My New Project

Since this summer, I´ve been working on a new project which may or may not affect the life of this blog.  It´s been a long time in coming, and this blog has been instrumental in this new project.  Let me explain:

1. Earlier this year, we were throwing around possibilities of moving abroad.  First to Russia, then to Italy.  Mercifully, both opportunities are off the table for the time being.  However, when faced with the idea of moving to Russia, I was a bit terrified.  So I put my amazing internet skills to the test, and expat blog came through with a few Russian expats for me to glean some experience off of.  All of a sudden, Russia was a lot less scary.  If these people can do it, so can I.  
2. Over the past few years, and particularly this year, I´ve had people find my blog as they were in the process of moving to Saltillo.  I investigated a bit, and apart from wikipedia, there isn´t much information about Saltillo on the internet--less in English.  So this blog is the only source of information on Saltillo in English?  Yikes.  As most of you know from some of the randomness I post on here, that´s not leaving much for people to go on!
3. Furthermore, on my search for expats in Italy, I came across the International Women´s Club of Torino.  I investigated further and found out that there are organized groups of expat women all over the world!  For more information, click here for an example.  I thought to myself, "well, shoot--why don´t we do that here?"  

So I did.  

Having a core group of expat friends in Saltillo, and all this blogging experience from the last 5 years, I started a new site, SaltilloExpats.  The point is to present some more solid information on Saltillo (not just my take on things), and in the future I´m hoping to have a variety of people post on the site, not just myself.  After all, being married to a Mexican, I don´t have the typical expat experience.  

Then again, who does?  

But if we pool all our experiences together, that could paint a much more accurate picture of expat life in Saltillo--for all of us:  those here on business, accompanying spouses, English teachers, missionaries, those of us married to Mexicans, retirees, vagabonds . . . do we have any more expat subsets?

So if you notice that my solid posts about Saltillo seem to be disappearing, you might be right.  They´re just going to the other site.  I´ll leave my randomness and personal stories and tongue-in-cheek humor for this site.  

Thanks, Gobernator!

Every year, in October or so, we get this box of school supplies, thanks to the state government.  

I´m always left a little bewildered. 

This year´s box included blank paper, a box of crayons, an abacus, a notebook, a book, and a bilingual memory game.  Last year´s box was better assorted, including a pencil, scissors, glue, and a jar of paint.  But I do like the addition of the book this year. 

In the two years that I´ve experienced this, the teachers send the box home with us.  

They don´t ask for us to bring any of these supplies back to school.  

In the meantime, I´m spending every morning and lots of evenings of every other week making, buying ingredients for, and serving lunch for the kids at school, as a fundraiser for the PTA.  We´re hoping to build a little fence for the entrance to the school and repair some of the walls that surround the school.  

However, it seems that every other week, the principal is hit up with telephone bills.  Or the cleaning lady needs a new mop.  Or the printer needs ink.  Or someone broke into the school and we have to replace a window.  As far as I understand, the principal has very few funds to pay for these expenses, apart from the Parents´ Association.  It seems that the federal government pays for the building of the building and the teachers´ salaries.  The rest (including maintenance) is up to the parents.  And it doesn´t appear that the parents are very well informed of this, as those of us relying on the public school rally to that item in the constitution that declares that every Mexican child is entitled to a FREE, secular education.  

But who cares if the toilets flush?

So, instead of sending home thousands of boxes of vaguely useful school supplies, wouldn´t that money be better spent on giving every school a few mops and bottles of bleach every year?  Or simply let the teachers keep the school supplies, to suppliment for those students who never did bring in their list of school supplies at the beginning of the school year?  

Leaves me baffled. 

But, as my husband says, at least we´re getting something for our taxes.  After all, many of Mexico´s more famous politicians (decades ago, of course) just took our taxes and funneled them to private bank accounts in Switzerland.  

So we´re enjoying our abacus. 

But the school still needs a new mop. 

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Note to any immigration authorities who may read this:  this post is in no way a critique on any branch of the Mexican government, merely passing observations.  

  

Day of the Dead 2014

Both Halloween and Day of the Dead are popular around here and, understandably, the holidays all run together, more or less.  Being part gringo, we trick-or-treat with all the pagans in town (despite being chastized by my husband, the catechism teacher, the little-old-lady Catholic neighbors, younger protestant friends across town . . . sheesh!  It seems that anti-Halloween fervor is one of the few things that both Catholics and Protestants can agree on in Mexico).  But I´ve got new friends who also celebrate Halloween, so we had a great time!

However, in order to preserve traditional Mexican culture, the teachers at school asked that the kids dressed up as catrinas on the last day of October.  They´re the traditional, well-dressed skeletons created by José Guadalupe Posada and popularized by Diego Rivera. I support that honoring of culture. So we dressed as catrinas.  But the kids were joined by plenty of witches, Draculas, zombies, and even a boy wizard.  

The parents were invited to a Day of the Dead Open House at school.  We showed up early, during recess, and Joey was a bit frightened of all the other catrinas running around the school patio.  He clearly didn´t get a good look at his own face!  

Each class displayed Day of the Dead artifacts:  Clara´s decorated skeleton masks, Joey´s class collaborated to make a full-size altar, the students in another class brought in mini-altars, and the last class clothed little catrina paper dolls.

Halloween night, Joey was much happier to be Zorro from Dora, instead of his scary-catrin self from the day before.