Landfall and Hearth

Good Afternoon all,

I'm writing this post from the balmy sitting room of our fabulous new house in San Pedro, Mexico. Caroline and I have been in the country for about 24 hours and have already experienced many sundry adventures. However, before I go into any detail, I must first offer my personal disclaimer that many of the tales I will weave may widely vary from the more literal imagination of my darling wife. Therefore, think of my posts as an amalgam of impressions and imaginings that are occasionally rooted in reality; go to Caroline for the facts.
Stepping off the plane onto Monterrey's parched landing strip, my mind immediately reminisced four years ago as I stepped onto the Tel Aviv's landing strip at the beginning of U.N. peacekeeping mission, ironically with the same feelings of apprehension and excitement. Then I realized that Caroline was getting ahead of me.

Customs ran very smoothly, and as an utter contradiction to the brute realities of Canadian/American airports, some complimentary porters moved our luggage through the gates and corridors for us - the spoiling begins. We were met at the arrival gates by two eager representatives of our school whose own team of porters then moved our bags to the vans. Following this, we all had a nice chat about the cruelty of Canadian winter until the other couple, Peter and Heather, arrrived.

The one hour drive from the airport to San Pedro provided snapshot views of a city in the midst of modernization at breakneck speed. Cranes, skyscrapers, and English billboards coloured the landscape under the majestic Sierra Madre Oriental mountains. I must also clarify, as some may be confused, while we originally told everybody that our new home and school would be in Monterrey, we are actually located in the outlining suburb of San Pedro. Along the way we also discover that Peter and Heather mirror us in many peculiar ways. Both Peter and I are 27, while Caroline and Heather are 29. Both Caroline and Heather substitute taught for two years while their respective husbands Andrew and Peter finished their education degrees. Both Caroline and Heather have large families, the former having 5 siblings and the latter having 8. Both Andrew and Peter have two siblings. Both Peter and Andrew enjoy running as a hobby. Finally, both couples met in the same store independantly on our first day in Mexico and were using the back of the same school form as a scrap of paper with very similar lists of items - uncanny. Peter and Heather are a very nice couple and we are looking forward to next few months together.

On to the house, of which we intend to post pictures very soon. It is a beautiful duplex in the heart of a GATED community on Grenado St. Our neighbourhood is very secure, surrounded by (I would estimate) 12 ft walls, crowned with forboding spikes and 24 hour security guards. The front entrance is guarded by very friendly uniformed men who are getting used to the strange English couple that walk downtown instead of drive. Our half of the duplex is a humble two bedroom abode, floored with slate tile, containing no less than four bathrooms (at last count), a full kitchen with adjoining dining room. The dining room cointains seating for six and a large patio with a view of the mountains. The kitchen has a fridge, gas stove, microwave, toaster, food processor, among countless other appliances. We have a T.V. room with couch and loveseat, cable T.V. and DVD player. The sitting room has a couch, loveseat, armchair and very handsome hardwood coffee table, and a computer with wireless internet access. Our master bedroom has a queensize bed, a large bathroom, and very large walk in closet. Off the T.V. room is a very fine spare bedroom with its own large bathroom and walk in closet. Off the Kitchen, we have a laudry room with front loading washer and dryer and ironing table/iron. Off the laundry room is another full bathroom (we're told for the maid, but we're allowed to use it). The fourth (bonus bathroom) is directly off the front entrance (a powder room for Caroline :) Yes, humble, that's the best word for it, haha. The floor area is probably comparable to our own house in Winnipeg. Oh yes, and every room as AC and ceiling fans. Well, Caroline has now made contact with Jim and Carole on Skype, and I think I'll join them for the tour. I shall write of our first day adventures with seafood tacos later.

vaya le bien!