Mas

Aviva is using a lot of Spanish. She's counting everything, in Spanish, and she wants us to guess how many fingers she's holding up (and hiding). In Spanish. And she's pointing out things that are rojo, blanco, azul, amarillo, verde. AND she's saying little phrases.

She's been saying "pardoname por favor," and "con permiso, por favor," and not just to us, so she is saying it to people we pass on the sidewalk.

She likes to say she's tired, yo tengo sueno, and she asks me if I'm tengo sueno - "Yo tengo sueno. Are you tengo sueno?"

Our house, kid's camp, coffee shop where Yona hangs out

Rooftop of our house, w/Katy and Tommy

Entryway

Living room; you can see one outdoor patio

Living room - you can see entryway

August, another kid, at kids' camp

At kids' camp

Walking to camp, with pinata materials in hand

Walk to camp

Living room at our house

Living room

Living room

Aviva's doing a lot of counting in Spanish and naming colors. And she wants us to write down things so she'll remember, like the word "cabeza" and "yo tengo sueno." 

Also, there is another kid in the camp named Griffin, and Noah and I were talking about what that means. We talked about how there are animals that are pretend and don't really exist, like unicorns, dragons, monsters, and griffins. Aviva was wondering later if dogs are real, and if the world is real. (And there was a distinction for her between the world and the earth. "If the world is real, is the earth real?") 

Cafe Muss

There's my computer and my Oaxacan hot chocolate con leche

"Si" - the kids' favorite word lately

22 Julio

Today is Monday and Aviva and Noah are at their Spanish camp/school, making pinatas. We had a very eventful few days, unfortunately. Katy got sick and hurt her head, and Tommy's dad came, and the three of them left. We will miss them, and things won't be quite the same without them. It is already much quieter.

Aunt Joyce's friend Beth is here also, and the 6 of us went on Saturday to a pottery festival.

We went to Mercato Abastos first, and from there took a colectivo to Tlacalula (not to be confused with Tlalula, or the food called Tlayuda). Then, a little farther is San Marcos Tlapazola, and there was the pottery festival. There was also a performance of dancing kids:

@

  

  Noah got to try to make something with the red clay.


Then we returned to Oaxaca, in two groups. Noah and Joyce and Beth and I took a covered truck which I think was considered a colectivo but also sometimes used for animals. Noah got a big kick out of being unbuckled and in the back of a truck. I told him I wasn't worried because we weren't going fast, the roads were gravely and rough, we weren't going far, we were all together and there was another Mexican man with us, and he was close to me. When we got to Tlacalula we found Josh and Aviva and squished into a taxi again to go back to Oaxaca city.

Aviva, Tommy, Noah at
playground near our house

Just another pretty door

Our means of transportation
When we asked the price, we were
told 750 pesos per person (so it
would be 750 x 4, or $35 each).
When we said disbelievingly that
it was too much, he said okay, it
would be 30 pesos total ($1.50)

Tommy is a hand-holder

Tommy and Noah were doing
a lot of pokemon card play and
were talking about them a lot.
Aviva listened and told me
later, "megablaster E.X is
sooooo good."

This is our house

   

Our house

   

This is the hospital

   

Impromptu parade (one of many)

      

Aunt Joyce and Beth, on the bus

On the bus

   

This was the typical dress in the town of San Marcos
(braids with ribbons, plaid embroidered apron over
sequinned detailed fancy dress)

          

To get there and back from Oaxaca,
we took two taxis and went through
Tlacalula - Noah and I rode with
Aunt Joyce and her friend Beth in the
back of a truck

     

Walking around town

There are little cars kids can ride around

   
     

Aunt Joyce

      

Estamos en Oaxaca

17 Julio 2019

                        

 We are here. Our family plus Noah's friend Tommy and Tommy's mom, Katy. Also Aunt Joyce is here, as of a couple days ago. We have a lovely home and it's in a great area, really close and walkable to the zocalo and downtown center with mercados near us and lots of life. 

The three kids are with an interactive Spanish program where there are a teacher or two and they are making pinatas and cooking other things. They buy ingredients and go places and make things. And it's great because it's also childcare. So they are learning and also being taken care of. Josh is working at a shared office space and I'm in a coffee shop organizing photos and doing random projects on my computer. It's warm out and we're all wearing shorts. There are almost daily thunderstorms, with lightning and thunder. and they pass and then it's nice again. We've been going for walks in the evening and getting street food and different things. We're still getting our routine set and our groove, but so far it's all good. Tommy and Noah and Aviva are happy albeit way too energetic and enthusiastic. 

Fernanda cleans our house 3 times a week and cooked us dinner last night. She spent 4 hours making chilequiles with fried tortillas, tomatillo sauce, crumbled Oaxaca quesillo, and fresh sour cream. We had papaya and fried plantains for dessert. There are loud firecrackers at all random times of the day and night. Cockroaches are abundant (on the streets and outside; not in our house) and the kids yesterday were up to 75 that they'd counted yesterday. When we're getting ready for bed, Aviva says she's "guzzausted," and asks if I'm guzzausted too. 

Our house has a roof deck and we saw lightning the other night when we were eating dinner. 

There's a little mercado a block from our house. We've been eating rambutan, papaya, mango, watermelon, plums, bananas, and a weird little berry that we thought was blueberry but it is tart and has a little pit

We were caught in an unexpected rainstorm and took refuge in a coffee shop. But Noah wanted to be out in it

Do you see what she's carrying in her bundle? 

Tiles in our entranceway

Soon we will have more visitors: Abuelita and Tia Paula and Prima Galit, 

and then Abuela Nana and Abuelo Papa!

More pictures to follow....