Bugs, chickens & squirrels

Winter had left, but it’s back now. It’s been so rainy here, it pretty much rains every day. It makes doing laundry difficult because there’s never a good time to hang it out. But it makes living easier because it’s not in the 90s anymore.

Ben doesn’t believe I can write (what I call) stories about anything. But in the past few days I’ve proved to him that I can. He periodically says something like, “we have trash hanging from our stove; write a story!” So I did. Ok, it’s not really a story, but more like a one-sided conversation about something. In that case it was about the trash that’s hanging from our stove. You may be wondering why is there trash hanging from our stove. Just in case you are, or in case you couldn’t care less, I’ll explain.

Here in rural Mexico we have issues with bugs, namely ants. So anytime there’s garbage on the ground, there’s ants in the garbage, and a trail of ants following after the ones in the garbage. So we can’t keep garbage on the floor so we hang a bag from a knob on the stove. Does anyone care? I’m sure you don’t, but it’s based on the fact that I can talk about anything.

My toes are much browner than the rest of me.

It’s kinda boring here without Isra, Aby and the chilluns here. I’m not sure what the difference is, because I don’t feel like there’s any less to do without them, but I feel like it’s harder to occupy my time. I was just helping Ben build the nesting boxes for the chickums, but I don’t feel like doing that anymore. Actually I should probably go out and round up the pollitos, bring them in, and clean up the house/church before service tonight. I’m hoping it cools off enough this evening to share some ponche with whoever comes, but I doubt it will. We might make ponche anyhow. Ponche is a hot fruit drink, similar to hot apple cider, but it’s only served hot. The other day we made some hot chocolate, which was so yummy, but that’s when old man winter was still here. We’ve been getting raw milk from a woman here. We boil it before drinking it, although Ben wants to drink it raw, as per the woman’s instructions. The milk in Mexico is gross. I really hate it. I guess it’s the preservatives that make it taste bad. Ok, I gotta go help Ben and wrangle some chickitos.

Plans seem to change on a regular basis here, without warning. Israel and family were supposed to be back from Mexico on Sunday. On Monday Israel emailed us to let us know they’ll be staying in Mexico for another week. Then they showed up Friday night.

Last Friday Ben & I reconnected with a family from church who haven’t been around lately. It’s a single mom and her 3 teens. She also has a daughter who is away at college. I enjoy the family a lot. They’re very nice, very talkative and very entertaining. We spent time with them Friday, yesterday and today. Unfortunately because of a certain incident there’s a lot of rumors being spread about the family, and our neighbors have let us know that we shouldn’t allow them to come visit. So we just go to their house now. She took us to a restaurant here that we’ve been talking about trying. It was so good! By far my and Ben’s favorite place here in Zapotitlan. Six of us ate for 95 pesos, which is less than $8. We had tacos, tostadas, and quesadillas. It was yummy!! I think Ben and I might try to go every day until we leave.

Tomorrow Ben is planning on going squirrel hunting. I told him that if he brings a dead squirrel, or live, or somewhere in between, into my house I will stab him with my umbrella. I have a feeling that if he manages to kill one, he’ll bring it here and expect me to cook it. Not so sure that’s gonna happen.

Speaking of Ben, I wanna give a shout out to Ben’s mom. Hi Mrs. Yutzy, hope you enjoy my blog!

Seven weeks left until I return to chilly PA. Wow. This time has gone so fast. I’m hoping that in the next 7 weeks I learn much more Spanish, and learn how to make a lasting impact. I just really don’t want to go home and be “that gringa that was here for a little while.” I want God to impact people’s lives through me….or despite me. He’s still working that out.

I’ve been writing this blog for almost a week. And I keep having to go back to change things. I’m giving up on that. I really need to upload this soon. Ben and I have decided to head back to Mexico on Friday. It’s really bittersweet for me because I might not come back here…until next summer. It’s hard to imagine not being here, but that’s the reality of it.