Vida

Sometimes it seems to take the yucky, not fun times to appreciate the great things. I thought of this yesterday morning while walking to work with the weather. We had straight rain for 24 hours here starting Monday afternoon (maybe that´s a slight exaggeration, but I promise it was close). The last week we barely had any rain and the weather was BEAUTIFUL and I enjoyed it, but not as much as I appreciated yesterday (and today). I´m going to make an effort to appreciate things more as they happen rather than after a not so fun part...

So as of today Melissa and I have lived in Santa Fe for 2 months. TIME FLIES! I can barely believe it, but I wanted to provide you all with more impressions from my time here. Food Yes, it`s different. There are many food that still gross me out (like the common chicken feet people eat off the bone), but I think it`s a whole nother level of not wasting. My stomach is still adjusting, but overall I feel like I`m doing pretty well. It has been a little difficult as a vegetarian, but not awful. Toilet Paper It`s amazing how fast you can adjust to throwing your toilet paper into the trash can instead of the toilet (their water system can`t handle the waste). The first week I thought I would never get used to it and had to be very intentional, but I`ve got it now. Things like gas and trash The gas men and trash men come down the street every morning. How do you know they`re coming? Well, the gas men yell "GAS" so we basically hear it for 3ish hours every morning. Tra...

I was so excited to get back to work because yesterday Jess & I went to a school in a different area where some sisters work to give presentations about being a missionary. I arrived to the usual: lots of hugs & "Lisa Lisa!" so I was happy. Then I started on the lesson/homework for the day when Pakita (my boss at the Guarderia) came in with the phone so I knew it was Tere (my boss from the program). She hit me with lots of not so happy news as I struggled to hear with all the kids yelling my name-among other things. I plugged one ear and tried to hear as best as possible. And then at the end when I was sufficiently overwhelmed she told me she got an email from my dad. She said she would read it to me. Basically he knows I have sparatic access to the internet and he wanted to make sure I knew my grandma c is in the hospital. I was shocked and it was just vague enough that it allowed my mind to race (of course to the worst possible conclusions). I took a deep breath, fo...

We started out the day Saturday with more typical Mexican occurances. Ivonne told us he couldn`t come any more the night before because he had to take pictures at confirmation, which has been planned for a long time and he was one of the main planners. He even bought all the food Friday. Then Pool, the person who`s birthday we were celebrating-so we were all going to a water park for him-backed out. Caro: "So we`re all celebrating Pool`s birthday without Pool?" But the 9 of us set off. We watched the sunrise as we drove. More interesting things to note about Mexican driving: -it is a law to wear your seatbelt, but from what I`ve observed no one does and they notice if you do and generally ask about it -there is a red line in places in case your brakes go out and you are supposed to follow it and it ends off the road in dirt -there are tolls that are quite pricey we went about 2 hours away and paid 3 tolls ($5.30, $3, $3) -no need for google map directions (or at least t...

Today started out normally: being attacked by hugs as I walked through the door "Buenos Dias" I prepared the lesson for the day and then Lucy asked me to start tracing these flowers. I wasn´t super excited about it, but I thought 'only 12 lisa' and I asked how many and she said muchos so it wasn´t for the kids i figured out.... so i sat down and started tracing. then pakita (my boss) came in the room while the majority of the kids were brushing their teeth and had an apron type thing that all the teachers wear (besides melissa & i) and it was for me!!! I WAS SO EXCITED! While she was putting it on me I felt like I was being crowned or something. Then she said, "Now you´re a teacher" YES Some of the kiddos came back in the room and she asked them how I looked and they said "muy bonito" (very goodish...that´s the best translation i can come up with) and they said it as excited as i felt. =) so as i sat down to finish tracing the flowers i ...

This is how phones are answered here. "Bueno." I don`t know how you couldn`t be happier when your greated by someone that obviously wants to talk to you and hear your voice by answering good.... It`s amazing how quickly phones can become like foreign objects. Melissa & I are now sharing a phone, but we still rarely use it and honestly I think it`s annoying when it`s neccessary for me to carry it around. The director of IWM Missionaries called work a couple times to check in with Melissa & I and I never enjoy it. 1. usually I`m alone in the class when she calls or it`s very loud 2. i already had a fear of talking on phones (i always sound silly) 3. i haven`t used a phone in a while Texting is very popular here which i guess is a good and bad thing for me. I`ve never been fond of texting. I don`t know the rules and what`s rude, etc. (Melissa`s been helping to teach me though...when to respond, when it`s not necessary, because i think it`s never necessary) Luckily I...

Chickity boom barda boom boom rah Chickity boom barda boom boom rah Lisa Lisa rah rah rah (it goes something like that anyway) That is the cheer they say A LOT here and I was very happy to have it said for me for the first time ever at work on Thursday. I didn`t do anything particular, in fact, I was sharpening pencils for the kids and they started the cheer. I love everyday when I get to work I`m greeted with a group hug and lots of "LISA LISA LISA!" I can`t think of a better way to start the day. Today the english teacher told me my spanish is getting better, which is always encouraging. Israel is always full of questions and he commonly asks me why my eyes are green. The last couple days he`s hit me with all sorts of questions: Do I have any friends? Where are they? Where is my sister (not sure how he knew I had a sister)? Why are my eyes green? Why do I speak English? Why is my hair yellow? It`s good practice for me to work through answering all his questions in...