Heading into Week Two

I find that if I write earlier in the day, I write better.

It is 11:00 a.m. now. Lyn has headed off to his Spanish lesson. I’m so proud of him for taking these classes. He’s funny, though. He is always asking me questions about Spanish while I’m trying to do something else. Hmm, is it him? Or is it just a guy thing?

Yesterday was an interesting day. We had planned to take the car and go out to the burbs to find a lamp. Furniture stores here don’t sell lamps. Not sure why, but ok. So we head out to the parking lot and, lo and behold, it’s closed! Sunday! Needless to say, we didn’t get a lamp.

Instead, we walked around the downtown area, along Av. Universidades and up to the Universidad Autonómico de Querétaro. There is a large and beautiful park on its edge that you have to pay to enter. We didn’t go in this time, as that wasn’t the point of this walk. Instead, we tried to find an entrance into the University, but all the gates we passed were closed and locked. Could it be that it was Sunday? I don’t know.

Interestingly, a lot of the shops and small eateries near our house were open. It appears that a lot of people buy their meals at these places and carry them home. We haven’t been brave enough yet to try them. Right now we still use bottled water to brush our teeth.

House Hunting

Saturday we met with a realtor to look at some apartments for rent. Eventually, Lyn and I would like to have a place of our own. Staying in an Airbnb is fine, but a lot more expensive than having our own place. One of the places we looked at was very close to what we imagine for ourselves, except that it was unit upstairs in a house, which makes it more difficult with the dogs. The layout was cute, but the kitchen needed work. I liked the location, too. It was walking distance to everything we needed, including a bus station.

Speaking of buses, there aren’t as many here as in Vallarta. I need to explore that more. People do take them, so it’s worth investigating.

The rent was low, too, only $9,000 MX per month. That’s about $500 US. It works with our budget, but I think Lyn would prefer a house or at least a first floor unit to make dealing with the dogs easier.

On the way home yesterday we passed a couple of gated communities near our current place that look nice. I don’t know how people find out what’s available, but I took some photos and will make some calls.

Venturing Out Again

Today, after Lyn’s Spanish lesson, we are going to get the car and run errands. (Remember the lamp?) We need a few things for the house and the dogs (they eat twice a day!), and I want to do a little more exploring. A lot of the shops are in Jurica or Juriquilla, about 20 minutes from downtown. The streets are very confusing and people drive crazy. My stress level is very high when I have to drive, but, hey, you gotta do what you gotta do, right?

The hardest part of any shopping trip is getting things home. The street we live on is VERY narrow. There isn’t any place to pull over in order to take things out of the car. I don’t mind carrying things in totes, but some things don’t lend themselves to that.

The first time we went shopping for things like a cat box, dog bed and groceries, we ended up circling the streets for 20 minutes looking for a place we could pull over and unload. People behind us kept honking and making me very nervous. I finally pulled over and we just put our stuff on the sidewalk. Lyn guarded it while I parked the car, and then we took turns and multiple trips to get it all into our house. Of course, a policeman had to stop by to see what we were doing. Trying to explain that in my fractured Spanish wasn’t easy, but he understood.

The Job Interview is Tomorrow!

My big concern right now is preparing for my job interview tomorrow. I’ve never interviewed for a teaching position and have no idea what to expect. I’m sure it will be fine. I will need to refresh my memory of my teaching experience so I can speak intelligently about it. I don’t know if I’m more nervous about getting the job or not getting it! I haven’t worked for a few years. Yikes.

Ok, gotta go. I’ll keep you posted!