the refrigerator.

monterrey, by some, used to be referred to as the 'refrigerator', because it was one of the safest places you could be in mexico. no more, it seems. coming back to monterrey, a city that i love, and seeing it like this, has been saddening.

first, of course, was the terrible damage done by hurricane alex. sadly, in canada, we did not get the full coverage of what was going on down here. there was tremendous damage done to infrastructure, two of the main thoroughfares and all of the businesses that had set up shop in the usually-dry river bed. the canyon by our school looks starkly different, and the road is completely washed out.

we moved this year to a new, state-of-the-art campus in santa catarina, on the other side of town. aside from my deep hatred of the morning commute, it has been a great experience to be in a new building, and be a part of the road bumps that come along with transition. however, our road bumps have gone beyond furniture and bulletin boards. on our third day of school, there was a shootout right outside our school grounds during dismissal. i won't go into details (you can just google it) but it was a harrowing experience. as a result of this, we have all become increasingly more aware of what is really going on in monterrey.

i don't really understand all of what is happening in these drug wars, but it makes me sad to think about how deep-rooted these issues are: corruption that could take generations to fix.

i should reassure you that my life here still feels very safe. today i ran errands and went to the gym. the mountains were clearer then they've been in a long while, so i went out and took pictures. i ordered sushi for takeout. we took the dogs for a walk. there were still lots of people at the mall, restaurants were full and traffic is still heavy and crazy.

when it rains, it always pours. and i know that this too will pass, and with time, my city of mountains will settle.