Pictures!

Here are some lovely pictures that you have been much anticipating.

a bug, i don´t know what kind

family making good use of their lack of front porch

my bff old lady feeding chickens

my mad poster making skills

self portrait in front of a house when luz and i were on a field trip to find things to draw in art class

More from Mexico

I'm still in Mexico and will be here for another 2 weeks. Last Friday/Saturday I hit the 10 day point and that I have discovered is my personal limit of living the transitional lifestyle in a foreign country. This realization was compacted by a lot of rain, sometimes I like rain, sometimes it makes me claustrophobic. The good thing about hitting the point where I end is that I have to rely on God instead, and fortunately He is sufficient.
On Sunday I decided I needed to take a shower, the water heater wasn't working well so, it runs out about 7 minutes in. I take quick showers but still some of the water was wasted because we were testing it, I was a little nervous (I don't know why, I've taken plenty of cold showers before), so I prayed that there would be enough to wash my hair, and their was. Now, I probably could have shaved my legs too, but didn't have enough faith to bring my razor, lesson learned.
Saturday morning a group of girls come over for breakfast and a sunday school type of thing. This week we made peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, and for most of this girls this was a first. I have to say, there were mixed reactions, some girls did the whole save it in the napkin for later trick that I would do with nasty Nica birthday cake. The lesson was on God's generosity towards us and how our desire for being like Him should be our motivation behind giving.
Sunday was father's day. I made a really cool sign and a bunch of Luz's family came over for dinner. I sat at the kid's table with some bratty 6-year-olds.
Monday Luz and I went on an adventure. First at 6am (I was told to be ready at 5) we left with her brother in a 2-passenger pick-up truck heading towards Guadalajara. About 2.5 hours later he dropped us off on the side of the road which I guess was a bus stop. There we waited for around an hour until a bus came that was heading North-ish. The bus was surprisingly nice and I was settling down for a nice nap when they put in the movie, "Danny the Dog." Have you seen it? It is definitely as good as it sounds and is not about a dog but switches between crazy excessive violence and piano playing. Unfortunately we got off the bus before it ended so I have no idea if Danny had to go back to being a "dog." When we got off the bus no one else did because we were in fact not at a bus stop but on the expressway. We then started walking towards an exit and then got picked up by another bus heading towards our destination of Santa Maria Del Oro, Nayarit.
Luz has a friend in the States whose in-laws live in this town and I guess she visited them ten years ago and has been meaning to go back, so we went. They live a much humbler life-style than I am accustomed to but were very hospitable. We slept in their room that is dedicated for guests. This may seem normal except for the fact that their 50-year-old daughter and 15-year-old grand-daughter sleep on a mattress in the very open living room, even when there aren't visitors. The house main house doesn't have running water so I got a pan in case I needed to go to the bathroom in the middle of the night, I didn't.
I got a lot of strange looks from the family matriarch in my 18-hour visit. Here I will summarize our most frequent conversation:
Her:do you want beans?
Me: No, thank you.
Her: What you don't like beans?
Me: No, I like them but am not hungry.
Her: huph(dirty look).
That was repeated a lot and not during meal times but just when we were sitting in the backyard and no one was eating, it soon became the family joke.
This is second favorite:
Her: Do you eat cactus in el otro lado?
Me: No.
Her: What your mom doesn't know how to cook cactus? hump (dirty look)
Anyways, eventually I'll attach two pictures from there. One of her feeding the chickens (did you know that chickens sleep in trees?) and another of us sitting in front of the house (luz, my empty chair, rosario (the great-grand-daughter), an aunt that lives there, and the patriarch). The patriarch's name is Marco and when his wife would be calling for him, "Marco! Marco! Marco!" I kept wanting to yell, "Polo," I restrained myself.
We only stayed there Monday night and left early Tuesday morning to get back in time for art class. We took all buses back, no movies but yes we did walk some more on the express way.
Ok there are more things that happened this week but this is probably already more than you need to know.
love, joy

Vida in Mexico

I came down to Mascota last Wednesday and it may have caught some of you off guard (I know it did me) so I figured I'd let you know what is going on. Some of this may be repetitive so you can read at your own discretion.

There is this lady Luz, she lives in this town, Mascota but she used to live in San Diego, that is why I know her. She is originally from here, and three years ago moved back to share the gospel. Some of the churches that support her try to send down people to help her out with whatever and to encourage her. I first came down with a group in '06 and then in '08 and earlier this year. Since my visit in February she has been encouraging me to come stay here for longer than just a week. I love it here but I also am quite fond of my life in the US so I wasn't sure what I should do. So I prayed and sought council and looked at my calendar and I'm here.

Now onto what I've been doing. My sister, Julie and her husband, Dylan flew down with me on the 10th and were here until Monday. It was great traveling with them, they flew down in first class and sneaked food to me to go with the salt and pretzels the coach passengers get. Mostly what Luz does is lead Bible studies and visit people, so that is what we did (and what I'll continue doing). You can probably check mi hermana's blog to read about Mascota from my her perspective some time soon.

That is the overview, now I'll go onto some specifics.

• Every night around 10 Luz goes to a house for a prayer meeting. This guy, Ramon...I think, had a blood vessel pop in his brain and temporarily lost his vision. Now I guess he sees but with double vision. The family invited Luz and another lady to come and pray for them. So every night she goes and reads the Bible a little and prays. She is the only one that participates so you'd think they were bored but they keep inviting her back and usually about ten family members are there.
• The food here is great, and I think I'm getting used to two meals a day thing. Today it was a little rough because we had toast and a smoothie at 10 and then at 4 we still hadn't eaten again. Then we stopped by someone's house to visit and got this huge lunch of super spicy soup and gorditos.
• When Julie and Dylan were here it was really hot but now the rain is here and it is a lot cooler. Probably not cool enough to justify the wool socks that I am wearing but I am too lazy to take them off.
• Last night I started an art class. I am not an artist but supposedly that isn't important. We'll see.

Public Service Announcement
You can still buy my book by clicking on the link on my last post.If I sell 1,000 copies I can go to Ireland in the fall.

my year; half-full or half-empty

Introduction
For the past 3 months I have been planning on sending out an update on June 19th because that is 6 months from when I moved back from Nicaragua. I’m going to be busy on June 19th so instead you’re getting this on June 5th, two weeks early. So much for planning. And now I am not in a writing mood, I have too many thoughts in my head and it is hard to get them on to paper.
Travels
The last three months have been pretty busy considering my lack of schedule or responsibilities. In March I worked then in April I travelled and I guess in May I travelled some more. It has been really nice visiting people; it’s much better than sporadic e-mails and phone calls. When in Concord, it’s been good participating in family life: dinners and coffee shops and toddlers.
Mexico
On Wednesday I’m leaving for Mascota, Jalisco, Mexico for a month. It has been in the back of my mind for a while but recently I’ve been receiving lots of confirmation so Monday I bought my tickets. This will be my fourth trip there to visit Luz, a national missionary there. I’ll be there from June 10th to July 7th; much longer than I’ve stayed in the past but still quite a bit shorter than the year that she thought I should come for. I don’t really know what I am thinking/feeling about going so I think I’ll break some things down for you
• I love Mascota and am extra excited because my sister and brother-in-law are coming for the first five days I’ll be there. You should come down too, swine flu and drug wars make flights cheep.
• Yesterday I bought bug spray and was annoyed. I had plenty of bug spray that I left in Nicaragua because I wasn’t planning on needing it anymore. Yet here I am going back to hot humid bug ridden Latin America. Same goes with shorts.
• Once I am in a place I easily adapt but that makes leaving places harder, I’m accustomed to my life here now and a month is kind of a long time. Even typing that is a reminder how susceptible I am to getting attached to this world when I am made for another.
• As I said earlier there has been lots of confirmation that I should go. That makes things easier but there are still practical things that I start worrying about. Fortunately God has a plan that doesn’t rely on my plans.
Book
I wrote a book. Nicaragua, Nicaraguita: 91 letters from the land of lakes and volcanoes. If you have read my e-mail updates than essentially you have read the book. Now, you may be thinking, “Joy, if I’ve already read it for free why would I now buy it for $12 + S/H?” My response, “Just think of all those great books that came out first in magazine or newspaper installments in and then were later published in their entirety, (ex. The Bible) plus it has a pretty cover.” Other than that, you are right, there is no reason but it was very cathartic (and a little embarrassing) for me to read through 2.25 years of my life. If you are thinking that this is the perfect gift for every occasion you can buy as many copies as you wish here
Love, joy

permanent vacation

I haven't been working so I've had time to do other things instead. Every once in a while I wake up thinking that I should actively pursue getting a job but usually that thought dies fast. Instead of working mostly I've been going on trips (13 since December), somehow I've worked a system so that I can do this with minimal expense.
Here is a brief summary of my most recent

#1 Sequoia National Forest with Morgan.
You may be familiar with my dislike of camping, but did you know that it is possible to camp in a place with running water? It is.

We played a lot of speed scrabble, here you can see the word DIN is used.

If you filled General Serman with water, it would be enough water to take one bath a day for 27 years.

Here I am very awkwarly with a tree, it was March but there was a lot of snow.

#2 Southern California with all sorts of people
My college roommate, Katharine, is getting married in August and had a bridal shower in March. 5 out of the 6 of us that lived together got to go celebrate with her and sample wedding cakes.

Katharine is the one with all the flowers in her hair.

After her shower in San Diego I stayed in Huntington Beach with my aunt and cousin for a few days and hung out some more with Katie H and Keiz in LA. It was great.

#3 Chippawa Township, Pennsylvania with the Griecos
I guess that Pennsylvania is a commonwealth and that means it has townships. The Chippawa Township butts up to Ohio and Pittsburgh. People there kept asking me if I was suffering from culture shock. I didn't really know how to respond to that. It was a mostly rainy while i was there but I got to see cool things like two Frank Lloyd houses and a state park and the Giant Eagle grocery store.

Here I am with Nancy looking at Pittsburgh on the one sunny day we had during my week.

#4 Phila, PA with Katharine
I went to go visit Katharine (and Ted) in Philadelphia for a long weekend. It wasn't rainy. We got to walk around a lot and it was great to see her life and Ben Franklyn (he was everywhere!). One day there I did my laundry and the dryer didn't dry my clothes all the way so I had to hang them around the house, then the power went out, it was a very Nica experience. Another Nica thing there was that one day when we were waiting for the bus a girl I know from Nicaragua walked by, very strange.

Here we are at some very cool (little creepy) mosaic house.

And again with the beautiful cherry blossoms.

#5 New York City, NY with some people
I went from Philly to NY on the China Bus Express for $12. I stayed with Dana and Julia but mostly hung out with Eunice. We walked a lot and ate a lot and sweated a lot. We hadn't talked for about five years so it was really good to catch up. One day we went to see her husband give his closing arguments in this case is was prosecuting in the Bronx. I don't think I'll ever be able to watch Law and Order again.

Here we are in front of Alice in Central Park

#6 Richmond, Virgina
In Richmond I again I got to spend time with some people that I hadn't seen in over 5 years. I'm all into keeping up with people by e-mail but it is still way better to actually talk in person. I stayed with my East Coast parents took a lot of naps on their couch. I also slept a lot in my room there because the bed was amazingly comfortable and there were blackout curtians. I don't know how people ever wake-up when it is constantly dark.

I love the South because you can buy things like tobacco plants

Here I am with Mama Stella on some bridge over to some prison island conservatory

#7 Lake Tahoe, Nevada with the girls.
Grandpa Vern won two nights in a two room suite at the Ridge resort in Tahoe we decided to use it. For two nights my sister, Julie, cousin, Bryana and sister-in-law, Cristina had a girls weekend. We got to watch movies, gamble our life savings away, play speed scrabble and ticket-to-ride, sleep (another place with blackout curtians), window shop, get pedicures and eat. It was great fun.

Here we are all rested before our drive home, good looking out grandpa vern

Now I'm home until Thursday when I'm going on another little trip, but then really I might get a job.

Quarterly Report

Today marks the end of my third month back in California and in honor of that anniversary I thought I would come out of e-mail silence and tell you what I’ve been doing and thinking.

DECEMBER:

• Christmas time! I’m a big fan of Christmas, even if it marked another year losing the poetry contest.
• I sat goals to get a job by March 1st, clean my room, and buy a pair of boots.
• New Years! I went to Tennessee for almost a week. It was great seeing friends that I hadn’t seen in a few years but a challenge explaining my lack of future plans (this seems to be a reoccurring theme).
• Cleaned my room
  

JANUARY:

• Took first big step into permanency of life in the USA by getting my car insured. To save $7 a month a paid all at once and said good-bye to some more of my savings account.
• Had a fabulous reunion in Davis with my five college roommates.
• Started working on writing a resume.
• Got a flu shot.
• Cleaned my room.
  

FEBRUARY:

• Went to Mexico with my mom for ten days to visit a friend, Luz. I thought my time in Davis was introspective but take away English, internet, clocks, TV, radio, newspaper, and phone and a whole new level is reached.
• Went to Santa Cruz with my church.
• Read lots of Craig’s list job postings found by my sister.
• Started compiling memories from Nicaragua, both pictorial and written. Hopefully these will be available for the smaller public soon.
• Continued reconnecting with various US citizens.
• Cleaned my room (I guess that goal was too vague).
  

MARCH:

Now if someone asked my on March 1st if I had found a job yet I would shyly say, “No,” and say my goal was really for some time in the month, not necessarily the beginning (there are some things I mentally block out). Last night when I was contemplating my month so far, I realize that I do have a job and God completed this goal for me in His timing and in the way He wanted. And as added assurance I did have it by March 1st, it was just disguised.

The last few days in February, ending March 1st I dog sat for some new friends in San Francisco, not only did they pay me for living in a gorgeous neighborhood and walking their dog but I was able to make more money doing some extra data entry work for them. This money came just in time to pay health insurance.

The morning after I returned from their house I left for Lake Tahoe with my mom where I got paid to help clean my grandpa’s house, and shovel his snow. Although that was not the most ideal job and the furnace in my room was broken it was still God’s provision for me, and who am I to discredit that. The week I got back from Tahoe I baby-sat twice and got my tax return.

On Monday night my sister sent me a listing for a 20-60 hour, total, market research job. I applied Monday, interviewed Wednesday, and start today. I’ll be asking people as they leave Little Caesar's Pizza what their nearest cross street is and putting the data in an Excel spreadsheet so they can determine where to open a new franchise. I’m not sure who my actual employer is but the pay isn’t bad and he thinks they’ll have other work for me too, if I’m interested.

Not only have these jobs been a blessing financially but they have amazingly coincided with what God has been showing me about who He is as my Guide just as He guided the Israelites.

MORE ON MARCH

• I turned 25 this week.
• I got a new stereo for my car.
• I am very concerned about the state of crepe restaurants in Walnut Creek.
• I’m planning some trips for next month (now that I have money).
• It is almost the beginning of Spring and I’m getting a farmer’s tan right now to prove it.
  

Walking

A few months ago I read that the average American walks 1.4 miles a week. Although I was appalled by this statistic I didn't do much to counter it, especially in the frigged rain. Now however, the days are sunny so I need to get over my laziness. I enjoy walking and have been trying to incorporate it more into my schedule (that I don't have).
On Saturday I was talking to my neighbor and she invited me to go walking with her and a friend at 5am for an hour and a half 3 times a week. For some reason while she was talking this sounded like a good idea, walking partners are a good motivation and walking in the mornings gets you energized for the day. I told her to let me know when their next day was and that I'd come. She texted me on Sunday night and I was still all in and excited. As soon as I set my alarm for 4:45 I started feeling a little sick. I knew I would be a little out of it in the morning so I picked out my multiple layers that I could quickly throw on in the morning (it is about 40 deg in the morning). I tried to fall asleep at a normal time but I kept staring at the clock and counting down the lack of hours I had left in the night, and then subtracting one because of the time change. Finally at 2am (t-2hours 45minutes) I came to my senses and saved a bail out text message in my phone to send to her at 4:30. I was then, able to fall asleep but was exhausted all of Monday, just the thought of waking up that early robbed me from sleep. This morning when I couldn't drag myself out of bed at 7:30 and could still see my breath outside at 8:30 I finally conceeded that that kind of walking plan wasn't suited for me and tonight I let her know that 5am walking wasn't going to be a reality in my life any time soon. She was very understanding and I did make plans with my sister-in-law to walk at 9. Baby steps.