A Little Something for Riding Guadalajara City Bus Lines

I've become pretty adept at riding the bus to get around the city as of late. Every time you hand the bus driver your pesos, he gives you back a tiny paper ticket -- nothing valuable, right? That's until Cinthia informed me that if you're supposed to count the numbers on the edge of your ticket.

If you couldn't read the numbers on the left, they add up to twenty-one. Apparantly, if your numbers sum 21, then you may redeem said ticket for a kiss from any Mexican man. Not too shabby. Not too shabby at all.

-Holly

...it struck me

It's the rainy season here in Guadalajara, and I've been enjoying stormy weather almost every day lately, so I thought to myself, "Holly?  What would the two readers who frequent your blog most like to read today that has the word 'storm' in it?"  Then it dawned on me that everyone on the planet adores Dickinson -- that's right, everyone  (you didn't realize this about yourself, did you?).  This, dearest reader, is for you.

It struck me every day
by Emily Dickinson

It struck me every day
The lightning was as new
As if the cloud that instant slit
And let the fire through.

It burned me in the night,
It blistered in my dream;
It sickened fresh upon my sight
With every morning's beam.

I thought that storm was brief,--
The maddest, quickest by;
But Nature lost the date of this,
And left it in the sky.

Solo Pan

This afternoon was my first weekend to be able to go to the kid's club in a very poor area of Guadalajara.  I knew we weren't in the cushy part of town anymore when I noticed city streets that were made of dirt, and trees which sat squarely in the middle of some of these streets.  I didn't feel there was any way I could be of much assistance, and part of me felt like turning around to head back home the entire trip over.  After all, I wasn't able to speak more than a few broken phrases, and there were several other girls there to help.

 

 We arrived at a small concrete house with almost no doors and no running water, and there were already about three children there.  A gentleman greeted us at the sidewalk then quickly left to get us water to clean with while some of the girls played fooseball with the children.  I grabbed a wet rag, and started wiping dust off of seats, then settled myself into a small room with a few toys where a few boys were playing with an old hot wheels set.  Almost immediately, one of the boys pulled out a small tin of BINGO, and handed one of my friends and I a card with some tokens.  I was somehow able to descipher most of the numbers (in Spanish, remember?) and finished the game, when another little boy tossed a little blue ball across the room to me.

 

I played catch with Diego (the little boy's name) for a few minutes before we were all called into the largest room of the house.  I slid into the living room which was a completely concrete room that was sunken in the middle, creating a ledge for everyone to sit at while my friend Jaque explained the craft to everyone.  It wasn't much.  In fact, it was just a few boxes of tricolored pasta and some sturdy string.  Tara (and I, I must admit) figured that this couldn't possibly captivate them for more than four or five minutes.  We were completely wrong.  Everyone was engrossed in their work, and some children made several necklaces, bracelets, and even rings.  When one of the children noticed that I didn't have a necklace, he scooped up a small pile of pasta, turned toward me, and continued his necklace at my feet so I could make one with him.  I was beginning to feel a little more useful, and it wasn't for my contributions as much as my presence.  It didn't matter that I couldn't tell him a single thing.

 

After we finished crafts, sang a few songs (I accidentally pulled the power cord out of the wall with my awesome dance moves), and listened to the message together, one of the Mexican volunteers started passing out sandwiches and juice.  I helped pass cups out and pick up trash while the children ate, then played my first ever game of living room soccer with Diego and one of his friends.  During this time of everything winding down, I was at the fooseball table watching an intense game brewing.  One of the little boys asked for another sandwich, to which the volunteer immediately obliged.  He returned to watch the "match", and made a funny face when he bit down into his sandwich.  He opened up, and revealed nothing inside.  Megan (one of my friends) laughed with him, and cried out "Solo pan!", which means "only bread".  It was hilarious.  The volunteer handed him a new sandwich, and he put the peices of bread around it and began to eat.

 

"Solo pan."  It wasn't much, but even a couple of pieces of bread gave us all something to enjoy.

 

"Solo pan," kinda like the cup of water in Matthew 10:42.  My BINGO and soccer playing, juice passing and bench wiping didn't amout to very much either, but I guess that's not really the point.  The point was being there.  I'm so glad I was.

 

-Holly

Gratitude

God has overwhelmed my heart with gratitude today.  I think He wanted to remind me how much He does for us, and I feel like He's done so in spectacular fashion.  No, there's not been an earth-shattering event to occur to bring this about, He has simply laid in on my heart to meditate.

 

It started last night, when I overheard one of my roomates mention the prayers of gratitude that she had her students pray.  I thought a lot about that, and this morning I started our day off by talking about how much God provides for us and cares for us.  I then prayed a 'thank you' to God for my students and for being so good to us.  I then asked each child to thank Him for something they were grateful for.  There's truly something beautiful in what a child finds worthy of thanks.  Several of the short utterances were deeply profound, and all of them were sweetly beautiful.  Aside:  After the prayer, one of my boys was a little upset that we didn't pray for Mexico, who lost to Brussels last night.  I told him we could pray for our prayer requests anytime we look over at them (we write them on a marker board every morning), and that God loves to hear from us all day long. =)

 

This afternoon I started listening to some music while I was checking email and facebook, and the song 'Gratitude' by Nichole Nordeman came on.  Here was my meditation again.  I sat and listened for a while.  Things are good here, but how wonderful to be reminded that even when they don't seem to be -- they are, simply because God is good.

 

At about 9:00pm, I picked up my cell, and dialed my cousin Penny, whom I haven't talked to in quite some time.  We caught up on the important stuff, like pilates and air conditioning noises, then she started telling me about things that are happening at my home church.  My heart was so full!  I cannot comprehend how our King can be so good to us.  Services that used to be 8 are now 70, those that used to be 20 are now well over 100, and more importantly, people are coming to Christ.  Young and old, people are following.  New faces are committing to serve the Body, and there seems to be a total transformation in our fellowship.  How can I keep from being grateful for such news?  This is what our Christian life is all about.

 

Then I pulled open my Bible to read, and here's where I was:

12 So, as those who have been chosen of God, holy and beloved, put on a heart of compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience ; 13 bearing with one another, and forgiving each other, whoever has a complaint against anyone; just as the Lord forgave you, so also should you. 14 Beyond all these things put on love, which is the perfect bond of unity. 15 Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in one body; and be thankful. 16 Let the word of Christ richly dwell within you, with all wisdom teaching and admonishing one another with psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with thankfulness in your hearts to God. 17 Whatever you do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks through Him to God the Father.

Col 3:12-17 (NASB)

There's a lot on this passage to meditate, to study, to commit to heart.  I love though that Paul tells us, with each emphasis, to "be thankful".  Yes, God, we have a whole lot to be grateful for indeed

 

-Holly

[nonsense]

Utterly idiotic? Yes.
Was I bored and procrastinating? Sure was.
Should I subject you to this ridiculousness? Probably not.
Am I anyway? You bet your best tube socks I am!
(I promise not to make a habbit of littering my blog with this *ahem* stuff though - really! pinky promise!)

My Soundtrack... IF OUR LIFE WAS A MOVIE, WHAT WOULD THE SOUNDTRACK BE?
So, here's how it works: 1. Open your library (iTunes, Winamp, Media Player, iPod, etc) 2. Put it on shuffle 3. Press play 4. For every question, type the song that's playing 5. When you go to a new question, press the next button 6. Don't lie and try to pretend you're cool!

Opening Credits: (a quiet interlude) - David Crowder Band

Waking Up: My Stupid Mouth - John Mayer

First Day At School: Should've Known Better - Nickel Creek

Falling In Love: Cheers Darlin' - Damien Rice

Fight Song: Must Get Out - Maroon 5

Breaking Up: Beautiful of Heaven - Charlie Hall

Prom: Blush - Plumb

Life: Water of the Word - Shane and Shane

Mental Breakdown: Sylvia Plath - Ryan Adams

Driving: Breaks My Heart - Regina Spector

Flashback: Falling Down the Mountainside - David Gray

Getting Back Together: King of New Orleans (acoustic) - Better than Ezra

Wedding: In the Silence - Jason Upton

Final Battle: Mended - Watermark

Death Scene: I Love You Baby - Brak

Funeral Song: No Stopping Us - Jason Mraz

End Credits: There's Only One (Holy One) - Caedmon's Call

NOOOOO!!!

I have lived for five weeks without watching any television whatsoever (except one evening of soccer at Applebees), and I haven't really missed it.  Tonight it hurts not to have American television though.  Watching box scores of the Saints/Colts game is NOT thrilling.  On the other hand, maybe it's better that I wasn't able to see the masacre unfold.

 

10-41?? (Groan)

 

Geaux Saints,

Holly

Falling Apart

Today has been a day of "falling apart" all around.  Actually, I think it's been a slow culmination of things that simply rose to an apex today.  As soon as I unclocked my door this morning, what seems like half of the posters on my wall were slumping against the base board.  Not to be deterred, I simply collected them then proceeded on with my day.  Poster's have been rovolting from their posts since the beginning of the year.  During math, I was instructing from my copy of the students' workbooks when pages started making a slow descent to the carpet.  What could I do, but collect them -- "they're tear out pages anyway," I muttered to myself.  During Bible, it was my planning that fell apart.  As soon as I gave them their choice for their practical application activity, pandemonium waved across the classroom.  I couldn't collect their attention for a good ten minutes, I'm sure.

 

I was glad for the brief walk home.  Surely my purse couldn't fall into peices or my shoes lose their soles in one short block!  Ah, safely in the gate -- good news.  It is then that i decided to try to call my mom (for the fiftieth time in 24 hours).  Last night, my cell was dropping calls left and right.  My only guesses were that a) the phone was not charged up enough to let my conversations last long enough, b) that I had really poor reception in my room, or c) that my mom has some strange block on Mexican phone numbers (which I don't think she does).  I was tired last night, so I just resigned myself to try this afternoon.

 

On my first attempt, there was a strange pause between rings, then a very fast Spanish diatribe on the other end of the line.  Surely my mom's employer hadn't hired an angry Mexican as their new receptionist.  A second attemt yielded a 32 second conversation with my mother -- not exactly what I was looking for.  I checked the bars on my screen, then decided that maybe if I went up to the roof, it would be a different story.  Results?  A 47 second conversation.  AAAGGGHHHH!!!  "Okay, calm down," I thought, "I'll just email her."  I went back downstairs, flipped up my laptop screen...darkness.   "Breath deeply, Holly."  I've dealt with this issue before.  I reset my computer, waited for it to reboot, and was finally up and running again.

 

To my relief, my friend Lori called just then to invite me to go to the local art supply store.  YEA!  I grabbed my bag, made sure I had some change for the bus, and met her at our gate.  She really helped me out, choosing the right kinds of brushes, grabbing paint spreaders... Then we stopped off at the fabric store so I could get some ribbon to hang my postcards in my room, and swung into a department store so she could get a new wallet.  My only problem came when it was time to board the bus back home.  I had stuffed my paints and pencils, and even my sketch pad into my messenger bag.  Holding on to two shrink wrapped canvases whilst trying to keep my oversized sunglasses on my head and simultaneously hanging on for dear life in the aisle of a Mexican bus though; that's a delicate dance.  I was losing control.  I nearly knocked my knee right through the canvases several times, and cannot count the many times I utttered "perdon" to the poor lady that had the misfortune to be sitting next to my disorderly spectacle.

 

Fortunately, I was able to sit down for a second before arriving at our stop.  Lori was able to get off in plenty of time (she only had a new wallet, remember?), but oafish me couldn't collect my things in time, and had to yell, "OH, OH!" to get the driver to stop again.  I was so glad to just be a couple of blocks from home.

 

Now here I sit, recalling my strange day.  There was a lot that went wrong, but even so, what an incredible gift from God today was!  I'm ever thankful that in the midst of chaos, that He still watches over and cares for us so intimately.  I simply cannot imagine what my day might have been like if God were not for me.  THANK YOU, LORD!!

 

Currently bubble-wrapping myself for my own and others' protection,

Holly

Cheering the Chivas

Even Guadalajara has a friendly neighborhood bar and grill. Here Melissa and Becky I are at Applebee's for Marin's birthday celebration so we could watch the Chivas Atlas game. Woo-hoo!

He Sendeth Sun, He Sendeth Shower

by Sarah Flower Adams

He sendeth sun, he sendeth shower,
Alike they're needful for the flower:
And joys and tears alike are sent
To give the soul fit nourishment.
As comes to me or cloud or sun,
Father! thy will, not mine, be done!
Can loving children e'er reprove
With murmurs whom they trust and love?
Creator! I would ever be
A trusting, loving child to thee:
As comes to me or cloud or sun,
Father! thy will, not mine, be done!
Oh, ne'er will I at life repine:
Enough that thou hast made it mine.
When falls the shadow cold of death
I yet will sing, with parting breath,
As comes to me or shade or sun,
Father! thy will, not mine, be done!

Sushi Update

Anyone who really knows me, knows that I have not cultivated a love for sushi.  Regardless the immense volume of types offered me, I have not found a single type that I can eat more than one roll of.  I just can't tolerate the texture.

 

That brings us to yesterday.  I have two very great Korean children in my class this year, and as I was scribbling out homework assignments on the marker board, one of them came in with a celophane wrapped plate full of sushi.  "This is your lunch", he informed me.  "Oh, thank you so much!", I replied, all the while thinking, "how on earth am I going to get around eating sushi for lunch.  I hate this stuff!"

 

I had a busy morning mapped out though, so I left the offering on my desk and proceeded to teach math and language arts, then escaped for a little planning time when the Spanish teacher came for her lesson with the class.  Soon enough though, lunch rolled around, and I had to line everyone up to head for the elementary playground (that's where everyone eats).  Thankfully, I don't have to eat with my class, so I returned to my room to start grading and straightening up the place.  As soon as I stepped into the darkened room though, there it sat, gleaming and tidy, atop the stack of math worksheets.

 

"I can't just throw it away, and the other third grade teacher got her own sushi snack", i thought to myself.  "I really should at least try it."  Slowly and determinedly, I started unwinding celophane at my tiny white desk.  As a bonus, I discovered, there were also three slices of an orange for dessert.  After a careful survey of contents, which happened to include hamburger meat, cucumber, carrot, (hot dog?), and various other objects, I picked up the first roll.

 

Shock.  It wasn't awful.  I actually finished the rest of them.  One tolerable variety of sushi (however strange), down.

 

Signing out,

Holly

change'll do me good

the newest spelling of my name -- ready for it??

 

Jale

 

Here's the breakdown:

 

J - in Spanish sounds like our H

A - makes the short O sound

L  - instead of LL, because LL sounds like our initial Y in Spanish

E - I have no answer for this one

 

Look for the change on all of my future business cards and official letterheard.  Thanks so much, Las Fuentes Starbucks.

 

-Jale

Understanding

4 Yet I have been the LORD your God
Since the land of Egypt;
And you were not to know any god except Me,
For there is no savior besides Me. 5 I cared for you in the wilderness,
In the land of drought.

                                                    Hosea 13:4-5 (NASB)

 

I've been thinking lately about understanding.  I've also been reading in Hosea a lot these days.  I don't know the attraction to this book, but I find myself reading it often.  Possibly, it's the fact that God spends so much time telling Israel "it doesn't matter that you've prostituted yourself out for all of this time if you just return to Me."  It's such an amazing offer, really.  I think that's why I went so instinctively back to this prophet's writings when I wanted to meditate upon this whole idea.

 

I was struck very deeply by the two verses above.  In 4, the LORD states a clear reminder of who He has been to Israel, and why His very nature demands their (and our) exclusive worship.  In a simple statement that I very nearly overlooked, Hosea details a much more personal reason to show the LORD our affection.  He cared for them -- in the wilderness.  I've looked through the few dictionaries, commentarties, etc that I have down here, to see what "cared" means.  A few of the words are "knew", "fed", "acknowledge", "approved", "loved".  God was interested in these people.  Farthest from His mind was that they be neglected or left to fend for themselves.

 

Not only did God invest in these people, He did so in some of the harshest contitions conceivable.  He loved Israel when they were hot, lost, cranky, homeless, parched, unsure, unsettled, unhinged, and altogether unlovely.  His depth of love reaches far deeper than my mind can venture.  He loved Israel then, and here He is, making His plea once again: "I cared for you in the wilderness"  Walk away from your undoing, and run back to ME -- I love you, and don't want to place this condemnation on you!

 

They didn't listen, and they fell.  God didn't give up on Israel though.  He soon sent His Redeemer and Son, knowing it to be the only way.  God's hand is ever extended to those who want Him.  I want desperately to understand why Israel wouldn't let go of their Baal's, why we act exactly like them in the face of the same offer, and why God keeps telling us "come", when we so plainly don't deserve it.  I admit, I cannot.  Father, how thankful I am that I don't have to understand though -- just accept.

 

-Holly

The 12

Last night, a rather large group of us went out to celebrate one of our friend's birthdays.  There were twelve of us, in fact.  Ten American girls, one Mexican girl, and an American guy.  The Chivas were playing the Atlas (which is a really big rivalry among Guadalajarans -- most of my class are fans of one or the other), so the friend decided that she wanted to go eat dinner at Applebee's and watch the game.  At 6:00pm, we all met at the Casa Grande, and set off for the closest bus stop. 

 

Now, on a normal day, any of the eleven of us stick out quite a bit, it is true.  Last night though, it was like being part of a parade of America.  Thankfully, a bus pulled up at the exact moment we arrived at the bus stop so we didn't have to stand on the side of the street waving at traffic while we waited.  Even so, I know how much of a spectacle we appeared, chatting it up in English as, one by one, we disappeared onto the 634.

 

Once we arrived at the resturaunt, and spent a few minutes overwhelming the staff of Applebee's with our request for such a large table, we were seated, ordered, and had a great time eating dinner and cheering for the Chivas (who won, by the way).  After dinner, we stopped off at Wal-Mart for a few essentials, and went back to the Casa Grande for cake and ice cream.  It was a great night.

 

I realized through last night's celebration, that any one of the twelve of us, wherever we may be going or whoever we may be with, needs to stand out a little in a crowd.  Not because we're loud Americans, but because we are followers of the Lord Most High.  It's the reason that all of us were brought here to this great city, and really it's the reason that any of us live and move and breathe.  Thanks for the reminder, Lord.

Welcome to 3A1!

Aren't blurry pictures just awesome?? At least there's plenty of color to distract you. You'd actually be hard pressed to find much space without a poster of some sort. I even had to give away one of my poster sets (though I'm sure I could have fit it in if I'd tried).

La Casa Grande

I promised I would post pictures of the house. I could not take a good picture to save my life yesterday, so they're all a little fuzzy. Also, there are no pictures of the interior, because that would have to include my room, and my room is nowhere near ready for public viewing. Sorry, but them's the rulez.

The first pic is of our front gate from the inside. The second is the front of the house. Third is a view of the back of the house from close to the back of the yard. Lastly is the back yard. You'll note, of course, the dance floor area. There's also a covered bar beyond the tree on the left for all of our wild and crazy parties. You're a little bit jealous, right? =)

Grapefruits? and Spanish Lessons

I've had an eventful Tuesday here in my new home town. After crying over the pathetic grammatic ability of my third graders, I scooped up the remnant of writing practices and math classwork and headed home. On my way down the sidewalk, my roomate and I spotted two very entreprenurial young girls selling fruit at their entry gate. Their table was cute, and their English was a lot better than my Spanish. After talking to them about their schools, and being explained exactly what everything was, I pulled out two pesos, and bought what I think is a grapefruit (nevermind the fact that I have a tree full of them in my own back yard).

I had already decided that later on I wanted to go to a taco stand called Daniel's to get supper, but it doesn't open 'til around 9pm. In the meanwhile, I grabbed some peanut butter, jelly, and the last two tortillas in my refrigerator (i'm out of bread and too lazy to walk to the grocery). A few minutes later, there was a ring at our gate, and one of my roomates saw a couple of little girls standing there. I had my keys with me, so I sprinted out to see what they needed. It was the same duo, and they wanted to tell me that my (grapefruit?) was not to be eaten. I'm supposed to drink it with sugar. I thanked them of course. It was adorable.

Okay, maybe my afternoon wasn't as eventful. I actually took a long nap a little while later. When I woke up, everyone else had already eaten supper, and I didn't want to walk to Daniel's alone. One of the girls really wanted to go to the bakery before it closed though to get something sweet. I was wide awake, and ready. We got there, and deliberated over the tiny pies, the eclairs, the enormous slices of cake, and whatever else we beheld. As we were ordering, we were approached by a college aged guy asking us if we were shopping. Actually, we found out that he was asking if we were exchange students. Why, you ask? He wanted to study English of course (aka -wants an American girlfriend).

We actually had quite a conversation with he and his mother (yes, his mother). Of course we declined our services due to our completely inept inderstanding of the language, and our lack of necessity for a college-aged boyfriend. We did end up taking his number, and telling him that if we knew anyone that could teach him, we would have them call him.

Gethsemanie v. La Fuente de Vida v. Who Knows What

So, I've spent my second Sunday here in Guadalajara, and I decided to go to church with one of my new roomates.  It was a very worshipful service.  One of the girls from the school even sat next to me and interpreted parts of the message, wich was great.  The things I liked about La Fuente de Vida are as follows: 

-The service starts much later, and I don't have to catch a bus until 10:30. 

-Headsets are available for translation (though they weren't today). 

-The pastor has a lot of energy and wants to see Guadalajara reached for Christ

-Both a good friend and my school prayer partner attend. 

 

As attractive as that list is though, I think I might need to keep searching.  I really liked the Baptist church I went to last week (which would make mom happy), but it is totally in Spanish and there are already a whole lot of girls from the school that attend.  I think I'm going to give it another chance though, as well as some of the other churches in the area.  And really, as far as the "Spanish only" issue, the sooner I learn the language the more quickly the problem will be solved.

 

In other news, school starts tomorrow (uh... I mean later today), and I promise to post pictures of my classroom, the school, and the house this week.  Pray for my seventeen students and their families.  For the families that are believers, that they would deepen their faith, and for the families that do not know Christ, that they would follow Him.  Pray for me as well, that I do the Gospel message justice.

 

Adios!

Holly

baby goat...

...is not my favorite entree -- not even when prepared "shepherd style."  That is all.  =P

A few of the sites in Tlaquepaque

Cathedral Courtyard

Art Gallery

Cantina

Mr. Mariachi

...and the airlines are no help.

After having quite a bumpy start, which included unloading a whopping 40lbs from one of my suitcases before being allowed to check my luggage, I was finally off to fair Guadalajara.  I probably shouldn't say that they were no help -- after all, the lady at the desk told me I could go to the news stand across the terminal to get some shopping bags for my now homeless belongings.  Sure, there were other adventures like the floating bathroom in Houston, and praying to make my connection, but I made it over here without any major injury or arrest.

 

The "casa grande" that I'm sharing with eight other girls is absolutely sprawling.  There is a huge rooftop patio, a room for everyone and a few spares, a very large avacado and mango filled backyard, and even a cute little indoor garden.  The school really is within walking distance, being only about two blocks away, and there are shops everywhere.  I know that once I get adjusted, and once I learn the language, that I am going to absolutely love it here.

 

One of the other new teachers, her mother, and I had lunch in the home of our director this afternoon, and we've gone walking and shopping both today and yesterday withing our fairly immediate area.  I feel confident that I'll have a tudor to help me learn Spanish (hope it helps), and I just might take up something fun like...oh, I don't know yet.

 

Here are the Spanish phrases I've used so far:

 

"Necisito pesos, por favor"

"gracias"

"muchas gracias"

"necisito (pointing emphatically to the straight pin in my palm)"

     and

the ever popular blank stare

 

 

Adios Amigos,

Holly