Day 1: Sunday, December 28, part II:

(The whole story wouldn't fit on on posting...the rest of the story continues here...):

The streets are not well-kept. Very bumpy, lopsided, many holes and cracks. The cars fly down the streets, pretty much ignoring traffic signals, but stop when the light is red. There are police trucks everwhere traveling in packs of three to five. There are about seven men in each truck, decked out in black SWAT uniforms, some carrying rifles, some AK’s. Good God. ALL the stores are barred up…Spanish music blaring from many of them. It is simple straight out of a movie. You know the term “movie magic?” There’s no magic in movies set in Tijuana. What you see is real life. Noisy, busy, crowded, scary. Many of the cars have dark, tinted windows. When I see fancy cars, the ones that are too shiny, I wonder who’s inside? Drug lords, drug dealers? Maybe too many movies, maybe too many warnings from my sister-in-law who lives in San Diego and hears the Tijuana news all the time. Regardless, I wasn’t going to let that stop us. What’s a little automatic weapon? Ha! Child’s play (as I pee my pants…). We walked down the road for about four blocks, then checked inside a store (my goal was a candle – the apartment smelled funny). To get into the store, I had to ask permission from the clerk. He unlocked the barred door, let us in and relocked the door. “Um…hola. Habla engles?” “Si.” “Oh, good. Do you sell candles?” “No, the grocery store two blocks up does.” “Buena, de nada.” “Buenos dias.” He unlocked the door; we left to make our way two blocks to the grocery store. On the way, we were greeted by two Rottweilers protecting their masters’ car dealership. We practically peed our pants again. The dogs came at us a little gentler than you see in the movies, but there was still the chain link fence topped with razor wire. Good God. We finally reached the grocery store, got our stuff (how weird is it to read common products in Spanish…Doritos, corn, tampons, chocolate, pasta…Very surreal). We beelined back to the clinic and our safe home. For any runner friends and mom: I will not be running while here, unless they have a treadmill. Ron – while my goal was to totally kick your ass (sorry kids!) during our next race, it looks like you may have the upper hand here. We shall see how this plays out!
We unpacked and moved in, more or less. John is now playing video games as it’s hard to watch Spanish TV. Now we are waiting for 5:30 so we can meet other families in the lounge while we eat dinner. One of the men we met earlier today, the Amish guy from Indiana, told us that when they first arrived last Sunday, they felt out of place and scared. Now, a week later, they feel right at home and safe. I really hope that’s how we can feel in seven days. Living on constant alert, with fear and the unknown is hard. I’m already beat and it’s only been three hours. John seems to be taking it in stride – asking questions, looking around, just like a kid. But he was holding my hand when we were walking the street. We see the doctor at 7:30 tomorrow morning.
Dinner tonight was vegetable soup in a mushroom base, vegetable rotini with pureed vegetable sauce, barley juice and watermelon for dessert. Good thing they have such…interesting? Delicious? Sparse? No red meat? Meals since I won’t be running outside these stucco walls! But, it’s not about me, is it? In that case, any advice on getting an almost-11-year-old to eat that kind of meal is more than welcomed!
We met some very nice families during dinner, as well. One couple, who just had their 50th wedding anniversary last week are here from, of all places, Sparta. Another Amish couple, who happen to be cousins with the first couple we met (they came separately) and a family of six from Southern Illinois – they’re daughter is sick and they are trying to make her well. Oh! And another couple…don’t know much about them. Everyone is extremely friendly, talkative and more than willing to share their experiences. I have to remember to speak to the other older couple tomorrow. The husband seems to have an interesting sense of humor. Even with five children present, he had the nerve to bring up ways to get “some action” (in case children are reading this…) while going through treatment. Okay then…