One thing that I despise about write a blog, a ministry newsletter and a ministry website is my propensity to want to please people but also my strong opinionated personality. Being a people pleaser while being opinionated, passionate, and strong willed person is a recipe for frustration. This is particularly true when we have such a varying reading audience. Invariably, no matter what I write, I'm going to offend someone and that is a really difficult position for me to be in. Most times however, the passionate and opinionated side kicks in and needs to express itself regardless of what people think!
In any case, I'm sorry when my writing confuses or offends you. I must be true to myself and write from my heart. Otherwise, my writing will become cold, distant and impersonal. I just cannot do that so please give me grace as I work through the many emotions of living in a foreign country.
I don't know what that has to do with the price of eggs but it has been on my heart for quite some time so I just wanted to say, "I'm sorry" if I have been offensive in any way.
I think right now I am pondering the joy we find in living in Mexico. I don't know what it would have been like for us maybe 10 or 15 years ago but right now, where we are in our life, we love it! Gary and I both have mellowed where the cultural issues don't bother us. Nathaniel and Bethany are so pliable in their youth that they are naturally more flexible. Therefore, at 13 and 14 years old they are at a very good place to live in a different culture. I think the most difficult years to move internationally would be maybe from 25-40. Those years are spent in high achievement mode and of course Mexico is not the place to bring a day timer and a list of 30 goals to be met by next week!
Gary and I see the cultural differences all around us and most every difference is something that we either love, appreciate or at the very worst can live along side without getting upset. We've read in many sources that Mexico and the US. are more different culturally than any two nations in the world! This means, that despite the fact that we are neighbors with Mexico, it is easier culturally to move to China from the States than to move to Mexico! Amazing!
Last week I set out to write a blog on the differences we see and I quickly realized that they are too numerous to list. Absolutely everything is different. Even going to Krispy Kreme is different! Because of NAFTA there are a lot of American owned stores but we've realize that going into a Starbucks in Mexico doesn't mean that the culture of Starbucks has followed it South. It's a store that sells yummy coffee and that is the end of the similarities! It's the same with Sam's, Costco, and Office Depot. I wanted to take a picture in the mall in Toluca of a Mexican folk dancer with SEARS behind her. It was such a contrast in settings. to us when we see SEARS we think America! But even with Sears behind her, she was still dancing a Mexican folk dance and the Mexican culture was all around. Regardless of NAFTA the Mexican culture remains intact (Thank God!) and VERY different from the US culture.
In any case, Gary and I realize that there are a large number of people who live internationally and have difficulties. There are also a large number of people who live internationally and love their lives! Thankfully, because of age, God's grace, and numerous other reasons, Gary, Nathaniel, Bethany and I are in the second category of loving our life in Mexico!
In some ways I think Gary and I have reverse culture shock. We see the contrast between the American culture and the Mexican culture and we find ourselves complaining about the American culture. When the paint shop owners are playing with their little girl who goes to work with them each day, we feel such sorrow for the way American children are shipped off to "kennels" (as Gary calls them) while both parents work in opposite ends of town trying to make more money in order to buy more stuff and fulfill the distorted American dream.
I think that is one of the most obvious things that we love about Mexico is the unbroken family unit that has been lost in our society with the industrial revolution and the feminist movement.
I was a nanny for many years prior to getting married. I took care of many children whose parents worked 10-12 hour days and would come home only to peak into their sleeping children's rooms and kiss them goodnight as they slept and then have the process repeated starting early the next morning before the children woke up!
We told our Mexican friends about the concept of daycare and nannies and they were horrified! It's unthinkable for a Mexican mom to have a baby and 6 weeks later hand the little infant over to a business to "love and nurture" the child. When we shared this with our Mexican friends the idea was so foreign that it was almost difficult for them to believe!
I'm sure being opinionated will mellow with time and with the healing balm and joy of living in a place that we love but for right now we find ourselves in reverse culture shock. And for this we ask for your grace and patience.
Now that I have gotten that off of my opinionated and passionate chest I can share more about our weekend with friends!
Carlos and Susanna are such a fun couple full of life and love. We had such a delightful time with them, even when Carlos pulled over so that Susanna could jump out and puke from the windy mountain roads in her pregnant sensitive tummy!
It took us two hours of mountain driving to get to Toluca. When we arrived we went right to Costco to do our major shopping trip. In the mundane issues of life we were very thrilled with Costco. I found the healthy avocado oil that I NEVER thought I would find in Mexico (as an oil not as a fruit!). I also found flax meal and a couple organics. We stocked up on items that are impossible to find in Taxco so that was good. 
After we were done at Costco we got Chinese take out at the mall. Even that was a lot of fun in the fact that Carlos was suffering with the spiciness of the meal and we were laughing at our Mexican friend's sensitivity to spices!
Then the real fun began! Carlos wanted to take us "by" the national park, which ended up increasing the drive home by three hours! Actually though it was part of the whole joyful day, Carlos was lost and apologizing like crazy, we were all laughing and Susanna was raggin on him in Spanish!
Actually the national park was beautiful and was such a comfort to me. We realize that the things we miss about the States are the things that were important to our family such as camping! Little did we know that a couple hours North of here there is camping in the national forests of Mexico! They have cabins to rent, horse back riding, go carts, and hiking! This is a dream come true for me. I thought we would have to settle for cottages on the beach for our future vacations. Now of course I am nuts over the ocean but I have camped since the day I was born (my mother used to wash out cloth diapers under the camp pump water!) and now our family has had very special camping memories in Colorado. I think this was one of the most difficult aspects to leave behind in the States because we had no idea that the concept of real camping existed in Mexico, outside of the American RV parks scattered in the hot tourist areas.
Some things in Mexico are such a pleasant surprise to us. I never pictured cabins nestled among the pine forests overlooking the mountains! I was just in total glorious shock at the beauty and even the fragrances of camping!
There was a lake and a small playground at the campground where we stopped and walked around for a bit. We all had so much fun together!
When we left the national park it took us three hours to get home. Carlos didn't realize how much out of the way he had taken us and then he got a bit lost and wound around the Mexican countryside through many small villages. But we had fun through it all and bonded with them in ways that we wouldn't have if everything had gone "by the book" and all scheduled and precise.
Susanna is very pregnant and kept shouting every time she saw a road side food stand. We did stop for grapes and then she was hungry for tacos. We kept laughing at how she was dying for tacos at 10:00 at night!
We women folk had to go to the bathroom but of course it was late and there wasn't facilities for miles on end. Carlos stopped the van and we all jumped out having our first Mexican adventure of hiding behind a roadside building and using the facilities that God created!
We got home a bit after 10:00 and we were all exhausted but much better friends because of our day long adventures together.
Gary and I sat in bed and in awe of how close we have become to our Mexican friends in such a short amount of time. After so many years of being lonely living here among the Mexican people is such a huge blessing in our life. We can truly say that we love Carlos, Susanna and Camila (and baby on the way!) and feel such love coming back into our lives from them. What joy floods our hearts!
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