Did you know that meteorologists here have deemed this day to be THE coldest day of the year?  We were warned by numerous people yesterday that today would be VERY cold due to a massive cold front moving in over night (so they DO get dramatic about the weather here too – I guess all over the world we are at the weather’s mercy).  And as promised, passing through another Star Trek door to the outside for this morning’s shuttle ride to school, a rush of very chilly air washed over us.  The kids exclaimed, “I can SEE my breath!!!” Bundled up valets and drivers lined the hotel drive through and drop off…and I mean BUNDLED up – balaclavas, toques and hats, gloves and boots… really?!?  Our driver lamented all the way to school about the state of the weather (you might recognize this familiar refrain),”It’s SO cold.  It’s just not RIGHT.  My colleague who has been around for a long time says it’s never been this cold.  It gets colder and colder every year.”  Okay, you Canadians reading, get ready for this:  the temperature this morning was 5 degrees Celsius!!!  That’s like Spring!  It really felt like Spring or an early Fall morning, with crisp, lovely air for breathing.  Kids at school were all bundled up, head to toe, and there are my hardy little Canadian kids in their thin uniform sport jackets, unphased by the cooler weather. Here I win “mother-of-the-year” award I’m sure with their teachers who fussed over them all day, wondering “are you warm enough??” and were incredulous when they insisted they were fine.  Proves how relative everything is!  Spoke with a fellow Canadian who is a teacher at the school when I was back at the school picking up at the end of the day.  We had a good chuckle over the fuss about the weather today, but he did make a good point – most homes here do not have heating, so the inside of the building is about the same temperature as the outside.  Aaron has also noticed this at the plants, especially as they are a little further up the mountain, the temps are a few degrees cooler than Mexico City proper.   He recently invested in a coat and another sweater!   We might return as total wimps about the Canadian weather!

Aaron had to go home to Toronto to visit the Mexican Consulate and present our housing list to be approved so that our stuff held hostage in a warehouse in Markham can be released to begin it’s LONG journey by sea to us (approx. 40-60 days before we see it here in MX once it is released.)  He is also there getting our marriage license and birth certificates legalized for use in obtaining our temporary residence cards for me and the kids.  Because Canada is not part of the Apostille agreement (where registered documents i.e.: place of birth/citizenship, marriage, are recognized between borders) our documents must be validated by the Mexican Consulate in Toronto as legitimate Canadian registered documents.  Otherwise, anyone could show up with any quack certificate stating they are Canadian citizens by birth or pretend to be married…WHY would anyone do that?? (Love you Aaron!! 😉 ) The exact procedure for this remains fuzzy and fluid in our estimation: the requirements seem to change by the day, by the weather, by the mood of the official you happen to have on the day you visit from 3000 miles away to complete these legally necessary jobs that you only have 4 days to accomplish.  It’s fascinating and excruciating all at the same time.  Did you know that a certified document must be certified to indeed determine that it is certified?  No kidding!!  And must be certified by a specific notary of a specific street in Toronto or it is not valid.  “Sir, it’s all listed on our website” the oh-so-friendly lady at the consulate insists when Aaron looks at her like she has six-heads for refusing the certification and notarization we ALREADY had done.  Aaron texts me in a flurry, hopping mad, to see if I can look on the website to see if indeed it lists a specific spot to legalize because he SWEARS he saw no such requirement listed.  We are learning that it is not worth it to get “hot under the collar” about these obvious discrepancies (although, can’t ignore how infuriating it is when the officials remain unflappable about the heap of work they’ve just added by refusing the heap of work you’ve already done!)  Aaron spoke with someone he met at the airport about common frustrations they have with the systems and procedures here, who imparted this golden nugget of wisdom for coping here: “If they ask for a yellow piece of paper folded three times, just give them a yellow piece of paper folded three times – have to let go of your need for logic or you get nowhere!”  There were a few minor changes required to our packing list that had to be approved by the consulate, but thankfully Aaron had included a few buffer days in anticipation of problems and to cope with any new surprise requirements necessary.  So all documents that needed to be approved, legalized, scrutinized and corrected have the official seal of approval from the Mexican Consulate for use here in MX.   Whew!  We’re finally able to take a step forward in our journey towards a place to live here!

Timing is everything and timing abandoned me this week.  Towards the end of last week, I began to feel pretty crummy…achey, coughing, sneezing, the works.  By the end of the weekend, Aaron is heading to Toronto for the week and I’m toast.  He’s worried, I’m worried and wondering how we’re going to get through the week.  We’re anticipating worst-case scenarios and what do we do with the kids if I end up in hospital!!  Thankfully never had to cross that bridge.  Now at the end of it, with our Rosie finally here on the ground (stay tuned for “The Rosie Saga Part 3”) I’m feeling much more like my old self, thanks to antibiotics and naps whenever I could.  Was a neat experience in some respects really.  By mid-week I was NOT improving and had started to fever and thought, “I may not be able to fight this one on my own.”  Thankfully concierge was noticing my decline and Wednesday when ordering a taxi to take me to pick up the kids (couldn’t walk at all this week), he told me that the hotel has a “Doctora” who will come to the hotel to make sure I’m okay. I thought about it on our ride to the school and back and upon returning, I asked for him to ask the doctor to visit me.   That was at 3:45 p.m. and by 5:00 p.m. she was knocking on the door of our room.  She arrived with her tackle-box of supplies (literally!!) in pink scrubs and white coat.  I was assessed as I lay in my jammies in my bed.  Wild!!  She determined that my cold had morphed into a secondary infection and that I needed antibiotics.  My lungs were clear but SO irritated and I was having the worst time calming my cough.  Her prescription included an initial IV administration of medicine (antibiotic, analgesic and an “anti-spasm” drug to chill out my cough) followed up with a course of antibiotic.  Out of her tackle-box she grabs gloves and selects three vials of medicine and loads up her needle… I lay down in my bed and she gives me the meds and I immediately felt relaxed (some good stuff!:).  A weird smell was in my nose and I got pretty dizzy, but it passed after a few minutes.  My cough was already much calmer.  She told me not to worry about collecting the meds from the farmacia, that she would give the prescription to the bellboy to run for it.  Unbelievable!!   Now THAT’s room service!!!  Mansell watched her cap the used needle and throw it into the bathroom garbage and was pretty freaked out.  His understanding of used needles includes always to put them in a sharps container – he was worried about the garbage collectors as we have watched how they sit in the trucks, on top of the trash and sort everything.  He was concerned about a worker getting poked with the needle, so we fashioned a mini-sharps disposal by wrapping it and putting into an empty water bottle.

Still limping through the next day, our regular taxi driver Francisco asked me how I was doing and I told him with the help of my friend Google Translate that I have a cold.  He tells me “Tequila will cure you!”  Just cracked me up as was such unexpected cold-care advice! Later that same day, at the lounge for homework time, the server asked if I’d like a glass of wine and I refused, citing my cold as the reason.  She said, “Oh, you just need some Tequila!” We shared a chuckle.  Then not an hour later we were down in the dining room for dinner and our server was taking food and drink orders and offered me a glass of wine, that (surprise!) I once again refused.  And guess what advice our server gave me? “You need some Tequila!!”  Apparently Tequila, aside from it’s social lubricant properties, is used as a cure for the common cold!

 

So what does one do on THE coldest day of the year in Mexico?  What does one do after a VERY long week of illness and school and bureaucracy and missing Daddy?  Why, head to DQ of course! We ordered our icy treats and defiantly sat outside in spite of the chilly mid-day 13 degree air, while locals from the corporate complex moving from meeting to meeting passed us, throwing surprised glances our way.  Honestly, over ice cream we debriefed our incredible week and it was just so nice!!  Thanks to the universe for the Dreamy Queen!