Category Archives: Expat Kids and Family

“Chicken Breakfast” 2014!

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Last year we fed 2300 families, in Mazatlán’s poorest colonias: La Felicidad, Ampliación Felipe Angeles, Universo, Quinta Chapalita, Nuevo Milenio, Jardines del Valle, Villa Tutuli, Nuevo Cajeme, Montebello, Francisco I. Madero, Ladrillera, El Basurón, El Conchi 2, and the Ex-Hacienda de Urias. It’s a Christmas tradition dating back to 1990, spearheaded by our friend Yolanda Medina. It is the absolute BEST way we’ve found to celebrate the holiday here in Mazatlán. We are so grateful for this annual opportunity—locals and expats coming together, working shoulder to shoulder, to reach out and bring a smile to those less fortunate. I’ve met so many wonderful people through Desayuno de los Pollos, and have witnessed such strength of spirit. 2014 will be our eighth year participating. You can view photos of last year’s event here.

How did this whole effort start? And why in the world is it called “chicken breakfast” or desayuno de los pollos?

“It was Christmas Eve, and daughter María Yolanda’s days were numbered. Yolanda and her late husband, Modesto, were in no mood to eat, let alone have a Christmas dinner with all the fixings. But that night, a woman knocked on the hospital room door and peeked to see if there was someone with the patient. She came in to hand Yolanda and Modesto a box with a hot Christmas dinner — roll and all — and told them Merry Christmas and that God was with them. Yolanda never forgot that gesture.”

Yolanda, her husband and extended family started repeating that gesture for others, and over the past 25 years the project has morphed into two main parts:

  1. The handing out of whole chickens, 10 days’ worth of food, plus clothes, toys and candy, to inhabitants of Mazatlán’s poorest communities. This event takes place each December 24th.
  2. A fundraiser breakfast (not chicken! Usually eggs, chilaquiles, beans, breads, juice, coffee), held to raise money to buy the food. This event takes place each year in early December or late November.

Read the full story of the Chicken Breakfast here.

Would you like to join in this incredible effort? There are so many ways you can help!

  • Attend the fundraiser breakfast on the Saturday the 29th of November starting at 8:30 am (serving till 10:00 or so), at the cruise ship port (API on Agenda Emilio Barragán). Tickets are 150 pesos per person and include a full, home-cooked breakfast, a holiday bazaar of handicrafts and baked goods, a silent as well as a live auction, and a whole lot of socializing and fun. You can buy tickets by contacting me, Dianne Hofner Saphiere, or one of the many other people around town who sell them (Yolanda, Jorge and Isa Medina; Jeanette Leraand, Barbara Narvesian, Lana Reid…). If you can’t attend the breakfast, you can still make a donation. 100% of what you donate will go directly to helping, as everyone involved is volunteer. You can browse photos of last year’s breakfast here.
  • Help us gather great things for the live and silent auctions! Each year Jorge Medina makes at least one wrought-iron table for auction. We often have artwork, and many gift certificates to hotels, restaurants and shops around town. Last year we had an original artwork by Armando Nava, and a 2-night all-inclusive stay at El Cid Marina in the silent auction. You can view just a few of last year’s great prizes here. Many thanks to everyone who donates to support this cause! If you know a business that would like to participate, you can download blank gift certificates here. Once you fill it out, be sure to get it to me, Isa or one of the other key people so we can put it into the silent auction. Thank you!
  • Be a cook! Cut vegetables the night before the breakfast (November 28th), or be one of the cooks on the morning of the 29th! We’ve had several of our cooks move away, so we are in need. It’s a great way to learn to make some Mexican staples, and to meet some new local friends.
  • Help set up and clean up the breakfast (setting out plastic chairs and tables the night of the 28th, and stacking them up after the breakfast on the 29th). My husband Greg is still gimpy, so we will be short-handed this year and could use your help.
  • Help pack food into smaller packets (e.g., bulk rice and beans into baggies), during the week prior to December 24th. A group gathers at the Medina family home in Quince Letras nearly every evening.
  • Gather gently used or new toys and candy, to hand out to the children on the 24th. Last year we had so few toys, the sadness on the kids’ faces just broke my heart.
  • Gather your gently used clothing, shoes, blankets, and jackets to hand out on the 24th. Please get these to us ahead of time, so we can sort things in preparation for the big day.
  • Bring your truck or large vehicle on the 24th, to help us transport the frozen chickens, foodstuffs, and all the Santa-hatted people out to our poorer colonias. Again, please let us know ahead of time, so we can plan. Thank you!
  • Join us on the 24th, to be in one of the six or seven caravans of cars and trucks that go to the poor outskirts of the city to hand out food and goodies! Directions can be found here.
  • Donate any amount that moves you. We are all volunteers, so 100% of what you gift goes to help those who need it. Just click on the button on the upper right side of this VidaMaz blog.

It is a terrific event, and we very much look forward to joining in with those who participate in this annual tradition, as well as welcoming those who are new to it! If you have children or grandchildren with you, it’s especially important to teach them to reach out in this way, and to let them see how simply other people live. We look forward to having you join us.

Moving to Mexico (Mazatlán) with School Kids

We have had several inquiries recently from parents who want to move to Mazatlán with their children. More and more Mazatleco-born parents seem to want to return here with their US-born-or-raised children, as well as Canadians and US American parents. So, I am reposting the below. Of particular importance to SEP (Mexican Education Ministry) is the apostille, and it takes the most effort on your part BEFORE you leave the USA or Canada, so be sure to get it before heading out, everyone!

Dianne Hofner Saphiere's avatar¡VidaMaz!

The goal of this blog post is to explain some of the things we have learned while parenting a school-aged child in Mexico (or at least in Mazatlán, Sinaloa), and some of the contrasts with the US system of education. Much of the information below comes from the questions we are most frequently asked by those who are thinking about or planning to relocate.

Obviously the below is based on our experience as a family; many will have different opinions and experiences. It is worthwhile noting that people moving to Mexico City, Monterey or Guadalajara will have many more choices than we have here in the “provinces,” as they say in Spanish.

I hope some of this might help you as you think about relocating. I only wish this sort of information had been available to us when we moved!

Choosing a School
Make the decision around choice of school…

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“Minority Boy” Nears High School Graduation

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My oh my oh my! Time most definitely does fly. This morning, as I was sitting in the Rigodanza Auditorium at ICO, looking out on the nearly 300-strong “Generación 59” graduating class, I just kept seeing them as youngsters! What a journey this has been.

Six years ago, after our son Danny graduated primary school, we moved here to Mazatlán, Sinaloa, México, where he would start junior high. He didn’t speak Spanish, though he’d worked with a tutor twice a week for a year. So many people told us how crazy we were.

  • “Why in the world would you leave a Blue Ribbon School of Excellence for a Mexican school?”
  • “How dare you neglect your kid in this way! It is irresponsible parenting to move with a child to such a dangerous place.”
  • “We are from here. If we had any way to educate our kids anywhere else, we would. I can’t believe you’ve purposefully brought your son to Mazatlán.”

Well, we did purposefully bring our kid here. We wanted him to grow up as a member of a minority, to know how that feels—to build empathy, and to develop skills for living as a minority—a skill any global nomad needs, a valuable life skill, and one he may very well be needing soon as a “white boy” in his birth country (USA). So we had a passion and commitment in our choice to move here. But, really, with so many people, locals and foreigners, scolding us with such abandon for the past six years, what parent wouldn’t second-guess herself?

The past six years have not always been easy. Watch what you wish for! As a minority, Danny was (inadvertently) excluded from so many important communications about school, social gatherings, and sports practices. It was hard not to feel left out. He is a good actor, and was given one of the starring roles in a school play—unfortunately it was that of the ugly American boss who treats immigrants poorly and is only out for money. Really? Give me a break!

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The first six months of our stay here were painful. As the person in our household with the best Spanish, it fell on me to tutor our son every night. Remember that in the eyes of a 13 year old boy, Moms know NOTHING. It was so frustrating, such a test of my patience, which is way too thin. Then, one night about six months into our lives here, he went to bed, and the next morning he understood Spanish. It was like a light switch flipped on. He didn’t understand everything, he didn’t speak or write perfectly, but I no longer needed to help him understand what his homework was.

The past few weeks this same young man, 18 now, has been interviewing local business and community leaders about our city’s future, what skills they feel our city needs, and how he might craft his studies and internships during university so that he can come back to Mazatlán and obtain a worthwhile position here. He loves this city as much as we do. He’s Mazatleco now; there is very often a culture gap between his immigrant parents and the Mexican, Blended Culture young man he’s become. Those interviewees are all telling him that his complete fluency in English and Spanish, his fluency with both cultures, is a huge asset that he must not lose when he goes to the US for school. He must find a way to retain and amplify it, ideally by adding Chinese language and culture. Wow.

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He’s definitely not the same little boy who celebrated his 13th birthday at our pool with his brand-new school friends here, and was shocked as all get out when they gleefully shoved his face into the cake! What a surprise that was for him, especially when they all laughed. But he is much more flexible than his mother, and he took it all in stride, laughing and vamping for the crowd with frosting covering his face.

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To those naysayers, who told us our son would not get a good education here, I am very relieved to have your prognostications proven wrong. Danny received an award from a Mexican university, and has fielded quite a few recruiting calls from other schools in Mexico. He also received six scholarships, several over US$80k, to well-respected US universities. He’s chosen a terrific small liberal arts college with an international focus, located in an ethnically rich metro area. I believe his incredible scholarship success is due, in major part, to the fact that he’s grown up abroad, and that he is able to demonstrate his biculturality and cultural bridging abilities. And the SAT scores show that, indeed, he received a very strong education here at local Mazatlán schools, both in junior high at Andes and in high school at ICO. He sure had a high school curriculum that put mine to shame—law, ecology, philosophy, ethics. My most heartfelt THANK YOUs to all his teachers—elementary, secondary and high school. Bless you for your patience and talent!

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Today I had the huge privilege of speaking to Danny’s graduating class. I was part of a panel of six parents, given the opportunity to share with the kids what life has taught us. What an incredible gift for a gringa Mom to feel included in this way! To me it is a testament to the open-mindedness of the Xaverian education at ICO. Our panel included business owners and housewives, parents who graduated from name universities and those who attended technical school, locals as well as those from outside Mazatlán. I loved sitting up front, looking out and seeing the young men and women who have frequented our pool, our home, our beach, my son’s life. I felt distracted as I spoke, so hoping that those kids who are staying in town to study will stay in touch with us, despite the fact that Danny is leaving. Several of them feel like my own children, and I kept getting teary eyed.

For those of you who have followed our family on this journey, thank you for your companionship. I am very happy to report that, so far, the experiment has been a success. As Danny, who did not want to move to Mazatlán in 2008, said to us on our first anniversary here, “One year since the best decision we ever made!”

The next journey will be reentry: learning how to live happily, productively, and multiculturally, in the US of A. And, of course, learning how to do those same things in college!

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Linked to the My Global Life Link-Up at SmallPlanetStudio.com

Town Hall Meeting for US Americans in MZT

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Yesterday, Friday January 24th, was our annual USA citizens’ town hall meeting at the Hotel Playa at 11 am. Several people have asked us for a report. Please allow us to summarize here on the site what we heard yesterday. Feel free to add in what we’ve missed, or to correct something you may have heard differently!

John, our wonderful consular officer, was here from Hermosillo, accompanied by Rob, the security officer, and Ian, also from their office, who’s been filling in a bit for Luís Ramirez while he’s out of town. Heather and Lety, our local consular office staff members, received a big round of applause, as did Luís in absentia. Adriana from our local office of Migración gave a short presentation, interpreted by Isa Medina. No one from Aduana/Customs attended. Iván Pico from the Mayor’s office was present, but was not asked to speak.

The meeting last about 90 minutes, and was well attended, though there were fewer people than in prior years (maybe 150 people?). John gave an overall report and then asked for questions, as did Ian and Rob. Last up was Adriana.

The meeting is primarily a chance for our consular staff to meet with and hear from US residents and visitors. This year not a lot of new information was shared, since there seems to have been pretty good communication throughout the year. Some interesting highlights included that:

  1. John asked for a show of hands for how many present had lived in Mazatlán less than five years, more than five, more than ten, etc. Most present have lived here over five years. The person present who has resided here the longest was Khacho, of JungleJuice fame, who said she’s lived in Mazatlán for 39 years. Only two or three hands were raised by people who had lived here fewer than five years. Interesting. Not sure if newer immigrants just didn’t attend the meeting or hadn’t heard about it.
  2. Rob and John both congratulated our governor for all the hard work he’s done to stem violence in our state as well as to change perceptions of violence here. Everyone agreed all is much calmer than it was for a while. In response to a request that the officials present do all in their power to stem the tide of sensationalistic State Department reports, Rob explained about the “double standard” law on the books in the US. It states that if any officer of the US government cautions any employee about safety protocol, that same message must be shared with all US citizens. Rob said that while the intent of the law is good, that’s why we get so many warnings that may seem silly or overly cautionary. Interesting to know; puts things in context a bit.
  3. Adriana from Mexican Immigration read the definitions and prices for the top three visa categories, with Isa interpreting. There were two main lines of questions for Adriana.
    1. The first was about how to renew visas. Such information is publicly available, and Adriana patiently attempted to answer audience members’ questions. It was obvious that too many rumors are going around about changes in visa status, that those in the room who have renewed visas are comfortable with the new process, and that accurate information on this topic is available online as well as in the Immigration office, so expatriates are encouraged to go to the source rather than believing or passing on hearsay. Towards the end of that discussion, 15 minutes were spent on personal inquiries, which John ably redirected to private discussions upon conclusion of the larger group meeting.
    2. The second line of questions for Adriana was around car importation, which of course is a matter for Customs and not for Immigration, and thus outside her area of expertise. She did clarify that local Aduana can not register cars that are supposed to leave the country and reenter; the local Customs office doesn’t have the necessary software nor authorization. Such can only be done by Customs at the border. O’Neal asked for an update on Luis’ efforts to get a representative of Aduana from the border down here, explaining that we have many retirees in Sinaloa and Nayarit who are no longer able to make the long trek of driving their cars to the border to re-register them, and others whose cars are so old that they are not mechanically fit enough to make it to the border for re-registration. John and Ian promised they would ask Luís about it. Several of those in attendance assured the audience that importing an auto is not really that difficult; most of the paperwork can be done through email prior to heading north. There are customs agents who are professional and speak English. One of our readers, Kitty Krohne, tells us, “We imported two vehicles. It was very straightforward….actually it was easier then getting the plaques here. If I can help or share more info with anyone I will certainly be happy to do so. You are welcome to pm me.”
    3. Quite a bit of discussion was had around the need for residents to check in and out when they leave the country. While the process at the airport is streamlined, land crossing is met with much confusion on the part of the foreign community. It was clarified that if leaving on Highway 15, one should check out and in at the 21KM checkpoint, even if they have no automobile-related business to tend to. It was pointed out that an official request to the Mexican government has been made to install signage for northbound travelers, and to improve traffic safety at this point. Adriana pointed out that there will be circumstances where checking in or out is not possible, with the example being any foreigner who travels overnight on a bus. The response to this was the familiar, ni modo.
  4. An inquiry was made about U.S. Notary services while Luís is out of town. It was pointed out by John that the Hermosillo office was sending officers down as needed to deal with this and other necessary work. If U.S. Notary service is necessary, one should check with Heather or Lety to see when such service will be available.
  5. A brief discussion around mordidas, or bribes to police officers, included a show of hands of who has been “shaken down” and who has not. Fortunately, very few have ever encountered issues. Those that do are asked to do their best to get the patrol car number, note the day and time, and report all to Iván Pico at the Mayor’s office.

Not so much to report. It was good to see everyone. I believe you all join me in gratitude that John and his staff hold these annual Town Hall meetings for us. Also many thanks to Lance at the Hotel Playa for donating use of a large salón for this purpose.

On a personal note, let’s all remember that we are guests in Mexico. Mexico is a sovereign nation free to change laws that affect us without consulting us or the U.S. Government. While we can ask our government representatives to explain what they believe is going on and ask them to inform their Mexican counterparts of our concerns, Mexico is under no obligation to heed such input. Mexicans are the first to admit that some of their laws and procedures are outdated, inefficient and nonsensical. Such is true in most countries. But we are obligated to follow those laws and we have no right or expectation that our government can change things. Expecting otherwise will most likely only get one frustrated.

Sharp Hospital Receives Prestigious National Certification (and some exciting Carnaval news)

Chairman Kuroda receiving a plaque from State Secretary of Tourism Cordova,<br />State Secretary of Health Echeverría, and Mazatlán Mayor Felton.

Chairman Kuroda receiving a plaque from State Secretary of Tourism Cordova,
State Secretary of Health Echeverría, and Mazatlán Mayor Felton.

Mexico’s General Health Council has given Mazatlán’s own Hospital Sharp an impressive 9.5 out of 10 points on a prestigious patient care accreditation, making it one of only two hospitals in Sinaloa to achieve such a ranking. The award comes after several years of painstaking work by administration and staff—from janitors, cooks and bookkeepers to doctors, nurses and technicians. Greg and I were pleased to be join the banquet on top of SECTUR’s offices on the malecón last Wednesday night, to honor those involved in this effort to better position Mazatlán in national and international medical tourism markets. It was a joy to be in the presence of so many different types of medical professionals enjoying one another’s company and accomplishments.

In attendance were Mazatlán’s Mayor Carlos Felton and the first lady, Sinaloa State Tourism Secretary Francisco Córdova and his wife, and Sinaloa State Secretary of Health Ernesto Echeverría. During the banquet 35 division heads and key staff received commemorative plaques. Ing. Juan Manuel Kuroda, who is Chairman of the Hospital’s Board of Directors and the primary investor in Hospital Sharp (yes, also owner of Kuroda tile), says, “We are very proud of our 219 dedicated employees who were instrumental in achieving this result.  In addition to serving the needs of our local population and foreign visitors, with this certification we are also able to compete on a level playing field in the Medical Tourism market worldwide.”

The accreditation centers on patient care. Each aspect of the quality of medical attention and patient safety, from evidence gathering to diagnosis and treatment as well as accurate record keeping with precise checks and balances was evaluated against international standards.

Hospital Sharp has a modern physical facility with open spaces and 41 single-bed rooms, along with constant fresh air intake to lessen the transfer of germs and illness. It is a full service, 24-7 surgical facility, has the only dialysis facility in Mazatlán, and is completely self-sufficient—equipped with powerful generators in the event of a disruption in electrical service. Construction began in 1994, and the facility was built to USA standards. Hospital Sharp Mazatlán is located at Av. Rafael Buelna y Dr. Jesús Kumate S/N Fracc, Hacienda Las Cruces C.P. 82126, Mazatlán Sinaloa, telephone (669) 986 56 78.

Mayor Felton’s speech from the event:

Judy Setrakov, who works at Sharp as a medical tourism consultant, received a special tourist ambassador award. She, Doctor Juan Fernando Barraza, and Christian Barrios form Sharp’s Medical Tourism group. They can be reached at the number above, extension 336.

On a completely different note, I also found out on Wednesday evening some extremely exciting news. Carnavál Internacional de Mazatlán will have a Japanese-themed float and dance group this year, to commemorate 400 years of Japan-Mexico diplomatic relations. The float will be a samurai ship. I have been invited to the dance troupe. Special choreography, including a “tequila o-dori,” will be performed, taught to us by a Japanese dance professional from Mexico City. That changes up our annual parade party, but it sure should be fun!