Baptisms, Birthdays, and Blonde Moments

Sunday, November 9, 2008
Dear Diary, Today was wonderful. Stacey and I relaxed and hung out all morning. Around noon we wandered over to Loren and Donna's house where we found Fransisca alternately stirring a huge pot of pasoli over a fire and resting in the hammock. Baptism day. For a new gringa, I was excited to witness this event in the church's history. The entire churches of San Pedro and Choix (plus relatives) journeyed to the river for the baptism. The service was short as we stood in the soft, white sand with the warm sun on our backs. The group went to the orphanage for Sunday afternoon "lunch." The pasoli served over one hundred people. Stacey and I walked home with Marlen and by the time we reached town, it was dusk. After a long process of missing keys, money, and getting permission, we three walked over to the ajonjoli festival (about two or three blocks from our apartment). We meandered around the grounds, marvelling at the sites and smells.

Monday, November 10, 2008
Dear Diary, I called Tony for his birthday. He was delighted and told me that he would call me tomorrow for my birthday. Loren and Donna were in Los Mochis getting their visas, so Stacey and I stayed at our house to study language and write out songs on posterboard. Brianne was taking her day off and we hung out with her until we left for San Pedro in the afternoon. Seventeen children came to the Kid's Club. The evil black bugs were swarming, but I was protected by my bug spray. I had fun talking and laughing with Fransisca, Julian, Gris, and Brian. Fransisca is someone I would love to sit and talk with if I knew her language; she's so funny even when I can't understand her! A little boy named Guillermo stole my heart with his sad countenance and quiet desire for love. I just wanted to take him and his little sister home; what kind of lives do they live? Rod took us up to Oxxo when we got home after dark and we bought Maruchanes for dinner. (Rod also came out with an early birthday gift--Doritos, a coke, and bon-bons!!!).

Tuesday, November 11, 2008
I am 22 today. I am totally blown away by God's creativity (He likes to give birthday surprises). Stacey had a box waiting for her at the post office and we were going to walk up this morning and get it. Instead, Loren and Donna came back from the post office with two boxes--one for Stacey and one for me! I floated through my day, overwhelmed at by the e-mails, cards, and gifts I received. I studied a few Spanish verbs, made basil spaghetti for lunch (a recipe from home that I had to alter slightly), and wrote out the "special event" invitations for Saturday school. We had tostadas for dinner with chocolate cake...but it wasn't just any chocolate cake; it was chocolate cake with a caramel layer in the middle and fudge frosting served with cookies 'n' creme ice cream. Life cannot get better! My family sent me a CD with funny songs they had recorded for me. I laughed and cried while I listened to it and got my first real taste of lasting homesickness. In the evening, we crawled up onto the roof with sweatshirts and a blanket to enjoy the full moon and the cool weather.

Wednesday, November 12, 2008
Dear Diary, Where do I even start? I guess with eating my Cheerios this morning. (I got two boxes for my birthday!!!) I only ate a half a bowl so they will last longer. I was in Illinois while I ate my Cheerios, but the half a bowl of Cornflakes put me right back in Mexico. I studied verbs again. Verbs are so difficult; I'm having a lot of trouble with the seven simple tenses that I dare not even start on the compound tenses yet. Janessa helped me correct the sentences I had written out and basically threw up her hands in despair. For some reason she laughed at my sentence: "I would talk about tigers if you wanted me to." Stacey and I made brownies for the prison and muffins for the youth group that is coming next week. Lunch was a little late, so we ran our afternoon errands before lunch. We didn't have a very long break before we headed over to Rod and Christa's for Kid's Club. The children were well behaved and enjoyed the lesson. We ate taco soup and piled in the van for prayer meeting. The evening was chilly and since I forgot my sweater, Alma laid in my lap and kept me warm. After the meeting, Stacey and I went home with the orphanage crew. We spent the evening at the orphanage hanging out with Bri and Rach, eating food and talking. We planned to watch a movie, but like the good responsible (or just really old and tired!) adults that we are, we ended up going to bed before midnight!

Thursday, November 13, 2008
Dear Diary, Stacey and I froze during the night in the bodega. But we slept in until after 8:00 thanks to the lack of windows in the bodega. We said our goodbyes and walked home while the day was still cool. All day we cleaned our house, did laundry, and ate junkfood. I enjoyed just being home and getting things done. But we did get a little "stir-crazy" and walked over to Loren and Donna's to get some more books to read. Marlen came over while we were there and we watched her do her English homework. I played Legos with Kyle. Dear fellow Illinoisians, did you realize that these poor, deprived children are not even aware of the existence of John Deere?!?!? This was a hard blow to take when Kyle questioned my color coordination as I stacked together green and yellow Legos pieces. We walked back to our house and hung out until dinner. We had verb class in the evening. I was too lazy to get out a different sweatshirt from under my bed, so I wore red and bright pink to class.

Friday, November 14, 2008
Dear Diary, Stacey and I did a lot of work in the kitchen today. Stacey worked on lunch and I washed a lot of dishes. I can't remember details except that the guacamole we made for fun nite at the orphanage was chunky because the avocados were too hard. We visited Mochiqui and watched the school children getting ready for the parade on Thursday. We visited MariCruz and even helped her grind the corn for her tortillas. She sent some along with us for our walk down to the orphanage. Yum! Diego "ordered" hot dogs and mac 'n' cheese since it was his 13th birthday. After the meal the ladies sat around in the kitchen and talked until late into the night (at least by my new Mexican schedule).

Saturday, Novemeber 15, 2008
Dear Diary, I wasn't looking forward to today, but it didn't turn out badly at all. In fact, it was very pleasant. "Quite pleasant and nice." We spent Saturday morning in Saturday school and we made lunch after Saturday school. My baked corn actually turned out! We jumped into making cinnamon rolls and cleaning up after lunch. We took a half hour break and on our way back, we ran into two drunk men who insisted on shaking our hands. We finished our walk, wondering what the town of Choix was coming to. We helped to get ready for the special event at the orphanage for the Saturday school students who memorized all of their verses. Once we got there, I helped with pizzas and watched the children play games. We got back early enough to relax and enjoy the rest of the evening at our apartment.

Funny things that happened recently:

Stacey (studying the Rosetta Stone): Caleb, what is a mezquita?

Caleb: I don't know. (lightbulb!) Uh, a female mosquito?

Rachel (talking to me and Stacey): Are you two still getting along okay?

Stacey (incredulous): We're practically married!

Stacey's blonde moment: We washed our bathroom rug and it was REALLY dirty. So dirty, in fact, that when the washer started filling up with rinse water, Stacey excitedly exclaimed, "The washer must sense that the rug is dirty and is washing it again!" I was like: "Or it could be the rinse water." She instantly started laughing at herself.

My blonde moment: We were writing out songs. I decided I was going to have fun and take my time to do it neatly. So I did. I even did it in Mexico colors. Feeling very patriotic and proud of my work, I held up the posterboard only to realize that I had written out the wrong song.