12.31.06 Day 13, Mexico Trip 1

New Year’s was of course a bust as well. We went swimming again at Atotonilco which was fun. Levi loves to swim and is so good at sharing with other kids- toys and things like that. I am always so proud when there is a little kid screaming because they are afraid of the water and my kid is trying to either comfort him/her or jump off the deep end. We came home and had a long nap. The water and sun do that to a two year old. We then went over to Jose Luis/Rafa’s parent’s house. The outdoor courtyard there is great but that is about it. The inside, I don’t want to spend any time in there. We then went home to what I thought was the end of the day. Jose Luis and Raul came over for a little bit and when we were sitting at the table I thought I heard fireworks going off. I tried to tell Levi that was the case and Raul and Jose Luis started laughing, saying, no those are gun shots. I guess it is Mexican tradition to shoot off your pistol to bring in the New Year. They then went on to say how many people end up dead from stray bullets around this time of year. I then opted for bed- no need to get myself dead over a crazy Mexican tradition. I woke up about 45 minutes later to about 20 people sitting outside with Helio- that’s enough to make a mom crabby. I struggled all night after that to get Levi to sleep.

The bathroom stalls here are so super duper small. The Mexicans do not understand knee space. I literally have to sit on the toilet sideways in order to shut the half door when I try to use a public toilet. Mind you, there are not any toilet seats, but I think you all know that already. There is something very gross about sitting on the rim of a toilet. I guess the benefit of such a small toilet stall is you never have to guess if it is occupied, if it is- there are feet hanging out the bottom for sure.

We are supposed to start out Mexico tour tomorrow- Playa Azul, Acapulco, Puebla, D.F., I am so ready. I can’t stand sitting in Jona anymore. I have to say though, it has been nice having Jose Luis and Jodi around. We were able to talk for about an hour last night about how angry they were the whole time they were going through this immigration thing last year. Jodi said, “just think Manda, I know this means nothing now, but once he gets his papers, it is just over” I have known that but it just is such a foggy goal to aim for. You just never know when it is all going to be over. I never in a million years thought that when I married Helio and started the immigration process that it was going to be this hard. I expected it to be challenging but I did not think that the government would enforce us to be separated for over a year. That is enough to make one crabby all the time. When Helio left the driveway back in September, I guess it was better being delusional, I really thought he would be back in 4-6 months. When Levi and I return, it will only have been 2 actual months of our waiting process since his file wasn’t transferred until November. Regardless, I am going to start calling in February, which will be 4 months from his original appointment date.