Pues ahora estamos en Mexico

It happened. We made it to Mexico. After months of having no idea when we would be allowed to move on to our next post, suddenly it happened. It came down pretty close to the wire. I think we found out about a week before going that all the Is were dotted and all the Ts were crossed, and we would really get to go.

2020 is an incredibly memorable year. We were evacuated. We had the opportunity to live with my parents and my in-laws for longer than we had ever been with them for years. It was the first time to visit the US and not see a single friend. I am grateful for the time we had with family though. It has been a year of waking up to a heightened understanding of racism. It has been a very divided political race. It has been a year of not getting to see smiles and not getting to receive hugs. It's been quite a year. We began it in Gabon, spent the middle in America, and now we'll end it in Mexico.

Off we go! One purse, one suitcase, two cats, 

five backpacks, six humans, and twelve rolling duffle bags

We had a lovely direct flight from Detroit to Mexico City. Delta kept its promise and every middle seat was left empty between strangers. (As a family, we still got to sit next to each other.) The flight was definitely not full. My kids are pretty used to wearing masks, so it wasn't an issue to wear them for all of the travel time.

Our house was not ready for us yet, so we stayed in a hotel for the first week. It was interesting to spend some time in a different part of town than where we now live, to see more of the city. As soon as we arrived, a family from the Embassy showed up and dropped off a homemade meal. It was a delightful welcome.

Yum flautas!

We were moved into our house, and it's pretty much a big, empty house. Conveniently it comes with basic furniture and necessities, so we had beds to sleep in and tables to eat on. It is a very rounded house and even has some rounded furniture, so that has been interesting to try and rearrange. I am not sure how it will all end up being configured. We have a loooooooong wait until our stuff comes, so I'll have plenty of time to think about where I want things. Just picture a very white, very concrete and tile house. We do have our own backyard with real grass. That's a first for us with Foreign Service housing. We have been thrilled to discover an orange tree, mandarin tree, and two lemon trees. I'm still not convinced those things will ripen into mandarins though. I think they resemble limes. We'll see. I can confidently say we have four citrus trees. We now live in an active earthquake zone, close enough to active volcanoes that we can be affected by ash fall, on the edge of a canyon, and in an area with pretty bad pollution some parts of the year. How exciting!

We have really wonderful neighbors. Most of our neighbors are also US Embassy. We have been fed meals. We have been lent toys. I have been taken to the store three times. I sent out a request for more reading material for my kids, and books poured in. Every afternoon before dinner, the kids are just outside playing and running around. It would almost feel normal if they weren't wearing masks and not allowed in anyone else's houses.

Our neighborhood has a tennis court. It is covered with a fake grass. I haven't played on it yet. I'm intrigued by the turf. You can kind of get an idea of the canyon we live on by looking past the court.

There are so many kids in this neighborhood. It seems like the standard family size is four kids, and the vast majority of them are boys! It is fun to live somewhere where things like random soccer games happen.

Today was the kids' first day of school. At the end, Jeff asked me how it went. I said, "well, we all survived." And he responded, "that means tomorrow you'll thrive!" I hope his prognostication proves to be true. Spanish is going to be more difficult for the kids than we expected when choosing a bilingual school. We had no idea there would be a pandemic and our kids would end up doing distant learning. I hope it doesn't take them too long to pick it up. Each kid had three Zoom calls today: two in Spanish and one in English.

I wonder how long we'll be doing distant learning?

Gordon: kindergarten; Alice: second grade; Daniel: fourth grade; Jill: sixth grade.

Sixth grade is the last year of elementary here, so Jill is not in middle school quite yet.

I still cried today missing Gabon, but here we are in an amazing city with kind neighbors and a well prepared school, so I truly have a lot to be grateful for, and that does comfort my heart.