It is 8:30 a.m. and the kids are playing the pool with Jorge, who knows Oscar’s name but he cannot remember Matthias’ so he calls him “amigo”. There are no language barriers when you are jumping in the pool.
I had a “bank” morning again to get some money to pay for the car; everything is in cash and in dollars! Viva los pesos!
In the late afternoon, we chilled out a little, Oscar had a bit of fever, but around six, everything went back to normal again. We decide to do a little trip to Sam’s club (since we are in Mexico, I think we’ve been going food shopping every other day). It is incredible; the only difference between trips at Sam’s Club and Cotsco is that my friend Elin is not there with (and she is also a Costco aficionado). Even the food is organized in the same way, and I found the same prosciutto of the same brand…it feels very exotic!
At Sam’s Club, I also like to buy the grilled chicken that I always snubbed at Costco, since I discovered that the kids like it, so an evening without cooking feels good to me.
On the way back, we stopped to see if there were any “For Rent” signs in our favorite block of houses, which is close to our present home. Actually there was one, so we called the number and 20 minutes later, we went to see the house.
We liked it, it felt more like a real home and there are a lot of kids around so M & O will have friends to play with after school. In Playa, you do not organize playdates as in the States, you play with the kids in your neighborhood so you better make sure than there are actually some around.
There is a little guest room downstairs with a mini private bathroom; we will make it cozy for you all!
Also, the house is cable-ready, so we can have broadband Internet and feel connected to the world again….
Our new landlord is Raul and lives in Mexico City. I guess it corresponds to what a New Yorker is to United States. He has an iPod, he is cool in an urban type of way, but the difference with your average neurotic New Yorker is that he is very pleasant and relaxed.
Monday, July 10, 2006
Sunday, July 09, 2006
Italy won!
Back in the pool, the kids are now definitely swimming. They made a new friend: Jorge. He is a real sweet kid, the cousin of the brother of the French teacher who lives close by (are you following?).
Jorge is 7 years old, he lives in Mexico City but he is here on vacation. He likes soccer and he was hoping Italy will win, so he is also my friend.
We went to Vitto’s office to follow the game. Oscar was wearing the French soccer team t-shirt and Matthias the Italian one. The game was excruciating but finally Italy made it.
We took a walk on the Quinta half an hour later and the Italian supporters were still hugging each other.
Vito’s wife, Juliet, told us about this other area called Campestre a little further away than Playcar where there was a big house for rent, so we went to see it. In a way, the place looks more authentic in the sense that there are Mexicans living there instead of tourists. The house was big but unfurnished. So we don’t know we are still searching!
Jorge is 7 years old, he lives in Mexico City but he is here on vacation. He likes soccer and he was hoping Italy will win, so he is also my friend.
We went to Vitto’s office to follow the game. Oscar was wearing the French soccer team t-shirt and Matthias the Italian one. The game was excruciating but finally Italy made it.
We took a walk on the Quinta half an hour later and the Italian supporters were still hugging each other.
Vito’s wife, Juliet, told us about this other area called Campestre a little further away than Playcar where there was a big house for rent, so we went to see it. In a way, the place looks more authentic in the sense that there are Mexicans living there instead of tourists. The house was big but unfurnished. So we don’t know we are still searching!
Saturday, July 08, 2006
Searching for a house
The house situation is consuming most of our energy. We have visited a few alternatives through a real estate agent, but none of them we really liked. We decided to take the bull by the horn and drove went around Playacar, writing down the phone numbers of house for rent or sale (sometimes they agree to rent yearly) but I guess we will have to visit a few real estate shops as well.
Friday, July 07, 2006
We bought a car
To live here, we will need a car to go back and forth between Playacar and Playa del Carmen, to go grocery shopping and starting next month, to take the kids to school. There is no public transportation available besides taxis that charges tourists 5 dollars for the smallest ride. Let’s face it, we’ll always be taken for tourists, thanks to my blond child.
To make a long story short, Alain bought the car (a 2004 Volkswagen Pointer) from the owner of the Internet Café where he goes every day. The guy is Israeli. Israelis, like Italians, are everywhere! Anyway, we hope to have it in the next few days, assuming Chase does not make it impossible for us to transfer money to our Mexican bank account.
In the afternoon, the kids wanted their share of “brown ice cream”, so we went to La Quinta and visited the local Hagen Daaz. Their prices are crazy: 4 dollars for a single scoop chocolate ice cream.
We also went looking for Corto Maltes, the cabanas complex where we stayed during our vacation in 1997. Well no more! They are now building 15 luxury apartments on the beach. The two French guys who owned the place at that time were complaining about the expansion of Playa, I guess it is now their turn to take advantage of it. It was a bit disappointing; we had such a good vacation there! But at the same time, it is prime real estate, so who can blame them? For consolation, the condominiums (always only three stories high) will be called Corto Maltes as well.
On the way home, I finally found the little Italian grocery store I have been hearing about. I chatted with the owner, we talked about soccer, obviously, and, as always, he enjoyed the fact I have a French husband on the eve of the WC Finals!
To make a long story short, Alain bought the car (a 2004 Volkswagen Pointer) from the owner of the Internet Café where he goes every day. The guy is Israeli. Israelis, like Italians, are everywhere! Anyway, we hope to have it in the next few days, assuming Chase does not make it impossible for us to transfer money to our Mexican bank account.
In the afternoon, the kids wanted their share of “brown ice cream”, so we went to La Quinta and visited the local Hagen Daaz. Their prices are crazy: 4 dollars for a single scoop chocolate ice cream.
We also went looking for Corto Maltes, the cabanas complex where we stayed during our vacation in 1997. Well no more! They are now building 15 luxury apartments on the beach. The two French guys who owned the place at that time were complaining about the expansion of Playa, I guess it is now their turn to take advantage of it. It was a bit disappointing; we had such a good vacation there! But at the same time, it is prime real estate, so who can blame them? For consolation, the condominiums (always only three stories high) will be called Corto Maltes as well.
On the way home, I finally found the little Italian grocery store I have been hearing about. I chatted with the owner, we talked about soccer, obviously, and, as always, he enjoyed the fact I have a French husband on the eve of the WC Finals!
Thursday, July 06, 2006
Back to the Bank
Strangely enough, I am a lot more patient here. Things take time here. It’s not a lack of efficiency or sloppiness, it’s just the way things are.
Today we went to open a bank account. The process took a good two hours. But now we have a debit card and it now feels like we are officially and financially here. We immediately made good use of the brand new debit card by going grocery shopping in one of the many superstores the city has to offer :-)
Life is hard, even in Mexico, so we needed help. We now have a cleaning lady and my status of exploitative expatriate is now complete. It costs us 200 pesos ($20) to clean the 3-story house. Alain was questioning whether we really needed a cleaning lady… I said “Hell Yeah! For 20 dollars, even if we are unemployed, we need cleaning lady!” I know that you think, and I feel totally self-conscious but it is true that we pay a cleaning lady a lot more in NY but here at least she does not have to emigrate and suffer the harsh NY winter and discrimination.
Talking about discrimination, Lorenzo was telling me that the Mexican of Hispanic (white) origin threat badly the ones of Indian origin. It seems such a rotten fate to be discriminated both inside and outside your country.
I also asked Lorenzo about my previous socio-economic concern: how come there so many superstores around? Apparently the standards of living here are pretty compared to the rest of Mexico (thanks to the booming tourist industry). A waiter can make up to $2,000 US dollars a month. Assuming he does not live on La Quinta or Playacar, rent will be cheap, and he will definitely be able to afford the goods at Walmart and Sam’s Club and a small car to carry the good back home.
Back to the pool and the kids are now swimming for about 2 meters on their own. They are really getting a kick out of it!
Today we went to open a bank account. The process took a good two hours. But now we have a debit card and it now feels like we are officially and financially here. We immediately made good use of the brand new debit card by going grocery shopping in one of the many superstores the city has to offer :-)
Life is hard, even in Mexico, so we needed help. We now have a cleaning lady and my status of exploitative expatriate is now complete. It costs us 200 pesos ($20) to clean the 3-story house. Alain was questioning whether we really needed a cleaning lady… I said “Hell Yeah! For 20 dollars, even if we are unemployed, we need cleaning lady!” I know that you think, and I feel totally self-conscious but it is true that we pay a cleaning lady a lot more in NY but here at least she does not have to emigrate and suffer the harsh NY winter and discrimination.
Talking about discrimination, Lorenzo was telling me that the Mexican of Hispanic (white) origin threat badly the ones of Indian origin. It seems such a rotten fate to be discriminated both inside and outside your country.
I also asked Lorenzo about my previous socio-economic concern: how come there so many superstores around? Apparently the standards of living here are pretty compared to the rest of Mexico (thanks to the booming tourist industry). A waiter can make up to $2,000 US dollars a month. Assuming he does not live on La Quinta or Playacar, rent will be cheap, and he will definitely be able to afford the goods at Walmart and Sam’s Club and a small car to carry the good back home.
Back to the pool and the kids are now swimming for about 2 meters on their own. They are really getting a kick out of it!
Wednesday, July 05, 2006
Finding a school... that will accept Oscar!
This morning we had to register the kids at the school. We went to the closest one, the Escuela Manuel Acosta located at the entrance of Playacar. The director was nice and professional, but unfortunately the kids had to do a test. Two teachers came to take them to separate rooms to take the test, and I was surprised that M&O left with them without saying a word. Did they finally mature into law-abiding students? Our hope was short lived. Turns out that Oscar only agreed to participate to the first 3 exercises and just wanted to flip the pages to see what’s next. Matthias was more cooperative but still borderline. In the end, the director told us they could not accept Oscar, and recommended another school with a more “liberal” approach to learning, called Papalote.
On our way to Papalote, we made a mistake and entered into another bilingual school just a few blocks away, called Yats’il. The building was beautiful, with a lot of tropical character with wooden shade and a big internal courtyard with a playground and green everywhere. Once we realized the mistake, we went to check out Papalote but I did not like it so we went back to Yats’il (which we found later, has an excellent reputation).
School starts sometimes at the end of August. The kids will wear a uniform: short sleeve polo shirt and short pants but closed shoes! I had a very good impression of the school director and her daughter, who seems to be in charge of admissions. They had lived in Paris when the daughter was in Kindergarten and their French helped my Spanish. It was a good connection. Anyway, we decided to pay monthly. You never know with my kids how things are going to turn out!!!!
We also had to renew our car rental while we are still looking to buy a used car. By the time we got home, the France-Portugal had already started.
During the game, the kids were playing in the pool and were looking at a bunch of teenagers who gave them their first taste of life at 16 years old: cigarettes, French kissing, etc. Well they could not have learnt that at the Red Hook pool because there, you are not allowed to kiss!
France beat Portugal without glory, so we will have to figure out how to watch the finals on Sunday. I hate France-Italy games because many times the French just get lucky without making too much effort like today against Portugal.
After the game, the kids wanted to practice swimming on their own, like “big boys”. Oscar was jumping into the big pool, almost touching the bottom then swimming back up to me. Matthias was going back and forward between Alain and the ladder. They were really excited about learning to swim on their own. Maybe they will not be corporate executives but they seem to have potential with physical activities.
On our way to Papalote, we made a mistake and entered into another bilingual school just a few blocks away, called Yats’il. The building was beautiful, with a lot of tropical character with wooden shade and a big internal courtyard with a playground and green everywhere. Once we realized the mistake, we went to check out Papalote but I did not like it so we went back to Yats’il (which we found later, has an excellent reputation).
School starts sometimes at the end of August. The kids will wear a uniform: short sleeve polo shirt and short pants but closed shoes! I had a very good impression of the school director and her daughter, who seems to be in charge of admissions. They had lived in Paris when the daughter was in Kindergarten and their French helped my Spanish. It was a good connection. Anyway, we decided to pay monthly. You never know with my kids how things are going to turn out!!!!
We also had to renew our car rental while we are still looking to buy a used car. By the time we got home, the France-Portugal had already started.
During the game, the kids were playing in the pool and were looking at a bunch of teenagers who gave them their first taste of life at 16 years old: cigarettes, French kissing, etc. Well they could not have learnt that at the Red Hook pool because there, you are not allowed to kiss!
France beat Portugal without glory, so we will have to figure out how to watch the finals on Sunday. I hate France-Italy games because many times the French just get lucky without making too much effort like today against Portugal.
After the game, the kids wanted to practice swimming on their own, like “big boys”. Oscar was jumping into the big pool, almost touching the bottom then swimming back up to me. Matthias was going back and forward between Alain and the ladder. They were really excited about learning to swim on their own. Maybe they will not be corporate executives but they seem to have potential with physical activities.
Tuesday, July 04, 2006
We are not BBQing
Alain went to work… which, in our Mexican lifestyle, translates to driving a couple minutes to the Internet Café and sipping coffee while uploading yesterday’s work.
While America is BBQing, we are just floating in the pool. Summer vacationers have started to arrive in our little neighborhood and unfortunately the first batch was not very pleasant. An American father and his two kids came to the pool. I said “hola” to the father who did not even acknowledge my presence so I decided to ignore him and his offspring. The little boy was just as obnoxious as his father. He said to M&O “so you *do* speak English?” and continued on ignoring them. The little girl seemed nicer and Oscar played a bit with her although, let’s face it, she was no match for his new Hispanic playmates. For the icing on the cake, here is what the kid told his father as they were leaving the pool: “Father, by the way, I wanted to thank you for taking time off to come with us to the swimming pool”. Yikes… what type of family is that? Would they thank each other for flushing the toilets?
M & O are starting to get some good colors and are looking more and more like the players in French national Soccer team (you know what I am talking about if you have seen the games). Talking about soccer, Italy just beat Germany with a spectacular game ending in 2-0. (Sorry Dirk! But imagine how your life would be difficult in a final Germany vs. France. By the way, Alain might have a problem. In fact if Italy is playing with France, he will have to watch the game at Walmart).
I will take a moment to congratulate myself and all my Italian friends for supporting Italy in these grandiose moments and for criticizing it the rest of the time. For me, who cares about soccer only on during the World Cup, I think it’s good to be patriotic for a month every four year and then be international the rest of the time.
Later on that day, we went to visit an incredible Spa and hotel just down the street from our house. The Spa is inside a Maya Pyramid style construction (a little kitsch), but the inside is very luxurious and they have all kinds of way to pamper their guests: from water therapy, to massage, and including been wrapped into chocolate. For the people who want to generate a minimum of effort they also have a gym, spinning classes and a climbing wall…but we are not going to be climbing walls, are we?
It is funny how living in New York takes away the wow effect… the guy who gave us the tour was still impressed by the place even if he works there. Meanwhile we felt we had to look a bit impressed and not let the New York “done it seen it” transpire. But hey, I was just happy to get a half hour of listening-comprehension in Spanish…
Back at the pool, I met brother of the woman who teaches French at M&O’s future school, hopefully he put a good word for them.
While America is BBQing, we are just floating in the pool. Summer vacationers have started to arrive in our little neighborhood and unfortunately the first batch was not very pleasant. An American father and his two kids came to the pool. I said “hola” to the father who did not even acknowledge my presence so I decided to ignore him and his offspring. The little boy was just as obnoxious as his father. He said to M&O “so you *do* speak English?” and continued on ignoring them. The little girl seemed nicer and Oscar played a bit with her although, let’s face it, she was no match for his new Hispanic playmates. For the icing on the cake, here is what the kid told his father as they were leaving the pool: “Father, by the way, I wanted to thank you for taking time off to come with us to the swimming pool”. Yikes… what type of family is that? Would they thank each other for flushing the toilets?
M & O are starting to get some good colors and are looking more and more like the players in French national Soccer team (you know what I am talking about if you have seen the games). Talking about soccer, Italy just beat Germany with a spectacular game ending in 2-0. (Sorry Dirk! But imagine how your life would be difficult in a final Germany vs. France. By the way, Alain might have a problem. In fact if Italy is playing with France, he will have to watch the game at Walmart).
I will take a moment to congratulate myself and all my Italian friends for supporting Italy in these grandiose moments and for criticizing it the rest of the time. For me, who cares about soccer only on during the World Cup, I think it’s good to be patriotic for a month every four year and then be international the rest of the time.
Later on that day, we went to visit an incredible Spa and hotel just down the street from our house. The Spa is inside a Maya Pyramid style construction (a little kitsch), but the inside is very luxurious and they have all kinds of way to pamper their guests: from water therapy, to massage, and including been wrapped into chocolate. For the people who want to generate a minimum of effort they also have a gym, spinning classes and a climbing wall…but we are not going to be climbing walls, are we?
It is funny how living in New York takes away the wow effect… the guy who gave us the tour was still impressed by the place even if he works there. Meanwhile we felt we had to look a bit impressed and not let the New York “done it seen it” transpire. But hey, I was just happy to get a half hour of listening-comprehension in Spanish…
Back at the pool, I met brother of the woman who teaches French at M&O’s future school, hopefully he put a good word for them.
Monday, July 03, 2006
The Bank
This morning, I thought our laundry was piling up a little too much so I went to the Playcar laundry. The owner was Italian, so I think he will treat our clothes with respect.
In the afternoon I went to run errands just to get the feel of a resident’s life. I went to check two banks to see what I need to open a checking account. Once again, I was reminded that I should take a book with me at all times to make good use of my waiting time. Even when the line is small, there is still a good amount of waiting because people chit-chat and they are not in really in any hurry. Plus today was pay day, so everybody was lining up at the bank to cash their check (direct deposit seems like a foreign concept).
In the afternoon I went to run errands just to get the feel of a resident’s life. I went to check two banks to see what I need to open a checking account. Once again, I was reminded that I should take a book with me at all times to make good use of my waiting time. Even when the line is small, there is still a good amount of waiting because people chit-chat and they are not in really in any hurry. Plus today was pay day, so everybody was lining up at the bank to cash their check (direct deposit seems like a foreign concept).
Sunday, July 02, 2006
La Quinta
This morning we finally found the courage to stroll down La Quinta (5th Avenue). It was hot but there was a little breeze, so we went for it, a real stroll, like the Italian “passeggiata”. La Quinta is a pedestrian street parallel to the beach with little stores, cafés and restaurants. It’s clearly touristy but pleasant. We stopped for “brown ice cream” and expressos then went on and discovered a playground just across the Cozumel ferry docks.
Today is the presidential election in Mexico, and I am telling you this country is committed to democracy. The voting polls were under huge tents, some sponsored by Corona…is that really politically correct? ;-) The hot sun did not prevent people from lining up for hours. If it was the States, we would have a 1% turnout. On the top of it, no one was showing any sign of impatience or irritation. Some women were chatting under a huge umbrella, one man was playing guitar and so on.
Sorry but I have to mention another superstore shopping experience: we went to Mega, which is sort of a Mexican Walmart, located just next door to…Walmart! We bought cell phones and beach towels. Mega has an incredible selection of food, pastries and pretty much everything else.
I really need to ask someone about all these huge stores in such a small town. In Brooklyn, there must be at least 5 million people, and we have one Costco, a (new) Fairway, and a few C-Towns and Key Foods, but that does not come close. In Playa, there must be 10 to 20 thousand people and FOUR megastores. It maybe 30 to 40% less expensive than in New York… but average Mexican wages are probably way less 40% of NY wages… I need to figure out the local economy a bit better.
Saturday, July 01, 2006
Walmart
It is a routine already: 8:30 a.m. and the kids are in the pool. It has never been easier to take care of them. Mothers of the world unite… we need a pool in every house!
To complete yesterday’s shopping experience, today we went to Walmart. We needed some extension cables, plus floaties for the pool and more varieties of pasta (absolutely!). We ended up with two carts full of stuff. If you ever been in a Walmart in the States, you have not seen anything like *this* Walmart. The food is fresh, the service is excellent, the air conditioning is at the right temperature and you can’t even believe that you are in Mexico… it is surreal!
In the afternoon we watched Brazil-France (Alain reclaimed his French citizenship… for one day). After the game, Alain went to an Internet Café to work a bit, while I was dedicating myself to be a good mother in the swimming pool with M &O (I still want to be in the competition for Mother of the Year).
The AC in our bedroom does not work so we moved in the middle of the night to the guest bedroom. Lorenzo stopped by to take look and he called his Italian friend repairman to come fix it on Monday.
By the time Alain came back the kids were already in bed and completely exhausted. I don’t get how we are going to be able to fit a school schedule in this. After dinner, Vito stopped by so we finally got to meet the person who inspired us to choose Playa. He is really nice and we hope to see a lot of him.
To complete yesterday’s shopping experience, today we went to Walmart. We needed some extension cables, plus floaties for the pool and more varieties of pasta (absolutely!). We ended up with two carts full of stuff. If you ever been in a Walmart in the States, you have not seen anything like *this* Walmart. The food is fresh, the service is excellent, the air conditioning is at the right temperature and you can’t even believe that you are in Mexico… it is surreal!
In the afternoon we watched Brazil-France (Alain reclaimed his French citizenship… for one day). After the game, Alain went to an Internet Café to work a bit, while I was dedicating myself to be a good mother in the swimming pool with M &O (I still want to be in the competition for Mother of the Year).
The AC in our bedroom does not work so we moved in the middle of the night to the guest bedroom. Lorenzo stopped by to take look and he called his Italian friend repairman to come fix it on Monday.
By the time Alain came back the kids were already in bed and completely exhausted. I don’t get how we are going to be able to fit a school schedule in this. After dinner, Vito stopped by so we finally got to meet the person who inspired us to choose Playa. He is really nice and we hope to see a lot of him.
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