I have to start off by apologizing for the poor poor job I have done in keeping this blog updated. The more time that I allow to pass between updates, the more overwhelmed I get as so many things happen, and then it leaves me here with 25 days to summarize. Quite a bit has happened in these past few weeks so I'll get going.
September 15th and 16th are Mexico's Indepedence Days and I was able to see the city come alive as everyone decorated their stores and cars and buses with Mexico flags and lights and anything red, green, and white. The kids were out of school and Sarah and I didn't have to go to work both of those days. The night of the 15th, there is a tradition that everyone yells "VIVA MEXICO!!!" over and over at exactly 11:00pm. The kids usually go to sleep at 9 so it was quite a party for them to stay up late. They had TONS of fireworks (miniature explosives that really shouldn't even be considered as fireworks) that the kids went wild with throwing them in the air and at each other watching the victim jump from their seat screaming. It was a fun time to spend with the kids that turned into a really late night. After everyone had finally gone to bed at about 12:45, Sarah and I walked back to our room only to discover that our neighbors that are literally right outside our door were having a party with VERY loud music. They must have been having a really good time beacause the party lasted until about 5:00am!
The past couple of weeks one of our projects has been to make Christmas cards for the kids to write to their sponsors. It was quite an event getting 60 kids to write about 5 cards each and then translate them all but we have fortunately been able to get a large chunk of it done. P.S. If you happen to recieve one of the Christmas cards and it was translated incorrectly, Sarah did it:)
Sarah and I have officially accepted the fact that we have become bus snobs...The regular buses cost 45 pesos and the air conditioned buses cost 55 pesos. We have thoughtfully considered the decision and have decided that for the length of our bus rides everyday, the 10 peso splurge is SO worth it. We have noticed that by riding the AC buses everyday, we have entered into a community of AC bus riders. Everyday we see at least 3 or 4 familiar faces that have claimed themselves as AC bus patrons as well and we know that they recognize us since the two blonde American girls kinda stick out like a sore thumb!
Some of the local people are starting to realize that I am not just a tourist but that I am living here because they see me day to day. A couple have introduced themselves and asked what I'm here for which always presents good opportunities to tell them about Casa Hogar and what it's all about. It also allows me to feel a little more at home knowing that I'm getting to know more and more people that are outside my little world here of the children's home and the church. I've gotten to know some people that are more involved with the street child ministry that is associated with the same church as Casa Hogar and am really realizing that God is no doubt working in Acapulco.
On Wednesday, some very welcome company came to visit. My mom, dad, and grandma are here until Tuesday. They were the ones that made me sit down and update this right now:) Myrtille gave me everyday off of work while they are here which I was thrilled about and I am also staying at their hotel with them which has allowed me to have a little vacation of my own. They have only been here 2 1/2 days and let me tell you, they have been anything but uneventful. They decided to rent a car while they are here to allow us more freedom to do what we want instead of having to rely on buses and taxis and I am so thankful they did except for the fact that we have gotten pulled over by the police 2, count 'em 2 TIMES!!!! The first time was on Thursday right after we had done a U-turn on our way to Wal Mart. We saw a car with a yellow stripe that I thought was a taxi wave at us to pull over. We didn't fully comprehend what was going on until he turned on his lights and got out of his car to tell us in impossible to understand spanish that we had done something wrong. When we finally were able to get out of the middle of the road, the police man came to the window and began speaking as if we were native mexicans. My mind was racing and heart was pounding thinking of whether I should just play dumb and hope he would let us off as silly Americans who didn't speak spanish or if I should try and talk to this guy as best I could. Well, shortly after he said that we were recieving a ticket of 4,600 pesos or 460 dollars for stopping on the yellow pedestrian lines WHICH EVERY OTHER CAR IN FRONT OF US HAD DONE I knew that he was royally screwing us and anything I said to him in spanish probably wouldn't make the situation worse. I explained to him that I live here and told him exactly where the children's home is. I told him that we would not pay the ticket without having our friend with us, which was Myrtille. This make him think a little bit and he called one of the 2 other police that were in the car with him to come and help him out. He told the other cop that I lived here and they ended up letting us go PRAISE THE LORD!!!!! Probably only after they realized that I had connections to Mexican people that would know as well that they were completely ripping us off. We were all pretty shaken up about the whole thing for a while afterwards and never drempt that it would happen again.
The second incident happened on Friday as we were pulling out to go to...yep! Wal Mart again! It was a wierd intersection that did not have a light for the way we were coming from so we waited until the way was clear and turned left as cars followed behind us doing the exact same thing. A couple blocks down the road a man in a uniform waved us down into a parking lot. As the day before it didn't really hit us that we were getting a ticket until he came to our window and told us that a camera in the intersection had caught us running a red light and had radioed ahead for this guy to pull us over. Our thoughts, "There is no way!!!!" This guy wanted to take my dad's license and bring it to the police station where we would have to go to pay over 1000 pesos and get it back. I explained to him too that I lived here and that we would not be doing anything without our friend, Myrtille again, and we decided to call her and have him talk to her. He came back to the car and handed me the phone where Myrtille told us that he had agreed to give us back the license if we paid him 600 pesos and would let us go without the ticket. It was an obvious bribe and Myrtille recommended that we call her husband. We did and he said the magic words because the police man ended up letting us go. Thank the Lord for Myrtille and Tolo!!! So that was our second safe escape from the Mexico poilce. We beat the system twice!!! Needless to say, we're all a little nervous about driving around town now but we decided we probably need to be praying for protection against the police BEFORE the actual incident happens again!
I am enjoying my time with my family here so much and will hate to see them go but I know that God has so much more in store for me here before it is my turn to leave.
Saturday, September 27, 2008
Tuesday, September 2, 2008
Still doin' good
For some reason my time here seems to be an eternity. I have officially been in Mexico during 3 calendar months: July, August, and September. Usually when time passes slowly, it is when you are miserable and want something to end. That is certainly not the case but so much happens each day that a day seems more like a week and a week more like a month.
Last week was a fairly ordinary week. I went to work in the mornings and came home to rest and help with homework in the evenings. On Thursday, Myrtille had been waiting all day for a certain man to come that she needed to meet with. He had told her that he would be coming in the early afternoon of this specific day. We were planning on going to Sam’s after he came but he didn’t show and she sent me home. The next day was the day that Sarah, the new intern, was arriving. Flexibility is key while living in Mexico. The plan was for Myrtille and me to go to Sam’s early that morning to get the rest of the school supplies for the kids since we were not able to do it the first time we had tried and then go straight to the airport to pick up Sarah and her dad but slight changes had to be made along the way. Sam’s ended up having hardly any of the items on the list so we had to make a side trip to another store which is basically a school supplies store on serious steroids. It has everything you could ever dream of needing for school. Much to our dismay we ended up spending about 3 hours there after we had cleared the shelves and run into some trouble as we tried to pay. Thanks to Myrtille’s husband Tolo, Sarah and her dad were not left stranded at the airport since we obviously could have never made it there in time to get them. Sarah’s dad flew down with her to help her get settled in and this was the first time in Mexico for both of them. We went to lunch with them and showed them around Acapulco as we drove back to Casa Hogar. Sarah finally coming put an immediate end to my time as a loner American living here. Needless to say I was quite pleased to get the company. I don’t even enjoy being at my house alone much less living alone in Mexico:)
Sarah’s dad left Saturday morning which left the two of us with the rest of the day to do whatever we wanted. She had never been here so I thought she might like to see more of Acapulco. We took the bus to one of the malls and walked around. We wanted to see a movie but unfortunately nothing very appealing was playing. We ended up walking quite a bit up and down the main street just looking and talking.
Sunday morning we went to church as always with the kids. I have always enjoyed going to this church despite the fact that I can hardly understand what the preacher is saying. The people are very friendly and welcoming and I am starting to feel more and more comfortable the more I attend. Don’t get me wrong I miss my church terribly but they aren’t too bad as a substitute for now. Since I struggle really getting something out of the message, I thrive on the worship music. When I left home, that is something that I specifically said that I would miss at my church. Being here, I have learned that when talking to God, there is no language barrier. It does not matter what language it is in, but worshipping Him is worshipping Him.
Myrtille is going out of town next week so she wanted Sarah and I to come in yesterday on our day off so she could tell us exactly what we would be doing while she is gone. She ended up not being able to come because of a flat tire so Sarah and I were able to leave early and go to Wal-Mart. Who knew that I could enjoy a trip to Wal-Mart so much? There is something about being there, and I felt the same thing being in Sam’s too, that makes me feel at home. We took our time walking up and down all the aisles filling our basket with items to restock our pantry shelves. We were very successful I might add…
Yesterday afternoon I helped a little boy named Raul with his homework. He is very new to Casa Hogar and has never attended school. He is 9 nine years old and in the first grade and is unable to read or write. This made it interesting when his homework was to write in cursive 4 short names and 4 long names. They teach cursive very early here so as if it weren’t hard enough for him to write at all, he had to do it in cursive! I ended up writing the names for him in dotted lines and had him trace over them. I tried to be encouraging even though he continuously connected the wrong dots or went the wrong way but the more he wrote, the more I could see the sense of accomplishment on his face. He was very proud that he had completed it with ‘just a little’ help from me.
The past few days I have taken on the job of a cafeteria lady. All I need is a hair net and a white uniform and I would be the perfect fit. Preparing plates for over 60 kids gets a little boring for the kids that have kitchen duty so I’ve tried to help them out whenever possible.
Two brothers left the orphanage on Friday. It was the first time for me to have someone that I was really close to leave. Their names were Gama and Guillermo. Gama is 11 and Guillermo is 12. I had no idea that they were leaving on Friday morning when I left Casa Hogar for the day and when I returned I thought the girl that told me about it was playing a joke. It turns out that their mother decided she wanted them back and when it was encouraged that the boys stay she got upset so in order to prevent unneeded trouble, she was able to have them back. My first reaction was tears. I loved them so much and had really gotten close with them while I have been here but when I talked to my mom she made me realize that their home may be the best place for them to be because every child desires to be with their mother. So really, my tears were selfish. Regardless of the financial situation in their family, I think they will be happy just being with their mommy and that makes me happy. The week before I had arrived here, Gama had surgery on his leg. He had broken it playing soccer with the other boys. When they took the x-rays, they found a tumor that needed to be removed, fortunately not cancerous. He ended up having 48 stitches and a serious scar from his knee all the way up his thigh. He was unable to walk for weeks and still is not able to which kept him from starting school. They will certainly be missed by me and the all of their friends at Casa Hogar but you can only hope for the best for their futures.
I feel like I am at a good place as far as getting myself around the city and my Spanish is, as I said before, improving daily. I am immensely enjoying the kids and getting to know them and the staff here on a new level. I cannot thank you enough for your prayers and support. There have been many times that I have needed them and so many have been there to lift me up. Hasta la vista baby:)
Ok so maybe I won't be able to keep the number of paragraphs to a minimum.....sorry!!!
Last week was a fairly ordinary week. I went to work in the mornings and came home to rest and help with homework in the evenings. On Thursday, Myrtille had been waiting all day for a certain man to come that she needed to meet with. He had told her that he would be coming in the early afternoon of this specific day. We were planning on going to Sam’s after he came but he didn’t show and she sent me home. The next day was the day that Sarah, the new intern, was arriving. Flexibility is key while living in Mexico. The plan was for Myrtille and me to go to Sam’s early that morning to get the rest of the school supplies for the kids since we were not able to do it the first time we had tried and then go straight to the airport to pick up Sarah and her dad but slight changes had to be made along the way. Sam’s ended up having hardly any of the items on the list so we had to make a side trip to another store which is basically a school supplies store on serious steroids. It has everything you could ever dream of needing for school. Much to our dismay we ended up spending about 3 hours there after we had cleared the shelves and run into some trouble as we tried to pay. Thanks to Myrtille’s husband Tolo, Sarah and her dad were not left stranded at the airport since we obviously could have never made it there in time to get them. Sarah’s dad flew down with her to help her get settled in and this was the first time in Mexico for both of them. We went to lunch with them and showed them around Acapulco as we drove back to Casa Hogar. Sarah finally coming put an immediate end to my time as a loner American living here. Needless to say I was quite pleased to get the company. I don’t even enjoy being at my house alone much less living alone in Mexico:)
Sarah’s dad left Saturday morning which left the two of us with the rest of the day to do whatever we wanted. She had never been here so I thought she might like to see more of Acapulco. We took the bus to one of the malls and walked around. We wanted to see a movie but unfortunately nothing very appealing was playing. We ended up walking quite a bit up and down the main street just looking and talking.
Sunday morning we went to church as always with the kids. I have always enjoyed going to this church despite the fact that I can hardly understand what the preacher is saying. The people are very friendly and welcoming and I am starting to feel more and more comfortable the more I attend. Don’t get me wrong I miss my church terribly but they aren’t too bad as a substitute for now. Since I struggle really getting something out of the message, I thrive on the worship music. When I left home, that is something that I specifically said that I would miss at my church. Being here, I have learned that when talking to God, there is no language barrier. It does not matter what language it is in, but worshipping Him is worshipping Him.
Myrtille is going out of town next week so she wanted Sarah and I to come in yesterday on our day off so she could tell us exactly what we would be doing while she is gone. She ended up not being able to come because of a flat tire so Sarah and I were able to leave early and go to Wal-Mart. Who knew that I could enjoy a trip to Wal-Mart so much? There is something about being there, and I felt the same thing being in Sam’s too, that makes me feel at home. We took our time walking up and down all the aisles filling our basket with items to restock our pantry shelves. We were very successful I might add…
Yesterday afternoon I helped a little boy named Raul with his homework. He is very new to Casa Hogar and has never attended school. He is 9 nine years old and in the first grade and is unable to read or write. This made it interesting when his homework was to write in cursive 4 short names and 4 long names. They teach cursive very early here so as if it weren’t hard enough for him to write at all, he had to do it in cursive! I ended up writing the names for him in dotted lines and had him trace over them. I tried to be encouraging even though he continuously connected the wrong dots or went the wrong way but the more he wrote, the more I could see the sense of accomplishment on his face. He was very proud that he had completed it with ‘just a little’ help from me.
The past few days I have taken on the job of a cafeteria lady. All I need is a hair net and a white uniform and I would be the perfect fit. Preparing plates for over 60 kids gets a little boring for the kids that have kitchen duty so I’ve tried to help them out whenever possible.
Two brothers left the orphanage on Friday. It was the first time for me to have someone that I was really close to leave. Their names were Gama and Guillermo. Gama is 11 and Guillermo is 12. I had no idea that they were leaving on Friday morning when I left Casa Hogar for the day and when I returned I thought the girl that told me about it was playing a joke. It turns out that their mother decided she wanted them back and when it was encouraged that the boys stay she got upset so in order to prevent unneeded trouble, she was able to have them back. My first reaction was tears. I loved them so much and had really gotten close with them while I have been here but when I talked to my mom she made me realize that their home may be the best place for them to be because every child desires to be with their mother. So really, my tears were selfish. Regardless of the financial situation in their family, I think they will be happy just being with their mommy and that makes me happy. The week before I had arrived here, Gama had surgery on his leg. He had broken it playing soccer with the other boys. When they took the x-rays, they found a tumor that needed to be removed, fortunately not cancerous. He ended up having 48 stitches and a serious scar from his knee all the way up his thigh. He was unable to walk for weeks and still is not able to which kept him from starting school. They will certainly be missed by me and the all of their friends at Casa Hogar but you can only hope for the best for their futures.
I feel like I am at a good place as far as getting myself around the city and my Spanish is, as I said before, improving daily. I am immensely enjoying the kids and getting to know them and the staff here on a new level. I cannot thank you enough for your prayers and support. There have been many times that I have needed them and so many have been there to lift me up. Hasta la vista baby:)
Ok so maybe I won't be able to keep the number of paragraphs to a minimum.....sorry!!!
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