La Casa Rosa

Hi dear ones,
We are here in our new casa in the little puebla of Barra de Potosi. This is the town where the kids go to school, and we were previously living a few kilometers away. Now we are in the center of town, and a 5 minute walk to school.

We moved in a few days ago, after much painting and scrubbing. I guess it is our destiny to ALWAYS live in a construction zone! We love living in the puebla. There a about 100 kids in town, and our kids have hooked right up with them. They run and play all day long.

Our spanish language has increased so much just since we've been here. Though nothing is quite flowing yet. Lots of "despacio por favor, and otra vez, and no intiendo."

There are so many great benefits of being here. Even though it is a small three street town (it is 3 dirt streets, each one is 2 blocks long) it feels like a bustling metropolis to us! There are some special details that enhance that feeling. For example, we have two dueling DJ's on either side of us. They seem to have each claimed responsibility for gracing the town with their music- very loudly, and at the same time!

There are kids on the street all the time, and appearing at the always open door saying "buenas dias senora Camor, donde estan Maria y Kira?"

Melia has changed her name for their convenience, and Bryce is Brase here!

The roosters, on their tethers (prize fighting cocks) start cawing at about 3:00 in the morning, an hour or two after the DJ's let it
rest! The propane truck cruises town with his palm perrmanently planted on the horn. The water delivery, beer delivery, and soda trucks all anounce themseves with their horns. The bread and tortillia guy has a special toot. My favorite is the knife sharpener who pushes his wheel through town blowing on his little panpipe whistle. I also like the elote and tamale guy who sings his way through town with his bike and a smile. The helado guy with his bells ringing is a special sunday treat, and our kids are amazed at the convenience of it. Yesterday a truck pulling a caged bengal tiger passed through with his loudspeaker blaring the news of the upcoming circus. In California, I am super noise intollerant, but here it just seems to work somehow.

Our house was fuschia pink inside and out, but it needed work, so we mellowed it out a bit. Now it is pink and orange! I love the way color is used here. No hesitation to be bold and cheerful. All the houses are similar, and ours fits right in. We have beds, and a hammock inside, and chairs on the front porch. The street is really the living room. The kitchen is very authentic. We fill a big holding tank with water once a day or so, and dip out of it for washing. The stove is like a coleman camp stove. We splurged and bought a refrigerator, but now Tim is trying to do some electrical work to help it run. The house has enough power for three bare lamp bulbs, but the fridge is pushing it!

Lots of exposure to new things here. Our house came with a large framed picture of The Last Supper. The Virgin of Guadalupe is everywhere. Lots of very graphic Christ's on the cross. Kiera has lots of questions about the pictures and stories, that I am not very good at answering. When she asked what a virgin is, at least I could help her. The next day brought questions about who is the mother Jesus, and the father. So here I am trying to explain the relationships of Mary, Joseph, Jesus, God, and miracles. I'm struggling. Finally Kiera says "oh, I get it. Jesus was adopted, because Mary is a virgin. Joseph and Mary got divorced, Mary and God married, so now Jesus has stepfather and a real dad. Its really not so difficult mom!"

Love to all of you, and pass my note on to others who care!
Always, Khamoor and Family

 
The girls sitting on the bed are making barbie clothes out of fabric scraps. Barbie is the best world traveler, and she speaks all languages!

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