Settling In

Well I have been in Douglaprieta (what we call the area since we see Agua Prieta and Douglas as on city divided by a wall) for over a month now. There is so much to say about living here. I finally got a camera and I am working on figuring it out. Once I do, there will be lots of visual aids available for your viewing pleasure.

Right now I am getting indoctrinated into the workings of the office. As with most non-profit faith based organizations, some organization must happen. I am filling in as part time Office Manager/Secretary at the moment as well, and have taken organizing the clutter into a workable environment. I have added mailboxes, a large wall calendar, an emailing system and so forth. I have also thrown away mass amounts of "stuff". I am also mastering Quickbooks, which is highly marketable.

While being in the office isn't my first choice, I think it is valuable as I am seeing how things work before I get up and close with the nitty gritty. Besides, the time to study and practice my Spanish in a less serious environment it VERY welcome. I can't help but look back on all those years of Spanish class when I decided to take a nap instead of working extra hard on conjugating irregular verbs. I have taken to talking to myself on my daily commute- describing the scenery, carrying on imaginary conversations, making mental notes of words I don't know. My commute is a 5 mile bike ride each way. Perhaps an Agua Prieta geography lesson is in order. Most of the streets in AP are either Calles (streets) or avenidas (avenues). The Calles run parallel the wall, and the avenidas perpendicular. The port of entry... the ONLY port of entry.. is at the intersection of Avenida 1 and Calle 1. Our apartment (Leisha, a Young Adult Volunteer with the Presbyterian Church) is around Avenida 40 and Calle 10. SO I ride along the wall for about 4 miles chatting it up with myself.

I am starting to get used to the things that I found different initially- like the piropos- remarks that men shout when a female passes. It is just accepted here and everyone is used to it. You just roll your eyes and keep going. Being a guerita (the acceptable term for a white girl) is the easiest way to attract attention. It can be irritating sometimes though. People initially try to speak to you in English. I really want to just blend in most of the time so people will stop thinking I am a tourista. My friends, however, as more used to me and realize that I want to speak in Spanish as much as possible and so they keep our communication mainly Spanish. They, however, want to practice their English, so usually our conversations end up being a nice mix (Spanglish).

The relationships are what I value most here. When someone invites you in and says that their home is now your home as well, they truly mean it. The Cifuentes family, which runs the roasting and packaging end of Just Coffee (www.justcoffee.org) out of their home, have adopted me as part of the family. They are wonderful people. Vicki, the wonderful wife, makes a wonderful local favorite called Pazole ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pozole ). I am lenient on my vegitarianism for items such as chicken pazole.

Our apartment could still use a little help. My door was finally fixed yesterday. I came home and a metal think had been installed in the doorjam to make it more secure. It was quite a surprise.
We do have a stove, however the oven doesnt have a rack and it is a smaller oven so it will be hard to get one. Dinner options boil down to stove top or toaster oven. When it comes to eating, I have become quite skilled with tortillas. You would be amazed at how many ways you can eat a tortilla. The supermercado around the corner from our apartment is called "Super Blancos" (I wake up many mornings to a car with loud speakers driving by announcing the days sales and specials- this is how most announcements happen) makes fresh tortillas. You buy them in a pack of like 2 kilos fresh and hot. SO tasty. They never get back to my apartment unopened.

I also eat a lot of aguacates (avacados) and limones (key limes). They are very inexpensive and come with everything you order. My favorite thing so far is the Horchattas, which is like a cold rice milk drink that is very sweet. I shudder to think of the calories, but then remember that I am riding a bike about an hour every day through warm weather. Oh, did I mention that it is 70 today?

I would love to hear from any of you. Anyone who knows me knows that I tend to disconnect from wherever I am not. It doesn't mean I don't miss you and pray for you though. Keep in touch and stop by this blog from time to time. Let me know if there is anything specific you want to know. As for me, I have to get out of this office and head home. At night the dogs in the city get braver and the ride home gets interesting.

I am working on naming my bicycle. Any suggestions?

Much love. xo kar