Great Expectations

Yesterday, in an effort to reverse the brain drain of Nintendo DS, I had Jacob write about his new life in Mexico. I told him that he could write anything he wanted, as long as it was not about Mario and had something to do with Mexico. Here's what he came up with (spelling corrected).

Living in Mexico is a tough life. We hear gunshots a lot. Well maybe sometimes, like Christmas, we hear fireworks and gunshots. Everybody that I do not know speaks Spanish. The end.

Based on Jacob's description of his life in Mexico, you'd imagine him dodging bullets while shooting off fireworks with Spanish-speaking urchins on the streets of Tijuana. Now that would be a tough life.

I'm not really sure what part of Jacob's life has been "tough" since we moved to Mexico, since he's been on break from school since December 3rd, and we've celebrated both Christmas and his birthday here. Basically since he's been in Mexico, he's been showered with gifts and asked over for lots of play dates. What a tough life.

Jacob also drew several pictures of things that he has found in Mexico that he identified as being part of Mexican culture. He drew a sombrero, a house with a wall around it, a taco and a car. Yes, he drew a car. It baffled me too. So I questioned him, and this is what I learned.

Lisa: Jacob, what is this? Is this a car?

Jacob: Yeah (with a tone that clearly showed his irritation at having his artwork questioned).

Lisa: Why did you draw a car? We have cars in the U.S.

Jacob: Because I didn't know that they had cars in Mexico.

Lisa: Well, how did you think we were going to get around?

Jacob: I thought we were going to walk. Or sometimes we'd use donkeys.

Lisa: But Jacob, you knew we were driving to Mexico. What did you think was going to happen to our car?

Jacob: I don't know, Mom. I guess you'd do something with it. Store it, maybe.

Details are clearly not important to Jacob, and he hadn't needed to worry about the logistics of what we, meaning Chris or I, would do with the car. I'm just surprised he hadn't demanded his donkey as soon as we arrived, but he was probably too busy playing video games in the back seat to notice that we'd even crossed the border into Mexico. The only thing I can figure is that Chris has been talking about finding zonkeys for so long that Jacob got confused. Either that, or he thought we were going back in time when we crossed the border.

I'm so glad that Jacob's expectations were not met. I'd have to say that regular donkey-riding would be a chafing deal-breaker for me.