Welcome Fall

I haven't posted for a while. Frankly, I haven't felt like it for the past while, trying to get over the initial shock and deal with everything. But, I've come to accept things for what they are, at least somewhat. It helps that my dad is doing so much better than the last time I posted. However, the cancer has spread, so he will probably start chemo next week. We don't know what to expect. All we can do is hope for the best and be thankful for each day. On a more positive note, my mom is recovering from her surgery surprisingly well. She had her gallbladder removed last week, and was home a few hours later. When I went over to visit that evening, you'd hardly believe that she had just had surgery that morning. She hasn't been watching Madelynn this week, though, so she can recover, plus she isn't supposed to lift more than 10 pounds this week, and then can add 5 pounds every week for the next while. Fortunately, we've had a lot of volunteers helping to watch Madelynn this week which has been a real blessing.
I went back to work a month ago. It's been a really good year so far, I am really enjoying my assignment. I've got the coolest students to work with and I get a kick out of working with them. They're a lot of fun- I really enjoy working with the middle and high school population. I'm amazed that I can manage to do my caseload of 53 students in 3.5 days and not feel overwhelmed. Perhaps I have mastered the art of time management. Yeah, whatever- if that were true, my house would be spotless, all of my projects I've been wanting to do at home would be done, and I would be fluent in Spanish, German, and ASL. And I wouldn't be scrambling to get out the door in the morning. I don't think I will ever enjoy getting up early in the morning. Why can't the world run on Emily time? Getting up before the sun is out is sick and wrong. And chilly. And each morning just gets a little bit darker. And 7:45 am meetings are wrong, too. I had one last week, and I was so out of it that I couldn't hardly remember where I was. In fact, I actually started driving the wrong way to work and realized it when I was almost to the U of O campus, but somehow still managed to get to the IEP meeting on time, though highly functional I was not. Didn't help that the parents were razzing me about not saying much; they should have just been glad I didn't face plant on the table and start drooling.
Oh yeah, and Nate made chocolate chip cookies tonight. Delicious. I've lost count of how many I ate, although Madelynn did help me. What a great helper.

My Dad

The past few days have been the worst days any of us have ever experienced in my family. A few weeks ago, my dad started having some digestive problems that he thought was food poisoning, but it just never seemed to quite go away. The past week, the abdominal cramping got much worst- so bad, that he was passing out from all of the pain. He ended up in urgent care and was given pain meds and an antibiotic, thinking it was an infection. A few days later, he ended up in the emergency room and was hooked up to an IV for pain meds. The next day (Friday) he went in for a CAT scan, and just a few hours later, was notified that there was a blockage in his small intestine as well as swelling, his large intestine had collapsed and he had some swollen lymph nodes and to go to the hospital. He was admitted and told that he would most likely need surgery the next day to remove the blockage and see what it was, and that there was a possibility that it was cancer. He was also given a really nasty, painful procedure where they inserted a tube through his nose, down his throat and into his stomach to suction up everything that was being blocked.
Yesterday morning, he went in for surgery and was in there for about 2 1/2 hours. When it was done, my mom, who was at the hospital by herself waiting, was informed that he had cancer and it was advanced. I don't know exactly what the name of the cancer is at the moment, but whatever it is, it is impossible to catch and treat early because of it's location and the nature of its course. And even worse, even with chemo, apparently they can never fully get rid of all of the cancer and go into remission. So things look really grim. Once he's healed from surgery, they will start doing chemo.
I have never been so terrified in my entire life. I never thought this could possibly happen, and it's not fair that it's happening to my Dad. He's already gone through so much with all of his other illnesses and surgeries, why can't enough just be enough? It's just not fair that my children will probably never get to have real grandfathers (Nate's Dad died of cancer 7 years ago), Nate just doesn't seem to get to have a father figure in his life because they all die- his only uncle on his mom's side, his grandfather, his dad, and now it looks like my Dad will be taken from him, too, in a matter of time, unless we get the biggest miracle we've ever had. I just don't know if God has one in store for him. We've had lots of little miracles lately- Dad was supposed to be in San Diego right now, but the flight was cancelled due to fog in San Francisco where the connecting flight was, and he couldn't get another flight until the next morning, which he didn't make because of ending up in the emergency room. Also, Nate, Madelynn and I were still supposed to be in Mexico- me until the end of August and Nate until September 4, but because we got so sick the first week in Mexico, we chose to come home six weeks early and Nate just did the first six-week session. We were also originally wanting to move back into the SC 4th ward back when we knew we would be in Mexico, but when we returned, the place we ended up getting is only 5 blocks from my parents'.
I am so scared and I don't know what the future holds. I just can't believe that this is happening. I keep hoping that the doctors will have made a mistake or it's not as bad as it looks, or my Dad will respond well to treatment and will be the small percentage that is cured. Even if it could be treated and just kept at bay for a long time so he can be with us for as long as possible and see his grandkids come into the world and be there so they can remember him.

Not as interesting now....

Now that we're back from Mexico, I don't have seem to have as many interesting things to write about on here. We got home about a week ago, and then Madelynn came down with a double ear infection (the yucky big pussy kind that requires antibiotics) a few days later. I think it may be related to her teething- they're just popping up all over the place. She's pretty much over the ear infection now, and is sleeping a lot better, and is currently napping as I write this.
Last Monday, we went around and looked at places available to rent and found a duplex that we like. It has pretty much everything we were hoping for- 3 bedrooms, garage, washer/dryer hookups, fenced backyard and newer vinyl windows, which believe me are a big deal when you've come from an apartment with old leaky aluminum windows. It's not so fun to wake up in the middle of the night with a soaked pillow because the window has accumulated so much moisture that it's running down the walls and in a puddle on the windowsill.
This past weekend, Nate and I also went rafting down the McKenzie with my dad, one of his former students at USU and her two daughters. It was so much fun, and made me happy that we decided to come home early so we could do things like that. We're hoping to take our tahiti kayaks out in a week or two down the McKenzie again. I actually feel more secure in those, even though they're a lot smaller and you get thrown around a lot more, mainly because you're hunkered down so low in them that it's a lot harder to get thrown out.

Home!

We made it home yesterday after a long weekend of traveling. We took a 3 hour bus ride from Queretaro to Mexico City, stayed the night in a hotel at the airport, got up at 3 am to catch our 6:45 am flight, flew to San Francisco and had a 7.5 hour layover (ugggh. And there was nowhere for us to store our carryons so we could go into downtown to waste time, so we lugged it around the airport all day) then flew from San Francisco to Portland, where Ben picked us up and we stayed the night at Daniel and Anna's, drove to Nate's aunt and uncle's in SW Portland to chill for a few hours, then drove home to Eugene. We're staying at my parent's house right now as we look for another place to live. We looked at some places today and found a couple of duplexes that we really like and put applications in for (fortunately it's the same company, so we just did choice #1 and choice #2). Hoping to stay in the Ferry Street Bridge area of Eugene because that seems to be the most convenient for us for getting to work, U of O and my parent's for when we drop Madelynn off.
Madelynn is so happy to be home! She has been having so much fun playing with everybody and has been eating EVERYTHING. It's like she's making up for the 6 weeks we were gone and eating everything she can get her hands on that she didn't eat in Mexico. She's been going to the backyard multiple times and picking blueberries and eating them. And it is so nice for us to be able to just let her run around and get into whatever she wants to because it's pretty well baby-proofed over here. She can climb all over the furniture, run around outside and get into pretty much anything she wants to without us having to worry about anything. So nice! Once Nate and I start feeling better and get over this respiratory virus we've both got, we want to start taking her swimming a lot. And it will be nice to take her to parks with decent grass and swings that we don't have to worry about her falling out of (which she did last week- fortunately Nate caught her by her feet before she hit her head).
I don't think I want to leave the country again for a while (unless it's Canada). At least for a couple more years. We've had our share of weird foreign sickness for the next few years. Right now, it's not a question of IF we got parasites, but what kind and how many. We started taking black walnut extract to kill whatever we may have picked up.

Lucha libre!

Nate made me kiss the luchador. He did win, though!

Last night, we went to a lucha libre. It was so fun, and so insane! The place was totally packed, and our seats were in the bottom section near the front. Right before the final match, we got to go backstage and take pictures with a couple of the luchadors. The one I kissed ended up winning, too!

Guanajuato, amusement park and more.

So it's been a while since I have added to this blog. I've been having a lot of problems uploading photos! We've done a LOT in the past few weeks, including visiting La Sierra Gorda, celebrating Nate's 26th birthday, going to an amusement park and yesterday, we got back from our latest excursion, which was to Guanajuato.
La Sierra Gorda was insane. It was a lot further away than we originally thought, as we were initially informed that it was a 4-hour bus ride. (Try 7). So the first day was mostly getting there, although we did stop up in the mountains and hiked up to a waterfall and went swimming for a little bit. A few hours later, we arrived in Xilitla where our hotel was. The hotel was so beautiful! We had our own little private casa in back and down the hill from the main part of the hotel. The owners lived there and were great. They had a dog, Chucho, that Madelynn absolutely adored. She followed that dog around everywhere and gave him lots of pats and hugs, and he did great when she kept poking him in the eye. She loves the dogs, but we have to be careful, because she'll go off chasing the diseased street dogs if we let her.
The next day, we spent most of the day a few miles away in the Edward James park. It was like Alice in Wonderland come to life in the jungle. Crazy, and horribly dangerous with a toddler, but we strapped her in to her carrier and hiked up and up and up and climbed all over the strange structures, eventually coming to the top where we had a great time swimming in the river.
We all went back to Queretaro the next day, but stopped along the way to visit a few missions (And it was soooo hot we just wanted to stay on the bus and keep going) but we did have fun stopping at a hotel in Conca and swimming before we had lunch there. That day was also the 4th of July, and it was sad not being able to bbq and eat watermelon and light off fireworks! If we had been back in Oregon, we would have gone to Washington and bought a bunch of fireworks there. But, how many 4th of Julys do you get to spend in Mexico?
The next weekend (July 10-11) was Nate's 26th birthday (on the 10th of July). We were going to go to Parque Bicentennario (an amusement/waterpark) but he wasn't feeling very well (he had and is still recovering from a bacterial infection in his lungs- probably pneumonia or bronchitis). So we went to a park near the University (Cerro de las campanas) and had a picnic there. That is supposedly where Maximillian is buried, and at the top of the park is a ginormous statue of Benito Juarez. Later that evening, we went to a Greek restaurant. Mmmm- it was so good! The chef was from Greece, so everything was totally authentic, and everything was organic, too. It was a nice change from the usual fare we've been eating. Mexican food is good, but a month straight of it gets a bit tiring.
Last Friday, we went to Parque Bicentennario just outside of Queretaro. It was great, and super cheap! Only $35 pesos per adult, which is a little less than $3 per person, and that included all of the rides and the waterpark. I was so impressed with how clean it was, and it wasn't crowded at all- you didn't have to wait in line for any of the rides! Madelynn loved the carousel.
The next day, we hopped on a bus to the city ofGuanajuato, which is an old colonial city further up in the mountains in the state of Guanajuato, northwest of Queretaro. It was an absolutely beautiful city, and I wish we had more time there. We visited the mummy museum, which was really disturbing and made me cry, because they dug up babies and put them on display. One still had a diaper on, one still had shoes on its feet, and one was holding the doll that she was buried with. Typing this makes me want to cry again. I just think it's horrible that they dug up those bodies and put them on display. The reason they were dug up is that a long time ago, there used to be a tax to keep your dead buried, but since the poor couldn't afford to pay it, they would just dig up the bodies. After they were dug up, they realized that they had been mummified. The reason they became mummified was because of all the minerals in the soil that had preserved them. So, they thought, hey, let's put the bodies on display and charge $. It really bothered me that they put the bodies of the babies and children on display, too, and were even selling postcards of them in the gift shop. They were all around 200+ years old, and surprisingly well preserved, but it was really disturbing. What if you went there and saw your grandmother's body on display?
Anyway, aside from that, the city was really neat. The architecture is amazing! So intricate and so beautiful. I bought a tablecloth and some table runners there along with a few other things from street vendors. Madelynn had a blast running around in a big gazebo in the central historal area.
We only have a few days left here, then back to Oregon! We get into Portland Saturday at 6:45 pm. We are really looking forward to being home. This place has been quite the amazing adventure, but also quite the difficult experience as well.

Madelynn swimming with Daddy at Parque Bicentennario

A Church in Guanajuato

"Kissing Alley" in Guanajuato

Mexico City

El Templo Mayor

Fountain in the museum of anthropology

The Virgin of Guadelupe

Skeletons unearthed beneath the temple of the Sun

Climbing the Pyramid of the Sun

The temple of Quetzlcoatl

Nate and Madelynn at Teotihuacan

We spent last weekend in Mexico City with all of the study abroad students. We stayed in a hotel for 2 nights right smack in the center of the city. It was truly an amazing experience!

We left early Friday morning and drove to Teotihuacan, which are pyramids outside of Mexico City. They were there long before the Aztecs came. They are absolutely breathtaking. We first climbed to the top of the temple of Quetzlcoatl, and then walked along La calle del muerto (the road of the dead) to El templo del Sol (temple of the sun). El templo del sol was huge, as you can see from the pictures. I am amazed that we made it all the way up there, and it actually didn't take us that long. Some of the stairs were rather treacherous and scary, but it was well worth it, and since we had Madelynn strapped in the baby carrier, we didn't have to worry about her jumping off the pyramid.

The next day, we visited the Frida Kahlo museum, which is in the house of Frida Kahlo and Diego Rivera, which was also where the headquarters for their communist meetings were held. There were many pieces of original work, by both Frida and Diego, many photographs of communist leaders (Trotsky, Lenin & Stalin), and many of their own things. We weren't allowed to take pictures anywhere but the garden, but it was really neat to see Frida's wheelchair, her paints, the bed with the mirror under the canopy so she could do self-portraits while she was confined to her bed, their books, clothes, love letters, and lots of cats. There were cats wandering around all over the place, and one of them bit Madelynn when she was petting it. Nate would have hammered the cat, but remembered that it was Frida's cat, so he couldn't hurt it. Ha. But Madelynn was fine- it didn't break skin or anything. (otherwise the cat might have ended up in the fountain). We also walked around the area near our hotel and saw a lot of amazing architecture and the templo Mayor, which is the ancient temple that Mexico City was built around. We didn't go inside el templo Mayor (we babysat everyone's water bottles and a couple of large knives that for some reason some of the guys had in their pockets). But I was able to get a few pictures from the outside. We also wandered around Alameda Park and the plaza outside the Bellas Artes museum. There was a group of people in the park doing native dancing and drumming, and we were able to get it on video.

The next day, we visited the Anthropology museum and the old national palace high up on a hill overlooking Mexico City in Chapultepec park. After that, we had the afternoon to do whatever, and since Mexico was playing Argentina in the world cup, most people went to go watch the game. We chose to go to a quiet (but very expensive) restaurant, and the peace and quiet was well worth it. And the food, but I don't think I will be doing anymore $50 lunches. After the game was over, it was completely insane! People were running around with flags, singing, chanting, and there was a group of clowns (los payasos) running around cheering for Mexico, and they all ran up to Madelynn and were touching her hair and her cheeks. Madelynn has been getting quite a bit of attention down here, as one of the only blonde gringo babies around. She's had her photo taken quite a bit by women, and everyone just wants to give her kisses and touch her hair. It's really sweet. Anyway, so Mexico City was a zoo after the game, and the cops were all out with riot gear (fortunately, they didn't need to really use it where we weere). And that was with Mexico losing- I can't imagine what it would be like had they won.

After that, we were all exhausted, and couldn't wait to get back to Queretaro. Fortunately, Madelynn slept almost the entire way back, so that was wonderful.

Madelynn started going to a daycare a couple hours a day to get her out of the house and have other kids to play with. It's been nice for me to have a break! But she's not used to it yet, and cries when we take her. Hopefully, she will get used to it soon, because I just can't bear to hear her cry every time I drop her off! Nate's classes are going well, but he's pretty overwhelmed with everything. It's a lot more difficult and different here than we expected. This is one heck of a learning experience.

This coming weekend, we are going to La Sierra Gorda, and it is supposedly a lot colder up there. Hurrah! I have a really hard time with the heat. It's very hot and dry here, and I am already majorly sunburned. Oh, how I miss rain. We are definitely looking forward to coming back to Oregon, but I am still hoping to improve my Spanish skills while I am here and looking forward to seeing more sights down here.

We can eat real food!

We're finally all better and can all eat real food. Yay! Except Madelynn is now getting all of her teeth all at once. She has cut 3 teeth in the last 3 days. So she's pretty grumpy a lot of the time, which is not so fun for mom and dad. Pobrecita!
This week has been much better, now that we're all over the nasty sickness. However, we have decided to only stay for six weeks instead of twelve, so Nate is just going to do the first summer sesssion and possibly do the second summer session back at U of O. Or do a class or two online through BYU. Even though things have gotten a lot better here- our casa and our Senora are fabulous, the city is great, etc., we are realizing that it is just extremely difficult to do this with a toddler. Madelynn's doing pretty good, but at the same time, Nate isn't able to have anywhere near the same experience as all of the other students because he's quite a bit older than the rest of them and is here with his family. Plus, no one wants to hang out with us because we are a family, except for the program director. So most of the other students all hang out together and are constantly going out drinking and dancing til the wee hours, and it's also easier for them to get places without a stroller. Oh my goodness- our stroller is getting so thrashed! The streets are terrible here, and sometimes we just have to plain pick up the stroller and carry it. Brick and cobblestone may be pretty, but my goodness- they are terrible for walking with a stroller, or anything with wheels, pretty much. It's even difficult for cars. So, we will be returning to the states towards the end of July, which we are excited about, so now we can do all of the other things we love to do in the summer, like camping, traveing to the beach, hiking, and can go visit Boise. But, while we are here, we are planning to make the most of it.
My favorite time of day here to go out is in the evening when it has cooled off. We love to go to the centro historico of the city, where it is full of plazas, fountains, tons of shops and cafes, live music, beautiful cathedrals and buildings, and people. It's so alive at night! Plus, it's much cooler. The heat is pretty unpleasant, although it hasn't been as bad the past few days. It actually rained a few evenings ago, and it was wonderful!
Last Saturday, we visited Bernal. Bernal is one of the biggest monoliths in the world, and right below it is a little puebla (La puebla de Queretaro) that is full of touristy shops ad food places and has a pretty little church and park in the central. Unfortunately, I was horribly sick and Nate was feeling pretty crummy that day as well, so our experience there was pretty unpleasant. I spent most of the day lying on a bench next to the church, and Nate spent the day chasing Madelynn around. But, we got some great pictures.
Sunday was much better. We made it to church, and it was wonderful! It was the first time since we've been here that we felt we were somewhere familiar, even though we didn't understand most of what was said. The members of the ward are so warm and welcoming. We took Madelynn to nursery for the first time, and she liked it. There were only three other little boys there, so it wasn't too overwhelming for her (or us.)
Yesterday evening, we met up with one of Nate's classes for a tour of some of the historical places in the centro. Afterwards, we went out to eat and walked around. It was a lot of fun. Madelynn had a lot of fun playing with her new toy we bought her (a pinwheel), especially since it was a little bit windy so it worked quite well. She loves that thing.
Today, we watched the Mexico vs. Uruguay World Cup game, and then took Madelynn to a park. She absolutely loves playing on the swings- more so here than in the U.S. The swings are different here- they are hard metal and not flexible, and apparently Madelynn loves that.
This weekend, we will be going back to Mexico City for 3 days for a tour with the program. We'll see how Madelynn does on that. At least we will have a hotel to stay at and can return there if it gets too difficult, and can even return back to Queretaro on our own if necessary.

La venganza de Montezuma

So today was rather horrible. Nate & I have been having some minor stomach issues the past few days, but not bad. Nate was a lot better this morning, but I am horribly sick with a bad intestinal infection from who knows what. And Madelynn was doing fine until this morning, she just randomly started vomiting all over. After we went to the doctor, we found out that she actually has an infection in her throat that is making her vomit. Probably from something she put in her mouth. A few days ago at a restaurant we all ate at, there was a little fountain with water coming out of it that she just wouldn't leave alone. She kept putting her fingers in it and licking them, and we just couldn't stop her fast enough. So that's my best guess for why she is sick. Unfortunately, Nate was at school when we woke up horribly sick (I had been really sick since the night before but thought I was getting better) and we hadn't gotten our cell phones yet, so I couldn't call him. Our Senora called one of the program directors and talked to her, and she was able to tell Nate, and then she and her sister (Tia Lupita) drove us to the University to pick up Nate and then take us to the doctor. The doctor was very good- he spent a lot of time talking to us, asking questions and examining each of us to find out what was wrong. And it was so much cheaper, too- only $40 total for both me and Madelynn together, plus he gave us some medicine and some shots that were included in that price. I was very impressed with the clinic and the doctor. The doctor even called later to check on how we were doing, and was available directly by phone later this evening when I suddenly started vomiting. So we've got all sorts of medicine to take now. One of them I think is similar to pepto bismol, but it's bright yellow and looks like snot, so that's hard to swallow. I almost barfed earlier when I was taking that, even though the flavor wasn't so bad. We bought some electrolyte drinks, too, to help rehydrate, but those taste awful, so Nate went back out and got a bunch of gatorade. Seriously, right now the gatorade tastes like heaven. Unfortunately, I'm also craving pizza and french fries, which I unfortunately cannot satisfy without becoming even more sick. So, gatorade it is!
We're having a really hard time adjusting to the heat. Even though it's a dry heat, it's still horribly uncomfortable. But, when it's 90+ degrees outside, the air is still tolerable to breath- it's not suffocating like in more humid areas. (Oh, I do not miss the humidity of Iowa.) So now I am missing the gloomy, rainy Oregon weather. Didn't think I'd miss it this soon- I couldn't wait to leave it last week! And most places don't have air conditioning, so we're just constantly hot, even with a fan blowing air on us at night when it cools down significantly. Our Senora told us that we needed to sleep with our window closed and the fan blowing air towards the ceiling. Yeah.. we tried that for about 20 minutes, and it was awful, so we'll just have to hide the fact that we're still sleeping with the window open, otherwise it's suffocatingly hot in here.
I didn't realize that there were so many cultural differences here. I mean, I knew there would be some differences, but I didn't realize how strongly they would feel about them. Here is a list:
1. No one puts ice in their soup to cool it off. They thought I was crazy when I asked for some ice to cool off Madelynn's soup so she could eat it.
2. The only people I notice wearing shorts are gringos. I went to the store yesterday to look for some more shorts for Madelynn, and there were only pants! Better hope that her shorts last her the entire trip.
3. Apparently, it is completely unacceptable for parents to share utensils with their children, like when I lick the bottom of a spoonful of yogurt before feeding it to Madelynn so it won't make a mess.
4. I don't know if this is a cultural thing or just our Senora's rules- we can't go barefoot in the house. (Except when we run from our room to the bathroom.) They think that our feet are dirty and will make the floors dirty.
5. We aren't allowed to eat anywhere except at the kitchen table. So Madelynn isn't allowed to have a snack while watching Elmo. (We have food hidden in our room, though, and are sneaky about it.) Having drinks in our room, especially agua, seems to be okay.
6. It seems as though there are certain times of the day when we aren't allowed to wash our clothes. Thus, I have no clean clothes left and am wearing Nate's last pair of clean shorts besides the one's he is currently wearing.
7. Apparently you can drive on whatever part of the road you feel like and can make a left turn from any lane you feel like. There are no lane dividers. And the speed limit seems to be optional, as does signaling for turns. But you still can't run red lights (as we found out the other day when our Senora got a ticket).
8. Sidewalks are random and there are no handicap-friendly roads. I haven't seen a single person in a wheelchair outside, and have only seen a few in the Plaza del Parque (a mall near us) which is the only wheelchair-accesible building I have seen. And pushing a stroller is a major feat. Sometimes there are sidewalks, though they are often uneven and sometimes have steps, and the neighborhood streets are made mostly out of cobblestone or brick. Looks interesting, but a major pain in the butt to push a stroller. I wish we had a jogging stroller with those big tires. I'm certain that Madelynn's stroller is going to collapse at any moment, and she has a pretty sturdy one, too.

Queretaro

Pictures: Top- view of Queretaro Middle- Sunday market in Mexico City

Bottom- Madelynn at a park in Mexico City

We arrived in Queretaro on Sunday. It was pretty overwhelming getting there and arriving. We took a taxi from our hotel to the bus station, bought tickets to Queretaro (about a 3 hour bus ride) and then once we got to Queretaro, had to take another bus to our casa. It was a little overwhelming for me to see all of the extreme poverty in Mexico City and on the outskirts. Canals full of raw sewage, crumbling buildings, trash everywhere in empty lots. Although one thing I have noticed is that everyone I have seen here dresses very nicely. Makes me feel downright frumpy with as nice as everyone looks! Queretaro is so different from Mexico City.
The air quality in Mexico City was pretty polluted and it's hard to comprehend how big it is. Queretaro is much smaller (500K people vs. 28 million people) and the air is so nice and clear here. It's really hot, but our casa stays pretty cool during the day. Queretaro is beautiful! Our senora showed us around the historical colonial district yesterday, and it reminded us a lot of Europe. Very beautiful. Unfortunately, we forgot to bring our camera, so next time we go there, we'll get pictures. We did get a gorgeous dress for Madelynn, in the traditional style of the region. It is hand embroidered.

Each day, speaking and understanding Spanish is becoming much easier for us. It's amazing how fast we've been picking it up. Madelynn doesn't seem to care what language anyone speaks- she just wants to smile and flirt with everyone. The people here are wonderful, and the food is so good. I had one of the most amazing meals I have ever had in my life yesterday at a restaurant in the central historical area. All of the families and students ate a big meal together for comida (like lunch, but usually about 2-3 pm instead) Getting used to eating the big meal of the day in the afternoon is a bit of an adjustment, because we're so used to dinner being the big meal, but it's all good. We are living with our Senora, Patricia, and her son, Ricardo, who is a law student. Her sister, Lupita, comes over a lot, too. She's our Tia. So far, we are really enjoying our experience here, even though it's only been a few days!

Mexico City

We made it to Mexico! We flew into Mexico City today and are staying at a hotel. Tomorrow, we will take a bus to Queretaro. Nate's Spanish skills are impressive- I don't know if he even expected to be as fluent as he is once we got here. I am.....not even close to fluent. But, I've tried talking in Spanish as much as I can, and I am thinking that taking a class or private tutoring once we get settled in might be a good idea so I can feel more comfortable navigating my way around while Nate is in class. Poor Nate- he took his last final on Friday, and he has to start class on Monday! Hopefully we'll be able to have some cool pictures to post soon. Hasta luego!

First tooth!

We discovered tonight that Madelynn finally has her first tooth. And she's 17 months. What's even funnier, is that her first tooth is a molar on the top left side. I am just so excited that she finally has a tooth that I just had to tell everyone.
And on another note.... just three more days until Mexico! We are so excited! I hope we've got decent internet access so we can post lots of pictures. It will be nice to actually have some sun.... the weather here in Oregon is driving us crazy right now with the constant rain! And then the sun comes out once a week or so to taunt us and then goes back into hiding.

Greetings from the Garretts

So I finally decided to start a blog to keep people updated on the happenings of the Garrett family. Since we will be leaving for Queretaro, Mexico in two weeks for the entire summer, I thought this would be a great way to keep track of our adventure and to share it with others! We are totally excited, and just found out who our host family will be yesterday. As this is the first official post of the blog, I thought I would also include some various facts about our family:

1. Nate and Emily were married March 23, 2007 in the Portland, Oregon LDS temple
2. Madelynn Janett Garrett was born January 3, 2009 at Legacy Good Samaritan Hospital in Portland, Oregon.
3. Emily has a B.S. in Communication Disorders from the University of Oregon and an M.S. in Speech Pathology from California State University, Northridge and is currently working as a Speech Pathologist part-time in the Springfield, Oregon School District with middle, high school, and post-high school students.
4. Nate is working on his B.A. in Spanish at the University of Oregon. He will graduate Spring of 2011.
5. Madelynn is obsessed with Elmo. However, with as highly verbal as she is, she still insists on calling Elmo "Pah". We are wondering if she sees a relationship between Elmo and Grandpa, as she also calls Grandpa "Pah". Maybe it's the big, googly eyes and the high-pitched voice.....
6. Our family is spending the entire summer of 2010 in Queretaro, Mexico for Nate to a study abroad program there. Us girls will spend the summer just bumming around Mexico and hoping to become somewhat fluent in Spanish.
7. Nate served a church mission in Albania from 2004-2006. And, for those of you who may be wondering, they speak Albanian in that country. So Spanish will be Nate's third language, and probably a bit more applicable than Albanian.
8. We LOVE music. We have a few guitars, though Nate is significantly more skilled on guitar than Emily, and Emily also plays the viola, piano, and organ, and has tried her hand at the penny whistle, much to the dismay of our former cats. Madelynn loves to play on the piano, sing, and dance, and likes to play around with the penny whistle. She has finally figured out how to blow into it to get it to make noise.
9. We love traveling, and fortunately, Madelynn so far is great to travel with. She's so far been to 4 states, and will have her first trip out of the country soon. The majority of our "traveling" since having Madelynn has been many, many trips between Eugene and Portland, but we've also taken her to the coast, Boise, and California for Emily's graduation last year and DISNEYLAND! I'm sure when she's older, she will be horribly upset that we took her there when she was too young to remember and insist that we owe her another vacation there, which at that point will cost a fortune because we will likely have a much bigger family by then.
10. Madelynn is about 17 months old, and still has no teeth. But she makes up for it by having a TON of hair, just like her mommy.
11. Nate's middle name is Earl. Yeah. Totally awesome! Madelynn's middle name is Janett, after Emily's paternal grandmother who passed away the same day that Madelynn was conceived. Emily's middle name is Merrell, which is her maiden name.
12. We really like gyros. Riyadh's in Portland is our favorite place to get them.
13. Even though Nate lived in Albania for two years, which is located right above Greece, he never had hummus until he married Emily. Fortunately, he realized the awesomeness of it and is now a fan. Hummus was also one of the first "real" foods that Madelynn tasted, and she is also a big fan.
14. We tend to order pizza once a week on either Friday or Saturday. It used to be connected to when the Trailblazers played, but since moving to Eugene and only having basic cable, we had to find other things to watch on pizza night. Like Elmo. (See #5)
15. Nate is 6'4 and the youngest of 5 boys. He is also the second shortest one. Three of his brothers are 6'7, and the other is 6'2.
16. Emily has a tendency to pass out when having blood taken. Even a little finger prick can set it off, as she found out last week.
17. Madelynn loves to color. She also likes to put crayons in her mouth.
18. Madelynn has chocolate and ice cream radar.