at age fifteen i was kidnapped by turkish pirates

ashley evans hurt her back and was told not to surf for the week, so she let me and britanny borrow her board. we went all day yesterday. brit went again today, but i had to go in service. and Jehovah blessed me for it. i started another study. and i think this one will be there when i show up. so far i've started five studies, and none have actually studied yet. i started one with a guy named enrique on wednesday, and made an appointment for this afternoon, but he had to work apparently. this morning's service group was about how to know if someone is genuinely interested in studying. that's a problem here because mexicans are just too nice to say no. so instead they say yes, and then don't show up. which do you think is ruder? but, i was raised in canada, and that's just my opinion. anyway, lidia is a sweetheart, and was very concerned about choosing a time that would be convenient for both of us, and when she could be certain that she'd be available.

i'm brown now. really brown. yesterday we took off to the beach at seven in the morning, and i didn't get home until five or six. i surfed, swam, slept... all the good stuff. it was a gorgeous day too. driving home was perfect. russel sims, a pioneer brother from california that lives down here, has a beautiful cabriolet. i fell in love with the car the moment i saw it. we stacked the boards on top, and i rode on the back for the drive home. the beach we go to is way at the end past the golden zone, so i got to stare at the sunset over the ocean through the palm trees while riding in my dream car after nearly twelve hours on the beach. and this is my life. i can't believe it either.

speaking of volkswagens... there are tons of them down here, but they are incredibly strange. first, everywhere you look there are old style bugs. and they are in fantastic shape. they look practically brand new. that's because they just stopped making them a few years back. that's right... they have 2000 old style bugs. like, year 2000. and then they have all these new vw's that i've never even heard of. there's pointers everywhere. they look like the vw version of a firefly. the lupo is even stranger; it looks like a toyota echo. there's derby's, polo's, sharan's, pointer station wagons, and even new pick up trucks. those are funny looking. the front end is almost the same as a new golf, very rounded, but then it morphs into a truck in the back. it baffles the mind. you can check them out at www.vw.com.mx. it is in spanish, but if you just click on the car name, you can see a picture of each one. then you'll see what i mean. baffling.

bag vs bag

yesterday i went in service in a truly poor area for my first time. it was incredibly sad. but the people were just amazing. they were helpful and kind, though very few spoke english. they live in literal shacks on the river. it broke my heart, but at the same time, i'd rather work that territory than the rich area.

in the afternoon we worked my territory, which is where beto lives. i swear he knows every house by heart. our very last house of the day was an english school, and beto used to go there so he wanted to go say hi to his teacher. she ended up inviting us in to talk to her students so they could practice conversing in english. so we conducted a study in the first lesson of the require brochure with the whole group. it was a little odd, but very neat. and every person took a copy of the brochure, and the teacher took some magazines.

anyway, i'm off to try surfing again. yay for beach day.

almost free for you lady

i made my first very expensive mistake. i went shopping.

me and enid and britanny took the day off on thursday and checked out the golden zone. we looked at all the little souvenir shops and i had fun teasing the salespeople into thinking i might actually buy something. in reality i only had enough pesos to take the bus home. but i got an idea of the stuff and the prices, and what i might like to buy in the future. until we discovered the higher end stores. they had some very cool stuff. including a gorgeous mirror that, unfortunately, i fell in love with. and since we all know that erin has no self-control, i went back the next day and bought it. it's beautiful. i'll post a picture if my camera ever works.

about that, actually, we're headed out to the ranch tomorrow morning. about a half hour out of town there's a ranch where a bunch of mexican brothers and sisters live. one of the brothers makes mexican style, wooden furniture, which enid would like. so angie (being the doll that she is) is going to take us out there so enid can see what he has or can make her. which will be great because right now all we have for furniture are our beds and the plastic chairs that were given us for the bookstudy. anyway, there is another brother out there that fixes electronics, and he says he can probably fix my camera. which would be amazing. and save me a lot of money. so here's hoping.

i'm working on my spanish everyday. really, i don't have much choice. i'm surrounded by it. but me and britanny have been practicing on each other, and working with the spanish sisters in service to force us to try to speak it. recently we've started making the jump to forming our own sentences. they're short, improperly conjugated sentences for the most part, but an attempt nonetheless. so my last title was the first sentence i made up completely on my own. it means "i know more girls who would like to come." and when i checked with belen (a very sweet little mexican girl here) as to how to say it, she used the same words, though properly conjugated the verb. i was ecstatic. conjugation is the hardest part. she was explaining all the different tenses to me, and it was making sense, but i forgot a lot of it already. i have to write it down. someone was talking about getting a group together to take lessons, and maybe it would be cheaper that way. otherwise it's 100 pesos an hour. which is way out of my budget. nevermind how much i paid for the mirror, that's not the issue here.

yo sabo mas chicas que quieran venir

i went surfing for the first time sunday morning. it was great. i didn't even attempt to stand up, i just laid on the board and floated to the shore. i loved it. i'm going again next sunday. that's a regular beach day here, before the meeting. for the rest of the day, every time i closed my eyes, i felt like i was back on the water.

then monday i started another study. this time it's with a girl about my age who works in a yogurt shop. she speaks very good english. so today at five we have our first study. i'm nervous. my study on monday didn't show up, so i have to go in to wal-mart today to set up another time. so people here are willing to study, but they're not perfect. it's still hard to pin them down.

i love these yogurt shops they have here. they have yogurt and fruit and granola cups for cheap. and they're sooooooooo good. they're all over the place. corner stores, hair salons, yogurt shops, fruiterias, taco stands... there's about one on every block. and i found i great fruit and veggie stand right across the street from my study. i got fabulous tomatos, a cucumber, limes, pears, a jalapeno... i think that was it... o, and mandarin oranges, all for less than two dollars. sixteen pesos. i used the tomatos to make fresh salsa. yum. we have a constant supply of fresh salsa and guacamole in our house. it's great.

and now, to balance the bragging... on sunday at the evans house, as karen very nicely put it, "what usually goes down the toilet, came out the shower." i don't know how that can happen, but apparently it did. repulsive.

the hip chick's guide to macrobiotics

i can't believe this society has managed to make my diet trendy and "hip". i am disgusted. but maybe it will mean that i'll be able to find the food i want. so far it has beeen impossible to find seaweed. try to imagine me in a mexican health food store asking for "legumbres de mer" and explaining what i mean through the interpretative dance that i have to use so often. i've come to call it the "stupid gringo" dance. it's one of my favorites.

at the beginning of the week i decided to make it my goal to start two bible studies this week. that's fairly reasonable for a pioneer down here. i prayed and prayed about it. i had been given an rv by an australian brother that went home last week. so on thursday i went to see her, and give her the magazines. while i was there i asked if bernie had told her about the bible study program that we offer, and she said no. so i demonstrated it, and we set up a time and place to meet next week to continue. study numero uno. i still wanted that second one, so i continued praying, and got out everyday, and tried to work territory as much as possible. i had my time for the week by yesterday, but i didn't have that second study, so i was back out this morning. i was hogging all the calls and praying between nearly every door... but the morning was almost over, and the territory was nearly finished. but i still had confidence that Jehovah would give me that second study, so i kept going. on our last door of the day, a girl about my age came to the door, and i asked if she spoke english. anyway, to try to make a long story slightly shorter, she spoke very little english, but understood me perfectly, and said she's too busy to study now, but she'll be back from the states in january and would like to study then. so she asked for my phone number. it was great. i was thrilled. Jehovah's hand is not short.

me gusta bailar

i don't really have time to write right now, but i hate leaving this for a week at a time. just wanted to say that last night i took joe and erin and brandon b for dinner down in el centro to thank them for letting me stay with them and eat their food for the first week, and we went to this amazing place. it had incredible food. i had stroganoff de camaron (shrimp stroganoff) and they all had wonderful steak. we sat outside around the plaza in old mazatlan, or el centro. my favorite part was that there was a man playing a harp, right by our table. live harp. unbelievable.

oliver eyes

it's been a whole week since my last post, and soooooooooooooooooo much has happened. first off, a big fat thanks to everyone who commented. that makes checking this thing a whole lot more interesting for me. i miss you guys too! oh, and the naked monkey statues are all over the place. i'm not sure what they're supposed to be, but they're quite odd, and i was told that that's what they're called. in spanish, of course.

i think the biggest thing that's happened is i found a place to live. i moved in with a mom and daughter, enid and britanny. britanny is my age and pioneering, so that's awesome. and enid has been wonderful, cleaning up the house, trying to make it a home. our house is really close to the kingdom hall and wal-mart... and what else do you need? so far, i haven't been able to explore too much cause even when i do get out, it's all in spanish so i don't really know what's going on anyway. i'm out of my suitcase and in my room. i have my own bed, and i went grocery shopping. it feels really good. but there are some weird things that you can't get here. apparently all the dairy tastes a little weird here. people get very excited for canadian cheese. and you can't get pickles. i'm having a hard time finding all the weird natural food i like. i went to a health food store the other day and tried to explain to two mexican women that i was looking for seaweed. it was harder than it sounds. but they were really nice about it. that's one of the great things about mexican people - they are very patient with stupid gringos like me.

me and britanny have been working on our spanish together. she's already been here for a month, so she knows quite a bit more than i do. we practice on each other while we walk to the service groups or the meetings. that's helping already. we thought about taking lessons, but decided that salsa lessons were more important. we're girls with priorities.

last week we went to white chicks. movies here are really cheap, and it's neat cause the movie is in english, with spanish subtitles. so i try to use it to improve my spanish. anyway, we were really early for the movie, and we were all too cheap to go anywhere for coffee, so we walked on the beach in the dark for about an hour. there was a lot of walking that night, actually, cause we were also too cheap to take a bus or a taxi to the theater. anyway, moonlit walks on the beach are fantastic.

then on thursday i went to my first baseball game. it was crazy. there's people wandering around selling the weirdest snacks, and souvenirs. and there's a big screen that is constantly showing people from the audience. the cameraman was completely avoiding me. i'm sure he was doing it on purpose. he must have been cause he showed everyone that was sitting around me, but always kept me out of it. i was getting a little offended. i even had a team jersey on that someone had lent me. i think mexicans are scared of redheads. or maybe it's just me. anyway, at the very end, i think it was the last inning, i got on screen twice. and i was so excited i got up to show off my shirt and gave a nice big thumbs up to everybody. people i didn't know were saying goodbye to me after the game, so that was cool. or embarassing. if i got embarassed by the stupid things i do. it's a good thing i don't.

i went swimming in the mexican ocean on friday for the first time. we had a bonfire on the beach, under the stars, and a few of us jumped in the waves for a while. i can't wait to try surfing. i was having so much fun, diving into a wave and just letting it twirl me aound and wash me up on shore. the water is so powerful, at times it was terrifying, but that just made it better. the adults had a hard time dragging us out when it was time to go.

i've been in service lots more in the past week. i'm still getting my bearings though. the weather is quite muggy again, so for the most part, people like to drive around in their air-conditioned cars and do calls... sound kinda familar? i try to do as much approach work and territory as i can. i have to build up some calls and studies. i had a really nice call today with a girl named rosa. unfortunately, she lives in tijuana. i was showing her the table of contents in the require brochure, and asked her if any of the titles interested her, and she picked "practices that God hates". i thought that was a little strange, but then she explained that her sister is having lots of trouble with her son. so she took the brochure in english for herself and in spanish for her sister. she wants me to call back on her sister, but i'll have to take a spanish sister with me cause she doesn't speak any english. i also talked to a woman at the wal-mart pharmacy counter. she took the magazines and i invited her to come to our meetings. now i have two rvs in wal-mart. that's how i justify shopping there.

and tonight we went to the circus. they have them here all the time apparently. it was quite funny. my camera still isn't working, but britanny took some pictures, so i'll try to post them later.

naked monkey statues

since my last post i've had my first meeting and my first day in service. i love this place even more. first off, everyone greets everyone at the meetings with a handshake or a kiss on the cheek, a tradition i hope to continue when i get home. i met, at the very least, half of the congregation. i'm sure it's more, but i can't remember them all because there were so many. and i think i reintroduced myself to a couple people more than once. which was a little embarassing. i arrived at the meeting a half an hour early, and stayed almost an hour after. hard to believe, i know. it was a little intimidating, but i'm determined to get to know these people quickly, otherwise i may never get to know them.

it seems the muggy, humid weather we'd been having here was building up to a storm. it poured rain on sunday. now the mugginess has gone down, and the weather is pretty much perfect. sorry, i can't help bragging. it's just too amazing.

yesterday i was out in service all day. i worked with ashley evans and rick and leslie... i can't remember their last name, but they're from kelowna and they got here the day after me. it was their first day in service here too, but they were much braver than i was. we did some business territory in the afternoon. i was working with mexican karen at that point, and we found very few people that spoke english, so i let her take most of the calls. we did rv's, studies, approach work, a little of everything really. except door-to-door. i even went on a study with karen and maylin (i have no idea how to spell that properly) that was in spanish. they gave me a spanish require brochure and i followed along as best i could. it was interesting. my goal was to be able to tell which scripture they were looking up, but i don't know my numbers very well. did you know that james in spanish is santiago? i thought that was strange.

better than robert redford bars - mexican style

i'm in mexico. i'm here. unbelievable.

the trip was long, and a little emotional. i wish i could say i cried, cause it would make me feel like you would all know how much i appreciate you and miss you, but i didn't. i came close a couple times, but no cigar. that doesn't mean i don't appreciate and miss everyone in pg. it just means i'm not much of a crier. i did start to get scared on the drive down to vancouver. i started thinking 'what am i doing!? i've never lived on my own, i've never lived in a foreign country... what makes me think i can do this?! i really have no concept of what i'm getting myself into!' but once i got on the plane i was ok. actually, my fears melted the closer i drew to mexico.

it's hot here. i'm talking about 30 degrees. and humid. it's the humidity that takes some getting used to. it's tough, but i'm learning to deal with it. ;) actually, one of the hardest things right now is the noise. it's constant. there's always mexican music playing outside, and people yelling, and that kind of thing. i'm just not used to it. when i try to read or study, it makes it difficult to concentrate. but the people are great. everyone i've met has been so nice.

erin young met me at the airport, and she was also picking up john and karen evans, who arrived moments after me, so we all drove into town together. that night i got a facial from erin's study, edna, the sweetest spanish girl. we have a deal where we help each other with the languages. she's teaching me spanish and i help her with any english she's not comfortable with. i have to say that her job is a lot harder than mine. her english is great, and my spanish is less so. much less so. after that we went to george's (pronounced horhay's of course) for the best quesadillas in town, or so i have been told. they weren't the seafood ones, which i'm dying to try. apparently those are only eaten for lunch. but they were pretty fabulous. and the drink was really interesting... some sort of rice milk with cinnamon. i really liked it actually.

the next day i met up with mikaela evans. her and brandon babcock (the other guy staying with joe and erin) showed me all over mazatlan. i met more people, looked at a couple apartments, saw the beach where they go surfing, and took a glass elevator to the top of a resort to get a fabulous view of the city. the sims, a family in the congregation, had some people over so i could meet them. we played games and had pizza. also fun. *note: mexican doritos are the weirdest tasting things i've tried so far.* we were there late, and i didn't have a ride home, so i stayed at evans. i love sleepovers.

yesterday there was a congregation get together for an australian family that's leaving, charlene, bernie and levi. it's too bad they're going, cause they're really nice. but they say they're planning to come back. probably long after i'm gone tho. there was loads and loads of shrimp. and they are massive. and delicious. we were at a resort or apartment complex of some sort that was directly on the beach, and had a pool. so we walked down to the ocean. my first time on a mexican beach. unbelievable. and we swam in the pool. when that was over some people went to rico's, a coffee shop they go to all the time. we played another game, where everyone reads a card and secretly votes on who they think is most likely to do what's described. i got no votes for "all bark, no bite" but the most votes for "most likely to be taken away by aliens to be their leader." and this was before i revealed my fear of babies. so i suppose they are getting to know me pretty quick. also at rico's there was a guy named juan paublo that played guitar and sang. he did lots of radiohead and other good stuff. he was great. and erin young sang with him for one song. she's amazing. apparently she used to sing with a group. she has a very powerful voice. talented beautiful woman. and she rides a motorbike. my newest hero.

everyone else my age is an adult while i am merely in disguise

hours til mexico: 35

i'm leaving for vancouver in an hour. i haven't slept, and i guess i'm not going to. i think i'm done packing. i won't really have a choice soon. i'm still burning cd's. i better listen to these when i get there, because i have wasted plenty of valuable time making them.

i'm too tired and burned out to be coherent, let alone interesting. next time i write, i'll be in mexico. :)

for those who belong nowhere and for those who belong to no one too much to belong anywhere else

days til mexico: 2

time flies when you're having fun.

she likes to keep to herself but i would also like to keep her

days til mexico: 3

another party in my honor. a classic martini party at monica's. all the attention and hugs and presents the past couple of weeks are a little overwhelming. my friends are too good to me. but i don't mind.

a big fat congatulations to melissa margaret freudentheil and caleb joshua johnson who managed to shock their friends (especially me) by getting engaged this afternoon. it takes a lot to make me cry, but i bawled like a baby. my li'l girl is growing up. i'm so proud... *voice cracking*

the edible suitcase

days til mexico: 4

that's only three days of packing. but i'm not feeling too stressed anymore. i'm trying to focus on spending time with the people that are important to me before i go. i'd hate for my family's last memories of my leaving to be me crabby and stressed out. and i realized that everything is going to be fine. so what if i don't get everything perfectly organized. if i forget something, i'm sure i can survive without it. and if i can't, then i suppose i'll buy it, or have my mom send it to me.

last night my congregation had a "surprise" party for me. i'd known about it for weeks, but it was still great. actually, it was kind of a surprise, cause i didn't realize how many people would be there, or that so many people cared that i was going. i mean, it is only for four months. it was really... heartwarming... you know, cheesy words like that... to realize that my congregation cares about me so much. it was absolutely wonderful. *sigh* let's all take a moment to relish the blessing of our christian brotherhood...

plus, they made me a cake that looked like a suitcase. these people are great.

o pirate

days til mexico: 7

you know who i big fat love? melissa margaret freudentheil. big fat love. i genuinely wish that i could marry that girl. that way i could have her with me always and forever. or maybe i could shrink her down to doll size, and carry her around in a little genie bottle. then i could pull her out whenever i missed her and she could do her silly little dances and such and cheer me up. or maybe i could clone her, and keep a version of her all to myself. any suggestions as to how i could accomplish one of these? perhaps i should start a fund.

wouldn't it be nice if we were older, then we wouldn't have to wait so long.

days til mexico: 9

single digit.

i spent a wonderful day with kandis. it was our last day just the two of us. we went in service, and shopping, and for dinner. it was absolutely fabulous. i love that girl. i made her try on a wedding dress so i could come to terms with her impending marriage (which i am going to miss... *heart breaking*). she looked gorgeous, of course. it made me tear up, if the truth must be told. i can be a sentimental fool at times, it seems. and dinner was great... especially the conversation. and that had to be pretty darn good to compete with the incredible food we enjoyed. i love intelligent, spiritual conversations with people i love. they restore my faith in people, and reassure my fears about my friends. i just want what's best for them, like any friend. and the best is serving Jehovah, to the best of their ability and circumstance. and to hear their goals and plans, not just including, but focussing on their spirituality... well, it makes me grin like a fool.

i'm kinda motherly with my friends... i think it stems from the control freakishness.

my violent side comes from my mother.

don't let your dreams be dreams, you know this living's not so hard as it seems

days til mexico: 10

we had our first snow fall last night. there is nothing more romantically beautiful than the first fresh snowfall. everything is hushed and clean and sparkling. and it always happens at night. those are the moments that paradise will be made of.

the following twenty-four hours of snow, however, have not been quite so magical. at first i was excited that i was still here for a little bit of snow. that lasted approximately fifteen minutes. after that, i was ready to fly out immediately. i already went in the ditch. this morning, on the way to the group. apparently i have no tread left on my tires. hm. no harm done though. and it wasn't the first accident of the season... kandis confessed that she bumped into my car last night. morton's fine, but franchesca (i've decided i like that name best) is a little bruised.

the past few days have been pretty eventful. it's starting to dawn on me how soon i'm leaving. there's been so many goodbyes already. i am now officially unemployed. i went in to work tonight, and there was already someone there covering my shift. that was a relief actually.

and on saturday we had a mexican fiesta dinner. just had some of the people over that have encouraged me the most over the past few years. it was nice. great food. and monica brought me a pinata. that was the highlight of the evening. i think the concept is genius. i got to beat a tiki head with a large stick until candy poured out. then i ate candy until i felt sick. it was fabulous.

and on friday i had my very first pioneer meeting. it made me wonder (even more than usual) why everybody doesn't do this. the information was beautiful and encouraging, and the atmosphere was so positive. Jehovah's spirit was definitely there. unfortunately, i was still horribly sick, and spent most of the afternoon hacking and snorting, which was lovely. especially for the people around me, i'm sure.

consuming too much honey can cause a person to develop strong mystical, esoteric beliefs around a central female figure

since i have decided to no longer use my blog for whining about being sick or stressed out, i'm just gonna go to bed. (wild cheering all around).

goodnight.

i like songs about drifters - books about the same. they both seem to make me feel a little less insane.

days til mexico: 16

i'm still stinkin' sick, but at least i got a nice big day in service. me and kandis and kim did bus stops downtown. i much prefer their territory for that. there's way more people. and i got to watch the video of our bethel tour last year. that was great. i forgot how great it was. i must go again one day. maybe for good.

i'm off to make myself yet another hot lemon and honey with extra rum.

superman is dead

i slept all day, and i'm sicker than i was last night. not impressed. i don't have time to be sick. the only good things about having a cold are watching tv and drinking hot lemon and honey with rum. and since i don't have time to watch tv, i'm making up for it with extra hot lemon and honey with rum. ok, mostly just extra rum.