we're still alive!!
Just havent been able to use the internet in a while.
Lots and lots has been happening. some hard things. A mother of two of our kids gotten beaten to death a couple of weeks ago. A hard situation. Alejandro could use prayer. We have a new little girl- Ines - a firey ball of energy. Who right now is sick with a really bad fevor and off to see the doctor with Dani.
Were off to pick up jesse and mo from the station.
See you all very soon.
Tuesday, June 3, 2008
Sunday, May 18, 2008
WEDDING Crashers
GOOD STORY!
It starts with Danny(house parent). Danny asks us if we want to come with him to his brothers wedding, i shrug and say SURE! so we get all dolled up and leave. So we get there and meet all the family, and its just funny that he comes with two american girls...ha. so after a ceremony at a catholic church(which is interesing...we were wondering if the traditions are catholic in general, or mexican...or what?) and then we go to the reception...and its pretty dead for the first 4 hours...and so me and sarah have a soda drinking contest...lets just say we got rowdy fast. The dancing started...and woooooohh.... there is pictures on our facebooks. but then this drunk guy kept asking us to dance...and we were laughing and saying we didn't speak spanish..then danny had to tell him that we were his daughters...it was funny, he was fat. The camera man was a creep, and came up to our table and just recorded right in front of my face for what had to be the most akward 3 minuties ever...i finally just waved...and he still didn't leave. Then he proceeded to do the same thing to sarah. I had to run outside and bust out laughing at the whole shabang. then the bride got ready to throw back her flowers...and all of a sudden all the women were circle around her dance...so we followed...interesting. same with the men. and then couple(including danny and sarah. ha..) took turns dancing with the groom/bride to "hotel california" over and over...and pinned money to the dress and the suit. We danced(even danny!) till one in the morning, (when i passed out in the car from soda overdrive!) good times!
It starts with Danny(house parent). Danny asks us if we want to come with him to his brothers wedding, i shrug and say SURE! so we get all dolled up and leave. So we get there and meet all the family, and its just funny that he comes with two american girls...ha. so after a ceremony at a catholic church(which is interesing...we were wondering if the traditions are catholic in general, or mexican...or what?) and then we go to the reception...and its pretty dead for the first 4 hours...and so me and sarah have a soda drinking contest...lets just say we got rowdy fast. The dancing started...and woooooohh.... there is pictures on our facebooks. but then this drunk guy kept asking us to dance...and we were laughing and saying we didn't speak spanish..then danny had to tell him that we were his daughters...it was funny, he was fat. The camera man was a creep, and came up to our table and just recorded right in front of my face for what had to be the most akward 3 minuties ever...i finally just waved...and he still didn't leave. Then he proceeded to do the same thing to sarah. I had to run outside and bust out laughing at the whole shabang. then the bride got ready to throw back her flowers...and all of a sudden all the women were circle around her dance...so we followed...interesting. same with the men. and then couple(including danny and sarah. ha..) took turns dancing with the groom/bride to "hotel california" over and over...and pinned money to the dress and the suit. We danced(even danny!) till one in the morning, (when i passed out in the car from soda overdrive!) good times!
Car troubles continue....
Time's flying by even faster than ever. A young couple from WA came down with a new van for the orphanage!!!!! They are going to be staying here at the mission for three weeks. And we leave before them - it really hit us. Thats super soon! It's going to be so hard to leave, and I so wish I could stay longer. Risa and I were talking about how its going to be like leaving our children!! Not ok...
So funny story. Last Sunday upon returning to our car in el Zorillo, the car (a different one from last time!) wouldnt start and we came to the conclusion that the battery was dead. (We still don't know how we could have left the lights on....maybe one inside the car?) So we go knock on the door of little Angela's house (where we park our car) to see if she has jumper cables. But this little old lady with barely any teeth opens the door, because apparently Angela isn't home. So we ask her if she knows if there are any cables around, and she just like "oh i dont know". and then we ask her if shes knows any one around that could possilby help us, and again "no, i dont really know of anyone". So Ris and I were like hmmm i guess were just gonna trek off until we find someone who can randomly help us, and hope to bump into someone like mr. sunshine again (which was very unlikely considering where we broke down last time was on the other side of town, right by his house). SO we start walking for a little while, heading towards the mechanic shop we've seen before in search of help, when this muchacho leaning up against the back of this honda looks at us and says "hola" in a sly way. I look at ris and am like "should we ask him". Ris was like no...kinda sketch. But I just turned around and was like heck im just gonna go for it. So he and his friends were looking around there place for something. and evenually this senor finds this sketched out cable that has wires sticking out every which was at either end. He told us it was a cable for lights.....but it could work. Ris and i looked at eachother like oh goodness. isn't that a little dangerous?? we didnt want any one dying in attempts to help us with our car. The guy tried to convince us it was not dangerous, when luckily the muchacho found real jumper cables. So we piled in his honda. Risa up front sliding back and forth on the seat, cuz it wouldnt stay put. And the guy got us going again. Now we are convinced that we just need to invest in horses... we've had enough of dealing with cars. but we have been provided with help both times!
It's been ridiculously hot the last couple of days. mid/upper 90's. The house can get kind of broiling or freezing when its really cold out.... And there's not much shade around the orphanage property... so we were pretty much dying. we ended up going to the mission where there's shade and the kids all bathed themselves in the hose. Put water on the concrete sidewalk and lie in the water. Trying to spray risa and I when we came close. Frijol was running around without any clothes, getting drenched in the hose by selene who would not stop. Viki and I washed the girls laundry (which is never ending...). It wouldn't be nearly as time consuming if it was like doing laundry in the states. But we have to fill the machine up with a hose, let it wash for a little while, wring the clothes out, and rinse the soap out in a basin of water, wring the water out, and then put all the clothes back in the machine to spin... But the clothes dry within mintutes on the clothesline when its super hot like it has been. It's gonna be strange going back home and having washers and driers agian... It's weird how much I can adapt and become so accostumed to life how it is, and then go back home-have some culture shock for a little while, and then somehow slide back into the grove of life in America....Its kinda sad. Yesterday when driving to Maneadero I was just looking at the window and it didn't even phase me as "Mexico", it just felt like home.
Darrell came down a couple of days ago. And he brought a swingset with him!!! We put it up a rickity wooden thing, but it still works! (just not so much for the bigger kids). Ever since then the kids have been on it non stop. Juanito espicially. Hes always saying, "shala! shala, vamos a columpiar?!?" He gets very sad/angry when I can't come out and push him. I've been trying to teach him how to pump his legs. But he hasn't gotten the hang of it yet. When Frijol swings he's constantly saying, "mas recio!!" He wants to go higher and higher, unlike Juan who someimes starts crying when he goes too high. Frijol is fearless.... to the point where the kids will push him too crazily and fall... Darrell also brought down a trampoline (haha or tramping machine...) but it was missing some parts. So risa and I lucked out on having to watch in fear while the kids jump....I guess our family had a trampoline and we all survived. Lol were just thinking more and more like mothers...
The kids didnt have school thursday or friday. Teachers day. There have been so many random days where the kids just don't have school... The kindergardeners didnt have school all week until friday for some reason.... quien sabe.
The phone at the mission hasnt been working for the last week, and our only store in town with internet shut down....It's funny, the only time we hear whats happening in the world is when we go to english chucrch on Sunday.
We've been out of toiliet paper for the last week. Risa and I had a roll in our room, and now its just down to napkins....lol getting pretty bad.
Risa and I found a vegetarian health food shop/resturaunt today that we ate at! woohoo.
And wow did we have an adventure at the wedding last night!
Well were off to soak up some rays (apparently we can't go in the water though because of sharks....) while the suns still shining:)
So funny story. Last Sunday upon returning to our car in el Zorillo, the car (a different one from last time!) wouldnt start and we came to the conclusion that the battery was dead. (We still don't know how we could have left the lights on....maybe one inside the car?) So we go knock on the door of little Angela's house (where we park our car) to see if she has jumper cables. But this little old lady with barely any teeth opens the door, because apparently Angela isn't home. So we ask her if she knows if there are any cables around, and she just like "oh i dont know". and then we ask her if shes knows any one around that could possilby help us, and again "no, i dont really know of anyone". So Ris and I were like hmmm i guess were just gonna trek off until we find someone who can randomly help us, and hope to bump into someone like mr. sunshine again (which was very unlikely considering where we broke down last time was on the other side of town, right by his house). SO we start walking for a little while, heading towards the mechanic shop we've seen before in search of help, when this muchacho leaning up against the back of this honda looks at us and says "hola" in a sly way. I look at ris and am like "should we ask him". Ris was like no...kinda sketch. But I just turned around and was like heck im just gonna go for it. So he and his friends were looking around there place for something. and evenually this senor finds this sketched out cable that has wires sticking out every which was at either end. He told us it was a cable for lights.....but it could work. Ris and i looked at eachother like oh goodness. isn't that a little dangerous?? we didnt want any one dying in attempts to help us with our car. The guy tried to convince us it was not dangerous, when luckily the muchacho found real jumper cables. So we piled in his honda. Risa up front sliding back and forth on the seat, cuz it wouldnt stay put. And the guy got us going again. Now we are convinced that we just need to invest in horses... we've had enough of dealing with cars. but we have been provided with help both times!
It's been ridiculously hot the last couple of days. mid/upper 90's. The house can get kind of broiling or freezing when its really cold out.... And there's not much shade around the orphanage property... so we were pretty much dying. we ended up going to the mission where there's shade and the kids all bathed themselves in the hose. Put water on the concrete sidewalk and lie in the water. Trying to spray risa and I when we came close. Frijol was running around without any clothes, getting drenched in the hose by selene who would not stop. Viki and I washed the girls laundry (which is never ending...). It wouldn't be nearly as time consuming if it was like doing laundry in the states. But we have to fill the machine up with a hose, let it wash for a little while, wring the clothes out, and rinse the soap out in a basin of water, wring the water out, and then put all the clothes back in the machine to spin... But the clothes dry within mintutes on the clothesline when its super hot like it has been. It's gonna be strange going back home and having washers and driers agian... It's weird how much I can adapt and become so accostumed to life how it is, and then go back home-have some culture shock for a little while, and then somehow slide back into the grove of life in America....Its kinda sad. Yesterday when driving to Maneadero I was just looking at the window and it didn't even phase me as "Mexico", it just felt like home.
Darrell came down a couple of days ago. And he brought a swingset with him!!! We put it up a rickity wooden thing, but it still works! (just not so much for the bigger kids). Ever since then the kids have been on it non stop. Juanito espicially. Hes always saying, "shala! shala, vamos a columpiar?!?" He gets very sad/angry when I can't come out and push him. I've been trying to teach him how to pump his legs. But he hasn't gotten the hang of it yet. When Frijol swings he's constantly saying, "mas recio!!" He wants to go higher and higher, unlike Juan who someimes starts crying when he goes too high. Frijol is fearless.... to the point where the kids will push him too crazily and fall... Darrell also brought down a trampoline (haha or tramping machine...) but it was missing some parts. So risa and I lucked out on having to watch in fear while the kids jump....I guess our family had a trampoline and we all survived. Lol were just thinking more and more like mothers...
The kids didnt have school thursday or friday. Teachers day. There have been so many random days where the kids just don't have school... The kindergardeners didnt have school all week until friday for some reason.... quien sabe.
The phone at the mission hasnt been working for the last week, and our only store in town with internet shut down....It's funny, the only time we hear whats happening in the world is when we go to english chucrch on Sunday.
We've been out of toiliet paper for the last week. Risa and I had a roll in our room, and now its just down to napkins....lol getting pretty bad.
Risa and I found a vegetarian health food shop/resturaunt today that we ate at! woohoo.
And wow did we have an adventure at the wedding last night!
Well were off to soak up some rays (apparently we can't go in the water though because of sharks....) while the suns still shining:)
Sunday, May 11, 2008
Tires R US
We went to get our tire fixed the other day. Danny told sarah to tell the guy to do something, but she forgot the word. and he gave us three bucks.(thrity pesos) so we roll up to this house the a tent thing it front, and tires on the roof. This guy comes out of nowhere, gives us a water tub i guess was angelas, and asks if we are looking for poncho. We say...yah! he yells at the house...and goe back to whereever he came from. So this 16 year old half asleep boy comes out(its 8 in the morning) and tells us to back the van up. after sarah does that, he wheels this car lifter upper over with a string, and bangs out car a couple times in the process...while sarah and i try to supress or giggles. then a mentally retarted younger brother comes out and helps him put the tire in a bucket of sewery water...looking for holes? there apparently were nails in it...so then they start patching or something to the tires while and older man comes out and we speak about life together in Spanglish for awhile...i guess the boys name wasn´t Poncho, but Franchesco. and the other boys name was Angel. so...all this goodness for 3 bucks. Unbeatable!
Things we have LEARNED!
1. Clothes.
when washing ropas, you need to first fill up the washing machine with water, which means finding the hose and turning it on after passing your hand through lots of spiderwebs. when its full, you put the clothes in with soap, turn it on slow and hand scrub your clothes. squeeze clothes out, the put them in the tub of clean(ish) water. drain the machine, and after getting all the soap out of the ropas, but then back in the machine and spin it...then hang it and wait. skivies in the back.
2. hand motions are necessary with speaking spanglish.
3. don´t eat at mexican potlucks.
4. DO put lime and chile on everything
5. don´t put tiolet paper in the toilet.
6. you can´t go to the bathroom for more than 30 seconds. the lock doesn´t work and the kids bang on the door and open it. also when you in the shower thell come in and poop. and pee in the shower.
7. Always be ready to book it to the car or whereever or youll be left behind.
8. theres no such things as planning or plans.
9. bring pepper spray...not for men, but for dogs.
10. how to take garapatas (ticks) out of a dog with rocks...or marisa's bare hands with gloves.
when washing ropas, you need to first fill up the washing machine with water, which means finding the hose and turning it on after passing your hand through lots of spiderwebs. when its full, you put the clothes in with soap, turn it on slow and hand scrub your clothes. squeeze clothes out, the put them in the tub of clean(ish) water. drain the machine, and after getting all the soap out of the ropas, but then back in the machine and spin it...then hang it and wait. skivies in the back.
2. hand motions are necessary with speaking spanglish.
3. don´t eat at mexican potlucks.
4. DO put lime and chile on everything
5. don´t put tiolet paper in the toilet.
6. you can´t go to the bathroom for more than 30 seconds. the lock doesn´t work and the kids bang on the door and open it. also when you in the shower thell come in and poop. and pee in the shower.
7. Always be ready to book it to the car or whereever or youll be left behind.
8. theres no such things as planning or plans.
9. bring pepper spray...not for men, but for dogs.
10. how to take garapatas (ticks) out of a dog with rocks...or marisa's bare hands with gloves.
Tales dead chicken
This week has been a little bit intense. We are running out of gas, water, and the store in town with a computer is now permanetly closed. Sarah and I cannot speak Enlglish anymore, only Spanglish.. Its strange. Even as im writing this im trying to translate it and...weird. Also, im pretty sure im way better at Spanish then i sound alot of times, because i think nervousness over takes me or something, and it all happens so fast. wow. muy rapido! APUDALE!! Life has been pleasant non the less. clotheslining all our clothes, after using a semi washing machine..(look to blog called ¨what we have learned¨) yesterday we tried to hang our damp clothes to dry, and the sun went down, so then we went back to the casa, and hung them over night, Yet, no avail. OHH:...and UPDATE. So...Andres is a murderer! We have chickens, and one wasn´t laying all the time, and the other was pecking its own eggs. So my solution? put them into the wild! because Andres usually just picks them up from random places he sees them walking around anyways, so then. All of a sudden Sarah says...¨i think he is going to kill them¨i started yelling in Spanglish at Andres, sarah trying to translate my broken words as i flaild my arms around. but no. I chased and screamed for awhile, until we snuck around the next corner and saw it RUNNING AROUND WITH ITS HEAD OFF!!! i have never seen that, and im scarred for life. i have some of it documented on film, sending it to animal cruelty ASAP! then they ate it, and the kids were playing with its dead parts and tapping its claws on my window for hours on end. I put on all black and sunglasses for a night and mourned the loss, and had a vow of silencio. WOW. sad. also, our van ran out of gas one of the only times i was driving it(sarah is the man in the relationship) and it was epic. read sarahs blog for more info.
So this what home feels like...
Dear World,
At times this world seems to be tipping...in a good way. Because, at times that it does tip, I straight up fall over, and suddenly get some sense knocked into my head. This past month and half has done all that and more, its brilliant. These past two years of my life i slowly turned into someone I wasn´t, a phasod of a stranger that made it seem like it was ok more me to act how I was acting, or do what I was doing. Yet now its quite clear what is good, and right, and who i really am. I loev hanging out with my true friends, the ones i grew up with(like sarah...) and the ones I avoided for so long to do other things that hurt more that helped. Its like a brand new awakening, i feel like a new person, and like the old me at the same time. A maturity that isn´t forced, yet secured. Sarah and I read a Psalm every night, and the other night we were reading one that really struck us. It talked about not being jealous of evil doers(people that do things that are BAD) because the will someday wither away like the grass in the feilds. Be righteous, and do things that are of good, because God will never leave us. To me it was just...wow. For so long I did things that I thought i wanted to do, because it sounded like more fun, yet i realized then and even now how much more fun, funny, amazing...it is when I walk in righteousness and hang out with people that uplift me. Well...thats about that for now, just an update on my life.
At times this world seems to be tipping...in a good way. Because, at times that it does tip, I straight up fall over, and suddenly get some sense knocked into my head. This past month and half has done all that and more, its brilliant. These past two years of my life i slowly turned into someone I wasn´t, a phasod of a stranger that made it seem like it was ok more me to act how I was acting, or do what I was doing. Yet now its quite clear what is good, and right, and who i really am. I loev hanging out with my true friends, the ones i grew up with(like sarah...) and the ones I avoided for so long to do other things that hurt more that helped. Its like a brand new awakening, i feel like a new person, and like the old me at the same time. A maturity that isn´t forced, yet secured. Sarah and I read a Psalm every night, and the other night we were reading one that really struck us. It talked about not being jealous of evil doers(people that do things that are BAD) because the will someday wither away like the grass in the feilds. Be righteous, and do things that are of good, because God will never leave us. To me it was just...wow. For so long I did things that I thought i wanted to do, because it sounded like more fun, yet i realized then and even now how much more fun, funny, amazing...it is when I walk in righteousness and hang out with people that uplift me. Well...thats about that for now, just an update on my life.
Stormy Days
Woo! It's been a crazy week. Cinco de mayo. The kids having no school for almost a week (sometimes they just don't have school randomly). Mother's Day celebrations at school.
It's been pretty cold lately. stormy and cloudy. Angela even turned on the heater one night! Both risa and I got colds once the weather turned. Kind of funny considering it's nothing compared to washington weather:) The night of Cinco de Mayo there was a thunder storm and amazingly beautiful lightning. It was the craziest lightning I've ever seen. Blue and purple flashes. We sat out with the kids (on our sewer tank lol) and watched the lightnting for a super long time until it got cold and dark and angela called us come inside to eat some hot avena and bread. It rained that day too! The first rain since we've been here. There kids were outside dancing in the rain, along with risa and I:)
After that, we ran out of gas for our house which meants no hot water and not being able to use our stove to cook any food. After about two days of having no gas, and the gas man saying he was coming but then not, we then ran out of water. So we were roughing it even more than just our usual of not having electricity, which risa and I don't really even notice any more. Well except for not having a refrigerator....
Yesterday was also an epic day. We packed more kids and pregnant women in our van than ever before....to take them to the orphanage for a mother's day celebration. I was driving our aerostar and seriously thought we werent going to make it up all the hills. especially the dirt road/hill up to the orphanage. But we made it. Had a mexican potluck with all the moms from our church. played with all their little kiddies. Then angela asked us a "huge" favor of taking some of the moms of our kids back to El Zorillo. So we pilled in the car. not as packed this time. After dropping the moms and their kids of, we went up to Viki's house so she could be with her dad, when are car started making kinda of strange noises and then just died. It did that three times so we just pulled over to the side of the road. Put more water in it (it leaks it's coolant so were constatly refilling it), and then walked viki up to her house, waited for the car to cool down, because we thought it was just over heating. But then we started it again after it had been cooling and it died again almost immidiately after we started it. Luckily as we were like "great what do we do now?" -with no cell phones, in a sketchy town, no gas station, no where near anyone we know we saw Mr. Sunshine (aka Jonathon - we named him that because he's constantly smiling and very ethusiastically happy....) came walking down the road where we broke down. Marisa was walking towards him and shouted, "Ayuda me!" As she tripped and ate it :)
Luckily Mr. Sunshine (who knew nothing about cars) helped us out, and found a guy from our church who lived near by. We came to the conclusion that it was out of gas. Marisa and I always wonder about the gas situation. The gas gauge is broken, always saying its full... Since we've been here we've only witnessed gas being put into it once. Luckily this guy gave us a little bit of gasoine he had in the back of his car, and two other guys from our church then asscorted us to a store where you can buy gallons of gasoline and helped us but a couple in. At first they were trying to syphon the gas with a little tube they had to put it into our tank, which was working very well/very slowly. When we discovered that we had a funnel in the car and Risa told Felix - "you had a drink of gasoline for nothing!". Thank goodness for the help.
On friday the kids had a big mother's day celebration at school. They've been practicing dances that angela has been teaching all the kids at school (btw she can bust some serious moves), and they performed them and had special food and gifts for the mothers. All our kids were all dressed up and cute looking - doing little traditional mexican dances! Our kids are amazing!
They seriously make me laugh harder than anything. ohh I can't even imagine leaving them...
Last night all the kids went to go visit they're mothers so our house was empty, it was so strange! we're like "something is missing!!!" Risa and I decided to star gaze for awhile, even though the moon was shinning a little brightly to be able to see them very well.
Today we went to Calvary Chapel in Ensenada again. Its a pretty awesome place, with fun people. Risa is sure the pastor has ADD. lol he's a pretty cool old guy.
Now we're off to take the micro back to our peaceful village. well, actually to el zorillo and then drive to our town. Blanca tunred nine yesterday (but wasnt with us) so we're making a cake and getting a little celebration ready today! wohoo
Love you and miss you all!
-Sarah
It's been pretty cold lately. stormy and cloudy. Angela even turned on the heater one night! Both risa and I got colds once the weather turned. Kind of funny considering it's nothing compared to washington weather:) The night of Cinco de Mayo there was a thunder storm and amazingly beautiful lightning. It was the craziest lightning I've ever seen. Blue and purple flashes. We sat out with the kids (on our sewer tank lol) and watched the lightnting for a super long time until it got cold and dark and angela called us come inside to eat some hot avena and bread. It rained that day too! The first rain since we've been here. There kids were outside dancing in the rain, along with risa and I:)
After that, we ran out of gas for our house which meants no hot water and not being able to use our stove to cook any food. After about two days of having no gas, and the gas man saying he was coming but then not, we then ran out of water. So we were roughing it even more than just our usual of not having electricity, which risa and I don't really even notice any more. Well except for not having a refrigerator....
Yesterday was also an epic day. We packed more kids and pregnant women in our van than ever before....to take them to the orphanage for a mother's day celebration. I was driving our aerostar and seriously thought we werent going to make it up all the hills. especially the dirt road/hill up to the orphanage. But we made it. Had a mexican potluck with all the moms from our church. played with all their little kiddies. Then angela asked us a "huge" favor of taking some of the moms of our kids back to El Zorillo. So we pilled in the car. not as packed this time. After dropping the moms and their kids of, we went up to Viki's house so she could be with her dad, when are car started making kinda of strange noises and then just died. It did that three times so we just pulled over to the side of the road. Put more water in it (it leaks it's coolant so were constatly refilling it), and then walked viki up to her house, waited for the car to cool down, because we thought it was just over heating. But then we started it again after it had been cooling and it died again almost immidiately after we started it. Luckily as we were like "great what do we do now?" -with no cell phones, in a sketchy town, no gas station, no where near anyone we know we saw Mr. Sunshine (aka Jonathon - we named him that because he's constantly smiling and very ethusiastically happy....) came walking down the road where we broke down. Marisa was walking towards him and shouted, "Ayuda me!" As she tripped and ate it :)
Luckily Mr. Sunshine (who knew nothing about cars) helped us out, and found a guy from our church who lived near by. We came to the conclusion that it was out of gas. Marisa and I always wonder about the gas situation. The gas gauge is broken, always saying its full... Since we've been here we've only witnessed gas being put into it once. Luckily this guy gave us a little bit of gasoine he had in the back of his car, and two other guys from our church then asscorted us to a store where you can buy gallons of gasoline and helped us but a couple in. At first they were trying to syphon the gas with a little tube they had to put it into our tank, which was working very well/very slowly. When we discovered that we had a funnel in the car and Risa told Felix - "you had a drink of gasoline for nothing!". Thank goodness for the help.
On friday the kids had a big mother's day celebration at school. They've been practicing dances that angela has been teaching all the kids at school (btw she can bust some serious moves), and they performed them and had special food and gifts for the mothers. All our kids were all dressed up and cute looking - doing little traditional mexican dances! Our kids are amazing!
They seriously make me laugh harder than anything. ohh I can't even imagine leaving them...
Last night all the kids went to go visit they're mothers so our house was empty, it was so strange! we're like "something is missing!!!" Risa and I decided to star gaze for awhile, even though the moon was shinning a little brightly to be able to see them very well.
Today we went to Calvary Chapel in Ensenada again. Its a pretty awesome place, with fun people. Risa is sure the pastor has ADD. lol he's a pretty cool old guy.
Now we're off to take the micro back to our peaceful village. well, actually to el zorillo and then drive to our town. Blanca tunred nine yesterday (but wasnt with us) so we're making a cake and getting a little celebration ready today! wohoo
Love you and miss you all!
-Sarah
Sunday, May 4, 2008
Life
I can´t believe another week has already gone by! Time is going by way to fast. It´s nice to have a break, but by the end of every sunday we start missing the kids and feel like its been ages since we´ve seen them! I can´t imagine what it is going to be like when we get back home...
This Sunday Ris and I woke up early to take the micro to Ensenada in search of Calvary Chapel - the church we stayed at about six years ago for a mission trip. We found it, and it´s beautiful and has so many new additions! Awesome to see all the progress since we were there. And it brought back many fond memories, especially of Marina:). The Church service was actually in English! And we met some super nice people, a woman who offered to have us over for dinner, and just hang out when we needed a break. We stayed for the spanish serive too. Lots of singing, drums electric guitars- clapping and dancing. A lovely change from what our church in El Zorillo is like.
Haha, speaking of church in El Zorillo yesterday during the service while singing ¨Santo, Santo, Santo¨ this woman was singing at the top of her longs totally off key and a pace behind everyone else - i was doing all i could to contain my laughter! - especially not look at marisa. it was super bad. And it didnt help that our kids were also trying not to laugh! Later that night when we were talking and laughing with Angela and Dani, Angela brought it up and was saying that this woman didnt know how to read so she always repeats what she hears so she´s always a little behind! Ah, Dani and Angela are the most amazing people ever. I Laugh harder than ever talking with them and hearing there stories. I love the laidback life style down here. People are always chatting, taking time to spend with people, and they are all increadibly open. Maybe too open at times- guys down here are certainly not shy to tell us what they are thinking. man oh man. Don´t worry, we haven´t picked up any mexican boyfriends yet.
It´s been so pretty out lately, friday we didn´t turn the generator on for our house, so we all played outside until it was to dark to see, and then got the kids to bed around 8;30. AMAzing!! Risa and I treked outside to gaze at the stars, and Andres joined us for a little while. Saw tons of shooting stars and satellites, talked about life and how much has changed since the last month. Very nice and peaceful.
After having a girls fiesta night on thursday where i gave the girls pedicures (most of them laughing hysterically while i massaged there feet), and Risa cutting and styling their hair. They had so much fun, and were super excited about the hair dryer and straightener. Most of them thought the blow dryer tickled more than anything, except Maria who just closed her eyes and soaked it up in enjoyment. She´s a cutie. Oh! and that night after we (or mostly risa really:) sang to them before bed, maria said a little prayer. Fist of all thanking God for the bread man who gives us all of his day old bread. And asking God to take care of him so we can still have bread to eat. Then she went off about all the plants and thanking God for fruit. And then she asked that the alll the kids at the house wouldn´t misbehave or act badly so that Risa and I won´t leave! They keep on telling us that they are going to have a strike\rally in the street the day we leave so we cant be taken home! Or hide us so that when darrell comes they´ll say were not here or that we left to ensenada. or they´ve mentioned they will just tie us up.
Yesterday we went down to this little swimming whole to pass by the hot afternoon and hang out under the trees where there is some shade unlike the property at our house. We all got soaked and swam around in rather brown water, played freeze tag, volleyball, and got taken out by the kids, while angela rested in the shade.
well my times up! more next week- tomorrows Cinco de Mayo!!!
This Sunday Ris and I woke up early to take the micro to Ensenada in search of Calvary Chapel - the church we stayed at about six years ago for a mission trip. We found it, and it´s beautiful and has so many new additions! Awesome to see all the progress since we were there. And it brought back many fond memories, especially of Marina:). The Church service was actually in English! And we met some super nice people, a woman who offered to have us over for dinner, and just hang out when we needed a break. We stayed for the spanish serive too. Lots of singing, drums electric guitars- clapping and dancing. A lovely change from what our church in El Zorillo is like.
Haha, speaking of church in El Zorillo yesterday during the service while singing ¨Santo, Santo, Santo¨ this woman was singing at the top of her longs totally off key and a pace behind everyone else - i was doing all i could to contain my laughter! - especially not look at marisa. it was super bad. And it didnt help that our kids were also trying not to laugh! Later that night when we were talking and laughing with Angela and Dani, Angela brought it up and was saying that this woman didnt know how to read so she always repeats what she hears so she´s always a little behind! Ah, Dani and Angela are the most amazing people ever. I Laugh harder than ever talking with them and hearing there stories. I love the laidback life style down here. People are always chatting, taking time to spend with people, and they are all increadibly open. Maybe too open at times- guys down here are certainly not shy to tell us what they are thinking. man oh man. Don´t worry, we haven´t picked up any mexican boyfriends yet.
It´s been so pretty out lately, friday we didn´t turn the generator on for our house, so we all played outside until it was to dark to see, and then got the kids to bed around 8;30. AMAzing!! Risa and I treked outside to gaze at the stars, and Andres joined us for a little while. Saw tons of shooting stars and satellites, talked about life and how much has changed since the last month. Very nice and peaceful.
After having a girls fiesta night on thursday where i gave the girls pedicures (most of them laughing hysterically while i massaged there feet), and Risa cutting and styling their hair. They had so much fun, and were super excited about the hair dryer and straightener. Most of them thought the blow dryer tickled more than anything, except Maria who just closed her eyes and soaked it up in enjoyment. She´s a cutie. Oh! and that night after we (or mostly risa really:) sang to them before bed, maria said a little prayer. Fist of all thanking God for the bread man who gives us all of his day old bread. And asking God to take care of him so we can still have bread to eat. Then she went off about all the plants and thanking God for fruit. And then she asked that the alll the kids at the house wouldn´t misbehave or act badly so that Risa and I won´t leave! They keep on telling us that they are going to have a strike\rally in the street the day we leave so we cant be taken home! Or hide us so that when darrell comes they´ll say were not here or that we left to ensenada. or they´ve mentioned they will just tie us up.
Yesterday we went down to this little swimming whole to pass by the hot afternoon and hang out under the trees where there is some shade unlike the property at our house. We all got soaked and swam around in rather brown water, played freeze tag, volleyball, and got taken out by the kids, while angela rested in the shade.
well my times up! more next week- tomorrows Cinco de Mayo!!!
Sunday, April 27, 2008
Ensenada Sunshine
So this Sunday Risa and I took the "micro" to Ensenada to do some grocery shopping. Beans and tortillas in every shape and form are starting to get a little old, and we are feeling a lack of variety in our diet. But don't get me wrong. I still love mexican food. So this bus ride was not nearly as sketchy, maybe the guy knew what he was doing, or else we are just getting more used to the way things roll down here. So we just spent the day at the beach after doing a little shoppin.
Right now I'm in shock and don't know what exactly to do with myself becuase the internet here is faster than I can handle.
Day by day Risa and I are feeling more like mothers. The other day we gave Oscar (13) a driving lesson. He was pretty good:) I gotta admitt he didn't scare me as much as risa does when she drives....especially the huge 15 passenger van.... HAha so I think we had the all time record of twenty people packed into our little aerostar van! That was some good times. And Dani and Andres actually fixed the sliding door of our van. "very nice". Risa also got attacked by the kids when she was taking a peaceful shower lol....Maria and Selene were pounding on the door, and just opened the door, becuase the door lock doesn't really work any more.. they were going crazy in the bathroom, and i had to come a rescue marisa, and convince selene who was laughing hysterically that she couldn't take a poo right then....
Thursday Risa and I got left with all the kids while Angela and Danni went to take their brother to the doctors. Well i guess we weren't all by ourselves since we had Maria, our senile house helper lady. The kids were fine. The boys made an extremely sketchy bike ramp out of a couple of pieces of plywood and mud, and were jumping off it on their bikes.... Viki was getting a little board of the girls and dolls so we made a pimp my ride mexican sytle video with viki dressed up as a cholo! prettty much one of the funniest things ever. I was dying lauging. Her personality and her smile with a missing/crooked front tooth was perfect. We have some great footage we've captured:)
Our house lady Maria is leaving to go back home in a couple of days and Risa and I are going to miss her extremely. sad day. She is amazing always giving us treats and stocking us up on food. Plus she has raging style. Her 80's nylon jacket, and her socks tucked into her pants - she got bit by a huge pinacate (beetle thing) the other day, and freaked out so now she has been wearing pants tucked into her socks. Marisa has been patiently trying to teach her to knit, and most of the time it juts ends in raging fits of laughter, becuase she can never remember what she's doing! She's a cutie. Losing here "hair oil" and pots all the time. And when she got frustrated knitting (oh with pencils by the way. that's all we have) she asked why she couldn't just use her "ganchos" (hanger..) so i ran into the room where she had left her unfinshed knitted hanger, and brought it out to here thinking she had forgotten where it was/it was easy to do than actually knitting. when i came out of the room, she burst out in laughter, because i guess she was asking for knitting needles, which are also called ganchos. lol good times .
For a craft with some of the girls we had them knit yarn around hangers to decorate them, but after awhile all the boys were extremely intrested and all begged to make them to. Last night I walked out of my room, and most all of the boys were sitting on the couches peacefully knitting! It was a spectacular site.
Last night Risa, Andres, Viki, and I were outside with the guitar, watching the stars/the kids skating, and we decided to hike up the hill to get a better view of the stars. It was beautiful, warm, and the stars were super bright. Viki the whole time was begging to go back home, and was scarred the cayotes would come out, and got extremely angry when we started howling like cayotes. The only thing I was sketched out about was that i was wearing flip flops and tramping through the brush...but i survived and it was definately worth the trek.
After dropping the kids off at Kinder one day risa and I took Frijolito and Jaunito to pick up some tortillas at the store, when this American Motorist guy approached us and said very slowly and clearly, "Do You Speak English?" Haha were starting to blend in with the locals yaha. We are catching some nice rays and spanglish is definately something that's occuring more and more.
Well that's more than enough for now. We're heading off to Maneadero to go to a street market to pick up some fruit.
Right now I'm in shock and don't know what exactly to do with myself becuase the internet here is faster than I can handle.
Day by day Risa and I are feeling more like mothers. The other day we gave Oscar (13) a driving lesson. He was pretty good:) I gotta admitt he didn't scare me as much as risa does when she drives....especially the huge 15 passenger van.... HAha so I think we had the all time record of twenty people packed into our little aerostar van! That was some good times. And Dani and Andres actually fixed the sliding door of our van. "very nice". Risa also got attacked by the kids when she was taking a peaceful shower lol....Maria and Selene were pounding on the door, and just opened the door, becuase the door lock doesn't really work any more.. they were going crazy in the bathroom, and i had to come a rescue marisa, and convince selene who was laughing hysterically that she couldn't take a poo right then....
Thursday Risa and I got left with all the kids while Angela and Danni went to take their brother to the doctors. Well i guess we weren't all by ourselves since we had Maria, our senile house helper lady. The kids were fine. The boys made an extremely sketchy bike ramp out of a couple of pieces of plywood and mud, and were jumping off it on their bikes.... Viki was getting a little board of the girls and dolls so we made a pimp my ride mexican sytle video with viki dressed up as a cholo! prettty much one of the funniest things ever. I was dying lauging. Her personality and her smile with a missing/crooked front tooth was perfect. We have some great footage we've captured:)
Our house lady Maria is leaving to go back home in a couple of days and Risa and I are going to miss her extremely. sad day. She is amazing always giving us treats and stocking us up on food. Plus she has raging style. Her 80's nylon jacket, and her socks tucked into her pants - she got bit by a huge pinacate (beetle thing) the other day, and freaked out so now she has been wearing pants tucked into her socks. Marisa has been patiently trying to teach her to knit, and most of the time it juts ends in raging fits of laughter, becuase she can never remember what she's doing! She's a cutie. Losing here "hair oil" and pots all the time. And when she got frustrated knitting (oh with pencils by the way. that's all we have) she asked why she couldn't just use her "ganchos" (hanger..) so i ran into the room where she had left her unfinshed knitted hanger, and brought it out to here thinking she had forgotten where it was/it was easy to do than actually knitting. when i came out of the room, she burst out in laughter, because i guess she was asking for knitting needles, which are also called ganchos. lol good times .
For a craft with some of the girls we had them knit yarn around hangers to decorate them, but after awhile all the boys were extremely intrested and all begged to make them to. Last night I walked out of my room, and most all of the boys were sitting on the couches peacefully knitting! It was a spectacular site.
Last night Risa, Andres, Viki, and I were outside with the guitar, watching the stars/the kids skating, and we decided to hike up the hill to get a better view of the stars. It was beautiful, warm, and the stars were super bright. Viki the whole time was begging to go back home, and was scarred the cayotes would come out, and got extremely angry when we started howling like cayotes. The only thing I was sketched out about was that i was wearing flip flops and tramping through the brush...but i survived and it was definately worth the trek.
After dropping the kids off at Kinder one day risa and I took Frijolito and Jaunito to pick up some tortillas at the store, when this American Motorist guy approached us and said very slowly and clearly, "Do You Speak English?" Haha were starting to blend in with the locals yaha. We are catching some nice rays and spanglish is definately something that's occuring more and more.
Well that's more than enough for now. We're heading off to Maneadero to go to a street market to pick up some fruit.
Sunday, April 20, 2008
MARIA MARIA
Another Sunday!! In Uraupan with really slow internet....
So ya know how I was talking about our sketchy bus ride....well we made it back alive. almost. Once we got to El Zorillo our tire blew out! But luckily we were really close to where our car was parked. the guy kept on driving like he didnt understand what was going on, so i was like "podemos bajar!"
So have have a couple new additions to the orphanage. to roosters. let me tell you worst day of our lives. They make obnoxious noises all the time...including in the middle of the night for some strange reason. and then constantly from 5 am in the morning. They're in the process of building a chicken coop that is even closere to our bedroom window so that's gonna be some fun times!
Today we went with a group for Oregon to town and to La Bufadora! Good to get out....We scored some sweet panchos and are now in a posse. We got stared down by some federales... we realized that we kinda appeared like the kkk....not so good.
The kids have been amazing and crazy and full of energy. Last night we encountered a ciempies in our house....a crazy snake centipede looking like thing that is aparently is pretty dangerous. Jose stopmed on it and took care of it for us as all of us were screaming and flipping out.....
The other day we had fun taking piejos (lice) out of selene's hair....marisa almost puked a couple of times....
K well of to a dinner at the mission thats not just going to consist of beans and tortillas!! woohoo
So ya know how I was talking about our sketchy bus ride....well we made it back alive. almost. Once we got to El Zorillo our tire blew out! But luckily we were really close to where our car was parked. the guy kept on driving like he didnt understand what was going on, so i was like "podemos bajar!"
So have have a couple new additions to the orphanage. to roosters. let me tell you worst day of our lives. They make obnoxious noises all the time...including in the middle of the night for some strange reason. and then constantly from 5 am in the morning. They're in the process of building a chicken coop that is even closere to our bedroom window so that's gonna be some fun times!
Today we went with a group for Oregon to town and to La Bufadora! Good to get out....We scored some sweet panchos and are now in a posse. We got stared down by some federales... we realized that we kinda appeared like the kkk....not so good.
The kids have been amazing and crazy and full of energy. Last night we encountered a ciempies in our house....a crazy snake centipede looking like thing that is aparently is pretty dangerous. Jose stopmed on it and took care of it for us as all of us were screaming and flipping out.....
The other day we had fun taking piejos (lice) out of selene's hair....marisa almost puked a couple of times....
K well of to a dinner at the mission thats not just going to consist of beans and tortillas!! woohoo
Whewww!
SO i have to write this blog really fast...but its just aquick update. We got about 6 more chicken/roosters...and my goodness what a wake up call. Plus the dogs bark outside my windows at all hours of the night! The group that was here from oregon left so me and sarah had a marvelous feist! enough beans and rice make bananas, fruits in general, eggs...seem like heaven. and SOY MILK! good times. We have to go pick the kidrens up at school now...We might be getting a "tramping machine"as sarah calls it...aka a trampoline. our english is getting worse, spanish better by the day. We are mastermines at spanglish! im tanner than the sun itself too...
marisa
marisa
Sunday, April 13, 2008
Day Off!!
It's Sunday, OUR DAY OFF!! So Marisa and I decided to bus is to Ensenada for the day...pretty much the sketchiest bus ride of my life. The speedometer and all the other meters were broken and tweaking out in the bus, and we were swerving in and out of traffic at high speeds. And apparently they don't believe in bus stops down here, so they just pull over any where on the side of the road where people are chillin.
So just to set things straight about the soccer "futbol" situation, even though I don't really play, Andres and I dominated Marisa and Oscar in soccer straight up. Get it straight Risa.
We've been playing soccer a bunch, and the last three days have been ridiculously hot, and we've still headed out to the top of the hill where we play in the evenings. Last night after it got dark it was still super warm out and there were tons of stars out, ahh beautiful.
So we've been sore and super tired by the end of the night....lol heading to bed at 8 o'clock.
The kids have been practicing some authentic dances for "el dia de los ninos", so at night we go over to the mission were there is electricity and space and having dance parties. Fun times.
Yesterday was super hot, so after church we headed down to this little swimming hole, were everyone swam around, ran around trying not to get thrown into the water!
And Frijolito was running around naked and got stung by a bee multiple times on the face...poor guy.
So that's all the time i have for now. But the good news is that I've finally pretty much got my voice back, and am not sick anymore. Hopefully we'll survive the bus ride home.....
Love you and Miss you all!
So just to set things straight about the soccer "futbol" situation, even though I don't really play, Andres and I dominated Marisa and Oscar in soccer straight up. Get it straight Risa.
We've been playing soccer a bunch, and the last three days have been ridiculously hot, and we've still headed out to the top of the hill where we play in the evenings. Last night after it got dark it was still super warm out and there were tons of stars out, ahh beautiful.
So we've been sore and super tired by the end of the night....lol heading to bed at 8 o'clock.
The kids have been practicing some authentic dances for "el dia de los ninos", so at night we go over to the mission were there is electricity and space and having dance parties. Fun times.
Yesterday was super hot, so after church we headed down to this little swimming hole, were everyone swam around, ran around trying not to get thrown into the water!
And Frijolito was running around naked and got stung by a bee multiple times on the face...poor guy.
So that's all the time i have for now. But the good news is that I've finally pretty much got my voice back, and am not sick anymore. Hopefully we'll survive the bus ride home.....
Love you and Miss you all!
NEW
Wow...its only been a few days since we wrote but i swear every day is like a week or two. So, forgot to mention all the kids! First, there is Oscar(13), Jose(12) Jazmin(11), Viki(10) Crisando(9)Blanca(9)Maria(6),Gino(8), Alejandro(8), Javier(9) Enrique(6), Selene(5), Martin(5), Juanito(3) and Friolito(2). Its pretty intense...especially when its just Sarah and I. But every day day definently been a learning experience for me! I'm getting darker by the hour too, goodness! Its our day off today(every Sunday) and we took an extremely sketchy"micro" bus to Ensenada...the driver looked 14, and instead of bus stops you just raise your hand on the side of the road and he swerves to the side....wow. Its been really hot the last three days, but i have been playing soccer games in the scorching sun despite that. Its AWESOME...and now I'm really really sore everywhere. We have at least a side of beans with every meal, and i think its taking a toll on me...I feel like i need vegetables sooo bad. But..its all part of the experience. I guess my brother is coming back from Guatamala in a month, so we shall reunite soon! Anybody can ask any questions, and well be happy to answer! and if Sarah is going to say she "dominated us" in soccer...its only half true...it was just me and Oscar and our other teammates were picking there noses...
Thursday, April 10, 2008
Adventures...
What a crazy 2 weeks! We left seattle on March 28th and flew down to Los Angeles. After visiting our friend Matt Wachter till Sunday, we drove down to San Diego to meet up with the crew. We were supposed to show a group from Wenatchee how to get to the mission, but there bus broke down, so stayed the night at Darrell and Mareens for the night(the couple who run the mission). We arrived in Mexico on March 31st and had no trouble arriving at the Mission. We let the group settle in and then drove the mile and a half to the orphange. Sarah and I have our own room that looks out the back yard. We are on top of a mini-mountain and its so beautiful! There has been alot of rain this winter so its very very green. Urapan(The town were staying in) is small and surrounded by mountains.
The first couple days we just got on schedule with the time and mexico's lax-ness in general. We've been to the beach once with the other kids staying at the mission along with our kids. It was just me and sarah watching all 16 kids...just a taste of more to come. We thought we lost a couple kids but the other americans just took them without asking us...that was really cute of them! My spanish is slowly improving as a I remember things slowly. Sarah is just outta this world at speaking Spanish...She translates alot to me but the things is that its usually in spanglish so i have to re-translate it. Were making a movie now about the orphange and the kids are really getting into it. Alot of its just sillyness at its best, but so far its hilarious.
We go to sleep at 7:30 to 9ish, and wake up at 6:30ish. Its weird going to sleep so early, but were so exhausted by the end of the day anyways...its hard enough everyone except sarah speaking Spanish, but kid Spanish is hard to understand to, espeically when they have lisps(the youngins...( ; ) We have amazing house parents, Angela and Danny. They are both hilarious, and i have known Angela from coming down here before. I took my lip ring and nose ring out...and it was a good thing. We have been running or playing soccer everyday, or football with the kids. Sarah plays more with the girls and i play more sports with the boys, but sarah played soccer yesterday and we got rowdy.
The other night we were going to a "SURPRISE" trip. It ended up being in Ensenada, and we pulled up at a circus tent. The thing with me is that i really hate circus'...but i guess it was this akward on-ice show with random songs from movies acted out...this one part had these two clowns that just ATE IT off stage by accident...funnnyy. Then i took Viki and Maria to the outhouses and this crazy lady kept trying to open the door on Maria..i tried to to tell her, but she was just to loca. Maria was almost in tears when she came out...Then we forgot Friolito(little bean, the littlest one who is around 2) in the car sleeping. good times. well sarah or i will write later...until then!
The first couple days we just got on schedule with the time and mexico's lax-ness in general. We've been to the beach once with the other kids staying at the mission along with our kids. It was just me and sarah watching all 16 kids...just a taste of more to come. We thought we lost a couple kids but the other americans just took them without asking us...that was really cute of them! My spanish is slowly improving as a I remember things slowly. Sarah is just outta this world at speaking Spanish...She translates alot to me but the things is that its usually in spanglish so i have to re-translate it. Were making a movie now about the orphange and the kids are really getting into it. Alot of its just sillyness at its best, but so far its hilarious.
We go to sleep at 7:30 to 9ish, and wake up at 6:30ish. Its weird going to sleep so early, but were so exhausted by the end of the day anyways...its hard enough everyone except sarah speaking Spanish, but kid Spanish is hard to understand to, espeically when they have lisps(the youngins...( ; ) We have amazing house parents, Angela and Danny. They are both hilarious, and i have known Angela from coming down here before. I took my lip ring and nose ring out...and it was a good thing. We have been running or playing soccer everyday, or football with the kids. Sarah plays more with the girls and i play more sports with the boys, but sarah played soccer yesterday and we got rowdy.
The other night we were going to a "SURPRISE" trip. It ended up being in Ensenada, and we pulled up at a circus tent. The thing with me is that i really hate circus'...but i guess it was this akward on-ice show with random songs from movies acted out...this one part had these two clowns that just ATE IT off stage by accident...funnnyy. Then i took Viki and Maria to the outhouses and this crazy lady kept trying to open the door on Maria..i tried to to tell her, but she was just to loca. Maria was almost in tears when she came out...Then we forgot Friolito(little bean, the littlest one who is around 2) in the car sleeping. good times. well sarah or i will write later...until then!
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