Hello again, I don't want to overwhelm you with emails but it's been almost a month since my last update so I guess it's time for another.
Becoming a Real Missionary:
One day this family I know invited me to go up to the mountains to visit people who live there. I guess they go every week to do Bible studies or something, I had no clue what I was getting myself into (as always) but decided to go anyways. Luz had gone before and said the road was really bad and I kind of brushed the comment aside because she's a little bit of a glass half empty person. Well it ended up being 3 hours on the worst "roads" ever. One time the road ended at a river, starting up again on the other side. The driver took quite a bit of time determining if we could cross or not, we did but with water coming in. Then, towards what I thought was the end, they asked if I wanted to walk the rest of the way. I was ready for a break from the car so jumped at the opportunity figuring they wouldn't have made the offer if we were far away. So we started walking and the lady I was walking with kept saying "ahorita" we're going to be there which I interpreted literally, thinking like 20 minutes, it was an hour-hiking. They kept telling me I am now a real missionary, not because I did anything gospel related (I did make some paper plate tambourines with the kids) but because I travelled on this road. Up in these mountains surrounding Mascota people live without electricity or water and farm or something. As I learned later most of the farming is of pot, but I think there is corn too. A funny thing about that is the family we went to visit takes care of goats and they were telling me that but the word I know for goats is "cabras" and they told me they took care of "chivas" which I totally just assumed is a plant and I quickly forgot the word. So later on I was telling people that they took care of some plants and got many suspicious looks and snickers. Also during that trip we had lunch including this salad that to me looked like cucumbers, onions and cooked mushrooms in some lime dressing. Then on closer look I wasn't mushrooms and the cook clarified it was oysters. They thought it was pretty funny that I thought it was mushrooms but really who expects to eat oysters in the middle of nowhere. In case you were wondering, we ate this salad on fresh chicharrones (you know, fried pigskin).
Parties:
I've had the opportunity to go to a bunch of parties here, birthdays, baby showers and most recently one for independence day. One Tuesday night we were having this potato paste on tosadas and calling it a birthday party for a girl at church, Dariana, and it comes out it's actually her 15th birthday which is a pretty big deal but realistically that's all her family could afford to do. So the next morning Luz decided we should throw her a quinceanera, fortunately not the 500 person kind but just a small one at the house. I know nothing about quincearas but was really good at throwing business school parties and basically the concept is the same so jumped right on making handmade invitations and paper flowers. Luz is one of the cheapest people I know so was really proud that we pulled off the whole thing for 40 people for like $100 (instead of the thousands that a normal one costs). It was a blast and great to be able to bless this family in a practical way. Plus a real resume builder.
Last weekend I went to a Independence Day party at this church in a neighboring town. Since I've been here this lady at the church was telling me to get my traditional clothes ready for the party. I take costumes very seriously so I made this skirt out of some fabric I got that could also be used for a curtain and I made some big flowers and a headband in red, white and green and I was totally ready. Evidently no one else took the charge very seriously because most people over the age of 10 were wearing jeans and t-shirts with maybe like a pin or sash in the colors of the flag. However, even with my clear acts of Mexican patriotism still I don't pass for a Mexican (especially in the smaller towns). When we were entering the town for the party the police were out checking cars. He asked our names and as soon as I said mine he said "yeah, you're not from here, where are you from? do you have any ID?" I didn't have ID and he didn't actually seem to mind and we were soon on our way, me feeling a little less patriotic.
Sunday Nights:
Every Sunday night in Mascota they rope off the town square and have a block party. Of course I love to go for the freshly fried churros but it's great for running into people too. This week I was at a house with some young people before they left for the square and it was quite fascinating to see them file upstairs one by one to get freshened up. Why the need to dress up? Because pretty much the whole town is there and the girls walk around the square counter clockwise and the guys clockwise and there is lots of checking out and giggling. Since I've been here the Sunday nights have been especially exciting. Independence day(s) are September 15th and 16th and their is a lot of anticipation leading up to this point. I mean like beauty pageants including video montages for the preschool and highschool queens that the town than votes for. This week Sunday night was packed but they did pretty much the whole thing again Monday and Tuesday nights with live Mariachi in the center and small bands playing at every corner. Basically it's the most amazing thing ever.
Mom's Visit:
My mom came to visit for a week leaving last Wednesday. There's been a lot to process here especially with changes in the local churches so it was really nice to have her here to offer an outside perspective. It also gave me a chance to practice my translation skills. I'm pretty good on most topics but when people start to go off on personal drama I am quickly lost, some because of language, some because there are too many Marias too keep strait. And then there's the fact that sometimes I just plain forget that she doesn't know what's happening. Like this one time this lady told my mom that a mosquito was biting her. I just sat there wondering why my mom didn't react, then like a half an hour later I realized she had no clue the lady was talking to her or what she was saying.
Travelling with Luz:
Last week we met some relatives of a family here were visiting and they gave a generic invitation for us to come visit them in Guadalajara. The next thing I know Luz decides we should go. I've gone on one road trip before with Luz and it was an adventure that I mostly have put out of memory and this one proved to be equally surprising. 1st she decided we should bring our own sheets/towels/blankets so it would be less work for them. I totally get this except we took the bus and were really lost carrying our bags of bedding for all parts of Guadalajara (yes, they thought it was weird too). Luz didn't really know where they lived but thought she knew where to get off the bus. So all the sudden she woke me up (we left at 6am) and was like, "quick, get up, we're getting off, now." We got off, under a freeway crossing with me trying to stuff the blankets back into our bags. Then we proceeded to the paint store and used the phone to tell them we were in town, at this point we were told to get on local bus 380 and that we'd be there in like 20 minutes. 2 hours later we arrived, they had since given up on waiting for us to eat breakfast. The family was really great and the whole situation that could have been really awkward turned out quite pleasant. They have three kids (7,6, almost 4) who are learning English and were quite excited to have a living dictionary around. My favorite was the 3 year old whose first question was always to ask me what my name was (in Spanish), like literally every 10 minutes. Monday afternoon Luz took me to the historic downtown and I was reminded of how quaint Mascota really is. Then she took me to one of the largest markets in the country where she decided to stock up on huaraches for our store, which we then had to carry around with us the rest of our exploring. Then Tuesday we all want to a little art town Tlaquepaque and it was quite lovely and they had some special pole flying ceremony going on the town square (Voladores de Papantla) where these 5 men climb up a 30 meter pole do some dancing and then drop down using the ropes they have wrapped around their waists. I don't know if women can be Voladores but I do not aspire to be one. Related to flying a bird pooped on my hand, a little on my shirt and a little in my hair. It was nasty and I smelled like bird poop the rest of the day. We were planning on staying until Wednesday but Luz changed her mind and decided we should leave Tuesday afternoon. So we packed up our stuff got dropped off at the bus stop (no wandering this time) and headed back in time to hit up the late night Mascota Independence Day celebrations. On the bus "La Bamba" was playing on the radio, definitely a highlight. On a tourist note, Guadalajara has a very nice light rail system much easier for me to understand than city busses.
Other things:
This lady Berta decided to make us pickled vegetables to sell and then keep part of the profits as a donation to the church. They are gross and really I'm not about to start going door-to-door selling pickled vegetables so now Luz have a fridge full of 18 containers of pickled vegetables and are in the hole 200 pesos. Some kind of donation.
In anticipation of independence day they've been setting off house-shaking firecrackers starting every morning at 5am. I guess they're supposed to be getting us up to watch the parade to the big catholic church so somehow the firecrackers are a service to God. I don't know about that but I do know Proverbs 27:14 "A loud and cheerful greeting early in the morning will be taken as a curse." I really was wishing they never broke away from Spain.
Luz and other educated people here think yogurt is made with worms. When I challenged this I got the response, "yeah, really? than what's it made of?"
The Saturday morning kids club has been hit or miss but when kids do come they're always asking why it isn't more often (now it's just Saturday afternoons). The two girls who have been helping me are supposed to decide by this Saturday if it is something they are willing to continue when I leave. If they say yes I'll be spending some time with them coming up with ideas of games, crafts and lessons they can do.
Luz's niece is really into making flowers out of fabric to wear in the hair so now I know how to make like 6 different types of flowers using satin we got from the lady who makes all the quincenera, baptism, wedding dresses.
Tour of Joy 2014:
I've been making plans for the next two months and here they are
Aug 2-Oct3: Mascota, Jalisco, Mexico
Oct 3-Oct 10: Richmond, Virginia
Oct 10-Oct 13: Harvey Cedars, NJ
Oct 13-Oct 20: Beaver Falls, PA
Oct 21-Nov 12: Madrid, Spain
Nov 12-Nov 17: New York, NY
Nov 17 HOME!
Love you,
joy
