Ill get by with a little help from my friends...

I'm gonna try with a little help from my friends...

So I'm doing pretty good when I'm on my own but I get a lot more accomplished with friends. First off I had a wonderful Thanksgiving. Some good friends of ours who live here in town decided to throw a Thanksgiving dinner. Really it was for me but everyone who came loved it. The wife of this couple is Mexican/American and was raised in the US and the husband is from Nicaragua but lived in the US for 20 plus years. She has a lot of family here in town who are Mexican/American and who were raised most of their lives in the US. So she set up the rule that everyone had to speak english. This didn't really last all night but it was fun to see them catch each other and make each other try to speak English in my presence. Her family really have welcomed us in as their own since meeting us about 8 months ago. I am so thankful for them and there place in my life. They also had a huge garage sale this weekend where I managed to buy about 250p worth of Christmas, Thanksgiving and Easter decorations and a few other things we liked. But I was also able to sell some stuff we bought that cant fit in our apartment anymore. I came out about 50p ahead.

Also I have posted a few times that its almost time for Alana my 3 yr old to be in school. Apparently here you have to get to the school you want early on Feb 1st or you wont get in. A friend of mine has a daughter the same age as Alana and we have play dates with them a lot. We decided it would be good if we could get them in the same class. So Sat we walked up to a school which is about 15-18 blocks away or so. This means we can walk them there if we need to. Its also a government school so its free except books and stuff. So we walk all the way there with the girls and DUHHHHH its closed on Saturdays. By then were so close to the Red Cross that I ask her if she can wait outside with the girls while I run in to see whats up with me volunteering. Well they also said I needed to come back lunes. I must have looked confused when she told me this because she proceeded to tell me that was in 2 days. lol I did know this and understand her I was just trying to remember what we had going on on Monday. But this is the part of the trip aside from the walking that made me feel like a true Mexican. We went on an almost 2 hour walking trip and didn't get accomplished what we meant to but got other things done. We stopped at the Carnaceria (think I spelled it right) and with her help I got to buy meat from there instead of the gross stuff at the grocery store. Yummm it really is better. And after seeing my excitement she said she would be more than happy to go with me on a weekly basis when I need to buy meet. Then we stopped at a fruit store where things are so much better and cheaper than at the grocery store. And I ran into a dulceria to get candy for my advent calendar. (more to come on the calendar in another post)
Tomorrow we are off to renew my FM2 in Guadalajara so that will most likely be another post. I think I'm getting the hang of things around here more and more
each day.
The only bad thing that happened this week is that we found out our rent is going up in January. This is a bunch of crap really. We moved in here in July and haven't even had a lease until this week because I need it for my FM2. When she wrote it up she put 1800p on it instead of the 1700p we have been paying. And she said "oh and your rent will be going up to 1800 in Jan." I told her I thought she should talk to my husband about this because I didn't think we could pay that. And to be honest if and when I get a job we could pay it but this is a little bitty 2 bedroom cockroach ridden apartment. We have seen whole houses for only 2000p a month. Which means we are on the look out again and will most likely be moving again. UGGGGG I hate moving.

Search and Rescue drill

So I get these e-mails from the consulate here in Guadalajara. I found this one to be quite interesting and a bit of a relief. Its good to see they are doing drills.

Here is the message I got.

United States Consulate General Guadalajara
PLEASE CIRCULATE THIS IMPORTANT ANNOUNCEMENT TO
AS MANY AMERICAN CITIZENS AS POSSIBLE
SUBJECT: Search & Rescue Drill – Coastal Area of Jalisco
Date: November 25, 2009
BEGIN TEXT.
Jalisco state Civil Protection authorities will conduct a large scale national search and rescue exercise/drill on November 27 – 30, 2009. The exercise will take place in Boca de Iguana, Jalisco - just north of Barra de Navidad - in an abandoned hotel named Hotel Tenacatita.
The emergency response teams will include:
- Civil Protection authorities from Jalisco and Mexico City
- Firefighters from Guadalajara, Puerto Vallarta, Tijuana, and Mexico City
- Red Cross from Jalisco and Mexico City
- ERUM (Urgent Medical Rescue Squadron) group from Mexico City.
The exercise will start on Friday November 27th at night and will conclude on Monday November 30th morning. The main focus of the exercise will be to rescue victims from collapsed structures. The emergency response teams will be observed by United Nations members in an effort to obtain U.N. certification.
The U.S. Consulate General in Guadalajara does not anticipate any major disruptions due to the exercise. For further information please visit Jalisco Civil Protection’s exercise website - http://proteccioncivil.jalisco.gob.mx/banners/usar09/usar.html

The U.S. Consulate General in Guadalajara is located at 175 Progreso Street; Col. Americana, Guadalajara, Jalisco, Mexico. The U.S. Consulate General in Guadalajara telephone number is 011 52 33 3268 2100; the U.S. Consulate General in Guadalajara fax number is 011 52 33 3825 1951. For after-hours emergencies, please call 011 52 33 3268 2145.

END OF TEXT.

So much to do.... And all the time to do it. ;)

That is what I love about the Mexico Amanda. I'm telling you before I moved here I felt that anything that needed to be done should be done now. Or maybe what needed to be done should have been done yesterday. Well anyway here is my to do list and I'm actually giving myself months of time to do it.

First things first I have to renew my FM2. Its due by Dec 17th. so that will have to happen in the next couple weeks.

Go see doctor at the seguro to get test results and ask about my gall bladder and birth control. This will prob be some time in the next month or so.

Get my eyes checked and order new glasses.

Check out schools for my 3 yr old we will need to know where we want to go by Feb.

And last but certainly not least (and something I'm so excited to do) is to go by the Cruz rojo and find out if I can volunteer. Thanks to a suggestion from a fellow blogger I will be soon at the Cruz rojo hopefully knee deep in sick people at least once a week. Oh how I miss caring for people. I'm excited to get myself acclimated with the medical field in Mexico.

I wanted to make this post to see how soon I actually get any of this stuff done. I have slowly but surely moved to the very lax attitude of the Mexicans. Ok well that might be taking it way to far I'm just not as uptight as I use to be.

Back in the swing of things

Well after getting back from my visit to see my family I got sick. My first two days back consisted of doing laundry and trying to debug the house. I asked my husband how often he moped while I was gone and he said twice. I was gone for 3 weeks. Yikes. Well then I started to feel pretty sick. Honestly I don't remember ever being that sick since I had pneumonia when I as 18. So after the third day of not being able to get off the couch Issac took a day off work to take me to the doctor. Also the baby had a cough but didn't seem as sick as me. Like most government run operations the seguro had kinda screwed up the information they had given us. You see during one of my visits alone with the baby I asked what we should do if one of us gets sick and I was told I should come in very early even at 6am if I could. When I told my husband this he said there was no way that was right. So on our last visit where we all got check ups he asked the same question. This time they told us we needed to come in at 1pm that this was when the appointments start. So the day my husband took off work we sat around until 1pm and went to the seguro. It was packed and when we told the lady why we were there she looked at us like we were nutz. She held up a stack of books in one hand and said that was all the people who got appointments and then another stack in her other hand of people who wanted to see the doctor if he got through the appointments early. She then explained to Issac that we are suppose to come in early and drop off our book to "make and appointment" And then they start seeing people at one. So third times a charm and at least we know what to do now. As far as this time around we went to the private clinic I went to when pregnant. They are efficient and not to much money. We paid 400pesos for me and the baby to get checked by a doctor, diagnosed, and given a list of medications to get. That is less than 40 usd for two people to see a doctor. Of course her list of medications were all brand names and way more expensive than the ones we ended up actually getting. Also I didn't like the cough medication she prescribed it made me feel all shaky and sick. That is the great thing about here you just go get the one you know works for you. Oh it ended up that I had Strep which was trying hard to become bronchitis and the baby had a slight ear infection which was causing drainage and a cough. I'm pleased to report that we are both done with our antibiotics and aside from a slight cough and sometimes sore throat on my part we are doing much better. I spent the girls 2 hour nap today reading up on blogs that I hadn't read much of since before my trip. Its so nice to be back to a place where I'm understood. Thank you all for posting about your lives with all the ups downs and funny happenings.

IS NOTHING SAFE.......

From my 7 1/2 month old. ;) I love love love this age we are having so much fun running and grabbing things from her before she can put it into her mouth. She has this sixth sense for where the small pieces of stuff might be on any floor no matter how clean. Also even though I mop everyday I refuse to let her on the kitchen floor. The way our apartment is our living room and kitchen just kinda connect almost like one room. I tried laying down all our kitchen chairs as a blockade but shes a strong little bugger and would slid over to them, sit up, and push them out of her way. So now my boarder consists of an suitcase on its side that is full of my craft stuff, my coffee table on its side and a car seat that is to small for the 3 yr old and two big for the baby. Shes so funny I'm not even sure she knows why but she wants through that wall so badly. The other day she managed to maneuver between the chair and table and just sat there looking so proud of herself. Then spotted my shoes on the kitchen side of the table and went for them. Shes like a little puppy she loves to chew shoes. Oh and as far as an update on how the floor stuff is going with out carpet or rugs. Well I think shes decided to skip crawling, maybe because it hurts her knees a little. We gave up on the blanket quite some time ago and just made sure she always has one of the button bottom t-shirts and a pair of pants and socks on. The week we got home from our trip she figured out how to get herself to a sitting position and then back to her belly. That was a great help to mommy. She gets around quite well with the wounded army crawl and now shes pulling up on things. So soon the cruzing the furniture will begin. Now that she is pulling up on things we have to move anything unsafe for a baby to a higher level. This should be a load of fun with Christmas stuff. I cant wait to see her terrorize everything at Christmas. My first was only 5 mo old and not moving to much her first Christmas and by the second one she was old enough to tell no. When I say I cant wait I'm being serious, even though I'm constantly on my toes after her I think its hilarious to see what she picks to get into. For example she will be in a room full of toys and one small tiny piece of paper in some corner and guess what she picks. We did finally find a store that has some of the basic safety items like socket covers and door locks. The only thing is we don't have cabinets ;) But be sure that my three year old is on top of it. Boy she watches baby sister like a hawk and yells, "No baby sister," if she almost puts something in her mouth that she shouldn't. They are so funny to watch play together. The three year old is going to have to start school soon. Its not mandatory until 4 and apparently they don't learn to much until then. But I cant believe how much of her Spanish she has lost since we've been back from our trip. And its not so much that she lost it but that she just refuses to use it. I think she needs to be in the immersion environment and she will do fine. Also I want her to learn communication skills before its time for her to actually be learning material. So Bahumbug we have to go over that hurdle soon. We started talking to her about it and she said, "Ok and mommy can come and Papi and baby Joslin." And we were like no school is only for you. After that she says she doesn't want to go. I think my husbands going to cry on her first day. lol


Yeah Holidays are upon us. I cant wait to start my advent calendar we start ours on Thanksgiving.

Home again, Home again, jigidy jig

Well I am back from my 3 weeks of visiting friends and family. I must say it was nice but I missed home badly while there. I also realized that most of what I was freaked out about here really wasn't to much different from there. And that a lot of the things I thought I missed so much were not all I had made them to be in my crazy little mind. Over time your mind will play tricks and make things larger than they really are. For example I thought I missed fountain soda which after tasting seemed to be missing something. Ice cream also is something that I ate a lot of while there but I realize that I have found supplements for my Ice Cream addiction it just took me some time and tasting of different ones. I come home with a renewed spirit and mind knowing that this is my life and I am prepared to live it. I also know that another visit to the States is far far in the future if ever. As much as I missed everyone I realized that everyone has a life going for themselves and not only am I adjusting to not living there so is everyone else. I was happy to know and see this. My family understands and is happy with my decisions. They are still very emotional about the whole immigration issue and with so much press its a hard place to be. Being here I finally don't have to deal with questions or rude remarks as much but they still do on an almost daily basis.
On a lighter note something I had seen on face book is that people are posting something everyday that they are thankful for. I wanted to make a list of things that I was thankful to get back to for each day of November that I have missed.
Day1) waiting on the hot water- this may sound weird but I'm thankful for the patience in everyday activities it has given me.
2)saying good night and good morning to my husband
3)seeing him play with my girls, or read to them.
4)The wonderful weather
5)being conscious of what electricity I'm using. (this was driving me batty during my visit to the states)
6)NO CARPET.... can you believe it. It was only a few posts ago that I posted how much I missed it and that I was giving in and getting rid of my rugs. But every time I turned around even if someone had just vacuumed my baby was putting a fuzzy in her mouth.
7)Our nighttime routine. My girls didn't sleep through the night the whole time we were gone. I have now gotten 3 full nights of sleep. Yeah for our own beds.
8) Little use of diaper bag and help when I do need it. Our town is very small and most of the time I can do with a diaper and a bottle in my purse, and when we do go to visit somewhere for a long time I have my husband to tick a list of before we head out the door. Twice I left with out enough bottles or diapers during my visit.
9)TORTILLAS- I literally groaned when we had fresh tortillas last night. Holy cow I missed them.
10)Hanging my cloths to dry- I realize this is now a stress reliever and a time of peace and reflection for me. That sounds odd but seriously I missed it and I felt myself unraveling as I hung and took down my loads of laundry after I got home.
11) Laid back driving. Man I was so nervous the whole time driving in the states. I was afraid Id forget to really stop at a stop sign.
12) Talking to my husband about our days. This I missed so much, we do a run down of our days almost every day even when hes off. We just talk about what we did all day.

What I love is how easy this list came out. I seriously didn't have to stop to think. Mind you I still have roaches and they were kinda having a hay day when I got home because my husband only mopped twice while I was gone and every bit of cloths he had were dirty and there was a pile of dishes. But I have already got most of them dead and will keep fighting the new ones that I know will come in daily. But I'm oddly enough ok with this. I know people in the states get them and its not because they are gross.

Our newest goal is for me to find work. Most of you know I am a nurse. So I'm looking for a clinic in an area that may cater to Americans. Our first plan is to check out the Chapala area. My husband lived there for a few years as a child. Its a nice area and I hope that my English will be so needed in a clinic that they will work with me on my broken Spanish. If any one has any ideas they will be welcome.

Oh and if you didn't figure it out from that last paragraph Canada is not going to work because the government has put a hold on hiring nurses for a year or so. And because of that the private facilities are flooded with Canadian nurses application. Luckily we were not putting to much stock in the option in the first place so no harm no foul there. Moving on to look for work here.