Everything is fine no need to fear the Swine!

So yes I’m still alive! This is the first thing that I want to talk about here is that this huge swine flu sensation that seems to be sweeping the world. Well really it isn’t all that big of a deal. Given that, sure, it’s something to take precautions about but it’s nowhere near the Black Plague by any means. Firstly 169 deaths didn’t happen from the flu, I don’t know how that number go so high. The count as of today is about 15 people. There have been more people that have gotten the flu and recovered. All the deaths have been Mexico City and no other City or State in Mexico. I know there have been many reports of people contracting the flu there in the States and other places in the world, but from what I’ve been hearing it is a weaker version or totally different flu. I asked Madre Carmin the other day what’s up with the flu and this is what she told me:

The flu hasn’t given the big scare lately because people are starting to find out more about what is really going on in Mexico. There have only been 15 deaths, not 169. The reason people are believing the government said this was due to a big law that was going to be passed in Mexico to legalize narcotics (such as Marijuana). This definitely would not be a very popular bill to pass in Mexico to a vast majority of its citizens. Whenever the big scare started about the flu and the 100 people that allegedly died in a day from it made the whole Country close down. Yes I’m not kidding everything shut down. Schools, movie theatres, businesses, and any other sort of area that would attract many people. This scare defiantly distracted people from that law.

So yea that’s totally crazy, and I know many people are still really scared but I assure you it’s not that bad. Please stay calm  It’s beyond me to try to understand the government here. I know that this new law is definitely not going to be at all helpful to what seems to be already a huge problem.

Well that’s that and now back on to my life here at the Casa Hogar.

Like a mentioned before the school has been closed down for all the kids all week long, it won’t start back up until next Wednesday (well that’s the predicted anyway). So this week the Sisters and me have been doing a lot to try and help keep the kids entertained. We’ve been playing lots of games and during the week I keep teaching my art class. I let them paint for longer time this week since that have so much extra of it. During the night there they usually watch a movie. Something that they only do on Saturday on a normal week. A couple of days ago was this huge day for kids (it’s called Dia de Nino). I have know idea why this was never brought to the US but its should be! It’s a day dedicated to kids having fun. Usually the kids here go to the pool, but all pools are closed right now because of the scare. The sisters instead rented a couple of space jumps, a jukebox, and a foosball table. It was awesome. The kids absolutely loved it! The Sisters also got El Flaco ( a popular hamburger shop in town) to come and cook hamburgers for us. Later the kids at ice cream and then went back to playing. So yes people we need Dia de Nino back home, hey we do have Dia de Madre (Mother’s Day) after all. At night was a blast as well before the kids went to bed they still had the jukebox going and they were a bunch of the Sisters and kids dancing. It was great fun to see. Then later me and a few older kids and aspirants got to go and play around on the space jump after the kids had going to bed. Haha.

I have been trying to get in touch with a friend back home to see if it would possible to have a art auctions in Lafayette for the art work that the kids have been making. It’s really great stuff. I want to raise the money and send it back to the kids. I think it would be so awesome if the money they would be receiving would come from their efforts.

Speaking of Lafayette, I’m going to be returning back home in about 12 days! How crazy is that! I really can’t believe that all this time has flown by. I am going to miss Tepatitlan so much. It really is my home. I have already made the decision to return. With a place so welcoming and loving how can you not.  

4-22

I’ve been keeping really busy the last few weeks. In the last post I was about to leave Tapalpa and go to Tesistan. I spent about 5 days in Tesistan, it was a really cool Casa Hogar. It was quite different to be in a house that has less the half of the kids as the previous one. All the kids were pretty welcoming to me. So of to smaller ones were a little shy. I’m kind of sad that I didn’t get to spend anymore time there. You can only get to know someone so much in only 5 days. This Casa Hogar is pretty close to Guadalajara. As you can tell from the pictures that I posted Guadalajara is huge and the traffic is ridiculous. I had the pleasure (haha) I driving in the city. It’s like 10 times more dangerous than driving in Houston. That might be a little over exaggerated but that what it felt like at the time. I did enjoy walking around Guadalajara and see all the shops and huge buildings. I went to the Cathedral in the plaza it was huge! I actually went a couple of times to downtown. Some of the kids invited me to go with them it was really fun. It was with a bunch of girls the first time so they went shopping for underwear. So yea, I went to other stores, haha. It felt very Americanized in Guadalajara which was kinda of a bummer, I saw lots and lots of tourist. At the same time it still had it own culture though. You still saw the little taco stands and old me playing guitars every now and then, which was cool. Also while I was in Tesistan I went with the kids to a water park, which you can see my photos. This is the time when I drove, we had to take two different vehicles; a man that’s been helping out with the kids in the Casa drove the other car. He speaks a little bit of English. He’s pretty much like a big brother to the kids, which is really cool to see that they get that kid of companionship. I really enjoyed my time there I was to go back, maybe I will before I leave again. They were all asking if I would return(or “regresas”). Angelle if you ever come back here you should definitely go check out some of the other Casa Hogars. They’re all packed with cool kids .

Last Friday I came back “home” to Tepatitlan, I call it home because it’s truly what it feels like. Chito drove me back which was nice of him. He stops by in Tesistan every now and then because that’s where Madre Yan Franka is now which was the Mother Superior in Tepatitlan when he grew up, he raised him up from a little baby. I really love hearing the stories of how the grew up in the Casa Hogar and it’s great to hear how important the Madre’s were to their lives. I can’t stress it enough that I have so much respect for what the Madre’s in Our Lady of Sorrows are doing. So when I came back Friday, Chito invited me to go with him and his Girlfriend to a concert. So of course I went, how can I pass up live Mexican music! It was really great! I really have came to love Banda (which is a genera of music here, it’s kind of like upbeat mariachi music). Larana, Lucero, and Lucil (or Mucho Lucho, haha it’s here nickname) were all there. We all danced, well I tried to anyway, and had a blast. I hadn’t seen them in a few weeks so they were all complimenting me how much better my espanol had gotten, which was cool of them. We didn’t get back to really late so I crashed on the couch for the night. But not before we eat some great taco’s, from what I am told Tepa has the best Taco’s in Mexico, I’m not arguing they’re really great.

The other day me and Pepe went see a piano concert in the plaza it was really beautiful. The guy who played was amazing. Every song he played was really impressive. It’s actually the first time I’ve ever been to something like that, it’s really peaceful an relaxing I liked it a lot.

Yesterday me, Lucero, and Larana went to see and Mariachi band play. But before they had a few cock fights, which I don’t find to interesting but it really seems to be a crowd pleaser here. Anyways, the band was soooo amazing. They preformed better then any band I seen before in my life and there were so many members. My personal favorite was the violins, oh and also the harp! I have pictures of all this stuff it’s been great fun . Oh the pictures of the fireworks and stuff are from the plaza, every night for the fiesta is a huge firework show. I’m not kidding every single night for like over 2 weeks.

By the way Angelle I had a Super Loca Burger. It’s AWESOME., I actually ate one tonight as a matter of fact. Roberto works at El Flaco now, he started yesterday. I believe it’s his first job.

One last thing, I wanted to thank my Mom, Jennifer, and Angelle for reading and posting on my blog it really means a lot to me to get the contact from back home .

4-12

Well I don’t know it anyone still reads this but I think I’ll keep posting because I feel it allows my self to keep a somewhat decent grounding to my country. If you do read thanks, I hope I don’t bore you . Any way I’m still in Tepalpa right now. Its been really great here. Me and Mary have been going to Mass everyday. I went to the Easter Vigil(except here it’s called Pascua de Resurection) yesterday it was really beautiful. It was so super packed in the chapel. We had to stand up in the front with lots of people around us. Something that’s also really cool about yesterday is that it was my 1 year anniversary since my Baptism into the Catholic Church! Yep yep! I can’t believe it’s been a year already. One of the things that went through my mind was that how amazing crazy is was for me to come to Mexico on my own. Firstly, I spoke no Spanish. Secondly, I’ve never been out of the country unless it’s been lead and with a big group of people I already know. And Thirdly, I have never went to live with someone who I have know idea who they are. As I thought about all this I just felt so blessed at all the courage that God has given me to be able to go on this journey. I think about it now and if this was the Blake of pre-baptism I was have never done this. I think I would have gone crazy. But that’s something so great about my faith, no matter how much I distance my self for the people I’m familiar with I can always connect with someone around the world with our same adoration of Christ.

I was talking to Mary yesterday about her call to the religious life and how it’s so different here to see so many young people that are going to the convent at such a young age. I asked her if her parents had pushed her to go into this vocation. She told me no that both her Mother and Father both told her no and that she couldn’t go. When she was 16 she asked and they said no. The same goes for when she asked again when she was 17,18,19,20. The fact that Mary kept on asking and was so perseverant is so amazing to me and gives me so much respect for her. They finally allowed her to go into her called vocation when one day her Mom and Dad went to the convent with her and saw how beautiful the life style of the sisters was. This is really crazy to me because I have always thought that families have always pushed their daughters and sons into religious lifestyles. It’s not though, well in this case anyway, there is just as much of a struggle her and in the United States. So I still don’t know why there is such a shortage of young people being called to religious life back home. Well it’s more on the female side then the male side I think.

I have a bunch of pictures right now from Tepalpa. I’ll upload them as soon as I can. I can’t do it here because the internet is really slow and disconnects me every 5 seconds. So I’m going to be talking to a sister that lives in Guadalajara today to talk about if I can go over there for a little bit to help out and visit with them. I’m sure there I’ll be able to post pictures and hopefully call people  Welp that’s all I can think about right now. God Bless and I hope to hear from you soon!

4-8-09

I had a really great birthday yesterday! Marty, Roberto, and I climbed a huge mountain. It took a pretty long time to get to the top. We actually we took a wrong path at one point and went up the wrong mountain. It was totally cool with me. Roberto was pretty tired. All he likes to do is watch TV, like most kids his age, haha. We hiked for about 6 or 7 hours yesterday. It was really amazing. When we got to the top of the mountain that we were set to climb initially, it was so worth all the hard work. The is this huge rock on the top of this mountain, similar to the “Pedritas”, that you can see all the mountains in Tepalpa. It’s so wonderful. It’s definitely that most beautiful mountains area I have ever seen in my life. I have pictures of it but it can’t really show you the magnitude of the beauty.

Later on in the day we went to Mass at the beautiful cathedral in the Plaza. A great way to end my day  After the Mass we went to a store close by and got ice cream. I told Marty that something I like to do with my ice cream is to put candy with it. Something like gummy bears. So we went to a little candy shop close by and bought a few. The only problem was that they were super old and hard. It’s funny though; we kept referring to them all night at rocks. Marty’s sisters invited us to go sleep over at their house. They just recently moved into a house near the plaza it’s nice little house. We stayed up hanging out and laughing, oh and dancing. Or at least they were trying to teach me how, you know how horrible I am at that stuff.

4-6-09

I just showed Marty the video that I made from Tepa. It made her cry. It really touched me, I forgot that she had spent 2 years living there at one point. She must have so many memories from Tepatitlan. I’m really glad I showed it to her.

 

4-3-09

I just arrived in Telpalpa. We were riding up a mountain for a pretty long time. I thought we would never stop ascending, haha. The ride up was amazing none the less. It was dark outside so it was beautiful to see the town below us all lit up as we kept climbing.

Before I talk about Marty’s(It’s short for Marecello) house I wanted to talk about the Casa Hogar in Guadalajara that we went to before we started on our wary to Tepalpa. It was a totally different house than the one in Tepa. Firstly it’s comprised of all little children. I think oldest there is 9 years old. I’m guessing that this would be more of the mind set of what people think of when I say I’m going work in an Orphanage. It’s more in the country area, the facilities aren’t as great at the ones in Tepa, and there are lots and lots of little kids. Yes it’s like “Nacho Libre”. It’s a smaller Casa Hogar, there are only about 40 kids apposed to 86 in Tepa. We went their because that’s where Marty lives. I really want to go back to this Casa Hogar before I leave. One of the Madre’s invited me to go.

Marty lives in this nice house that has a wonderfully welcoming feel to it. It’s totally made out of bricks, the walls and everything. They have beautiful gardening work all around the house I thought I would have to take some time to get adjusted to this living situation here, but I didn’t I felt right at home. I was able to go walk around the town a little bit the other morning. It’s so beautiful to see such amazing scenery all around you. There is even a volcano in the mountain. There are so many great things here, I don’t think I could list them all or convey in writing about how wonderful they are. I think this is a place that you have to truly have to experience first hand to get the affect.

I went to the plaza the other night and in the middle of the square were a bunch of different groups of people dancing these traditional dances in authentic outfits. It was so fun to watch an also me being the animation nerd that I am thought it was so cool how their dresses moved and feet stomped!

Another really cool thing that we were able to see were these huge rocks called “Pedrita” they were really breathtaking. It kind of reminded me of Stonehenge (not that I’ve ever seen Stonehenge in person, but I can imaging that what it’s like). They were really quite amazing. Marty got me to climb up one of the huge rocks. I really don’t think I knew what I was getting my self into. It was pretty scary. I seriously thought it would have been easier. I thought I was going to fall at one point. Marty helped me a lot with getting down. I have a few pictures of that in my album. I think all in all it was totally worth it.

4-2

I just had the coolest birthday party! It’s definitely on the top of any that I’ve ever had. The sisters and kids wanted to throw me a party here tonight, since me and a lot of the kids won’t be here due to the vacations. It was so awesome. The arranged the whole eating room and put Mexican themed table clothes and a delicious cake (with some Mexican cartoon character on it) to top it off! We all had hamburgers and French fries before, which were really great. Before they started to eat they all started singing and chanting. Some of the little ones were chanting, “I want to sit by Blake”.

I found out that it’s traditional to have to face pushed into your birthday cake, haha. First they turned off all the lights in the eating room and had me blow out all the candles (yep that’s right all 25). After I blew all of the candles out they were all chanting for me to take a bit out of the cake and as soon as I did I got my faced pushed in. I really loved it. I’ve never experienced a birthday like this before.

Before I left from Tepa last time I gave Sor Carmin some money to buy some piñatas for the ninos at that time I didn’t know if I would be coming back or not so I wanted her to do that for me. Well she hadn’t and she bought them today. It was so awesome to see how ecstatic the kids got when they heard there were piñatas. So after were done eating and I was finished cleaning my face, we went out side to do that. I got to be one of the pullers for the piñatas and I also went up to swing, haha I didn’t do to well. This was definitely a memorable day.

So as I said they kids are going on vacations and so am I. I’m going with Roberto to Tepalpa. I know it looked similar to the name of the town I’m at now but it’s different. It’s a small Rancho that’s up in the Mountains. It’s about 3 hours away from where I am now. I’m not sure if I’ll have internet access while I’m there so this my last post for a little while. I’ll be there for a week. And when I come back I’ll be 25! Well in my mind I’m already 25! That fiesta definitely made me feel like I’ve turned a different age. Now to do what 25 year olders do. I’m not to sure what that is. Well I don’t consider my self to be the typical 25 year old, haha.