Friday, December 21, 2007
Papa Loco Manana
Lydia and I just agreed to go out for Papa Locos tomorrow night, I'll take my camera and take pictures this time. I promise you it's an absolute genius idea.
Thursday, December 20, 2007
Just some non-important observations
- Most lifeguards along the beach are also policeman; they carry guns and can arrest you for smoking pot on the beach or for racing with quads on the beach and many other things.
- Police men cruise the streets in pick-up trucks and the guys riding on the back have their guns drawn at all times. Not little teeny weeny pistols either...big guns, always drawn.
- There are always about 3 isles of hair products in the grocery store, the beans take up a whole isle, the canned soup section is only about 2 feet wide, they don’t sell laundry soap in big boxes just in little bags or in bars, ice cream selection is very slim, milk does not need to be refrigerated until opened, rice and pasta come in very small bags only. The reason that food does not come in large quantities is that people here live day to day, they do not stock up on food like we do, and they do not have the space we have to stock up. Kitchens here are not equipped with lot of cupboards, they don’t have huge pantries and most don’t have fridges at all....hence the poor ice-cream selection.
- A 2 lane street can become a 4 lane street with no official warning of any kind.
- It is not uncommon for the bus driver to stop and run across the street to buy some tomatoes to take home or to use a pay phone. ...also not uncommon for the bus to break down (happened once to me so far)
- You can bring your own liquor and your own food into a restaurant.
- They don’t do coffee to go, they can’t imagine not having enough time to sit and enjoy your coffee instead of drinking it on the run.
- There is always a doctor at every drug store that is why you don’t need a written prescription for most drugs, and doctors do still do house calls.
- You can bring your dog onto the bus. (or anything else)
- You can transport a refrigerator on a bicycle and a TV on the back of a motor cycle.
- Kids take their drinks to school in a plastic baggie tied at the top with a straw sticking out. Salsa also comes to school in a baggie.
- You can wash your floors 3 times a day and still have a layer of dust on it...your feet, slippers or socks are forever black on the bottom, now I know why people cover all their electrical appliances, likes toasters, blenders, stereos, and computers etc....
- Not uncommon to see people that have chickens, roosters or even a horse in the city. You don’t have to move out to the country to have a farm.
- Brown sugar does not dry out and get hard here.
- You do not buy eggs by the carton, you put as many as you want in a plastic bag and hope you don’t have scrambled eggs by the time you get home....I have not bought eggs yet for this very reason, it’s also hard in the market because they don’t have shopping carts (remember ....only buying food for the day) I always think I’ll buy them last but by the time I’m done I don’t have room to carry them in a way that I’m sure they won’t break.
- There are no mail boxes, the mailman just throws your mail in front of your door and you just hope the wind does not blow it away.
- Mexicans will hardly ever tell you “No” if you ask them to do something they will say yes and then just not do it, or they will say they will come to something and then just not show up. They consider it very rude to say no but not rude to say yes and then just not.
- The word “frente” means “in front of “in the dictionary, but it is also used for “beside” or “close to “or “around there abouts” making getting directions from someone most confusing.
- It is near impossible to sleep in due to the noise regardless of which neighbourhood you live in. I learned today that most of the gringos that live here use either ear plugs, sleeping pills or Benadryl to help them sleep.....most unhealthy I think. At home I always set 2 alarms clocks so that I don’t sleep in, I only used my alarm clock for the first 3 days, have not needed it since. The noise on my street is mostly due to traffic, it is most uncool to have a muffler on your vehicle or motorbike and about every ½ block you have to test out your horn just in case you get stuck in traffic and you really need it, you would hate to find out then it doesn’t work. You also have to lean out your window once in awhile and yell “ihhhiiiyyiiyiii” (I don’t know how to spell that) as loud as you can...just because.
- If people are home, the doors to their homes are standing open...even I leave the door open now when I am home (until I go to bed)
- Police men cruise the streets in pick-up trucks and the guys riding on the back have their guns drawn at all times. Not little teeny weeny pistols either...big guns, always drawn.
- There are always about 3 isles of hair products in the grocery store, the beans take up a whole isle, the canned soup section is only about 2 feet wide, they don’t sell laundry soap in big boxes just in little bags or in bars, ice cream selection is very slim, milk does not need to be refrigerated until opened, rice and pasta come in very small bags only. The reason that food does not come in large quantities is that people here live day to day, they do not stock up on food like we do, and they do not have the space we have to stock up. Kitchens here are not equipped with lot of cupboards, they don’t have huge pantries and most don’t have fridges at all....hence the poor ice-cream selection.
- A 2 lane street can become a 4 lane street with no official warning of any kind.
- It is not uncommon for the bus driver to stop and run across the street to buy some tomatoes to take home or to use a pay phone. ...also not uncommon for the bus to break down (happened once to me so far)
- You can bring your own liquor and your own food into a restaurant.
- They don’t do coffee to go, they can’t imagine not having enough time to sit and enjoy your coffee instead of drinking it on the run.
- There is always a doctor at every drug store that is why you don’t need a written prescription for most drugs, and doctors do still do house calls.
- You can bring your dog onto the bus. (or anything else)
- You can transport a refrigerator on a bicycle and a TV on the back of a motor cycle.
- Kids take their drinks to school in a plastic baggie tied at the top with a straw sticking out. Salsa also comes to school in a baggie.
- You can wash your floors 3 times a day and still have a layer of dust on it...your feet, slippers or socks are forever black on the bottom, now I know why people cover all their electrical appliances, likes toasters, blenders, stereos, and computers etc....
- Not uncommon to see people that have chickens, roosters or even a horse in the city. You don’t have to move out to the country to have a farm.
- Brown sugar does not dry out and get hard here.
- You do not buy eggs by the carton, you put as many as you want in a plastic bag and hope you don’t have scrambled eggs by the time you get home....I have not bought eggs yet for this very reason, it’s also hard in the market because they don’t have shopping carts (remember ....only buying food for the day) I always think I’ll buy them last but by the time I’m done I don’t have room to carry them in a way that I’m sure they won’t break.
- There are no mail boxes, the mailman just throws your mail in front of your door and you just hope the wind does not blow it away.
- Mexicans will hardly ever tell you “No” if you ask them to do something they will say yes and then just not do it, or they will say they will come to something and then just not show up. They consider it very rude to say no but not rude to say yes and then just not.
- The word “frente” means “in front of “in the dictionary, but it is also used for “beside” or “close to “or “around there abouts” making getting directions from someone most confusing.
- It is near impossible to sleep in due to the noise regardless of which neighbourhood you live in. I learned today that most of the gringos that live here use either ear plugs, sleeping pills or Benadryl to help them sleep.....most unhealthy I think. At home I always set 2 alarms clocks so that I don’t sleep in, I only used my alarm clock for the first 3 days, have not needed it since. The noise on my street is mostly due to traffic, it is most uncool to have a muffler on your vehicle or motorbike and about every ½ block you have to test out your horn just in case you get stuck in traffic and you really need it, you would hate to find out then it doesn’t work. You also have to lean out your window once in awhile and yell “ihhhiiiyyiiyiii” (I don’t know how to spell that) as loud as you can...just because.
- If people are home, the doors to their homes are standing open...even I leave the door open now when I am home (until I go to bed)
THe pinata, not just another pretty decoration
The Piñata, not just another pretty decoration.
Although piñatas come in many shapes and sizes the classic piñata is a 7 pointed star. The 7 points represents the seven capitol sins, arrogance, avarice, lust, anger, gluttony, envy and sloth. I’m not sure who originally decided these would be the “capitol sins”.
Hitting a piñata blindfolded represents faith, a virtue that permits us to believe without seeing.
The stick that is used to hit the piñata represents the strength of the virtue that breaks the false and tricky delights of the world.
The filling of the piñata is the symbol of the love of God because breaking with evil helps you to obtain good desires.
My family usually does a pinata at Easter but I never knew that there was a meaning behind.
Although piñatas come in many shapes and sizes the classic piñata is a 7 pointed star. The 7 points represents the seven capitol sins, arrogance, avarice, lust, anger, gluttony, envy and sloth. I’m not sure who originally decided these would be the “capitol sins”.
Hitting a piñata blindfolded represents faith, a virtue that permits us to believe without seeing.
The stick that is used to hit the piñata represents the strength of the virtue that breaks the false and tricky delights of the world.
The filling of the piñata is the symbol of the love of God because breaking with evil helps you to obtain good desires.
My family usually does a pinata at Easter but I never knew that there was a meaning behind.
Excitement at Casa Damasco
We brought a piñata to Casa Damasco today in hopes we could get some smiles or just a reaction of some kind, but first we served lunch and one gentleman could not keep his lunch down and just kept throwing up and I’m ashamed to say I had to leave the room; I was no help at all. Since this is something that happens a lot I have to get over this somehow. It almost seems impossible to get over something that has been with me forever. I remember chaperoning a high school graduation party and throwing up just as much as the drunken grads. I know God can totally change us in any way and I will give this to him to deal with. He helped me with my urge to smoke a few years ago, this is no different. I will overcome this. After lunch we hung the piñata on the back patio and wheeled in those that needed wheeling and hobbled in granny but Otencia kept sitting by the door hanging on to her belongings, I urged her to come, holding out my hand to her and saying “por favor por favor” but she would not leave her spot. She was the only one that did not take a turn at the piñata, everyone that is mobile (there are 4 men that aren’t mobile at all... (3 that can’t move and 1 that just won’t) had a turn, even granny made an attempt. I was a little disappointed at myself for not bringing my camera, everyone looked so light hearted and happy today. I brought Otencia some candy after the piñata exploded and after a while she started really rambling on to me very passionately about something again. I don’t know what to say or do then because I can’t understand a word she says so I smile and lightly shake my head and say “no se” meaning “I don’t know” I scrunch my face and brow up as if I’m really really thinking about what she’s saying and then after a lot thought I say “no se” in a really sympathetic way. This is how we are conversing, you’re thinking “no wonder she had a fit on you last week”. I have a new plan for next week though, the Mexicans use the word “entonces” a lot, it is kind of like “ummm,” you know when you pause in the middle of a sentence and you have to think of what you’re going to say next, so you do a ummm, and then you carry on again. Only the word “entonces” sounds a little smarter then “ummm”, it actually sounds like a word....so I think I’ll use that next week instead of “no Se”. I asked Mariana again today what she was saying and again she just said “she is saying very very bad things” and bows her head and starts praying, perhaps it’s a good thing I can’t understand, if I could I might be intimidated and afraid of her and never go back, at least now I can just smile and say “no se”. I think when you’re wanting God to lead you it’s ok not to know everything.....knowing everything would be way too scary sometimes and we might dig our heals in a little deeper
Monday, December 17, 2007
Guess who messed up at the market today?
I guess it would make more sense to do some homework before I hit the market instead of just spontaneously going and trying to make stuff up, but where would the adventure in that be? Although I still have shrimp in the freezer (1 kilo is a lot of shrimp) I decide I want to make spaghetti and meat sauce....yes I need to attempt to buy ground beef for that. So I wandered through the meat market once, checking out what was available and who seemed friendly (don’t want to get a cranky meat man) and of course I didn’t see any hamburger, just the usual big pieces of cow and pig. I thought the word for beef was “carne”, so I asked a guy for carne, he pointed to his selection of cow pieces (I thought it was cow) so I pick a chunk and ask for 1 kilo, he whips out his machete and chops my chunk off, weighs it....a perfect kilo (not his first day on the job) I figured that if I chop it into really fine pieces it will be almost like hamburger. All is good until I start to fry it and it turns white....it’s “the other white meat” pork. Turns out that “carne” means “meat” any kind of meat, goat, cow, and pig, dog.......this could really have been much worst. “Carne de res” is beef. My pork meat sauce was really good; I may even make this again. Also.....I found out since that all the meat guys will make hamburger for you right there, you just have to ask, but you have to pick out your meat first, what part of the cow makes good hamburger? Any part? All, in all, not a bad day at the market. So far, according to my research I still think it is cheaper to eat out than cook. Just outside my bedroom window is a street vendor that BBQs something every weekend, he’s not there during the week, but to get to him I have to walk about 3 blocks even though he is just out side my window. If I had a very tall ladder I could climb out my window, then I would need to scale a fence with barbed wire on top and there I’d be...but that’s not going to happen, last weekend I just stood by the window and inhaled the wonderful smell and watched other people walk away with big take out containers....I was just dying to know what was in them. This weekend I was not about to wait another week, nope, I hightailed it over there and found whole BBQ chicken on his grill and a menu of the usual tacos, quesadillas, carne asada etc......I bought 2 bean tacos (empanada style) with a side of rice w/2 different salsas for 14 pesos.....yup 14...at first I thought I had misunderstood and gave him 40 (which would have been reasonable as well) he gave me back my 20 and 6 pesos change...14. All the way home with my precious takeout container I felt like I had robbed the man and kept looking over my shoulders for him. I think this is where I will be eating every Saturday night from now on.....defiantly cheaper than cooking. On Friday I also stumbled on to something very yummy. I tell you, Mexicans are geniuses when it comes to food. I discovered “Alote” you see alote pots on almost every corner, I had just never taken the time to really check it out. It just looked like a pot of corn, kernel corn....while I do like corn I wouldn’t stop on a street corner for it. I decided to stop and see what the attraction was, well.....it is a pot of normal kernel corn, she asked me what size I wanted, I choose small, she dumped a small cup of corn into a small pot and asks me if I want creama.....creama! yes I want creama por favor....I love creama. She pours in creama, do I want cheese...I take a little very fine shredded Chihuahua cheese (this is not clumpy or gooey cheese) do I want salt? I pass on the salt, do I want hot sauce? On my corn? I think not. (Not today) She stirs it all up and dumps it back into a little cup and gives me a spoon, I walk away very pleased with myself that I have found a new way to take in more creama (I need calcium you know) This only for 20 pesos, the cup was a regular paper cup. Next time I may upgrade to large and try it with hot sauce. Genius I tell you. Wait until I write about the papas locos, Tostitos locos.....I’ll need pictures though, so you’ll have to wait, the last time I had them (remember it’s been a year since I had them) I was so excited I didn’t get a chance to take pictures. Next time I’ll take pictures... and post them for you.
Wednesday, December 12, 2007
Another day at Casa Damasco
We spend the afternoon at Casa Damasco (link on the left of the page) again and just like last time I left feeling rather useless, if I’m going to keep going there this will have to change...right? Why go if you’re helping in any way....right?
The lady that sits by the door all day (her name is Otencia...may have spelt it wrong) was sitting by the door again with all her belongings and still wearing the same clothes. Today I noticed that her bags of belonging was just all garbage, empty crushed pop cans, crushed milk carton, bottle caps, wads of used tissues.....garbage to me but obviously this stuff is like her security blanket, she will not let it out of her sight. In a way she’s no different that the rest of us that work and work so that we can collect stuff to hang on to, and store in boxes and closets and sheds....at least she knows where her stuff is, I can’t find most of mine. Today she showed me how rich she was, she pulled out a little plastic baggie that had strips of newspaper cut into dollar bill size strips, she had it all nicely wadded up as if it was a big wad of cash and proudly flipped through it showing me her money. I had brought her a beautiful lipstick, hairbrush (thank-you Arlene) and a nail file; she was impressed with it and thanked me and then quickly stashed it all in another little baggie and stuffed it in her pocket as if she was afraid someone would take it. I tried to tell her to try the lipstick but she just kept saying thank-you. We did however have a breakthrough of some kind, she allowed us to lay hands on her and pray, Frank (Baptist Pastor from the US) was even able to anoint her with oil. Up until today she had never allowed anyone to pray for her or even touch her. She even ended the prayer with a “thank-you God” I just sat beside her for a while after we had served lunch and she seemed more at peace, she wasn’t rambling on like last time. As I was sitting there I was silently praying for the holy Spirit to fill her and push out whatever was holding her captive, then out of no where she got really angry and started yelling and shaking her finger at everyone in the room...people that hadn’t even been paying attention to her, she turned to me and yelled and shook her finger angrily in my face, grabbed all her belongings and stomped out the door. Wow....I was completely dumb founded. There was a Spanish Pastor there today that also spoke English, when I asked him what she was saying he just said that she doesn’t make sense and that she is just crazy and to ignore her tantrums and that this was normal behaviour for her. How can I help this lady if I am ignoring her? Or do I ignore her but just keep coming so that she will come to realize that she can’t chase me away and that I really do care for her. (I’ll go with that until I come up with something better) She looks like such a beautiful young women and it’s just such a shame that her mind is such a mess. She didn’t go far; just as we were leaving she came back. The rest of the people seemed the same as last week, all sitting the same chairs staring at the floor only lifting their head to acknowledge me when I took their hand in mine to greet them. At least Otencia livens the place up a bit with her tantrums.
They were all excited because someone had donated some paint to paint the place, which is great because it really needs painting but I’m afraid they are just going to paint over the dirt and grim....more then it needs paint it needs a good cleaning first, if they cleaned it they might find that it doesn’t even need painting. Do I say something or not? I opted for not.
The lady that sits by the door all day (her name is Otencia...may have spelt it wrong) was sitting by the door again with all her belongings and still wearing the same clothes. Today I noticed that her bags of belonging was just all garbage, empty crushed pop cans, crushed milk carton, bottle caps, wads of used tissues.....garbage to me but obviously this stuff is like her security blanket, she will not let it out of her sight. In a way she’s no different that the rest of us that work and work so that we can collect stuff to hang on to, and store in boxes and closets and sheds....at least she knows where her stuff is, I can’t find most of mine. Today she showed me how rich she was, she pulled out a little plastic baggie that had strips of newspaper cut into dollar bill size strips, she had it all nicely wadded up as if it was a big wad of cash and proudly flipped through it showing me her money. I had brought her a beautiful lipstick, hairbrush (thank-you Arlene) and a nail file; she was impressed with it and thanked me and then quickly stashed it all in another little baggie and stuffed it in her pocket as if she was afraid someone would take it. I tried to tell her to try the lipstick but she just kept saying thank-you. We did however have a breakthrough of some kind, she allowed us to lay hands on her and pray, Frank (Baptist Pastor from the US) was even able to anoint her with oil. Up until today she had never allowed anyone to pray for her or even touch her. She even ended the prayer with a “thank-you God” I just sat beside her for a while after we had served lunch and she seemed more at peace, she wasn’t rambling on like last time. As I was sitting there I was silently praying for the holy Spirit to fill her and push out whatever was holding her captive, then out of no where she got really angry and started yelling and shaking her finger at everyone in the room...people that hadn’t even been paying attention to her, she turned to me and yelled and shook her finger angrily in my face, grabbed all her belongings and stomped out the door. Wow....I was completely dumb founded. There was a Spanish Pastor there today that also spoke English, when I asked him what she was saying he just said that she doesn’t make sense and that she is just crazy and to ignore her tantrums and that this was normal behaviour for her. How can I help this lady if I am ignoring her? Or do I ignore her but just keep coming so that she will come to realize that she can’t chase me away and that I really do care for her. (I’ll go with that until I come up with something better) She looks like such a beautiful young women and it’s just such a shame that her mind is such a mess. She didn’t go far; just as we were leaving she came back. The rest of the people seemed the same as last week, all sitting the same chairs staring at the floor only lifting their head to acknowledge me when I took their hand in mine to greet them. At least Otencia livens the place up a bit with her tantrums.
They were all excited because someone had donated some paint to paint the place, which is great because it really needs painting but I’m afraid they are just going to paint over the dirt and grim....more then it needs paint it needs a good cleaning first, if they cleaned it they might find that it doesn’t even need painting. Do I say something or not? I opted for not.
More Thoughts on living on the Island
It turns out it is not that expensive to furnish a house here, I was worried about having to buy a stove and fridge. I wandered through a Soriensa department store yesterday and found that I could buy a new stove for 1099.00 pesos (conversion link to the left of the page.....yes it’s there now) and a new fridge is just over 2000.00 pesos, so I’m thinking a used one would be even less. Lydia has stuff I could borrow like sheets and towels and etc, sooooo now I am really thinking about it. On the other hand I know the rent money I pay Lydia for staying at her house is going into her ministry on the Island. She told me that she had been praying for God to provide some way for her to be able to buy Christmas gifts for some of the kids out there that she knows will not be receiving gifts and my rent money came at perfect time. We’re going shopping next week to buy gifts.....and we’re going to make cookie bags for the parents.....yes we’re going to be baking up a storm this weekend. I’m so excited, this is when buying gifts is fun......this is what Christmas should be like (my opinion). I am so thankful to have this opportunity.
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