My personal audio book fails.

Listening to an Audio Book on shuffle. (wow, this author really is a bad writer, and all the jumping around isn't effective for telling this story. oh! I've been listening to it on shuffle. sigh.)

Listening to an Audio Book thinking there is only 10 minutes left of the story. (How is the author going to resolve what's going on so quickly? and they haven't found all the kings yet? *looks for roommate's print version of the book* Hey! There's twenty more pages that I didn't download. sigh.)

:)

Sex, Economy, Freedom and Community

These are the quotes I found the most impactful from Wendell Berry's book Sex, Economy, Freedom and Community. I wish I wouldn't have waited this long to read his essays. Pretty easy reading, but some hard ideas. I would like to read more of his stuff. I may have included too much material. The ellipses denote places I left stuff out. I edited out as much as I could. Let me know if you'd like the rest of what I typed up.

Sex, Economy, Freedom and Community by Wendell Berry

On the Outdoors.

Pg 28 The love of nature that limits itself to the love of places that are “scenic” is implicitly dangerous. It is dangerous because it tends to exclude unscenic places from nature and from the respect we sometimes accord to nature.

Outdoors we are confronted everywhere with wonders; we see that the miraculous is not extraordinary but the common mode of existence. It is our daily bread...The turning of water into wine- was, after all, a very small miracle. We forget the greater and still continuing miracle by which water (with soil and sunlight) is turned into grapes.

On Peacefulness.

Pg 84 There is one great possibility that we have hardly tried: that we can come to peace by being peaceable.

Pg 86 Peaceableness has been too little tried by individuals, much less by nations. It will not readily or easily serve those who are greedy for power. It cannot be effectively used for bad ends. It could not be used as the basis of an empire. It does not afford opportunities for profit. It involves danger to practitioners. It requires sacrifice. And yet it seems to me that it is practical, for it offers the only escape from the logic of retribution. It is the only way by which we can cease to look to war for peace.

Peaceableness is not the amity that exists between people who agree, nor is it the exhaustion or jubilation that follows war. It is not passive. It is the ability to act to resolve conflict without violence. If it is not a practical and a practicable method, it is nothing. As a practicable method, it reduces helplessness in the face of conflict. In the face of conflict, the peaceable person may find several solutions, the violent person only one….Of course, as the Amish know, peaceableness can get you killed. I suppose they would reply that war can get you killed, too, and is more likely to get you killed that peaceableness—and also that when a peaceable person is killed, peaceableness survives.


On Being Man.

Pg 106 Dualistic minds conclude that the formula for man-making is man =body + soul. But that conclusion cannot be derived, except by violence, from Gen 2:7, which is not dualistic. The formula give in Gen 2:7 is not man = body +soul; the formula there is soul = dust + breath. According to this verse, God did not make a body and put a soul into it, like a letter into an envelope. He formed man of dust then , by breathing His breath into it, He made the dust live. The dust, formed as man and made to live, did not embody a soul; it became a soul. “Soul” here refers to the whole creature. Humanity is thus present to us, in Adam, not as a creature of two discrete parts temporarily glued together but as a single mystery.


On Sex.

Pg 134 A skin lotion advertisement displayed a photograph of the naked torso of a woman. From a feminist point of view, this headless and footless body represents the male chauvinist’s sexual ideal: a woman who cannot think and cannot escape. From a point of view somewhat more comprehensive- the point of view of community- it represents also the commercial ideal of the industrial economy: the completely seducible consumer, unable either to judge or to resist.

The headlessness of this lotionable lady suggests also [our culture's...] gravitation of attention from the countenance, especially the eyes, to the specifically sexual anatomy. The difference, of course is that the countenance is both physical and spiritual. ..Looking into one another’s eyes, lovers recognize their encounter as a meeting not merely of two bodies but of two living souls. In one another’s eyes, moreover, they see themselves reflected not narcissistically but as singular beings, separate and small, far inferior to the creature that they together make. …Sexual love is thus understood as both fact and mystery, physical motion and spiritual motive. That this complex love should be reduced simply to sex has always seemed a fearful thing to the poets.



Pg 139 Our present sexual conduct has forsaken trust, for it rests on the easy giving and breaking of promises. And having forsaken trust, it has predictably become political….We are attempting to correct bad character an low motives by law and by litigation. “Losing kindness,” as Lao-tzu said, “they turn to justness.” …..The difficulty is that marriage, family life, friendship, neighborhood, and other personal connections do not depend exclusively or even primarily on justice- though, of course, they all must try for it. They depend also on trust, patience, respect, mutual help, forgiveness- in other words, the practice of love, as opposed to the mere feeling of love. As soon as the parties to a marriage or a friendship begin to require strict justice of each other, then that marriage or friendship begins to be destroyed, for there is no way to adjudicate the competing claims of a personal quarrel….The proper question, perhaps, is not why we have so much divorce, but why we are so unforgiving. The answer, perhaps, is that, though we still recognize the feeling of love, we have forgotten how to practice love when we don’t feel it.

The phrase “sexual partner” which denies all that is implied by the names of “husband” or “wife” or even “lover.” Denies anyone’s responsibility for the consequences of sex. With one’s “sexual partner,” it is now understood, one must practice “safe sex” – that is , one must protect oneself, not one’s partner or the children that may come of the partnership.


Sexual liberation ought logically to have brought in a time of “naturalness,” ease, and candor between men and women. It has on the contrary, filled the country with sexual self-consciousness, uncertainty and fear. Women, though they may dress as if the sexual millennium had arrived, hurry along our city streets and public corridors with their eyes averted, like hunted animals. “Eye contact,” once the very signature of our humanity, has become a danger. The meeting ground between men and women, which ought to be safeguarded by trust, has becomes a place of suspicion, competition, and violence. One no longer goes there asking how instinct may be ramified in affection and loyalty; now one asks how instinct may be indulged with the least risk to personal safety….Women must look on virtually any man as a potential assailant, and a man must look on virtually any woman as a potential accuser……We presume to teach our young people that sex can be made “safe” by the use, inevitably, or purchased drugs and devices,. What a lie! Sex was never safe, and it is less safe now than it has ever been. What we are actually teaching the young is an illusion of thoughtless freedom and purchasable safety, which encourages them to tamper prematurely, disrespectfully, and dangerously with a great power. Just as the public economy encourages people to spend money and waste the world, so the public sexual code encourages people to be spendthrifts and squanderers of sex.


On Sexual Harassment.

If men and women are merely animals, it is hard to see how sexual harassment could have become an issue, for such harassment is no more than the instinctive procedure of male animals, who openly harass females, usually by unabashed physical display and contact; it is their way of asking who is and who is not in estrus. Women would not think such behaviour offensive if we had not, for thousands of years, understood ourselves as specifically human beings- creatures who, if in some ways animal-like, are in other ways God-like. In asking men to feel shame and to restrain themselves which one would not ask of an animal- women are implicitly asking to be treated as human beings in that full sense, as living souls made in the image of God. This kindness cannot be conferred by a public economy or by a public government or by a public people. It can only be conferred on its members by a community.

Quotes from Operating Instructions.

A while ago I read a book by Anne Lamott entitled Operating Instructions. Since I've moved, whenever I'm back at my parents I try to clean up my room a little bit. This is a book that wasn't in my closet with the other "already read" books, and I didn't take it to my new place on my bookshelf of "to read" books. Upon opening it, I realized that I'd read it, but never typed up my favorite quotes. So this afternoon, I had a few minutes and typed things up so that I can put it away until I need it again. Enjoy.

Pg 48 Every time I say yes when I mean no, I am abandoning myself, and I end up feeling used or resentful or frantic. But when I say no when I mean no, it’s so sane and healthy that it creates a little glade around me in which I can get the nourishment I need. Then I help and serve people from a place of real abundance and health, instead of from this martyred mentally ill position, this open space in a forest about a mile north of Chernobyl.

Pg 155 Tonite Sam (the author's new born baby) and I took a friend of ours out to dinner, a young man in his late twenties who is badly strung out on booze and Methedrine but who is also a very sweet, bright guy. We went to McDonald’s and got Quarter-Pounders and fries, and we were sitting in a booth with Sam on the table in his car seat, babbling. I was talking to the young man about recovery, which he was starved to hear about- I think it must have been like hearing about the sun during an ice age- and then Sam made a loud spluttering noise, so I said jokingly, “Shh, honey, be patient, I know John plans to share his food with you,” and I went on blithely with my recovery pitch, eating at the same time, not particularly paying attention. Then I looked up and noticed that my friend had torn off about a third of his burger and was holding it tentatively in his left hand, and he said to me, “Is that about right?” and I said, “Is what about right?” and he held out the small piece of hamburger and said with exasperation, “I just really don’t have any idea how much he eats.” I mentioned this story to Pammy later, and she said, “Boy, scratch him off the baby-sitting list.”

On making good choices--If we’re not careful, we’ll spend our whole lives blowing on sparks and trying to turn them into embers, when all along they were sparks that should never have been ignited. In that capacity, I’ve looked like Neptune, cheeks filled with wind blowing on the sea.

On making good choices--One thing I know for sure, though, is that when you are hungry, it is an act of wisdom each time you turn down a spoonful if you know that the food is poisoned.

On her newborn son's face-- In the morning when he first wakes up and looks at me, it’s with such joy and amazement that it’s like someone had told him, before he went to sleep, that I had died.

Divine Patience

God scatters light across the world to the just and the unjust, he allows the earth to yield fruit to the worthy and unworthy, he bears the sins and wrongdoing of men, he restrains his wrath as evil men go about their life oblivious to God. The most visible sign of God's patience, however, is the Incarnation. For God allowed himself to be conceived in the womb of a woman and waited patiently for the months to pass before the birth of Christ. When God is born as a human being he patiently underwent the various stages of childhood and adolescence leading to maturity. And when Christ reached adulthood he didn't rush to be recognized and even allowed himself to be baptized by his own servant....Impatience becomes the primal sin, and the chief example of impatience is the devil. "Who," says Tertullian, ever committed adultery "without the impatience of lust?"
For Tertullian the singular mark of patience is not endurance or fortitude but hope. To be impatient, says Tertullian, is to live without hope.

-Excerpted from The Spirit of Early Christian Thought by Wilken

I'm tired...

so I'm gonna keep this short.

Translating wears my brain out in general, partially for the language, partially b/c there are all these new situations that I have to think through before making decisions, no involuntary or habit based things. I had to be apart of two situations that were a little hard for me, not because I didn't understand what was going on, but the opposite, that I understood too much. I really like helping people, but I'm going to have to be okay with the amount of responsibility that falls on my shoulders.


I have really had to restrain myself recently. It seems every time that I am driving down my street I see a Mexican man walking to work in his restaurant uniform. The other day I was biking past two of them, and it took everything in me to not show them they are aliens here. I wanted to shout "hola" to them. Now I suppose I can sympathize with all those people who stop you in the store in Mexico when they realize you speak English, to show that they too, speak a little bit of English. It's human to want to connect with people. It's beautiful.

Horchata Popsicles.

It’s sooo hot outside. And I love it, but my computer is overheating more than it did in Mexico. In Mexico I generally didn’t feel overhot like here. I’ve eaten a lot of horchata (rice milk) popsicles. Not store bought! I made horchata juice with the powder mix and then froze it in bathroom cups with popsicle sticks. My horchata def. doesn’t taste like the horchata at the Mexican food place, so I must be doing something wrong. Although I’m not sure how you can mess up adding power to water.
I sit in my hammock and catch up on reading, or study Spanish vocab, and twirl around while eating homemade popsicles.

I struggle to remember which flavors were everyone's favorite. J-- Pineapple, definitely. M--- Sangria, or Strawberry....

A guy hugged his daughter in church on Sunday during service. I got all teary eyed, and wanted to hug my girls, but then I thought, am I going to be that Mom who gets teary-eyed about because she’s remembering things no one else can? Yes. Yes I will.

More of what i've been doing. Foodie version.

I’ve been mostly eating straight from the fridge, and only cooked about 3 times, which is total deviation from the past year and a half. I made my sis fried rice, Mexican style, except that my mom only had instant rice in the cupboard. Instant rice doesn’t seem to follow the same rules as normal rice, so that was an adventure…Carrie still ate it, so that was important. She’s a VERY picky eater.
I made chipotle Spaghetti sauce, which people liked, an incredible compliment!!!
I scrambled an egg and mixed in some squash and sharp cheddar but I couldn’t eat it. I haven’t been able to eat many things here. I haven’t wanted to eat. I just want rice and beans and rice and beans and rice and beans and handmade tortillas. But I haven’t made time to cook, so maybe in the up coming week that will change. I’ve made of list of “Mexican” things that I’d like to make and a grocery list of staples that my house needs like onions, or garlic cloves (since I apparently can’t cook with minced Garlic- I burned it instead of sauteing it), and NORMAL rice. Who knew that a house could be full of “food” and I wouldn’t know what the heck to do with it.
Also, when I cooked the Spaghetti, I couldn’t find a frying pan! We have a smaller kitchen than the one in Mexico, less cupboard space, and less people putting things away willy-nilly. After ten minutes of emptying cupboards to see if the big frying pans were being stored (I had found a small one) and lots of frustration I decided I wasn’t even going to cook. Then I found them in one place I hadn’t looked, the frying pans were under the oven. After that I had to find the spatulas, which also weren’t in a place I’d normally look. Maybe I should reorganize my mom’s kitchen ;)
I have been out to eat a LOT. I’ve had Mexican at least 4 times ☺ People say, “you probably don’t want to eat Mexican food, you’re tired of it” and I say, “let’s go!”
I still have not had restaurant Thai, Sushi, Chinese and many other yummy things that I’ve missed (Amanda made a great stir fry, but she’s not Chinese, so that doesn’t count) I had this idea in my head that I’d be eating all this exotic food all the time, that you can’t really buy in Mexico. I have been eating COPIOUS amounts of my favorite yogurt and cereal, both of which you can’t buy in Mexico, so I guess that counts. ☺

What have I been up to? MORE.

I’ve spent a LOT of time in the car. I didn’t drive too many places in Mexico, just maybe the grocery store, but even my shortest commute here (12 minutes) is 6 times as long as my longer commutes in Mexico. You waste a lot less time when everyone and everything is near you. Although, my grocery store is MUCH closer to me here than the grocery store I went to in Mexico. I’ve enjoyed driving in the car, listening to music, passed people on a MULTI-lane highway. At first I was nervous to drive a car and not a truck/suv/giganto passenger van, but I’m used to it again.
I really enjoy driving with the windows down and not worrying about the dust! I also love going more than 50 miles an hour ☺ I don’t love getting my own gas at the station. It seems so undignified after staying in my car at my leisure simply choosing red or green and telling the attendant how much I wanted in my car. But I do love not worrying about having CASH to make all my purchases.
I always would have a certain amount of money, and if I spent more on groceries than I planned, or on gas than I planned I would be short for the other errands I had to run, until I went back to the house or bank to get money. Let’s clarify that I don’t charge everything now and spend billions of dollars! But that I don’t have to anticipate my expenditures before leaving the house!!!


I’ve made it to IKEA and Jungle Jim’s. I bought some tasty Twinnings Pineapple Green Tea, Rooiboos/Honeybrush Tea, Stroppewaffles, Edamame, Humus…
There are two pieces of furniture I want at IKEA, as my parents got rid of some of my furniture, and now I don’t have places for things. But I need to get rid of more stuff before I’ll have room. When? When I find time.
I’ve decided on two options for grad school. That was tough. It’s more practical to not move far away though. Now I just need to fill out apps, send in transcripts, etc. Maybe if I get a job in a library, and do that for at least a year, I could have a better possibility at an Graduate Assistantship. Actually, just having a job in the field I'm studying would be helpful.
I’ve been going to a class about the History of the Theology of Christianity. SOOO interesting, and I’m glad to be there, as it’s pulling together some of the studying I’ve done on my own over the last year. There is something in me that desires to be in "academia" or around people that discuss things that are challenging. Sunday night there was a LONG discussion about holy relics, worship of relics, worship of icons, church practice/tradition- and I mostly just listened. Maybe I'm learning about rhetoric and logic when I'm not participating. It's moment like those that make me feel at home.

I want to ride my bicycle!

Last week I bought a bike on craigslist and took it to the bike trail! If I just go through some neighborhoods, and then pass the golf course, and then cross the train tracks I can get to the bike trail without endangering my life because I’m scared of riding on country roads. I also am not good at turning, because in Mexico I never really had to turn precisely. There were always these wide boulevards of dirt ready to conform to whatever turning radius I was comfortable with! The bike paths, and paths in the parks are pretty skinny compared to what I’m used to. So far, every time I turn I go in the grass. BUT (and this is a big development) and I can ride without my hands for short stretches, 4 houses in a row! All of this may sound ridiculous, but I’m working towards someday having my own motorcycle. Plus it’s nice exercise, biking relaxes me, and it’s a piece of continuity from Mexico, except I don’t have David telling me my bike tires are too low, and that I need to put air in them, and I doubt I’ll actually USE my bike to get anywhere unlike in Mexico. I’ll always have the same departure and destination, unless I head to the grocery! The biketrail is very serene, and seems like you’re in the middle of nowhere, until you hear the airplanes, and the trains, or come to spots where there are automobiles in the parking lots. One of the bike trails was originally a place in the woods that they’d cut out to place electrical lines on tall metal towers, like a monstrous lawn-mower left it’s mark for miles and miles. I’m glad they’ve found a green way to use that space now. I found a hidden farmer’s field I’d never known about. It has tall trees on every side of it. Next time, I’m taking my camera! I tried to get to a waterfall we used to play at as kids, it was also a significant spot in some of our adolescent moments. But I couldn't figure out how we used to get down there, and after seeing a bad case of poison ivy at the clinic the night before, wasn't very eager to traipse about the woods.

I've seen the sadness of a thousand goodbyes...

What have I been doing? -con'td.


I’m using a Dale Chihuly theme for my iGoogle, which is nice.

Well- applying for jobs. Job search takes a fair amount of time! I’m a bit of a perfectionist in some things, and I’ve been known to spend more time on Cover Letters and Resumes than I should, not even letting people help me. AFTER submitting some things yesterday, I finally showed some of my work to a peer, who had a lot of helpful things to say. It will be beneficial for next time I turn paperwork in.

Playing Piano- I need to learn some songs for my brother and his fiancés wedding. Also I’ve been enjoying playing at church. ALSO I got The Trumpet Child songbook from OTR, and it’s FABULOUS. I worked my fingers to the bone getting “The Trumpet Child” down. Now if I just had music for their other songs that are on my to-do list….

I’ve seen some friends, although admittedly not as much as I anticipated, I need to get on the ball with seeing some more of them!

I’ve volunteered at a local clinic. I think it went really well except for when I misinterpreted something. I was having trouble focusing b/c the doctor was talking to a med student while I was trying to talk to the patient. The doc said “until water/tears come out your eyes” and I said “until blood comes out your eyes” but I quickly said, “no, no, no, I meant tears/water” but the patient had been having nose bleeds so that’s probably where my mind had been. I’m thankful for people that can have a good laugh. I can’t wait to go back! I ran into someone I knew there, I didn’t realize she still volunteered there, and I saw a name tag of another translator that I volunteered at an after school program with 5 years ago and later, she was a family advocate at the child care center I worked at. We are a small group, the Gringas that speak Spanish in this area.

4.5 pages...

so apparently, the abridged version of my life is 4.5 pages long, and I haven't added everything. I'm going to cut it all up, and auto-publish these over the next week or so. I really wish I would have blogged everyday, so that I wouldn’t have forgotten the precious details that make all this so glorious to record/read about.

So I’m finally blogging, I’ve had to close the internet, shut my books, and even sit in a part of the house that isn’t mine to be less distracted by my unclean room and my “to-do” piles.
I think this Sunday I’ll have been home a month! Which is a really long time. If I had a time card of clocking in and out of my parents house however, you’d see that I’ve spent more time out of it than in it. A wise friend told me to keep busy, which I suppose was a way of avoiding the obvious, that I was in a different place and having a different lifestyle. Keeping busy helps you avoid whatever emotion would partner with that change. When changes happen in life there is a lack of routine that makes things more stressful. Suddenly you think about every decision b/c you're in all new situations...anyways.
I hope to document all the things that have kept my mind off the obvious, but in documenting, it becomes obvious that we're not in Mexico anymore, Toto.

I’ve been dreaming of Mexico. Two dreams were roadtrips, one was a roadtrip to Mexico with friends from the states, and the other was a roadtrip from Mexico to the states with friends from Mexico. The third dream was complicated. Basically, I’d gotten a head injury, lost all memory, and my parents couldn’t handle it, so they took me to Mexico, and left me there till I got better. The doctor had said I’d regain my memory if another traumatic accident happened to me, and while in Mexico I tripped over a kid or something in the kitchen, bumped my head again and miraculously remembered everything, then I woke up.

I've read 4 things,

Dinky Hocker Shoots Smack by M.E. Kerr
Biting the Wax Tadpole: Confesssions of a Language Fanatic by Little
Cold Comfort Farm: A Play
Operating Instructions: A Journal of my Son’s first year by Lamott

mostly sitting outside in my hammock, deliberately killing the crescent shaped patch of grass where my feet most often find themselves after twirling in circles...

I find it incredibly hard to go inside in this weather, to watch movies, to sit in the air conditioning. Although today and yesterday have been more Mexi-esque, high 60's, cloud cover, but no real rain.

more tomorrow...

chicken with the head cut off...

I know it's been a week, so I thought I'd write real quick.
Possible job decision tomorrow?
I feel like I've gotten a lot done this week, but also that I haven't had time for the billion other things I'd like to accomplish.
Wednesday I'll be shadowing someone at the place I plan on volunteering as a translator at. Poor grammar, don't judge.
ok. bed time.

maybe it won't rain today?

Too much free time always overwhelms me.
I’ve already checked too many things out of the library.
I’ve already failed at not studying Spanish after even visiting the clinic I would like to volunteer at.
I’ve still not cleaned out my room. I’m missing a couple tops that I bet are in Mexico ☹ A pink shiny one, and my white one with the funky fabric on the front.
I already have too many songs on piano that I want to learn. Prioritize!
And to top it off, I’ve been “job hunting” or so it’s called.
I got the chance to play piano for church on Wednesday, which really did make me happy, now I just need to practice this weeks songs.

I went to my cousin’s wedding, which was nuts! And fun! I saw people there that I haven’t seen in YEARS; some non-relatives that I shared my childhood with, and others, relatives that I never shared my childhood with.
I danced with my brother, dad, sister and my cousin’s little girl. I tried to teach a 3 year old the electric slide! We definitely had the kick part down. It was great that I got to teach her the electric slide while on the dance floor with the same woman that taught it to me when I was like 13 or something!
The night before the wedding we hung out with my mom’s family. We went to a big pizza restaurant and just started moving tables and chairs, when the management graciously arranged for us to use the private party room at no charge. Really, it was in their best interest too, because we’re a noisy bunch! As much as I love how late the sun sets, it also makes for some unnaturally late nights b/c you forget the hour. I was eager to leave, b/c Friday was the night I was to see my brother and his fiancé but we still left the party late. Even though they were here this weekend, I still want more time with them.

Sunday after church I ran to the Mexican store. There is more than one, but I call it “the Mexican store” b/c it’s the only one I ever go inside. I should really visit the others, they may be bigger or have better selection of products. I was pleased to see all the products I was interested in, huakamole takis, horchata mix, AND they had all the brands our store in Mexico has. The same brands of Tuna, laundry soap, Bimbo brand, AND AND AND Lala yogurt REDUCED FAT. How come you can buy Mexican Lala yogurt reduced fat in the states in a tiny little corner store?? And I can’t get it in the big grocery store IN Mexico??????? Somebody’s got some ‘splaining to do. And it’s Mango! Our store, when they did have it, had Strawberry or Peach or Plain.
I plan on making some tasty tasty horchata popsicles and made a list of Mexican food I might try to make in the coming weeks.

I’ve been exhausted seeing people. And really, I haven’t seen all that many, but when you add that with doing resume stuff, visiting a job fair, visiting a place you want to volunteer, hanging out with your friend’s three year old (I’m gonna teach him Spanish, and he’s gonna like it!) it becomes overwhelming.
I had been home since Sunday, and on Thursday I finally realized that I hadn’t hung out with my sister yet!!!! That’s how distracted I got. Nuts!

Driving around today I noticed some gutted buildings. There is something and romantic and beautiful about seeing the insides of buildings. They look simple and geometric or orderly. Although I’m not sure that everyone shares that opinion…

Ok, off to accomplish my to do list ☺

quotes from C.S. Lewis' Four Loves

These are just a few of my favorite sections...Let me know if you want more, I'll email the file to you. It won't insult me if you don't read this post.


pg 7 Lust corrupts its addict in a dozen ways, but not in that way; a man may act upon such feelings but he cannot revere them any more than a man who scratches reveres the itch….I am inclined to think that the sort of love for a man’s country which is worked up by beer and brass bands will not lead him to do much harm (or much good) for her sake. It will probably be fully discharged by ordering another drink and joining in the chorus.

pg 36 By having a great many friends I do not prove that I have a wide appreciation of human excellence. You might as well say I prove the width of my literary taste by being able to enjoy all the books in my own study. The answer is the same in both cases—“You chose those books. You chose those friends. Of course they suit you.” The truly wide taste in reading is that which enables a man to find something for his needs on the sixpenny tray outside any secondhand bookshop. The truly wide taste in humanity will similarly find something to appreciate in the crow-section of humanity whom one has to meet every day. In my experience it is Affection that creates this taste, teaching us first to notice, then to endure, then to smile at, then to enjoy, and finally to appreciate, the people who “happen to be there.” Made for us? Thank God, no. They are themselves, odder than you could have believed and worth far more than we guessed.

pg 50 The proper aim of giving is to put the recipient in a state where he no longer needs our gift. We feed children in order that they may soon be able to feed themselves; we teach them in order that they may soon not need our teaching. Thus a heavy task is laid upon this Gift-love. It must work towards its own abdication. We must aim at making ourselves superfluous. The hour when we can say “They need me no longer” should be our reward.

"Globes and maps, they charter your way back home…

…i want to hang onto something
that wont break away or fall apart
like the pieces of my heart" -Something Corporate


What have I been doing since being back from Mexico…

…sitting in my hammock chair out back. I tried to read/sleep but was foiled and instead listened to my iPod. So peaceful, I didn’t know the hammock was moving until I noticed the reflection in my iPod of the trees moving.

…finished Reunion by Fred Uhlman. It’s about the holocaust, sorta, or really about a friendship right before WWII. Everybody should read it, and it’s short. It’s a novella. Especially if you teach history. Very poignant, different than other literature I’ve read.

…tried to be busy? Haha.

…went to a job fair for the gov’t. It was really stomach churning to be around all these people whose lingo I don’t understand. I’m not “qualified” for most job opportunities (security clearance-no, engineer-no, etc.) but I have someone telling me not to worry about that. For now, I would like to work in a library full time and get paid while doing it. I also applied at a local bookstore as a “clerk.” I stopped at one booth and she asked me what types of opportunities I was interested in. I asked if they had a “research library” at the job location as I am looking to be in Information Services, and the lady said, “I wish.”

…went to a local medical clinic that I hope to volunteer at doing Interpreting/Translation. I was surprised to find they only use people about once a month, I had expected once a week, I don’t know why I thought that. I have a list of things to learn, yay!

…finished my resume, again. I really wanted to put things on it like
-strategically shooed cows out of the yard
-resolutely cooked dinner for 20, w/o regard for multiple opinions
-convinced children they have friends, when the facts might say otherwise
-tricked children into cleaning the whole house in a timely manner
-did 8 loads of laundry in one weekend, with one washer, one dryer, and 7 clotheslines.
-made stovetop popcorn without burning (too much) of it.
-anticipated waste of refrigerator energy and told the kids not to open it
-hugged kids, even when they were smelly
-expert at saying “No.”

…slept in. till 10. TWO DAYS IN A ROW. This is a miracle. Unless I attribute it to still being on Pacific time, which is highly probable.

…enjoyed the smells of honeysuckle, tall grass, trees.

…enjoyed that wind brings clouds and RAIN!!!!!! Not just dust.

…got hot and sweaty! (It’s sooo much warmer here than in Mexico.)

…got overwhelmed driving on the highway, looking at the steeples mixed in with brown brick apartment buildings.

….saw how BROWN the water was from rewashing my Mexi-clothes. (guacala, with a SOFT G –that’s for you Danielle.)

...lost the book I was reading and didn't have 24 other people to blame it on!!!! hahahaha.

One of my children had a test Monday night. It’ll probably take a week to find out how she did, but I bet she passed. She just needs to pass one more Math test and voila, 7th grade watch out for her! It has been hard being back. My heart is torn. But I know I’m not supposed to be in Mexico. The night I was packing I had two girls stay up with me. C---- and M----- looked like two friendly vultures, kindly taking things off my hands that I wouldn’t need anymore.

One of my favorite things about San Diego this past weekend was going up to the 15th floor and seeing the harbor through the glass elevator. The contemporary art museum wasn’t bad either. My favorite video was the people going up the steps of the Sydney Opera house, but they had digitally cut all the people out and had only left the shadows. Spending time with 7 people I really enjoy didn't hurt either.

I had a long-ish lay over in Dallas, and got to see Kyle and Doan, so that made me happy as well. They picked me up from the airport and we drove to a place you can only go to in Dallas (Steak 'n Shake) and then the mall, and then back to the airport. It would have been nice to have a longer layover :)

My brother called me on Monday during his break at work to chat with me. WHICH I LOVED. look I'm gushing. I have to wait to see him till Friday night!!!! (and I get to see Brittany Friday!)

OK. a to-do list is calling, but which one???
-the finish taking all my stuff off the back porch and into the house to-do list? (very useful so that I wouldn't bring any beetles in the house. I saw one come out of my suitcase in the hotel in San Diego. GROSS.)
-play piano?
-finish reading Perelandra?
-put up photos on Facebook?
-find a wedding outfit?
-find a job?
-make appts. with friends?
-study Spanish?
-hang out on freerice.com (quiz questions that earn free rice for people! time wasting with a charity spin!)


life is always full of great choices, they just aren't easy to make.

art

Sweet San Diegan Art

One of my girls likes to do graffiti, well, word art on paper- not painting walls that she shouldn't. She took the logo for southpole (a brand) and wrote it in a sweet manner, but then put it above the entrance to the bathroom, which is actually EAST. hehe.

I hope this old train brakes down

Then I could take a walk around
See what there is to see
Time is just a melody

So I’m currently trying to pack the last 1.5 years of my life into 3 suitcases, except I had somehow mistakenly thought that I would only be bringing 1 home.
I have already gotten rid of two reams of paper boxes worth of stuff, and Mom, this is for you.- I read the card out loud about how proud you were of Carrie purging her room before going to college and then ceremonially threw out some shoes. I know you would have enjoyed that. I really wasn’t in the mood to pack, I would have much rather been filling out a job application, but the internet kept kicking me off. My friends gave me a lovely ceramic water jug, and a plaque for my future home with all their signatures on the back. Both are very breakable, but I also have a ton of clothes, so I should have enough padding. R----- and Hannah hung out with me. R----- really scored as I gave her my left over junk food and some Mexican candy, and first choice of any clothes I didn’t want, but she helped too.

I’d love to write more about going to Ensenada on Saturday. Since Gabe and I are both “leaving”; him for summer job/college, and me for, well, whatever is next, Hannah (I think) proposed a fun day! A big group of us drove up to Ensenada, we left at 8am- no, David and I started cleaning the van out at 8. Somehow all the wet clothes and swimsuits from the day before were still in there. I sorta understand that for the little kids, but was embarrassed when I saw my 16 year olds wet clothes. My favorite part of all this was when the car seemed clean to me, but David still wanted to sweep the seats off so that they would look “enjoyable” to sit on. Haha. Totally something his dad would say. By the time we had picked up everyone and got gas it was like 9:15. You know, Mexican time.
I think I was recruited to drive, but had graciously given the keys to David. I later realized the positive consequences of this.
We were headed north on the highway, which is just a two lane road. We were past the military checkpoint and out of the mountains. Coming around a corner through a pass we saw a semi coming south. NOT IN HIS LANE. He was passing two cars, and couldn’t have gotten back in his lane. There wasn’t really a shoulder, just a wall of rock on our side, and we were going 60 mph, I’m sure the semi was going at least that fast. David got as far over as he could in the 15 passenger van- maybe about half way off the road. The cars the semi was trying to pass saw, and seemed to brake while the semi narrowly avoided us. It was soooo scary. I thought for sure we were going to get a flat or get stuck half on/half off the road, but we were fine. Had I been driving, I would have had to promptly get out and give the keys to someone else, but David handled it soo well.

Later I did drive around Ensenada town while we stopped at different places. Can I tell you how fun it is to park that thing in an overcrowded parking lot? Really fun since there are parking lot attendants that assist you and recommend spots, and show you how to pull in!!! ☺ I love those little men.

One of the places we went were the two museums Ensenada has to offer**. The history museum was mostly closed, an English speaking man who worked there told us it’s closed every Saturday!, He gave us some really nice pamphlets that I have yet to read. The other one, directly across the street, is an gov’t office that doubles as an art gallery that has two warehouse-esque rooms. One of the rooms, all the artwork was covered with brown butcher paper and blue tape, b/c they were opening that exhibit that night. The other room had walls filled with primary colors painted in bold juxtaposition with one another. I liked several of the paintings, but there was no photography, and I can’t seem to find the images on the internet. One was a windmill with a sparkling black background. One was a representation of a tobacco leaf in bright unnatural colors. They were having a Cuban exposition of paintings, so all the stuff was Cuban.


This is the history museum ^ It's a beautiful building with manicured gardens :) So glad to finally go in it, I've probably passed it 30 times on my ways to and from the border.


This is a real exhibition in another museum, but there was a painting similiar to this in the Cuban exhibit. This is by "los Carpinteros" and it's called "frio estudio del desatre" I loved Hannah's interpretations of all the paintings, I would have liked more time to listen to her theories.


We went to a Mexican restaurant for dinner, and that was nice. There was another table that sent us cookies, as well as a cheesy, ham, mashed potato concoction on the house. There were young men at that table, but they were also sitting with the owners of the restaurant, so it could have been from either demographic.

We spent some time at the marina. We watched a yacht being dry docked. The boys were in awe. While we were standing there it seemed like it might start to rain, I even felt some drops, and instead of being grateful thought, “It never rains in Mexico in the summer. If I would have known, I woulda’ brought my umbrella.” We were a few blocks from the car, and I didn’t want MORE wet clothes in the car, especially for such a long ride home. But it didn’t rain. Thinking ahead about the worst possibilities, or worrying, just wastes time, and eats out happiness.

Later we went to the movie theatre! It wasn’t as exciting for me, b/c even in the states I don’t go to the movies all that often. But here, when you have to drive 2.5 hours (not exaggerating) to see a movie in a theatre, it’s a special treat. The best part was playing DDR as an arcade game instead of a video game! I don’t think I’d done that before, and it was slightly embarrassing playing in public. The metal pads were GREAT.

I was going to drive home, but we didn't leave Ensenada until 10 pm, which is already past my bedtime ;) Plus, I don't like driving in the mountains at night. I love that I have friends willing to do the dirty work!

We had a great "despedida" trip. Maybe I'll have to put up more photos and things...



**I’m exaggerating of course. But I still think I’ve seen much better museum selection in smaller cities.

"I was never good at letting go

I'm lookin' forward to lookin' back
On this day"-otr



"In unexpected events let me not forget that all are sent by You. Teach me to act firmly & wisely without embittering & embarrassing others."

-This was a prayer that was on my twitter after a really bad day with my girls a few weeks ago. It’s a shame that I didn’t read it before all the drama happened. I now wish I would have taken a break from the drama and read my Bible, or escaped instead of just whining about it inside my head, and well...aloud to other adults.
It’s funny, I have one that thinks she can apologize, and it counts for other people’s poor behaviour, though she means well. She can’t endure conflict, even the healthy kind.

Another inconvenience that seems to be in Mexico, is things not where they should be. Like our electric box, that I walked a hundred meters to the other day, to flip the breaker, so that my house would have electricity. I vote that’s a bad place to have that. What if someone wanted to rob us, or cause confusion. All they’d have to do is shut off our power first!

Or parking…hehe. I once pulled into a lot in front of a bank without thinking about how I’d get out of the spot later. I was so embarrassed that I had to back my car into the only intersection with a light in our town to get out of the spot. Since then I have seen two other people do it, so I’m not the only one!

My family will enjoy this little story, esp. my dad. Sometimes I order the tacos at taco stands without tortillas b/c I love putting on as much cabbage as I can, and tortillas don't hold much cabbage. The women at the taco stands have a gift for cutting the cabbage finely, a trick I need to learn b/c it's soooo yummy. So I ordered a taco without tortillas, and the man looked at me funny. He asked, how do I cook it? and I said, like you'd cook one with tortillas, the same. The lady behind the counter repeated what I said to him, like his ears didn't work. So I wait, and he serves me this steak looking thing, lettuce and beans as little sides. Tacos de carne are made with really thin beef- grilled, or cut off a rotisserie, and then chopped up. So you can imagine my surprise when he served me a whole piece of meat. I said, "how am I going to eat this?" The lady found me a plastic spork, but I knew that wouldn't work out very gracefully. So I pushed my plate back over the counter and waited. The guy came back to me (mind you he's serving 10 people food) and said, "is something wrong with it? does it not taste good?" and I said "it needs cut up?" "Do you want to cut it?" he responded as he started to hand me the chopping knife that he uses on everyone's food. Styrofoam plate and the crowded counter within my vision, hm "no, would you cut it for me?" He happily scooped my meat off my plate back onto the grill, chopped it up, and slid it back on the plate. I had my meat cut for me, IN PUBLIC. I 'm sure that's a first in many many years.

One of the grossest days of my life...

So C---- and I went for a run today. Immediately after I wrote that she hadn’t asked to go running again, IMMEDIATELY (maybe she was looking over my shoulder, except she can’t read English) She asked to go running with me.
I conceded, and we went this morning while it was still foggy out with the June gloom. I’m glad we went while it was foggy, b/c I walked to the beach and back yesterday and got sunburned. I had no idea I was going to get sunburned, or that the police would be patrolling and actually offer us a ride back home, which we declined. The only reason to walk to the beach is to enjoy the desertedness of it all, the bleak landscape that swallows you up with it’s loneliness. Lindsay noticed that on the road to the beach, the north side is full of red cactusy flowers, and the south side is green bushes, grass, and trees. It’s cleanly delineated by the dirt road, which has zero living things. Nobody gardens/tends the area so I’m quite confused as to how this came to be. I can’t believe that 5 feet of dirt is all that is keeping the species from spreading.
Anyways, back to this morning. So C--- and I went, and so did the Weimaraner, and a stray Retriever. The Weimaraner or Papi, is a beautiful dog, but he is a puppy, so he was getting into trouble and I had to keep calling him back to us, “Papi, Papi” which is also a slang word used to address guys. So I was totally embarrassed when these teenage guys went past us, and I’m shouting “Papi, Papi!” Luckily they didn’t stop.
We ran/ walked/ hit Papi’s butt/ ran/ walked/ hit Papi’s butt because he kept trying to eat cow poop!!!! I tried to give him positive reinforcement patting his neck when I called him, but ending up getting cow poop filled saliva all over my sleeve!
Some meters up the road Papi tried to eat…….this is not for the faint of heart….a dead dog. It didn’t smell anymore, but still had all it’s hair SOOOOOOO GROSSSSS. It was still like a big piece of cardboard. He bit the back part of it, and the whole body came with it. That took a lot of frantic shouting to get him to let go of it, and some smacks on the butt, that’s how I know it didn’t smell, otherwise, I would have never gotten that close to it.

Anyways, how was your morning?

Can I make an egg for lunch??

This C---- story cracks me up. I went today to have a “family fun day” at the mission, translation, everybody come do odd jobs and clean the place up. I ended up painting most of the morning, and part of the afternoon. Most of the kids were at school, but C---- and M--- leave at 11:30 to go to the bus stop. Tia Janey was there, as well as Hermana Jasmin, but even with those two adults there, C--- ran all the way over to the mission to ask ME if she could cook eggs for lunch!!! I don’t know why she didn’t bother to just ask one of them ☺ but it was precious. I could hear her from around the corner saying my name in that special way that she talks that not many others seem to understand. So I shouted to one of the guys to point her in my direction (I was up a ladder, and not about to climb down). She came running in a hurry telling me what time it was (11:10) and if she could make an egg for lunch. It’s so nice to feel wanted.

Here's another C----- story. Some of the young adult women like to exercise, and they do it OFTEN. Several even trained for marathons. So C---- tells me, "I'm going running with them." This is a girl who NEVER exercises. EVER. I said, "really, you really want to go?" and inside it was such a turmoil thinking about how I could tell her no nicely, knowing she couldn't handle it. I figured they were running like 5 miles that day. Then Hope stepped in and said, "bring your bike." It was such a spectacle!!! Seeing her sitting tall on her bike, and keeping up with them I might add. They came home safe and sound, and she told me, "tomorrow, no bike, I'm running" well, she has yet to do that
:) and when her equally out of shape friend, M---- tries to get her to just run to the bus stop, or run home from the bus stop she throws a big stink. :) so M---- today was holding it over her head. "you want to go running with them, but you don't want to run home from school??" oh the drama.

Some things don't come as easy in Mexico.
On Sunday, I wanted some water to drink, so instead of turning on a faucet, I drove with big 5 gallon containers in the car. Filled them up. Took them back home. Then filled my glass.
I wonder how much more time Mexican's waste getting drinking water, or other people in countries with similar situations. Do they value water more than your average suburbanite American? I wonder.

My 150th post about Mexico!

In the moonlight you can clearly see the path everyone walks from my house to the big house. In the daylight, all the dust looks the same. I love walking in the dark here in general. The roads naturally light up since they are made of gray gravel, white sand, and yellow dust. If I had to walk on paved roads at night, it wouldn’t be as magical.

They threw me a great surprise going away party tonite. It was soooo special. I now have a prayer shaw, my very own praying flashcards, and even a couple home decorations!!! The sweetest thing was what people shared though, things like that I was a good mom, a prepared mom, that I’m well-educated/smart (that’s always a hard one for me to believe, don’t know why) that I’m kind…I should have written down what people said, but after the lasagna, salad (with Spinach!!! And Feta!!! Fancy ☺ You can only get Feta in the states), and after the beautiful cake, a gigantic heart cake, with turquoise ribbons- which were the same color as the shaw Johanne knit me, and after Dance Dance Revolution, how could I even pretend to remember ANYTHING? I tried to teach the 9 yr old E---- how to DDR, but I’m not sure she figured it out. I was really touched, and really surprised. I thought at the most we might have a little dinner with just a few people or something. The fact that they were so willing to turn it into a dance party! Just for me ☺ was very touching.

Today has just been full of fun, this morning was women’s meeting at 6:30, then at about 10:40 we left for the pools (two hours late I might add). We stayed at the pools till 5 or so for the graduation ceremony and fun cookout. It was cold outside, but the mountains are beautiful and the water was bluer than fake water whose saturation has been messed with in films. It wasn’t too cold for the kids to swim though.

Tomorrow I’m taking a fun trip to Ensenada, to goof off for the day with peers (Hope said I was good at being both a mom and a peer in here “eulogy” for me). It’s a “big tourist town” with half a million people, but there is only one 6 lane bowling alley, no putt putt, only 2 movie theatres. There IS the “second-largest of three known major marine geysers in the world.” (from wikipedia No plagiarism here folks!) I’ve already visited it twice. I think we’ll find something to do though. They have a cultural center (which I visited once for a meeting for children’s services, but we only were in a meeting room) and an art museum, which we plan on stopping by, and if we really don’t have much to do we can watch the cruise ships come in and out, or go to Costco! or Walmart! (I live 2 hours away from a Walmart/Calimax/Costco/any grocery superstore, and my life hasn’t fallen to pieces, can you believe it???)

Ok. I have a feeling this next week I’m not going to go to bed on time once!

Convos.

Thursday morning convo:
V- We’ve had oatmeal 3 times in a row exits back door
Me- excuse me?
V- re-enters, heard Me through door We’ve had oatmeal 1 time in a row
Me-that’s not what you said the first time
V- yes it is!
Me- we had Oatmeal on Monday, Doughnuts on Tuesday, French Toast on Wednesday, and now we’re having Oatmeal again
V- that’s what I said, 1 time in a row.
Me-I guess my ears are broken

Almost regular conversation upon entering the car
E- Do you know how to drive?
M-Do you know where to go?
E- Can you even drive on the highway?

(This however is understandable, b/c many people {and my perception is that more men drive than women} don’t drive in our part of Mexico, and even some who have cars only drive the dirt roads and not the main highway. I may drive everyday, but probably only once or twice a week on the paved road)

Convo with Boy who DROVE to my house to sell veggies
Boy- Do you want to buy a box of tomatoes?
Me- How much?
Boy- $10
Me- ok. Are you or your brother going to carry it in….wait? How old are you?
Boy- I’m 12, He’s 8.

(This made me sad. There is school here, you can go in the morning, or in the afternoon, the big cost is the uniform pieces. People ask if there is child labor here. I doubt there is much that the gov’t knows about, sure some farms do illegal things, but there is much more child labor in the oldest staying home to tend to the other siblings/housework while Mom/Dad goes to work.)

and last but not least, the Mexican idiom for having a wedgie is "the donkey wanted to eat grass"

assortment...

assortment is just another word for too lazy to write about any one thing.

Well- I did take V--- to see if another family had anything we wanted. They were having a garage sell, but it was all free. She kept picking out stuff we didn’t REALLY need. But it’s the hardest to say No when it’s principally for other people. She wanted a boxing game for L---, and a really used Camel water bottle for Dad, and the ab roller for Johnny, and beans for Mom and… well you get the idea.

I made French Toast, and everybody ate breakfast, unlike when I make Oatmeal. French Toast, while it seems harder than pancakes, is actually easier for me.

While out running errands today I stopped by a bakery with the intent to buy a treat. I did not since I wanted sugary, sugary crème filled bread, but all they had was sweet breads and seashell shaped bread, with sugar stamped on top. Also, a driver for the propane company passed me, and we live in a small enough town, and our family phones them enough that he waved and smiled. This could be related to me frantically calling them yesterday to fix the bad tank they gave us (my words). They came out once, but went to the wrong house. I phoned again an hour later wanting to cook very badly (gas stove) and they said no one was at our house! So I re-explained how to get out there and they came. Turns out, our hose that connects to the propane tank developed a leak in it over night. So not their tank’s fault, but our fault. Oops.

I like it when the kids tell each other things we tell them. I heard one of them (V---) telling L--- he needed to love his enemies, and that he doesn’t love them b/c he does this and this and this. She listed his faults very scientifically.

One of my kids chose not to go to school last Tuesday, nor this Tuesday. (I couldn’t force her, I suppose that’s always the day her typewriting hmk is due) After her friends came back from school on Tuesday, they said that only 10 (of 30) kids showed up and so her teacher went home and they combined their class with the other class. I asked why so many would skip, and (according to my kids) it’s because that many kids don’t have a typewriter and couldn’t do the homework, so instead of coming without the homework and just failing out of that class, they skip the whole day. They want them to use old fashioned typewriters, not electric ones, nor computers. I can’t even understand it. I had one teacher explain to me that computers are different than typewriters b/c you get immediate feedback when you use a compu, and you can continually be looking at your results. I remember learning the immediate feedback helps learners self correct more often, and make them more successful at the task. I’m trying not to have a chip on my shoulder about this. (I also would not allow my kid to do something just b/c every other family allowed their kid to do it- i.e. skip school)

We have a new lady helping in our house a lot. She’s bilingual, and yet there are things she looks at me funny about. Apparently my kids shorten all the words, compu (computadora) , refri (refrigeradora), bici (bicicleta)…so consider this a warning, I may come back from Mexico talking all wrong.

10 days and I’ll be home…

dirty kitchen, clean food?

We have a pretty sooty kitchen right now.
One of the burners isn’t burning clean, so all the pots and pans and skillets have soot on the bottoms and sides. The kids have put said pots and pans in the fridge to store leftovers, so the black magically migrates to the fridge, and also to the countertops, and to my sleeves and your brand new shirt.
C--- wanted to cook eggs before heading to school, and so she cleaned one of the skillets that was waiting to be washed, but she was too impatient with the second step of the process. Rinsing is VERY important, unless you want to eat an egg with a bunch of soap bubbles on it, which she shockingly did. Maybe the chili has burned off her taste buds.


oh, J--- is working on her new math book, but it looks she should have done this one BEFORE the one she already did. hm.

I'm almost gone

J--- passed her math test, the one she took the day after Mother’s Day!!! Yay. She only has two more tests to get her 6th grade certificate! One is about “being young” (sex, drugs, alcohol) and the other is another math test. So fingers crossed! We do still need her birth certificate to continue her in school. I really need the gov’t to get on that.
The next opportunity she has to take tests is the Monday after I leave, or in 2 weeks. Can you believe I only have 2 weeks left here??
I can’t. and it seems like every song lyric I hear speaks to me about it…. “throw my heart out on the stones, and I’m almost gone” or “where we gonna find the eyes to see a brighter day”
I’ve been mourning slowly this departing since January. I even had problems when I was home, I’d drive past/through an agricultural area and my heart would go up in my throat.
I’ve learned a lot of things that I didn’t anticipate, like how to cook better. I find that when I have free time I listen to music in English, not Spanish, which I would have never predicted. I think it’ll reverse when I’m back in the states.
I’d like to find a job, I’m not sure which job would be the best though, as soon as I get some more free time I’ll get more to work on that.

I’m having trouble with one of the girls. She keeps comparing our place to other places she has lived in, apparently they were all better then ours. They didn’t count out how many strawberries you could have (I did it so everybody would get a fair amount- didn’t want them fighting like vultures). They bought you new clothes every week (we let her earn money to buy some pants, she spent her money on junk food). They only served Mexican food (we had Spaghetti tonite). I probably don’t mean this, but I would rather her be nice to my face and only say those things behind my back. Although, she could start some kind of revolution if I’m not careful. I’m trying not to let her change my attitude. I think the only way to fix this would be to build a relationship with her, and that’s not going to happen in 2 weeks. I also think that after living in 6 places, she has a lot of home life styles to compare. The most recent place she lived besides our house, was a temporary place- they needed to place her, and my girls told her how fabulous and perfect our lives are here, so I’m sure she has unmet expectations.

Oh, on a Mexican radio station they had the song “Dust in the Wind” playing, but in SPANISH. Sooooo crazy!

I had a nice chat about jealousy the other day with a couple of my friends. When we are intimidated or jealous of others, we often avoid them. Instead of this affecting us poorly, and just being “our own loss”, it also affects those we avoid, those we think are perfect and don’t need us. It punishes them in a way.

I’m falling asleep writing this, blogging earlier in the morning tomorrow…

They're tiny and their tooney...

Some kids really live up to their names....


One of my kids’ names is only one letter different than Elmira. Remember the character from Looney Toons? She always said this about animals “I just want to hug ‘em and squeeze ‘em and kiss ‘em and hold ‘em and love ‘em forever and ever.” During her death grips on them, their eye balls would pop of the sockets as they would try to claw their way out of her affectionate assaults.

This post is going to be dedicated to “Elmira’s” adventures with animals.

Recently, a small dog followed a child home. This dog is owned by another missionary family. When “Elmira” saw Ruby she locked her in her room b/c she couldn’t “walk back home on her own.” It was already dark out and they didn’t want her to get hurt. “Elmira” and her sister tucked Ruby into the bottom bunk, with a bowl of dog food dumped on their bed room floor. When we found them asleep on their bedroom floor the next morning, they made it clear to us they were protecting Ruby. We made it clear to them that Ruby can hold her own. One of the older girls told me to tell "Elmira" not to do that, b/c she'll get bugs in her bed, and I said, you and I aren't sleeping in it? :) I did tell her that Ruby doesn't belong locked in their room.

A yellow lab puppy that belongs to the neighbors often wanders over to our house. I’ve seen the girls walking around with it in their arms, even though it’s approximately their size. I’ve also seen it with a dress on, and being pushed around in a baby stroller.

The old golden retriever, Kona, that lives with us has been seen with my favorite apron tied on it’s back.

Friday, we were looking for Tyson, the pit bull, to take him to guard the new property for the night with our Rottweiler. Jose was walking all around the house/property calling his name. I was looking in the house, and thought it was extraordinarily strange that we didn’t find him right away. Jose told me he thought he’d seen the dog go into Mom’s room, and would I check? So I went in there, but no sign of the dog.
When I came back out “Elmira” suspiciously closed the bathroom door with the light still on, exiting and remaining there, hands behind her back still grasping the door knob. I asked who was still in the bathroom. “Tyson” she said.
“Jose and I have been looking for him, why would you hide him from us?”
“He’ll bite Jose.”
I just sighed and told her we don’t lock dogs inside bathrooms.
Really, I think she didn’t want the dog spending the night out at the property, she just underestimated her power of preventing that.

C—although not “Elmira”, has also done her fair share of dog/people torture, the last few days. A weirmeir (a gigantic dog!) is visiting us while Hannah visits. This dog’s name is Papi, and it is terrified of C—and with good reason. She gives it these big neck hugs and chases it around the house telling it what to do like it’s a toddler, “don’t lick that, eat this, bite her” (that would be me.) She grabbed my sweater that I happened to be wearing and tried to provoke the dog with it. I asked her not to damage my clothes. Also, the word Papi comes in a very popular song, which C—has found appropriate to sing/rap at him every 30 seconds, just the chorus though, which is probably more torturous than getting my clothes destroyed.

Consider this a fair warning, not to bring your pets around if you don’t want to have to pay for pet therapy later… ☺

June Cleaver never says, "I quit."

We had a costume party on Saturday for a 16th birthday party. I didn’t want to dress up b/c it was too much effort, and I knew some people had sweet outfits planned that I couldn’t compete with. I did have pearls, a full skirt, heels, and an apron, so I conceded and went as June Cleaver. There was an award for “most out of character” which the girl who went as Juno won.

I baked some cookies Tuesday, GUESSING while I worked. And I’ll give you one GUESS how they turned out…

.,..tastey-tastey.

We’d had a chiropractor and his wife visiting. I got adjusted for the first time in my life. (I also couldn’t stop laughing on the table, there were several people waiting their turn, and my inability to stop laughing made everyone else in there crack up too.)
Since I had such a nice experience I baked cookies to thank them.

Someone had rearranged all the kitchen stuff, although I had a recipe in front of me, I could only find the 2/3 cup measurement and NOTHING ELSE. (Can you quit before you start, because I definitely threatened it!!) I liberally scooped in flour, poured in vanilla , did a pinch of baking soda, and a pinch of salt- I felt pretty rebellious or reckless. I dumped in a can of crushed pineapple, (which I drained the juice off of and drank- C---- looked at me and said, “gross!” and I said, “that’s just like pop or juice that you would buy.”) I sprinkled oatmeal on top of it, and crunched some almonds in. I estimated with the sugar (white and unrefined white) and mixed.

I defrosted butter, but too well :) and not on a plate or anything, just in it's wax wrapper. M--- opened the microwave to a mess. She said, "eww, who did this?" and I got high and mighty and said, "whoever left a mess in the microwave has to clean it up." before I realized it was my mess. hehe. That was the second time I said, "I quit."

Really, my intention had been to make white chocolate chip cookies, but someone had ate them all (mysteriously, just like other food mysteriously disappears, including that sliced Provolone I brought back from the states. Granted I didn’t hide it very well.) I hadn’t noticed that we didn’t have chocolate chips until I’d already made the dough. I know I should check for all ingredients before I begin something, but the chips were there the day before! That was the third time I said, "I quit." But Hannah animated me to finish them.

After everything was stirred well, and I added another liberal amount of vanilla, I tasted the dough, which C--- once again told me was gross, and that I shouldn’t eat the dough b/c I’ll get sick. I kindly disregarded her advice and gave dough to Hannah to try.

Cooked, they came out looking like gourmet cookies, AND tasting like gourmet cookies, taste infinitely more important than looks.

So I’ll accept losing the “most out of character” award. Because only June Cleaver could make perfect cookies in such an imperfect situation, without measuring the ingredients, creatively thinking of replacement ingredients, and without breaking a sweat. ☺ Although, maybe June Cleaver wouldn't have said, "I quit" out loud, she would have only thought it and smiled convincingly.

Super-Women, Super-Noise, Super-Skipping

It’s been a couple of hectic days so I haven’t written. Monday and Tuesday my little girls didn’t have school b/c their teacher was sick and they don’t get subs here, or maybe they would get a sub but there aren’t any?? I don’t know. It seems like they don’t though. I try not to get frustrated about school for them. The two little girls have been with us for almost a year, and now can sometimes talk in full English sentences! We haven’t formally taught them anything besides, “I’m Steve Manzano’s daughter.” Or “You’re pretty.”- That’s a nice one to tease them into saying ☺ Immersion really works! But I’m worried they are going to grow up without a full knowledge of Spanish as there is so much vocabulary that we don’t use in our house.
The other reason it’s been nuts is that Tuesday, two of my children decided to skip school. They got up, were wearing their uniforms, and then went back to bed hoping I wouldn’t notice, and they lied to one of their classmates saying that I told them they could stay home. It caused a lot of drama, and it was really difficult for me to sympathize b/c I can’t remember ever having feelings of not wanting to go to school. Their only reason was that they were going to get recess taken away for not having something done, and that they hadn’t slept the night before. Getting recess taken away is no reason to skip school, especially for teenagers. They are in 7th grade and both are 15. It seems like when one teenager gets a bad attitude it infects the whole house, but I think we’re better now.
The kids were using the internet 24/7 on Sunday and Monday, and so I prayed that it would stop working, and it did! I think they’ve figured out how to get unlimited log-in time, so I was glad for the intervention. BUT the whole time it wasn’t working they whined a lot at us, and I told them, if they knew how to fix it they were welcome to fix it. They thought we disconnected some cable on purpose, but I assured them I hadn’t. While they didn’t have internet, some of the girls in my house put the music on in both rooms upstairs, two different cds, AND played guitar at the same time. It was like SUPER noise pollution, or maybe they were having a top secret meeting and they wanted to be sure that I didn’t hear any of it. ;) I heard from a reliable source that used to live up on the hill where everyone has smaller lots, and half built houses that you often can hear 2 or 3 different radios playing at once. Plus I can imagine that you can hear the loudspeakers from parties and things REALLY well, b/c we hear it down here a couple times a week.

When the internet started working again, you should have heard the shouts of joy in this house.
Today is peaceful so far, and I anticipate that it will only continue this way. Tia Janey was supposed to come over today and cook a lunch and dinner, but she wasn't feeling well. Instead of having time to worry, somebody dropped by bread for us, surprise! So lunchmeat for lunch it is. Can you eat lunchmeat for dinner? hehe.

She is still coming to do dinner :) yay! Any woman who can cook us two meals a day is a super woman.

never quiet.

We have a problem with noise pollution here. You know how phones play mp3s now, well I’ll be in the grocery store and the stockers will have their phones playing music while they stack cereal boxes. Or the cashiers have their phones rocking out while they ring up groceries. The most disconcerting for me was the young man who was up on a ladder directly under a loudspeaker, they are called “loud” speakers for a reason, with his personal music also blaring.

It’s even a problem at home. When you have more than one teenager with a cell phone. It seems fashionable to get a cell phone, but then not buy minutes for it and just use it to take photos and listen to music. As I was in the kitchen stirring soup, one of the girls just stood in there watching, and occasionally commenting, all while entertaining us with her phone playing music. The thing is, I already had the radio on, and was too accommodating to do anything about it. Then, her sister walked in, with someone else’s phone around her neck, listening to another song, luckily she took what she needed and walked back out. Three different songs in one room- that never happened in my childhood. Sigh.

(and in all the noisey-ness, I had one of the kids walk into the bedroom that is closest to the kitchen and shut off the stereo in there, so that there'd be a little bit more peace. Granted all of this overlap of music only happened for a few minutes, but it still blew my mind.)

Silent, and deadly.

It seems normal here in Mexico that if you harbor an offense, the silent treatment is the best way to go. I’ve seen adults do it, teenagers, and even little kids. I try not to let it get to me. One of my girls gave me the silent treatment this week, just for a day, and I was so worried it'd be a lot longer than that, but she forgave me after about 24 hours thankfully!!!

I came back into my house after being gone for a few hours to see all the down stairs decorations moved. All the photos were removed from the picture frame with only the models in the example pictures to smile at me. My two favorite paintings, while NOT art ( though the best I can have for now), were on the kitchen floor tucked in between the water dispenser and the stove (a great place to get ruined).

All of this because she thought the house looked ugly and dirty, which is ironic, b/c she didn't even dust the frames or clean the ceiling fan or anything. Also she took most of the books off our bookshelf and threw them into various containers, to hide them/get rid of them.** She also nailed our Sequence game board to the wall. I don’t deal well with change generally, but regardless, this wasn’t even, “surprise a decorator came and made your house look better change”, this was “surprise somebody-well meaning took down all the decorations except three, and now we can see where all the nail holes are in the walls, oh and now you have to confront someone”. After spending 12 hours or so calming down I decided to speak to her.

I thanked her for thinking to do something nice, reminded her that she only should be making those choices about her own bedroom area, and would she fix a couple things I thought didn’t look so nice?, i.e. TAKE DOWN THE SEQUENCE BOARD. We’re not a bachelor pad here, nor a trendy neighborhood bar/grill chain with a lot of character to make up for our overpriced hamburgers. She told me she wouldn’t. I waited to see if she’d change her mind.
I did tell her it hurt my feelings that she thought the photos were ugly, (and she had the audaciousness to say a girl in some of the photos is ugly, and that that girl doesn’t live with us anymore and shouldn’t be in the photos).

While she gave me the silent treatment I tried to affirm that I still like her, by smiling at her, but she generally avoided my eye contact. I also engaged her in friendly easy chat, like “have you eaten dinner yet?” or “did you sleep good” or “what was for dinner” and she just stared straight ahead like I wasn't even there. I'm trying to learn to provide unconditional love, not try to instantly fix everyone.

Luckily this has all been resolved. She changed her mind, and re-decorated again, according to the suggestions I made. It doesn't look like the original decorations, but it looks a lot better than her first attempt. I still cannot believe that was a point of contention in this house. When I think of troubled teenagers I think of sex, drugs, skipping school...NOT redecorating without your mom's permission! We have pretty good kids.


**While we may have too many books to put on our tiny bookshelf and it still look neat and clean, but I AM of the opinion that one can never have too many books.

pssst. wanna buy a watch Milk?

Scene:
Motel Parking Lot

Actors:
Adult Woman
Young Adult Woman
Man in Trench coat selling fine Swiss watches, I mean, Milk.





Today is grocery day. Last week on grocery day, we had a BIG stroke of luck. I didn’t have my camera with me, but a story so outside the imagination naturally entreats you to believe it.
We were on the lookout for the Lala man. He sells dairy products. We’ve special ordered through a grocery store to stock products they don't have, and have phoned the GS repeatedly to ask if they were in yet, once we phoned every day for a week, only to have them NEVER follow through. The result of their inattention was that we decided to take things into our own hands. As we drove to the grocery store 35 minutes away, our eyes played “Where’s Waldo?”, except the refrigerated semi-truck wasn’t red and white striped. When I made the happy discovery we pulled into a local motels parking lot! My allegedly miss-spent youth reading those "Where's Waldo" books proved well spent.
We didn’t have to knock on any motel room doors, they were already in their trucks- like they were about to make some deliveries. You see, they drive two hours south to us. They spend the day delivering to area grocery stores, stay the night in town, spend the next day delivering and then drive back. Wash, Rinse, Repeat!
Paying them in the parking lot, I felt like we were waiting to get caught by some area grocery store owner who might say, “Lala man, you’re stealing our profits! Stop it!” Granted, buying directly from them makes a lot of items cheaper. Milk is 40 cents cheaper a gallon, and milk for 25 people adds up quick!
My favorite part about all of it was they walked the milk, sour cream, and yogurt to the car. Or maybe my favorite part was when they offered to make home deliveries whenever we called them. Or maybe them charitably giving us more change back than we were owed because “we’re doing a good thing.” Or maybe my favorite part was having ALL the products we wanted, and in the SIZES we wanted at our fingertips!! (It’s embarrassing and pitiful to buy 8 small sour creams, even more so a waste of plastic, when you could purchase 2 large sour creams. Better to bring home 8 than none at all or 24 people ask you repeatedly “where is the sour cream? Why don’t we have sour cream?”.)

Life goals:
1. Scuba Dive
2. Read every Chaim Potok novel
3. Buy Milk in a motel parking lot
4. See the Cristo Redentor in Rio de Janiero, Brazil

I feel like a more whole person as a result of this...
and I’d say Milk is probably the only thing I’ll ever buy in a motel parking lot.

Coffee!

One morning, C—asked me for coffee. She’s not a usual coffee drinker, but she seen all of us do it, right? Wrong, maybe.
She heated up a glass of water in the microwave, walked over to the canister with grounds in it, and started to spoon the grounds into her cup! Frantically preventing her, I stopped her and said, No! She said, “but you said, Yes?” insinuating that I was a meanie for changing my mind unjustly. “You can have coffee, just not this way.” I assured her while pouring her a cup from the coffee pot, taking her hot water for my own to make tea with. Then showed her how the grounds go in the coffee maker, not in the cup. In a year and a half I have NEVER seen instant coffee in our house, only beans/grounds. But maybe it’s so Mexican, that that’s the only way SHE knows. (Honestly, when I go to the grocery store, the instant coffee products FAR outweigh the good stuff.)

Today, Johanne and Steve leave with Abigail to go to their sons M.A. graduation in Texas, and then to Johanne mom's for her 80th birthday party! They'll be gone ten days, with more of the kids leaving Sunday with Tani. I'll be manning down the fort, but I believe the new house mom will be helping me, as well as Hannah! (who I adore for making this sacrifice!) I think we'll make it, especially if C-- can make the coffee for me :) I know that will be big time saver. hehe.

The Shower of Doom!!!

I had a funny moment with C--. She started her shower upstairs, but there was no water, which happens. She left, and forgot to turn the shower knobs back to off. After she was in the other house for a while, showering over there, I heard a noise. It sounded like someone showering! I ran upstairs and shut the shower off because apparently it had begun working. When she came back in the house, I mimed everything that had happened. I didn’t get to the part where I’d shut the shower back off, because she had already ran upstairs horrified as fast as a gazelle, but clumsily like a rhino, shouting “oh. perdon” the whole way. I can only imagine she got a couple bruises in the process.

quiet.

so, I’ve realized that in the last week or so, I haven’t had a moment of quiet. Every moment no child was near me I’ve had my iPod on. Today, a sermon to which I was listening, ended, and I decided not to find something else to listen to, and it was shocking hearing all my thoughts. Granted I’ve only listened to “good” things, but even good things that bring you away from yourself aren’t good. I did listen to Mansfield Park by Jane Austen, that was an accomplishment!

Today I was reading part of Ruth to the girls. Boaz’s name in Spanish is Booz. M—said, oh, like Bus in English! It was precious.

J—was taking a nap on the couch today when two little girls rung the doorbell and asked about taking some costumes out of my dress up clothes box. I said it was ok, but that they had to be super quiet b/c J—was sleeping. They shut the door SOOOOO carefully, which is tricky b/c my door always slams. They tip-toed in, but in stark contrast L-- walked over to J—and poked J—‘s head with her finger. I just don’t get it.

Mother's day Monday?

I need to write. I took Sunday off b/c one of my weekend entries, while dramatic, was all about what one of my girls shockingly did to upset me. I deleted it, but later, I do hope to tell the story, but not in such a mean way. Yesterday was Mother’s day here. And as seems to be tradition, people come to your house singing “Las Mañanitas” at all hours of the night. Johanne, was woken up three times. One of the ladies of her church had paid her son to play it on his guitar at 3am. My girls knew I wanted to sleep, so they left me alone ☺ I now have a basil plant, which I hope not to kill.

I’ve got some things I’d like to write about, but it’s been one of those crazy mornings. Not only are 2 of my girls studying for 1 exam each tonite, but we need to make lunch, rather unexpectedly, and making tortillas for 25 people is a large undertaking.

Pray that they do well tonite on their exams!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I’m gonna send out a “support” email this week, hopefully. Johanne put together a little newsletter that I’d like to get out.

(oh, today was all the kids first day back. BUT one of my kids got sent home b/c apparently they had a doctor come to the school and send home any kids who could be “contagious”. They sent her with a pretty letter explaining and a form indicating various conditions. The only box checked was cough, but that was enough to have her walk HOME BY HERSELF, without notifying us. She is allowed to walk home, but with her sisters, not alone. Their school is sooo different than the ones I’ve taught in. If she weren’t honest, maybe she wouldn’t have come home right away.)

I didn't get to talk to my Mom for Mother's day, but I certainly tried. I think it was good though b/c one of my kids asked to call her mother, which I didn't think was a good idea, and so I said no. She said, "Did you talk to your mother today?" and I could honestly answer her, "No."

in which the question marks tell the story.

I had a misunderstanding with the ladies that work for us. We keep some of our food products locked in a little storage shed that we call the “bodega.” This is generally the first place donations go before they go to other needy families, missionary families, or into our kitchen. Recently we decided to try buying bulk (works great for our family) and had gotten like 100 lbs. of flour. As it wouldn’t really fit in our kitchen, at least not at the expense of other food products, we put it out in the bodega.
Since I have a key to the Bodega, the lady cooking for us asked me to bring her flour. I asked her how much she wanted, and she said “half.” I wasn’t sure though, and thought I’d clarify. Half?? And she said “like half of the white thing” or “la mitad de lo blanco.” The bag of flour is white. Panic seized me. What was I going to tell her? That she is being unreasonable asking for 50 lbs of flour? That we can’t afford it? That I don’t have time to bring her an entire half of bag?** That we just bought that flour two days earlier and it’s meant to last us for a while? What is she cooking that she needs 50 lbs of flour? Does this mean we can only have homemade tortillas twice this week? I also was worried b/c I’d offered to help her, in my continued quest to learn to cook like a Mexican.
Thinking I had gotten in over my head I started backing away from her, so as to not catch HER type of crazy, saying “uh, no te entiendo.” The gringa way out, except that she knows me pretty well so she waited and I, as always, was tempted to talk more. “We use half just for OUR family? Are you sure? Do really want it up till half???” bearing my teeth in a half smile as if to say, “change your mind now lady” and then biting my lower lip in my insecurity. Bending over, she pulled out of the cupboard the giganto white plastic bowl she ALWAYS uses to make tortilla dough in.
"Oh, so not half the bag, half of this container." I sheepishly said, assessing whether my non-native Spanish was to blame.
I don’t know how many pounds of flour it holds, but after we had a good laugh and I told her every single confused thought I'd had, I found it weighs less than her 2 year old son, and is about 12 scoops of a regular size soup bowl.

**whole half was so much more tempting to write.

This may have been a lot more hilarious experiencing it than reading it, but I assure you, dear reader, we've mentioned it almost every day we've seen each other since. And we were laughing so hard we were crying, so if you're not crying there is something wrong with you.

We'll even do homework we're so bored...

School was supposed to be canceled only until Thursday. Now it’s canceled until Monday ☺ This easily puts the kids at 5 weeks without school in the last 8 weeks. 2.5 weeks for pig flu, 2 weeks for Easter, and a few federal holidays/teacher meetings sprinkled in for good measure. Kids really need a schedule. And so do Moms.

We’ve tried to make things fun for the kids. They went on a little camping vacation to a water park and the mountains for 4 days, we’ve played soccer, baseball, cards, house, restaurant, kitchen. We’ve put them to work cooking and cleaning more than usual. But they are INCREDIBLY bored.

How do you know, you ask? Supernatural Mom-sense??
No. They tell me, “I’m bored.” A lot. And then look at me like I have a vaccination for boredom. Said cure would probably include unlimited shopping at the "globos" (used toys, cds, used clothes, used anything-you-can-think-of, and fresh junk food) as well as non stop movie marathons. Neither of which am I willing to provide.

I've even told them that I consider the word "bored" to be a swear. So they say it when they know I'm listening especially ;)

But the kicker Tuesday was the kids were showing me the homework they had to do from last week, legit. We worked on it, fully knowing they weren’t going back for some more time. Then the girls brought me MORE homework, and said they had forgot to tell me their teacher assigned this page, and they have to read this book and so on and so forth. Hehe. They’ve been without school so long, they’re making up their own homework. That is true desperation.

Two of the girls that I do school at home with have exams Monday night, one is taking Math, the other Civics. The civics stuff is stinking hard, I’m even having trouble helping her study for it (and more so b/c all the kids that go to public school have been home having fun!). The one taking math asked me today, “when are you going to let me stop doing math papers?” and I said, “when you pass this exam.” She didn’t know what a solar calculator was, but was given one by the gov’t to complete her math book. It didn’t have a battery in it, and the back was open (it does have a spot for back up battery if you want) and she said to me, “I can’t use this. We need to buy batteries. Why do they give me stuff that doesn’t serve its purpose?” So I said, what’s 2 times 4, She told me the answer, and I pressed the buttons. Turning the face of the calc to her face, she said, wow. She was so amazed that it worked! What a fun moment! She was really confused until I explained it was a solar calculator. She’s heard of solar power, and some families we know have it, so it made perfect sense. Steve has plans to make the new house he’s working on all solar power powered, but I think it’s gonna be a big job.

P.S. I'll be home exactly a month from today. Let's do something! ooh! and job leads, if you have any. AND they are talking to a prospective woman to take my place. we'll see!!!

Domino, frozen

There are many mysteries here, why there is a domino in the freezer… Why there is a spoon in the trash…Why there is mud in my windowsill?- I guess I can answer that one. Ya’ll have dust. Made out of skin particles and the like. We have dust. Made out of clay, sand, and anything else the wind whips up. I used a wet cloth to clean out the window, and it literally clumped up like a big glob that I’d just pushed out of the tread of my galosh. It was almost as thick as play-dough.

Another mystery I had was whether one of my girls was misbehaving at school. Her and another one go together, and M—was always coming home with these elaborate stories about C—not behaving at school. I sent the teacher a detailed note, and she signed it and sent it back, but didn’t write anything, like “don’t worry, everything’s fine.” So since we sometimes go grocery shopping near their school (40 minutes away) I decided to stop by after grocery shopping. I wasn’t quite sure how it’d go. Her teacher was really nice, and explained that M—is exaggerating things, and that C—and M—are her two best helpers in the classroom. The thing that surprised me the most about the visit was how stinking EXCITED M—was that I was coming. As I waited in the car for her teacher to arrive, M—played in the yard. M—pointed out to all her friends, that I was waiting outside the school, and told them my name, and waved CRAZILY at me. When I was a teenager, I would have been mortified. Granted she turns 20 in July, so maybe she’s past that, but she does get embarrassed of me sometimes in the grocery store. After I chatted with her teacher, she tried to directly introduce me to her classmates. It was cute!! They start their school day doing a military style thing. They march in place with two or three different steps/rhythms, and then they go to their classes. They also march in place after breaks while they wait to be dismissed to their classes.

Are you smarter?

J--, who struggles in Math, did her long division page ALL BY HERSELF last week! Except that she didn’t. We were checking it over, and I noticed that when there was a remainder, she wrote R (to symbolize remainder). In Mexico the kids do S (to symbolize sobra, “too much, surplus, excess”), so I taught her to use S. I did not teach her to do R, but some reason it was all over her paper! So I asked her, “who helped you?” -Nobody. “Who helped you???” -Nobody helped me. “The person who helped you speaks English, I know.” And she looked at me guilty, and shocked.

D and I were playing music the other weekend practicing for worship, and I had some music theory epiphanies while answering one of her questions, and then I realized- If I went back to school now, I could totally pass some of my class sooooo much more easily. I could whip all those Spanish classes, I’d do better in Music Theory, and she was like, yeah, You learn so much after college. If only...

Grocery Shopping

So this weekend we had a party for Pastor Rance’s 65th birthday, and his change of ministry position. When we were planning, our conversations went like this.
“Well, where can you buy Ginger Ale?”
-“Sometimes they have it at that one store, but also you could check Alfer-mart.”
“Could we get gold balloons?”
-“They don’t sell gold balloons at the party store. Do we want yellow?”

Going to the store here is often a guessing game. One of the ladies used to regularly buy jello, sour cream, and pudding at a certain store, and they don’t stock ANY of it any more. We found sugar free fat free yogurt at a store, and were buying it once a week, when it disappeared again. In the states, if you go to a certain store, you know the same products will be there week after week, and if there is a change, they put up signage “item will be discontinued.” It’s taken some getting used to. It's totally normal for people to come home from the grocery store without getting to buy everything on their list, b/c it's just not there. They also only sell products IN season. For example, when no one was harvesting Cucumbers there were no Cucumbers to buy. Sadness. We also don’t have coupons here, but do talk about which place sales a product at a better price.


(Happy Cinco de Mayo, but I think more people celebrate it in the States, than here in Mexico, except for maybe in Puebla- where the battle that is commemorated happened, and MAYBE in D.F. (Mexico City) )