We have completed our second full week in Mexico.
This week the kids started Spanish class in our home with Marcela. They seem pretty excited when she comes so I guess it's a good experience. I actually haven't had much of a chance to ask them! I am usually gone to my own Spanish language class, and Josh works. Mornings are full of work of various sorts for everyone. So far I can't say that I feel more fluent, and I probably won't, but I am getting so many of my questions answered for the *why's* of certain things. I really like how my teacher explains things. She pays close attention to what she can hear I need to practice and usually presents a lesson on that the next time we meet. She speaks four languages and has a degree in teaching language so I feel like I'm in good hands.
One of our favorite activities is to hit the Malecón in the evenings. And we finally made it for the entire sunset. It was gorgeous as all ocean sunsets are. The photos are from a two separate nights.
We wandered around town and found this funny little park tucked in between two stores. It has a security guard and a gate...not sure if that should make me more nervous or less. But the kids enjoyed a quick game of human chess and checking out the bizarre fountain faces.
The park is next door to El Azteca, which sells amazing Gorditas, chilaquiles (I didn't know how much I needed chilaquiles in my life until Mexico) and other yumminess. All made fresh.
But this taco below is not any of those things from El Azteca. This is a Smoked Marlin Taco from Claros Jr. and it was AMAZING - juicy and tasty. I didn't even put any of the available toppings on because it was so good on it's own. Along with it I had a BBQ Tuna Taco which was muy sabroso también.
10/10 recommend.
We celebrated this girl's birthday a little early so that her presents wouldn't just sit in a suitcase for an entire month. So we had tres leches cake and she opened her gifts: books, a game, and some poly pockets. Can't believe our last kid is turning 8 this year!
One day Shannon and I took the older girls to the "mall" which was really just a department store with a couple small shops outside. Mexico is HARD CORE with their Covid precautions. Most people wear masks outside no matter what and ALWAYS we wear masks inside. Every store has someone with a clicker counting capacity. They also have hand sanitizer and a temp scanner that you need to utilize in order to pass the guard. Last night on the Malecón a police officer kindly reminded us to wear our masks. We weren't the only ones maskless but we are definitely in the minority when we go without. We are trying to be better.
The department store was one level. It was all the things Macy's has plus a few bonus areas thrown in. It was jam-packed with merchandise and LOTS of sales people to help if you wanted it, but we were never approached by anyone to ask if we needed help finding anything. There was a little corner of the store dedicated to Aeropostále merchandise and a MAC and Sephora beauty counter. Quite a few name brands that I recognized and many that I didn't.
We had the most interesting experience at Church. first, it is so hard for me to understand people - add in a mask and it's virtually impossible. On this Sunday the Primary was practicing for the program that is coming up in a week and so they used the chapel. The adult Sunday school class held class in the back of the cultural hall. These rooms are all about half the size of our rooms at home (both width and depth) so we weren't really very far apart from each other. And there was no room divider so we just were all in the same open air space. It was so loud and impossible to hear the teacher. Not my most fulfilling Sunday School lesson ever! I suspect they stayed in the cultural hall because it's air conditioned, because I think we could have used the primary room otherwise.
Can't get enough of these sunsets!
I love the saguaros everywhere - they are sculpturesque and ubiquitous.
more Malecón and sunset photos...
We fed the Missionaries on Thursday! Lunch is the big meal here so they came at 2:30pm. None of them speaks English so it was really Josh interacting with them. I struggled to follow them until we got to the discussions about food. I was also able to sort of guess what their message was - they spoke about the blessings of baptism for Faith's benefit. We ordered tacos and burritos from Los Perrechones, which is a restaurant a few blocks away that we've discovered we love. They ate a lot and they seemed quite happy to be well-fed. They said that none of them cooks much on the mission, though it sounds like one of them does at home. He knew how to make some of their regional specialties they were telling us about (they are all from central Mexico around Mexico City).
So some things - we are getting a little worn out from being outside of our comfort zone for so long. Also I think we're a little worn out from being two families together all the time. I'm looking forward to Bryan coming because then I won't worry about Shannon so much - I know she doesn't like to go out buy herself so every outing is always 9 people to organize and that's a lot. When Bryan comes I will feel more like we can do our own thing sometimes. I am still loving my Spanish but regular life is more exhausting here. It takes more work to meal plan, to go out, to keep the kids entertained. On the plus side - when you have very minimal dishes, kitchen clean-up is SO fast. Not to mention, Mexicans are really into healthy foods so I'm feeling a little bogged down by the abundance of meat and cheese all the time. We're working on it, but we're also super careful to eat vegetables that we know we can disinfect well.
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