A farewell of pictures

I’m not in Mexico anymore; actually I’ve been back since last Tuesday. Some of you I have seen since then, mostly if you are of the Southern California persuasion because that is where I am. I flew into LA on the 7th, did some laundry in Huntington Beach, went to a church conference, and now I am back in Huntington for a wedding on Saturday and then I’ll fly home on Sunday.

Yesterday I rode my bike to the post office and it was quite the dramatic experience. Just trying to pump the bike tire wore me out then when I got to the post office my water bottle had condensated on my mail so I couldn’t send it. Tragic.

Basically my real life has little entertainment value so I was planning on retreating back to Mexican life even though it is now a little out dated. However, this afternoon I can’t think of any witty anecdotes to share so instead I’m going to attach three pictures.

A man riding through the town on a donkey. No that is not a usual occurrence.

Seven girls that go to Luz’s house on Saturdays for breakfast and Bible class. I could write pages on their family stories but instead I’ll just try to remember all their names. The two on the left are sisters, Lola in the back and Meme in the front. The three in the middle are sisters too, Melissa, Dariana and I’m totally drawing a blank. The last two are Denise and Daniela.

This is of my two best Mascotan friends, Dahlia and Deisey. This picture was taken at the walk around the square thing. Dahlia actually met her husband at one of them so she was giving Deisey and me pointers. When I saw her again the next day she was quite disappointed that I was still single. I was very blessed to get to know these girls during my trips to Mexico and I pray for them frequently that they don’t get caught up in the crazy immorality of those around them.

Well that is all I have to say. Thank you.

Good-bye first half of 2009

At first I was thinking thinking that I really don't have that much to say, but then I made an outline and realized I have plenty to share. Keep in mind that my outline is like my Spanish, a little hard to follow but if you really try you can figure it out, and every once in a while it is worth the effort.

• We're still going to these nightly prayer meeting things. I pretty sure the guy can see now but they are to embarrassed to tell us to stop coming so we keep coming. There is this relative there with her 3-year-old that is still nursing. Julie, thinks it is "progressive." Last night the mom opened a bag and handed the girl something that looked to me like chocolate chips. Someone asked what it was, it was cat food, dry at least. The mom said that she eats fish food too.
• Mascota is not a quiet place. For the past week they have been celebrating all sorts of sacred things: hearts, blood, people, etc. They celebrate with fire crackers, today they started before 5am. Along with this there are church bells, not on the hour or evenly spaced out. I'm pretty sure that anyone can ring the bells at any time for any length of time. Elections are July 5th, that is loud too. This morning a truck was driving around announcing that for the 4th and 5th it is illegal to drink. A few days a witch doctor was in town announcing all of the things mental and physical that you could get healed from. There is also a circus in town. The houses here all have propane tanks and 5 gallon purified drinking water. All day every day trucks drive around playing their water or gas jingles ("Zeta, zeta, zeta gas!" and "agua purificada! running water sounds") then you go out side and wave them down if you need anything. It is very convenient, but once again, noisy.
• On Thursdays Luz and I go to the town jail for a Bible study. They really have nothing better to do and are a very respectful bunch. One guy has been in there for close to a year for stealing a chicken. Last week while we were there some one new got locked up, he seemed quite familiar with all of the procedures and I'm thinking it wasn't his first time. The week before last we took a break because someone was coming to deliver cigarettes.
• I really like Fridays, there are three Bible studies so I don't get bored. Last friday I decided to do my laundry, by hand. I'm sure I used more water than necessary but city water is a standard $80/year. In spite of all that water it is very easy to tell which of my clothes I washed because they smell like soap. Any tips?
  Last week I mentioned that the water heater wasn't working. Now it is. Some old man came on his bike and fixed two water heaters for $5, one of them had been broken for over two years.
• Sundays are very boring. On Sunday we went out to breakfast, there was a dead fly in my sandwich. Every Sunday night there is a big party/mating ritual in the town square. I wasn't planning on going because it isn't something you go to by yourself. However, it was 9:30 and I was bored and they sell fresh churros. So I put a few pesos in my pocket and headed downtown in my overly casual attire, smiling to myself about the patheticness of my situation (however, not as pathetic as that Friday night in Concord when I took my dog to get her nails cut). And when I got there, what did I find? No churros! So I left where the churros are supposed to be and went to see if they were are in another place, and what did I find? Still no churros, BUT "Joy, why are you here by yourself? come to dinner with us." It was one of the girls that I've been getting to know on Friday mornings and her husband and their son. So no churros but a friend.
• I finished my first art project last night and for some reason I started a second one even though I only have one more session. The class has been a huge blessing because it gives me something to do with my excess of free time. If you want to purchase on of my works of art, I think I'll start auctioning them at $500

• Yesterday we were hanging out with my favorite 90-year-old lady so I took my picture with her and will attach it. She still cooks all the food for her and her husband and is appalled that people buy canned food. Her husband is like 94 and still rides his horse.
  

• There are some rumors going around about me moving down here more permanently. I don't want to completely refute them because I want to be open to where God wants me. However, He hasn't told me yet if/when I'm supposed to come back and for how long so I personally am not making any plans.
  

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.