Hizee's Ever Rapid School Career

Hizee recently celebrated her 100 days of homeschool kindergarten (not counting the days she goes to the local kindergarten) and the end of homeschool kindergarten simultaneously. As you all know from previous posts (and from knowing Hizee), the kid is nuts about school! The day after her big end of year celebration she took all the "kindergarten stuff" down, started washing the walls, and reorganized her "classroom" for grade one (see pics in collage)!
Today she had her first day of grade one. When we did calender time I explained to her that most kids in Canada (and here too) end their school year in June not start it. She didn't seem to care and thought it made perfect sense to start grade one now as she has finished kindergarten. As per her wishes, we will continue to do grade one with Hizee throughout "the summer."

Youth Art Show

At the end of May the youth from art class gathered all of their creations and set up an art show in the community hall. To add to the fun we had judges and prizes, and ended the night with a showing of the movie that the kids computer class made (see post below). It was inpiring to see the youth take such pride in their work; and the four judges (Luis, German, and Valentina from Zacango; and our fellow MCCer Elizabeth who now lives in Mexico City) did a great job encouraging the kids telling them that they were all winners, and that art is basically an impossible thing to judge do to different forms of style and creativity. It was a great night!

Movie Stars

One of the highlights for the kids in Bruce's computer class last month was making their very own movie!!! The movie is called Monstruos de Agua (Water Monsters) and is about a group of villagers who drink contaminated water and turn into monsters. Thankfully there is one community member who does NOT drink the contaminated water and she develops a vaccine that saves the entire community. The message about keeping our water clean comes through humorously loud and clear.
The movie making and viewing were a huge success. Bruce found a cool movie making computer program and really doctored it up with special effects. The kids were so proud and loved laughing at the hilarity of the film. The film premiered to a packed crowd in the community hall following the art show.
We are working at getting it uploaded onto Youtube and will post the link when we have had success.

Chip Bag FUN

The major brand of chips here in Mexico usually has some kind of toy or prize in the bag. Right now it is wrestling cards (with a points game you can play with the card) and as soon as any of Zam's friends opens their bag of chips they kindly coming running to the door and give Zam their card. Then in the evenings they congerate in the back yard and play their card game. Right now Zam is hovering around 250 cards...yikes...gives you just a bit of an insight in regards to chip consumption in Zacango!

Exploring Puebla

In mid May we took a break from life in the campo and headed out to the beautiful city of Puebla in the state of Puebla (about 4-5 hours northeast of where we live in Guerrero). The city is filled with colonial style buildings and a breathtaking cathedral (we can never get enough of the astounding churches here in Mexico). We had a great time just taking a break and relaxing, exploring the zocolo (town center), and art museums.

Happy Smothers Day!

When I blogged about Mother's Day earlier I forgot to tell the cutest story about our amazing little Ziko: Because Mother's Day truely did seem to go on forever here (3 days of celebration), Ziko woke up every morning and ran to our bed, gave me a hug, and shouted "Happys Mother Day mommy." Because he was putting the "S" on Happy instead of on Mother it came out sounding like "Happy Smothers Day!" After saying it every morning for about a week he started asking "is smothers day over yet mommy?" Ziko makes our world so happy!!!

Mother's Day Marathon

Mother's Day, in all its intensity here in Mexico, began a little later for me this year. Last year the group of Mother's Day carolers (who serenade the moms into their day) knocked on the door at 1 am and this year they came at 3 am! After the early rise for the moms of Zacango, municipal government officials once again came to the community to hand out gifts to us. The events of this day were followed by Mother's Day programs at both the kindergarten and the primary school.

Mother's Day at the Jardin

On the first school day after Mother's Day Hizee and Ziko's school treated the mom's to a huge extravaganza! We were served a meal of mole and tortillas, followed by a intense dance program where we, too, were forced onto the dance floor and were awarded prizes. Hizee loves performing in the dances at the kindergarten with her good friend Liz, even though the practice sessions for these events can be quite long and intense.

Thrillen' the Moms

...and last but not least, the youth art class thrilled their mom's with Micheal Jackson's Thriller dance as well as the Boot Scootin' Boogie line dance.

Church Sketches

Maria
Miguel























Oscar
The youth art class sketches the church in preperation for their big art show.

Beautiful Babies of Zacango

Our neighbor's grandson Samuel turns one.
Their grandaughter Jimena is six months and is a content little bundle of joy!

Community Hall Water Science

The watershed management group has been continuing to test Zacango's drinking water sources with some interesting results. Above are some slides showing different bacterias in the water; below are Don Zoilo, Saturnino, and Luis doing the tests.

River Rats

We took a field trip to a nearby river with Hizee and Ziko's kindergarten class a few weeks ago. It's one of the few places with water these days as the rains are late and all is hot and extremely dry. We had a very fun and refreshing time!

Dia Del Nino

The Day of the Child are not just words on a calander here in Mexico...it's another chance to celebrate and fiesta! The mothers gathered at the primary school and cooked a big spread for the kids. The kids were then given tickets that they could use to "purchase" the food they wanted. Zam, Hizee, and Ziko were very pleased to spend their food tickets!

MCC Team Retreat

We had an MCC team retreat here in Olinala/Zacango at the end of April and the theme was: Relaxing and Enjoying One Another's Company. We took it easy (in the extreme heat of these days) eating together, playing, hanging out in Zacango, having a big birthday party for all those who had birthdays in the last months, singing around the camp fire, and worshipping together. Most of these pictures are from the devotion/worship time we had together which included an interactive activity involving maize corn. We also said good-bye to fellow MCCers Kirsten (in pink shirt sitting on the bench in second photo), Elieso (peeking above the sheet with cap in third photo) and their girls Kiana and Ayisha (cuties in the forth photo in the top row) as they have completed their term with MCC. Hizee and Ayisha are good friends and Hizee's really going to miss her at team events. We wish you guys all the best as you move back to the U.S.!