We walk under this orange tree just about every day and it has been fun to watch the green balls turn orange. Rocky is fascinated with it and was completely surprised that oranges come from trees. The strange thing about this is that while the mangoes taste amazing, I've yet to find a decent orange to try. On the street there are a bunch of stands that sell cut up produce and it is always watermelon, jicama, mangoes or cucumber with lime and hot sauce. Nobody seems to be selling oranges and the ones in the grocery store are often all moldy. Maybe one day soon one of these will fall off and we'll be able to get a taste of a fresh one. There is also another tree in our complex so maybe I could get Brandon to climb up there and snag a couple. I thought about trying it myself but I'm not the best of climbers even when I don't have a basketball belly.
This photo isn't the best but I thought that I needed to include it because it shows Daisy's favorite pastime. She loves to chase the pigeons. Since we don't have any toys or books or friends and she isn't really into cartoons she begs me every afternoon to go out and look for birds and cats to torment. She also likes the fountains and talks all day about eating tacos.
These are photos from Gaby's school where Brandon does all his meetings. Mostly they teach English classes there to Mexicans there but every Thursday night we take over for a little while. It is right by the Temple of the Cross which is in that photo and there are some great views from the roof.
Brandon took Rocky to school with him on Friday so Daisy and I had the morning to ourselves. We went to the park and had some good bonding time on the tire swing.
The park has a track that goes around it and there were several people running laps. I am always partly envious because I have been missing my running and also feel a lot of sympathy for them because of the heat. I just sit on the bench and sweat my tail off while I try to move as little as possible. Despite the temperature the runners are almost always wearing sweatsuits with long pants, sleeves and hoods. It must be a cultural thing because when I first saw someone doing it I thought that he must be a boxer or a wrestler that was trying to make weight. But, over the weeks that we have been here almost every single person I've seen out exercising has been clothed from head to toe.
This is the vivir mejor (live better) logo that was made into a climbing toy. The new park is fun but it is kind of a little bit trying for a parent because there isn't anything that the kids can do on their own. All the toys are just dangerous enough that you have to be right there with them. Luckily Daisy is too short to climb to any but the bottom rungs so I could sit my lazy behind on the bench for a few minutes while she tried her best.
She also got her workout in. Earlier I was making fun of the low impact equipment on the adult side of the park but when I tried it out I realized that some of them are really good machines. After about 5 minutes I was pooped. I think it is a cool idea to have cross training options available at the park. Daisy had a little more endurance.
From what I am told, Rocky had a great time with her her dad. The highlight was when they bought some cookies out of the vending machine which, knowing Brandon, really was a novelty for her. They also saw some cool bugs.
Brandon has been super busy with the job aspect of being here. Sometimes I get so caught up in enjoying Mexico that I forget that the real reason that we even get to be here is to take care of the students. He has had his hands full the last couple of days. Almost everyone has been sick and he has spent the whole week at the school's clinic and making trips back and forth to the pharmacy. On Friday night one girl and one guy were on their way home when they were robbed at knife point and the guy got "stabbed" with the knife. Fortunately, the wound was more like a poke, but they still had to take him to the doctor to get checked out. Another girl lost her credit card and another lost a bag with a bunch of cash in it. He's also had to get out of bed to track down a few students who hadn't checked in with their señoras and were out late.
We have been lucky because up till now there have been very few troubles. He is worried because since for the most part this is such a safe place it has lulled us all into a sense of security that has led everyone to forget to be cautious. We've only got one week left so hopefully there aren't any more troubles. Hopefully this experience will prepare him for being the father of a bunch of teenage girls.
I personally still feel completely safe because we've got our kids with us and it seems like everyone really is respectful about children. We are also always safe at home by 10 P.M. and the creepers don't come out until later.
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