Mini Monkeys, Mr. Monkey, and Mrs. Mommy Monkey hit the streets

There is so much to say about Mexico I don't know that I will ever do it justice.  They say a picture is worth a thousand words so I will  "si" if I can't get a 100,000 or so covered in this blog! 

This is Mexico *the view from my house!!!!  

I took the picture about an hour ago!

and this is Mexico

Click here to go to a youtube video I made a bunch of years ago.....

and this is Mexico... 

and this is Mexico....

and this too....

THE BEFORE

There is so much trash along the roads.  Almost all of the roads.  In the school where I teach, many of the kids (and their parents just throw their trash on the ground.)  Now before you think I'm up on my "high horse," I will let you know that I am from up along Lake Erie...  a small town you may have heard of that is right outside of dreary Erie, the mistake by the lake.  We got that horrible reputation because of all of the pollution that hospitals and EVERYBODY else threw into the lake.  One of the rivers that empties into the lake actually caught on fire in the '70's sooooooo.....  

BUT.... then the litterbug campaign got started, and I didn't care.  I threw trash out of my friends' car windows because I guess I thought it was funny...  or cool... or something else equally stupid.  I don't do that any more.  In fact, I was involved in those Adopt a Highway programs and went with my family every 6 months to pick up what had accumulated.

So, sometimes my Mr. Mexican Monkey Husband chastises me for not bringing enough of the USA to our world here. Two weeks ago, I got tired of seeing all the trash piled up in the circle in the middle of a coldasac type thing they call a glorieta.  I told my family every morning, if it is still there on Friday when we pass by, we're going to pick it up on Saturday.  Friday, it was still there.... so Saturday the girls and I went to pick it up.  

THE AFTER

Today was the first day the four of us went.  The plan is that from now on, it will be our regular Sunday night thing....  

Here is a picture of my team!

Way to go Mommy's Monkeys!!!  I'm so proud of you!

Wish us luck that we can follow through with this, and that today is the first Sunday in a million!  More importantly though, wish for me that my girls grow up to make this (or something like it) a habit, a tradition, a part of their lives for the long haul.  I pray for them to care about..... something. 

Supporting Monkeys Taking On the World

There are always so many people in need, it is hard to know where to start.  Here in Mexico that challenge is even bigger

than what I was familiar with in the USA.

As an ExPat I'm often confronted with the question of 

exactly what it means to be American.  While I may not have an answer that is complete or even true for everyone, I have found some answers that ring true.  I believe Americans are empathetic and caring.  I believe that we, just as all people, get caught up in our day to day, and may not notice everything that is going on in the world.  However, once we are made aware, once we see a problem, we are moved to swift action.

We have always been taught that we can and must make a difference. One starfish at a time! 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Star_Thrower

It is our obligation and our delight to find a need and take steps to fill it.  It makes me proud to be an American.  Unfortunately, most of my European and Mexican friends don't know this about us.  I guess it is because they pay more attention to the loud mouth spring breakers or the news about other less than sparkling accounts of what we are, or what we aren't.  Many of those stories are true, but I am going to imagine that the reason that they don't know about all the good things we do is the same reason that we don't know all of the good things our neighbors do.   We are busy and these things aren't really that spicy to talk about it.... and it most certainly doesn't grow taller as it moves down the line, in fact it doesn't even make it to the line to get passed down.

Well, these hard~working generous souls quietly go about their lives lending a hand when they find one in need.  They rarely mention these acts to anyone else.

My mom's family has always been on top of this in a major way!  I'm so proud of them and I am so proud of all my monkeys for caring about their fellow human beings.

Last year (I taught 3rd and 4th grade) we read about public service projects and they started planning to collect and donate things to kids at a low~income special needs pre~school here in Cuernavaca.

Unfortunately, we were in a situation where the school no longer wanted to take on the responsibility of taking our kids on field trips because of the safety concerns here in Mexico.

The moment things settled down my kids sprang to action.

The had 3 weeks to collect what they could.  They started making beaded bracelets, friendship bracelets, and other small items to sell in exchange for a donation.  This is

not a very common thing to do here in Mexico.  No one can trust that those who say they will donate the money will not actually pocket any cash they get their hands on....

My kids raked in $500 pesos.  Which is a BIG DEAL! $45 may not seem like much, but $500 pesos, which is roughly the equivalent, is!  They kept the records, they did the math, they gave change... they did it all!

The class president took the money, bought some class supplies, and brought back the reciept.  (open books is another rather new concept)

Here they are with the things that they purchased!

They also collected clothes, shoes, food and toys from the rest of the school.

On Thursday we took the donations to the preschool across town and had the chance to stay and play with the class for an hour or so.

It was beautiful to watch my monkeys bond and enjoy playing with the little ones. 

 They would ask questions about why the children had different things going on.... but accepted the children very easily.  Most of mine got close very quickly to one of the smaller children and took responsibility for getting them water or taking them to the bathroom.  It was so sweet.  They were so happy, and I am so proud of them!

The two groups of children were lovely and happy.

My students also commented on the fact that many of the children have some sort of orthodontic work done.  The reason why is because this Mexican Orthodontist donates his time to visit the school once a month or so in order to help these kids and their families with something that would otherwise not be a priority.

So congrats to my monkeys!  I love them very much and I am soooooo proud!

Something Fishy Going On.....

So many incredible ideas out there...

so many creative people sharing the things they do...  

i have no recollection of where i first saw this, 

but i am ecstatic to say that i finally put it 

together and the smaller of my

smalls is already having

a blast

soooo....

maybe you don´t

need a blow by blow description

of how i went about this, but maybe one

or two tips will make it easier.  step one... gather the supplies.  if you are anything like me, this will be by far the most time consuming part of the process.... ok, find an ignored wooden puzzle among your wee one´s 

forgotten treasures... dust it off.  now the hard 

part... find pictures that you like. of the 

family, friends, pets, really anything

you decide....  i love the idea of

distant relatives if you happen

to have any of those.

the tricky part

is being

flexible about 

your picture choices.

our fish puzzle has 11 pieces

so i had about 

• 25 picture possibilities.  

once 

you have done this, 90% of the work is over!  collect 

• glue
•  scissors
•  pen... 

you are almost done! simply grab a piece of the puzzle, put it over the picture and if it fits well enough to see the face, trace it!

 if you like what you see, start to cut... word

to the wise... cut inside the line by...

well, a bit... i can´t be more

specific, it depends 

on how much of 

a perfectionist

you are!

 since i don´t get weighed down

by things needing to look

nice, i just did a trial

and error attempt

for a bit... some

turned out 

better

then

others, but

generally about

a 1/10 of an inch should 

be good... try it, if it fits, glue it in!

big strange hand in the forefront, mine.  your  welcome

if it didn´t fit, don´t worry

give it another whirl.

it will the next

time

then do the glueing business!

yippee!!!

my 2 year old has started naming the fish

papi fish (her papi is behind that

one!)  mommy-grampy fish

i but you can guess

who´s behind 

that one

and 

so on 

sooooo... i

do plan to take this one

step farther by sticking another pic

on the back of the piece.. to do this, flip

the puzzle piece over so that it is backwards before

you trace it.  once that is done, you can say something like

put mommy with papi, or cousin timmy with cousin adam!

you get the picture...  yes, that pun was intended too..

the great thing about this business is that you

can bring new excitement to an old toy

and keep reviewing everyone´s

name and face with

the tiny ones!

have fun, any variations on this, take a pic and tell me about

it!