Help! Brain is on Fire....

Ok, translation is HARD. A week ago, Edith (a church staff member in charge of small groups) gave me a chapter of a book in english to translate so we can use it for small groups at church. No problem... I thought. I took the chapter that same day to work on with my my friend JP, so he could help me make the translation make more sense in spanish. An HOUR later, we had done about one page. There were 10 pages to translate. So I went to church later in the week to work on the rest of it - by myself, as working with someone else (for me) is about as productive and calming as letting my mom teach me how to drive a stick shift (in other words, it's unproductive and frustrating!) I finished in 3 hours. But wow, 4 hours of sitting at my computer typing and THINKING in two different languages. You should've seen the amount of Diet Coke I went through...

So now, I am on the next chapter in the book. One chapter a week! It's getting a bit easier, but I left my dictionary at home. BUT, a new Italian Coffee Company (Mexican equivalent of Starbucks) opened near my house, so I figured taking my computer there and enjoying a nice Moka FriOreo Frape could help. It did.

Translating. I think that has to be the thing that I am LEAST accostomed to of living here. But, it's a good learning experience (I hope you read this, Kristen!!)

Ok, off to teach english class! (which is probably the second thing that I am least accostomed to here...) No, I'm not complaining about living in QRO or about my job or culture, just some things are harder than I'd like! But it's all good!! :-)

Monsoon Season?

That's a pretty good description of this week in Queretaro. Wet. The following pictures were taken a week ago at my house:
Here, we see my street, about 15 minutes after the really hard rain and hail had stopped. It rained really hard (with marble-sized hail) for only about 7 or 8 minutes, and the streets clogged up, water was pouring in our front door (you think I'm kidding, but it really was pouring in! The wind blew the rain directly at our door and windows in the front of the house, and the geniouses who built the house left gaps in the door and window frames so the water comes right in if hit at the right angle). Gaby was gone, so me and the kids got out a bunch of towels to try to keep the water from getting the rugs wet. I was about ready to start getting all valuables onto the table, beds, counters, and any other surface that is high enough to not flood. But thankfully the rain died down before it came to that.

We have two cute yellow parikeets at my house, and we put them in the backyard (under a roof) during the day. About 3 minutes into the rain/marble-sized hail, we remembered that the birds were still outside! I donned my only hooded jacket to go outside, and the kids warned that I had better cover my head with something hard because of the hail. So I used a plastic plate cover (the kind of thing you cover a plate of food with to go in the microwave) on my head under my hood. Should've gotten a picture of THAT! But the picture above is my jacket upon returninig to the house after seriously like 8 seconds outside, and some of that was under the roof!

Friday night, I went to Lila's house at about 10pm. We were going to go out to a cafe, but she didn't feel like it, so I thankfully went to her home. At about 11pm, we were finishing eating dinner, and I was about to say that I should get to bed. All of a sudden, there was a huge blast of thunder/lightening, the electricity blinked, and rain like I've never seen before started falling. After about half an hour of that, I doubted that I'd be going home that night, so I prepared to stay at Lila's house. But her brother thought maybe we could make it home, so we tried. The first few blocks were alright, but we got to one intersection, and the water was litterally flowing like a river down the street. Lila plowed through, and I was afraid the current would take the car with it! I had my hand down at the bottom of the door to feel when the water entered the car, which, miraculously, it never did. At one point, we saw water actually entering homes. My neighborhood was hard to drive through, but the houses didn't flood. (Gaby's house flooded a little over a foot deep 3 years ago!) The next day, I was going to work at the church, and a took a bus, and we went through a puddle so deep that the water entered the bus!! I also walked past somo houses where ladies were sweeping water out of their homes. Actually, that big puddle in the road is still there today (48 hours later). I should've taken a picture of that...

But such is life in Queretaro.

Also, my foot is feeling a lot better. Not perfect, but it doesn't hurt to walk, I am just resting it as much as possible. (The therapist who I went to saw me in high heel shoes at church today and just about had a fit...) oops.

Not So Fast...

You can't always be doing stuff non-stop without ever taking a break. One of my friends recently learned that after having major headaches and went to the doctor to hear that he was in way bad health from lack of sleep and nutrition, at only age 25. I was glad it wasn't me - I am in good health. So this past week, I've been having back pains pretty frequently, and just this morning decided to possibly look into going to a doctor lady at our church who specializes in bones and also gives massages. Well, I ended up going to her TODAY. But not for my back. I was walking from church to lunch and my right foot started hurting. At first it was just a little pain and I felt that it would surely go away if I could just shake it off. I ate lunch, and when it was time to walk back to youth group, my foot really hurt. Ironically, I was with JP - the same guy who had recently had health problems - and a few of us have really been getting frustrated with him for no taking care of himself, and not telling anyone when he has headaches. So I continued walking - can't miss youth group, of course - and my foot got so bad that I had to stop. JP asked about my foot, and was frustrated that I didn't say anything sooner. We kept walking, and finally, a couple blocks away from youth group, I felt like someone shoved a knife into my foot. We called Norma, the doctor from church, and went to her clinic, where she looked over my feet, scolded me walking too much, and proceeded to give me an ultra-sound massage. I didn't end up going to youth group, which was especially sad since it was free taco night, and I went home with instructions to stay off my foot all night, and Sunday too.

So I THINK sometimes that I am indespensable, that I MUST continue doing stuff that I do no matter what, but God has some interesting ways of making me rest. This would be one of those.

APRYL!!!!!!

Apryl came from the States to visit for about 10 days! Here are some pictures of our adventures:

Bowling! With Checo, me, Apryl, Brisa, Leslie, Dani, and Javier


Apryl and I at the arches in Queretaro

We also had the opportunity to go to the state of Oaxaca to visit the little girl who is Apryl's sponsor child:

Apryl with Pedro, Margarito, and Elia. Elia is Apryl's sponsor daughter, and the two boys are Elia's brothers.


Elia and friends making faces for the camera!


Apryl with Elia's family.

We also said goodbye to Rebecca last week. She was here for 7 weeks.

The party included Karaoke...

Javier, JC, and Chalio busting out a song


Chelo, Sarai, Rebecca, and me

Alex, Rebecca, Jean Paul, and me.

It was great to have Apryl here for a while, and sad to see Rebecca leave... That pretty much sums up my last couple of weeks!

Unsatisfied

I had an interesting conversation last night with some friends about my country and their country. It all started because we (Alex, Ruben, and JP) were watching a movie and then got to talking about movies that we want to see, and I mentioned the movie that is coming up about September 11. That got us talking about the United States, and the love/hate relationship that Mexicans have with the country. I can always come up with a bajillion things that I don't like about my country (of course there are lots of things that I DO like too!), and they can think up a bajillion reasons why the U.S. is way better than Mexico. I tend to disagree. And then I was given the harsh truth about why I like to live in Mexico so much and they don't. In the U.S. everyone (supposedly) has everything they need. I had everything I needed plus more when I lived there, so I won't disagree that my physical needs were met. In Mexico, people don't have everything they need. I mentioned that "half the population of the City of Queretaro is definitely not poor," and they laughed. They said that I just see the outside of people here - all my friends here have decent homes, a good deal of nice clothes, and can go do stuff like see movies, go out to dinner, etc. But that's because everyone spends all their money on STUFF. If you have money here, you spend it. Immediately. You buy a bigger TV, new clothes, take your family out to Italianni's Restaurant, etc. I like Mexico because the culture here is more focused on people then on time and efficiency. My friends say that I can enjoy Mexico so much because I am not in debt, I have savings, and I also have everything I need to live. I live comfortably. They HAVE THINGS, but don't have money. I went to Alex and Ruben's family's home last night, and it is nice. Anyone in the States would say that those guys live comfortably. They have a nice home, their mom has a car, they have nice clothes, and are able to go do stuff that costs money. Looking at how I lived at my parents' house, I had all the same stuff (plus my OWN car!!). But I had resources for in case something bad happened - in case a parent or myself got really sick, in case something happened to our home (flook, earthquake, etc.), in case we got robbed - if we needed money fast, we could get it. I still have that security here. I have seen how the family that I live with here does not have that security. It comes time to pay inscription for the kids' school, and we eat rice and hot dogs for the month. Then that makes me need to take a decision - should I just GIVE the family more money (I pay rent and stuff every month...)? I can. But is that wise?? I feel bad because Gaby knows that I have money in savings, that I will be okay if an emergency comes up.

I think I liked it better when I thought that everyone who has a nice home and a car is not poor. I remember having almost this same conversation with Suyapa in Honduras last December. I was telling her how I think they do really well for themselves - they have really fixed up their old home nicely, they now have a car, all three boys are either in higher education, or have graduated from university... She laughed. She said it's just because I can't see how they really are financially, and THEY aren't too bad off compared to most of the people in our neighborhood.

I almost feel guilty for coming from a nice middle-class family in the States, and for not having to worry (much) about finances. I think that we all hate things about our own countries and cultures, and always think that someone elses' is better. But I am glad that I'm here in this country, and ultimately, I am glad that I come from Oregon and grew up how I grew up. I know that God has a purpose for putting everyone in their respective locations.

So that was my little lesson in Mexican culture for the day.

A Week in Pictures

First, here is a picture of a bunch of people who came to Yetzi's birthday party. Yezti is Martin and Mayte's daughter, shi is the girl toward the right in the black sweater.

Another team from North Point Community Church in Atlanta came to Queretaro to work with Horizonte. This was a team of 9 adults who came to help us start a small group program at Horizonte and build a new stage. We had a weekend conference at church to kick-off the small group program.

Martin teaching at the conference

What kind of conference is this?!? A fun game to start things off... !

Guys from North Point doing a skit about small groups

The NPCC team also started work on a new stage for Horizonte

Here, Ruben, John, and Geremy are cutting wood for the stage

The stage almost complete (except for putting the carpet on)

The North Point ladies - Sue, Merriam, and Lacey.

Wednesday night, we had a goodbye party for Kristen and Lauren. They had been here two months, and left Thursday.

Me, Leslie, Rebecca, and Kristen at the goodbye party for Kristen and Lauren

Kristen, me, and Alma Rosa

Fany, Kristen, Alma, Lila, me, and Lauren

Leaving the party - Lila, Lauren, Rebecca, JP, Kristen, Dani, and me