October 2009
Trading Insults
Monday, October 26, 2009
So I was driving up in Jacarandas yesterday to drop off some workers who live up there and as I pulled up to the house these little boys who were playing soccer in the street yelled, "Mira! La senora quien no sabe manejar!"
Alright, first off, that's insulting because I am in no way a Senora. I am not married. No ring on this finger. No sir, no way. And, two, it's insulting because I do too know how to drive! I have a better record than most of the people on this property. Only Brittany has a better record than me because she drives like a grandma (hahaha!). At any rate, I say all that to say that it was unnecessary to insult me like that. Kinda annoying as well because those kids must have heard that somewhere, must have seen something or they wouldn't have said that. Gyuh.
Had our anniversary yesterday. About 260 people came. We served Tortas for lunch. They were good, we ran out again. lol. But we have a ton of bread left. Not sure how that happened. We certainly don't need to buy any for dinner tonight.
Uh...exciting things have been happening. Kinda. Throughout the week I'll see things and think, "Man! I should write about that on my blog!" But then Monday comes around and I've completely forgotten everything. Which is good in some ways because a lot of the stuff I notice has to do with the foolishness of human beings. I could go on about that forever. lol
Hope y'all have a good week. I'm just looking at more classes, more teaching and more heat. It is cooling off down here somewhat, wore a jacket this morning. That was fun. lol. Kinda pathetic when putting a jacket on is a change of pace.
Take care!
Papercraft
Monday, October 19, 2009
Ominous Clouds
Took my life in my hands to take that picture for you all. lol. I'm sitting right on those train tracks. This is what's been blowing through here the last couple of weeks. Pretty awesome, isn't it?
I am in absolute dire need of candy and art supplies. I'm teaching a Wednesday evening kid's class, a kid's club in Miravalle and I have a bus route. I really, really need hard, non melting candy. And gum is the devil. I also need craft supplies as in glitter, glue, paper, beads, markers, etc, etc, etc... If anyone out there can find it in their heart to send me these things I will be forever in your debt and I'll send you pictures of the kids using them. I'd buy them myself but they're very expensive down here, especially for one person to buy them all on her own.
Brittany scraped the bottom of her car on Friday as we were coming back to the church and broke open a hose. The roads out front are still horrendous and we're expecting hurricane Rick to hit us on Thursday. So..more rain. And right on time for the Anniversary Sunday, too! But hey, these things happen.
A drunk guy ran into our bus on Wednesday. Exhale, it's okay. He was walking down the road and we were parked in front of a house to pick up some kids when he just ambled into our bus, deflected off of it and continued on his way. There were lots of drunk drivers and walkers out on Wednesday. I asked Jorge, my driver, why there were so many of them and he explained that Wednesday was payday. What a horrible, horrible thing.
Had a bit of drama on the bus route yesterday. Elizabet, a girl who had an injection when she was little and now is not really normal, brought a visitor to church with her which absolutely infuriated the other visitor she had brought two weeks previous (he came with us again, not a bad guy). So anyways, during the service my workers and I were frantically trying to keep these two grown men separated. We eventually ended up sending Elizabet to the nursery so that we wouldn't have to worry about her as well. Not so fun. Pastor Dorr ended up taking the visitor home while we took Elizabet and the other guy. Not sure what we're going to do with that girl. Heh.
Finished off the new Dr. Who last night! Sadness! So, so terrible! I actually almost cried. Really. Just tragic. lol.
Take care!
Driving
Monday, October 12, 2009
Semi trucks keep me honest. One day I'm going to get home late and people are going to ask, "What took you so long, Liz?" And I'm going to say, "I followed all the speed limits." Usually you don't have a whole lot of problems even if you're speeding. There's one road where you always have to follow the speed limits because it's like Police Alley but other than that really no big deal. Provided you aren't going like, 100 miles per hour or something. Which I never have, no.
It rained again last night. So it's muddy again. Goes with the territory I suppose. Actually, it doesn't. It's OCTOBER for crying out loud. It should be really dry right now! But I heard it's already snowed in Utah so maybe we're just in for a really wet winter. I'm looking out the window right now and it's raining again. Lovely.
I think that Texas rain is just heading our way, Aunt Donna. Do something about that, will you? lol
Other than the rain, things are just lovely down here. I'm actually at Los Alamos under the premise that I'm organizing this week's menu and planning the shopping list but I forgot all of those things in the Jeep so I called my family, called the bank and called my sister. It's Tim's birthday today, he's 18 and no longer an minor.
I just got kicked out of my room (and I might have been charged for it, not sure, gyuh) so I've got to go. Bye!
Look
Saturday, October 10, 2009
The older I get (which is not very old) the more I realize I don't know. And on the flip side of that the older I get the more I do know.
It's been a pretty hectic week here in that there has been a lot of mud. I almost got stuck again today but the Jeep got us out again, naturally. I've only ever got the Jeep really stuck one time but have never needed to be pulled out. On Wednesday we were driving around the route on the way back home and pulled a truck out of a pretty bad patch of mud. Since most everywhere else was pretty much dry I assumed that would be that, right? But then we had to take Briceida home because she moved to a house about two miles out of my route along a stretch of road that was pretty much all under construction. She had us turn down it anyway. She's fourteen. lol. So we go down towards it and Jorge, my driver, stops at this three foot drop leading to the road running to Briceida's new house. I'm the only girl on my bus route team and slightly impulsive so I figure, eh, who cares, I'll just jump down onto this other road and see if there isn't another place we can turn down to go to the house. So, being my moronic self, I jump three feet into the road.
And land, ankle deep, in mud.
Yeah, I stepped out of both sandals I had been wearing and into more mud. I was floundering down there and all my bus workers, Jorge, Moises, Misael and Abraham, were laughing at me.
The thing is, I do stuff like that all the time. One time I had taken my shoes off and promptly walked through a field of sticker plants. That was painful. I burnt the bottom of my feet when I was walking home on asphalt. I don't know what it is about me and not paying attention but I just don't. lol.
Anyways. So it's been a good week. Tonight the Navojoa Mayos play their first game of the season against the Obregon team, I'm not sure what the other team is. There's also a motorcycle conference taking place down at a hotel in town so we've had motorcyclists all over the place. Most of them went to Los Alamos today but they're coming back down and having a parade around 7:30 this evening. Fun!
Ouch
Monday, October 5, 2009
I'm back at Los Alamos, skipping breakfast in favor of a cup of black coffee and watching weird Mexican early morning television. Gotta say though, to their credit, Mexican guys are really, really cute.
Turns out the Dorr's didn't have to go to the States, the missions conference was canceled, which is unfortunate because I was really looking forward to getting some mail. If the Helferich family ever arrives they might bring it with them but no one has heard from them in weeks so I'm not counting on that.
I was partially right about the rain going away on Sunday morning. It was almost sunny when we started the bus route but as we were doing the return route it started sprinkling and then the rain returned with a vengeance as we were sitting there eating lunch. It's completely cleared up today, a few clouds and a slight breeze being all that's left of the storm. I don't think anyone expects any more rain, and I certainly don't want any more mud.
Thank you to everyone who has started to leave comments. It makes me feel better that people are actually reading the site. I realize it's mostly just like an online journal, and slightly egotistical of me to think that you all might want to read about everything that goes on down here but you have to admit that sometimes some pretty crazy things happen.
Thanks for reading!
A Week in Time
Saturday, October 3, 2009
Today is absolutely gorgeous down here in Mexico. It has been raining since three this morning, I know this because I woke up when it started. I spoke too soon about not driving through mud again because the roads up on my bus route are absolutely horrendous. We threw a shovel in the back of the Jeep this morning before we left because I knew things were going to get nasty. The bottom half of my skirt was sopping wet and Moises, Abraham and Misael looked as if they'd taken showers by the time we got done. Fortunately we never had to use the shovel. When we got back we were treated to Mexican hot chocolate and fresh, homemade donuts that Dora, a lady in the church, had spent all morning making. They were the perfect thing. My poor exhausted bus workers just sat and vegged at the tables eating donuts and looking dazed. It was very relaxing.
The weather forecast calls for rain all weekend but I'm of the opinion that the weather men down here just outright lie in order to get attention so I'm pretty sure we'll be done with the rain by tomorrow morning at the latest. Nonetheless the bus route is going to be a nightmare tomorrow because of all the mud.
The dentist from Hermosillo is here this weekend and at least four people on my route had teeth removed. It's amazing how terrible people's teeth are around here, seriously. They just live with the pain because there isn't much they can do about it. The dentist comes every month or so and works on a purely volunteer basis. We feed him and house him in return I think. Not sure how that works.
On my way back from dropping people off after getting teeth extracted I drove past Israel and Mario who were riding home from visiting their bus route on bike. They were sitting on the sidewalk messing with the back wheel of Mario's bike so I stopped to see if I couldn't offer them a ride home. They'd apparently been hit by a car at some point and had ridden halfway across town after getting hit. Mario's bike was a mess so they stuffed it into the back of the Jeep and then followed me home. I'm not sure why they didn't want a ride.
I'm at Super trying to call my parents who aren't answering for whatever reason. Tonight is spaghetti for dinner and then Brittany and I will probably watch a movie. The Dorr's are leaving tomorrow after lunch to go to a mission's conference. They'll be back by Wednesday with mail which I'm hoping includes my Dr. Who DVD's. Yay!
Take care!!
Update: My sister got engaged today. Congrats Steph and Levi!
A Week in Time
Friday, October 2, 2009
So it's been a strange week. It rained Tuesday night and on Wednesday Brittany borrowed my Jeep (and me) to go out to Pueblo Mayo because she didn't want to take her tiny car out on the muddy roads. We almost got stuck a couple of times but it provided a good excuse to use the four wheel drive. The Jeep, of course, got us out to safety. I'm not driving through mud again any time soon though.
On Thursday I ran into a group of Americans downtown who were on their way back to Arizona from a yoga retreat somewhere in the South. They were seated in a group at our Caffenio which is a coffee drive through downtown and at first I wasn't quite sure if they really were Americans or not. So, looking as inconspicuous as it is possible to be while eavesdropping, we (Jenny and I) stood there on the sidewalk and listened in. We couldn't really hear what they were saying but Jenny was positive they were Americans because of the way they dressed. So we went on over and I said 'Howdy'. Pretty much just like that. They were nice. I told them I was a missionary and they informed me that the lady on my right was a Buddhist nun which is something I didn't even know existed until then. She was a nice Buddhist nun, for a nun. After that we went to a place that dipped my popsicle in chocolate and coated it in coconut. That was good.
Today (Friday), Brittany and I were in Ley and a guy came up to us with a little girl and said clearly in Spanish, "This lady doesn't speak Spanish." I was aghast, naturally, and responded clearly in Spanish, "Yes, I do speak Spanish." And so the guy responded in English, "Oh, you do?" Me, in Spanish. "Of course I do." He proceeded to try to make his granddaughter speak to me in English but she wouldn't which is understandable. Her dad stood by and just watched him make a fool of himself.
Actually, more exciting than that is the museum I found this morning. It turns out that there are two of them here in Navojoa, one of which houses a small library which has English books in it. Sometime next week I'm going to go find it. The one I visited today was fascinating. It had pictures of Navojoa all the way back from 1916 which is a little after it was founded. They also had hundreds of arrowheads and prehistoric hatchets that had been found in the area. I had no idea Navojoa was so old. Los Alamos, I know, was founded in the 1600's but Navojoa has quite a history itself.
The book is up to 19,000 words now. Not quite what I had hoped to get to by now. I just need to write a couple hundred more words to get to 20,000 which was the goal for the end of this week. It's going alright.
Cheers!
