Overall, the school experience has been very good so far. EMMA school is well structured, pretty strict and homework is issued almost every night! One of the interesting things has been what we term the "Principal's sh*t list". Each month a list of incomplete homework is sent home. It must be acknowledged and signed by the parent and if it is not, students will not be allowed entry into the school that morning! The school is not bilingual in the Canadian way, almost all of Connor's classes are taught in Sp anish but, despite some frustrations, he is picking it up at a rapid rate.  We have almost adjusted to the early mornings riding with him to school and he makes his own way home. Morning commute - the moon is still out sometimes! Very cool winter sunrise. He is taking Taekwondo after school twice a week, has twice weekly guitar lessons in music class and swimming once a week. His voice is also starting to crack! Helping out a younge...

We have been here a little over a month now and are learning how to stretch our budget. Taxis here operate in zones and our zones range from 50 - 90 pesos (approx $3.50 - 7 CDN) each way but we have been walking or riding our bikes where possible. We shop mainly at the large grocery stores Chedraui or Soriana and have found their prices and choices to be excellent. We are still in the getting settled in stages so have had extra start up costs but we are loving that a head of broccoli florets is about 50 cents, a loaf of bread is around $2, a dozen eggs $1.40. We can eat as healthily or badly as we want according to our budget! Under $3 on this plate! Trying out nopal (cactus) and dragon fruit. Tempting baked goods. Unusual looking foods with fun sounding names. Weekly cooked chicken staple in our household - delicious! $8 worth of beverages here! Lays in MX - salty and around $2.

I have to admit I was very anxious as the time drew near for the extraction.  I had two removed before some 15 years earlier and while it was no picnic, my teeth were 15 years less bedded into their boney gum beds. Waiting for numbness. Yes, that's the giant needle!! Dr Nelson assured me he would take his time and make sure I had enough gum anesthesia. The procedure included a great deal of gouging, scraping, tears, topping up of anesthetic and yanking before it let go of its comfy nest. Dr Nelson talked me through the important steps to recovery before kindly driving me home before his next appointment.  While being concerned about me not walking after my surgery, he forgot to give me my prescription!  When I realized 5 minutes later,  I called him and he said he would drop it over after his final patient. At 8 pm Jordan rode over to fill my prescription which included 3 days of antibiotics, anti-inflammatory and pain killers. No dispensing fee - $169 pe...

As I crunched my way through some particularly delicious nuts,  I winced as I realized I had broken a piece of tooth off! I waited a few days before accepting that I should seek dental attention.  An appointment was made with Dr Nelson,  a three-minute bike ride away for the following day. At 11 AM, I was greeted by Leticia and muddled through the Spanish patient form before being seen by the dentist. He showed me in graphic detail with his "mouth cam" the problem at hand. It was my wisdom tooth that was broken and the best course of action would be removal.  He told me I needed a panoramic X-ray to determine whether he could do it or whether he needed the surgeon to do it. When I asked where I needed to go and said I had no car, he said he could drive me there and back! The X-ray was done, again all in Spanish with lots of gestures and laughter, while the dentist waited before returning to the office. Good news, the tooth was not impacted and he could remove...