Todavía no entiendo a las mujeres...

According to one of my TSU professors, anyone living in a new place goes through five stages lasting anywhere from a week to a year: first the ¨honeymoon¨stage, then culture shock, and eventually adaptation (I don´t remember the other two stages). I think I can safely say I´m past the honeymoon stage and moving into culture shock. I am still perfectly happy here, don´t get me wrong, but lately a lot of things have been bothering me that I know SHOULDN´T bother me that much. So I´m going to devote much of this blog to sharing some of those bothers, simply because I know any Americans will at least understand where I´m coming from and I will feel better about these little issues afterwards.

First, I am still appalled by most womens´attitudes here to cook, care for their family hand and foot--and nothing else. While there is certainly nothing wrong with those noble actions, I can´t help but wonder sometimes if there is really anything going through their heads other than what they´re going to prepare for the next meal or when they´re going to sleep. I am reading Gone With the Wind right now, and the women here remind me so much of the women in the Confederate, Civil War south. On Saturday night José Luis and I went to a reunión en la casa de una hermana (they get together at a different person´s house every sabado to have a worship service and eat). When it came time to eat, José Luis handed me two empty plates, told me to just give him whatever I got, and then went to sit down without saying another word. I gave him a funny look, until I realized that ONLY women were around the table fixing plates, no men. At many of the gatherings, many of the women (except for me) also spend the majority of their time pouring drink refills, making the coffee (which takes a lot longer here because they hardly ever have coffee makers), and washing dishes; rarely do they actually get to sit down and eat and enjoy their meal, poor things. (By the way, on this particular night there were only two choices of drinks--tea or coffee, yuck!--and I had no choice but to drink the yucky, unflavored hot tea because there was no water (1. ¡Qué lastima!))

Another custom here is that la gente almost always takes any food that is leftover. Whereas we Americans are begging to give away our leftovers at the end of a potluck or fellowship meal, Mexicans generally take away bowls and plates brimming with whatever food they can get, thinking it rude to refuse. So when someone came around with the extra tamales to give away, José Luis took one...and then put it on my plate. I said ¨Oh that´s okay, I don´t need anymore¨and gave it back to him. He gave it back to me, I gave it back to him. Finally he explained that ¨the women always take the food.¨ So he felt compelled to take a tamale he didn´t need so that he wouldn´t be rude, but he felt too embarrassed to carry it out himself. Ha ha ha!

This sign literally means not to go to the bathroom on the sidewalk:

The next day, Sunday, the preacher´s family shared with our class some of the snacks that didn´t get eaten el sabado. Normally by the time our class ends the other members have already started singing, so we have to hurry up and get downstairs as soon as possible. (There is no break between the class and the worship service here, and they start singing whenever the class ends--sometimes at 10:50, other times at 11:20.) Anytime we have snacks, some of the girls always want to stay and clean everything up first, and I always tell them not to worry about it, I will do everything afterwards, because we need to get downstairs. So I went on down and told them to come down too...but none of them did. I went back upstairs to see what the hold up was, and sure enough, they were still trying to throw away all the leftover popcorn and wash all the plates and dishes. (Oh, and another thing: they evidently can´t stand the thought of eating food right off of a napkin. Anytime I bring snacks I take napkins for them to pass around, but instead of passing the napkins, they run to the kitchen to get plates and serving platters. Tonight we had another little get together and since there were no plates, I started putting a handful of popcorn on a napkin just like I would do at home. One of the girls from my class just looked at me and said, ¨What are you doing? You´re supposed to use a cup!¨ Well, ha ha ha again.) I agree completely that anytime a group of people eat something they should clean up after themselves--but not to the point that they would miss the Lord´s Supper because they couldn´t wait just one to two more hours to do it afterwards.

After church, I started eating some candy and offered some to José Luis. He said, in all seriousness, ¨NO! After the meal!¨Well I felt like chucking one of the candies at his face and told him that he is ¨very traditional.¨ Then his family started to eat some spaghetti and chicken salad that Chantel and I had given them, and they wanted to eat the spaghetti cold and warm up the chicken salad. I told them they could if they wanted, but that we never eat it that way. Nevertheless, by the time we ate the spaghetti it was more or less cold and everyone gulped it up except for me, yet no one touched my yummy chicken salad.

I invited the girls from our Sunday morning class over to the house last Thursday, and none of them wanted to eat any of the food I had fixed either--save the brownies and cornbread. It really bothers me sometimes that Mexicans turn themselves off to other foods so much. I know there are lots of americanos who are picky eaters, but I do think that, as a whole, we are not afraid to try new foods. But they act like they won´t eat anything unless it has hot sauce and tortillas with it--or anything that looks remotely strange or foreign. If I had the same attitude as them, I would have starved myself to death living here a long time ago.

But enough about food! (Isn´t it funny that someting I like so much has been the source of so much of my frustration?) So nine girls came on Thursday, which is a really good turnout for the first time considering that about 15 muchachas come to church regularly. We played some games, laughed a lot, and really enjoyed ourselves. Most of the girls are really interested in getting together more often, so Chantel and I have considered inviting them over every two or three weeks--provided we can serve them food they´ll actually eat.

Well I´ve been so caught up talking about food and the women that I haven´t even begun to talk about my frustrations with my English classes yet--ay! The biggest problem I´m having right now is that many of the students are evidently losing interest in the class and aren´t coming as much. One of the ladies told me she hasn´t been coming because she needs new glasses and can´t see anything right now. I asked her to come anyway and told her she can at least listen and participate a little, but she has yet to return. She brings her daughter and three of her nieces to the class as well, so when she can´t come, they can´t come--and that´s a third of the class! Then when the other students see that a lot of the other students are absent, they, too, start to miss, thinking that it´s not such a big deal. I really wish they thought the class IS a big deal, but since we´re not at a regular ¨school,¨they don´t care anything about grades, and they´re busy with many other activities, they seem to view learning English more as something ¨extra¨than as a necessity. I think the attitude most of them have is that they really want to learn and go to the classes...until something better comes along. I´m really going to encourage them to stick with it until December (not much longer) and also give them a questionnaire to fill out to see what they really think of me and of the class, but the hard part is finding a day when all or most of them show up instead of just a handful. I want so badly to help them, but I feel like before I can really be effective, they first need to learn to help themselves (i.e. by coming to class, studying on their own, participating, finishing all the activities we do together, etc.)

Cultural dances like these are very common in el centro. Performers sometimes stand right in the middle of the sidewalk so that passerbys will have to stop and watch, thus allowing them to earn more money. I´m pretty sure that using the two young girl dancers was also a ploy to get more money. San Cristobal is known to have lots of hippies, as well.

By the way, I really don´t know much about the quality of education here--the same could probably be said of many students in the U.S.--but I´m discovering more and more that kids just don´t know how to think for themselves. I have four students age 12 or under, and anytime we do an activity that does not involve them copying something word for word from the board (which is pretty much constantly) they get a deer-in-the-headlights look and start asking all kinds of questions to the people sitting around them, then take twice as long to start as the other students and still try to copy my own examples word for word. Sometimes I specifically try to make it really easy for them, i.e. by writing a paragraph on the board and leaving blanks only in the parts to describe themselves, but even then they copy every letter I write and don´t write a thing on their own, even after I explain it to them several times. Then sometimes when I write something that they don´t need to copy, they automatically take out their pencils and start writing it down anyway. If I wrote ¨(The person´s name) is stupid,¨ they would probably copy that too, without reading or understanding a word of it. I know it´s not their age because I am accustomed to teaching students that age who can complete these same activities without any problems.

Tonight I went to David and Ani´s house to celebrate their son´s 3rd birthday. I was really looking forward to seeing my first Mexican birthday party but must admit that it was kind of a let down. Lots of people from church were there, but I´m pretty sure I´m the only one who took a gift--and the only one who didn´t take a Bible and hymn book. (How should I know they were going to have a worship service in the middle of the birthday party?) Like every time they meet together, they had three songs, a prayer, a sermon, three more songs, and another prayer. Please don´t get me wrong; I´m not trying to suggest that they should not worship when they celebrate someone´s birthday or that they should change the order of their worship; in fact, I like that they have so much zeal to meet so frequently throughout the week. I just think that at times it would be better for them to have classes, singing, prayers, or something other than a long sermon. But, who am I to judge? Anyway, after the worship service the women began serving food...but there were so many people and everyone was so crowded into the living room that we could not even move around to talk to other people. We ate tamales (like always), and if you´ve never had a tamale, they come with a giant papery material wrapped around them that you first have to unroll to get to the food. So while trying to unwrap the tamale and stick my fork in it on the tiny little desk I was already sharing with one other person, my whole plate fell right onto the floor. Now normally anytime that happens in the states, people laugh and joke, saying things like ¨Way to go!¨or ¨Smooth move, butterfingers!¨ But here, no one laughed and no one joked; they all just looked at me like, ¨I can´t believe she did that!¨ To make matters worse, I accidently caused a piece of cake to fall as well, as I was climbing onto the couch to take a picture of the entire group (I´m more or less the official church photographer now since I have a digital camera--ooohhhhh!) So naturally, I felt very embarrassed. I´ve heard that a tradition in Mexico is for the birthday person to stick his/her entire face in the cake before anyone else eats it, but Davicito cried and refused to do it, so I didn´t get to see that either. Oh well, the next time I guess.

I also became quite irate with a taxista yesterday. I told him as soon as I got in the car that I was going to ¨Mr. Taco, San Diego¨and he said ¨Está bien.¨ Then when we came to the first part of San Diego, he started asking me where it was. Well I really didn´t know how to tell him from where we were because he took a different route than I was used to. So I told him I really didn´t know for sure because I haven´t lived here for very long, but that I would let him know when I started to recognize it. Well he kept asking me ¨¿Donde está? ¿Donde está?¨anyway. I named some monuments it was close to, but he was supposedly not familiar with any of them either (and I don´t know how any taxista, new or experienced, could not be). Then about a minute later he said, ¨You can just get out here and walk.¨ I told him no way, becuase it was still pretty far away, and the whole reason I went in a taxi was to get there faster. Well I finally started to recognize the area and was able to lead him to Mr. Taco. I gave him 20 pesos like normal and started to get out, when he told me he was charging 25, ¨because he had to drive around a lot.¨ I told him that if he didn´t know where it was, he should have told me that when I first got in the car so that I could find a different taxista. Besides, he only went one block out of the way, at the most. So I refused to pay the extra 5 pesos and left in a huff. I hate it when people try to take advantage of Americans like that!

I haven´t been so busy that I haven´t been able to enjoy myself some, as well. This is a picture of José Luis and I in a little town called Chiapa Chorizo. We went to take a boat ride in a canyon but got there too late...so we decided to go to this little town instead, and a man offered to take us on a short boat ride, just the two of us...and then took our picture for us.

I´m going to forego the Spanish this time because it´s late and I need to get up early...but I promise to include more words the next time!

(2.)¡Que Dios les bendiga!

Elizabeth

Title: I still don´t understand the women...

1. What a shame

2. May God bless you all

Algunas Buenas Noticias

2 of the main cathedrals in San Cristobal

Well it´s raining (1a.) gatos and (2a.) perros here in San Cristobal! The rain helps me sleep really well algunas noches, but I am really missing Tennessee sunshine--and a dryer. It seems that anytime I hang (1.) la ropa on el techo to dry, that´s an automatic signal for the rain to come blasting down with a vengeance. I´m going to keep this blog short since it seems that not many people are reading it now anyway. (Has everyone really already forgotten about me??)

Last week Chantel and I went to Ococingo to visit with Antonio (the director of the Sat. School there) and set up a bank account. Now Global Missions will be able to deposit dinero directly into that account instead of us having to travel to Ococingo each month to personally give it to Antonio. Each of the escuelas de los sabados continues to average about 15 estudiantes cada semana, including the newest one in Cacahoatan (close to the Guatemala border). Here is a picture of some of the students from the Ococingo school (on the left are the two girls who got baptized recently. They don´t speak any Spanish):

The members of the church in Ococingo are in the process of constructing a new (3a.) edificio. As you can probably see in the pictures, their current facility (where they also have the school), is quite small, with only two rooms, all dirt floors, and very little light.

In San Cristobal, members gave extra to pay for an addition, as well. The men are hoping to start construction this week to create more class space in the back of the building and finish by the end of the year. But when they finish really depends on how much help they have each week, since they are having to do everything entirely on their own. Currently there is only one classroom (for los niños), and for our Sunday morning clases de muchachas y muchachos, I teach in the hallway, while José Luis teaches the guys in the tiny kitchen. So while I´m teaching, our class faces multiple interruptions, from the booming guys´voices just a few feet away, the screaming babies, the latecomers who must walk right past us, the parents who bring their kids to class, and anyone who has to go to the (2.) baño (which is also in the kitchen). The classes are going really well and we have mostly adjusted to the surroundings, but nonetheless, we are very excited about the extra (3.) espacio.

On Thursday mornings a group of us has still been meeting to go door-knocking , as well. David told me he wants to do a lot of evangelizing so that the church can grow, and thus, the school can grow. Last week one of the ladies and I studied with a girl about 17 years old who lives by herself all week and goes to a different area to be with her family on the weekends. She was very interested in (4.) todo we shared with her. Unfortunately, since she goes to school at night and isn´t here on the weekends, she will not be able to come to church or the reuniones de jovenes.

Left: It´s not unusual to see dogs perched on the roof here (sometimes they stay up there all day). So you don´t have to worry about them chasing after you so much while you´re running or walking, but you do still have to listen to them bark ferociously at intruders.

Right: This is the road we drove on to visit the lady in Guatemala(which I wrote about in an earlier blog). She lives on top of a mountain, and this part of the road was still at the beginning of the drive--before it really got dangerous and scary.

By the way, we had another reunion de jovenes this past Saturday, and about twice as many came this time. Some of the girls preferred walking around and talking about boys than playing (5.) basquetbol o (6.) futbol, but at least they came : ) Then afterwards we went to surprise-visit one of the girls in our group who recently had (7.) cirugia and has not been able to come back to church yet. I don´t know if José Luis and I have anything to do with it or not, but I do feel like the group is growing and getting stronger. (8.) ¡Eso me hace muy feliz! More good news for the church here in San Cristobal is that el domingo some of our miembros witnessed tres (9.) bautismos at a nearby prison. Two of the men (one of them José Luis´(10.) padre) preach at the prison cada domingo en la manaña.

Ani (the preacher´s (11.) esposa) asked me last week if I would be able to start teaching the clase de niños on Wednesday nights. I agreed, so I am teaching every day now but Friday. But I love teaching and don´t feel too stressed out yet. Plus, each of my classes offers something unique. I know that if I were a first-year (12.) maestra in the U.S. right now, I would probably be working a lot more and sleeping a lot less. So other than a few students who really act like they´re only in mi clase because they have to be, my ¨fist year¨has really been quite satisfactory so far. The clase de niños might be a challenge, simply because there are so many niños of so many different (13.) edades (one two year-old, one three year-old, one four-year-old, etc., all the way up to age ten). Plus, like in El Salvador, there´s really no set tiempo for teaching; the class begins when the preacher starts the sermon and ends when most of the song service is over. So depending on how long the sermon is, the class could last anywhere from una hora a dos horas. But so far I have not had any major problemas. My English class has been more frustrating lately, but since I promised to keep this blog (14.) corto, I will wait and tell more about that (15.) la proxima vez...stay tuned...

Thanks so much for taking the time to read about the works taking place here. Please let me know if there´s anything else you would like to know that I have not mentioned or anything I can do to make the blog better.

Elizabeth

Title: Some Good News

1a. cats

2a. dogs

1. clothes

2. bathroom

3a. building

3. space

4. all/everything

5. basketball

6. soccer

7. surgery

8. ¨That makes me very happy!¨

9. baptisms

10. dad/father

11. wife

12. teacher

13. ages

14. short

15. the next time

Las partes del cuerpo (the parts of the body):

cabeza (head)

orejas (ears)

ojos (eyes)

nariz (nose)

boca (mouth)

cuello (neck)

hombros (shoulders)

codos (elbows)

brazos (arms)

manos (hands)

estómago (stomach)

cadena (hip)

piernas (legs)

rodillas (knees)

pies (feet)

¡Los estudiantes están volviendome loca! (Not really!)

Well I have officially exceeded my previous 6 week mark of how long I have been in a foreign country at one time. But mis clases are still going well, I have a wonderful novio, and I have a comfortable place to sleep and eat every day. I cannot complain. It seems that some of you have been having trouble leaving comments? Well I cannot do much to help, only walk you through the steps. Scroll down to the very end of that particular blog (past all the pictures and Spanish words). Click on the link that says ¨comments.¨ If other people have left comments already, you will see those on the left. There should be a box on the right that says ¨make a comment.¨ Just type in whatever you want to say, choose a user name (or post anonymously), and then publish the comment. If that still doesn´t work, then I really don´t know what to tell you. But just remember if you can´t figure out how to add a comment, you can always send an e-mail instead. Some people have also asked how to send money to me. The easiest thing would be to send it directly to Global Missions. I´m planning to add the address and website of Global Missions to my blog page for everyone´s convenience. Mail to Mexico is not very reliable (it might take 2 meses o más), and even if it did get to me, I do not have a bank account here.

My clase de inglés continues to grow (1.) cada día. I think it´s really (2.) irónico that I have had more people from la comunidad ask for (3.) información this past semana than in the whole three weeks when we actually had the fliers posted. And the fliers clearly said that the class starts on Sept. 17, so who knows how they even managed to find out about the classes or what they were thinking. Sometimes Mexicans just don´t make any sense. Then when I tell them that the other students already know a lot more and that it will be difficult for them in the beginning, they just look at me like, ¨So?¨

One of the biggest challenges I´ve had with the classes so far is that many Mexicans really do not take education very seriously--and especially not my class that meets in a private school for only three days a week and is practically free. They have continued coming after two weeks, so that in itself is enough to make me happy, but sometimes they don´t complete assignments when I ask them to (I guess they think I´m not going to bother checking anything even though I tell them I will), and they don´t study outside of class (even though that´s their only homework). I actually overheard one of my middle school students say that I am strict. (Ha! Can you imagine? I´d probably never hear that in the U.S.!) I try to tell myself that they are only hurting themselves by not completing the assignments or coming to class on time or studying on their own...but at the same time, I feel like foreign language teachers have so much pressure on them to perform well simply because of all the ignorant people en el mundo who think you really can speak una lengua after only three months of isolated classroom instruction. What a joke! I´ve been speaking español only when it´s absolutely (4.) necesario in order to help them get to that point, but some of them seem to tune me out as soon as I start speaking English and then expect me to translate everything for them afterwards.

I have also started teaching a class on Saturday mornings for the students who come here for Saturday school. None of those students speak Spanish as a first language; in fact, some of them don´t know any Spanish at all. And some of them never learned to read or write, a misfortune they too often use as an excuse for not even trying. So yes, the classes are frustrating at times. But even though I´ve been complaining a lot, the positives far outweigh the negatives and my students are really quite polite and well-disciplined.

¨Market day¨ at the Guatemala border (hence the super crowded streets). See the cool mountains in the background? El día del mercado a la frontera de Guatemala (la razón por mucha gente en las calles).

One of the cultural differences that has really made itself evident in each of my clases is that the people here, in general, are much more (5.) tímido--especially the women. Yes, I can be timid as well...but these (6.) chicas are much worse! That (7.) diferencia is not only manifested throughout the (8.) país, but within different ciudades, as well. (9.) Por ejemplo, I was originally having a hard time getting the girls in my Sunday morning class to speak up anytime I asked them something. I thought at first it might have been my poor pronunciation or the type of (10.) preguntas I asked that kept them from answering, but last week there were three girls in the class visiting from Tuxtla Gutierrez (that´s the closest big city, remember) who easily answered everything I asked, no hesitation. The students who come for classes on Saturdays live in a (11.) pueblo that, even though it is only 40 minutes away, is worlds (12.) diferente from San Cristobal. I have yet to visit that town, but from what I hear many of the citizens never went to school, they spend most of their days selling goods in the mercado, and just about everyone is indiginous (hence the reason español is not their primera lengua.) When I asked them to find someone they don´t know very well and introduce that person to the class, no one moved. Even after I made the pairs myself and practically led them by the arm to their partners, some of them still blushed and hid their faces behind their shawls, refusing to even make eye contact with the other person. Then I discovered that most of them did not even know each other´s names--and these are people who go to church together and ride 30 miles together cramped in the back of a pickup truck every week! So even though each of these areas are fairly close, I have concluded that the bigger the city, the more confident la gente.

For my class on Sunday mornings, we are talking each week about a different purpose we use our tongues for--(13.) bueno o (14.) malo. In addition to having a hard time getting las chicas to answer my questions or make comments, I have an especially hard time getting them to pray. I have told them that they need (15.) practicar praying out loud now while they have la oportunidad, that the prayer can be very simple, just a few words, that there is no reason to be afraid and that a different girl is going to pray every week...but nonethless, every time the end of class comes and I ask them those dreaded words of ¨who´s going to lead the prayer,¨ no one says a word. Instead, they immediately divert their eyes to the table, begin writing, or desperately look at someone else who will boldly take on the task and free them of the tension.

But little by little, I feel like we are making progress. Each week they speak up more, and a different girl talks who hasn´t said anything yet. They have also started to sit together in church and talk to each other more outside of class--one of the main goals all along. We did have our first young people´s outing last week since the Sun. morning classes took the place of our regular Saturday devotionals, and Jose Luis and I were a little disappointed that only 5 showed up. But since then more and more of the jovenes have asked when we´re going to get together again. So we can not let one día deter us from continuing to encourage them and spend time with them. Besides, I got to play soccer and basketball for about two hours straight, and I had a blast! I really think soccer is my new (16.) deporte favorito!

Well since I always try to include a good cultural story in every blog, some of you might enjoy hearing about the garbage collection here. That´s right--garbage. In our (17.) barrio the garbage truck comes around every martes y viernes. But most people here do not have good ole trash cans they can leave by the end of their yards on garbage day (in fact, most people here don´t have yards, either). So someone comes around ringing a cow bell when the garbage truck is a few miles away. Then, after hearing the bell (if they´re lucky enough to hear it--I still have a hard time telling the difference between the gas trucks and the cow bell!) (18.) todos los vecinos have about 15 (19.) minutos to gather up all the (20.) basura from the whole casa and take it across the street. Then they can´t just leave it there; they have to stand there until the truck comes by and throw the garbage in the truck themselves. Sometimes the truck comes within a few minutes, and sometimes it feels more like una hora. But if you aren´t standing on the corner exactly when the truck comes, you will miss your chance and have garbage smelling up your whole house until the following martes o viernes. Garbage day is quite the family affair. (21.)Niños of all ages (who should be in school at that time!) pour out of every house dragging bags, boxes, and buckets that are too heavy for them to carry and that are too full for their small size, with (22.) madres in aprons and dresses trailing close behind--sometimes down steep, rocky hills a half-mile long or more. Here is a picture of some of the ladies and kids from our neighborhood waiting for the garbage truck to come by:

Common Expressions:

¿Donde está el baño? (Where is the bathroom?)

Tengo hambre. (I am hungry.)

Tengo sed. (I am thirsty.)

Estoy cansado(a). (I am tired.)

¿Qué pasa? (What´s up/What´s going on?)

¿Qué tal? (What´s up/What´s going on?)

Buenos días. (Good morning.)

Buenas tardes. (Good afternoon.)

Buenas noches. (Good evening/good night.)

Lo siento. (I´m sorry.)

Con permiso. (Excuse me--when you´re wanting to pass by someone.)

¿Como te llamas? (What is your name?)

Me llamo (name). (My name is...)

¿Cuantos años tienes? (How old are you?)

Tengo (x) años. (I am (x) years old.)

Mucho gusto. (Nice to meet you.)

Igualmente. (Likewise.)

Que Dios le bendiga. (May God bless you.)

¡Salud! (Bless you--when someone sneezes.)

Sari (from church), Chantel and I at the Guatemala border--I told you I crossed the border on foot! Sari (de la iglesia), Chantel y yo a la frontera de Guatemala

Top 12 things I miss the most after living here 2 months now:

1. Hot water
2. Milk shakes
3. David and Andrew´s sermons
4. Biscuits and gravy (and pretty much all Southern food)
5. Songs in English
6. Heat
7. Bagles
8. Driving (but not Nashville traffic!)
9. Hollywood Video
10. Big, hearty breakfasts (especially from Cracker Barrel!)
11. Our 20 Something´s Class
12. Talking to David Burka and Grif about running

Spanish words:
1. each/every
2. ironic
3. information
4. necessary
5. timid/shy
6. girls
7. difference
8. country
9. For example
10. questions
11. town/village
12. different
13. good
14. bad
15. to practice
16. sport
17. neighborhood/section of the city
18. all the neighbors
19. minutes
20. trash/garbage
21. kids/children
22. moms/mothers

And of course, my family and friends. I didn´t put that because it´s a given. But don´t worry, I´m getting along just fine with everyone here.

¡Mi Primera Clase!

beans and flowers in the market/frijoles y flores en el mercado

Well the most exciting 1. noticias to report this time is that my clase de inglés started on lunes. I LOVE teaching English and am so excited to finally have my own clase. I´m not sure how well our advertising worked, because the majority of estudiantes are from la iglesia. Most of the fliers we hung had mysteriously disappeared after a few 2. días, so I´m not sure if that´s from people who were interested taking them down or the local 3. policia or some other grupo. Either way, 4. solamente dos de mis estudiantes so far are from la comunidad (not members of la iglesia). Several others from la comunidad have called or asked me about it, and a few even came for the pre-test I gave, but most of them have not shown up for las clases 5. todavía. But in a way that´s better, because I prefer to have estudiantes 6. serios than estudiantes who just want to come and go as they please. On la primera noche I really tried to stress to 7. todos how 8. importante attendance and punctuality is to their learning. I also told them that it really takes about cinco 9. años to be able 10. hablar una lengua fluently, and we have only tres 11. meses juntos for less than cinco hours a semana. I was very pleased when all but dos of los estudiantes came back 12. la segunda noche and EVERYONE arrived on time. So right now I have about 15 estudiantes, and I think la clase is off to a great start.students in the Hebrews class/estudiantes durante la clase de Hebreos


13. La semana pasada I went and visited our Saturday school in Ococingo, Mexico. Los estudiantes were very happy I had come, but they were also very eager to share 14. algunos of their concerns with me. The escuela in Ococingo is going really well and the director there is doing a great job, but some of los estudiantes who want to come have not been able to. Global Missions had to cut some of the money it was giving, and since then about half of the students who were faithfully attending classes previously can no longer go because they can´t afford it. They live in the jungle, and they have to walk 3 horas to get to the highway, and from there it was another six hour drive to Ococingo. So they were having to leave on viernes en 15. la tarde and return on domingo en la tarde, and it just got to be 16.demasiado difícil for them. Antonio (the director) 17. y algunos de los estudiantes 18.también expressed to me that they would like to have 19. más materiales, so I told J.C. (director of Global Missions), who is already in the process of sending them more. 20.Un problema they have had so far is that muchos de los estudiantes come from different denominations and use other kinds of 21. Biblias, such as the Catholic Bible or the Jehovah´s Witness Bible. So Antonio requested that we send enough Bibles so that 22. todos de los estudiantes can use the same version. There were 16 estudiantes 23. en total--9 muchachos y 7 muchachas. Dos de las muchachas just got baptized as a result of las clases en los sabados. They, along with muchos de los 24. otros estudiantes, do not speak Spanish--only an indiginous language, ¨Sochil¨(or something like that). Sometimes I feel a little 25. extraña when I know more Spanish than some of la gente who live here and cannot even communicate with them in Spanish; but luckily Antonio is fluent in 26. ambos lenguas. After la almuerza en el sabado, he had a short 27. estudio biblico with tres de las muchachas in Sochil to clear up some of the confusion they had.

view of the inside of our house from the door to the roof/vista de a dentro de nuestra casa de la puerta al techo

Another Saturday school also started last Saturday near the Guatemala frontera, and that school also had about 16 estudiantes. Global Missions has plans to open up dos más escuelas de los sabados aquí en México in the near 28. futuro. But the school here in San Cristobal has been struggling to draw new estudiantes. When la escuela first started there were about 20 estudiantes, but now 29. la mayoría of them have graduated and there aren´t many muchachos who are interested in being 30. predicadores. Please continue 31. orar for the success de todas 32. estas escuelas, and especially pray that the school here in San Cristobal will grow and David will not be discouraged.

the computer classroom/sala de computación

33. Ayer I had another 34. experiencia that reminded me just how much we take some palabras for granted. I went to the 35. papelería to buy a few supplies for my clase, and I needed poster board, butcher paper, loose leaf paper, and brads. Well naturally I never learned the words for different kinds of paper--just paper--and have never needed to know them until now. And stores here are mucho diferente. You can´t just go right to what you want and buy it; en la mayoría de lugares, there are 3 or 4 workers waiting to help you as soon as you walk in, and they have to get the items for you from behind a counter. Then you have to pay for the items at una 36. ventana and pick them up at a separate window. So I described what I needed the best I could, but the poor girl who helped me ended up bringing out 3 or 4 different kinds of 37.papel before I finally got exactly what I needed.

My clase de muchachas at church is also going well, but I´ll write more about that 38. la proxima vez.

39. Eso es todo (40.) por el momento,
Elizabeth

1. news
2. days
3. police
4. only
5. still/yet
6. serious
7. everyone
8. important
9. years
10. to speak a language
11. months
12. the second night
13. last week
14. some
15. the afternoon
16. too hard
17. and
18. also
19. more materials
20. one problem/a problem
21. Bibles
22. all
23. in all/in total
24. other
25. strange
26. both
27. Bible study
28. future
29. the majority/most
30. preachers
31. to pray
32. these
33. yesterday
34. experience
35. paper supply store
36. window
37. paper
38. the next time
39. That is all
40. for now/for the moment


our kitchen/nuestra cocina

Guatemala y las nuevas clases

tourist walking street in el centro/andador en el centro

Well another semana is almost gone here in Mexico, and I just wanted to give a quick update on some of the 1. obras I have been or will be involved in. Last week Chantel´s 2. padre stayed with us for a few noches, and then on Fri. we left for Guatemala for the 3. fin de semana-- 4. mi primera vez to see Guatemala. It was more or less the same as Mexico, only a little bit prettier 5. afuera of the ciudades and a little bit dirtier inside the ciudades. We had somewhat of an interesting experience trying to cross the border. From the bus station we took a taxi to the 6. frontera (a taxi which, by the way, looked just like the Dukes of Hazard car!), but our taxista could not even drive us all the way because the calles were so crowded with gente. It just so happened that we picked 7. ¨dia del mercado¨to cross the border; imagine what a mile-long yard sale in the south would be like, only worse! So we walked--yes, walked--about half a mile uphill. Now I can say that, as a ¨Mexican,¨I crossed the border on foot!

The main reason we went to Guatemala was for Chantel´s dad to visit with some of his 8. amigos from past trips. Not long after we arrived on viernes we went to one lady´s house to present her with an incubator. She is the single mother of 5 (9.) niños, but a total of 15 (10.) personas live in their casa suited more for 3 or 4. Sometimes they were using only 1 or 2 eggs to feed the entire household per day--hence the need for the incubator. The family lives literally on top of a 11. monte. Only camiones can make the drive up the steep, narrow, and rocky curves, and the family leaves the house only about once a week because the walk to town takes thirty minutes or 12. mas. Even though we had a good driver who took his time, I still feared for my life. I will share some fotos from the 13. experiencia a little later.

Even though the cristianos aquí are very kind and devoted, they conduct their services a little differently (as expected). One of the main differences is that they offer only two clases: uno for all of the niños up to about age diez, and uno for everyone else. There are several 14. jovenes, and many have already been baptized, but I immediately realized that they are probably not learning as much from the sermons as they would from classes; and some of them probably still have a hard time paying attention (I know I did at that age!) So I asked David, the preacher, if I could start teaching a young girls class on Sun. mornings at the same time as the adult class. The good news is that he agreed, and he liked the idea so much that he asked Jose Luis (my 15. novio) to teach a clase for muchachos at the same time. The bad news is that he announced that those Sun. mornings clases will take the place of the 16. reuniones de jovenes on los sabados. It´s times like that when I really wish the iglesia aquí had elders so that more than one persona could make those kinds of 17. decisiones! I have been trying so hard to convince Jose Luis that the young people need to spend time together and study 18. juntos as a 19. grupo in addition to having separate guys and girls clases. He and David and Jose (the other guy who helps teach the teenagers) have felt a little discouraged that only 10-15 of the jovenes have been coming on Sat. (out of about 30-40 total). I told him that it´s the same way in the U.S. I also told him about our 20 somethings devotionals that we have in a different house every other semana, and that it really doesn´t matter how many personas come, because sometimes when the least amount of people come is when we grow even closer to one another. He really liked the idea of doing something like that every other week, and we are going to ask our 20. estudiantes on Sun. when the best time would be.

21. Hoy I have been a little busier than normal. A group of us went out doorknocking in la mañana to invite people to la iglesia. Even though we only worked about 2 (22.) horas, we found a lot of people interested in learning more about our beliefs. I felt somewhat useless because my partner (the preacher´s wife) did most of the talking...then later I learned that they didn´t want me to do much because I had worn pants instead of a skirt. One lady we met even questioned whether I went to the same iglesia since I wasn´t wearing a skirt. The role of 23. mujeres here is 24. mucho diferente than in the 25. estados. Sometimes I feel like I don´t have much of a say in things just because I´m a muchacha. But nevertheless, I also struggle with whether I should say something or do something the way I always have in order to improve a situation, or whether I should do exactly as the people here want (namely my fellow cristianos) in order to avoid offending anyone.

Chantel and I also worked on some posters and decorations to hang in what will be our guys and girls ¨classroom.¨ Originally David told me they have wanted to have a young people´s class on Sun. mornings for quite some time, but they just didn´t have the space. We decided we would use the area right above the auditorium (which also serves as their fellowship hall). But it is just one long, narrow room with a few 26. mesas and 27. sillas, and the walls are completely bland. So we are working hard to convert it into what looks like two Bible classrooms. Chantel and I also went to visit Marisol, a girl about our age who was baptized mi primera semana aquí. (Here is a pic. of her with David.)

This week I have also been busy hanging up fliers about my English clases that will begin next week. We decided not to mention that the clases are 28. gratis, and Jose Luis gave me some good suggestions on what would get people´s attention. He has done a lot of publicity for his family´s 29. negocio, so he also showed me where the best lugares to hang the fliers are. I have also been giving them out at la iglesia in order for los miembros to give them to their amigos and 30. vecinos. Please pray for the success of all of these works.

Hasta Luego,

Elizabeth

1. works

2. father

3. weekend

4. my first time

5. outside

6. border

7. ¨market day¨

8. friends

9. kids

10. people or persons

11. mountain

12. more

13. experience

14. teenagers

15. boyfriend

16. young people´s meeting/get together

17. decisions

18. together

19. group

20. students

21. today

22. hours

23. women

24. much different

25. states

26. tables

27. chairs

28. free

29. business

30. neighbors

Los numeros 11-20:

11. once

12. doce

13. trece

14. catorce

15. quince

16. dieciseis

17. diecisiete

18. dieciocho

19. diecinueve

20. viente

our house/school...I know it doesn´t look like much, but it is actually pretty average for the houses here. nuestra casa/la escuela

view across the street from our house/vista del otro lado de la calle donde esta nuestra casa

view from our roof/vista del techo

Random Thoughts:
--Last week I was eating at a family´s house, and during our meal a young boy brought in a cage full of chickens... and I´m almost positive they don´t have a farm!
--No one here can understand why I don´t like coffee or tea. It seems that everyone drinks it but me (even the babies!) And when I politely decline and ask for water, they ask me what kind of water I want: orange or jamaica. They can´t seem to understand why I want to drink plain water without anything added!

Mas Fotos

!Saludos! Can you believe I´ve been here almost a month already?? I sure can´t!! Thank you all so much for the comments--the response has been so awesome and encouraging! I edited some of my settings the other day and didn´t realize that you had to set up a blog before you could leave a comment--so sorry for the inconvenience that may have caused! Now you can post a comment anonymously, which some of you have already begun to do. But those of you who went through the trouble before of creating your own user name, I especially commend you! While we´re talking about comments, I would like to address a few of them...

The city I´m living in is actually called San Cristobal De Las Casas. I don´t know why there are so many San Cristobals in Mexico, but San Cristobal literally means ¨Saint Christopher¨...and you know how Catholics are about naming saints! I do know that ¨De Las Casas¨is the (1.) apellido of one of the hombres that fought for freedom in the area. The(2.) población is about 100,000. And no, the hurricane never came close to here; in fact, I hadn´t even heard anything about Hurricane Dean until I started talking to fellow Americans! (Yes, I do need to do a better job keeping up with the news, but that´s beside the point : ) We had a few really rainy, really cold nights in a row, but that´s pretty normal for this time of year.

As you can see from this photo, it rains so much that the streets stay constantly flooded...but unlike in the U.S., cars still pass through puddles as big as this one! And no, I did not forget about the Spanish the last time, I just ran out of time. But to make up for it, I´m going to include twice as many (3.) palabras this time.

The Hebrews class ended on Friday, and John (4.) (el maestro) went back to the U.S. on Saturday. Because Chantel and I had to take him to the aeropuerto in Tuxtla Gutierrez (the next closest city), we took advantage of the (5.) oportunidad by shopping at Super Wal-Mart (which San Cristobal does not have), and a few other (6.) lugares. We were able to buy some foods and a few items for la casa that we can´t get here in San Cristobal. Part of our job is to show around the American teachers that come and help make them feel more comfortable. As John said, we are ¨his ears and his mouth.¨ So I spent a great deal of last week accompanying him and Chantel to various locations, including these Mayan ruins in Ococingo (about 2 hours away).

At times I still feel like I am just as much a (7.) tourista as he was. I am still getting to know my way around la ciudad and getting to know more of the (8.) miembros de la iglesia. I did get lost in el centro one day, but the nice thing about being ¨lost¨here (unlike the U.S.!) is that you can just have a (9.) taxista bring you right back to your casa—and that´s exactly what I did! So the experience took up more (10.) tiempo and (11.) dinero than I would have liked, but it could have been a lot worse!! Most of the (12.) calles and most of the (13.) tiendas in el centro look almost exactly like this picture,

so it might still be a while before I can comfortably get around by myself!

On the other hand, I also feel like I´m acting more and more like a Mexicana every day. For example, I am doing a better job following the food schedule of big late breakfast, big late lunch, and small late dinner. Yesterday I ate (14.) la almuerza with some fellow (15.) cristianos who live only a few blocks from us. They do not attend the same Church of Christ I have been going to, but their daughter is about my age and teaches computer classes at the escuela. We did not eat until about 3 p.m. (typical), but it was soooo good—well worth the wait! (also typical). The Christians here have some faults, but one of their biggest strengths is definitely their hospitality.

I am also adjusting to the non-punctuality. On Saturday I thought I would have the opportunity to see my first Latin American (16.) boda, but actually I missed the ¨wedding¨part and arrived only in time to eat and meet. The wedding was supposed to start at 8:00 and did not start until about 8:30, but nevertheless we arrived during the middle of the sermon and decided to wait in (17.) el coche for the ceremony to conclude (long story).

These past two semanas have also served as a good lesson in (18.) paciencia. Some days, unfortunately, I feel like my whole day flies by without me being able to say I really accomplished much of anything. But because of (19.) la cultura, nearly everything takes longer to do here than it does in the states. If I need to wash my clothes, for example, I first have to fill up the wash machine with four to five bucket fulls of water. Then, because we don´t have a dryer, I have to hang everything up on (20.) el techo to dry...but only early in the morning, so that they don´t get rained on in the afternoon! (This is a picture of our roof.)

If we need more water or gas, we have to stand in front of our casa and wait for (21.) un camión to come by at just the right time (so if we leave in la mañana, we miss out!), then haul the huge, heavy jugs up the stairs to our kitchen. This morning we ran out of gas and I had to take a freezing cold (22.) dulcha. And if I need to go somewhere, I can´t just get in a coche and go; and sometimes I have to take 2-3 different taxis or busses to get to one place. Our bus ride to Ococingo on Friday, for example, was nothing more than a crummy 20 passenger van crammed full of strangers, and then from there we had to take a taxi to the ruins.

But don´t get me wrong...I am really enjoying living here still, and the living arrangements are really quite (23.) comodo. But I hope that we (24.) Americanos will realize every day that there are so many (25.) gente in (26.) el mundo with so many fewer privileges than us, yet who live such happier lives. Now that my (27.) noches will not be taken up translating, I hope to focus more on my English class that will start in about 2 more semanas. Even though preaching students are required to take the class, it is also intended to serve as an outreach method for (28.) la comunidad. So (29.) primero I will have to advertise for the class. I have debated whether to put ¨free English classes¨on the brochures. Some people might be more willing to come if they know they don´t have to pay, but some may also assume that ¨free¨means poor quality (which I certainly hope they won´t be!) Please pray for the success of the (30.) clase and share with me any thoughts or suggestions you might have about that.

Hasta luego,
Elizabeth

1. last name

2. population

3. words

4. the teacher

5. opportunity

6. places

7. tourist

8. members of the church

9. taxi driver

10. time

11. money

12. streets

13. stores/shops

14. lunch

15. christians

16. wedding

17. the car

18. patience

19. the culture

20. the roof

21. a truck

22. shower

23. comfortable

24. Americans

25. people

26. the world

27. nights

28. the community

29. first

30. class

Los Días de la Semana:
domingo
lunes
martes
miércoles
jueves
viernes
sabado

Los Números 1 a 10:
1. uno
2. dos
3. tres
4. cuatro
5. cinco
6. seis
7. siete
8. ocho
9. nueve
10. diez

P.S. Sorry for the delay in posting this blog. Our internet has not been working, and I have also been gone a lot.

la primera semana

Photo descriptions (left to right, top to bottom):
1. typical looking street/view of San Cristobal

2. one of the mian streets, where some of the markets are

3. inside the church building

4. and 5. streets by the church building

6. JC Enlow, John Gibbs, Chantel and I eating together on the 2nd night

7. the outside of the church building

8. one of the streets in the downtown area

Greetings readers! I have been wanting so badly to update my blog, but every time I think I will have time to do it, something else comes up. Hopefully in the near future I will be able to settle into a more normal routine and be more consistent about updates. I have spent my first week here enjoying one of my favorites pastimes: shopping! When I first arrived my room had only a bed and a sink. So I have had to buy all kinds of odds and ends to store my clothes and books in, fill up my room, and make it feel more comfortable. All that it lacks now is curtains for the door and windows (all of which are very see-through right now!) I went to a fabric store for the first time the other day to pick out material for the curtains, and I must admit, it was actually kind of fun! Shopping here takes much longer because you have to go to a different market for everything you need; and sometimes the bus ride to go to the market takes 30 minutes or more. San Cristobal does have one large department store that is similiar to Wal-Mart, but even though we can find more of what we need there, I was disappointed in the higher prices.

From 5-8:30 each night I have been translating for the Bible class that meets here at the school. Because we have been studying the book of Hebrews, I have been learning all kinds of big new words (in Spanish : ) like priesthood, concubine, and grafted. At first the teacher felt discouraged that only 5-7 students were coming, but since Mon. the number has almost doubled. The preacher, David, pleaded with the congregation on Sun. night to try to attend the class, so his words must have really affected some of the members. The students range in age from 12 to 66 and include both men and women. Daniel, the 66 year old student who has been taking the classes for credit, always comes eager to learn and preached about a 2 hour sermon last Wed. (while the preacher was still traveling). I´m pretty sure that´s the longest Wed. night service I´ve ever sat through!

As promised, I will tell you more about where I´m living; but not too much, since ¨pictures speak louder than words.¨ The school meets on the first floor of the house Chantel and I are staying in, and it has 3 classrooms. Global Missions bought the house from one of the families at church a few years ago. We live on a busy street, which has its advantages and disadvantages. One of the good things is that buses and taxies always go right by the house, but one of the bad things is that the street comes alive as early as 6 in the morning with roosters crowing, busses squealing, pedestrians yelling...and all kinds of announcements that get broadcasted through a megaphone, like ¨Agua Pura!¨ The trucks that pass by my window sound like freight trains. But really I´m not complaining, I just wanted to share some of those cultural differences with you. As for the climate...if I told you that it rarely even gets hot enough for me to break a sweat, would you believe it?? Well it´s the truth! Not only is the entire city surrounded by mountains, but the temperatures are very similar to what Tennessee would feel like in late April or early October: cold enough at night and in the mornings to wear a sweater or jacket, but warm enough during the day to feel comfortable in a T-shirt--and still get a good tan! So to all of you sulking about those steamy southern temps and unbearable humidity--na na na na na na!!!

My first few days here have really been quite enjoyable. Many of the church members have gone out of their way to make me feel welcome, and I feel grateful to have so many friends in such a short amount of time. On Saturday I went to a young people´s class at church, and then some of us hung out in ¨el centro¨afterwards (basically the downtown area, where most of the shops and restaurants are). I thought it was really appropriate that the guy who gave the class spoke on friendship, and then we were able to go out and have fun together afterwards--something I later learned that they hardly ever do, but that they all enjoyed very much.

Random thoughts:

--I think I´m going to start wearing only shoes that are completely flat on the bottom, so that I won´t feel so tall compared to every guy I meet--I´m just not used to that!

--I´m starting to see more and more signs of the Mexican culture becoming Americanized. For example, the last time I came (which was only 3 years ago) nearly everyone greeted with their traditional custom of hugging and giving kisses on the cheek, but now only some of them do that, and the majority just shake hands. I think that´s a real shame!

--Today I ran on a track instead of the normal roads and sidewalks. It really killed me to see the hurdles falling apart and the high jump and long jump pits overgrown with weeds!

--This week I rode a motorcycle for the first time and also ate tacos off the street for the first time (I figured if I´m going to get sick, I might as well get it over with). To my utter astonishment, I actually enjoyed both very much--and still have yet to be more than a teeny bit sick to my stomach (knock on wood!)

Have a great day everyone...and thanks again for your comments and interest!

--Elizabeth

p.s. 1 I wanted to add more photos, but it just takes too long; so I will try to add a little at a time.

p.s. 2 ¨mañana¨ means morning and tomorrow