What did you buy as junk food when you were a kid and you could spend your own money??
Candy? Chips? Pop? Ice cream?
Well, my kids buy popcicles, chips with salsa dumped all over them (not chunky salsa, liquid-y salsa) AND more popular than pop…….TOP RAMEN NOODLES. In Mexico, they sell bowls or packets of it in every store for 20 or 30 cents. Often we have dinner and the kids say, “Can I eat the sopa maruchan that I bought instead of dinner?” When I first got here I asked my kids what they liked to eat so I’d know what to cook for them. They told me sopa maruchan, which at the time I didn’t know was Ramen noodles. So I asked them how to make sopa maruchan, and this is what they said.
1. Boil water.
2. Put in the noodles.
3. Put in the spices.
I said, “which noodles do you use?”
And they said, “sopa maruchan noodles.” –
“but, which kind is that, like seashells? Like macaroni? Like spagetti?”
“you know, the ones in the plastic package!”
(well that really narrowed it down, I thought.)
still lost I tried the spices….
“which kind of spices do I put in? oregano? Garlic? Rosemary? Tomato sauce? White sauce? Butter?”
“it’s like powder.”
“well, I don’t know which one that is.”
“it’s easy to do, I’ll show you next time we have it how to make it. Everybody can make it, Even L--- (8 yrs.) ”
Imagine my embarrassment when I realized they were talking about Ramen noodles.
This week I took a couple kids out for ice cream. When we got there they did not however, order ice cream. They ordered Churroslocos and Tostilocos. Both are different styles of chips that you add various things to…Chamoy- a surgery liquid salsa made of almost pure #2 red dye, cucumber pieces, peanuts, corn chips, spicey chewy stuff- like gum, another chewy thing that I think is pork rinds, and tomato/clam juice. GROSS!! Those are my more “mexican kids.” My other child got Rocky Road.
.
.
Saturday, March 7, 2009
Friday, March 6, 2009
more dog stories??
One of the things our house has too many of is DOGS.
We have the “family” dog, Kona, a retriever.
We have Chava, a rottweiler mixed with something, Tani’s dog that doesn’t really live with her b/c she doesn’t have a yard, and it get’s lonely with no other dogs around.
We have the Chihuahua named Bonhomme, that Johanne’s family gave her to help with her asthma.
One of the daughters was given a toy dog, maybe poodle? By her boyfriend, it’s name is Tita.
AND There is Tyson, an old boxer that is only with us until Taba moves into the house they are fixing up.
Unfortunately, all these dogs are nice. In Mexico people value guard dogs. Tyson barks at men and strangers, but even he just wants to cuddle.
When Taba got her at midnight a few weeks ago, I didn’t stay up to say hi to her. I knew I’d see her in the morning. I was up before anyone else, and while in the kitchen there was a doggie nose trying to open the door. The dog was breathing heavy, and wagging it’s butt like it was excited to come inside, but I had never seen it before. We gets strays at our house every once in a while, but they usually leave pretty quickly, so seeing a strange dog wasn’t shocking to me.
I noticed it was a boxer and I immediately pulled the door closed, not wanting to be mincemeat. Then it occurred to me, maybe this is Taba’s dog? I opened the door again and said “Sit.” Noticing how nicely he followed instructions I figured it was safe to grab his collar, and sure enough it had Missouri tags. I let him in the house and he bounded over to the water bowl, lapped it up like he hadn’t drank since prohibition and then charged up the steps to where his owner was sleeping.
Since he’s been here, I’ve noted that he’s really good with kids, even when one of them puts the Chihuahua’s leash on him. It looks pretty funny, such a big dog, with a delicate leash. And he never looks at you straight, he always tilts his head.
Last night one of the little girls was feeding the dogs, and she had a bowl of food high above her head and was walking to where she would put it down, but then somebody talked to her and so she walked back into the kitchen and three of the dogs were following her, eyes on the prize, it was HILARIOUS. Back and forth and back again. The three of them could barely fit side by side in the hallway.
Luckily people think they are guard dogs and generally stay away from our house if they are outside. They shout to us from across the road, but that’s a pretty normal way of alerting someone who doesn’t have a fence that you’re at their house. Most other people have fences/walls/barriers in this town, but I think it represents what we do, that we are open to people and gracious. Today I gave away 120 or MORE cans of green tea that had been donated to us. The kids don’t like it, and the rehabilitation center stopped by seeing if we had any thing to donate to them. I think of it as re-gifting, and boy does it feel good! I love that not only do we receive, but that we give as well.
(I didn’t just give them green tea, I’m not that stingy.)
We have the “family” dog, Kona, a retriever.
We have Chava, a rottweiler mixed with something, Tani’s dog that doesn’t really live with her b/c she doesn’t have a yard, and it get’s lonely with no other dogs around.
We have the Chihuahua named Bonhomme, that Johanne’s family gave her to help with her asthma.
One of the daughters was given a toy dog, maybe poodle? By her boyfriend, it’s name is Tita.
AND There is Tyson, an old boxer that is only with us until Taba moves into the house they are fixing up.
Unfortunately, all these dogs are nice. In Mexico people value guard dogs. Tyson barks at men and strangers, but even he just wants to cuddle.
When Taba got her at midnight a few weeks ago, I didn’t stay up to say hi to her. I knew I’d see her in the morning. I was up before anyone else, and while in the kitchen there was a doggie nose trying to open the door. The dog was breathing heavy, and wagging it’s butt like it was excited to come inside, but I had never seen it before. We gets strays at our house every once in a while, but they usually leave pretty quickly, so seeing a strange dog wasn’t shocking to me.
I noticed it was a boxer and I immediately pulled the door closed, not wanting to be mincemeat. Then it occurred to me, maybe this is Taba’s dog? I opened the door again and said “Sit.” Noticing how nicely he followed instructions I figured it was safe to grab his collar, and sure enough it had Missouri tags. I let him in the house and he bounded over to the water bowl, lapped it up like he hadn’t drank since prohibition and then charged up the steps to where his owner was sleeping.
Since he’s been here, I’ve noted that he’s really good with kids, even when one of them puts the Chihuahua’s leash on him. It looks pretty funny, such a big dog, with a delicate leash. And he never looks at you straight, he always tilts his head.
Last night one of the little girls was feeding the dogs, and she had a bowl of food high above her head and was walking to where she would put it down, but then somebody talked to her and so she walked back into the kitchen and three of the dogs were following her, eyes on the prize, it was HILARIOUS. Back and forth and back again. The three of them could barely fit side by side in the hallway.
Luckily people think they are guard dogs and generally stay away from our house if they are outside. They shout to us from across the road, but that’s a pretty normal way of alerting someone who doesn’t have a fence that you’re at their house. Most other people have fences/walls/barriers in this town, but I think it represents what we do, that we are open to people and gracious. Today I gave away 120 or MORE cans of green tea that had been donated to us. The kids don’t like it, and the rehabilitation center stopped by seeing if we had any thing to donate to them. I think of it as re-gifting, and boy does it feel good! I love that not only do we receive, but that we give as well.
(I didn’t just give them green tea, I’m not that stingy.)
Thursday, March 5, 2009
You can never tell what she wants...
I really enjoy my independence here, and with so many people and so few cars I try to take a bike places, instead of keeping a car all to myself while I do my own thing. Or asking for a ride that would later leave me stranded. On Friday night I wanted to go over to a friends house, but it was dark out already, AND they’d been repairing the roads like nuts, so there were ditches and piles of fresh dirt where there weren’t before. One of my friends had had a little bike accident b/c a ditch was dug while she was visiting my house- the road that had been safe only a couple hours earlier now made treacherous with the potent combination of hard working men and the sun setting. I didn’t want the same thing to happen to me so I asked one of my daughters to borrow her flashlight, but she couldn’t find it. The main house dad wears a headlamp on his cowboy hat all the time. Which is great b/c he’s always fixing things, and it comes in handy. I’ve asked him for a lot of things living here...let's recap.
1. Would you fix the water pipe that broke in the attic?
2. Would you fix the bathroom pipe that broke above my bedroom?
3. Would you fix the water heater in my house? I think the filament is broken, the water is cold.
4. Would you fix our septic? The toilets won't flush and the sewage is backing up into my bath tub. (twice)
5. Would you take this child on your errands today? I need them to not be in the house.
6. How do you get on the wireless again?
7. How do you change this car from 4-wheel drive to front wheel drive?
8. Can you get the car unstuck from the mud? (twice)
9. Would you get the electricity to work in the house again?
10. Do you know why there isn't any water in my house?
so, I've asked him a lot of things, but never have I asked to borrow his headlamp. I went and waited in line, 3rd behind his kids that were asking him for money. If food is the way to a man’s heart, then money is the way to a teenager’s heart. Upon hearing my request one of his children, Y—said, “that’s ALL you want?” I'm sure Steve was relieved that his headlamp was all I wanted.
A---, 15, and I rode 5 blocks to our destination. I was the “lighter”. While I pedaled, I panned my head back and forth to light the whole street, her side and mine. I started swerving, got dizzy, struggling to bike straight and move my head at the same time, so I quit. She said, “Jen, You’re a bad liar.” I’d gotten selfish with the light ☺ She had meant, “you’re a bad lighter” but English is her second language . I realized I couldn't look at the stars and bike at the same time if my head had to point to where we wanted the light. Luckily, that was the only interesting thing that happened to us while we biked in the dark.
1. Would you fix the water pipe that broke in the attic?
2. Would you fix the bathroom pipe that broke above my bedroom?
3. Would you fix the water heater in my house? I think the filament is broken, the water is cold.
4. Would you fix our septic? The toilets won't flush and the sewage is backing up into my bath tub. (twice)
5. Would you take this child on your errands today? I need them to not be in the house.
6. How do you get on the wireless again?
7. How do you change this car from 4-wheel drive to front wheel drive?
8. Can you get the car unstuck from the mud? (twice)
9. Would you get the electricity to work in the house again?
10. Do you know why there isn't any water in my house?
so, I've asked him a lot of things, but never have I asked to borrow his headlamp. I went and waited in line, 3rd behind his kids that were asking him for money. If food is the way to a man’s heart, then money is the way to a teenager’s heart. Upon hearing my request one of his children, Y—said, “that’s ALL you want?” I'm sure Steve was relieved that his headlamp was all I wanted.
A---, 15, and I rode 5 blocks to our destination. I was the “lighter”. While I pedaled, I panned my head back and forth to light the whole street, her side and mine. I started swerving, got dizzy, struggling to bike straight and move my head at the same time, so I quit. She said, “Jen, You’re a bad liar.” I’d gotten selfish with the light ☺ She had meant, “you’re a bad lighter” but English is her second language . I realized I couldn't look at the stars and bike at the same time if my head had to point to where we wanted the light. Luckily, that was the only interesting thing that happened to us while we biked in the dark.
Wednesday, March 4, 2009
New cup, new cup, move down, move down!
Recently I noticed that we didn’t have nearly enough cups in the main house cupboard. While I wondered where they had went, most probably our back yard for tea parties, or soldier battalions, I also started thinking of a solution, b/c it’s a pain having to wash a cup every time you want to drink water. (This is one of the reasons, I generally carry a bottle of water around with me, I refill it, everyone knows that it’s mine, and the flies don’t land on/in it.) The temporary solution was to run over to my house and bring some extra cups back to share temporarily. We’ve done that with spoons and other utensils before. You can imagine my surprise when I opened my cupboard and it had so many cups they looked uncomfortable. More uncomfortable than even the typical Mexican living arrangements. There are 6 of us that live in my house, and there were FOURTY-THREE cups that didn’t belong to our house in our cupboard. Actually, there were more than that, I just quit counting. Additionally, I ended up finding cups in people’s bedrooms, with 8 bedrooms over there, and 3 bedrooms over here, even one cup a bedroom really adds up! I’m so glad my temporary solution was the only one I had to think of.
Tuesday, March 3, 2009
oatmeal.
I don’t think I ever want to buy instant flavored oatmeal again. We made oatmeal and added bits of apple and cinnamon while it was cooking and the whole family gobbled it up! Soooo easy. On V-day, Danielle stewed strawberries and we put those on our oatmeal. many options, one food.
Monday, March 2, 2009
Fangs! Underbite! Strong Jaw!
Dogs can be pretty scary here sometimes. Actually a child in our organization had some mean dogs follow him while he was on his bike and it caused him to wreck INTO a barbed wire fence and mess up his hand pretty badly. This happened just a few days ago.
This is mind, I enjoy getting out on my own, and while it’s unadvisable by some people, I chose to take a bike ride to the beach and back. I took kickboxing, and self defense, and don’t worry about my safety. It’s 1.5 miles of mostly flat deserted land, so I can see would-be assailants* from VERY far away and stay aware of my surroundings.
Well, I made it out to the dunes, and turned around (I still haven’t been out to the beach in the 7 weeks I’ve been back!). I like to stop at the dunes and stare East, because the mountains are beautiful and the houses and trees and nothingness is amazing. I regretted not having my camera with me, and started my quick ride back to town. There is a smattering of plants surrounding the path I take, but they are very low to the ground, 6-8 inches tall.
Passing the half-way mark of the return home, I noticed nobody else was out and about, no motorcycles, trucks, vans, people, etc. But all of a sudden there was a boxer and another mutt growling and barking at my ankles. They didn’t sound like they were playing, they meant it!!
The normal procedure to scare off dogs is to throw a rock or two at them and shout like a man. That’s when I panicked, I had zero rocks with me, and there was nothing worthy of tossing at the dogs except a discarded ladies platform shoe that I knew was about 100 meters ahead. Forget the whole tossing thing, I don’t really have the agility to only hold one handle bar, while letting the other hand go all willy-nilly blocking the sun from my eyes, scratching my ear, readjusting my t-shirt, or pretending to chuck rocks at dogs. Last time I let go with one hand I almost joined the dogs on the ground, maybe because the handle bars also control the steering?
In one fell swoop I shouted “NO” and “GO” in my beefy man voice and began to pedal as fast as I could. I put all my adrenaline into flight. They immediately showed disinterest. Either they were lazy, or I’m a speed racer, or they thought I was a man. I thanked God for keeping me safe, and arrived at my destination without any other incidents.
*The only assailants I can see from far away are human in nature.
This is mind, I enjoy getting out on my own, and while it’s unadvisable by some people, I chose to take a bike ride to the beach and back. I took kickboxing, and self defense, and don’t worry about my safety. It’s 1.5 miles of mostly flat deserted land, so I can see would-be assailants* from VERY far away and stay aware of my surroundings.
Well, I made it out to the dunes, and turned around (I still haven’t been out to the beach in the 7 weeks I’ve been back!). I like to stop at the dunes and stare East, because the mountains are beautiful and the houses and trees and nothingness is amazing. I regretted not having my camera with me, and started my quick ride back to town. There is a smattering of plants surrounding the path I take, but they are very low to the ground, 6-8 inches tall.
Passing the half-way mark of the return home, I noticed nobody else was out and about, no motorcycles, trucks, vans, people, etc. But all of a sudden there was a boxer and another mutt growling and barking at my ankles. They didn’t sound like they were playing, they meant it!!
The normal procedure to scare off dogs is to throw a rock or two at them and shout like a man. That’s when I panicked, I had zero rocks with me, and there was nothing worthy of tossing at the dogs except a discarded ladies platform shoe that I knew was about 100 meters ahead. Forget the whole tossing thing, I don’t really have the agility to only hold one handle bar, while letting the other hand go all willy-nilly blocking the sun from my eyes, scratching my ear, readjusting my t-shirt, or pretending to chuck rocks at dogs. Last time I let go with one hand I almost joined the dogs on the ground, maybe because the handle bars also control the steering?
In one fell swoop I shouted “NO” and “GO” in my beefy man voice and began to pedal as fast as I could. I put all my adrenaline into flight. They immediately showed disinterest. Either they were lazy, or I’m a speed racer, or they thought I was a man. I thanked God for keeping me safe, and arrived at my destination without any other incidents.
*The only assailants I can see from far away are human in nature.
Sunday, March 1, 2009
driving and dogs
Every time I drive in Mexico, I generally worry about hitting dogs. They lay in the middle of the road, so passive that I drive around them. I’m sure some get up if they feel threatened by cars, but it worries me. They even will lay so close to your car, that the driver (or the passengers) are afraid they've already run them over, only to realize the car missed them by inches. (or that the car did indeed go over them, but they weren't squished or pinched by the tires. in fact, the probably enjoyed the reprieve from the sun.)
I used to drive where ever good tire tracks were. Now that our whole* neighborhood is leveled, it's not an issue to follow the "safe" paths, nor drive on the wrong side of the road to avoid natural crevasses or bumps. Although, a few tires pushed down the hill (the kids do it for fun) will soon bring obstacle-aware driving back into vogue.
*almost
more on dogs tomorrow, if I feel like it :) I'm really only blogging today to keep from breaking my run of several weeks.
I used to drive where ever good tire tracks were. Now that our whole* neighborhood is leveled, it's not an issue to follow the "safe" paths, nor drive on the wrong side of the road to avoid natural crevasses or bumps. Although, a few tires pushed down the hill (the kids do it for fun) will soon bring obstacle-aware driving back into vogue.
*almost
more on dogs tomorrow, if I feel like it :) I'm really only blogging today to keep from breaking my run of several weeks.
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