Bailey is here!

Oaxaca, Mexico

May 28th 2008

Our new puppy.  We are pretty sure we will stick with the name Bailey.

Here she is with the whole litter:  6 in all.  Ours is the only black tri.

Good:  Bailey is here!  I had meant to mention that we were planning for a puppy before she was born.  But, Rinda's job search took up the last post.  Plus Bailey was born a little early.  She is a black tri-colored miniature australian shepherd.  She was born on the 27th at 1:03.  It was great to wake up to that news.

Bad:  Have I mentioned that it is a miracle than any of us ever speak at all.  I am so humbled and humiliated  by this Spanish experience.  It actually feels as if I am moving backwards around speaking.  All the verb conjugations pile up clogging the spigot that allows speech to flow.  I was nearly in tears in class today, and I have very nice teachers.  At my best moments I remind myself that it will take time and that I need to have faith that it will come.  At my worst I figure it is all useless and I may as well give up now.  I think this is stirring up a bit of high school insecurity!

Surprising:  The new student in our spanish class is from Berkeley.  Well,  actually from Tennessee, but she is studying at Cal.  She is only here for two weeks, but it is nice to still have 4 people in our class and someone to talk about the Bay Area with.

And...Rinda's trip home was long and uneventful.  Think of her tomorrow morning.

and then there'll be three

May 25th,  2008

Oaxaca, Mexico

Good:  Rinda has a job interview.  She applied on Monday and was offered an interview of Friday. Thank goodness Gogi did not go to the Church Retreat so she was home to convey the message. Rinda had a nice conversation with the Assistant Superintendent from the district.  It is nice to feel like Rinda has a strong resume.   She really is so experienced as an administrator now.

Bad:  It is an in person interview!  Rinda is flying home on Tuesday.  Because of the uncertainty of timing, she has an open ticket.  We hope she will be back in 10 days or so.

Surprising: I am a little nervous to be here on our own.  I am sure it will be fine, just more tiring to be the one communicating with the world.  I am glad the the school work will be finished, in'shaallah.   We will all have to step up a little more to do Rinda's jobs while she is gone.  

nearly at the finish line...

May 23, 2008

Oaxaca, Mexico

Pictures:  Hector and Veronica, our spanish teachers-evidence of Spanish class for Kalin's school, and the view from the rooftop classroom at our school.

Good:  Three more days until we mail the school work to Berkeley.

Bad:  Three more days until we mail the school work to Berkeley.

Surprising:  Only three more days until we mail the school work back to Berkeley.

Okay, not really surprising!  We have given ourselves a deadline of May 26th.  That way the teachers will have the work by June 1st.  Kalin has been working for hours every afternoon to get her stuff finished.  And that is after a morning full of Spanish classes. We are all a bit frazzled- with tensions running higher than ever before.

We have decided to move to a new apartment on June 1st.  Our niece/cousin is coming for the last three weeks of our time here.  We decided that a three bedroom apartment (rather than a studio with a loft) for $200 less a month was a wise decision for family harmony.  It is a more residential area, but we can still walk to the Zocalo, stores and restaurants.

And how is Spanish going?  Well, I am humbled.  Really I find it amazing that any of us speaks at all.  It sure demonstrates how amazing it is that humans developed language.  We like our school a lot.  One of the teachers in particular does a great job of balancing all of our temperaments, skills, and levels.  With two weeks down and four to go, I find it hard to believe we will be speaking much Spanish by the time we leave.  But we did learn a joke today-that I am not going to post.   If you speak Spanish, ask me to tell it to you when we get home.  Then I can practice at least a little bit of Español (did you know they capitalize that now!?).  

Rain, rain, rain

May 19th, 2008

Oaxaca, Mexico

Good:  Rain.

Bad:  Rain.

Surprising:  Rain.

It has been raining in the afternoons and into the evening.  Torrential down pours.  Walk-through-a-foot-of-water-puddles rain.  It is great because it cools things off.  It is bad because we get soaking, and I mean soaking, wet.  Surprising because many people stand around inside waiting for it to end.  Two days ago I waited with folks at the grocery store, all of us lined up in a queue, under an overhang.  After about 20 minutes I got tired of waiting.  I reminded myself that I voluntarily step into this very substance nearly every day, that I would not melt, and that I would only look a little foolish slogging through the downpour.  Last night we all got caught (see photo).  You may ask yourself-do they have rain gear?  Well...we did bring rain jackets, but they just do not provide full protection with this sort of rain, so we have not bothered to pull them out.  We may have to invest in umbrellas if this keeps up.

Much to Celebrate!

Hola!

Today there are many things to celebrate in the Ibrahim-Bartley family, in Mexico, and in the U.S.  For the family, we are very happy that both Maya and Kalin have completed their math curriculum for the year!  Both are finishing up odds and ends now, but the heaviest courses are mostly finished.  Whew!  They both did well, but there were many times when we all longed for Berkeley High and Willard and their wonderful teachers!  Congratulations to Laila, too, who was the math teacher for both of them.

Speaking of teachers, today (May 15) was national Day of the Teacher in Mexico.  In the U.S. we give teachers cards and flowers and maybe lunch or a mug.  In Mexico it is a much bigger deal.  I haven't read up on it yet, but the unrest here two years ago which resulted in rioting and very violent police action was in part a response to political action and eventually a 6-month strike by public school teachers.  Each year since then the city has geared up for the day with HUGE squads of police in riot gear, helmets and rifles and bullet-proof vests riding through the streets in open trucks and occupying the zocalo and church squares.  This year the day also coincided with a big election at one of the major universities for its president - also a very big political deal.  I think the teacher day has become symbolic of all labor unrest in the country.  There was lots of graffiti with revolutionary slogans and images.  It was scary,  I must say, as the police presence and the graffiti increased throughout the week.  Our school had us start 90 minutes early today to finish by noon just in case we couldn't get there because of the marches.  Our street was on the march route - 20,000 teachers participated!  I've included a not very good picture of some of them.  The state department warned U.S. citizens not to join in any marches, but I was with those thousands of teachers in spirit.

Finally, we are celebrating the California Supreme Court decision handed down today which says that it is unconstitutional to deny same-sex partners the right to a marriage license and the rights and responsibilities that go with it!  Laila and I are sorry not to be home to join the celebrations!  We know that this is far from the end of the battle, but what a huge step!  Its ironic that Kalin turned in her research paper on the history of the legal battle for marriage equality only last week!  What a hopeful addition this would have been!

I had to add the last picture of K, M and L on the couch studying.  On one side, Laila was helping Maya with her Spanish homework.  On the other she was helping Kalin with her Health Curriculum, labeling the various male and female sex organs in great detail.  Oh the richness of life!

Mothers' Day!

Mothers Day was celebrated here in Mexico on Saturday, yesterday.  Turns out it's a very lively holiday, with 12 hours of live, very amplified music from the church plaza across the street.  It was lovely until the last two hours, from 10 - 12 p.m.  The previous night there were a lot of fire works shot off from very nearby, so nearby that we ran inside from the patio, screaming and terrified, thinking that shrapnel was heading our way.  Mothers are very important here, and any excuse for a celebration is seized upon!

Laila and I woke up this morning to a banner and two very sweet cards, as well as breakfast cooked by Maya.  We feel like very lucky moms!  Really, both girls have done so well with everything that has been asked of them on this trip.  There have been many uncomfortable moments both physically and emotionally, right along with the great stuff.  And each of them has handled it with all the grace and honesty available to them.  Even at the hardest of times, their ability to recover has been the most important thing.  This time has brought us all even closer than we were before.  I know this is such precious time, poised as it is on the edge of their growing up and away.  Once again, we are very lucky moms!

Also pictured:  Kalin's improvised office arrangement for finishing her research paper. Necessity is really the mother of invention.  The paper is finished and handed in!  Maya also finished the first draft of her paper on world religions.  We're getting there!

Language school starts tomorrow and we're excited!!

homework, homework, homework

Oaxaca, Mexico

May 9th, 2008

Pictures:  Maya doing her last page of math homework!  The apartment.  Maya eating a candied apple that she purchased by herself using her new found Spanish.

Good:  We are making excellent progress on homework.  Kalin is working on a paper on 'social change' for Social Studies.   She chose "Marriage Equality" as her topic.  It is at once hopeful and horrible to review and research the struggles.  We are having our first experience figuring out how to cite websites (Web sites according to MLA).   It was intimidating at first, but then I reminded myself that this is a 9th grade paper, not a dissertation.  

Bad:  I had a "I have to get away from these people" moment today.  So I did.  Down to the copy shop, but it did the trick.  I think I will have to build in some alone time here.  Don't know why it seems different than other places.  Maybe it is all the sitting around doing homework.  We start Spanish classes on Monday.  We are all nervous.

 Surpring:  That our Spanish phrase book includes "Lo siento, no puedo levantarla" (I can't get it up, sorry) and "No te preocupes, lo hago yo."  (Don't worry, I'll do it myself) in the 'social' section.  I trust none of us will be getting that social!

Two months

Oaxaca, Oaxaca Mexico

May 6th, 2008

Pictures:  Our apartment and the Zocalo

Good:  The apartment is adorable.  Both girls insist that we are not going anywhere.  It is a bit small and could use a few more windows for ventilation.  With the doors open it is lovely, but at night we keep them closed.   The staff does not speak English which is fabulous so we have to really use our limited Spanish.  Hopefully by the end of our time here we will be much better. We start language school on Monday the 12th.

Looks like we may stay here for the full two months.  Kalin does not even want to go to the ocean.  We may have laid down on our last new bed.  Though two of us might head to the beach for a few days in the midst of our Oaxaca time. 

The transition day was hard as usual.  Our flight was a red-eye but for only 6 hours with a 1 1/2 stop in Mexico City so we were tired when we got here.  We napped for 5 hours!  I am glad to say we managed to sleep last night.   

Bad:  See above about windows.

Surprising:  Cinco de Mayo was nothing.  We were prepared for something, but saw no sign of any recognition of the day.  Must be a holiday created by American Breweries.

Home again, nearly.

May 4th, 2008

Whittier, CA

Pictures:  Egyptian feast.  Mohammed's birthday candy-all the way from Cairo.  

Good:  It is so great to see my Dad.  He continues to do so well.  It was especially fun to cook recipes from Egypt.  Mimi's brother, Tom, and sister-in-law, Beverly, came over to enjoy the meal.  It was a very nice night.  Beverly had been to Egypt so she understood what we were talking about.  Beverly was one of my Dad's nurses in hospice last summer.  Tom and Bev's marriage was a wonderful things to come of that time!

Bad:  The room the girls have to share it very small with no storage space.  They mostly do great, but things flared up this morning.  To top it off, Mimi's computer is in their room so they have an intruder multiple times a day.

Kalin adds that it is 'bad' that she had to watch 'Boys don't cry' for school work.  It was very intense and sad.

Surprising: How quickly the time flies!  Tonight we leave for Oaxaca.  Can't say that I am looking forward to a midnight flight.  Two months in one place will be nice.

Good-bye Roma

April 30th, 2008 ( I am back dating for my own record)

Rome, Italy 

Pictures:  Three coins in a fountain (Trevi) and St. Peter's Basilica

Good:  We had a great last day here.  Maya, Rinda and I went on a sight seeing binge.  Kalin wisely chose to stay home.  St. Peter's Basilica, Trevi Fountain, Spanish Steps.  It was a lot to cram in, and a lot of fun.  St. Peter's was amazing and excessive at the same time.  We could see how such a creation might contribute to the Reformation.

Bad:  We do not have our tickets confirmed to LAX!!  When we got to Frankfurt, I left Rinda, Kalin and Maya at the terminal while I made my way to the Air India desk.  After I wandered away I realized that since I had their passports they would be unable to get to where we needed to go.  This might be a mistake.  Well, I'd just go fast.  Wow-what a big airport.  I had no idea they could be so big.  At the Air India desk they confirm we are set at United.  Hooray-this will be easy.  Uh, oh-United has no record of us.  And the flight is over sold.  By a lot!  Back to Air India.  "Oh, that cannot be.  They confirmed you are on the flight."  Back to United.  Well,  we will put you on stand by, but don't hold your breath."  Rush back to Kalin, Maya and Rinda.  but where did I leave them.  Wasn't it terminal A.  But there is no food court in 'A'.  Panic!! We are running out of time.  And we are on stand by.  We have to be there if they call our name.  Try to get help from security.  They are no help.  Dash back to terminal "B".  FInd them.  Dash back to terminal "A".  Wait in line at Gate 65.  Wait over here to see if we are called.  Say a prayer to the Goddess of the Air....Yes!  They called our name.  Hooray we made it.  Weird seats, not sitting together, but we are on our way to LA.  If you ever fly in Europe, it helps to know that flights between EU countries are 'domestic'.  That detail would have helped me to understand how they could be in the domestic terminal when we had flown in from Rome.

Surprising:  How amusing it can be looking for a wireless connection on the streets of Rome.  We were desperate to call our travel agent to get her to work on our flight to LAX.  Internet was down in our apartment-once again!  The internet cafe would not let us turn up the volume to use the skype that was loaded on their computer ( I nearly lost it!!!).  So we ended up wandering up and down the streets, looking for an unlocked network.  We finally found one, around the corner from an outdoor restaurant.  It must have been quite a sight-me yelling into

this very large 'cell phone'.   We took a picture to commemorate the moment (too bad it was on the other computer).  It was a great trip event-the low of my near temper tantrum at the internet cafe to our peels of laughter.