Seeing as I was feeling better...still not 100 percent though, Katie and I went to Mexico in the afternoon. We wanted to give the family a treat that they normally don't get, so we went to Kentucky fried chicken, and got a big bucket and some sides. We wanted them to have some left over. They had little packets of butter and honey for the biscuits..too bad we forgot to get ketchup for the fries, as they were putting butter on the fries. Katie told them it was for the biscuits but that didn't seem to matter.
One of the big hits which we didn't expect was the cole slaw. They all liked it, even little Eric. Too bad we only bought one. Well maybe Monday we'll take them some more. I took it really easy, and only had a small tidbit sandwich and water, as my stomach is still not back to normal.
After eating we had a fun time with Erika, the girls and, Eric. We were playing a combination of basketball and soccer both inside and outside, and it was a ton of laughs. When we first got there I kept watching Livy to see how she was doing. She is still a little sick....but once the games started you could hardly tell.
Katie and I brought the girls a purse each, with a wallet, and some change and dollars. Who wants a wallet that's empty? Katie put quite a few girlie things in each purse, little containers of lip gloss, nail polish etc. They were thrilled. Karelly's has enough room for her tablet.
Then I fixed my old laptop so that Karelly could use the wifi on her tablet. The last software I used didn't work well. She is incredible, I show her something once and it is locked in. She has this great desire to learn, and is so focused on my, every move. Then she repeats it to make sure she has it right. It is the perfect definition of Demonstration Perfomance teaching with the best student.
She said she had a surprise, so off to get her report card she went. All perfect 10's and 9's across the board. I told her in English I was so proud of her, and so would her sponsor Durga be, and I could tell by the look on her face she knew exactly what I was saying.
Every year, we give the kids a 5X7 frame with one of the best pictures we took that year. Erika showed us later how she had already put them on the wall with the others, then she indicated that she wanted to fill every wall in the room with them for many years to come.
It was time to go on the house hunt now. Livario showed us a picture of a house he had found. Looked pretty good to me. It was many blocks from where they are now, over the dike, and a very bumpy road. When we got there, I was pretty impressed, considering what we had looked at before, which are basically nothing but shacks which need a lot of work.
This one had a fence and gate on the perimeter, a concrete pad in front, a very nice front door, and what almost amounted to bay windows. It was painted nicely and there were some flowers planted on one side. Typically it had rebar sticking out of the roof, which means it is not finished, so no additional taxes to be paid. We could not get in as the gate was chained. Unfortunately we did not get a picture, as we stayed in the van while Livario talked to some of the neighbors, making enqueries. It is not a good idea for Katie and I to be out looking around as the price immediatly goes up...gringos are interested.
Apparently the owner lives in the US, so the family will try to get a phone number and check on the price and the availability. It would seem the owner wants 195,133.50 pesos or about $15,000 US. Compared to some of the other things we've seen and the prices they want for almost nothing, this one had promise. It is four rooms, but with the opportunity to add on to the second floor at some point.
We continued on after that, and we showed them the vacant lot where the owner wants to sub divide. Livario already knew about this one, and said the owner wants $6,000 first and then an additonal $30,000. Hmm...forget it!
We looked around some more, and Livario showed us some more places where he said they wanted too much money. We headed toward downtown and on to the other side of the Main Street. Now we are in the so called "Centro" area, basically the centre of town. Livario told us that in this area, they want more money because it is "Centro".
Kind of strange really, many of the places are the same, or worse than others we looked at, but they are "Centro". One thing is that the streets are a bit flatter. and without quite so many ruts, but that's not all of them by any means. We looked at one really nice corner lot with a shack on it, but in the end Livario said they wanted way too much money for it.
It was getting late, and the kids were getting tired so it was time to go back home. Livy held my hand from the back of the Van most of the trip. She is such a sweetheart.
When we got back, One of Erica's good friends stopped by, and a lot of pictures were taken. Katie and I started to pack up, and Karelly said we should sleep over. We said there was no room, but she said we could sleep in her bed. What a kid! Livy was not happy we were leaving, and started to cry pretty heavily. Erika also said she didn't want us to go, and then she started to cry...another sign how close we are all getting.
This is before our last visit on Monday...I can just imagine what that is going to be like, when we finally wave goodbye for the last time this year.
One of the best things I ever did, was get a translator app called Jibbigo. The reason I picked this one is because it loads the dictionary right onto your phone or tablet, so you don't have to have internet access to make it work. You can talk into it in English and it translates it into Spanish, or you can type in English and it does the same thing....and vice versa. You can even do it ahead of time so it resides in History, and you can play back the translation whenever you want. We discovered it is better to type into it rather than speak, because speaking it just gets too many things wrong, but typing and translating seems to work really well!
Katie and I pre prepared, questions and thoughts for Livario and Erika before we went, and it worked out great during the house hunt. We told them they have to be happy with what they end up with, and do what is best for their family. We obviously won't get this resolved before we leave, but the good thing is with the computer, and how smart Karelly is, and the internet stick they now have, we can stay in touch constantly. They know we will help them!
Livario and the kids drove us to the bridge, and with tears from Livy and lots of hugs and waves, we were off. No lineup at the border as it was after 9PM.
When we got home, time to relax.
pictures later....
and so ends another great day in the valley....
and the Jets won 4-2 over Toronto...Yay!
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| The Three Amigos |
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| The Girl's Wall |
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| The Three Amigas and Eric
more later...
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