Wintertime in the Pueblo

Winter has come to Zapotitlan. And by winter, I mean it’s maybe in the 60s. That’s pretty good for me, except that I took all the warm clothing I had here back to Mexico because it’s always in the 90s here. So I’m wearing someone’s random Old Navy sweatshirt. I’m concerned about the corn because I don’t think corn appreciates cool weather. Actually, I know it doesn’t. I’m also a little concerned about it because when we planted it we didn’t think about the fact that even though it’s a tropical climate, the days are getting shorter and it may not be getting all the sun it wants. Well, we’re hoping for the best and believing for the name of God to be glorified even through the garden.

I got back to Zapo yesterday evening, after almost a week in Mexico. Although I didn’t think I was looking forward to coming back, I’m glad to be here. Israel and family left last night to go to Mexico for a week, leaving Ben and I in charge of 3 prayer meetings, youth group, and a church service. It should be interesting. .. at least it will give some of the people chances to use their leadership skills. They’re doing the preacher, worship, offering, etc. I think it will be a good time for them to practice some of the gifts God has given them.

Today is the first day that Ben and I are in alone in the house. He decided it would be a good day to be in silence. It makes me laugh because I think after just a few hours of me being back in the house, he was ready to not have to listen to me anymore. In any case, what a huge difference it makes when you remove 2 adults and 2 kids from the house. Israel and Aby like to play very loud music all the time, not having that alone makes a big difference. Although in some ways I think the music makes me feel more at home because, well, I live in Reading where there’s always some kind of noise, usually Reggaton music, happening. Well, I’m still playing music. Today’s choices are Innocence & Instinct by Red, various stuff by Jesus Adrian Romero, and of course always some IHOP. My new favorite IHOP worship leader is Tim Reimherr. I first noticed who he was at One Thing last year, but never really researched his stuff until recently. I haven’t found many songs by him, but I really love his sound so I listen to what I have over and over again.
Most of my morning was spent cleaning and doing laundry….no, that’s a lie, let me try again. Most of my morning was spent sleeping, the little bit that I was awake for was spent cleaning and doing laundry. It’s important to do laundry in the morning so that it dries before it rains. It’s now almost 2:30 and I’m bored. I need to find something to do with my week. I planned a couple of English class lessons, but the youth haven’t been coming for class so I don’t need to prepare any more lessons until they start showing up again. I guess tomorrow when I’m allowed to speak to Ben I can ask him what needs to be done in the garden, or help him the chicken house, if he’s up for that. Ben was very sick yesterday, and I don’t know if he’s feeling better today because I can’t ask him. (Because of the whole silence thing, if you’re not following along very closely.)

Ben and I made friends with a woman, Ana, who lives down the street. I ran into her today on my way to the store. She’s very nice and friendly, and seems to like to talk to me. She was asking me when I came back from Mexico, where Benjamin was and of course where I was going. It’s normal for a woman to stop you to ask you where you are going. And if you tell them the store, they’ll probably ask what you’re going to buy. Ana was also talking to me about the weather and how nice and cool it is right now. She’s right, it’s so nice here right now. It would be good if I could talk back to her, but at least I mostly understand and can answer the things she asks, even if it’s just with a 1-word answer. Once in a while I forget myself and speak to someone in English, but not very often. Usually if I’m talking to someone, like Ben or Eliezer, in English then I quickly try to say something to someone in Spanish, it often comes out in English. But last night I was at the store chatting with the man who works there in Spanish. (Ok, maybe not chatting, just asking for items.) While I was getting out my money to pay he asked me if I wanted a bag, and I looked up at him and said “Yes. (pause) Sorry! Uh….uh….si. Um, yeah….” Or it was something like that. My favorite is that when I realize I’ve just spoken in English, my gut reaction is to say “sorry” because that makes the whole thing better. Hehehehe. :-)

Oh, as if I haven’t had enough excitement for the past 2 days, I have another exciting story. Also on my way to the store this morning a man stopped me and asked me a question. I think he may have been asking directions, but I don’t really know. I had to explain that I don’t speak much Spanish, but I was happy to be mistaken as someone who looks like they belong here. I’ve gotten used to looking like I don’t belong, and getting looked at, so that was a nice change.

We usually travel 1 ½ hours once a week, on Tuesday, to go grocery shopping and shopping for other stuff. This week since the family is in Mexico, we won’t be going grocery shopping. Ben said they bought extra stuff for us for this week, but they pretty much ate it all. So, Ben and I have yogurt, 1 box of cereal, milk, pasta and rice (with bugs in it) to last us this week. The good thing is that I brought 4 cans of tuna, a box of mac n cheese, and a jar of alfredo sauce from Mexico. But I’m really hoping that one of the ladies around here, maybe Tia, will want to feed us at some point this week. Really, we’ll be ok because we can always buy stuff some stuff here. Unfortunately I still don’t know how to cook too many things that are made from ingredients available here, so we may be eating tacos de pollo, tacos de papas, tacos de frijoles, gorditas, and rice for the next few days.

I had a very girly moment 2 weeks ago, which I’m willing to share with anyone who wants to hear about it. This line is now my second disclaimer. If you don’t want to hear about a girly moment, don’t read this paragraph. I’ve warned you, what you do is on you. I’m not really the kind of girl who falls for the rugged cowboy type guy, usually. But the one day we were driving back from Zacapoaxla (the town we do our grocery shopping in) and we passed a guy on a horse. It’s not too uncommon to see a Mexican man on a horse in rural Mexico. But this man was FINE. And just for a second, I thought about jumping out of the over-crowded car and onto the back of that horse. He was riding in the opposite direction of the sunset, but I’m sure he could have turned the horse around and rode off into it.

So, as I was saying…Dios es bueno. Yup, that’s what I saying…God is good. Most of my focus is on Him, but once in a while I fall off the wagon and check out a guy or 2. :-) I’m in a story writing mood. I think I’m going to put my blog down for now and write a story.

It’s 7:15 p.m. and the silence day has gotten to me. I’m ready to talk. I’m ready to talk to anyone. I’m ready to talk to anyone about anything. But maybe it’s good, because I’m saving all my talking for my blog. I mean there’s not really much to say, because well, nothing happens when you’re in a small town where you can’t speak the language, in a house with someone who’s not talking and doesn’t want to be talked to. Normally I’d say to Ben, “do you wanna go downtown?” or “do you wanna go to the store?” or “do you wanna go for a walk?” But today all I said was, “wanna eat?” and “do you want this?” I’ve gone out like 3 or 4 times today, as mentioned earlier in my story about my conversation with Ana. But I doubt Ben wants to go out because that would mean he’d have to talk to people. You can’t walk down the street without saying “buenas noches” to everyone. And I do mean EVERYONE. Aby told me that Israel was here before her, and when she got here she would tell him to stop saying buenas dias, buenos tardes, and buenas noches to everyone. That’s the same thing Eliezer said when he was here. But you just need to accept that it’s the custom. Now Aby says it to everyone, like a good Zapotitlanian…. Zapotitlano… Zapotitlanite…whatever. (I think I like Zapotitlanian the best.) Oh, and just to clarify, when I ask Ben to go downtown that means the park that’s in the center of town. There’s nothing to do but walk around, but it’s something to do…more or less. Oh, or sometimes we go out for hot chocolate. That’s not a lot of fun when it’s 80 degrees out, tonight it would be good but the whole silence thing would diminish my fun.

I just did something dumb. It’s 11 p.m. and I decided to go for a walk. Zapotitlan is so safe that I really thought I’d be fine. But when everything is eerily still, not a soul around, it’s probably not a good time to go out. It’s probably a good time to pop in a movie or go to bed. This is the only time I can remember actually being afraid. It’s funny, put me in the middle of Mexico City alone and tell me to find my way home, and I wouldn’t be afraid. (Unless it was after midnight and the metro wasn’t running.) But let me step out of the house in Zapotitlan late at night when no one’s around, and I get scerred!

There are a lot of stray dogs in Zapo, and mostly they have a you-don’t-bother-me-and-I-don’t-bother-you attitude. However, late at night when no one else is around, they seem to think a gringa might make a good, white meat, late night snack. On the first ½ of the trip I was rather angrily approached, or chased by a few of them. To avoid the dogs on the way back during my little stroll around the block, I decided to go home the other way. That’s ok, except that the other way goes around a bend through a wooded area where there aren’t any houses. There’s a small area you come to that is not lit at all, it’s very dark and God knows what is lurking in there. Well, I made it around the bend, and through the darkness. With the house in view, I came upon a dog. It was a large black dog that was trotting towards me, in a not so friendly fashion. Not sure what to do when approached by a large, black dog at night in the middle of a small Mexican town, when no one else is awake, I crossed to the other side of the road. It’s not much of a road, but it put an extra 5 ft in between us. As my heart started pounding, the dog veered off the road and into our garden. Now I really should have shooed the dog out of our garden, that’s what Ben would certainly want me to do. But really, I was just hoping it would be so distracted by Al (the scarecrow) that it wouldn’t notice me sneaking by. If it did notice, it didn’t seem to care. I need to stop carrying steak around in my pocket.

I better go to the internet café tomorrow to post this, it’s already 3 pages long.