Hello all

I hope you had a fantastic Christmas and New Year’s wherever you celebrated it.

Apologies for the short notice for the January meeting which is THIS WEEK! The return to school and all the usual scheduled events seemed to sneak up on us.

We will be meeting at Kristie’s house this month. Here are the details:

When: Thursday 10th January at 7pm

Where: Please call Kristie or Alex if you need directions

Please bring: As always your donations for the Ciudad de los Ninos will be gratefully received. Maybe you’ve all collected lots of hotel shampoo bottles from your travels over Christmas??

Also, we need one more person to bring a plate of food for our meeting. Please let me know if you would be able to do this.

Looking forward to seeing you there to talk about our plans for 2008!

Marce kindly told me about these shows going on around Hermosillo for Christmas:

SE UNIRÁN VOCES DEL CORO DE CATEDRAL Y DE LA UNISON
CONCIERTO NAVIDEÑO POR SONORA

Fechas:
10 de diciembre: Catedral a beneficio de “Tiempo de compartir”
13 de diciembre: Parroquia Santa Elena en Hermosillo
15 de diciembre: Gimnasio Municipal en Magdalena
16 de diciembre: Auditorio Municipal, Nogales
17 de diciembre: Parroquia San Pío X en Hermosillo
18 de diciembre: Parroquia Espíritu Santo en Hermosillo
19 de diciembre: Catedral en Hermosillo
20 de diciembre: Parroquia San Francisco de Asís en Hermosillo
21 de diciembre: Templo Parroquial, Huépac, Sonora

(Newspaper doesn’t say how much tickets costs, I think the only show that will be charged is the one on Dec. 10th.)

El Cascanueces – Nutcracker

Fechas: del 13 al 16 de diciembre
Horas: 20:00
Matinée (early show): 15 y 16 de diciembre
Hora: 11:00
Lugar: Teatro de la Ciudad de Casa de la Cultura
Boletos: Departamento de Bellas Artes Unison.
Preventa hasta el 12 de diciembre, 150 pesos. A partir del 13 de diciembre, 180 pesos

If you would like more information, please contact Alex or Marce

The last ESIA meeting for 2007 is on next week. It’s our traditional Christmas meeting so hopefully many of you will be able to make it!

Please note this meeting is on WEDNESDAY 12^th December, instead of the usual Thursday.

Time: 7pm
Place: Please email for the location!

As well as our usual business, at the Christmas meeting we have a gift exchange and a cookie exchange, to help get us into the holiday spirit. There is no obligation to participate in either of these activities, but if you wish to you should bring:

• For the gift exchange – a small gift (around 150 pesos), wrapped with no name. We will have a game to distribute the presents
• For the cookie exchange – 3 dozen (36) cookies, cupcakes, brownies, muffins or anything sweet. We will all exchange cookies so everyone goes home with a variety of delicious treats.

We also still need 2 volunteers to bring food for Wednesday’s meeting, so if anyone is happy to bring a dish, please let us know.

We would be grateful if you could RSVP to let me know if you can make it, so we can better plan for the meeting.

Looking forward to seeing you next week

November Meeting

The November meeting is coming up soon! The meeting will be held at Silvia’s as Mary is unfortunately not well enough to host. Thanks to Silvia for stepping in once again. Here are the details:

When: Thursday 8^th November, 7pm

Where: Silvia’s house – email for directions

Please bring: An item to donate to the Ciudad de los Niños

Cooking Class

Silvia’s is also hosting the next Cooking Class! Come along to taste some of her delicious cooking and learn her secrets.

When: Wednesday 7^th November, 10am

Where: Silvia’s house – email for directions

Ice-Cream Social

We need a venue for this event – any suggestions?? We’ll be looking for volunteers to organize and help out at the next meeting.

When: Saturday 17^th November

Looking forward to a great meeting. Please let me know if there are any questions or suggestions for ESIA happenings.

The venue for David Leon’s Art Exhibition has changed. It will now be on at Plaza Altos Valentin, second floor, Number 9. This is on Calle San Bernardino (the Los Lagos road) opposite Café Ambrosia where we had coffee a little while ago.

The exhibition  is on Friday 2^nd November (tomorrow) from 6pm -9pm

David Perez Leòn, an artist from Hermosillo (who some of you may know/remember from the meeting at Nicole’s house last year;  he paints on ceramic tiles, among other things) is having an exhibition/sale of his new works.

When:                 Friday 2^nd November from 4pm onwards

Where:                 Residencial Versalles – this is towards the end of Colosio; go past the Los Lagos road, Villa de Parras and Salvatierra and it is on the right

David has lots of new pieces for sale and the most expensive is only MXP$350 so there might be some great finds for Christmas!

The Trunk or Treat last Saturday was a great success – the kids looked fantastic in their costumes (and some of the adults too…) and had a wonderful time running round, enjoying the clown show and collecting lots of candy from all the spooky trunks!

Here’s some photos from the event

A big THANK YOU to Maryann and Sarah for organizing the event and to everyone else who helped out – you did a great job!

For those who couldn’t make it to the October Meeting:

October 2007 Newsletter

There have been several newspaper articles and reports over the last few years about dangerous levels of lead found in some Mexican candies. In the lead up to Halloween, you might like to look at these reports on which candies to avoid for trick or treating and our Trunk or Treat party coming up on Saturday 27th October.

Center for Environmental Health

FDA Statement on Lead Contamination in Certain Candy Products Imported from Mexico

The Orange County Register

Three brands of Mexican candy found to have high levels of lead, health officials say – Santa Cruz Sentinel

Lead in Mexican Products Raises Concern - New York Times

Thank you to Letty for hosting the October meeting last week.  It was a great turnout, delicious food and lots of laughs.

Here’s a brief summary of what we discussed and what’s coming up:

Ladies Night Out – Wednesday October 24th at 7:30pm @ Ole Restaurant.

Trunk or Treat - Saturday October 27th at 5pm in La Jolla common area.
The cost will be $100 pesos per family and any additional guests $50 pesos. Hot Dogs and drinks will be provided, plus a clown to entertain the kids as well as a videographer to tape the event.  Those who are interested in having a DVD of the day with pictures of all the kids etc please contact Maryann for details.

Farewell Party for Sarah - Thursday November 1st
We have also decided to plan for a FUN NIGHT out for Sarah who will be leaving us next month.  Details to follow….

November ESIA Meeting – Thursday November 8th at 7:00pm at Mary’s house.
Thanks to Chantal, Trisha, Silvia and Sarah who have offered to bring the food.

Ice Cream Social - Saturday November 17th
Any ideas for a venue are welcomed…

Mark your calendars ladies as it seems we have a few busy months ahead!