Pax Gaea Human Rights World Post

Settling In To Our New Reality

We have now been in our new home in Gringolandia for a week and have at last settled into a routine that allows us to accomplish the bulk of our tasks throughout the day. Our primary reason for coming to Mexico was to write the book, and I am proud of the progress we are making. We are finalizing Chapter Two, and each chapter is running kind of long. Big surprise to anyone who knows me, right? We’ve an interesting approach to writing that, I must confess, is perfect for a guy like me who thinks and talks much faster than most people could transcribe.

We typically rise around nine or ten and feed the girls and organize their schoolwork for the day. I’m taking charge of history, geography and science (very fun experiments are coming up soon). Pen is taking charge of reading, math and posting. I must say the geography game we play is turning out to be as much fun for me as it is for the girls (okay, probably more so). We took a list of all 240 recognized nations, cut them onto individual pieces of paper and, every morning, Elea stirs and Abi draws the assigned nation for the day. I then print the worksheet and outline map for that country, and the girls have a list of facts they have to ferret out using the Atlas and Internet to find that information (I’ll admit it. I’m a bastard. Some of these facts are a bit obscure and require a bit of research to find, but Abi seems to have inherited my love for research and is becoming a master of the search engine.) After compiling the data, Abi has to plot those key elements on the outline map and then present a narrative of the data she compiled. One of the aspects is a Fun Fact, and I am a harsh judge as she has to find a fact we did not know (it is unfair when your parents are recovering Jeopardy and Trivia Pursuit junkies, I must confess).

In the late morning and early afternoon we all work on our blogs. In fact they’ve recently added pictures and new blog entries at www.paxgaea.com. I’ll retreat to a quiet spot to review some of the facts that I’ll be integrating into that evening’s writing session as the girls dive into the computer for their research and work on their assignments. Pen will review their writing and offer editorial suggestions and direction. (I must say, she is really and excellent and very patient teacher!) In mid afternoon we’ll walk into town and we’ll shop for dinner and other essentials as well as grab a light lunch from one of the street vendors or local restaurants. We have become devotees of La Surtidora Cafe on the Plaza Don Vasco de Quiroga, the main plaza where they feature the best Mexican coffee I have ever tasted. It is also a gathering point for the gringos, so we have a chance to meet and catch up with the varied cast of characters we’ve met here. The girls love to play in the fountain, and on the Plaza Green and there are so many children here for them to play with. It is one of the reasons, besides our obvious need to exercise, we make the daily trips into town. After catching the last few deals we can in the village market or the countless little specialty shops, we’ll select a section of town we haven’t visited yet and hike through those streets. Patzcauro occupies a small valley and stretches up the mountainside, so it is an excellent workout.

We’ll then hike back home and start dinner while we finalize homework for the day. After dinner we’ll play a game (last night Elea was kicking our butts in Crazy Eights until Pen rallied to humiliate us all.). As Pen settles the girls in for the evening, the girls taking turns reading to her and Pen closing their evening while reading to them. Right now they’re reading The Open Door, a collection of poems and stories compiled in 1927 that we borrowed from Pen’s Mother (it seemed as if it may have been a popular book in the McMullan household as both her mother and her brother Phil’s names are inscribed inside). I’ll clean up the kitchen and get the coffee brewing and lay out our support materials for the evening and, around 10 or so, Pen and I will turn to working on the novel. We are writing this in the narrative form. I’ll take a few minutes to briefly cover the facts we’re integrating into the story so Pen can better understand the historical context into which we’re immersing our characters. While this is historical fiction, we’re adamant that the history be as factually accurate as possible. While a popular novel and a great story are most critical to assuring the success of this novel, it is critical to me that the history be able to stand up to expert scrutiny, thus making our fiction historically plausible. Patrick O’Brien was a master of this style and, while he was appealing to a very narrow band of Royal Navy history buffs (like me) and less concerned with appealing to a popular audience, specifically as he writes in a style reflective of the language of 19th Century England, we are attempting to keep the descriptions and narrative more contemporary and allowing our character’s dialogues to reflect the period. When we’ve reached agreement as to how we’ll integrate our characters, I’ll narrate as Pen transcribes, stopping me every now and then to clarify a point or to remind me of continuity issues or protesting an action which she views as inconsistent with the character. We’ll typically write until 3 a.m. or so and collapse from the efforts of a very long day.

We have squeezed in a few side trips, such as a circumnavigation of Lake Patzcuaro in an effort to get an overview of the neighboring Indian villages. We also took an afternoon to travel to Morelia to visit Office Depot and give the girls a treat of McDonald’s. (Okay, again, I confess. It was a nice treat to devour a few Quartas Con Queso and Popas as I had missed a little tasting American fast food. Next time we’ll venture to Hamburguesa Rey... Burger King where I’m dying to see what they call a Whopper!) Today, it’s raining pretty hard, so we may have to scrub our walk but, in one respect, Patzcuaro and Wilmington weather are much alike...if you don’t like the weather, wait a half hour because this torrential down pour could break into a glorious warm afternoon ideal for a healthy jaunt. I was recently asked if there is anything I don’t like about the trip so far, and I must say there is one thing. I am smoking way too much. I’ve a switched to a brand called Boots that is similar to Marlboro. As I spend so much time at the computer and don’t have to go outside to smoke and as it is tolerated everywhere in Mexico, I’ve gone a bit overboard. I’ve tied to integrate more pistachios into my nightly writing regiment so I can cut back and we may being seeing positive health benefits form our high altitude jaunts. But, it’s days like this, when the rains are pouring down, dancing rhythmically upon the skylights which are now casting a gray light throughout the entire room, where copious amounts of hot coffee and cigarettes are just that much more compelling, and I realize that I am spending a small fortunate on cigarettes, so I must figure out a way to scale back. Other than that, I am absolutely intoxicated by this adventure.

We do appreciate your continued support and wishes of good writing and thank you all for being so supportive. I love this country and its people and have found kindred spirits from America who seem to truly understand why people like us venture out such as this. They too, are sometimes questioned as to their motivations for adopting the expatriate life. Despite what people may believe, we love our native home, but we grow concerned daily that that individualism that inspired our country to greatness is being supplanted by a complacency and ignorance that harkens back to that era that made us all choose the freedom of Independence rather than the security of Autocracy. Spending so much of my time reviewing the last 300 years of world history, it is obvious how easy it is to fall into the trap that the powers that be are much wiser and better informed than you are and how easily a people will surrender their best interests for the sake of flag and cross. We too, know our nation’s potential, and we hope that something will be a catalyst to spark that sparks us from our complacent slumber.

What that catalyst will be is the million-dollar question.

posted by Dave Carroll @ 8/25/2006 02:22:00 PM