Yassy baila!

Another International Day, a few weeks later. This time it was for Yassy. Ok, I have to admit the previous one for Sera was still very fresh on my mind and in fact, I was glad we weren't going to be doing much but sit and watch Yassy perform. Yes, Yassy was going on stage for the first time and as much as we were excited, we were also nervous because Yassy, shy Yassy ... perform?

Her pre-kinder campus, all 35 of them, were representing the country of Argentina and I have to say, the styling team really decked them out in lovely typical costumes and they performed so well. The youngest graders but they definitely stole the show with their genuine enthusiasm and showmanship in front of a crowd of at least 1,000. I, with all the other parents, rushed to the front of the stage to get the best view and I really couldn't wipe that fat smile on my face. I'm pretty sure I heard Sera and Johan cheering from up in the stands.

So till next year, I shall now close the chapter on International Day celebrations.

Yassy in her traditional Argentinian dress

Flag presentation

Waiting backstage

Yassy taking her cue from her teachers

Bravo!

Getting a congratulatory hug from papa

Posing with her classmate Alexa

Baile Argentino from Que Sera Sera on Vimeo.

Spring

We welcomed Spring with a bout of illness in the family. Johan was in bed for a good two days for a stomach flu and a few days later, a mild attack of food poisoning. Then last Friday, Yassy came back with a high temperature and that signaled more to come in the following days. Everybody is on the mend now, Yassy just grappling with the recovery stage of her very chesty cough. For me, I'm writing this blog with a fever and a headache. I'm hoping it'll go away this evening because it's Friday ... the husband and I are planning a movie date.

Sera, our little bull, has managed to stay immune to all the viruses around here. She has been doing well. She has really settled nicely into her new school and since three weeks ago, we signed her up for swimming lessons in a nearby school. We had good intentions and she was excited until she realised the lessons were in Spanish. Her first lesson was painful for me to watch. She cried at the start of the lesson, sucked it in for the rest of the 45 minutes and finally had a meltdown at the end of the lesson. Oh gosh, I felt so guilty. I discussed this Johan and we feel that this is just one of the things that she will have to get used to ... I mean, the reality is we are living in a Spanish speaking country. So it was her third lesson on Wednesday and I'm happy and mostly relieved to say she shed not a tear and was smiling throughout the lesson. Phew!

Entonces, que tenga bien fin de semana!

We went to Condesa last weekend. A relaxed neighbourhood with dog-loving yuppies and pretty restaurants.

Oh yes, and 'Cinderella' came to visit the kids at the playground??? Sera made Johan run after Cinderella for a photo!

We lunched at this little cafe that served fresh and organic food. Hah, a true gem indeed! The girls had a packed lunch in the park, so they hung out in front of the TV.

Yassy stayed away from school and hung out with me. Here, we're waiting for Sera's bus

Sera just before swim class. She's wearing the school's swim suit and the swim cap is a must

Kodak moments with Yassy

Yesterday, Yassy stayed away from school as she was nursing a cold. But I think she had good fun running errands with me the whole morning. Oh and photos are a must nowadays with Yassy. She wants me to capture her every important moment. Photos!!!

At Superama ... she was of course thrilled to push her own trolley and she refused my help, but instead laughed whenever she collided into shelves or people. Opps!

Before picking Sera up from the bus stop, she got herself ready

Two of us posing along the way to the bus stop

She took a photo of these flowers by the roadside

Enjoying her yoghurt while waiting for Sera

The End (ok, I don't mean to be cheeky ... but Yassy insisted I took a photo of her toosh!)

One international party

So on Saturday, we took part in International Day at Sera's school. And I mean, we were there from 10am to 7pm. We had little idea of what participation entailed but we knew beforehand that we were going to man the Dutch stand. But of course. The grounds of the school was completely transformed for the carnival. There are apparently over 50 different nationalities in the school, not sure there were that many stalls but there were plenty. There was a centre-stage where live performances by students, parents and local celebrities went on all day. And the two basketball courts were converted into an 'oh wow' play area for the younger children. So that was a snapshot of what I managed to take in when I had time off from the Dutch stand.

Well to be honest, I didn't do so much but to guard the fridge filled with expensive imported Dutch cheese - edam, gouda, old cheese (oude kaas). You see, most of the customers and there were many, were speaking rapid Spanish and I decided to make myself scarce and let the 'professionals' serve them. My important task was to store the purchased cheese for collection later. But I sneaked out every now and then, to visit the other stands with Yassy. Sera, for most of the day, hung out at centres-stage enjoying the performances.

It was close to 7 in the evening when a sudden change in the weather beckoned a coming storm. Johan and I huddled the the girls quickly and said adios to the carnival. We missed the grand finale, which was the fireworks, but ahhh, next year.

Johan giving Yassy a cuddle ... she was overwhelmed to say the least

The few Dutch walked the parade

Other nationalities really made good effort to dress up

There was an unbelievable array of food. Here we have Spanish paella

Nothing homemade at the Dutch stand but still people came for the cheese

Johan impressed me with his salesmanship

From this photo on, Sera took over the camera. Here we have an aerial view of the children's play area

For 35 pesos, we entered a little animal farm where there were little animals - bunnies, chicks, ducklings, donkeys, goats, sheep ...

Sleeping donkey

Sera took a photo of Oswaldo, her bus driver

Around Polanco

We stayed put in Polanco this weekend, and explored a little of our neighbourhood. We walked to the Museo Nacional de Antropologia, which would have kept Johan and I engrossed for half a day but courtesy of the girls, we stayed for only an hour. After seeing some odd archaeological finds of long time past, ancient Mayan tombs and the skeletons, they were ready to leave and play at the huge fountain, which is also inside the museum. Impressive.

We hung out at the park outside the Museum and we were distracted by a group of men, in their late 50s, dressed in traditional costume performing some local dance. Soon after, they started climbing this 30m steel pole, no safety net below, no fancy safety precaution whatsoever. Just their wits about them and sheer craziness. A crowd gathered quickly and after a few minutes, with a single rope tied around their waist, they 'helicoptered' head down, in a synchronized and fluid manner. This I had to say was very impressive.

Have a good week everyone!

Was intrigued by this old cash register

The huge fountain that caught their attention

This was a funny moment. The girls were going crazy chasing bubbles, courtesy of bubble lady, in front and around a wedding couple trying to capture their magical moment.

And here is the sequence of the swinging dancers ...

Midway

Almost touching the ground and Johan even worriedly comments about their heads

But just a metre from the ground, they swung their bodies upwards and stood up ... phew.

Mexico's own 'kachang puteh' stall ... not sure how Johan took over the vendedor's place?

Monarco mariposas

This weekend, we went in search of butterflies, specifically the mariposa monarcos that annual migrate southwards from North America. The vast majority migrate to the pine-oak forests of Michoacan and Mexico. So lucky us, we got to see this wonder just two hours drive from D.F. And for me, it has been a 11 year wait since I missed it the last time I was in Michoacan.

We arrived at one of the sanctuaries and together with a horde of others, we climbed rocky mountain for 45 minutes. We weren't aware of the steep climb so thank goodness there were horses for hire! Sera and Isis happily got unto a horse. Yassy went on Johan's shoulders and the rest of us struggled up (the altitude plus the very dusty path wasn't so pleasant) but when we finally got to see the monarcos ... wow, it was certainly worth it. The life span of the monarcos range from 2 to 8 weeks. So, unfortunately, there were many dying or dead monarcos that were on the ground as there were on the trees. All part of the circle of life.

We trudged down the trail but this time, Yassy also got unto the horse with Patricia. After a quick dust, we got into our cars and drove another 30 minutes to Valle de Bravo, a pretty town by a lake, that also hosts the annual world para-sailing championship. We explored the town a little before we drove back to D.F., with the girls fast asleep within minutes in the car. Enjoy the photos!

Johan had the toughest job with Yassy on his shoulders

Sera and Isis huddled together while Raquel brought them all the way up!

The monarcos nestle on the trees (look closely and you see them in clusters)

Resting peacefully on the ground

Above my head

Yassy got unto the horse for the journey down. It got so steep at one point that the guide had to carry her.

On the way to Valle de Bravo, we drove through thousands of monarcos

Monarcos on my right

Girls checking out the view of the Lake Avandaro

Lake Avandaro

Just give me 3 minutes!

How was your week? Let's say, early yesterday morning at 6.30, I was wishing it was Friday night. For some of you, it's already the weekend! Start enjoying it! It's Friday afternoon here and the girls are playing 'monsters' with each other. Now, I am simmering ... slowly detoxing from the week of manic school runs, incoherent Spanish conversations, the traveling husband, the endless mundane errands. But the traffic, the mindless tussle with the other drivers ... ahhh, sometimes it feels like I'm in a very bad computer game. I wish it was less stressful, especially so that the girls don't get a glimpse of their crazed mother during the morning rush ... and again, in the afternoon. I know, EVERYBODY has to deal with routine and the best kind would deal with it elegantly and with much acceptance. I'm still working on it ...

And I've learned yet another specifically Mexican expression, 'ahorita', which means, 'immediately or right now'. So for example, the electrician would say, "Ahorita!" and you think he means he'd be back in 5, or maybe 10 minutes. But in his mind, he actually means, tomorrow or maybe ... in 2 days, if you're lucky. I do NOT exaggerate. This week, on top of my usual mundane routine, I had to deal with a few of these 'ahorita' episodes. Give me a second while I take a deep breath! My Spanish teacher said that to live here (happily), one has to accept the way of the people. Yes, for me, coming from Singapore ... it's not easy especially when 'compromiso' here is rare and not practiced.

Ahh, but now I will cease complaining because I've finished my cup of instant coffee (actually Yassy drank half of it!). And I've decided that if I'm allowed 3 minutes of griping every now and then, I can deal with all the 'ni modos' or 'ahoritas'. Goodbye for now ... I have a 'compromiso' to take the girls to the playground ... Ahorita!

'ni modo'

There's an expression here, "ni modo", which loosely translates as 'whatever', or 'what can we do about it'. And I learned about it on the night we were supposed to move into our apartment. You see, we were looking forward to moving in on Monday but at the same time, we were almost (after inspecting the progress of the renovations and the mess leftover) certain that we couldn't. But we were hoping, really hoping. And we were ready, all packed. So am I writing this post in our apartment ... 'por supuesto que no!' (of course not!) or should I just say, resignedly, 'ni modo'?

So 'ni modo' which I don't think is actually verbally used is more like an attitude of the locals. But 'ni modo' or not, we were not pleased. Our displeasure was expressed but at the end of the day, what can we do? So we were given another day, this Thursday ... or should I say, 'ni modo'?

On a happier note, the girls visited a jardin de mariposas (butterfly garden) at Chapultepec Park, on Saturday morning. It was really nice for them though Yassy was stuck to my legs or in my arms throughout the visit.

Girls waiting for one to land on their hands

My girl with that Mr Magoo smile of hers

And in the afternoon, we still had to go shopping for the apartment ... Sera gave up and fell asleep. Yassy didn't even care that she slept on this baby seat that was attached to the trolley.