then it said "No es necesario comprarlos". You don't have to buy them. So if it tells me to bring dulces de casa that I'm not supposed to buy - what else am I supposed to think?! : )
So, I went out and bought all the things I needed so that Enid and I could make caramels. We went ahead and made them anyway, even after the teacher explained. They turned out really good. Not too difficult either. (Accept for when I forgot to grease the tin foil and then ended up having to pick bits of it out of a 9"x13" block of gooey caramel.) I cut them into little squares and individually wrapped each one in wax paper. I was so proud. Who's the good Mexican Mama now?!!
Robin & Enid’s Piñata Caramels:
2C light corn syrup
2 1/4 C sugar (the recipe says brown sugar but for the life of me I cannot find it here)
14oz sweetened condensed milk
1 C butter
Put it all in a pot, get a good whisk and bring it to a boil, stirring constantly. Keep stirring while its boiling until it gets to the “soft ball” stage (this means that if you put a spoonful of the stuff into cold water it’ll form a ball but if you take it out of the water again, it’ll flatten out). Then stir in 1 C salty peanuts (or whatever nut you want, if you want). Pour into 13”x9”x2” pan lined with lightly buttered wax paper or tin foil (my opinion is go for the wax paper). Let cool. Invert. Peel off paper. Cut into squares. I found it was easier to cut it into pieces if it was refrigerated first. But, it’s also about 90 degrees inside of our apartment – literally. Enjoy!
Wednesday, September 12, 2007
Day to Day
A cup of coffee at Starbucks costs $17 pesos. $30 if you want a mocha. Both tall.
A dozen organic eggs $35.50 pesos
Half gallon organic milk $37.90
These prices are more or less the same as we pay in CA. Cheaper than we pay in Hawaii.
Our natural gas bill was $351 pesos, though I imagine it will be higher next time since the $351 represents only part of the period of service. Haven’t gotten electricity or phone yet.
So, if you want to live cheap in Mexico, don't buy organic stuff and things that are "just like at home". Duh! And don't live in San Pedro Garza Garcia.
Buy limes - 6 good ones for $2.30 and tortillas - 20 whole wheat for $9.70, avocados - 3 for $13.08, spices in plastic bags - 35grams of ground cumin for $4.70, 35 grams ground cinnamon $4.40, bananas - 4 for $5.54, rice 750 grams (1 box) for $12.50 (and that was organic brown rice), pasta - 7 oz for $2.90. You get the idea.
I also found the price of tampons to be reasonable. I lost the receipt but I bought Tampax brand, the 10 per box kind and I think I paid about $28. Not bad. I expected to pay a premium for those.
Utility bills can be paid practically anywhere here. The bank, the grocery store, the 7/11. Or online. It seems mostly people pay bills in cash. En effectivo, it is said. I am told that Mexico is still very much a cash kind of place. There is definitely evidence of this though, at least here in San Pedro Garza Garcia I have noticed that many places accept credit and debit cards and even have their own kind of "store cash" card. Of course, I haven't had much opportunity (haven't taken much opportunity?) to deal in the little tienda and the my-neighbor-sell-this kind of economy which I know is common at least in other parts.
However, today I will go to a merceria (sundries and notions store) that is up a couple blocks to buy red and green and white ribbon so that we can dress up Enid's hair for Mexican Independence Day. They are celebrating on Friday at her school. The teachers sent home a note saying that the kids could come dressed up in traditional Mexican wear (they usually wear uniforms): jeans or traditional skirts, white blouses, braids, etc. So, I think we are going to do jeans and white blouse with red bandana around the neck and ribbons in braided hair.
Last week there was a meeting of the mothers of the kids in Enid's class. The school has classes for babies, toddlers and kids that are 3-4. Each age group has their own classroom. There are about 10 kids in Enid's class. About 7 moms came. The meeting was led by the school Director and her assistant (both very nice and helpful people). Mostly they went over school rules, like don't drop your kid off early, stuff like that. I understood very little beyond the gist of things. But afterward 4 of the moms and I went to a cafe. It was nice. They are a nice group of women. I have to say that even in English I find making new friends a bit intimidating. No less so in Spanish.
My plan is to finish up a lot of the household work that needs to be taken care of (finances, bills, insurance, management of CA and Hawaii houses, plans for school in Hawaii, etc) and which is a bit discombobulated because of the move and then make some calls and see if anyone wants to get together for coffee again, or a playdate. Like anywhere, people already have their social networks in place. And of course, these are parents who have children of various ages so breaking into their lives might take some effort! ; )
It's hard to know exactly what happens at Enid’s school but Enid always has something to tell me about when I pick her up. Twice a week they have music class, once a week a computer class and daily they do things like trace different kinds of lines, paint, color and complete various craft projects. The crafts usually consist of some little bits of paper getting glued to some other paper to create some object that is pertinent to the day's (or week's, or month's) theme. One day it was the "sol de Monterrey", which the teacher explained to me comes from a poem about the sun of Monterrey being for the children. The anniversary of the founding of Monterrey is coming up. And Mexican Independence day is the 16th. Yesterday, The kids all worked together to create a giant Mexican Flag. Enid got to work with another girl on the Eagle in the middle. They crumpled up little bits of brown paper and then glued it inside of the outline of the eagle.
While she was showing me the flag, the son of one of the teachers walked in. He was very friendly so I tried to chat with him a bit. He is 4. We discussed numbers and ages and then we talked about what 3 plus 3 is. He said something to me which I thought I understood but which then led to confusion. Enid laughed and said, "mom, he said 3 plus 3 is 3 plus 3". I am pretty sure that her comprehension is improving. When I picked her up last week she told me "Mom, I know why we have to wait to get our class pet. We are going to sell candies and then we are going to use the money to buy our class pet! So we have to set up our little store and sell the candies first. Then, we will go to buy our pet!" She was very excited and was very detailed about exactly how it was going to work. The funny thing is, that she insisted that she wasn't quite sure what the teacher had said and that she still didn't understand Spanish very well. But, in fact, she told me exactly what the teachers had told us parents.
I find her saying words to herself unconsciously, same as she does in English sometimes. While putting on her tights for dance class yesterday, she was hoisting up the waistband saying "cinturon". When I told her to add the corn to our casserole last night she asked, "todo?" (all). Maybe I should start attending pre-school too. I think it might end up being the only way I improve my Spanish too.
I promise I'll start working on the photo album so that you can see some pics of this place and of us in it.
A dozen organic eggs $35.50 pesos
Half gallon organic milk $37.90
These prices are more or less the same as we pay in CA. Cheaper than we pay in Hawaii.
Our natural gas bill was $351 pesos, though I imagine it will be higher next time since the $351 represents only part of the period of service. Haven’t gotten electricity or phone yet.
So, if you want to live cheap in Mexico, don't buy organic stuff and things that are "just like at home". Duh! And don't live in San Pedro Garza Garcia.
Buy limes - 6 good ones for $2.30 and tortillas - 20 whole wheat for $9.70, avocados - 3 for $13.08, spices in plastic bags - 35grams of ground cumin for $4.70, 35 grams ground cinnamon $4.40, bananas - 4 for $5.54, rice 750 grams (1 box) for $12.50 (and that was organic brown rice), pasta - 7 oz for $2.90. You get the idea.
I also found the price of tampons to be reasonable. I lost the receipt but I bought Tampax brand, the 10 per box kind and I think I paid about $28. Not bad. I expected to pay a premium for those.
Utility bills can be paid practically anywhere here. The bank, the grocery store, the 7/11. Or online. It seems mostly people pay bills in cash. En effectivo, it is said. I am told that Mexico is still very much a cash kind of place. There is definitely evidence of this though, at least here in San Pedro Garza Garcia I have noticed that many places accept credit and debit cards and even have their own kind of "store cash" card. Of course, I haven't had much opportunity (haven't taken much opportunity?) to deal in the little tienda and the my-neighbor-sell-this kind of economy which I know is common at least in other parts.
However, today I will go to a merceria (sundries and notions store) that is up a couple blocks to buy red and green and white ribbon so that we can dress up Enid's hair for Mexican Independence Day. They are celebrating on Friday at her school. The teachers sent home a note saying that the kids could come dressed up in traditional Mexican wear (they usually wear uniforms): jeans or traditional skirts, white blouses, braids, etc. So, I think we are going to do jeans and white blouse with red bandana around the neck and ribbons in braided hair.
Last week there was a meeting of the mothers of the kids in Enid's class. The school has classes for babies, toddlers and kids that are 3-4. Each age group has their own classroom. There are about 10 kids in Enid's class. About 7 moms came. The meeting was led by the school Director and her assistant (both very nice and helpful people). Mostly they went over school rules, like don't drop your kid off early, stuff like that. I understood very little beyond the gist of things. But afterward 4 of the moms and I went to a cafe. It was nice. They are a nice group of women. I have to say that even in English I find making new friends a bit intimidating. No less so in Spanish.
My plan is to finish up a lot of the household work that needs to be taken care of (finances, bills, insurance, management of CA and Hawaii houses, plans for school in Hawaii, etc) and which is a bit discombobulated because of the move and then make some calls and see if anyone wants to get together for coffee again, or a playdate. Like anywhere, people already have their social networks in place. And of course, these are parents who have children of various ages so breaking into their lives might take some effort! ; )
It's hard to know exactly what happens at Enid’s school but Enid always has something to tell me about when I pick her up. Twice a week they have music class, once a week a computer class and daily they do things like trace different kinds of lines, paint, color and complete various craft projects. The crafts usually consist of some little bits of paper getting glued to some other paper to create some object that is pertinent to the day's (or week's, or month's) theme. One day it was the "sol de Monterrey", which the teacher explained to me comes from a poem about the sun of Monterrey being for the children. The anniversary of the founding of Monterrey is coming up. And Mexican Independence day is the 16th. Yesterday, The kids all worked together to create a giant Mexican Flag. Enid got to work with another girl on the Eagle in the middle. They crumpled up little bits of brown paper and then glued it inside of the outline of the eagle.
While she was showing me the flag, the son of one of the teachers walked in. He was very friendly so I tried to chat with him a bit. He is 4. We discussed numbers and ages and then we talked about what 3 plus 3 is. He said something to me which I thought I understood but which then led to confusion. Enid laughed and said, "mom, he said 3 plus 3 is 3 plus 3". I am pretty sure that her comprehension is improving. When I picked her up last week she told me "Mom, I know why we have to wait to get our class pet. We are going to sell candies and then we are going to use the money to buy our class pet! So we have to set up our little store and sell the candies first. Then, we will go to buy our pet!" She was very excited and was very detailed about exactly how it was going to work. The funny thing is, that she insisted that she wasn't quite sure what the teacher had said and that she still didn't understand Spanish very well. But, in fact, she told me exactly what the teachers had told us parents.
I find her saying words to herself unconsciously, same as she does in English sometimes. While putting on her tights for dance class yesterday, she was hoisting up the waistband saying "cinturon". When I told her to add the corn to our casserole last night she asked, "todo?" (all). Maybe I should start attending pre-school too. I think it might end up being the only way I improve my Spanish too.
I promise I'll start working on the photo album so that you can see some pics of this place and of us in it.
Tuesday, September 11, 2007
Dirty Little Blog Secret
My dirty little blog secret is that I steal and plagiarize bits of my own personal e-mail messages. I find that I'll write something to someone and then think, "I could use that in my blog!" "I could make a whole post out of that!"
Is this allowed?! Am I cheapening my personal communications? Is it for the greater good of the many? I don't know the answer to these things but I'm pretty sure my posts would not be considered "greater good for the many". And, regardless, I'm going to keep doing it anyway.
Of late, my most inspiring muse is my friend Holly. In an effort to not cheapen my personal e-mail communications, I will not tell you exactly what she said. I will only tell you that I am currently ruminating on the various veils of understanding that accompany a move to a foreign country and an immersion in a foreign language.
For now, here is what I have plagiarized from a personal e-mail to yet another friend of mine (not Holly, though perhaps I’ll e-mail it to Holly too – three uses for one bit of writing!):
So far, my novice take on the moving to a foreign land thing is this:
You arrive and then,
1st - excitement and fun mixed with exhaustion
2nd - hope at the possibilities mixed with exhaustion of having to make them happen
3rd - you start to get a read on things and feel like it's not really that different (and maybe you were too tired to make some of those 'different' possibilities happen)
4th - you realize that everything is very different but you don't know shit about things and so you just carry on...
Maybe I'll have something more pithy and enlightening to say later on.
Is this allowed?! Am I cheapening my personal communications? Is it for the greater good of the many? I don't know the answer to these things but I'm pretty sure my posts would not be considered "greater good for the many". And, regardless, I'm going to keep doing it anyway.
Of late, my most inspiring muse is my friend Holly. In an effort to not cheapen my personal e-mail communications, I will not tell you exactly what she said. I will only tell you that I am currently ruminating on the various veils of understanding that accompany a move to a foreign country and an immersion in a foreign language.
For now, here is what I have plagiarized from a personal e-mail to yet another friend of mine (not Holly, though perhaps I’ll e-mail it to Holly too – three uses for one bit of writing!):
So far, my novice take on the moving to a foreign land thing is this:
You arrive and then,
1st - excitement and fun mixed with exhaustion
2nd - hope at the possibilities mixed with exhaustion of having to make them happen
3rd - you start to get a read on things and feel like it's not really that different (and maybe you were too tired to make some of those 'different' possibilities happen)
4th - you realize that everything is very different but you don't know shit about things and so you just carry on...
Maybe I'll have something more pithy and enlightening to say later on.
Sunday, September 9, 2007
If It's September 9th, This Must Be Mexico!
It's so weird to be making an entry into the world of the "school family". All my friends are writing about their kids starting school last week. Some kindergarten for the first time, some 1st grade, some middle school. Maybe it's because we're so far away but the whole "it's back to school time" escaped me; Even though, of course, I was doing the same thing here with Enid. She started on August 27.
It was weird not being around for Labor Day. I totally forgot about it because of course there's nothing about it here. I didn't realize until I was reading something online about Burning Man and I thought to myself, "Burning Man?!" that's not 'til end of summer....and then, "OH"!
It made me realize what a part of my subconscious things like Labor Day are. You think they're just holidays that come and go and to which we attach silly meanings to like, "beginning of summer" and "end of summer" - but then you realize your whole equilibrium is synchronized to them. And that everyone is going back to school!
It was weird not being around for Labor Day. I totally forgot about it because of course there's nothing about it here. I didn't realize until I was reading something online about Burning Man and I thought to myself, "Burning Man?!" that's not 'til end of summer....and then, "OH"!
It made me realize what a part of my subconscious things like Labor Day are. You think they're just holidays that come and go and to which we attach silly meanings to like, "beginning of summer" and "end of summer" - but then you realize your whole equilibrium is synchronized to them. And that everyone is going back to school!
Saturday, September 8, 2007
The hot, sticky weather has returned. Enid was out of school on Thursday owing to her cold. She had pretty well bounced back by Friday and went to school again, but then Robin didn’t feel well. Today I took Enid with me to the coffee shop first thing in the morning so Robin could get some extra sleep. Then Enid and I had a nice morning playing together, plus she baked bread with Robin. But in the afternoon I started to feel very irritable and short-tempered, probably owing to not sleeping well last night (Robin and I have both been sleeping poorly lately). Anyway, we went out to do some shopping, and by the time we got home I felt very wiped out and lay down for a while. That helped a little, and we all went out to the park around 7pm. It was nice outside with the sun gone down, and a good way to end the day. Robin is putting Enid to bed right now. Unfortunately it’s still quite hot here in the apartment. I’m looking at an hour or so of TV and/or light reading, then a nice cold shower to cool down before bed. Hopefully I’ll get a decent night’s sleep tonight!
Wednesday, September 5, 2007
Another day submerged in reading about cancer genomics and DNA microarray applications. I think I may have finally reached the “inflection point”. Previously, every new bibliographic reference or website link led to another entire world of information. The subject matter seemed to be ever-expanding. But now I think I’ve finally glimpsed the outer boundaries. I still have a lot to learn, but at least what I don’t know has stopped growing.
One thing I’m beginning to recognize is that genomics is a very expensive line of research to pursue. I’ll soon be at the point where I’ll have to start requesting various essential purchases, and I’m quite curious to know what the response will be. Two issues that are pretty much out of my control, and which I’m entirely in the dark about, are my budget for supplies and reagents and my access to patient samples and data. A failure on either front is going to shut my down productivity quite rapidly. Time will tell…
Does it seem like all I ever write about is work? Must be very boring reading. Sorry, but work is rather all-consuming for me at the moment. Don’t get the wrong idea about my life here though. It isn’t as dull and tiresome as it must sound. After all, I am living in a foreign country. It’s very novel, and every day I see and learn things that I wouldn’t experience if we weren’t here. I could write about all kinds of stuff, but unfortunately I only get about 20 minutes a day (maximum) to contribute to this blog, so I’m just sticking with the basics: what I did today. And what I did today, mostly, was work.
It’s Enid’s second week of school and she has come down with her first cold. That sure didn’t take long! I am not anticipating a very good night’s sleep tonight. Oh well.
One thing I’m beginning to recognize is that genomics is a very expensive line of research to pursue. I’ll soon be at the point where I’ll have to start requesting various essential purchases, and I’m quite curious to know what the response will be. Two issues that are pretty much out of my control, and which I’m entirely in the dark about, are my budget for supplies and reagents and my access to patient samples and data. A failure on either front is going to shut my down productivity quite rapidly. Time will tell…
Does it seem like all I ever write about is work? Must be very boring reading. Sorry, but work is rather all-consuming for me at the moment. Don’t get the wrong idea about my life here though. It isn’t as dull and tiresome as it must sound. After all, I am living in a foreign country. It’s very novel, and every day I see and learn things that I wouldn’t experience if we weren’t here. I could write about all kinds of stuff, but unfortunately I only get about 20 minutes a day (maximum) to contribute to this blog, so I’m just sticking with the basics: what I did today. And what I did today, mostly, was work.
It’s Enid’s second week of school and she has come down with her first cold. That sure didn’t take long! I am not anticipating a very good night’s sleep tonight. Oh well.
Just finished reading my sister in law's blog about the beginning of her (4) kids' school year. I enjoyed reading about what is going on in their lives and found a lot of comfort in knowing about their day to day. It made me wonder if I would have found that same comfort if I weren't in Mexico. Maybe not. But I think maybe I would. The truth is that even if you live close by to someone, many someones, it's hard to keep a running dialogue. It's hard to share your day to day AND listen to everyone else's day to day on any sort of regular basis. I could name many examples of people who live in the same city, like each other, but only catch up once in a while. I hate to be a technology pusher, but how wonderful to have the option to remain an active part of each others' lives, regardless of where you are.
So, I decided I had better "pay it forward" at put a little something into our blog:
Enid is at school. Each day they send her home with a little paper "bracelet". Untaped and unfolded, it is a little report of her day. A simple checklist for the teacher to complete with space to write in what they had for refrigerio (snack - provided by the school). It says things like today I was happy, sad, mad, sick. I worked, played with friends, played alone, had fun, was distracted, felt tired, etc. I went used the toilet, didn't use the toilet. Ate my snack, Ate some snack, Didn't eat snack.
Enid is very amused by this bracelet. For fun, when she took it off, I said, why don't you read it to me today. So she looked down at it and sounded out the word "triste" (sad). I was a bit surprised, though I more or less knew that she knows her letters and what sounds they make. Of course, then she was confused why it said triste if she wasn't triste. So I explained the check marks. I asked if she wanted to read the one with the check mark and she made out the word "feliz". Who knew?
Maybe I'll balance this report later with a story of one of her amazingly unclever activities.
As for physical ability, goofball would be the best way to describe Enid. Aside from preschool (Mon-Fri, 9am-1pm), she goes to dance class twice a week from 3pm-4pm. She was showing a lot of interest in dance and there is a stuio around the corner, so we signed up. It's called pre-ballet / pre-jazz. She loves it. They have a lot of fun and I've been impressed at how they incorporate classical things like posture, balance, grace into interesting activities for the kids. But it is so funny to watch how Enid traslates watching a physical movement into doing a physical movement. It's just plain goofy. Something as simple as putting hands on hips: Thumbs go around back, fingers in front, hands more or less parallel with the floor, right? Not for Enid. Entire hand goes in front, with heel of palm resting on hip and with fingers pointed down. She has some sort of quirky interpretation for many of the things they do. I've noticed though that even just in the first week, she's made some improvement. For example, she now hops like a frog with both feet together - would not (could not?) do it before.
Almost time to pick up Enid from school.
As for me, I get depressed when Enid goes to school and all I have to look at is unpacking boxes whose contents don't really have a good place to go. I'm alternately enthused for getting it all done and organized and unmotivated to do it and find that the apartment is still ugly and not organized the way I'd do it if we were going to be here a while. Translation, I really don't want to spend money on things like bookshelves, etc when I know we're going to ditch them a year from now. At some point, I will get motivated to find creative solutions and probably will spend a little money too. But not today.
As for money. Here is what some things cost (for your curiosity and because when we were planning this trip we had a very hard time knowing what our cost of living would be because we really didn't know what things would cost (prices are in pesos. current exchange is about 10.8:1, easier to assume 10:1 if you want to translate):
Monthly rent for our apartment: $8,000
Haven't had to pay utilities yet
fill the 10 gal tank on our car: $270
8oz of organic jack cheese: $45
1 can black beans: $6.90
3 sm/meg avocados: $13
1 box HEB brand cornflakes: $14.60
20 whole wheat tortillas: $9.70
16oz bag organic brocolli: $21.50
1 jar natural (the kind that separates - hard to find!) peanut butter: $25.60
1 large roll paper towels: $19.30
OK, gotta go...
So, I decided I had better "pay it forward" at put a little something into our blog:
Enid is at school. Each day they send her home with a little paper "bracelet". Untaped and unfolded, it is a little report of her day. A simple checklist for the teacher to complete with space to write in what they had for refrigerio (snack - provided by the school). It says things like today I was happy, sad, mad, sick. I worked, played with friends, played alone, had fun, was distracted, felt tired, etc. I went used the toilet, didn't use the toilet. Ate my snack, Ate some snack, Didn't eat snack.
Enid is very amused by this bracelet. For fun, when she took it off, I said, why don't you read it to me today. So she looked down at it and sounded out the word "triste" (sad). I was a bit surprised, though I more or less knew that she knows her letters and what sounds they make. Of course, then she was confused why it said triste if she wasn't triste. So I explained the check marks. I asked if she wanted to read the one with the check mark and she made out the word "feliz". Who knew?
Maybe I'll balance this report later with a story of one of her amazingly unclever activities.
As for physical ability, goofball would be the best way to describe Enid. Aside from preschool (Mon-Fri, 9am-1pm), she goes to dance class twice a week from 3pm-4pm. She was showing a lot of interest in dance and there is a stuio around the corner, so we signed up. It's called pre-ballet / pre-jazz. She loves it. They have a lot of fun and I've been impressed at how they incorporate classical things like posture, balance, grace into interesting activities for the kids. But it is so funny to watch how Enid traslates watching a physical movement into doing a physical movement. It's just plain goofy. Something as simple as putting hands on hips: Thumbs go around back, fingers in front, hands more or less parallel with the floor, right? Not for Enid. Entire hand goes in front, with heel of palm resting on hip and with fingers pointed down. She has some sort of quirky interpretation for many of the things they do. I've noticed though that even just in the first week, she's made some improvement. For example, she now hops like a frog with both feet together - would not (could not?) do it before.
Almost time to pick up Enid from school.
As for me, I get depressed when Enid goes to school and all I have to look at is unpacking boxes whose contents don't really have a good place to go. I'm alternately enthused for getting it all done and organized and unmotivated to do it and find that the apartment is still ugly and not organized the way I'd do it if we were going to be here a while. Translation, I really don't want to spend money on things like bookshelves, etc when I know we're going to ditch them a year from now. At some point, I will get motivated to find creative solutions and probably will spend a little money too. But not today.
As for money. Here is what some things cost (for your curiosity and because when we were planning this trip we had a very hard time knowing what our cost of living would be because we really didn't know what things would cost (prices are in pesos. current exchange is about 10.8:1, easier to assume 10:1 if you want to translate):
Monthly rent for our apartment: $8,000
Haven't had to pay utilities yet
fill the 10 gal tank on our car: $270
8oz of organic jack cheese: $45
1 can black beans: $6.90
3 sm/meg avocados: $13
1 box HEB brand cornflakes: $14.60
20 whole wheat tortillas: $9.70
16oz bag organic brocolli: $21.50
1 jar natural (the kind that separates - hard to find!) peanut butter: $25.60
1 large roll paper towels: $19.30
OK, gotta go...
Sunday, September 2, 2007
Salsa
Though we've eaten out only two or three times since we've been here, I am feeling very influenced by the food. It's not a difficult task to convince me to eat a lot of beans, tortillas, corn, avocados and spicy tomato-based products. Yum!
It's not the restaurants that are convincing me either (see earlier post about how we are living in a very strange part of Mexico where yummy taquerias are not bountiful, though French bistros are) - it's the Supermarket. Admittedly I shop at the HEB as often as the Super "G" (for Gigante) but no matter, they both have an entire aisle dedicated to salsa, hot sauce and similar condiments. Next aisle over is dedicated to beans and the like and there is more cheese than you can believe there are cows on this earth to produce it. There is *always* a sampler lady waiting to heat up a tortilla for you on her comal - and she'll put beans or chicharones on it for you. There are corn tortillas, flour tortillas, whole wheat tortillas, raw tortillas ready for you to heat up on your own comal (or sauce pan as the case may be), and those wonderful thick corn tortilla like things that have edges so your stuff doesn't fall off (sopes maybe?).
By far, my favorite part is the hot sauces. So far I have tried Cholula and La Costena’s salsa de chile chipotle. Love ‘em! The Cholulu is hotter. The Costena has that great chipotle flavor. I plan to try every single one. The salsas are good too but I don’t feel as justified about keeping several open jars in the fridge. So mostly I’ve been sticking with one good salsa casera (basic table salsa) and the occasional tomatillo salsa. Still trying to decide which brands I prefer. Herdez is fine but I feel I could do better. Getting ready to open a Del Fuerte box (yes, lots of products come in little hermetic boxes en vez de bottle) of salsa verde. I’ll let you know how it goes…
It's not the restaurants that are convincing me either (see earlier post about how we are living in a very strange part of Mexico where yummy taquerias are not bountiful, though French bistros are) - it's the Supermarket. Admittedly I shop at the HEB as often as the Super "G" (for Gigante) but no matter, they both have an entire aisle dedicated to salsa, hot sauce and similar condiments. Next aisle over is dedicated to beans and the like and there is more cheese than you can believe there are cows on this earth to produce it. There is *always* a sampler lady waiting to heat up a tortilla for you on her comal - and she'll put beans or chicharones on it for you. There are corn tortillas, flour tortillas, whole wheat tortillas, raw tortillas ready for you to heat up on your own comal (or sauce pan as the case may be), and those wonderful thick corn tortilla like things that have edges so your stuff doesn't fall off (sopes maybe?).
By far, my favorite part is the hot sauces. So far I have tried Cholula and La Costena’s salsa de chile chipotle. Love ‘em! The Cholulu is hotter. The Costena has that great chipotle flavor. I plan to try every single one. The salsas are good too but I don’t feel as justified about keeping several open jars in the fridge. So mostly I’ve been sticking with one good salsa casera (basic table salsa) and the occasional tomatillo salsa. Still trying to decide which brands I prefer. Herdez is fine but I feel I could do better. Getting ready to open a Del Fuerte box (yes, lots of products come in little hermetic boxes en vez de bottle) of salsa verde. I’ll let you know how it goes…
It was a nice weekend just spending time together as a family. Yesterday we went up to Parque Chipinque for a few hours. Again it was great to be out of the city. Saw more amazing insects. Big beetles and stuff. Today we went to the local planetarium/science museum which turned out to be quite good. Enid always likes the hands-on exhibits at science centers. Unfortunately the IMAX film about sea life that we saw was a little too scary for her. The sea creatures were awfully big on that huge screen, and they kept eating each other. She had her eyes closed through about half of it. But I guess she still enjoyed it.
The only problem with the weekend was that neither Robin nor I have been sleeping well lately, and it is really starting to catch up with us. I guess we are still adapting to the new situation here. I know personally I’ve been very wound up and preoccupied about my work. But after several nights of crummy sleep I’m realizing that I have to relax and slow down a little. It’s true I only have a year (actually 11 months now!) to make something happen in the lab, but if I’m not sleeping at night I’m not going to be able to get anything done anyway.
The only problem with the weekend was that neither Robin nor I have been sleeping well lately, and it is really starting to catch up with us. I guess we are still adapting to the new situation here. I know personally I’ve been very wound up and preoccupied about my work. But after several nights of crummy sleep I’m realizing that I have to relax and slow down a little. It’s true I only have a year (actually 11 months now!) to make something happen in the lab, but if I’m not sleeping at night I’m not going to be able to get anything done anyway.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)