Family!

We arrived in Mexico on August 18th with all of the human members of the family and our gatos: Tink and Wink. They have settled into the house we rented and seem happy to stay as indoor cats. At least they were happy until we adopted Benito Juarez, our Mexican street dog. He is trying to make friends with the felines but they won't give him a chance. Luckily, the rest of us love him. He is still a puppy and naughty but just as sweet as can be. And Tuluma arrives with Jos on Friday! We are really excited for the "sweet and gallant old lady" (as my mom calls her) to arrive. Then the family will be complete.

Our days here are both busy and relaxed. The kids are in school from 8-3. Jos usually takes them and they ride the public bus. Sort of like the Silver Line, but not really. They cannot be late or they cannot go to school! Tough tardy policy for the parents. I spend my days doing zumba (my hips are learning!), going to spanish school for 3 hours, and then picking up the kids. Jos has been traveling back to the states fairly regularly for a few days at the time. The kids and I are planning to change our eating patterns to match that of the Mexicans. That means we will have Comida (or dinner) when they get home from school, and then we'll have cena (supper) later in the evening. It will make playdates, etc. a little easier. We hope Jos will agree.

Nanne is doing dance twice a week. The jury is out on this class as she came back last night with some rather risque moves and songs. . . I miss ballet! The zumba I am doing is x-rated and I just hope this isn't along the same lines. Price plays soccer twice a week at school and they have their first game tomorrow. Benito has his own classes twice a week learning to behave. So we are all being well educated!

I asked Price and Nanne this morning if they are feeling close to fluent (one month of school all in Spanish, 4 years of bilingual school, 9 year old brains) and they emphatically said "NO!" If they feel this way, I don't stand a chance! It seems to me that they are further along than they realize. Jos's spanish is also much better than he admits (he is Venezuelan after all). And I'm the one who thinks I'm really good and yet keep saying "todo los dios" ("all the gods" instead of "all the days") and telling people my kids are "neuvo" (new instead of nine), and then I think it's odd when people don't understand me. And the jokes I tell. . . not working.