Walking.

Out of the house.

Down the street.

Right at the convenience store. 

Left at big store that sells fancy art-things and furniture.

Across the big green bridge over the libramiento.

Past the aquarium-pet store, the hardware store, the dry-cleaners, two tire shops, and a house that sells used furniture. 

(Also, past probably a half-dozen in-house restaurants and beauty salons.)

Right at the corner with the tiger painted on the wall.

And one more block until I am on the steps in front of NOE.

Things About Mexico #4

The Garage-Patio.
I referenced this in a prior entry. (See "The Coolest Thing.")
And this is what I mean:

Daytime

Nighttime

This is my Classroom.

out of the window

out of the window (at night during a rainstorm)

By the Numbers.

3

The level of secondary-school English that I teach.

4

Number of English classes I teach each day
(on lunes, miercoles, y viernes).
(That is, Monday, Wednesday, and Friday.)

43
Students that are MINE for theses classes.

(Averaging 10 in each class.)

30
Approximate number of other students I interact with in the "homework help" and "conversation" classes

(on martes y jueves). (Or, Tuesday and Thursday.)

2.5

Nights each week when there is an extra event.

(Monday night is Bible study and Friday night is youth group. 
The ".5" is for Tuesday, which is movie night, 

but I only count this as half, because I only go half the time.)

Things about Mexico #2 and #3

El Agua. (The Water.)
Don't drink it. At least, not out of the tap.
(Unless you want to meet Montezuma.)
This goes for travelers and for locals.
Everyone drinks water out of garrafones.
(Does anyone know the word in English? I don't...)
It didn't take that long for me to get used to.
And then again, thinking about life in the States, flushing our toilets with clean drinking water seems rather ridiculous...


And the photo above may be a little deceiving, because #3:

with Kristen and Celene

Los Pantalones. (Pants.)
The sun is out. As an Oregonian, this is a sure sign to bust out the shorts and flip flops.
But here, we wear pants. That's just the way it is.
Shorts are worn at home or for sports or on weekends. And some other times, too.
But most often, we wear pants.

(Ha! If you didn't read the whole thing, and only that last line, it's kind of funny out of context!)

From the First Day of School.

(From September 22.)

First-day-of-school-standing-next-to-a-tree photo.
A Ford family tradition.
It started approximately 17 years ago.
(That is, on my first day of preschool.)
Not going to stop now! : )

Two things that are different:
1. This time I'm not a student : ).
2. The tree is not of the "pine" variety...
Oh! And 3. My hair is shorter than it has ever been on the first day of school! Ha!
(Thank you, Kionna Anish.)

Things about Mexico #1.

In light of the previous post (Honesty.), it may be helpful to remember the following:

There are a TON of new things here.
Great things. Different things. Just a lot of new things. (And so much to learn!)
That makes it hard.

But, actually, the transition is going pretty great.
(Which is a win in itself! JWI/ Hume Lake folks, do you remember how I handled transitions while I was with you?! This here is a mark of visible growth. Thanks, Jesus!)

And all these words to say, I'd like to start sharing some "new things" with you.
Entonces (so), "Things about Mexico #1":

Los zapatos, por favor. (The shoes, please.)
We wear shoes here.
(Which is a funny statement, because I was told there is a stereotype that Americans-- or at least Oregonians and Californians-- don't ever wear shoes. Okay. Semi-true, right?)
But let me be more specific: we wear shoes here in the houses.
And that may not be "new" for you, depending on your familial habits or living situation.
It is definitely new for me.
At my home in Oregon we take our shoes off at the door. We even have a sign saying so.
(Oooh! Have you ever noticed it? Take a look next time...)
So here, we wear shoes : ).
(And I think it has something to do with the fact there isn't carpet in the houses...)

Honesty.

I love it here.
I really do.
Though I'm not going to pretend that this isn't hard.
Because it is.