Carlson's Adventures

For those of you who follow our blog, we have decided to go back to using Blogger,com.  It seems that for many, it was an easier way to keep up with us.  So, for our latest posts, Dec. 8 and beyond, please click here to go to our blog.  We will link it up to carlsons.us soon.  Thanks for following our journey. 

When we packed our van to move to Mexico last April, there were things that just couldn't come with us.  One of those things was our Christmas nativity.  In years past, it has been the first decoration we have put out.  This year, it was not here to put out since it is in the shed back in Oregon.  I have been fine with this though, as there are many changes this Christmas.  But, it got me thinking.  Does it matter what kind of nativity it is?  Not really.  I was looking on line for some paper craft activities for Erin and I to make more decorations and thought, "Why not look for a paper craft nativity?"  I found one, printed it out and put it together.  I am thrilled with our little nativity and thank the Lord for the thought to look for it.

The other thing we made today to decorate a little more were stars to hang from the ceiling and on the tree.  We have come to the conclusion that having lights on our tree is not a good thing with three kittens.  They have chewed through the bottom lights and our decorations are moving up the tree.  So, the stars added some more color and decoration to our Christmas tree.

It's been fun decorating and coming up with new and different ways to do it. 

It's beginning to feel a lot like Christmas.  Thanksgiving has past, which was very different for us this year.  As you all know, Thanksgiving is a United States holiday and it was very strange going to the local vegetable stand and everyone around was going about business as usual.  We are very thankful for a great Thanksgiving feast at the McNally's house.  There were over 40 people and we had two turkeys and two hams as well as all the trimmings.  Although it was a emotionally difficult day being away from our family, especially our children and grandchildren, God truly blessed us. 

Now, we are on to Christmas.  This is a holiday that is certainly celebrated here and we are already feeling the Christmas spirit.  The stores here are all decked out with Christmas decorations which feels a bit like being back in Oregon.  The stores are playing Christmas music, but I must admit, it is very different hearing them all in Spanish.  The biggest difference is that some of them are Christian Christmas songs.

Today, we put up our Christmas tree.  Yes, it is a real tree!  We are having quite the time keeping the kittens out of it though.  Jonathan has already pulled the youngest one out from about four or five branches up.  Erin has been busy making paper snowflakes and paper chains to decorate the house also.  Below are a couple of pictures. 

Tomorrow we will be traveling to Mexico City to obtain our FM3 visas.  These are our missionary visas which allow us to stay here long term.  With tourist visas, we would need to cross the border into the United States every six months to renew them.  WIth the FM3 visas, we are able to renew just once a year and they can be done right here.  This has been a long process for us as we have been working on them for about three months now.  We are in what they call "tramite" which means we are in process.  Though we have been here over six months, we are still legal as long as we are in tramite.  We are looking forward to this next step and to a day in Mexico City.  Please pray for travel safety.  We are not going to drive there, some of you may recall what happened the last time we did that.  It is not wise to drive in Mexico City with US license plates, so the bus is the best way to travel there and it is a two hour one way bus ride.   We appreciate your prayers and support.

Two days ago we completed six months since our arrival at Esperanza Viva.  Before our arrival, we were told by numerous people that the first six months are the hardest.  Wow!  That was a true statement, but we are feeling much more at home here now than at other times in the past.  It is interesting to think about all of the differences here and I thought it would be fun to list some of them.   Some of them may sound negative, but that is not the intent.  It is more to show some of the things we have gotten used to over the last six months.  So, enjoy and maybe even have a laugh or two with us as we think about them also.

1. In the US, you understand everything that everyone is saying.  In Mexico, well, it kind of goes without saying, everyone speaks Spanish. 

2. In the US, it is safe to drink the tap water.  It may not always taste the best, but you won't get sick.  In Mexico, you only drink bottled water and you even brush your teeth with bottled water.  You never see a drinking fountain around here.

3. In the US, before eating fruits and vegetables, you might rinse them off with tap water.  In Mexico, you wash your fruits and vegetable with bleach soap then dry them thoroughly before eating.  If it is lettuce, you soak it in an iodine and water solution for 10 minutes and then rinse with bottled water.  At times this makes preparing dinner a bit more lengthy, but it keeps us healthy.

4. In the US, when using the bathroom, the toilet paper goes in the toilet after it is used.  In Mexico, you throw your toilet paper in the garbage can by the toilet.  Of course we were somewhat used to this after five mission trips down here prior to moving here.

5. In the US, when the weather gets cold, you turn on the heater.  In our house here in Mexico, when the weather gets cold, and it does, you put on more clothes or grab a blanket.  We don't even have a furnace and neither does anyone else.  And when it gets hot, there are no airconditioners either.

6. In the US, when you go to the nice malls, you park your car and go in.  Not a big deal.  In Mexico, we have a really nice mall here.  It's hard to believe  you are in Mexico when you are inside it.  The difference?  You pay to park and there are guards at all the entrances with their machine guns and also guards on the roof with their machine guns.  If I ever locked my keys in my car, I wouldn't try to jimmy the lock on my own.  :o)

7. In the US, if a policeman has his lights on behind you, you panic.  In Mexico, I think they drive around with them on all the time.  I still am  not sure how I would know if they were pulling me over, but I am pretty sure they would make me understand.

8. In the US, you have garbage cans that are put once a week.  In Mexico, we have two pickup days but your garbage goes to a local corner and is just thrown in a large pile with everyone elses garbage.

9. In the US, you just drive down the smooth streets.  Okay, there might be a few potholes here and there.  In Mexico, you dodge the potholes and look out for the topes (speedbumps), which on some streets are every few hundred feet.  Our poor car is really taking a beating from them. 

10. In the US, people have fences but usually their front doors are accessable from the street.  In Mexico, everyone lives behind walls and gates that must be unlocked just to get out.  You never want to have your door close behind you and have your keys still inside. 

11. In the US, if you smell something good in a restaurant, you don't have to think about whether you'll get sick from eating the food.  In Mexico, there are so many restaurants with food that looks and smells wonderful, but we don't eat in them because, the likelyhood if getting sick, is very high. 

12. In the US, most places have leash laws.  In Mexico, dogs are everywhere and I mean everywhere, roaming the streets, eating the garbage on garbage days, and chasing cars.

13.  In the US, fireworks are mainly for the Fourth of July and New Year's Eve.  In Mexico, they go off almost every morning around 5:00 AM.   These are not the pretty colorful fireworks, they are the M-80 bomb type of fireworks. 

14. In the US, you have annoying telemarketers.  In Mexico, they drive down the street with their loudspeakers, selling their products anywhere from 7:00 AM to 11:30 PM.  It is wonderful when they park outside your house and don't turn off their loudspeakers. 

15. In the US, we had a dishwasher.  In Mexico, I have two dishwashers.  I named them.  Their names are Jonathan and Erin.  Their getting pretty good at it too. 

16. In the US, chocolate is good.  In Mexico, not so much.   Most of their chocolate has cinnamon in it.  And the donuts look wonderful, but they taste terrible.

17. In the US, people pass each other and never even make eye contact.  In Mexico, we greet each other all the time.  Complete strangers say hi and smile. 

18. In the US, our family went in all different directions and it was such a fast paced life.  In Mexico, we have more time to sit together and do things together,  family time is important.

19. In the US, we seldom went to the movies together because it was so expensive.  It would cost us around $50.00 if we got popcorn and drinks.  In Mexico, we go to the movies for about the same as it costs to go to McDonalds. 

20. In the US, when drivers are courteous with each other, they give a friendly wave to each other.  In Mexico, they use a gesture that could get you shot if you used it in the US.  It is a gesture with the hand coming up from below with the fingers pointed up and could easily be mistaken for another common gesture in the US. 

Today we discovered a great park in the area.   We have wondered if there were any nice parks around so Jim asked at church today and we were told of this one in central Cholula.  We went with our friends, the Nielsens.  We had a great time.  After, we went to McDonald's for some ice cream.  It was a great day!  The police officer in the park is not what you're used to seeing but it is quite normal here. 

Recently, here in Mexico, El Día de Los Muertes or The Day of the Dead was celebrated.  It has been interesting to see all the sights surrounding this holiday - everything from flower crosses outside doorways, to skulls made out of sugar, and special breads made just for this holiday.  Below, I want to share some pictures from around our house and also a video from the Travel Channel telling about the holiday.  We do not celebrate it personally but it is interesting to see the different things that make up this culture we are living in. 

The first pictures are at a mall that we went to.  It was a display about El Día de Los Muertes.  The picture of the man holding flowers was taken right outside our house.  I asked him if I could take a picture of him and he agreed with a smile.  He told me that the flowers are the typical flowers for this holiday as you can see from the crosses outside peoples doors.

I know it has been a while since we updated the blog.  For a few weeks we had teams here back to back which really keeps us busy.   This week is a slow week and it is nice.  Things have been going well. 

We are fast approaching the holidays which will be very different for us this year.  I am looking forward to beginning some new traditions.  We are looking forward to Thanksgiving and I was please to find out that you can get whole turkeys down here.  This year we will be going over to the McNally's where everyone is meeting for dinner around 5:00.  Susy tells me that there are about 40 people who will be there.  It should be a fun time.  Although we will miss having Thanksgiving with family in Oregon, I am very greatful for the family that God  has provided here. 

Right now, things are rather crazy here in Mexico, as "Los Dias de Los Muertes" is upon us.  In English, that is "The Days of the Dead," which is a holiday that focuses on family and friends gathering to pray for and remember friends and family members who have died.  There are candies, breads, and other assorted items made into skulls for this celebration.  It is three days long, and they incorperate Halloween in there also.  We have heard that there is some trick-or-treating, as in the states, but it is different in that kids will go out "trick-or-treating" for all three days.  We have been having fireworks going off almost every morning and night.   These are the big M-80 kind that are very loud.  It's not so bad and you can get used to it unless it is at 5:00 in the morning and lasts for 10 minutes or more.  Hmmm....  That's just life in Mexico though.

The kids here are all looking forward to Christmas, including our children.  We have been asked if we can get real Christmas trees here and the answer is, yes.  The kids are very excited that our tradition of breakfast burritos on Christmas morning can still happen.  There are other things that will change, but it is great that we can keep some traditions.  One tradition that we may begin is opening presents on Christmas Eve.  On Christmas day, all the families go to Esperanza Viva about 11:00 am to have Christmas with everyone here.  They have a special meal, games, piñatas, and more.  We are really looking forward to it.  We her it is a lot of fun.

We will keep you up to date as these holidays approach. 

Five years ago, our first grandchild was born.  Dylan came into this world and we became a proud grandparents.  I wish we could have been with him today.  We did, however, get to to talk to him on the phone.  What a big boy he is getting to be. 

HAPPY BIRTHDAY DYLAN!  or in Spanish ¡FELIZ CUMPLEAÑOS DYLAN!  We love you and pray that you continue to grow big and strong both physically and spiritually.