This morning there was a parent meeting at school. Yeah, the school in which not one person speaks even a word of English—that’s the one. I like to think my Spanish has gotten pretty decent, but throw me in a room with a dozen Mexican women and I don’t stand a chance. By sending me Ali essentially threw me to the wolves.
The meeting lasted nearly two hours, during which I understood a total of five sentences. Awkward.
Anyway, the main point of the meeting appeared to be telling us the rules for both the children and the parents. Basically I think they were trying to make sure everyone was onboard and would be spending time with their kids doing their homework, and telling them to behave in class. Oh, and no wearing gold jewelry to class.
We also filled out a questionnaire/application for SEP (Secretary of Public Education). The questions showed me very clearly how different things can be for kids here in Mexico.
Part one covered basic facts of the child.
Part two covered the parents.
Part three asked for information on our house. Check those that apply: Drainage, Potable Water, Electric Lights, Telephone. Where does your water come from: River, Well, or Municipal. Do you drink boiled water or purified.
Then part four got weird. Was this child a desired pregnancy? Who in their right mind would check anything but yes to that question? Were there any complications with the birth? Was it a normal birth or c-section?
From then on it was pretty straight forward. Health info. Has your child had small pox? School info. And child info.
So it seems Ouest is officially “in the system” now.
Lowe did it—he learned how to ride the scooter. For months he’s simply picked it up and pushed it around in his attempts to be like his big sister, but a couple of days ago he finally kept one foot planted on there and pushed himself all over the house. A few hours of this and he started picking up his push foot and coasting. And then, after about two years of abuse the salt water rusted bearings took a crap and both wheels stopped spinning. Seriously, how could that timing work out? Fortunately my friend at the bike shop was able to fix us up in five minutes—Lowe is rolling again.
10 Comments on “Joining the PTA”
What would you name it?
http://homes.yahoo.com/photos/paradise-for-sale-bring-your-best-offer-slideshow/
LOL on the scooter. Similar thing happened to Camille when she decided to take over Cash’s old bike……success, photo op, then, catastrophic failure…frame broke, pedal broke….Garbajo!
Love Lowe’s tee, I want to get one of those for my husband! He has shark issues… 🙂
“Burn Milk” as a flavor…
I thought that was weird too, but then I thought, maybe it’s like caramel? So I googled it, and now I want to make these…
http://www.justapinch.com/recipes/dessert/candy/mexican-candy-leche-quemada.html
Mmmm
Love the blog. 2 questions. Can you talk about the development in language skills Ouest has achieved in this short amount of time? Does she speak spanish at home? Does she sometimes forget and talk to her brother or you guys in spanish? Second, now that she is in school, are you planning on settling down, long term in Mexico? Is school there traditionally August through May? Are you guys planning on taking off for the summer, boating somewhere? Best Wishes.
Are Pat and Ali becoming………………..domesticated?
Will they fix the boat and take off to parts unknown?
Or will Pat till the garden and plant fruit trees?
Stay tuned folks, only time will tell.
I started following when you bought the bus and before it was all fixed up, you were still on the catamaran. I also sent Ali an email telling her that ‘bump’ was going to be a boy with two pictures of her floating in water showing the shape of her belly and why he was going to be a boy. Following your family has been a pleasure. No Fear is my motto and I follow you folks because you have the same mindset, No Fear Equals No Regrets. We don’t need no stinkin’ training to do something, just get out there, screw it up and learn from it! Experience comes from making mistakes and taking changes. Big thumbs up to you two (now four) in my book. 🙂
And if I could edit that post, It’d say *taking chances*.. but anyways, keep on having fun, life is too short to not. 🙂
I had to laugh at the translation of Guanabana as exotic fruit – but it really is the MOST exotic fruit I have ever eaten, and my favorite. Of course there is no translation as it isn’t grown in the upper half of the world. The tree I had on my place in Costa Rica was especially good – those tasted like a mix of banana, pineapple, vanilla custard, and had the texture of smooth tapioca.
I liked the ice cream flavors…burned milk or guanabana, I want to taste it all!