another day at the dentist . . .

and the first thing he said was "vamos a trabajar sin anestesia hoy" (we're going to work without anesthesia today)

Ayeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!!!!!

It's Over!!

And I'm pretty darn happy. After much anxiety and stress, I gave the presentation today that I had been asked to give and had been working on. May not seem so stressful, and wouldn't have been if it hadn't been in spanish. But I've discovered a few helpful hints to get through a presentation in a foreign language:

First, make a cute handout. I know, I know, pretty lame, but it's a nice distraction for them to play with while you're giving your presentation. They hardly notice that you're slaughtering their language. Mine was laminated cards for each age with corresponding milestones, which cost me a hefty $800.00 pesos at Office Depot, but was worth every penny (I mean peso.)

It also helps (in Mexico) to start on time. The advantage - nobody will be there. Yep, I started exactly at 8 am and had an audience of only two physicians, so I felt pretty relaxed. By the time I finished, there was a crowd behind me, but I hadn't turned around, so I didn't even realize they were there.

Another help is using a "visual aid." (No, you don't have to be an elementary school teacher to pull this off.) I used a doll to demonstrate the "reflujos infantiles" or infantile reflexes. Because you're actually demonstrating, you don't need to use as many fancy words to explain, so trust me, it's much clearer for everyone.

mom-the-brave-bomb

Why the "brave," you ask? Because I just returned from seeing a dentist in Mexico City. Of all the things I've done here, this has to be the most scary for me. I don't like to go to the dentist in the first place, but here - well let's just say it's a lot scarier. Actually, the office was very nice, he seemed very competent (actually recommended by another dentist from the US) and the procedure was relatively pain-free. The price for his competence - a mere $8,900.00 (in pesos, of course.) Let's just hope I don't need another crown while I'm here.

Rennovation

Last week's rennovation project - painting the TV room downstairs. The harpdogs picked the colors and it turned out fabulous! The pictures don't do it justice so I'm not posting them. It's warm and homey.

This week's rennovation project - dad-the-bad's bike. It has a few minor scrapes and he is searching for fingernail polish to repair them. So if you find any royal blue nail polish, buy some for dad-the-bad. You will be compensated.

Propositos para Michael (Dad-the-bad's New Year's Resolutions)

Inspired by Brianna

1. Give mom-the-bomb a foot rub each night with peppermint-scented foot lotion, after soaking them in warm peppermint foot soak and gently patting them dry.
2. Insist on mom-the-bomb visiting her kids/grandkids at least every other month.
3. Encourage her to take everyone out to dinner while she's there, on your credit card.
4. Tutor mom-the-bomb in spanish without ever hurting her feelings.
5. Complete all assigned tasks in a timely manner. * (One year is not timely.)
6. Appreciate mom-the-bomb completing all tasks you have delegated to her and Claudia.
7. Stay awake for the entire three hours of church a minimum of one time this year. (We'll try for two times in 2010.)

Thanks, Brianna. This was fun. Now dad-the-bad can turn the tables and write mine.

*Actually, I have to admit, he's got a good start on this one. We painted the family room downstairs and he didn't stop until the job was complete and pictures rehung. And I finally have the door that I've been nagging him to get for the past year.

Chapter 5

The famous pyramids of Teotihuacan

Sadly, (for us) we made this adventure without Poodle. We dropped her off at the airport and headed for the archeological site.

We spent most of the day learning about the ancient civilization of Teotihuacan - truly one of the great master-planned communities of all time!

Lindsey and Brandon on top of the world - actually the Pyramid of the Sun!

We ate lunch in this restaurant - inside a cave created by a volcano.

We also found some sites we had never visited - with some amazing wall paintings!

As you can see, we had a wonderful Christmas! Thanks, Poodle, Shady, and Harper for sharing your Christmas vacation with us. I will always treasure the memories.

We missed the rest of our family!! Maybe another time.

Chapter 4

Valle de Bravo - butterfly sanctuary

Our next trip took us to a beautiful spot in the hills of Mexico where millions of butterflies migrate every year from the Great Lakes. It is interesting that the butterflies that arrive are never the same ones who left Canada. During the duration of the round trip, the butterflies go through eight life cycles. They make four stops each way. At each stop, the females lay eggs, the males die, and the butterflies hatch and migrate to the next stop. Amazingly, they instinctively know where to go. Every year they arrive in the hills surrounding Valle de Bravo - in the exact same spot.

The butterflies are hard to see, but they are so thick on the trees they look like leaves. The branches bow in their weight.

After hiking to see the butterflies, we drove to Valle de Bravo, a popular resort with Mexicans.

We ate lunch at a "floating restaurant" and dad-the-bad and the Harpers practiced their photography skills.

Chapter 3

Zocolo and Chapultapec Castle

Every city in Mexico has a "zocolo" or a main square near downtown. Most of them are flanked with a large spanish church or cathedral. During "Navidad" the zocolo in Mexico City is amazing! You can ice skate (for free), tube down a hill of snow (manufactured, of course,) or build a snowman!

We visited the Palacio Nacional, which hosts a plethora of Diego Rivera murals,

and Templo Mayor, the site where the Aztec were inspired to build Mexico City. They saw an eagle holding a snake in his beak on a cactus, which was the "this is the place" sign. Never mind that it was on a lake. Small detail to overcome.

Next, we made a stop at Chapultapec Castle. Chapultapec is Nauhatl for "hill of grasshoppers." It was the presidential palace for many years, first built by the very arrogant Maximillian, sent by the French government.

Chapter 2

We stayed home (for the most part) on Christmas Day, opening presents and eating. The missionaries joined us for some ham, funeral potatoes, and pretend green bean casserole (actually, we used nopales, or cactus because cut into strips they look like green beans) Being from Utah and California, both of the missionaries enjoyed the funeral potatoes more than anything.

Thanks to Poodle, I received more gifts from dad-the-bad than I have in our collective 32 years of Christmases together. Thanks, Poodle! And thanks, sweetie!

As dad-the-bad mentioned, we also visited the refugio and women's shelter. (see his blog for details)

Christmas recap

We had a great Christmas this year. Highlights . . .

Chapter 1 - Puebla/Cholula

Puebla is a charming city in Mexico that was the site of the famous Battle of Puebla, where on the 5th of May, 6,000 French soldiers were defeated by 2,000 Mexicans defending their city. Truth be known, the only reason the French were defeated was that most of the soldiers were debilitated with "montezuma's revenge" and unable to maintain their stronghold. Because the city was re-captured only nine months later, the Mexicans really don't celebrate "Cinco de Mayo", but that doesn't stop most Americans from using it as an excuse to get drunk.





This picture is taken on the hill where the Spanish built a church after conquering the city - now the small town of Cholula near Puebla. The church was built on top what is known as the largest pyramid in the world. In reality, however, there are several pyramids buried under this church, not one, combined they would be the largest pyramid in the world. In the top picture to the left you should be able to see Popo, (Popocatépetl) one of the most famous volcanoes in the world.
After seeing the sights in Cholula and spending the night in Puebla we took a side trip to "Lago Arco iris" or "rainbow lake" on the way home. Actually it was more of a large pond than a lake, but that didn't stop us from having fun. They have horseback riding, a zipline over the lake (closed on weekdays), hiking trails, dirt bikes, and trout fishing. We bought some trout for dinner that night.


Arco iris Lake and Poodle on horseback. The site was almost as pretty as our girls.

...and a Happy New Year!

Welcome 2009! May you all have a wonderful year. What are your expectations for 2009?

Merry Christmas 2008

Merry Christmas from Mexico City! We've had a great Christmas. The best part has been having some of the kids here. We miss the rest of our family!

Christmas Party

We had our annual Christmas party for church this friday. The entire ward was involved in the preparations. They really know how to party!

First, one of the missionaries played Christmas carrols on his sax - including Ryan's favorite - "Let it snow."

Next was the Pastorale, or Nativity - Mary and Joseph along with angels , shepherds and plenty of animals.

Here are the animals making their entrance -

and a very pensive pastore (shepherd) . . .

then reyes magos (three kings) huddled with a little oveja (sheep).

The young women performed a Thai Christmas dance . . .

and the kids broke open the biggest piñata I've ever seen!

We had a blast!

Question

What do the following items have in common?
elbow macaroni
canned tuna
bottle of rum
bottle of tequila
bottle of wine
bottle of vodka
bottle of brandy
can of peaches

There is a prize for the correct answer to this one.

Institute

Our last day to teach Institute was this week. We had a great semester with some outstanding students:

To celebrate we had dinner at Tacos Leo. Fabulous tacos!

We're going to miss the students.

So cute!

I think everyone has to agree that this picture would win a photo contest. Unfortunately, I don't know of one.

for Bex . . .

more pictures of snow in Texas . . .

Remember how much fun we had using our trash can lids for snow saucers?

Anyone know what year this was?

Is it me . . .?

Today dad-the-bad brought home a gift box for me from one of his clients - fancy moisturizing creams and soaps from Guinot. Does it say something about me that I was more excited about the giant gum balls in the bottom of the crate than the designer contents?

First Day

Today was my first day riding in the "clinica movil" or mobile clinic for those who are linguistically challenged. Professionally speaking, it has to rank as one of the the best days I've had in Mexico City. We drive a huge bus equipped with two exam rooms and a dentist chair to very poor sections of the city. There we park the bus and see patients all day - and most of them are little kids. They stand out in the cold waiting for hours to be seen.

Not right or wrong - just different

This weekend was the long-anticipated Stake High Priest dinner dance for which we (through our assignment on the High Council ) were responsible. It highlighted some of the cultural differences that I have discovered since moving here.

Some of the highlights:

• When I stopped at Costco to pick up my cakes that I had ordered, they were not decorated. I had written instructions on the form to write "Feliz Navidad" in green and red, which I thought was pretty simple (and I wrote it in spanish) They explained that I had to pick a number of an example they had in their book and write the number in the little box. Apparently, they don't think outside that little box.
• No refrigerator in the kitchen at the Stake Center - making it a little tricky to prepare dinner for 200 people.
• We were told to expect 200 people - approximately 50-60 showed up.
• The event was scheduled to start at 7pm, with a short fireside by the Stake Presidency, then dinner at 8pm.
• Since the Stake President didn't arrive until 9pm, and we were the only ones there at 7, we finally started at about 8:30 and dad-the-bad conducted, gave an impromptu talk, and led the music.
• The tacos we ordered (700 of them) arrived 2 hours late.
• Trying to track down the tacos, dad-the-bad called probably twenty times and was always told they were "very close" and had left more than an hour or two ago. Apparently they came by way of Acapulco.
• In spite of the chaos, everyone had a GREAT time!
• They taught me some line dances, and I actually can do them.
• When it was over (midnight) everyone stayed to clean up - they mopped, boxed, swept, and even insisted on following me home to help me unload.
• And nobody complained. (not even me - well maybe a little about the tacos not showing up on time)