amigos.

"Each friend represents a world in us, a world possibly not born until they arrive, and it is only by this meeting that a new world is born."

-Anais Nin

I have been truly blessed with the most amazing friends. It is through friendships that have allowed for me to learn. Grow. Understand. Sympathize. Vent. Laugh. Cry. Nothing can replace the ones I consider my best friends for sure. I love these people. I miss these people. 

Coming to another country has provided a whole new experience. I have always enjoyed meeting new people and making new friends. I love learning about different people and their life. But learning all these things with a language barrier has been somewhat challenging. I have never been afraid to approach anyone...until I came here. But I learned fast that if I wanted to make friends, friends that were Mexican that is,  I was going to have to get over it. I joined the gym here and met my first friend, Paola. It was through her that I met some other people. I feel fortunate to have met these people. I enjoy them. I appreciate their patience with me and my inability to communicate efficiently. 

Also, there was another opportunity for me to meet people here that made it very easy for me. All the wives of the medical students are part of this club. And typically on Wednesdays, they all meet for lunch with the kids. It's difficult for me to attend these lunches, as they are somewhat far away from where I live and with the kids' school schedule, it's just unlikely that I can go. So I decided to host recently at my house. It was fun! It's great to be around these women. They understand exactly what I'm going through. I feel like I've been able to learn from them in different ways. 

What's hard is so many of them come and go. One of the friends I've made has made a huge impact on my short time here. She's shown me many things ranging from where to buy groceries, to where to buy jewelry, to where to get the best steak. She leaves in June. I will be sad to see her go. But I'm happy that she is done with this step and I look forward to the day that it will be me. And hopefully someone else will say that they will be sad to see me go, as I have been able to show them the ways as well. (Like where to get the best tacos and crepes :)) 

I really think as humans, we need friendships. Having any sort of companionship is uplifting. It's nice to have people really know you and love you anyway, right? Well, it is for me.

Wives lunch.

 

Me and Paola. I love this person. She is so happy. She speaks zero English but I love talking with her. Sometimes she'll just start dancing. She loves Beyonce..."Single Ladies."

This is Helena. She is beautiful. She is a children's dentist. I cannot tell you how much I love her. She speaks a little English too! She always dresses so cute at the gym and once I told her we need to go shopping and she said she buys most of her stuff in the United States and that she needs to go shopping with me!

Dinner for Paola.

All the boys. The guy second from the right is Pepe. He is like the manager at the gym and I am not exaggerating when I say that Lola LOVES him. She gives him kisses. And she reaches for him every time she sees him. And he totally reciprocates. He always tells me how beautiful her eyes are.

Stacie. Homegirl is leaving me for St. George in June. Don't know what I'm gonna do without her!

The blond girl next to Ava is Tessa. She is American, but Mexican. She's lived here most of her life. She speaks Spanish better than English. But her parents are Americans. Thank goodness for her because Ava clings to her at school.

American wives. It was Anjane's birthday so we went out to dinner. Sometimes...it's just nice to get away.. sin los ninos!! Left to right...Heather. Anjane. Verenice. me. Jen.

Friends.

My best friend. 

XO

felicidades mama.

Ava performed with her school to celebrate Mother's Day. She has been working on this for a while and has been very excited for me to go to her school and watch her do this. The last performance consisted of the whole class singing a song (in Spanish of course) to the moms. I couldn't believe it...she knew all the words! She is a smart girl and I felt very proud as I watched her.

As you can see, the theme was all 50s. The majority of the songs were taken from the movie, "Grease." I grew up watching this movie and remembering how much I loved it, I decided to pull up some of the songs on youtube to show Ava. She was so excited to hear the songs and watch them dance, etc. And mostly, I could not get over Olivia Newton-John and how freaking amazing she really looks. I mean, who can pull this off?!

 I love it.



A bit of randomness...I took these pictures of LoRo and decided she looks a lot healthier in recent weeks. Thanks to essential oils and all their goodness they can do. I am certain they are reason for Lola's turn for the better.

Bad: I must have special blood. I continue to get eaten alive by mosquitoes. J has not been bit once! Ok, I am exaggerating. It's not that bad. But I still hate them and I do get bit more than I can handle.
Good: The semester is coming closer to an end! I can't believe we have survived this long in Mexico. I can almost say...one semester down...7 more to go.

XO

Fraggle Rock.

My first daughter was born with a full head of hair. I put pig tails in her hair when she was just under a year old. When pregnant with number 2 girl, I thought for sure she'd be the same. Especially since I suffered the worst heart burn with her. (You know what they say...and there was actually a study and it has been proven true, in most cases :)) However, this was not the case. My sweet Lola has feathers for hair. It will not grow. And the little amount of hair that she does have, is so blonde. The lightest of my three. The other day we were laughing at the comparison...

It's a sad story, this girl's hair. Hopefully, someday, it will grow. Until then, ROCK ON. :)

XO

just because.

Bad: It's getting so hot here. No AC is killer. We open all the windows at night and it helps, but not really. It cools down around midnight or so. And the mornings are perfect. But around 1pm is when it starts to feel warm, then around 5 or 6 is when I want to be desnudo.
Good: I found another half marathon here! Turns out, Mexicans love running. Maybe I'll find my old friend again to keep me going.