Life in the Big City

From letter dated December 10, 1956

I entered Alex in school immediately. He’s with his age group in the third grade though, academically, he is ahead of them in most subjects. Still, there is some adjustment going into a new school, and this gives him time to get settled without having to fight to keep up in his studies at the same time.

He brought home his first report card last week…the first I have seen since I used to take my own home. All S for satisfactory, with five E for excellent. That was fine with me. Alex loves school and is absolutely thrilled by things he never imagined in Belize, like the library, auditorium, cafeteria, and organized games on the playground. He was lucky in getting a splendid teacher…one of the old school, you know, discipline along with lessons. He loves her and goes off to school eagerly every morning.

Carli was probably the saddest little mite in the world to find that she no longer was a “school-age child.” You know she had started last January and loved it. Here she is even too young for the only preschool group near our house. So she is staying home, playing, helping me do errands, and gradually beginning to enjoy not being in school.

 

Naturally, there are lots of marvelous things about being back in the U.S. I still can’t get used to talking to Mother and Dad long distance. In Belize the telephone system barely makes it across the street, and there is no international hook-up, as there is in most countries.

The supermarkets are breathtaking. I love every minute I spend in them, and marketing is my favorite sport these days. We are eating like gourmets on approximately half what we paid for pretty make-shift food in Belize. The children finally are bored with ice cream, but I haven’t quite made up for my three-year fast.

 

Miami is a wonderful town for us to happen to land in. Business-wise, it is the logical one, since it is the southern center for commerce with Central and South America as well as with the Islands. It is a huge boating center, of course. Bucher was able to get a splendid job right away with the biggest marine hardware store here…and after six years without a regular paycheck, nothing looks lovelier. Meanwhile, he is peddling his own boats and lining up business for the Belize companies.

Being in a large city is heavenly after Belize. Everything on earth is available here. Miami has all sorts of museums and tourist attractions that you wouldn’t find in most cities. We try to plan some sort of excursion each Sunday.

We have seen the Seaquarium (the largest marine aquarium in the world), Serpentarium (with a large display of snakes and reptiles plus a show of extracting venom from king cobras for use in making medicine), amusement parks, and zoo. We also visited some destroyers and submarines that were in port and have driven through the fabulous Miami Beach hotel district.

We still have the Parrot Jungle, Monkey Jungle, Rare Bird Farm, Jungle Cruise, and more to do in the future. And we can always start over if spring doesn’t come soon enough so that we can go swimming at the beach instead!