9-19-09: Hello everyone! We are very tardy with our blog. We’ve been busy setting up our new homestead in Zacatecas, Zacatecas Mexico. We arrived late on the 3rd after a marathon drive south from Roswell, New Mexico. The neat thing about driving from midnight to dawn toward the border was Mike and I getting to see a ring-tailed cat, a javelina, and some roadrunners (of course the kiddos were asleep). We crossed at Presidio, Texas which is a dusty small town in southern Texas. We missed our registration point located at the border crossing where you have to get your Mexican tourist visas and register your car (when we had previously crossed in El Paso, this registration spot was 20-30 km after the border crossing thus we expected the same at this crossing-OOPS!). This caused us a one hour delay as we didn’t realize our error until reaching the first military checkpoint about thirty minutes into the country.
The kids and Mike started school the next Monday on Sept. 7. The kids’ school is unbelievably in the same house where Patty’s grandparents lived; she has memories of visiting her grandparents there when she was about 10 years old. The name of their school is Instituto Pedagogico Anthropos de Zacatecas. It is based on the Montessori teaching philosphy. Gaby and Luke wear uniforms that look like Harry Potter uniforms at Hogwarts. Luke is having the most trouble adjusting to an all-Spanish school. Mike’s school is called Fenix Language Institute and is two blocks away from Gaby and Luke's school. After two weeks, Mike is also wondering if he’s making any progress with his Spanish either.
There have already been several fiestas, Sept. 16 was Mexican Independence Day, and at least three cumpleanos (birthdays). When you have a family numbering in the three digits there is always a birthday or another fiesta. There was also a state fair (Feria) running for several weeks so the kids enjoyed a jumping-bungee cord apparatus, a climbing wall, and various rides.
We are thinking that we will stay here until the end of the school semester (about the third week of December) and maybe through the holidays. Then we’ll be off on the road again (God willing) to Chile and Patagonia!!
The kids and Mike started school the next Monday on Sept. 7. The kids’ school is unbelievably in the same house where Patty’s grandparents lived; she has memories of visiting her grandparents there when she was about 10 years old. The name of their school is Instituto Pedagogico Anthropos de Zacatecas. It is based on the Montessori teaching philosphy. Gaby and Luke wear uniforms that look like Harry Potter uniforms at Hogwarts. Luke is having the most trouble adjusting to an all-Spanish school. Mike’s school is called Fenix Language Institute and is two blocks away from Gaby and Luke's school. After two weeks, Mike is also wondering if he’s making any progress with his Spanish either.
There have already been several fiestas, Sept. 16 was Mexican Independence Day, and at least three cumpleanos (birthdays). When you have a family numbering in the three digits there is always a birthday or another fiesta. There was also a state fair (Feria) running for several weeks so the kids enjoyed a jumping-bungee cord apparatus, a climbing wall, and various rides.
We are thinking that we will stay here until the end of the school semester (about the third week of December) and maybe through the holidays. Then we’ll be off on the road again (God willing) to Chile and Patagonia!!
This is wonderful! I hope that Luke is progressing in school -that must be a difficult transition! And for Mike - I'm sure that you can do it! I will try to get the laptop back to grandma's house in the next week or so so that they can see all of these new pictures. Sounds like a great trip for all. I also missed a border point once when I was driving into Mexico - I didn't want to do the big border at Tijuana and tried to find the other smaller one, but missed it. It sure was complicated :) - Aiyana
ReplyDelete