Back in Mexico

If a picture can say a thousand words this one can easily sum it up in less than ten:

The Line Family must be back in Mexico City.



Before you go thinking we were stopped at a light think again:



I just so happened to have my camera in the car since I wanted to take pictures of the damage to the house. I'm thinking it may have to be a habit to have a camera in the car at all times from now on for these moments.

I'm going to start a post series called "Only In Mexico Mondays" so tune in every Monday for it (or possibly Tuesday morning since I may post it late Monday night). I'll showcase all that is typical Mexico as the Line Family experiences it. Don't worry, it won't be "Make Fun of Mexico Mondays" but I may throw in a picture like this once in a while.

We flew in at 10 pm (11 pm on our clocks) and finally hit the pillows in our hotel room around 1 am. Yes, I did say hotel room, you don't think we'd actually move back into the house from Hades do you? (Hades is Hell if you didn't know, I'm trying to curb my use of the word because I'm starting to like using it way too much and Jamison has taken notice.)

We are staying at the Presidente Intercontinental, supposedly a five-star hotel but that must be on a different star scale than the US, or maybe I am lost as to how they are actually rated. It is definitely nicer than the Sheraton we stayed at when we first got here (no moldy walls and threadbare carpets) and full of talavera decor, I'm nuts about talavera which of course will be the topic of an "Only in Mexico Monday" post sooner or later! We are in a suite on the top floor; 42 dizzy stories up, which makes for excellent storm watching and a heights issue for the mommy; we are in earthquake country after all!

The view out our window. This looks out over Chapultepec Park (like NY City's Central Park but twice as big). The large building is the National Auditorium. There are mountains (or hills if you are used to seeing the Rockies) but between the pollution and storm brewing clouds you can't see them.



The movers had already packed up our house on the 15th of July, we went by there today to check in on the cats and I wanted to see the damage to the home and our thing for myself. I can't believe they were actually going to have us stay there after the flooding. There is no way that house can be lived in without some serious renovations. I am so glad I wrote the letter to the idiot in charge of the housing office and sent a copy to the DCM (person under the Ambassador). We were told nothing would be available for several months but when the DCM got involved, all of a sudden an apartment opened up. I know they were saving it for a State Dept. person because the Deputy RSO (Regional Security Officer) had it before us and GSO likes to keep the nicer places for their own Foreign Service people.

I'm debating on whether I should share the letter I wrote on this blog. I'll take some votes. What I should do is come up with a form letter and pass it on to all of the DEA, FBI, CBP and ICE spouses here at the embassy with instructions to bombard the housing office with them. Maybe then we'll get treated at least on the same scale as the State Department people do and perhaps other families won't have to go through what we and so many others have had to experience.

The movers will start moving us over to the apartment tomorrow. The apartment wasn't going to be ready until September but Kris worked his magic (meaning daily tongue lashings) to have it done this week. I am not looking forward to unpacking our entire house again and dealing with all of the damaged furniture until we can replace it. I am looking forward to being in a new place that doesn't have a history of flooding with sewage or flooding in general. I am also looking forward to the remainder of our tour being uneventful (fingers crossed). The boys are looking forward to being in an apartment complex with a pool, playground and other kids.

I still haven't seen the place but I will post pictures after I do see it!

I'll close with pictures of the younger 2 kiddos in their makeshift beds



Look closely and you will notice something odd about his toy container. I hadn't noticed it when I took the picture because it was dark but he somehow found the pail part of his potty and thought it would hold his toys quite nicely. So glad it got washed thoroughly but I'm still trying to figure out how he found it when it was buried in one of the suitcases.



Better than putting her in a drawer!