Our Adventure Begins...

 Itinerary: St. Thomas for 5 days and then Mexico for 4 months.

We have finally made it to San Miguel de Allende and are delighted to be beginning our new adventure here. We just finished a dinner of fresh tortillas (made from a woman up the street), chicken cooked over a fire (about $4.50 USD) and rice and beans that Charles made. We love the fresh food that we are finding and we go to the market almost every day to get all the fruit and vegetables really fresh. Our days are slowly getting easier and more settled as we learn where things are in San Miguel and get some rest.

Long travel day to St. Thomas...we dodged Canadian geese while landing into DC (Hannah was petrified, Alex and Owen thought it was cool), we had to wait on the runway in DC for a fox to get cleared off the runway (they have foxes in DC?) and then in Charlotte we were next in line for take off when we had to go back to the gate since we had a horrible smell on the airplane that they needed to check out. Must have been bad, since we all had to get off the plane and wait for another one to take us to St. Thomas. No driver in St. Thomas to meet us even though we had called him with our new flight time. After some phone calls, he arrived one hour later. We asked for fast food since it was 9 pm and the kids were up at 4:45 am and were tired and hungry for dinner. Driver took us to a place called Duffy's Love Shack (the name says it all) and he said this was the best place to go to get something quickly. We ordered and in the meantime Hannah and Alex got to experience the island bar scene (yikes). Nothing like their first bar experience with their parents! We finally got our food 1.5 hours later...yes, this is fast food according to island time!!! By that time, Hannah was almost collapsed and the boys were losing steam too (and we know how hard it is for that to happen). We finally arrived at our unit at 10:30 pm and fed the children. So much for getting to the island at 4:10 pm like we were supposed to!

Anyway, we all crashed but the kids were up early, grabbed their suits, and out they went. The unit was on the beach and we all felt the irresistible pull of the ocean. The ocean is full of beautiful color and you can see clear to the bottom. Charles and I honeymooned at this resort so it was fun to be back. There is a great snorkeling reef right off the beach so the kids had fun looking at the beautifully colored fish. The reef has certainly gotten worse over the years although we still saw amazing fish, huge brain corals, sea fans, sea urchins, and thousands of little minnows. We were only at this beach for 2 days and then transferred over to another hotel where Charles' work branch had booked rooms for a few nights. We spent our days on the beach and in the pools. We had a lovely time and it was great to see the island again.

Getting to Mexico put our patience to the ultimate test. We missed our flight connection in Mexico due to a late flight and a short connection. Spent 3. 5 hours on the phone trying to get new tickets, spent the night in a hotel in Miami, and filed a claim for a lost bag. The next day we caught another flight to Mexico City. Since we never travel without a child getting sick, this time it was due to bad chocolate milk purchased at the Mexico City airport while we were waiting for our driver who hadn't showed up yet. To calm the tired children, I bought Nestle chocolate milk and some cookies from a small tienda. They ate the cookies and played cards while I tried in my poor Spanish to figure out the pay phones to call our driver. Two nice gentlemen helped me buy a phone card and then use it in the pay phone. Our driver was in another terminal and had mistakenly thought we were arriving there. Phew! I was a bit worried that no one was there to drive us. We got in his car and started on our way when Owen tells us his belly hurts. Then tears so I know it is bad. We have NOTHING with us so I end up grabbing our driver's trash bag and finding a coffee cup which Owen proceeded to throw up in. He was quite neat in his retching so most landed in the cup. We get settled again and Owen looks fine now when Alex says his belly hurts. Yikes! He ends up throwing up too. Ah, life with children. Once the chocolate milk was out of their systems both boys were fine and declared they were hungry!!! Our driver knew of a local truck stop that had some good local food, so we had a nice hot dinner after that. The highways are rather new, but filled with huge mac trucks that travel from Texas through Mexico. We ended up driving almost the whole way to San Miguel in the dark which had not wanted to do. I think I spent most of the ride praying that we would arrive safely since the truck traffic and driving is a bit wild. Kids fell asleep for the last part of the ride which was a blessing. We found our house without a problem and breathed a sigh of relief to finally be at Casa Guadalupe.

The house is totally cute with outdoor patios, flowers everywhere, a fountain in the entry way, and lots of levels. The roof top deck is a great place to view San Miguel and all of the surrounding buildings. Church bells ring at all hours and the roosters start early so we have found it is best to go to be early and rise early. All of the streets are cobblestone which is very quaint but does a number on your feet after a while. We spent the past few days walking everywhere so feel like we are learning the city bit by bit. We are only about a 15-20 walk from centro which has a main square where a lot of people relax and hang out. Stalls are filled with fruits (which we don't eat) and homemade tacos, tamales, and other street food we haven't yet identified!

Our first few days we opened a bank account (we heard ATMs were subject to fraud frequently), got a library card (the library here has a great section of English books), found the mail office where our mail is being forwarded, located several grocery stores (one is even all organic), and found some good places for ice cream (have treated the kids every day). Our first day I tried cactus which tastes something between an asparagus and a green bean. The salsas and meats tend to be spicy and very good. I'm going to like learning more about cooking Mexican food!

Yesterday we all took a taxi to the Waldorf school to meet their teachers and check out the school. It is located about 15 minutes outside of town although the school bus takes about 35 minutes. The school grounds are quiet, peaceful, and very dry at the moment (rains come in June). The school is small with several different buildings for the classes, although each building is filled with color and lots of natural things. The teachers suggested we come to an open house today and have the kids start today instead of waiting until Monday. Kids looked at us a bit terrified but then resigned themselves to the fact that, tomorrow, indeed they would be at this new school.

Owen jumped out of bed today excited about his day. He got dressed and ate breakfast then ran around the house with excitement. Hannah and Alex were a bit tentative but we all managed to be out of the house by 7:25 am to catch the school bus. We did snap 2 quick pictures of the kids which I attached to this Email (more pictures to come). We met a few families at the bus stop which was a nice way to start the day. I rode the school bus with the kids for the first day and then got to observe all the classes. The kids got off the school bus and went right to their classes without really looking back. I guess our visit the day before met its purpose as they were comfortable enough just going on their own. Even Owen grabbed on to the rope that they give to the preschoolers to make a train to go to their classroom and said "Bye Mom". No tears, no fuss. Just bravado. I just stood there and watched as the 3 went off...proud of them and also got a twinge of what it must feel like for my parents to have watched me learn each day to be more and more independent. Due to the open house I got to observe all the classes and was quite impressed with the intertwining of music, movement, and art that is part of the curriculum. I watch Owen grind the millet for the oatmeal and he had the biggest smile on his face. Hannah and Alex were together for the first 30 minutes and they were singing and dancing to Spanish songs (well they were following along as best as possible). I'm glad they will get to experience this different type of schooling and I think they will really enjoy it. The teachers help translate when needed and they are the stars of the English class.

I caught a ride back to town with a parent and then Charles and I picked the kids up from the bus today. Kids were all excited to tell us the stories of the day. Owen loved his day, Hannah enjoyed it and showed us a beautiful drawing she had done, and Alex was talking about his art class and learning symmetry while not being thrilled that all students learn cursive writing in the 1st grade (something he hates and is not good at). Hannah also gets to participate in a pentathlon as her class is studying ancient Greece. They practice the 5 events and then will take a trip for 3-4 days in May to compete. Hannah has some work to do to catch up, but the bus driver (who is also the movement teacher) told us he could help her practice after school. Everyone is so genuinely nice here. I guess you could say we had a very successful first day of school. Now the kids can enjoy the weekend not worrying about Monday. We treated them all with ice creams after wards and showed them our next house which we move into in about 10 days. Of course, they only have next week for school and then are off for the next 2 weeks for Easter break!

Should I mention this next part? It is life living in Mexico so I'll add it in. I went to tuck Owen into bed tonight (after reading a story on his bed which is on the floor) and pulled the covers down for him to crawl in. I went to turn out the light. and Owen starting getting in when suddenly he cried out that there was a big bug in his bed. I ran over and sure enough...a SCORPION right in his bed! It started scurrying and I started screaming. All I had with me was Owen's big dinosaur that he sleeps with. The scorpion started crawling under his books and trying to get away. They are scared of light and we had obviously disturbed him! I didn't want the scorpion to escape but had no shoes near me. So I kept screaming and at the same time was batting the scorpion with Owen's dinosaur to keep it from moving out of sight. YUCK! Charles ran up with shoe in hand and squished it. Loud popping sound. Kids were freaking out asking if we could move back to VT. Thank goodness Owen jumped out of bed since the scorpion had touched his shirt, but not his body! Now Charles and I are reading all about scorpions to know what to do if one of us gets bitten. Apparently, beds are supposed to be off the floor by about 20 centimeters which we didn't know. So, Owen is sleeping with Hannah and will never again sleep on the floor! Charles has carefully kept the scorpion to ask if this is common...hopefully not!!