On our Way to Ciudad de Mexico!

Most people would agree that Mike and I are “action people.” If we say we’re going to do something, WE DO IT! Remember all of you that had your doubts we’d ride our Harley to Sturgis – HA!!

We have been talking to the manager of the Inter Act School in Mexico City and she has provided a lot of information regarding the teaching jobs. It sounds so perfect. We would be teaching adults (18-60 years old) that are learning conversational English to improve their position in their business/company. The classes are small – just 4-5 students per class. The classes meet 3 times a week for 1.5 hours at a time. We each may have 5-10 “groups of students” meeting every week.

But what about living in a city of THIRTY MILLION PEOPLE? That’s not exactly what we had in mind when we decided to move to Mexico. Nevertheless, we are still very interested. Soooo interested that we will be in Mexico City from Sunday through Thursday to check out the school and the living conditions. Can you believe that??

We’ll have someone at the house and it would not surprise me one bit if we got a good offer while we are out of town. All the “seasoned” real estate agents always say that the best way to sell a house is to go on vacation.

Stay tuned…

Job Offers

We received our first JOB OFFERS today! It came from Inter Act Speaking Centers with placement in Queretaro (125 miles north of Mexico City) and in Mexico City. We responded with a request for more info.

We had not considered Mexico City, but the more we think about it…

Does anyone have any info about this company?? If so, please post or send us an email.

Español

I'm embarrassed to post this, but we failed our Intensive Spanish II course. Failed in that we didn't finish the course. We didn't keep up with our homework and we fell too far behind to keep up with the rest of the class.

BUT, we haven't given up! We still practice with each other (and Sitka) and we've been watching soap operas in Spanish (many people have advised us to do this.) Plus, we can continue with the textbook and CD so that we don't lose everthing we've learned so far. And if anyone has any other helpful ideas for us, please let us know! We really think it will be important for us - not so much for teaching English in Mexico - but for becoming a part of the community wherever we end up living.

On another note we have a guy coming up from Montesano tomorrow to check out the Harley Davidson FATBOY. Plus, we have a Harley dealership that is interested if the Montesano guy doesn't work out. We hate to do it, but we have to sell that bike. I'm sure it will be a sad day for Miguel when he sees someone drive off on his baby.

And we're holding our house open this Saturday and Sunday. There has been an increase in recent activity in the Duvall real estate market so hopefully we'll get a good offer soon. Send your friends and family to see our house this weekend!

¡Adios!

Holly Hollow

If my mom was still alive she would be 79 today! Her name was Holly (somehow short for Helen) and she was an adventurer. And that’s probably where I got my spunk.

Holly moved from Seattle to Ketchikan, Alaska in the early 1970’s when she was 42 years old. She fished a two-person salmon trawler with her boyfriend and they were very successful!

Holly visited our home in 2001 before she got cancer. And she loved our home so much that we named it Holly Hollow. Mike had a sign made and it hung proudly in our living room.

Here’s to you, Mom...thank you for the spirit of adventure that I'm sure I inherited from you.

Shots!

We got part I of our vaccinations today…Hepatitis A and Hepatitis B. I am really usually nervous around needles so I went first. And I’m surprised to say it barely hurt!

Mike went next and agreed that it wasn’t as bad as we thought it would be. So after all that bravery I was treated to a slice of Kahlua cream pie!

On the Way Out...

For those of you who have not been to our house recently, or for those of you that do not believe we are really moving – we thought we’d share a couple of pics of how we are living these days…


Yep. That’s our bedroom with the inflatable mattress and TV/DVD player. And that other pic is what remains of our office. Two chairs, two TV trays, two laptops and a printer. What else do we need?? Well, we do have the two bar stools at the kitchen island, but that's it.


We held Open Houses last weekend and had the Broker’s Open last Tuesday. And we’ve had some “lookers,” but no offers yet. No worries. We’ll do Open Houses again this weekend.

On another note, we began our Intensive Spanish II course last week and it is like a whirlwind!!! Our la professora is from Colombia, South America, and she speaks very little English. We are doing a lot of homework to keep up with this pace…in fact, we need to study our new vocabulary for Thursday night’s class so I better sign off!

p.s. Don’t forget about our Harley that we need to sell…we’ve reduced the price to $15,500 – but that still includes a $500 “finder’s fee” – GO SELL IT FOR US!!

Sitka's Day at the Doggie Spa

Here’s our girl, Sitka! It was very foggy in Duvall this morning when we walked up the driveway to see how our primroses fared through the frost…

We can tell that Sitka knows something is going on. First of all, the house is almost empty. Secondly, we have to “fence her in” in the dining room every night until she is completely dry before she is allowed to walk on the new carpet. And she has spent extra time in the closed garage this week while we have had open houses or real estate agents have come by with buyers.

So yesterday morning I treated her to a day at the new doggie spa! It is a brand new Duvall business called Best Buddy Dog Wash and it is a “self-serve” place to take your dog for a bath. You put your dog in a tub, turn on the hand held hose, wet her down and then select from 4 different organic shampoos. After shampooing there is a rinse, towel down and blow dry. Sitka did real well although she almost got out of her tub a couple of times! And now she smells like heaven.

Mike and I are doing our best to assure Sitka that she’s coming with us to Mexico. Now if we could just teach her a little Spanish…

We are TEACHERS!

Yesterday Mike and I completed our Teaching English as a Second Language (TESL) course from Oxford Seminars in Seattle and we are now certified TESL teachers. The classes were challenging, yet we also enjoyed the hands-on activities and bonding with our instructor, Karen, and the other students.

The pic on the left is Mike during his final Practicum – his topic was Valentine’s Day – how sweet! He handed out valentines, those little candies with “sweet sayings” on them, and chocolate roses to all of the women.

The pic on top is of Karen, our instructor. She is so energetic and full of creative teaching ideas. I just hope I can remember some of what she gave to us!

Looking Good...

We are just about ready to sell our house. Mike mowed the lawn yesterday and I finished laying the last of the bark. The primroses are colorful and holding their own under all of the rain. The windows have been washed. The deck has been sprayed down. And amazingly - the garage is just about empty. The house just has our blow-up mattress, TV/DVD, 2 chairs and TV trays for our “desks.”

So we are still on track to list the house on Monday and hold a Broker’s Open on Tuesday. The food is ordered and we are ready to rock and roll.

Wanna Buy a House?

What a wacky couple weeks of activity at our house in Duvall, WA!

Jake from Duvall re-texturized the bathroom walls, Mark from Woodinville painted the interior, the guys from the Ukraine laid the laminate, Carlos, Eduardo & Marco from Mexico replaced the carpet, Cybi from Albania added the trim, Mike installed the new living room ceiling fan/light and dining room chandelier, we had the garage sale, we found homes for the garage sale leftovers and now we just have to spruce up the yard.

And then the fun begins.

I plan to list the house in the Multiple Listing Service on 2/11 and have a Broker’s Open on Tuesday 2/12 (that’s the day when local real estate agents go preview the newest properties on the market.) We hope to get into contract within 2 weeks and close the deal by April 1 – April Fool’s Day – HA.

In between we will wrap up our Teaching English as a Second Language training/certification, complete our Intensive Spanish II course, get immunized, hopefully secure teaching positions in Mexico, take care of all of the financial and legal details, pack our trailer, and get ready for a MAJOR ROAD TRIP!

Everyday we realize that the “road trip day” is drawing closer. And as I look around at the beautiful mountains, green grass and trees, plus the occasional bald eagle, I have a deeper appreciation for all that we take for granted here in the Great Northwest.

Notwithstanding (as Renee would write), we’re ready for the BIG adventure!