An Unusual Visitor

Last night around 8pm we had a knock at the door. It was way to late for the fruit vendor, pan man or any other  street vendor. Guess it was for JJ is what I thought, until I heard JJ calling me to come to the door because the "bank" was here.  What the....

The bank representative from Banamex who helped us open our bank account needed me to re-sign some documents. Tip* when signing your passport make sure you sign it the way you always do your signature. Duh, right! I signed it with my full complete name and I usually always sign official docs with my first and last only. So of course my firma did not match my passport. This is actually the 2nd time I have had to resign the Banamex documents, and the rep has had to come to my  house both times now. I find that a bit bazaar, don't you? A bank  employee just showing up at your home to sign some documents. Talk about being thorough and great customer service.

New Peeps for Momma Pretty Please

My week has been full of introductions and hand-shakings. I think I have probably explained why I am in Mexcio and what I do here over a half dozen times. I know I have been in Merida for 6 months now, but it really feels like its only been a few months. I have been telling people all week "we just arrived a few months ago", and then later realizing we arrived on August 6th 2010, exactly 6 months ago today.

I'v have gotten into a routine, that involves nothing new. I know Merida is all new but I have neglected to take time for me, which is really important if you dont want to turn into super bitch! I think I have been displaying a bit of that to my dear family and they may be starting to plot an escape from me soon if I don't shape'n up. In other words I've been on the hunt for some outer estrogen influence!

So thank the heavens for bloggers and facebook, I got out and met up with some really wonderful people here in Merida. I've been a busy little bee and met a wonderful girl for coffee one afternoon and I think I may have met the entire expat community one night when I was invited to meet up with some other gals at a monthly comedy show and yes, it was in English, hosted by Mel with talentedbitches.com 

Oh and the introductions didnt stop there. Friday night our daughter Leah was spending the night at her bff's and her parents asked if we would like to come over Saturday night for dinner party. We were on that like flies on poop! We had a great time, plus we got to practice our Spanish.

Date Night = Irish Pub, Beer and Pool

After a night of pre-teen girls in the house my love'a and I were able to take some time away for us. Theres a new Hennessys Irish Pub that opened up recently and so we were off to check it out. Of course I tried to order the darkest beer on the menu , because to me dark beer is like dark chocolate, but they were out of Guinness. WTF is all I thought for a second. Thats almost like going to McDonalds and being told "Sorry, we are all out of hamburgers today".  Growing up in the Northwest, was like growing up in the beer capital of the world.  Im reminded of one of my favorite places for a good fix of pub food and unique beers was McMenamins They have beers with names like Sleepy Hallow and Hammerhead and the best pub food ever!

Other then that little detour the rest of the place was great! The decor, staff and the POOL TABLE was free! After sharing a plate of awesome fish-n-chips we headed to the Billiard Room and wrapped up our night with a couple games...Jeff 2 wins y Yo solo uno! And I only won because he accidentally sunk the 8 ball. I never win against Jeff because hes a monster when it comes to playing pool, I mean geez he did practically grow up on one, it is sort of our lifes blood.

Happy Birthday Leah Badeah**

Monday we celebrated our daughters 12th year. Happy Birthday Leah! .

 We brought her class some cupcakes, pizza and drinks. Her class sang her both versions of the birthday song, Spanish and English and I thought that was very special. Everyone was also using the English they knew with Jeff and I, too cute and I appreciated that.  

And for dinner she selected the Sirloin Stockade near Liverpool for her birthday dinner.

*I hope it was an off night for the restaurant. If you live here or plan to visit and think you might be in the mood for a buffet, just take caution, in other words...the food was cold and tasted like shit!

For her"at home party" we are planing a sleepover with a couple friends this Friday for Leah. Pretty excited about getting the house decked out and having a few of her friends over. Should be fun! Simple age birthday themed. I made these cute purple  stamped #12 invites and had her hand write info on the inside.

Laid Back Sundays of Merida

Sunday started with a wild hair, I took a run along Meridas famous Paseo de Montejo and was headed for the sports complex. A great blog Merida Mike has a wonderful article on the massive sports complex here with pictures too! I have to make an effort to get over to the sports complex more often with the kids. As I'm running along Paseo, I'm reminded about the Sunday Biking event that takes place in the mornings until 12:30. The city shuts down streets for pedestrians to enjoy a bike ride, walk, skateboarding, roller-blading or in my case jogging. Dont have a bike?  No problem, there are rentals on the North end of the route just beyond Walmart. *We rented 4 bikes for about 2 hours for 40 pesos!

So I get home and nurse the insanely gross blister on my heel. Heres a personal analysis......I'm being punished by the running gods for waiting 4 months to get my butt back in gear! I hala' at the kids and the Mr. to get in gear because the family is taking a bike ride!

I heart this this picture! 

A Visit Back in Time

We took mom to Dzibilchaltun just 20 minutes outside of Merida. We decided to get a guided tour and Im glad we did. We learned so much about the site and discovered things we never would have without him. This was mom first visit to a Mayan ruin and she has a great time. 

The kings palace

Cenote Xlakah

I took a swim with the kids and Gram dipped her feet it. The water is crystal clear and surprisingly warm.   

Main observatory, the sun and moon rise through the doorways and windows to tell us the changing of the seasons-Awesome!

Leah is taking in the beauty all around us

JJ is feeling glorious atop a ruin

This is thought to be a small observatory and was discovered under a larger pyramid structure

Mom got to ride in the cool trisis on our way home to catch a bus back into Merida

Sun dials 

Our Halloween in Merida Mexico

No trick or treating for us. No costumes and evening walks for the kids, but......we did venture out into centro so as to be "doing something". There was a big stage set up in the main plaza for musicians and endless food vendors on the streets, music and grass huts erected in the main square with food offerings, and other symbolic items with Hanal Pixan alters a Day of the Dead tradition in Mexico.

We watched a great parade/procession that lead to the plaza with giant catrinas, ghostly figurs, and other colorful characters carrying caskets on the shoulders, playing music and other things. It was all very entertaining and something we had never seen before.

Green Toes and H-Day

I couldn't resist painting my toes bright witch green! I'm having a struggle with this whole Halloween thing. Ever since we moved to Mexico this holiday, which happens to be one of my favorite Holidays, has been loosing its appeal to the whole fam-bam. The first Halloween was in Puerto Vallarta and we were told by a few that we should head over to the American School for a sort-of Halloween carnival / fair event. It was well organized, full of Halloween food, treats and activities but for pre-teens who knew absolutely no-one it wasnt a hit for them. So we thought we would do some door to door trick or treating in the Marina, where there are many houses...except if we were lucky every 8th house participated in the holiday, which = very little candy.

This is really my own selfishness taking over...I mean I understand I'm far from American with the American traditions and holidays but I still have high hopes, and just want my kids to have some of those traditions. I dont think thats alot to ask for.

Halloween #2- JJ is now 12 by this time and he has lost the desire to "dress" up. I guess its not on the cool radar for him. But Leah gets right into it and we make her a fabulous Miss. Pac Man costume, that is a super hit on the Melacon in Puerto Vallarta. We ditched the whole American School this time around and didn't see much use in going back to the Marina and instead walked up and down the Melacon...there was candy being handed out by vacationers and  residents of Puerto Vallarta. We even got some candy for JJ to hand out so that he could still take part in the festivities....

This year in Merida I have no idea what we will be doing. Leah has been invited to a Halloween party, but I haven't found any activities for the family yet and "H" day is in less then a week!!! I have a feeling that we wont be doing any trick or treating ...sad day! Sooo...this contributed to the green toesies and the hope that Halloween will find us this year!

A Simple Weekend in Merida

Our simple weekend in Merida was full of little moments that I will cherish always. Our friends Efrain and Cathleen are from Tixkokob. A puebla east of Merida. They live in a truly charming house just on the outskirts of town and are raising the cutest little ones..Victor is 3 and Laura just turned 1. Cathleen is from Canada and I think she is the only Caucasian in the entire puebla. I really like her, no actually I admire her and her life she is making for herself and her family. She speaks Spanish to me and throws in some English when she senses I'm having difficulties understanding. We had lunch at their house, outside in their garden and then we all were off to the circus. I had no idea we were doing this either. Thats the way things are here though. My Spanish is so broken that I often find myself surprised at what people do next, as if I understood what they were saying....

Tixkokob Plaza

I've never been to a circus here in Mexico, I never had any desire to see the animals do "tricks". I didnt know what to expect and our future vet Leah didnt really enjoy watching the animals get puppeteer-ed around the circus ring either. I have to admit that I was sucked into the lights, music and fear of something going terribly wrong. If anything I watched to make sure that the ring master didnt get eaten by the 8 tigers that surrounded him, each one growling and pawing at him with each snap of the whip. 

The clowns made me laugh..I mean the 1 clown. There was a midget who was shaking his booty to Shakira and constantly falling..I laughed and was amused, I kept peeking at my JJ and Leah behind me to see if they were enjoying it, and yup they were clapping and smiling. right along. So we checked that one off our list of first here.

Toto Were Not in Kansas Anymore....

As we were landing in Merida Mexico, I was gazing out onto our new home and a rainbow appeared across the skys of the Yucatan. "Just for us" I said to myself and quickly shared its beauty with Leah who was sitting next to me. I know whatever my pot of gold is, it's just waiting for me to discover it here.

The buildings are amazing and so "colonial", streets are colorful and filled with bustling people, as we are now living in a metropolitan and more of a working city. I hardly ever here English being spoken which is much better for me, since my Spanish is far from being understandable! Last night we decided to venture into the Grand Plaza. I cant even put into words how beautiful that was, people selling their hand made things, food vendors, horse drawn carrigas, and music in the streets. There are brick lined streets where cars are replaced with tables and chairs and all sorts of live music playing. Local artist come out for our viewing and buying pleasure too. Although we have never been to Europe, JJ says it reminds him of the streets in Paris from the movies we have seen.

Its all new and invigorating to each of us and we are seeing it from our own eyes.

*photos soon to come, I have been without a camera and getting our video camera set up to take photos!