Differences and Observations, Part II

I have been thinking lately about what Caleb and Landon like about being here...

- The 'train' - a.k.a. The Metro (subway)

- Waving and sometimes saying hola to our various conserjes (concierge/door man) in the building.  With one of them (our favorite guy) they both reach out their hand for him to shake it as we go by.  His name is Marco, a very sweet older man who walks with a limp but gets up to open the door for us each time we come or go. The kids love him.

- There are a number of different little parks within walking distance, so we can easily mix it up each day.  Its always fun when there happen to be other kids there that C&L can play with.

- Going to the fruteria/verdureria down the street.  This is the little market where they sell fruit and veg.  The boys like waving to the guys that work there, and of course enjoy it when they occasionally give them a free sample.  Caleb always recognizes one particular guy as "the guy from the fruteria", even if we see him elsewhere around the neighborhood (see picture below).  Our favorite is buying blueberries, strawberries, or blackberries there.  One day we were buying corn for Gloria and the guy took them right out of the back of the truck, took out a machete-like knife, and whacked off each end of the ear with two clean swipes, like he was cutting through butter.  Caleb stood and watched the guy cut the corn until I was done buying my produce.

This morning at the fruteria/ verdureria - We had to stock up on toppings for burgers for another BBQ  we are invited to tonight.  More on that to come...

A different time watching them chop the ends off the corn.  This is also the guy that Caleb always recognizes around the neighborhood.

This is the truck backing in to deliver vegetable in the morning.  It stays parked there all day as they gradually unload it to set up or refill their shop. 

- Having lots of curtains in our apartment - they are constantly playing hide and seek behind them in various rooms of the house.  It gets some good belly laughs from both of them.

- Walking over the "chocolate milk canal", as we call it.  Its just a canal with brown water, but the other name makes it so much more interesting!  Its the little stuff that make it possible to walk 15-20 min each way to the grocery store with the kids in tow...  The canal, the various trucks that drive by, the buses, people walking dogs, construction, a piece of trash or dog poo on the sidewalk.... Kids notice everything,  and when they don't notice, I point things out to keep them interested and engaged.  All part of our learning process on how to live in a big city with kids!