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.

3-29

Well I’m not exactly sure how I should start this post. I want to be able to convey the amazing welcoming I received from everyone when I got back here. It’s been truly amazing thus far. Well I flew back in Friday. I didn’t get here until pretty late. Grisoul and Susana came to pick me up. Grisoul is a lady that’s been working in the Casa as a sectary, I think, and Susana is an older kid that lives in the Casa. Grisoul told me that the kids were waiting for me to arrive. They wanted to stay up until I got back. Well unfortunately I didn’t arrive until almost 12 so pretty much everyone was sleeping and most of the Madre’s had going to this Fiesta that a school was having, they told me they really wanted to bring me.

So anyway that next day was pretty cool. When I woke up Louis was pretty surprised to see me. He seemed pretty glad to see me again. I went down into the kitchen to help with the food and I got there before all the other kids. There were a few people in the kitchen that gave me warm welcomes. When the kids started to pour into the kitchen I just loved to see how happy they were, well mostly the little ones were really yelling “Blake”. The older kids came but and shook my hand or gave me a hug. I got a lot of “Bien Venidos”, which means welcome. All the Sister’s very happy to see me as well. Some asked about my dad and about my family. I tried my best to explain how my family has been and explain that it’ll be a difficult time for a while. Many of them seemed to be very understanding.

A lot of things seemed to be happing yesterday. In the morning Madre was telling me that there were a bunch of things that I could go do. I didn’t understand precisely what but I soon found out that I could go swimming at rancho, go to a fiesta that has music, or another fiesta I think. It felt kind or overwhelming at first to have to me invitations. I decided to go to the fiesta that was at the school. It was really cool. I have a few pictures of it in my album. The music was really cool. They had a band that was playing Banda music. It’s a huge band, like 10 or more people with all kinds of various instruments. It was crazy how many people were in it. Also there was lots of good food there. I bought some tamale’s, which were amazing . Another cool thing that they had at the fiesta was these kids that were swing chains that had fire on them. Oh and no they weren’t little kids. Probably 19 or 20, something like that. That was cool to see for a while, but the blaring electronica music became kinda annoying.

Another really neat thing that I for got to mention about yesterday is that they kids in the Casa performed a living stations of the cross. You know it’s like the one the Wisdom does but not quite as large or realistic. The kids were all dressed up. I have a bunch of pictures of that also. I really loved that so many of them got so into it.

This morning I went to the school for this huge competition that the largest school in Tepa has. A lot of the kids that live here at the Casa go to this school. So this was really cool. It lasted most of the morning. It was so awesome to see how excited the Sisters would get for the kids. I really loved to see that. It was just as if it would be their own child. And that’s exactly what they are, they’re the kids’ family. To see Madre hug and congratulate them was so awesome to see. One of the kids didn’t do so well in his competition and was kind of sad. He came sit by me and I put my arm on his shoulder and talked with him and made him laugh. Madre looked at me and gave me a silent thank you. Initially, I really didn’t know that I was consoling him, but I know that’s something he really need. I’m so happy I was there to help in that situation 

Tonight I went to the movies for the first time. It’s really nice. I would compare it to the theatres in Lafayette. I think Tepa only has one theatre. It’s really cool they have this whole little shopping area connected to it. The movie was in English, which was pretty cool. The sound was English with Spanish subtitles.

Well I think I’ll end on that not. I’ve a crazy busy couple of days. I hope everything back home is going great. I’ll be praying for all of you. Thank you again for reading! It really means so much to me.

Adios!

3-10

Tomorrow will be 3 weeks since I’ve been here. I really can’t believe it. I’m sure that lots of stuff has been going on since I’ve left. I can’t wait hear about it . I forgot to tell you that the Sisters offered for me to go to Mexico City! They want me to go with Abram, he’s one of the older kids here. I think he’s 19. I think they told me that he’s going to compete in some Gymnastics tournament. That’s pretty cool. Anyway I’m really excited to be going. Mexico City is one of the biggest cities in the world. Probably twice the size of New York City. The sister told me that I should go to the Basilica of Guadalupe, that’s definitely something I’ll have to go visit. I hear its amazing! I’ll be there for 4 days. I don’t know exactly what I’ll be able to do. I’m going to be staying at a friend of one of the sisters. I’m not sure if me and Abram will be at the same house, I hope so, it’ll be weird not knowing any one at the house and not knowing much Spanish will make it harder. But if so, it’ll be ok. The bus ride there is going to be crazy long, like 10 hours, we leave in the night so hopefully I’ll be able to sleep on the way. I’ll be there from the 19^th-23^rd. Angelle is do you have any good recommendations for what to do in Mexico City?

Today Sarah, a girl who grew up in the Casa and now lives on her own, asked me if I wanted to go to a disco this Saturday. Which I’m guessing is a dance club. I’m not big into that sort of thing, but I think it’ll be a cool experience to see how that kind of environment is in another country.

I’ve haven’t be able to go to as many daily Masses as I would like. I really need to make time for it in my day. A cool thing that I do do daily is get up and pray with the kids in the church. I don’t think there is a better way to start you day than to pray in front of Jesus in the chapel . I’m still working on my prayers in Spanish also. 

3-8

I can’t believe I haven’t written anything in 4 days. Anyways I’ve been staying pretty busy a lot of the time. Bringing the kids to school, constantly brushing up on my Spanish, helping cook meals, and allowing my self time to play games with the children in-between. None of it has become monotonous yet. I’m really having a great time. I won’t lie at times the noise gets a bit much. The other day I got a pretty bad headache from all the yelling and crying. The sisters here are so awesome. They offered me everything to make sure I got better. An Advil did the trick.

I try to set aside a little bit of time each day to practice my Spanish. I think I’m getting better every day. I’m pretty sure I’m comprehending more and more. The pronunciation is still kicking me in the butt though. Usually if I don’t pronounce a word precisely correct the kids won’t know what I’m trying to say. So I look it up in a dictionary and they say:

“Oh, (insert word here)!”

“That’s what I said”

haha

Today was awesome! I was able to go with the sisters to Guadalajara. There was this get together of all the convents of Our Lady of Sorrows in Mexico. It was pretty cool. We went to Mass with all the sisters and a lot of the families came too. Mass was beautiful. They didn’t have the biggest Chapel at there convent, not nearly as big as the one in Tepa. This was the first Mass that I’ve been to in Mexico that they gave the Blood with the Body. Which was cool!

After Mass there was the big meal where there was all kinds of great food and Deserts. I had some really awesome ice cream called Guabana. I was able to meet lots of new people. All of them assuring me that I’m coming along with my Spanish very well. Haha. I don’t know if they were just being nice . A cool thing was that I was able to understand a lot of what people were talking to me about. I met this really cool Postulant, Maricela, she very sociable and was talking to everyone there. She reminded me of a certain some one(*cough* Angelle *cough*) . Oh by the way Angelle she wanted to tell me that she’s sad that you didn’t write any letters for me to bring to her. She told me that she says Hi to you, Brooke and Taylor. Send me a message if you want me to tell her anything back. She’s really funny. She asked if I would want to go with Roberto and Jorge to Tepalpa during their vacation. I think I saw some pictures of the town on your blog. If that’s the place it’s beautiful.

After the lunch there was this really cool information session thing. I didn’t understand everything but I caught bits a pieces. Basically a sister would get up and talk about where she was from and where she worked at. Their were sisters that worked in Brazil, Zimbabwe, Bangladesh, United States, and Mexico. It was so awesome to see how worldly their order is. Very beautiful and made me feel so good about our Church!

Before I left I was talking to and young little girl. I think she said she was 10. She asked me if I spoke English. She seemed really fascinated about that. But other than that something really beautiful she talked about. I asked what she wanted to do when she grew up. She said she wanted to be Sister. That really touched me. So beautiful. This girl looked up to the sisters around her and they inspired her. That’s so awesome! Being here in Tepa and being involved with the sisters has really given me a new found respect for them. They way of life is so beautiful and humbling. I get nothing but a great since of joy in there lives.

Welp I think this is a plethora of stuff for now  Talk to you soon!

3-4

Well today marks 2 weeks of me being here  It surly doesn’t seem to be that long. But on the same token I do feel as if I’ve started to make this my home. There is a really great feeling living here. It’s just so very welcoming. One of the kids was asking me the other day if I would come back next year. I was really touched that they’re already wanting to know if I’ll come back. I definitely plan on coming back, unfortunately not as long as this time. So I have to really cherish all the time that I’m spending here. To anyone who may be reading this blog, I highly recommend spending some time in a Casa Hogar. It doesn’t necessarily have to be in here in Tepa, though Tepa is a beautiful place. There are these types of communities all over the world. Mexico alone has several. It’s indescribable the impact it has on you. As crazy as it sounds I think whenever I have a vacations from a job I get in the future, I want to come here and places like it.

3-3

Men sitting under vibrant translucent tree playing checkers with two different color sets of bottle caps that are placed upside down on the fabric table. There’s a huge dog that I once thought of as stuffed perched on a roof top. Many women stand outside of there homes and pour buckets of thick sudsy water on top of the concrete in front of the homes. Only to keep their part of the neighborhood clean. I pass some of the most elaborately designed trees. Squares, spirals, and various articulated shapes. It makes you wonder if Edward Scissor Hands roamed though here on a previous occasion. There is the fresh smell of spices being cooked on the corner of a street that are being prepare for it’s customers. While locals sit on the side of the stand and eat their meals. It’s hard so describe it. It’s kind of like the way you would think of a New York hotdog stand but without the calories of a greasy hotdog. A truck zooms by echoing “Aqua Aqua” distributing purified water to different homes and businesses. I pass by A wall painting that says “Vida Si, Aborto No”. There are little kids hand prints placed all around it in many different hue’s. I think to my self, if only all Graffiti could be this uplifting. This sort of thing couldn’t be real, could it? It just seems to be taken from the pages of some fictitious novel.

I just wanted to write this short little piece to tell you how surreal it feels to be living here. The way of life here is so simple and yet so beautiful.

2-28

I got to play ping pong today for the first time  I knew they had a table and told some of the kids that a really like to play. But when we attempted to we couldn’t find the paddles or balls anywhere. Sister Claudia was cool enough to go buy some paddles from a local shop in the plaza. The funny thing is that as soon as she got back from the tienda they had found the other paddles. So now we have a crazy over abundance of ping pong paddles. We’ll just have to use them for other things I guess, any suggestions? Haha. I played ping pong with Pepe and then Ani. Ani is a awesome ping pong player. She beat me the first couple of times.

I also went to the store today to get a watch. I really wanted to get one so I could keep track of the time when I had to go bring the kids to school and also to pick them. I was using my Ipod, but I found out that it isn’t the greatest means of a watch. Usually when I would take it out to check the time the kids would want me to play a song of show them a video or something .

The Sisters are so nice to me over here. I think they are trying their hardest to make me feel at home. It’s really humbling to me. They’re always asking me if I would like something else to eat, which I never do say I want, or I try to tell them that, but I think that gets lost in translation some where. I’m perfectly happy with whatever they are eating. But for tonight they went get taco’s from a restaurant. It wasn’t just for me but also for the sisters. The taco’s were really amazing. I only just feel bad that I’m not eating the same stuff as the kids. I usually try to eat with all the children in the cafeteria, but it the Sisters invite me to eat with them I’ll always accept it. Hey Angelle did you ever have this kind of thing happen with you when you were here? If so what did you do?

Something I really love about eating with the kids is that they always yell for me to come sit with them when I go eat in the cafeteria. I try to sit at a different table each time I go.

I had a really great conversation with Sister Carmin tonight. She’s really hilarious, which is crazy to me because she speaks pretty much Zero English. Tonight I was talking to her about how she likes being in Tepa and things of that nature. She’s been here for 8 years, she said that it’s tiring. There are 80 something kids here, and it can range up into 120. That’s a really crazy. When you’re at the Casa you wouldn’t think it’s that many because there usually always spread out all over or working or doing something. Me and Sor Carmin also talked about our difficulties with English and Spanish. I just kept telling her “ Espanole es Muy Deficile!” and she would reply “No No English”. I said “Mojer, Mujer, and Mojado”. Haha! One means Wet, one Woman, and the other Better. I think I only have one friend that can easily identify these. They may seem to look very different, but when you pronounce them in Spanish they are almost the exactly the same.

I hope I’m not carrying on to much about non-sense on here 

2-26

I’m still not sick! Hooray! Haha. I was expecting my body to react to something but I’ve been doing the great the entire time I’ve been here. The most sickness that I’ve had thus far is probably from the turbulence on the plane ride here. I say this now and watch I’ll wind up getting sick tomorrow or something, heh. But I really feel great and I do like most of the food that is severed here. There are some things that I would rather not eat but it’s cool, I eat it anyway. I have had a few hamburgers here and they were both really great! It’s seems that every one here wants to eat hamburgers from America but I really don’t see why. The one’s here are way better in my opinion. I still am on this “Super Loco Burger” that Angelle told me about. Everyone I ask don’t know where you can get it.

I was able to go with Jessica and (I feel so bad that I can’t remember here name. it’s a hard name to remember) to her Dance practice. It was fun to see. I did feel a bit odd though, 1 being the only guy there and 2 knowing no Spanish. It was cool to see they were doing all kinds of cool Jazz dances. And I also meet one of there friends that spoke perfect English. She said that she lived in LA, California for 5 years and goes back every summer. So that was cool.

Art class was fun today. I had to come up with something on the spot so I asked 3 of the kids for there shoes and then assembled them in to a somewhat interesting assortment. I haven’t see the finished results yet because I left early to go to watch the dance thing. But I’m really excited to see it. Look at my pictures, I have some pictures of there last paintings they came out really nice.

Tonight I had a really great conversation with one of the older girls of the Casa. She’s really cool. It was cool to kind of have a some what understandable conversation with my very little Espanole. We were just talking about movies and music, stuff like that. I did object when she said she liked Nicolas Cage as and actor. Haha. All I said was “Malo Malo Actoro”. She said that she want to go into acting when she goes to a university, which is next year. Very cool.

Oh if any of you guys want to send me some art supplies and things like that it would be cool. There isn’t the greatest variety of things here. I’m looking for vine charcoal, compressed charcoal, pink pearl erasers, art pencils(2B,4B), and cheep acrylic paint. I know the it might be hard to find cheep acrylic paint so if you see some and it’s really expensive don’t get it. Oh also it would be cool to get some decent paint brushes I know you can buy packs of them at Walmart for like 5 or 6 dollars. Well I think that’s a lot to ask for and I definitely don’t expect you to buy stuff just letting you know I would appreciate it  I want to get some better materials for the art classes. The kids are doing so great I would love for them to get some of the proper tools. Oh if you do send some of this to me try not to send it in to big of a package, try to flatten it as much as possible.

Well that about all I have to say for now. I’ve been getting tired early lately. I think it has to do with how buy my days usually are. But it keeps them fun and intresting!

2-25

I sit here as I end the final day of my first week in Mexico. There are a lot of different emotions that are going through me right now. I’m definitely starting to long for a familiarness in my day to day culture. It’s just hard to describe the feeling, and it really only hit me recently. Don’t get me wrong I completely love Mexico. It’s just hard to not understand what’s going on most of the time. I am starting to understand bits and pieces of conversations. And when the sisters or kids Laugh I laugh to, mostly because I think laughing in contagious no matter what. But I still don’t understand, and that’s something that I miss so much. I talked to my close friend and Godfather Matt today. I think I must of talked his ear off, but it was so nice to hear someone respond to you and understand what your saying. He had the unfortunate news of telling me that a friend of ours from Wisdom had passed away. I’m so sorry to hear this and I really wish her family all of my condolences. I’ll be continually praying for her family and her soul. She was a great person and will be very missed.

2-23

So I had my wish granted to me way sooner then I thought. I was able to do a drawing for one of the kids at the Hogar. It was a drawing of this hawk eating a snake. Not sure what is was for but it was fun to draw. I’ll have to take a picture of it some time to show you guys. Also another really cool thing was that Sor Carmin came ask me what materials I would need to teach a art class! How cool is that! I’m pretty pumped about that! I’m going to start tomorrow. It’s a mix between younger kids and older ones that I’ll be teaching. I’m excited to see what I can help them with. Pepe showed me some paintings that he did in school. They came out pretty good. Also another girl showed me some drawings that she did in her notebook. Very nice looking stuff. There is no doubt about it that these kids have talent  Oh, I just realized that I already wrote a blog for today. I forgot it was the same day. Haha.

2-24

Today is the day before ash Wednesday. The Sisters had a 7 hour Adoration today in the church which was awesome! It was from 3pm-10pm. They had the Sisters bring different groups of kids in throughout the time for prayer. Today was pretty fun. I started teaching my art class today. It was great fun! For the most part it went pretty well. I only had to use my English/Spanish dictionary a couple of times. I went get some from fruit from the kitchen for a still life. A few bananas and apples. They all(about 9 kids) got a good amount of work down today. We only had about 30-45 minutes because it took a little while to get everything sorted out. Anyway we should be done those paintings tomorrow. I want to see if I and get one for the Madre’s to get me some Charcoal some time this week or next.

Can someone from Wisdom please send me a Lenten Booklet? I would really appreciate it  The mailing address is on the first post of my Blog. I’m really looking forward to this Lenten season! I think is going to be very fruitful for me.  

God Bless!

2-23

It’s already the start to a new week! I really can’t believe that’s it’s going by so fast. Hopefully my Spanish will be as quick as the time seems to be . I’ve still been reading out of my Spanish learning books(or should I say “Yo leer mucho Espanole libro”) Oh man, that’s probably not worded correctly. And I’m so thankful that many of the kids are to patient with me. Yesterday was pretty lax. We started out day out with Mass which was pretty amazing! I loved the music that was sung. It was a lot of the little girls from the Hogar, the Gloria really touched me. That really got me excited to participate in all the masses to come. But like a mentioned earlier there is only one mass a week at the Hogar. But I can always go down the street to go to El Spiritu Sanctu chapel.

It was nice to have a day in the week where you can rest and that’s what we did. Some of the kids watched a movie and some went out into the town to the tenida’s (shop’s). All the kids every week get a little allowance to go and buy food. It’s not much at all(like 10 peso’s, less then a dollar in American. But you should see how happy they get for the little bit. It’s enough to go out into the town and buy some candy and a drink. I went buy me a manazana life( it’s pretty amazing!) Oh, I also met some new people yesterday after Mass. Sarah, and I forgot the other one’s name. Anyway Sarah lived at the Casa last year. She’s 21 now( She said that she remember you Angelle, from last year) I think a lot of the people that went to the Casa before go to Mass on Sunday. After Mass Sarah, Larena, and I went to get some ice cream. It was great stuff! I got a Pina colada de Lecha, it was really great, and came in a bag. Which I’ve been wanting to do.

So the craziest thing happened today! Our car totally broke down in the middle of the road! I was on my way back from bringing the kids to school. And you would never guess why??? No Gasolina! Welp thank goodness the Conee was with me, he actually Pepe’s brother. He doesn’t know much English but I was able to get my point across that we were going to have to walk to a gas station and get there quickly, because we had to bring more kids to school in like 20 minutes. So me and Conee ran down the street to get to the station and a man there was nice enough to put some gas that we payed for in a jug and drive us down the road to put the gas in the car. My guess is that it’s not the first time that’s happened with him. He didn’t seem to be to shocked about it. So, haha! That was a pretty amusing adventure!

Last night Madre Threasa came buy my room because she heard that I had recorded Pepe playing piano. She also wanted to tell me how much she really loved his talent. He is really amazing and I think he’s going to be a great pianist. She was telling me that he really needs to get some exposure. There is a great school in Guadalajara that has a program but they don’t have the resources to help him. I told her that I would show the video of him playing to see if I could find any support for him. He really needs to get a good keyboard all he had right now is the Convent’s houses keyboard and he can only use the for a little bit a day. Madre told me that he has a portable keyboard buy it’s not very good at all. So if any of you would be willing to donate or find a used but still good full size keyboard that would be so awesome. I told Madre I would help as much as I can. The video that I have above is just one short piece of him playing. I have more that I’ll use when I make a documentary for my trip. 

2-21

Today has been pretty cool. I was able to do a lot of different things around the Casa. It was a little less busy than the last couple of days, since it was a Saturday. I was able to go over a lot of common Spanish phrases today! Two of the girls from the Casa sat with me a couple of times at the house to help my pronounce the words correctly. Haha. I butchered so many words its not funny. I guess this is the best way for me to get a hang of it. I do feel that I’m able to understand more then the last few days. Not much and I’m pretty sure most of what I went over today isn’t going to stay solid in my brain. I think it’s going to take time. So in 3 weeks are so I think I’ll be better speaking wise. Right now I takes me awhile to process a lot of the words together in my head. Blah it’s kind of annoying to have to sit and think about what you’re going to say for so long.

You know the guy that I talked about the other day, Chito who speaks pretty good English, well he came to the Hogar today. Him and Cecilia. It was good to see them again. So apparently Chito grew up in the Casa. That was pretty cool find out. Tonight also I met a guy names Phillipe who was in school at Guadalajara to become a Dentist. He also grew up in the Hogar. I just think that it’s so cool that since they moved out of the Casa Hogar that they keep coming back. It just shows how much love they have for one another.

Another cool thing that I’ve done over the last few days is to run with some of the boys from the house. There is a really nice running track in Tepa called the “Colosial”. It 4K which I’m not sure how far that is, it’s probably a little under 3 miles. Its crazy hard to run over here. I think my body needs to adjust to the altitude here. It’s a lot higher here then Louisiana. But it’s fun to run with these guys their really silly and funny. Also I get to see the outline to the city of Tepatitlan which is pretty amazing. There are a bunch of mountains that surround the town and you can see all of them from the trail. You can also see a lot of houses that are in the city. It’s really quite the view. I think I’ll have to bring my camera one time when I go out there.

I hope that every one back at home is doing great. I really miss every thing back home. I knew it would be hard to transition from my house to this but I think that’s a sacrifice that God has called me to.

I really hope to paint for the kids some time soon. I think that will be my next project that I work on here. I’ve been telling all the Sister’s and kids that I’m an artist so I’ll have to put my skill into motion. Angelle did you ever get to do any art work while you were here?

2-21

     Eeesh I can’t believe that 2 days have passed by already! So much has happened, it’s been the quite the eventful life. Even though I don’t understand most of what’s going on, haha! I think my Spanish comprehension skills are getting better. I think that’s so because I’m getting asked same questions like a kajillion times. For the most part I’m pretty lost in what is going on. I love how many of the kids think that if you don’t know what they are saying that you will if they talk louder.

Yesterday I got to get up super early, about 6am. I went with Matthew(pronounced Matt-teh-o), the Italian, to go and drop off and pick up the kids. Matthew wanted to show/train me on how to get to all the schools. For starters I have no clue why so many of the same aged children go to different schools, it’s crazy. Everything feels so close and tight. But this might also be do to the fact that I’m driving this huge van. That same day I was able to meet so many new faces and learn and hopefully remember so of these super long names! Most of them know my name, which is pretty cool! I was afraid that they weren’t going to be able to. It’s kinda funny to hear them say “hola Blake”. And I got to go to Mass yesterday as well. The only problem about that is that I have to go a different Chapel, the Chapel that is connected to the Casa Hogar only has a mass on Sunday. But it’s not to huge of a deal it give me a better chance to enjoy the city. I really love Tepa it’s a great town. It’s way bigger than I thought. Me, Matthew, Cecilia, and Melena(that’s probably not spelled right) walked through Tepa and went through a bunch of shops and stuff. It kind of reminded me of the French Quarter.

Today I got to drive the Van to bring the kids to school. The traffic here is nuts! I think I am capable of driving anything and anywhere now. It was a bit frightening at times but I think I did pretty good. I hate those dumb “topas”, they’re kind of like speed bumps but they are pretty much the same color as the road so there is no way of seeing them. Sometime they’re signs and most of the time they aren’t. I just have to be super careful when going down small roads, that usually where I find them. Matthew said that some people call the town Topatitlan to make fun of the roads.

These kids are so great. I love the little ones that give me all the hugs and all the older ones that want to let me listen to there music with me. Lupita is one of the little ones that always want to hold my hand. She’s a really great little kid, she seems to really want to get me to learn Spanish. I was sitting with her and a few others at a table in the Hogar and we were all searching in Spanish/English dictionaries to find a word. It was pretty funny to say the least. I think that’s something I love about being her, that no matter how much we are not able to understand each other, we can always laugh and smile at each other.

Tonight I went to a diner at Cecelia’s friends house. Cecelia had invited me and Matthew yesterday. Cecelia is really cool, she actually grew up in the Hogar and then she moved. Cecilia’s friend Lee had a really nice house, it was pretty huge. Tepa has a pretty well to do society of people. So there are many big houses are spread across the town. Anyway it was cool to eat with Cecelia and a bunch of here friends. One of them, Chito, spoke pretty fluent English. It kind of took me off guard. So it was cool to be able to talk to someone that spoke that well. The night went well I got to laugh and ask a bunch of simple questions(the kind that would come from an elementary school student, haha!).

So I’m sure I’ve left out a bunch of other things but I promise I’ll tell you more when I see you again in person! Oh! I did a thing called magic Jack lent to me which basically allows you to call the States for free. Sister Threasa’s cousin let me use it, which is really cool. The only problem is that I have to have internet access to be able to use it. And none of us here can figure out what is wrong with wireless internet. So my access is kind of limited. And I don’t want to use it to often. But don’t worry I’ll call soon!

Here are some pictures from the great journey so far! I want to get some video’s soon. I love all of you. I hope you’re all doing great!

Dios Te Bindiga!!

2-18-09

     I've only been here for half a day and I'm having a completely amazing time! The flight to Guadalajara was pretty cool, a Hispanic guy told me a lot about Guadalajara. Haha! He actually wanted me to go with him to a fiesta of some sort. He was pretty funny, he kept saying "man you better watch it there are a lot of pretty women in Tepatitlan you might fall in love and never leave!"Sister Threasa and Pepe came to pick me up. I had talked to Sister over the internet using skype so she remembered my face. Pepe is a 16 year old that lives at the Casa Hogar. He knows a little English, he's a really cool kid. Sister Threasa is pretty good with her English too! The funny thing is that she told me no English only talk in Spanish. Sp basically I just said what my friend Angelle had told me a few days ago, thanks Angelle! I ran out of things to say so I kept saying "como say dici"(which means , How do you say?) and pointing at things, haha.

     So the Casa Hogar is completely amazing I think it's so much cooler in person then the pictures that I've seen! Oh, and the city Tepatitlan(Tepa) is really beautiful and really clean. I'll post pictures soon!

There are so many kids here! It's crazy! I'm not sure that I've met all of them yet. I'm trying to remember all the names that I can. I think that there are about 90 total from all the different ages. All the little kids were surrounding me and asking me so many things that I had no idea what they were saying. All the Sisters are really awesome as well. It's funny to talk with some of them because they speak a little English and they say como say dici as well when they are trying to say something in English.

There is an older guy that’s from Italy that’s here right now. He speaks English, although he often mixed his English with Italian and Spanish. I think that he’s going to show me where the children need to be dropped off at the school. I think that may be one of the jobs I’ll be doing!