Summer

This summer has been the most interesting summer of my life. It started out 1,000 miles away from home, and found me in another whole country by the end of it. So many things, awesome and terrifying, have happened. I hope that I have enough skill to share them all with you in one blog post. Sit back, relax, and enjoy.

There have been so many events this summer that, if I tried to write them all down, I would be writing for several months. I think I’m just going to stick with the highlights, not necessarily in chronological order. Let’s do this!

Before you learn about my summer, you have to learn about our lodgings. We live in a house that is, in my opinion at least, way too fancy! There are two marble pillars in the front room, a spiral staircase with wrought-iron railing, the ENTIRE floor is made of tile, the color scheme is white and gold, and we have a free-of-charge, top-of-the-line security system. Yeah. Not my style at all. If I had it my way, the color scheme would be green and blue, we would only have one floor, and it would be made of wood.

The first spectacular thing about my summer has been trying all the Mexican food. Sorry if I misspelled any names. I haven’t learned how to do accents on this crazy computer yet. I liked chilaquiles (though whatever you do, DO NOT TRY CHILAQUILES WITH MOLE), tacos, enchiladas, burritos (especially barbacoa), quesadillas, and papas montadas with pork al pastor (marinated in a tangy sauce and slow-cooked). There are a lot of restaurants we like to go to, and here are some good ones to try if you ever visit Juarez: Burritos Crisostomo, Taqueria Aaajiji, El Taquito Loco (Which is Spanish for “The Crazy Little Taco!”), and Café Rocco. They all serve very good food, but watch out for that super-hot chile pepper sauce!

Enough about Mexico for now. Let’s take a little intermission and head down to Dallas, which I actually visited over the summer. I’m sorry if you didn’t have a chance to see me. I only stayed for a few days. I had a lot of fun, and almost broke down crying when we had to leave. We visited restaurants, had sleepovers, saw people, and generally had a good time. Just to let you folks know: I maintain a positive attitude on the outside, but I miss Dallas like I would my head if it was gone. (If I get my way, we will be coming back to Dallas on my birthday!) This visit really boosted my morale, and I really hope that I can come back soon.

While we were in Dallas partying, my dad had to stay at home working. SUPER DUPER BUMMER! I would have really enjoyed having him along. But it’s a good thing that he was there, because something special arrived when we were gone: our H.H.E. (household effects)! When we moved from Dallas, we had three piles: things we would take on the plane with us (miniscule pile), air freight that would arrive while we were in D.C. (medium-sized pile), and H.H.E., or the things that would arrive in Mexico (more than half of our stuff). I am now reading books that I haven’t seen since Dallas, playing with toys that I haven’t seen since Dallas, and wearing clothes that I haven’t seen since Dallas! This was another morale booster, and really helped me find more things to do (three and a half months is a long summer vacation).

You know, in Mexico, the topmost popular sport is soccer, but soccer has never really been my favorite sport to play. Instead, I enrolled in lessons on how to play a different sport: tennis! The lessons I take are taught by a really cool guy we call “Profe.” My lessons are Monday and Wednesday from 5:15 pm to 6:15 pm, and Tuesday and Thursday from 9:00 am to 10:00 am. Also, at tennis, I met my first friend my age in Mexico. His name is Jose Luis, and he plays better than I do! He speaks English, too, but we don’t go to the same school.

This paragraph is all about me and Jose Luis. Last month, we went and had the most fun time that I have had in Mexico so far. Here it is: my mom and sister took Jose Luis and me to the mall at about 11:30. We went off by ourselves with some money mom had given us. We looked around for a while, headed toward the food court, and ordered one large pepperoni pizza from Dominos! (And ate it all!) After that, we wandered around a little more, and after about 30 minutes, we did the thing that we went there to do: Jose Luis and I ordered two V.I.P. tickets to see Jurassic World! The movie was awesome, and when we left, I had a huge sugar buzz from eating a whole jumbo packet of Nerds. This was a completely amazing experience.

Another highlight of the summer: since the temperature in Mexico is so high, there are tons of water parks. None of them are really as big as Hawaiian Falls in Dallas, but there are some really cool slides. My favorite one to go to is called “Las Golondrinas.” It has two pools: a normal one for kids like me, and an extremely shallow one with tiny slides for kids like my sister. But there is also a huge slide taller than our house connected to its own little landing pool. That is what I usually use when we go there. Another good water park, Las Fuentes, has a slide that I like even more–this one drops you at about a 50-degree angle for about 20 feet, and then evens out so you crash into the pool really fast! BEST. SLIDE. EVER!!!!

Now here is a paragraph that is making me nervous. School starts tomorrow! (At least when I’m writing this, by the time you read it, it will already have started.) The school that I picked is called Colegio San Patricio. To get in, I had to take an entrance test 150 questions long! I passed, but my Spanish reading could use a bit of work. I knew this already, though. [Side comment by Kristin: As Isaiah’s mom I feel the need to mention he tested at a grade level of 6.2, which I thought was pretty darned good for a non-native speaker entering sixth grade.] I don’t know anything about what the school days will be like, so I am super nervous. I miss Rosemont so much (speaking of which, good riddance, DISD superintendent Mike Miles!) and any support offered would be appreciated as I am, as of now, completely stressed out.

But now for a happier topic! The Dallas trip wasn’t the only trip I took over the summer. My mom and sister and I also took a trip over to Santa Fe to visit family. It was awesome! We went to the pool, visited restaurants, went to museums, and even went to an old ranch. Both of our pairs of grandparents live in Santa Fe, so it is a convenient place to have family get-togethers. This was a cool trip, and it helped my spirits to be back in the U.S. for a week.

Personally, I think this summer was one of the best I’ve ever had. Tons of different things have happened, and I live in another country now. If someone a year and a half ago had told me how I would spend this summer, I would have thought they were crazy. But here I am. ”I take the roads less traveled. I’m on my way. I take the roads less traveled. I’ll see you again someday.” –Ziggy Marley