The End of My Time in Mexico

Okay, Wednesday through Saturday.

Wednesday - We got up and went to prayer time, and then went to Starbucks with Alex and Whitney. They spelled her name on her cup Whiky. After Starbucks, we went to tutoring, and then came home and relaxed for a while. That evening I went with Morelia to Sam and Ann's cell, but Sam wasn't there because he's in the States, and it ended up being only four of us. But it was still a good discussion. Me and Morelia also talked (in Spanish) all the way there and all the way back.

Thursday - We woke up a little late, and were late to our bible study, but we got there, and it was good. Then we went to tutoring, and Celene was at the ONE THING conference and couldn't be there, so Juan tutored me. After that, we all went to El Mago for lunch (SO yum.) Then we got ice cream at the mall, and rented August Rush from Blockbuster. It was the day for 10 peso rentals. When we got back to Sara's house, they watched the movie, and I took a nap. After that, we watched a little TV, and then got tacos and played the card game golf. Jeovel (Guinto) came over because all of his family was gone, and he played with us, and then he offered to drive us home (he lives three houses down, we live across town). So he did. We think he just didn't want to go back to his quiet empty house.

Friday - We woke up, walked a little, and went to tutoring. Me and Celene (my tutor) talked for a while (I explained the card game golf, and apples to apples in Spanish), and then we started hearing strange noises. There would be knocks on the door with no one there, and whistles. Eventually we went to go see what was going one, and we walked into the classroom, and everyone was in there (Marisa, Emily, Sara, Nadia, and Montse) and they had a surprise party for me! It was fun. After that, we went over to Ann's house where we had lunch, and then went back to Sara's house until youth cell. At youth cell we played games (spoons and a game like signs), and then after that we went back to our house. We hung out at home for a while, and then late late in the evening we went to go hang out with Montse and her friends. We got home very late, and I slept very well.

Saturday - Today I slept in REALLY late, woke up, took a shower, packed, and then we had our Carne Asada (cookout). It was sooo good, as always.

(TO BE CONTINUED TONIGHT)...

Comercial Cinépolis Verano 2008

This is the preview that they show before the all the movies at Cinépolis (the main theater) here in Mexico. Why can't we have cool commercials like this? I really just love it. Sorry the video is unclear, but it's really wonderful.

Almost a Week.

Okay, again, a lot to tell you. Thursday, Friday, Saturday, Sunday, Monday, and Tuesday. Woo.

Thursday - We woke up, went to our intern meeting/bible study (Ann was there, yay!), and then went to tutoring. After that, me and Marisa went to Chili's while Emily and Sara went to lunch. We had really good food, and ate too much. After we got back, we hung out for a while, played some cards, and then we went to buy Sara a new fishbowl, cause hers was too small. That evening we met up with our tutors and bought some really nice delicious bread and hot chocolate and sat and ate it downtown. We also took a walk down Romance Lane. It's really a street. Then we went home and to bed.

Friday - On Friday we woke up, went to tutoring, planned a kids lesson for the cell groups, went to youth cell, and then went to the Guinto's (one of our Mexican family friends) house, played cards with them (you may remember they're the cheaters), and then afterward they took us out for tacos. It was funny because it was late, and it was way past Jeovel Jr.'s bed time, so he fell asleep at the table and didn't even eat his food.

Saturday - We slept in a little, and the other two walked across town while I caught a taxi later. We met at Starbucks and then went to Sam's house to meet with the gringas and Jamie Atchley. Her husband, Rick, is the preacher at Richland Hills Church of Christ, and he's in for the weekend. We also met Whitney, Alex's girlfriend. She flew in this morning, and everyone except for Alex knew. We all told him that Emily's sister was flying in, and he almost made her a poster. But anyway, it was exciting for her to finally be here. A whole group of us (with friends visiting as well), went to Santino's for lunch, and it was really good. After that we all went downtown, and did some sightseeing, and went to the market. We had some churros, and then met the gingo boys who had been at the church cookout, and went to eat some dinner/dessert on the terrace of a popular place called Onix. Sara has connections for everything it seems...she's the one who got us in. Another bonus is that there are fireworks at the Cathedral every Saturday night, and we got to have the terrace view of them. It was wonderful. And after some really good food, we headed home.

Sunday - Sunday morning we took at taxi to church, heard Rick preach (he's really wonderful), and it was my last Sunday, so they prayed for me, and I cried (kinda a lot), and everyone hugged, and I'm going to miss these people SOOO much. After church we walked over to the office where we had a beautiful catered lunch, and afterward we prayed for everyone. Then we went with Sara to her house, used her phone and computer, and I think we watched some TV (weird). Then we went to another church, Filidelfia, because Rick was preaching there too. Again, it was wonderful. Sam as translator and Rick make a really wonderful team. It was an amazing service. After that we went with Sara to Starbucks (I think), where we had our girl talk time that we love so much. And after that, home and bed.

Monday - Our free day, and it was just the three of us girls, because Sara went with all the adults to do touring of Patzcuaro and area, and Alex was off with Whitney. So we slept in, then went to the market and shopped some more, had lovely lunch at Sanbournes, and the went to Sara's house. We left her creepy notes, and changed her desktop to a picture of us. After we hung out there for a while, we walked over to Sam's house for a little bit, where we said goodbye to the Atchley's, and I said goodbye to Sam. He left today for the States to pick up his other two daughter, and won't return until after I leave. So we said goodbye, and went to Sara's for a little before heading home.

Tuesday - Woke up, washed clothes, went to tutoring, and then went to the wonderful VIP to see Hancock. It was good. I love the VIP. Then after that Marisa and Emily went back to the house, and I stayed with Sara to make copies at the office and chat. Then I went home, and went with the girls to Morelia's cell group. Here's the highlight of my day: Two of the younger girls came with their mom (their names are Ana and Sofia). Ana, for some reason has taken a liking to me, and last Sunday drew me a picture. She found out I was leaving and gave me a hug, and then took off the neckalace she was wearing, and gave it too me. Sofia also gave me a sticker. I just can't get over that. A lot of hugs later, we left, and I am going to miss those precious little girls. So we came back, and here we are!

Fuimos a la playa!!!

We went to the beach! And I have so much to tell you about (Saturday, Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, and now Wednesday. wow.)

Saturday: We slept in a little, and went to Sara's house around noon, and then drove about an hour outside of town to do some mountain hiking. It was lots of fun, and a little muddy. I slipped and got a whole side of me muddy. But it was still good. After that we drove back home, and me, Emily, Marisa, Sara, and Alex came back to our house where we had a cook-out for Miguel's birthday, which was Monday. Their son, Chema, came home and cooked, and we all had a lot of fun and ate way too much. The party went very late.

On Sunday we woke up, and went to church with all of our stuff for the next few days. After church we all piled into Sara's car and made the three hour trip to the beach. We went to a private beach house owned by Sara's friend Phyllis. It's at a private beach, near Playa Azul, which is near Ixtapa. It was an adventure getting there with the gravel road through the hills and woods, and the first night we were there there was a big storm, and our generator stopped working, so we didn't have any electricity, so for a while we sat in the dark with the pounding storm. But we told stories and Alex saved us by venturing out into the storm to get us matches. The problem was fixed the next day.

On Monday it cleared up and we spent the day in the ocean and in the pool. We made fajitas for dinner, and played cards and told more stories.

On Tuesday we spent the morning in the ocean and in the pool, and then left in the afternoon and made the drive back to Morelia. (We had a lot of fun singing very girly songs to Alex on the way back.) We got in around 7, got some tacos for dinner, hung out at Sara's for a little while, then came back to the house and collapsed cause we were so tired.

This morning I woke up burnt. We went to prayer time, then went to Starbucks with Sara. Then we went to tutoring, came home, ate lunch, and slept for a while. The other two girls went to cell tonight, so I've been working on my Bible Studies and catching up on some other stuff here at the house.

Note: Morelia (the mom), is SO sweet. I've been here all night, mostly working, and she came in and brought me some apple juice because she knows I like it. She also got me grapes. SO sweet. I just can't get over her.

Okay, Thursday and Friday.

Thursday we went to Sara's house, had our bible study, and went to tutoring. Me and Emily went to the mall for lunch while Marisa went out with Sara. When we got back, we were locked out of Sara's house, so we walked around her neighborhood and took pictures for about an hour. After we finally got let in, we hung out at Sara's house (I napped), and then went to the last Let's Start Talking party. This one was a lot of fun. I mean, they all have been, but this one was really good. There were games and dancing, lots of good photos, some really good conversation, and overall a really great evening.

Today/yesterday (Friday), we woke up, went downtown to meet our tutors (and went to the wrong place first), and had a morning of history (in Spanish). After we were done with that, we went to Sam's house to celebrate Independence Day! All the Americans we know here were there, and we had a lot of fun eating (the guys grilled hamburgers) and talking, and playing cards, and holding the baby, and lots of other fun as well. When we finally left Sam's house, we went and hung out at Sara's house for a while, where I had some REALLY good food that I don't know how to spell the name of. But I really want to learn to make it. Mmmm.

Getting to Know This Place

Wow, I'm getting really bad at posting.

Okay, Monday we had an adventure. We lost our phone, and then tried to meet Sara for lunch but misunderstood and it took a lot time to sort out because we didn't have a phone, but eventually it did. We were going to go to the market, but we didn't get to because it was raining. So instead we played cards and made cookies and cake at Sara's, and brought them to Brisa's as a housewarming gifts. We also looked at some leather purses she sells, but we didn't get any.

On Tuesday we walked for two hours to meet our Spanish tutors at the Starbucks across town. We met Sam there (he really likes Starbucks), and then met with our tutors for almost two hours. After that we came back to the house and ate with our family, and then after some rest, we went to have coffee with Amy and Larissa from the youth cell group. It was kinda hard, because Spanish is still hard for us, but I'm really glad that we did, I thought it was fun...probably because I was the one mostly listening. And after that, we came back, and we were surprised by Sara and Montse with tacos for dinner and a movie! It was lovely.

Then today/yesterday, Wednesday, we woke up, went to prayer time, went to tutoring, had a combi/walking/taxi adventure getting home, had lunch with the family, did some more planning for church stuff, and later met Sara and went to Sam's Club to get some things we needed, then to Starbucks for more "bonding time".

Interesting thought of the day though: it's still so strange that you can get prescription drugs over the counter here.

It's nice to be here, now that we're actually getting to know people. At church we have friends, and we even met someone walking down the street that we knew! That's really exciting, because one of our main goals is to build relationships.