Where Have I Been?

Just a bit of a break from the blogging...a little too long of a break.

Let's see if we can recap the last few months. We went back to the US in the summer to visit family and friends and had a great time catching up. We even road tripped it up to PA to see my Grandma (Great Grandma Ruth to the kids) for her 90th birthday! I hope to be as active at 90 as she is!

The kids and I stayed in the US for a month while Vaughan returned to Mexico after a few weeks. One month is much too long for trying to pack later. My parents had WAY too much time to get things for the kids that I had no room in the suitcases for.

Back to Mexico and we have changed Connor to the Waldorf school that Avery has been going to. Ak Lu'um is a great school set 3/4 of a mile into the jungle. Connor's old school was good but double digit addition and subtraction along with fractions for Kindergarten was a bit much for me. He is loving the school and having a great time learning! Many times when they are playing games or on a nature walk he thinks it is all fun and has no idea he is learning. Got to love that! Avery loves that her big bro is going to "her school" which is rally cute.

We have not been to the beach much, just busy living and working. Things are still really slow here. Slow is normal for September but when you have had 3 or 4 months of really slow before it then things just get really hard. A number of restaurants and businesses have closed for the next few months or had to shut down altogether. We are all looking forward to November when things usually pick up. We know it is going to be slower than High Season from last year but it will be better than it is now. Just got to get through it!

We decided with some friends of ours to take a trip to Valladolid and Chichen Itza for the Fall Equinox. We got there and headed to the market to get some lunch. Real local food, tacos and Jimica! While we were at the market it started to pour. By the time we left the rain had stopped but the streets were full of puddles which Connor had a great time splashing in.

Back at the hotel we had a drink while waiting for our other 2 friends. Once they got there we all wandered around town taking photos and enjoying the cloud cover.

Back at the hotel we all gathered around the pool and had some wine and car-food munchies that we had brought.

Dinner time came around and Avery did not feel so well. Gave her some meds and soup and then headed up to bed. The next morning she still was not feeling well. We decided we would eat breakfast and then head back to Playa while the rest of the group went to Chichen Itza. I have to say that we were worried. Avery's body temp would not come down and she had a rash on her upper body. We drove right to the doctors office where they took care of her right away. Scarlet Fever/strep throat...yuck! Here she is showing off the classic scarlet fever "strawberry" tongue.

Two days of rest and medication and she was back to her old punk rock self. Turns out no one saw the Kuklakan snake shadow at Chichen Itza because it was too cloudy...maybe next year!

Looking forward: We have lots of races going on in the Riviera Maya! I am so excited! Connor is going to participate in a Youth Bike Competition in Cancun on Oct 4. Then, the following weekend, my friend Stephanie and I are doing a 10K at the Cancun airport. Then Xel-Ha is hosting a sprint triathlon on Nov 8 and December 4 is the 6K, 1/2 Marathon and Marathon in Cancun. I am hoping to do to 1/2 Marathon but we shall see!

Everything Runs on "Mexican Time"

**Disclaimer...having issues with the ~ that goes over the "n". Got it on the first one. Please know that the rest of them should have them also.**

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From the world of Palm Piolts, Blackberries, overscheduling and deadlines that were due "yesterday!" to the world of Mañana.

It was a total shock to the system even after coming to visit my inlaws for 7 years. We were familiar with the saying but the things you encounter as a vacationer vs. the things in everyday life are quite different.

So what does that mean? The "World of Manana"? Manana translates to the word "tomorrow". Let me give you a few personal examples to help you understand.

My first experience was when we needed to fill the gas tank at the house. Vaughan talked to Jorge who called the gas company. He told me that I needed to be around the hosue all day. "What? You mean just the AM or the PM, right?", "No Judy. All day". "Um. Okay. I hope this is just a gas company thing".

They didn't come that day. We called and he said "oh, manana"

They didn't come the next day either. We called and he again said "oh, manan"

They finally came on the 3ed day at around 4pm.

Outside of having to go pick Connor up from school I was not doing much because we had just moved here so it was not a huge deal to hang around all day. A little repetitive but I had stuff to do around the house to keep me busy.

My next shocker came when I had to take out oldest dog, Alexa, to the vet. I called, they said to come in at 9:30 the next morning. I thought this morning appointment sounded great as nothing around here really opens until 10 or 11am. Since I was starting to get the hang of this "late to everything" unwritten rule I showed up at 9:40. The vet was not there yet. "Un ratito" said the lady behind the counter to let me know that the vet would be here "in a bit".

I sat down and played with Alexa, I looked all around the waiting room area, we went out front to see the turtle...clock check, 10:40am. "Un ratito" I was assurred.

Alexa rolled over on the floor to take a nap and I found things in my purse to keep me busy. I text messaged Vaughan...I searched through all of the features on my cell phone...I inspected every crack and dirt mark on the floor.

At 11:15 the vet walked in. Now I know to take a book with me when I go.

For house visits you don't make more than one appointment per week. For office visits you prepare to be there for a few hours. Making this even more difficult is the fact that not everyone and every office run on Mexican Time so you just never know. When you do have someone scheduled to come to your house and you call them at the end of the day to find out where they are they offer no apology just "Oh. Si, manana".

That covers appointments. How about social meetings and gatherings? Let's say you are planning to meet a few friends for dinner at 8pm (still a little early for most locals here) you can expect to see them around 9 or 9:30pm. Why? Because that is just the way it goes. I figue that they had an appointment to get there washing machine or something fixed 2 days ago and the guy finally showed up 30 minutes before they were going to leave the house to come meet us. :)

Got an invite to a birthday party? If it starts at 1pm don't show up until 2:30 or 3pm. I am serious! My first experience with a Mexican Birthday Party was for a classmate of Connor. We got the gift all wrapped up, woke up Avery early from her nap, tossed the stroller and swimming stuff in the car and went to find the place.

At first I thought we were in the wrong spot. There was noone at the palapa but I did see a few balloons and a table with a party cover on it. Did we have the time wrong? The day? The place? Oh, wait, here comes the family. Maybe everyone went into the house and now they are coming back out?

No. We were the first people to arrive and we were the only people for the next hour while the family set up. What the heck was going on?!?!

I had no snacks or food for the kids and I could tell that we here HOURS away from any being brought out. Finally they put out some chips and cheetos which my kids devoured. We had arrived at 12noon-when the invitation said the party was starting. At 4pm we HAD to go. Connor was having fun but fading from lack of food. Avery was a complete wreck because we woke her up early and she was starving. We missed the pinata, we missed the singing. We missed the cake. We essentially missed the party....because we arrived on time.

Lesson Learned!

So, after 2 years of living here we finally get it.

Manana...tomorrow.

We have not totally adjusted yet but we get it. Maybe we will adjust....

....manana

.....maybe manana.

Swine Flu in Playa del Carmen

I had great plans of coming back and posting about our second week of Spring Break here but...it didn't happen. The short version is that the kids had enough of Camp Counselor Judy and decided that screaming at each other while taking a swing was more fun. We did go to the beach and the pool as much as possible to avoid cabin fever. Avery enjoyed trying on Connor's goggles and we both had fun turning Connor into a sandcastle on the beach.




I did get to meet my second cousin for the first time. She and her family were here on vacation with another family so we had them to Ajua for dinner. We had a great time watching all of our kids play and talk together. Too funny that we all had to be in Mexico to finally meet!



After Semana Santa (Spring Break) Connor went back to school the following Monday and Avery went back on Wednesday. I enjoyed spending time with them but I was looking forward to making phone calls without having to stop and ask the kids to quit bothering each other. And a visit to Wal-Mart minus the kids always goes faster when you don't have to leave your cart to take everyone to the bathroom and then go back through the store to put away the things that the kids have grabbed that you didn't realize were in the cart.

I had lots of meetings and planning to finish up as I am the lead planner for a Medical Mission coming May 4-8 and a 5k race on May 10. So the kids went back and I was focused on getting things done. Then we get a murmur of some flu thing that might be a problem in Mexico City. Okay, noted....flu in Mexico City. Big deal. People everywhere get the flu every year.

Planning continues. Race bibs being printed. Meet with the director of Angel Notion (http://www.angelnotion.org/) who is letting the doctors of the Medical Mission use the clinic and partner with her doctors. Meet with the Race Committee to finalize donations and sponsors. What? This flu is called the Swine Flu and they are worried b/c they know nothing about it and people are wearing masks in Mexico City? Businesses are closing? Man! What is this flu thing?

Planning continues. Registration forms and posters for the race are being printed. Visit the shirt printer to see if he can do our shirts. Double check with the hotel, Luna Blue (http://www.lunabluehotel.com/), and the various restaurants that have offered food and lodging for the doctors for free. Purchase this & that for the race registration process.

SCHREEEEEEEEEEEEECH!
That was the sound of Mexico....ALL of Mexico...coming to an amazingly fast halt. Swine Flu.

I am sure that most of you heard on the news about all of the closings in Mexico City. Well, here in Playa del Carmen where we had no reported cases they were playing the "better safe than sorry" card. Here are a list of some of the restrictions and rules that came out in about a 12 hour period.
1. All kitchen staff, everywhere, must wear masks & gloves. Waiters must have hand sanitizer to wipe on their hands every 15 minutes.
2. Schools are closed until May 6, at least.
3. Extracurricular classes that involve sweating and close contact; Tae Kwon Do, aerobics and the like, are cancelled.
4. Three hours after the first mask call they came and said that ALL restaurant staff had to wear masks. No masks were available for purchase here in Playa. They were all bought out so we were scrambling trying to make some so that we could open the restaurant.


5. Any gatherings of more than 80 people were forbidden. For a while we thought we might have to close Ajua anyway b/c we could seat 80 or more people.
6. Cruise lines stopping calling on ports anywhere in Mexico.
7. Flights from Canada were cancelled. People flying on particular airlines were told they had 2 days to catch a flight back to Canada and then they were on their own to find a way out of Mexico.
8. Other countries cancelled flights into and out of Mexico.
9. We wandered around bewildered at the restrictions!

Some things we feel were quick reactions that were not thought through. Like no more than 80 people can be together....you know, like at a 5k race that is outside...but 300 people can still go to Wal-Mart to shop and stand in line together. No one said it would all make sense but it is fun to pick apart what didn't mesh.

So, we are currently all taking a forced "Staycation". The Doctors couldn't come, the 5k Mother's Day Race was cancelled, wedding receptions and services had been cancelled, schools are still closed, there are a few masks around town and there are almost no tourists.

This morning I took the dogs out to do their morning thing. The street in front of our place is normally buzzing with mopeds and taxi cars taking workers to the hotels. Tour vans and buses are normally cruising in to pick up tourists to take them to various jungle adventures, the ruins, or other close cities. The sidewalks are normally busy with workers riding their bikes in and tourists out for a morning jog or heading in to town to do some shopping and lounge on the beach in the middle of town. Normally. Today, one taxi passed headed into the hotel zone and no one was on the sidewalks. No one. Wow!
Normally.
I hope we get back to "normally" soon.
Tomorrow will be the big test on 5th Ave to see how many/if any new tourists arrive.

At a birthday party on Friday some of the mothers and I were joking about how much we used to love the college diet of Raman Noodles, Mac-N-Cheese and beer and we hoped we still liked it since we will all probably be living on the shoe strings again for awhile. We are finding the silver lining where we can and enjoying each other's company. We can't go visit any places really b/c everything is closed so the beach and the pool are great to have. None of us is sick. We are fortunate that unlike many of the locals here, we don't depend only on the money made each day to feed our family. We have hope that things will get back to normal soon.

As the flu spreads we hope that all of our family & friends around the world stay healthy.

Spring Break 2009, aka: Semana Santa

This is the first year that the kids are old enough to enjoy...and get extremely bored during Spring Break. Therefore I have used this as my excuse to revert to my days of being a YMCA Camp Counselor. I even have some of the lesson plans that we used when I was the Child Care Coordinator at the Shady Grove Family YMCA.
I made a loose plan for the first week, packed the kids into the car, made sure I had the credit card and it was off to Wal-Mart! At least I was only purchasing supplies for 2 and not for 215. That should make Vaughan feel a little better, right? :)

We ended school with a fun trip to a park for Cole's birthday party. Cole & Connor both take Tae Kwon Do through the same Prof and both of their sisters go to the same school. There was cake, swimming, pizza and fun! Here in Mexico after they sing Happy Birthday to you everyone around the table starts to chant "mordida!mordida!" which is them asking you to take a bite out of the side of the cake. Of course there is always someone behind you who shoves your face into the cake. Cole's big brother did the honors for him.

The park is really well planned out. Someone took their property and plopped a water park/swimming area in the front. They have slides, baby pool areas, snack stands, bathrooms and bridges. It looks like there is a hotel on the back side of the property too. Michele, Cole's mom, was telling me that there is a cenote somewhere on the property. I think we may pay the day pass fee and go hang out one weekend.

Avery & Connor have both enjoyed helping me with chores around the house. Connor seems to like picking things up the most. Something you can easily make a game out of...hmmmm, he likes the competition? Wonder where he gets that from! Ha!
Avery loved helping me with washing the dishes. I just had to go into it knowing that the kitchen floor was going to be soaked. By the time we were done she was soaked from mid chest down to her toes. It was great!


Monday was Play-doh day! One day at City Club (just like Sam's) we found this great fold up pic-nick table with 2 benches that attach to the bottom of the table. It has been great for the kids! We set it up on the patio, covered it with a piece of plastic and got to making! We made pasta, a snake, some martian molds and creepy creatures. All the while our trusty watch dog, Jake, guarded us against any dust flying out of the house.




Tuesday we went to a local park, Parke la Ceiba. We have to drive to get there but it is worth it. They took down just enough trees to make paths and little play areas. Everything is made from recycled tires, trees and such. They just don't make parks like this in the US anymore. No licensing regulations to worry about in Mexico. The old Jeff Foxworthy (You Might Be a Redneck If...) bit where he talks about "child proofing" your house is exactly how it is done around here. "Oh, you want to put your finger in light socket? That'll hurt! Bet he won't do that again!"

The buildings, used as classrooms, have old bottles as design elements and windows. The bathrooms are a very cool palapa style with old tiles used along the walls. The faucets have recycled pipes and the sink is a slab of cement. We wandered through the paths and climbed on everything we could. We saw a woodpecker, a very cool yellow bird, a lizard that ran really fast up on his back 2 legs, and Connor found 1/2 of the jaw bone of some animal.

One of the fun things to climb on was the Monkey Bars (horizontal bars) like we used to have when I was a kid. Dad was in the ARMY and we were living in Hawaii at the time. I liked to climb everything and our neighbor came over to calmly tell my mom that I was walking across the top of the bars...at age 4. So mom & dad, this photo is for you! You can thank you grandson for taking the picture for you.

Wednesday was a crafty day. We used socks to make Bunny Rabbits! The kids had a great time decorating and stuffing the rabbits. I have to say I was a little surprised at how many "decorating" items I had in the house after a year 1/2.


Thursday we just hung around the house and played. Avery's friend Maghi came over and we spent most of the day at the pool letting Connor break in his new boogie board. The kids like to try and surf them across to the other side of the pool. After Connor's head plant into the cement and 2 weeks of black eyes I was just happy he was playing IN the pool. Avery & Maghi played in the hammock before lunch and nap time. It was a nice relaxing day.




Friday we had to do some running around and decided to stop for lunch while we were out. We went to La Herradura just on 10th Ave. Connor got hotdogs, 3 of them, and he ate it all. Avery got a ham & cheese sandwich which she had a great time playing with and then eating. I got the Huevos Rancheros (Ranchero style eggs) with beans, peppers, cheese, a great red sauce. I was stuffed!

We chilled out around the house before heading over to Ajua Maya http://www.ajuamaya.com/ for family dinner to celebrate Vaughan & I being married for 10 years. Chef Pedro had made a special steak with a Mayan sauce which Vaughan, Brenda & Jorge ate. I had a 1/2 & 1/2 of steak and fish. As usual Avery wanted to go do some dancing when the band started. I was still eating so she and Vaughan hit the dance floor. Connor was very excited about getting some cake but because we got there later than usual he was having a hard time staying awake and almost fell asleep in the middle of eating it. We had not really seen Jorge & Brenda since we got back from our weekend in Temozone so it was really nice to get everyone together for dinner.


Saturday was another crafty day! There are a few other kids around for Spring Break so we invited them over to Tie Dye shirts. Vaughan and a friend of ours, Aron, finished playing tennis and came over to the palapa to see the action. Both of the guys were baffled at my wealth of knowledge about the different designs you can make on a t-shirt with rubber bands and some dye. After making some very cool shirts and turning our hands a nice shade of purple we headed to the pool. I was hoping that the chlorine would clean us off a little. After the pool everyone stopped for a photo with their very cool shirts.


Later tonight there is a cookout here in our little housing complex. Most of the people that are in town are the owners of the houses and they like to get together when they are all here. Should be fun! The kids can all play together while the adults have a few cervezas and grill out.

One more week left of Spring Break and I have it all mapped out for us!