Painting Project.

Last week I spent a couple long afternoons painting.  At the church the walls in two of the classrooms and in the hallway don't have anything on the walls. So I wanted to do something to make it more fun.  The themes for this season of classes at the church were God is _____ (strong, faithful, love, forgiving, etc), a different God is____ each week.  There were eight different ones so I wanted to do four, one on each wall in the two classrooms that didn't have anything.  Also in the hall way I wanted to do a bible verse.  After digging the paint out of the big closet, we drew first in pencil everything that we were planing to paint/write.  We did in big letters the Dios es_____ in the class rooms and in the hall way Galatians 5:22 (The fruits of the spirit).  Then my friend Luis and I painted  all the Dios es_____ while Jennyi worked on writing the fruits of the spirit in pencil. We then all worked on painting the fruits of the spirit and also starting and owl which isn't finished yet. It was really fun and I'm really happy with how it looks. Plus now I have some paint on my painting shirt to remember Mexico with:)

*I'm missing a picture of one

I HATE SHOPPING

       Yesterday we went dress shopping for my quinceanera.  I already know what dress I'm going to wear but we needed to pick out dresses for the Damas and get the shirts for the Chambelans.  We left on the bus and got there about 10:20ish, all eleven of us.  We then were there until 4sih.  And no we didn't eat any lunch why we were there.  Jennyi, who is helping plan every thing, already had an idea of a dress that might work so we went to the store where that was at first.  All the Damas tried it on and we decided that, because they didn't have small enough sizes so it was big on everyone, we would look other places.  I could be wrong, but my understanding is that centro is the main place where clothing stores are and where shopping happens.  It's super huge and I, who am not bad at all with these kinds of things, can't even find my way around all the streets even though I've been there a bunch of times now.  Despite it's vastness we were able to spend all day basically getting nowhere.  For the girls it was really hard because all the dresses that we liked either were waaayyy to expensive or didn't go with the dress that I am going to wear.  For the boys it was really hard because NOWHERE sells button down shirts in the same color in different sizes.  Two of my Chambelans are a little smaller and younger than the other two so this proves to be a problem.  I of course thought when we started that it would be super easy for the boys.  I mean come on, it's just a red button down dress shirt.  Pretty simple right?  Wrong.
       I'm sure it's much worse, but now I kinda understand what it's like to pick out dresses for a wedding. Not fun.

Tortilleria

As I've mentioned before, there are millions of Tortillerias in Mexico.

There are a couple in each neighborhood and this is what they look like. They are open from really early in the morning until they've sold all the tortillas for that day.  This one is three houses down from us and my favorite thing ever is eating tortillas when they're hot off the machine.  The machine has a big bowl where the dough goes. Then it plops the perfect amount down where it's pressed into a thin uncooked tortilla.  There are hundreds that move over an oven on a conveyor belt which cooks them.  They then flip off onto a cooling belt which carries them to where they're stalked into piles manually.  Here's the link to a video that I took of the machine at work.  http://youtu.be/62W7evfODkQ    They are sold fifteen pesos for a kilo.  You just walk up to the window and they ask you how many pesos. Then they weigh the amount for however many pesos you want to buy and wrap them in a piece of paper. They are delicious!

Advent

I love Advent. I love the candles and watching one more be lit every week. I love the devotions. I love the Christmas songs.  I love everyone has their lights up.  I love being excited for Christmas.  And new this year I love Advent calendars!  There are a lot of calendars going on in this house right now.
       The first one is one of the pop up ones that you open a new window everyday.  Each window has a picture or a couple words and from that picture or those words you know where to look in a little book to read a little prayer and story.
       The second one is shaped like a Christmas tree and has a little box for each day. We all know what that means, CANDY!  Because there are six of us and you can't fit six pieces of candy in one little box, instead there is a little piece of paper in each box.  Ellen made a bunch of different kinds of candy right before Advent started.  I made a bunch of caramels and she made lots of different kinds of chocolate which include: dark caramel, dark peanut, dark, and my favorite dark coffee!  She made slightly different ones for the kiddos but I don't know what they each are.
       The third Advent calendar is one that I brought.  I didn't know before I came if the Benefields did Christmas gifts so to be safe my main gift which I brought for them was a different book for each day of Advent.  My mum wrapped them too which makes it very excited for the kids.  "Santa Claus" has been stealing the book each day and hiding it after leaving a note with a hint which the kids also love.
       The fourth and final Advent calendar was sent by my mum.  She got a bunch of people to write me notes on the back of a picture.  Everyday there's a new picture/note and they're all hung on a line in my room.  I am a BIG fan of this Advent calendar.  It's so nice to read a note everyday from someone letting you know that they're praying for you, and love you, talking about some  memories that they enjoyed sharing with you, etc, everyday. Plus it's so fun to see all the pictures.  Good job Mama:)

Centro

On Friday my friends Luis, Jennyi and I went to centro.  http://youtu.be/uOY1PvmH3Yk  Here's a video that Jennyi took.  As you can see if you watch the video, centro is pretty cool.  It's basically a full block of little stores that all share the same roof. Kind of like a farmers market only not just with food.  There are a lot of stores with clothes, stores with trinkets, stores with candy, and stores that sell food.  One of the food places were selling full pig heads.  My favorite two things about centro is that everything is in bright colors and the millions of soccer jerseys!

AGUA

Here it Mexico, you can't just drink the tap water.  Instead you have to buy water in these big jugs for drinking and cooking.  I think that it makes a lot of sense.  Why pay to have your shower, toilet, and hose water be clean enough to drink?  As a result the water bill is less because you're not paying for filtered hose, shower and toilet water.  But it does mean that you have to make some effort to get water.  What my family here does is have two water jugs.  That way if one is empty it's not urgent to fill it up because we have the other one.  When a jug is empty you have two options; you can walk with the super heavy, big, awkward jug over to a water place and get it filled up, or you can flag down a water truck which costs a little more.  The water trucks are just pickups with the flat back filled with jugs of water.  They have speakers out the windows and you can hear them all the time "Agua! Agua! Deiz pesos! Agua!".  The problem is that they drive pretty fast down the streets.  You'll hear them and think 'Yes yay I need agua!' but when you run out the door onto the street you get there just in time for them to fly by.  So when one of the jugs is empty you're always on your toes with ears wide open, listening for a distant cry of 'Agua! Agua!'. And then when you do hear it you run like a crazy person onto the street screaming 'AGUA AGUA!'.  Hoping that either they haven't driven all the way past yet or that they'll hear your frantic cries.  If things go how you want them to they park in front of your house real quick and you hand them ten pesos and an empty jug in exchange for a filled jug of water.  One thing which makes it a little complicated is that there are good water trucks and bad water trucks.  Each water truck is just a different guy who has one of the big fancy water filters and has made a life of agua.  This means that some trucks are better than others because some people are more careful with their agua business than others. Ellen said they used to get agua from this one truck that's red,but there would sometimes be stuff in the water which is bad.  Getting water is definitely more of an adventure when you live in Mexico!

Dirt

Dirt is everywhere here.  The streets are dirt, parks usually don't have grass; just dirt, some people's houses have dirt floors if they haven't had enough money to but in a tile one, soccer fields are pure dirt, and it's always in the air.  It almost never rains, unless it's the wet season, so it's very easy for dirt to get kicked in the air.  The cars, the people, the bikes, and everything else which walks or moves anywhere helps get more dirt in the air.  From the air it just travels everywhere.  They'll be a coating of dust on tables and surfaces if the window is open and you're not using them.  You get some ombre dirt on your legs from walking around.  The thing that's the worst is that the soccer fields are solo hard packed dirt.  It's not fun or anything to fall in grass when you're playing soccer, but on dirt it's way worse.  My knees definitely aren't a pretty sight right now from a couple falls which ended in bleeders, with dirt already making itself at home The one that's actually pretty though is when it's really kicked up in the air in the afternoon.  Then when the sunsets it's gorgeous. The purples and pinks look amazing shining through the dust which you didn't realize was that thick in the air until now.  It looks almost hazy.  The moral of the story is that washing your feet is something that needs to happen every night regardless of weather you just took a shower three hours ago.  (Unless of course you didn't go outside.)

Chilies en Raja

Que necesitas tener para cocinar Chiles en Rajas:

10 chiles poblanos

Un bolsa de elote

Una cebolla

1 ½ tazas de cremas

1 cucharadita de sal

Tortillas

Ponte los diez chile poblanos sobre el fuego abierto. Tú quieres asar para suficientemente tiempo para pelarlos. Cada chile cuesta diferente tiempo.  

Doblar los chiles mucho para asar todo. 

Cuando ya está asado, póntelos en una bolsa para que el vapor ayude separar la piel de los chiles. 

Pon maquilla en un sartén para caramelice la cebolla que es en rebanadas.  Cocine en alta temperatura.  

Mientras las cebollas están cocinadas,  se remueve la piel de los chiles poblanos. Pon agua en un tazón grande y frote los chiles con tus manos para remuévanse la piel. 

Cuando estas casi terminado con pelar el piel de los chiles, añada un bolsa de elote.  Corte los chiles en tiras. Baja la temperatura  y añada los chiles. Añada 1 cucharadita de sal y 1 ½  tazas de crema. Agite todo hasta que la crema se ve un poco verde.  Come con tortillas.

Advertencia: Pobremente las manos van a doler porque chiles poblanos son fuertes

Quince Dresses

Today, with my friend Jennyi, I tried on a quince dress.  I'm going to be turning fifteen whilst here in Mexico, so I'm going to have a quinceanera.  The dresses for quinceaneras are really expensive so I'm going to borrow a friends.  I was told before trying on that quince dresses are REALLY BIG. But nothing could have prepared me for what was to come. Quinceaneras are kind of like weddings here.  First there's a religious ceremony, then there's a big party.  Just like a bride, the birthday girl has boys and girls that dress up in like colors. The same idea as bridesmaids and groomsmen and there's a couriagraphed dance with the 'quince party' (think wedding party) The dresses are also really fancy and so is the hair and makeup.  Some people get professional pictures taken.  It's a big deal!
The dress that I'm going to wear, unless I chicken out, is red and has sparkles.  There's a huge puffy skirt part and a corset top.  It's a little scary.  Attached to the booty is a ruffly part.  As you might know if you know me well, this dress doesn't sound like my style at all!  For one, red isn't my favorite color in the world because I feel like it makes my skin look weird.  Also puffy dresses and skirts aren't my normal cup of tea.  One of my best friends and I have an ongoing joke about how much we love sparkles, studs and ruffles and it's all we ever dream about. Because we really don't like sparkles, studs and ruffles.
But I'm actually super excited to wear this authentic Mexican dress for the occasion!  I'm going to get my hair done all fancy which will probably also include a lot of sparkles.  Usually people get fancy makeup done which I'm also planning on doing.
Here is a picture of dresses which look very similar to mine.

Sunday

      My Sunday usually looks like this:
Morning-Eat breakfast with the fam.  On Sunday Kyle makes french toast which is amazing and definitely the best I've ever had.  Then after breakfast it's (usually) beach time!  My friends Luis, Jennyi (and different other people depending) and I have gone almost every Sunday.  We go on the bus, which here is way different than in Ann Arbor.  For one; it comes every 5ish minutes instead of every 30-60 minutes.  It's really nice because then you don't have to worry about catching it at a certain time.  The second thing that's very different is that everyone rides it.  It's only 7 pesos and it's always full to the brim.  Partly because most people don't have cars and partly because it's just what people do, it's weird not to ride the bus everywhere.
Mid-day/Early afternoon-Beach!!
Afternoon-Practice music for worship with Javiercito, Javier, and Irene. Javiercito and I play the guitar and sing. Javier plays the drums.  And Irene plays the piano.
Late Afternoon-Church service starts and we kick it off with some music.  It's really fun to lead music and there's a pretty legit stage and music system.  After four songs Kyle preaches.
Night-Once the service is done, it's volleyball time!  Most of the adults and teenagers take part and we play in the side yard where they is a net.  It's very fun and a bunch of the people are actually really good.  There are normally three teams and we play a set of three games.  Then afterward we have just two teams and the losers buy coca for the winners. It's a good time:)

Feeding Center

Every Saturday morning there is a feeding center at church.  We sing, color, then eat! I wrote more about it in a previous blog 'Lessons Learned'.  

Mateo and Christopher

Mateo with the hugs<3

Pelon making the drinks

A dead scorpion

Just chilling

Getting ready for the kids to arrive

Singing at the beginning

Enjoying the feast:)

Houses

The houses here are very different than houses in Ann Arbor.  They are colorful, small, concrete and have metal bars over the windows and doors.  Not only are the windows screen-less, but also sometimes people start building an upstairs but run out of a money which makes the second story roofless as well.  One family from church whose house I've been to a couple times has little bigger house then the average house here.  There is a main room with a kitchen and table and sofa.  Then there are two bed rooms.  All three kids, ages 8,12 and 14(boy girl boy) share a room and they're more extravagant than most families to each have separate beds.  It's definitely not rare for there to be two rooms total in a house and for some people to sleep on the floor.  People's 'backyards' are connected to the house with a sky high brick wall and you have to go through the house to get to it.  The houses are also very sandwiched together and there isn't any space in between houses; my wall is your wall neighbor.  The colors are really beautiful though and when I arrive back in the US it will definitely feel very bland and excessively big!

The Whistlers and the Door Openers

         If I had to sort all the guys here into only two categories, I would call one group 'The Whistlers' and the other group 'The Door Openers'.  'The Door Openers' are very polite and whether it's because they're just trying to be nice, or because they think girls are to dainty to handle it, they open doors and other things like that.  'The Whistlers' are also described by their name because they whistle a lot.  Short or fat, ugly or pretty, old or young doesn't matter they're gonna whistle at you when you walk past.  I can project that if I lived here for more than three months a couple things might happen.  Number one is that I would probably yell really loudly at the next boy who said 'No, yo voy' because the soccer ball was kicked over the fence and someone needs to jump over and get it.  I try to always remind my feminine pride that they're not being sexist, just polite and nice, but I always feel deep down like they're just being sexist which drives my crazy.  It's the same thing when I'm playing a game with a guy; I don't care if I end up with a broken arm, bloody nose, and one million points less than you as long as you don't go easy on me.  For me I would prefer to be half dead than to feel like you think I'm not strong enough for you to try your best.

      The second thing that would probably happen is that I would kick one of the guys who whistles really, really hard.  Maybe one time when they were whistling just because I jumped over the fence instead of a guy doing in even if it was me who kicked it over. Or I would probably also yell really loudly malas palabras at that one group of guys on the corner by the park that always adds shouts of  'Aye grenga!' 'Hai duo spek engesh' 'Hola Americana soy guapo!' 'Tu quieres jugar futbol conmigo?'  'Grenga hablas espanol'  to their whistling.  The hardest thing about this one particular group of boys is that it's really hard to just ignore them and pretend you can't hear them.  I don't know if it's just me but, my usually cool temper feels ready to burn the city down every time.

     Despite my complaints, I actually think the door openers are pretty great and I wish that guys in the US could take a lesson from them. It's kinda fun to not have to open any doors.  All my problems with the door openers are centered around when you're playing sports so take that out of the picture and it's perfect.  As my soccer couch says, 'Soccer players aren't boys or girls, they're soccer players.' 

The Plus Side of Food Here

Living here for two months so far has made me realize a couple things about food.  Here's a list of five things I've learned about food which I think are pretty great.

1-EVERYTHING TASTES BETTER WITH LARD.  I've had beans with lard and beans without lard, and they taste better with lard.  I've had two identical pumpkin pies only one was made with lard and one with butter, the lard crust was better.  I could go on forever.

2-Tortillas taste way better when you just watched them be made than when they've been sitting at the store for, god forbid, a whole day or more.  That's right, I'm officially a tortilla snob, and I'm not ever planing on going back to the dark side. There are tortillarias everywhere including three doors down from my house here.  Whenever I feel like it, I can grab a couple pesos and be happier than ever when eating a piping hot tortilla off the stack that I just watched be made. I am seriously considering opening up a tortillaria in Ann Arbor so that I don't die when I go back. 

3-If you're at someones house and they offer you food, you better eat up.  It's considered very rude not to eat if someone offers it to you.

4-Very close to number 3, you must share food.  Say for example, that you just went to the store and bought a bag a chips.  Well get ready to share every last chip.  But this one works both ways so it's a win.

5-The Coca-Cola is way better here.  It's made with cane sugar instead of high fructose corn syrup, and it is really delicious.  It's probably one of the main reasons why Mexico has the most diabetes out of any other county....

6-Guacamole is really good. So are tacos and fresh salsa.  Fresh coconut may or may not be God's best creation.  It's really amazing how much better fresh fruits, veggies and cheese taste and all the food here is made with fresh ingredients. We eat fresh fruits and vegetables all the time at home but nothing can compare to cut and bought that day.

7-Sea food is abundant here in Mazatlan.  You can find all sorts of crazy kinds and in fact the Benefields have been given both swordfish and a bucket of little squid before. The fish too, although you might not know exactly what kind they are, are fresh and delicious. 

8-Mexican soup is amazing.

9-There is this magical truck called the Pan(bread) Truck.  It is filled with delicious bread and drives around at night with with a loudly playing recording that lets you know it's there.  For 5 pesos a pop (37 cents) from a pretty big selection which is freshly baked, you can buy the bread a pastries of the gods.

10-Did I mention tortillas?

Meet my Family

Liam: 1 year old, Liam has beautiful blue eyes and the loudest scream you'll ever hear! He's certainly mad when he's mad, but when Liam is in a good mood it's the cutest thing you'll ever see.  He gets all giggly and startes singing; it can be hard not to want to kiss his chubby little cheeks and when you do it makes him giggle even more! One fun fact about Liam is that eggnog is one of his favorite things in the world.

Auggie: 3 years old, Auggie is the adorable little trouble maker-hug giver of the house. He loves to check everything out and make messes by getting into things which he's not supposed to get into.  One thing which he says a lot is 'why?'  When he's covered in paint, when the dogs covered in paint because of his handy work, when the floor has baby powder sprinkled everyone on it and when there are no more matches left because he lit them all.  Another thing he likes to do is change clothes, a lot.  He likes to change it up too and wear things in new creative ways like, for example, underwear over your shorts instead of under them.  He is also the sweetest boy I've met and never fails to say that 'why' with a cute little smile and innocence which always makes you think that he had no idea in the world that was he was doing is naughty.  Auggie is very cuddly and never hesitates to give you a big hug or to hold your hand.  One thing which he does a lot which just melts my heart is he'll look at you and say, "Guess what," as his smile gets bigger;  "I loove you."  One fun fact about Auggie is that once he threw a lit match into the garbage can and it caught on fire.

Ethan: 6 years old, Ethan knows best.  He is definitely the oldest and is turning into an expert reader.  He has this funny little drawl that you can hear sometimes when he's talking that sounds country almost.  He loves to talk and I'm definitely a fan of always being about to have a conversation about batman or the ninja turtles:)   He's also a great sport about telling me what certain words mean in Spanish when we're at church or hanging out with our friends. One of his favorite things to do is to play tricks on people like sneaking up behind them and scaring them.  Many a time I've let out a little scream when he sneaks up behind me and scares me.  He also likes to coordinate with Auggie attacking me with tickles even though I'm *cough cough* not at all ticklish. Fun fact about Ethan is that he tried out second grade this past week because first grade was a little too easy. 

Ellen: As she likes to tell people when they ask if I'm her daughter, Ellen had me when she was 16 so you can do the math.  She has beautiful eyes, which she passed down to all her kids, and a great smile which she doesn't hesitate to use all the time.  One of my favorite weird little things about Ellen is her voice, which is just nice to hear.  She has a great sense of humor and one of the funniest things she does is yell at the dog.  Whenever the dog, Tiki, runs away, he always comes back having rolled in something dead and smelling terrible.  Ellen will yell and him as a punishment and it's the funniest thing in the world.  She'll say in a very stern voice, "If you want to go back to living on the street then go ahead.  You don't get to roam the streets where you came from all day and then expect to come back here and sleep on your soft pillow every night. You're being a very bad dog. Shame on you!  Shame on your mother!"  Then she'll turn around, we're both laughing and it's just really funny.  She's also one of my two favorite mothers and great at it too.  Her kids definitely get a lot of love and laughter which are two of the best things if you ask me.  Fun fact about Ellen is that she and Kyle have known each other for a vary long time and they even went to the 8th grade dance together. 

Kyle: Just like Ellen, Kyle became my father when he was 16.  Kyle has a great sense of humor and loves every movie that has ever come out.  One thing which I love about Kyle is that he threatened the teenage boys at church that he'd shoot them if they came near me.  I think this is pretty awesome.  (James Rhodenhiser-Do not try at home. Love, your favorite child)  Kyle is great at playing the guitar and has created and taught a really good worship team at church.  He's also makes the best, and I mean THE BEST, coffee ever by toasting the fair trade beans and home and knowing the perfect way to brew it.  He makes a delicious breakfast of bacon, french toast, and pumpkin spice latte (which he makes from pumpkin that is cut and cooked at home) every Sunday which we all look forward to greatly.  Fun fact about Kyle is that he loves bow ties.  He has figured out how to sew them himself and has about a million different ones which include awesome patterns like the avengers.