Almost a Mexican

Uhggg...(Im writing on my work computer which has the spellchecker in Spanish... so good luck hope you can translate bad spelling and grammer. hahaha) so I always feel so bad when I go to write a post and realize its been a few months since my last one. The good thing is I constantly have new readers and some of the old stuff I put up before is still giving good therapy to those who need it. That was of course the original point of this blog. To help out people who were hurting or confused. My heart breaks for all you mommys, papis, wifes, husbands, and children out there who are not together as a unit. Or who are together and are in the weird state right before or after the big more out of  or into a new country. Or those who are still not sure what to do to keep there families together. There are so many stressfull stages to the whole stupid immigration game but when we decided to spend our lives with that one special person its something we agreed to. So cheers to all you ladies and men of steal. Keep on keepen on. You can do this and you will come out shining on the other side.

Why am I so sure of that you may wonder. Well I made it and Im a small town girl from Missour for goodness sakes. I came to Mexico and left much behind (you can read past blogs to find out what) in order to keep my family together and to be with a man who has been more of a blessing to me than I ever thought possible. When I came here 5 years ago... (Oh yes crappy blogger didnt even post a 5 year anniversery blog, it was June 29th). I knew no Spanish... wwhhhewww glad that stage is over. I knew nothing about Mexican culture... I actually got ofended by things that now make me laugh histarically. I was almost always uncomfortable... for the first time in my life I was not sefl confident. Since those days... and they were long and sometimes dark... I have grown in  my walk with Christ, as a women, as mother, as a wife, and as a friend. I am a better person than I would have ever been had I stayed in the states. My mind is opened to so many things that would have never made any sense to me before. I may still have a weak gringa stomach but by golly my skin sure is tougher.

So in June I went and picked up my official Perminant Resident Card. Oh yes its a real card not some laminated crap and its official. Im Perminant. What that means is no more renewing or paying every year. It also means I can get more benifits such as cheaper schooling and such. (which is still in the plans but were broke and cant afford the freaking translation of my transcripts, all in good time). I didnt even have a party. I think we still need to plan that one. On the day of my 5 year Mexico anniversery I was actually in the US at a wedding for a couple of the best friends we have down here in Mexico.

About the perminant resident busness it took me a long time to get here but the laws have changed. Aparently if you are married to a Mexican you should be able to just bring in you marriage lic (if from the states appostleed and translated.), birth cirts and ID´s and can apply right off the bat. It costs close to 400usd. Which is nothing compaired to almost 200 every year for four years. I have heard of a few people having trouble getting this done and others who got it done right away. Here is the thing about the immigration system here in Mexico... well the government realy. They make changes for the better and it takes people and offices a while to get on the wagon. Im not sure why its ok and why it happens but its true. So if the office closest to you gives you trouble it may be a good idea to take a weekend to trip to the next closest one and see how things go. Just always have more than one copy of every document you have. Here is there website which clearly states that this process is now faster and can be done without an FM2 or waiting for 2 years. I would also recomend printing pages from the website to show at the office when you go. Im gona post here the link to the website the part thats in English is extreamly limited so if you dont read spanish well find someone that does to help you.  Again if I were you I would make print outs of the scren shots so if the office gives you trouble you can show them you got it off their site.
Home page:
http://www.inm.gob.mx/

For those who have family who are mexican, click on the second pdf, Im gona try to attach it to this post.
http://www.inm.gob.mx/index.php/page/Regularizacion_LM

Heres the link for the pdf. ( when it talks about the payments you have to go to the office to get a paper that has all the info. all you do is put your name and personal data and go to a bank and pay it, make a few copies of the recipt when your done.)

http://www.inm.gob.mx/static/Tramites_LM/Estancia_LM/Regularizacion_LM/Regularizacion_por_unidad_familiar.pdf

I think thats all for today I hope you all have a great day and Im sending hugs to all of you who need them.

From the Almost Mexican.

Bienvenido 2013

Quick Spanish up date:
Out of curiosity how many of you read the title Bienbenido Dos Mil t(d)ece   and how many read it Bienvendio two thousand thirteen. I'm finding it more natural to read and think in Spanish. My goal this year is to grow my vocabulary and stop making stupid conjugation mistakes. Often times I try to speak faster than my brain can keep up and I make mistakes, when I logically know better. Not sure if that makes sense to you but that is the case.

FM2 renewal vs Residency

So this year our plan is to get my Permanent Residency here in Mexico. To apply for this instead of an FM2 renewal is basically the same. Every year there is a different basic procedure at the immigration office. This year they no longer let just anyone enter and and get a number (ficha) Now you have to wait in a line which trails down three flights of stairs. Once you reach the desk they tell you if you are missing any documents and which area you will be going to when you reconcile those documents. If you have to return to the same desk that day you do not have to wait in line again. Although waiting in line on stairs for 40 min sucks it actually all moves a lot faster than before. So even though they haven't reached customer service they are at least reaching efficiency. I filled out my form, got pictures taken and wrote my letters at the little office on the corner which does all things necessary for documents. While I did all this with my two oldest girls my husband was waiting in the line on the stairs with the youngest. He came back with a form saying we needed to pay 1,000 pesos. They told us this was going to be the only fee and as you can imagine it was not. We paid the fee at the bank and went back to turn in the papers at the desk. The webpaged showed I needed to show at the window one day before they took their holiday breaks so needless to say I didn't make it until after Jan 6th to go see what the trouble was. This is when they gave me the form to pay 3,850 pesos in order to receive my documents. Sadly enough we believed them the first time they said we would not have to pay more and didn't have enough to pay for it. Now we are waiting to save up the money so we can go pay the fee and turn in the receipt  Ill let you know once that happens to see if I get my card that day or if I have to wait for them to process everything. 

Life

Im loving it, we are making great improvements at the hospital. My English classes are taking off and as always I have a lot of fun doing them. Our schedules are still pretty packed but its in a good way where none of us including the girls are overly stressed but also are not sitting at home boared. To be honest Im loving life. God has provided left and right and any dreams I thought were ruined because we had to move have been exceeded. My girls are growing up bilingual and bicultural. I am becoming bilingual. My husband is at home with my girls so they are getting a strong base of knowing how wonderful they are and getting daily time with Papi. I am working as a nurse and making a difference in a small way. I also still have plenty of time to have fun, play games and excessive with my girls in the evenings. Some evenings papis gone and we have girl nights, those are lots of fun. As always I still miss my family and hate that my girls wont know them better but skype helps us a lot in that aspect and Im hoping one of my little sister is planning on making a yearly trip down to see us. Also my mom should be coming again within the next year. 

Over my birthday I got to explore Lake Chapala for the first time and I can assure it will not be the last.

Inspiration board
So This year instead of writing resolutions I decided to take a good idea from my sister and make an Inspiration board. As I was telling my husband about it he asked if I could put his goals on half of it. I was so excited about that idea that of course I would do it. As we talked we realized we had the same goals for the year. With that in mind I decided we should just make a family board. I used a picture divider that came in a frame, it had six  5x7 spaces. The first space we put a verse that we decided would be or spiritual focus this year it reads, " Brothers I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind an straining toward the gal to win the prize for which God has called me heaven ward in Christ Jesus. All of us who are mature should take such a view of things and if on some point you think differently, that to God will make clear to you. Only let us live up to what we have already attained."
Our second goal is to strengthen or relationship as a couple and parents. It has romantic words and sticker and a big number 2. Next comes a picture of the girls with a sticker that says everyday life. We want to remember every day to pay attention to them and talk to them. If you don't have kids this may seem obvious, but those of you who do know that sometimes parents can get caught up in their own lives and forget to slow down enough to sit and really listen to their kids. Especially when hey are still so little, but I truly believe this is very important. Our fourth goal is to become better stewards of the resources and money God give us. We are trying to pray more about our finances. Also we have goals to start savings bonds for each girls for collage this year. Next is that my husband and I both want to further our education in some form.  Last is our Health and dieting. We are both hoping to eat better and exercise  This is a necessity. For example today on our walk to church we tried to race and I didn't run far and was so out of breath it was sad.
The best part about all this was that the Sunday morning I got it done our paster was talking about priorities and I felt like God was letting us know quite clearly that he liked the goals we had made. Its amazing how God speaks to us and so clearly if we only keep our hearts and minds open to him.
We are also doing a "good things Jar" Anytime something good happens this year we are going to save it in this Jar. Every year we talk about our favorite thing from the year before but I feel that we leave a lot out. Also my girls are going to be in on it so if they say its something that needs to be put in the Jar it will go in.
Well I wanted to put a pic of both the board and the Jar but its not letting me send it from my phone. Maybe on the next post

God is good, always has been and always will be.

A better view on Mexican health care and the current state of my life.

Ok so my last post about the Hospitals here was a bit bitter. I'm finding that most of my issues at the hospital are all due to one individual. You see you have to deal with stupid people no matter where you work. So the truth about the system here is that its actually getting better. I don't remember if I explained before but all the public hospitals and clinics work by the same standards as in the states. The guys who wrote the standards for Mexico learned from The Joint Commission which is the group that does most of the certifying of hospitals in the US. But they do still do things differently. They find ways to reach the standards without all the cost. Now the Government is requiring even the private hospitals to follow the same standards in able to become certified by them. Its not quite a requirement yet to get this certification but its obvious that soon enough it will be. The small private hospital I work for is trying hard to comply with these standards. My original Job description was as an assistance to this process. But I quickly learned that without earned trust and respect my word counted for nothing regardless of my experience. I requested and have received a new Job description which will basically put me as a supervisor or in the states what was seen as a Head Charge Nurse. They are also finally giving me the orientation and time of learning on the floor that I requested. I have already spent a couple weeks on one of the normal units, and in the ER. My next steps are to learn the ins and outs of ICU, OR, and the Nursery. The person that I struggle to work with, due to her ethics, will be my work partner once I'm done with my training. This will pose as a major hurdle for me but its not something I cant handle. Some of our first steps to help us reach the standards will be better documentation, and education for the nursing staff. These are things I have been pushing for since the first day and will still take some time to finish but I can see a bright future for our hospital and many others. The director of our hospital is also the director of an association of about 20 private hospitals all over our state. His plan is for all of us to work together and standardize our efforts. Meaning that the paperwork and process of all the hospitals will be the same. This will be a huge effort but I think its an excellent goal. As I have said before as far as treatment and education of the doctors here its fairly equal to the states. One of the biggest differences that was hard for me at first is that nurses do less here and doctors do more. I see the benefits to this but being a nurse who loved the technical procedures it was a little bitter for me at first. But  the patients love it.

As a quick update on our family and home life, obviously Im still working my 40 hours a week at the hospital and I teach English about 6 hours a week. We figured out we would actually be saving money if my husband stayed at home with our girls and teaches a few hours of Spanish every week on the side. Day care for three kids at the cheapest place we could find was costing us more than our rent, and as is usually the case with parents they just were not up to our standards. My husband is starting a bit of a freelance project with these Spanish classes. Basically we have some friends down here who have to learn and soon. There is an international medical program down here. The first two years of their classes are mainly in English  but the last two years are all Spanish. So he has put together and program and will be starting with his first three students on Monday. We looked around at prices and we are basically charging half of what all the schools or other programs are charging. The down falls to our program is that we don't offer any type of certificate. The upside is that its real communication Spanish with a cultural twist. He plans on adding in common phrases and such that people wouldn't learn from a more structured class. Its basically the same idea that is behind my English lessons. So far my students love it so we are hoping his catches on. So things are going pretty good for us at the moment and my girls are all growing strong, healthy and smart. Really life is good. God has been very good to us and is constantly providing for each new step in our lives.

Proxima nivel de Español

I woke up to Lily fussing and my first thoughts went like this, "Quien es...Oh es Lily." By now she stopped fussing and I thought. "Ahhh que bueno esta bien." Then I thought, "what the heck why did I just think that in Spanish." And I began trying to decide if Im upset about this or not. Not sure I like the idea that my first thoughts in the morning are Spanish. I know that is kind of a good thing but well I need English to be my first thoughts so Im sure to teach the girls well. ........ ¿Right?


Curious to some thoughts here. What do you guys think. I am extreamly paranoid that Im going to some day let the English thing slip. It is very important to me that the girls have two first languages. I want English to be a first language. I want it to be special to them. And not something they have to learn but something they know. Sometimes I catch myself speaking in Spanish at home and I get very upset with myself. Is it possible for me to maintain this strictness about English at home and still grow in my Spanish. 


Again thoughts and comments are expected on this post. 


Thanks in advance. 

finding a place to worhsip

Our first Sunday in town we decided to join some friends of ours at their church. We had actually stopped by once when we were in town looking for a place to live so we knew where it was. El Camino was a great church and had a little class for Alana. We enjoyed the worship but didn't feel a pull from the spirit to make it our home. Also it was about 25 min to get home after ward. This is a long time when you have two tired and hungry kids. We hope to get to visit down there from time to time if they have an event or something but as far as every Sunday we decided pretty quickly that wasn't the place for us.
Thanks to some good friends who live in Tototlan (who we met while living in Tepa) we were put in contact with some missionaries who live here in Guad. Due to them having a hectic schedule at the time we haven't been able to meet in person but I know the day will come soon enough. They were able to suggest a church to us that is not even five min from our house. Well we love it so far. To be honest its a little more charismatic than any other place Iv called home but is something I can get use to. They are not flashy or showy about it but from time to time you might see someone fall out during prayer. There is so much we love about this church and I'm going to tell you now. ;)
1 They have a wonderful class for Alana, she actually comes out telling me what they told her about Jesus. She gets to go to a class when we do our class (this was an accident actually, we thought the service started at 10 and actually it was Sunday school, we liked it so much we plan to go at that time every week). During the class Issac and I sit in the nursery with Joslin which is right behind the sanctuary with a big glass window so you can see out there. They also have a huge screen TV in the nursery so you can hear and see the class. This is nice because Issac and I can kind of chat about what the guy is talking about when I dont understand well.
2. We pick Alana up for praise and worship and everyone joins in. There are so many youth at this church and I get teary eyed every time I look at the whole group of them praising God. I love for Alana (and Jos soon enough) to see us singing to Jesus and showing him how much we love him. They do up beat and slow music and let it all be led by the spirit. For example this last Sunday we ended up not even having much of a sermon because the praise session cut way into the sermon time.
3 Ok here is a great great great part to. During the sermon they have these little head phones they give me where someone is translating the whole sermon live. So last week I got to hear my first full sermon in English in over a year. Yeah I know this will cut back on my Spanish practice a bit but seriously people that's not why I'm there. ;) During the Sermon one of us (Issac or I) have to sit with Jos back in the nursery but my headphones work back there so we have decided to just take turns every other Sunday.
4 speaking of the nursery.... Its clean!!!! and safe!!!! And in Alanas class they were sure both Sundays to ask our names and who would be picking her up. They dont let any kids leave the room with out having made eye contact with the parents first.
5 people are so friendly and ready to chat. There is a little dinning area where I give the girls a snack between class and sermon and every week we have been able to meet someone.

I think there is more but I cant think of it right now. The best part is that to be honest we had decided we could go with out all these wonderful things in our church life but God has given them to us anyway. We feel so blessed. We are pretty sure at this point that this will be our church home but for now we are going to plan to go a few more Sundays and continue checking it out.

First school meeting

Today was the last day of the second week of school and we and the school are finally getting some info. Wednesday when I dropped Alana off I saw a poster up that said Attencion. Thankfully as I was reading it I heard another mom asking about it because it kind of didn't make sense to me. Apparently it was written weird and even those who know spanish well were a little confused. So I listened in on her questions to the director (I guess that's what I should call her)and I got what I could out of it. I then approached the ladies who have sort of "taken me in." They live right on my block and helped me find someone else who lives on our block to make Alanas uniform. Also they are always sure to slow their pace if they know I'm behind them or ask me if we want a ride if they see us walking to school. One of these ladies actually has a daughter in Alanas class so she explained things to me and offered to come by and explain to my husband just to be sure I was not misunderstanding anything. This was a major relief to me. Well she wasn't able to come by and explain things to my husband because she came down with a bug and here is how things played out.
From what I could understand we were to have a junta (meeting) with the teacher on Thursday morning at nine and the kids would be having class that day, and then next Monday the whole kinder would have a junta with the director. Thursdays are a very busy day for my husband and we decided I would go and do my best and hopefully our neighbor could fill him in on everything. I hated the idea and so did Issac but we didn't have much of a choice. Walking to school that morning I was a little nervous but had my pen and paper and was ready to do what I could. But when I showed up the teacher handed me a paper and "reminded" me of the junta tomorrow. Opps I got jueves and viernes confused again, I do this a lot for some reason. But the good thing is that it was no big deal for Issac to switch to evenings for Friday so he could go to the meeting with me. The paper she sent home with me was one to fill out information on Alana. It was all information that we had already filled out for her inscription, and on her first week of school that I gave again to the director. I'm assuming this is the teachers personal copy of the info on each kid. It was simple things like the CURP, ht, wt, domicillo ( address)with this they want to know not only the street you live on and your house number but the streets that you live between also, I find this odd. Anyway also they ask for the parents names and jobs and phone numbers. I also find this interesting considering so far I had not been asked for my phone number. We did give it to them on a piece of paper the first day of school but that was our own idea and was not requested. In a lot of cases I like the laid back style here but in this one I feel it was dangerous for all those kids to be at school for two weeks without any emergency numbers on file. Anyway I came home and filled it out, mainly just to prove to myself I could do it, and because I was annoyed at the fact the teacher specifically told me to have my husband fill it out. I know I should be able to let this stuff go knowing how my spanish isn't great but being the independent person I am it gets to me. So once I had fluffed my ego by filling it out I had Issac check everything on it the next day ( I did good!! lol)
This morning we got there a little before nine and the teacher told us to go on in with Alana. When the bell rang they had only the parents go into the class room and brought the kids out and the teacher had some class time with them during the first part of the morning. I was expecting this to all be a brief overview of what they do in class and a quick vote on if we should buy the materials individually or give the teacher money. Oh boy was I wrong and completely unprepared (we didn't bring diapers for Joslin nor food). I should have known better from reading blogs such as Leslies.

First we sat through about and hour and a half of lecture and questions on proper nutrition. I'm so glad they did this because its one of my pet peeves down here. I'm also glad they did it because it gave me a new perspective on things. I thought people just ate and feed their kids the way they did because well they just dont care or its just the way things are or eating right is just to much of a hassle. But seriously these ladies seemed like it was the first time they were hearing any of this information. I realize I take my education and my quest for learning for granted. What I didn't learn in school I have self taught through many hours of reading. I actually told a few of the ladies I would bring in some healthy recipes because they were talking about how they wanted to try to eat right but didn't know how. They actually asked the nutritionist if they could make it a school project to get recipes together to send home with the kids. So there appeared to be a real interest and this was exciting to me. During my years of nursing, teaching this type of thing was drilled into my head and the importance of jumping when you see the willingness to learn. So I'm ready to jump and I hope I can help in the way I want to be able to. I'm thinking about putting the food guide pyramid on the back of the paper I use to type up the recipes. Most of the women were doing their best to jot it down during the lecture but I could tell they were not quite getting it. I couldn't believe some of the questions that were being asked and how many of the mothers were agreeing that they didn't know these different things. But again I'm just excited to see that they were eager to learn and were listening with interest. During this whole thing the few things I didn't catch Issac was sure to whisper to me and no one seemed to mind.
Next the teacher came back (apparently the class was now watching a movie with another class) and was ready to do her part. I missed a lot of this because due to a wet diaper and a hungry belly and it being nap time poor Joslin was getting a little restless so I was standing outside the door rocking her in the stroller and Issac was standing near enough to explain things to me randomly. Basically the teacher went over that at times she had to be fuerte (strong) with some of the kids if they didn't listen that she intends to not grita or yell at them but that she does sometimes talk strongly to them. I'm thinking well no kidding but some of the moms seemed like they were not sure this should happen and asked to be sure she didn't hit the kids. The teacher explained that she nor any other teacher in the school hits the kids and mothers who had other kids that had been at the kinder a couple years agreed with her. She then talked about the uniforms and dates that we had to have them by, thankfully we have till the 13th because the lady who is making Alanas has not let us know they are ready yet. And of course the debate about materials. Issac and I were all for her taking money up and the teacher buying it all herself. This would insure all the kids had the same stuff and that one person didn't end up supplying for other kids. After her explanation of the same thing and lots of questions everyone agreed on collecting money. The teacher didn't want to be the collector and one mom agreed to do it. So we have to give her 300p before next Friday and the teacher will go to Guad over the weekend and buy all the stuff. Other than that all we have to buy is a clear pencil holder or bag and put Alanas name on it. And finally we got the fun part and talked about the fiesta for Independence. I have to say that getting to be involved in this kind of stuff is one reason I'm so glad Alana is in school. We have missed out on a lot of the culture over the last couple years because we cant ever figure out whats going on. Here is the best part, since hubby was the only dad actually inside the class room (their were two others but they were hanging around the door and in and out the whole time) and he was also a good participant the whole time he got asked to dress up for the party. I'm so excited and for sure you all will see pictures. Seriously my husband is the best man I know, he accepted with a smile and will love doing it. And here comes the worst part. None of the women wanted to dress up and I told Issac I could do it. He proudly said, "Mi esposa puede." And all the women looked at me and were excited. But then the teacher is like, that might not be a good idea. She explained to Issac that there will be a short camio for whoever dresses up. While Issacs explaining this to me the teacher is explaining to the rest of the moms that my Spanish sucks. Ok I know that's not how she put it (shes very nice and works well with me when I do talk with her) and I know the horrific scene of 15-20 moms shaking their heads and doing an "oh ok we see now" face prob wasn't as bad as it seemed... but... well... I have no words. I know this is only the beginning and I'm trying to brace myself but the more I think about it the more I'm getting irritated by it. I'm a doer, I'm involved, I'm active... and damn it I cant be now. As we were picking up Alana from the movie room Issac suggested that Monday I should stay at home with the girls and he could go to the meeting alone. I know what he was thinking was for the girls sake but this hurt. And of course instead of saying anything, I got snippy with him on the way home and just briefly mentioned that the language barrier sucks. Iv since talked to my sister and and I think I need to be at that meeting. I need to feel that I'm doing all I can to understand and be involved even if I have to tote along the girls and ask Issac to explain constantly.
I really cant explain to you how bad it sucks to not be able to jump in and say what I want and be as involved as I want. It may be prego hormones and it may not be but I'm sitting here with tears in my eyes. I'm hoping after writing this post and talking some more about it with my husband (poor guy) that I will be able to walk back into the school with a renewed since of confidence on Monday.
I'm starting to feel that my Spanish needs to move to the next level but I'm not sure how to get it there. I do really well with a one on one or two conversation now but if there is more than two people I just cant keep up unless its people who know me well and make sure that I do (like Issacs family). I cant expect people to cater to me forever and I need to step it up... but how?

All in all the meeting went well and we got all the information we needed. I hope I added enough of that in with my sob story for those of you who may be looking to enroll your kids someday. If I left anything out about the school you want to know please ask!!!

My Spanish

While I know I need a lot of work still and will continue to work on getting better Im glad to say I'm no longer the woman I never wanted to be. You see as a nurse in St. Louis I frequently had women patients who couldn't speak for themselves do to a language barrier. I always felt so bad for them and hated the fact that I had to ask an interpreter such personal questions. I also wondered if this was a choice they had made or if they had actually tried to learn English and couldn't. I still wonder this and know that it was prob different for each person. But my first couple years here I was devastated to see myself in this same situation. To know that as badly as I wanted to express myself I couldn't. But I am finally at a place where I feel like if I had to I could go to a dr. appointment alone and be ok. For sure I know I can communicate with the nurses alone. I do have to admit that when my husband is there I let him do a lot of the talking just because it is easier. And at times I wonder if these women had done the same. But you see this is all going to become very important in about 5 months because Im pretty sure at the seguro Issac will not be allowed in the delivery room.
But this week I have overcome another obstacle. You see one of my favorite things about Mexico is servicio Domicilio, or delivery service. As we all know in the states really the only thing that gets delivered is pizza, and a few sandwich places do. But here you can get anything delivered. I actually asked my Tia the other day if this is everywhere in Mexico or just here. I tend to expect that anything that is different to me here is the same everywhere and Iv found from friends who live all over Mexico that this is not always the case. But servicio domicilio is apparently a country wide thing. When I say everything I mean, your medications and or baby formula from the pharmacies (and you don't have to be old or debilitated to get this), meat of any kind including mariscos (seafood), and pretty much every restaurant. I think the only thing missing is dairy and fruit, I almost wonder if this is something I just haven't tried or do they really not deliver. Anyway all of that to say that this week I have ordered my meat from two different places. I say two different places because this means that I didn't get the chance to speak to the same person both times. But they understood everything I said and I didn't have to repeat or look for another word one time. I did have to ask them to repeat a couple times but not enough to frustrate them. Oh and this may be obvious but its important to be sure you understand that this was done ON THE PHONE. Up till now I have been insanely frightened to speak on the phone in Spanish. Here is what broke that fear. I have a friend who is Mexican she is married to an American man. Her English is good but she is very self conscious of it and because I just don't care anymore how I sound I try my best to conversation with her in Spanish. She is the one we got our cat from and so I had to call her and set up a time for us to go to her house. After getting off the phone I realized most of our conversation had been in Spanish. I didn't realize at first because there was no confusion or repeating. When we did make it to their house her husband told me that she actually commented on how proud she was that my Spanish is so much better. This gave me the confidence to try and order my own meat, well that and necessity. You see our new house is to far from Issacs work for him to come home every day for lunch (I miss him). Before I would hand him the phone and say call now please.... And he would. But now I cant do that and by the time he is off work its to late. So there you go necessity combined with accidental conversations builds confidence. And Im more and more getting to be myself and the person I know I am. ;)
This deserves a drink... to bad Im prego. lol

La Cruz Roja

As an update since I decided to stay home with my girls and not freak out on finding a job a new friend got me into the idea of volunteering again. He is a med student in Guadalajara but is from my town. I met him at a friends house on Easter and he introduced me to some of the people at the Cruz Roja in town a week later. Also thanks to his persistence I was able to talk on the phone with the doctor who directs that particular branch and get an appointment with him. As you might not remember from a post a long time ago, I have in the past attempted many times to reach this doctor to no avail. At that appointment while I was waiting I realized that the copies of my lic and BLS card were of my expired cards. So after talking to him about everything I brought this to his attention and he asked me to go get him a copy of the new ones right then. He said he would be waiting on me and that there was a place to make copies one block away. Well that one was out of order and I ended up walking more like 10-15 blocks total before it was all over. But hey I got the copies and returned, and we can all use a little exercise. After sitting down he explained that I also would need to provide a solicitu (not sure I wrote that right) but basically a formal request to volunteer there. He said I could bring it by any time over the next week or so because the other director who would have to help with the decision would be out of town on a honey moon. No prob but what the heck did I just walk 10 blocks to make a copy for if I was coming back anyway. Well because that's just how things go here. All in all the doctor was very nice and seemed excited for me to help there. From there I went home and quickly had the letter written up. Due to being out of ink and other issues it took me till this week on Monday to bring him the letter. I was so surprised when he called yesterday and told me I just needed to go into the Cruz Roja and talk to a lady named Sandra. I went when he said she would be there.... And you'll never believe this.... SHE WAS ACTUALLY THERE. This is a first for me with them. lol She said I could come when ever I want as long as I wear a white uniform and bring a copy of my credentials for her to have on file there. I explained that Saturdays would be good for me and she was happy because apparently they are slammed all day. So now to get a uniform. I haven't worn a white uniform since nursing school this will be fun. We are planning a trip to Rio Verde this weekend so I wont get to start till next week but either way its coming and I'm excited. I had a dream last night that I was back at my old work place but working as a floor nurse. Its funny because it felt so nice and all day I was thinking about it. I'm glad to be at home with my girls and I know its where I need to be but nursing is in my core and I cant get it out nor do I want to. Whoo hooo so here is to some possible exciting posts about the difference of nursing here and there. And also exciting that I will be getting out there and forced to make another drastic step with my Spanish. I so need this I'm at a plateau right now and I think this will help a lot.

All you need are a couple good days...

So the last couple days have been really good for me. For some reason since deciding to stay home with the girls for the next year different opportunities have come my way. Basically if I'm going to stay home with them I want us to all get out of the house more. Over Easter I met a family who are from here in Tepa and they told us about the spring parade. I was so excited to hear about it because there is really no where to get this information except from people who have lived here all their lives. It was suppose to be last Sunday. Oh yes you see the catch I said suppose to be. So on Sunday we go and pick up a friend and her little girl and go downtown. We quickly notice that there are no streets rope doff so my husband asks an officer who is near by. Apparently the information was given out wrong, they even posted it in the paper wrong its next week. Well while we were downtown we decided to see if we could get more information about this months activities. April is the month of festivities for my town. We saw that for like 2 weeks the Casa de Cultura will be putting on a play every night for free but you have to get tickets. This weekend will be our 5th wedding anniversary and we thought this would be a great way to celebrate. And guess what Sunday night is Vasolina or as we know it Grease. I ran up the two flights of stairs to see if anyone was in and to ask what activities there might be for kids. Luckily I was catching the lady on her way out and she said that if I came back on Monday that she would be sure and save us two tickets. Ok finally getting to the good part.
Yesterday morning I take the girls out around nine and I drive around for about 30 min looking for "Se Renta" signs. Oh did I mention we are looking for a house or at least bigger apartment with gardin. This is how you find things here you have to drive around and look for them, unless your from here then you just know people who know people which we don't. Lucky me I found a phone number and an address. That is a big deal we drover for like 45 min the other day and only found one number. Then I went and parked in our usual lot downtown and we headed to the Casa de Cultura. Again I climbed the stairs and with both girls this time. The second floor has a biblioteca or library and as we passed it on our way up to the third floor I decided it would be a good idea to check it out. True to her word the lady had set aside tickets for us. She is a very animated lady and I had a good time chatting with her. She told me how this particular show was her acting group and that they have all been acting for at least a year. I told her that I love the story of Grease and she got all excited and started going on about the music. I love having normal conversations. Some of what she said I didn't catch but I was having such a good time I didn't ask. ;)
Then we headed back downstairs and ventured into the library. As soon as I stepped in a familiar face greeted me. She was the lady who does the kids church at our church (which we haven't been to in a few months). She showed me where the kids books were and told me they were going to have an activity in 30min in the plaza out front. So we waited and let Alana read and we went and got some food because of course 30min in Mexico is more like an hour. But the activity was fun and Alana loved it. She then told me that they were doing it again the next day and that all through the summer the library has stuff for the kids so we plan to go. Then later that evening I had an appointment with the doctor who heads up the volunteer program with the red cross. After walking clear across town to get him an extra copy of my lic and CPR card he told me he also needs a letter of request. Not sure why but I had expected to clear everything up and be helping out there next week after this appointment. Basically I get him this letter and when the other person who also directs the red cross gets back from his honey moon they will decide weather its ok for me to help then they will contact me. And then from what I understand I have to go through a course abut the Red cross and a first aid course. Anyway it sounds like some mumbo jumbo but at least its giving me something to get involved in.
Today we went again downtown for the story time and I took Joslin to get her one year immunizations and I got my tetanus booster. Next month we both and Alana all have to go to get the other half of different ones (the girls the polio drops and me the tetanus). But my trip to the Seguro was in and out and smooth as butter. I got there about 15 till noon and my book was the second in line. They started at 1215 and we were out of there by 1230. So Im slowly regaining that bit of myself who knew she could do anything. I am becoming the women I know I am. ;) Wow is that encouraging or what?!?!?

The brain is a wonderful thing

I worked on a neurology unit for almost 6 years. I find the brain extremely fascinating and have read a lot about it. One of my favorite authors is Oliver Sacks. Lately due to the odd things my brain has been doing with the Spanish and English I was reminded of an article I read once of his. I actually tried to look it up but cant find the exact one. So here is my best rendition of it.
There was a guy who had a stroke and after getting a little better everyone thought he was having aphasia which is difficulty with speech. But when his wife showed up she said that he was speaking perfect, but not in English. I honestly cant remember the exact language but I want to say it was Japanese. Basically his wife was from there and he learned her language later in life. You see the area of your brain that is called your speech or language center is where you originally learn your first language as a child. But if you learn a new language later it is in a different area of your brain. So this guy couldn't speak english anymore after his stroke and would have to relearn it but was able to communicate with his wife there to translate. How cool is that.
If this seems at all interesting to you, you should look up Oliver Sacks and read some of his books. The ones I read where "The man who mistook his wife for a hat." and "An Anthropologist on Mars." Both of which were amazing books, he writes in a way that you don't feel you are reading a medical journal but more about the life of the patient and how they learn to live with their disorders. Because I was trying to find the article I spoke of before I noticed he wrote about visiting Mexico titled Oaxaca Journal (2002). I plan to find this book. Here is a link to his website and a list of his books. http://www.oliversacks.com/writing.htm
So hang in there all you students of Spanish and remember if you ever have a stroke in your language center you will be able to communicate still if you learn well. ;)

I think its sinking in....

That is I think the Spanish is getting ingrained into my subconscious as well as conscious. Weird things keep happening. For example I was rewriting my grocery list the other day after I went to one store and couldn't get everything I needed (this happens a lot). So I'm going to write pan (bread) but I realize the rest of my list is in English, I don't know why but I hate to have both languages on one list, so I'm sitting there thinking, "Pan... Pan..... Pan.... Oh I know its bread." Ok then I get to the next entry on my old list and I realize it says jam (just curious how many of you just read that as ham). Ok I look at this word and can picture slices of jamon or ham in my head but can tell this word is wrong. And it seriously took me a min to realize what it was. I wonder if my issues with spelling and not being able to picture spellings of words has anything to do with this or if this is typical of learning a new language. Any one ever had situations like these. This isn't the only time for me but is the most recent and easiest to explain. Sometimes I don't think I could really explain what the weirdness is. I showed my husband my list and told him what happened with the bread and he smiled at me and said, "Your really learning Spanish honey." I'm thinking this is a bad thing and he acts all proud of me.

Will I ever learn....

to procrastinate even a little. I'm always so prepared and ready. I finished repacking yesterday. Yes I said repacking. I first packed about mid week to be sure of how many and which suit cases would be necessary. Then yesterday I pulled everything out and made it organized and put the last few things in that were forgotten the first time. Anything that is last min like the bathroom stuff is in a premade bag in the bathroom waiting to be thrown in the extra space left for it. Obviously I'm not totally Mexican yet because if I were I would have started last night or more like today. We have to leave the house tomorrow at 10. I have my last load of laundry in the washer, painted my nails (orange for Halloween), and showed my 3 yr old as many videos on you tube and the airport site as I could find to try and get her ready. Now what do I do with the rest of my day. I wish my hubby would have called off work to hang out with me. I'm really gonna miss him and I know he will miss me and the girls so much. I'm so stinking excited I just don't know what to do with myself today. I suppose I'll go study. Iv been reading medical articles in Spanish thanks to a great idea from a friend. The though is that if Canada doesn't work (which I don't think it will) or if we just decide to stay in Mexico, that reading medical things in Spanish would be the best way to get my language boosted enough to work. When she suggested this I thought wow that sounds like a pain and not to much fun. I've been doing it anyway, and am finding it is a lot easier and I know a lot more than I thought I would. I get a real kick out of reading medical material and I'm finding I get that kick even if its in Spanish, and actually a little more because I'm learning more. My next plan is to get some audio medical books in Spanish. Sometimes when I read a word I know what it is but when I say it out loud I'm sure if I heard someone say it I wouldn't know what it was unless they wrote it down. So I will attempt to distract my mind to day with Spanish.

Spanish continued with chile rellenos

I have gotten many chances over the last couple days to see the improvement in my Spanish. Its funny this is the way it has gone over the last 9months: I see great improvement through a conversation then I plateau for awhile no matter how hard I try to excel, then out of the blue I see improvement again. Im hoping that learning in stair steps like this I am actually letting more of the language sink in. Yesterday I took my daughter to the park (thank God we needed to get out) and ended up having a 30 min conversation with a lady who was there with her grandchildren. Im happy to say she knew absolutely no English and wasn't to good at slowing down her speech for me. And I understood almost everything she said and only had to say "dilo otra ves." a few times. Then I was on messenger with one of my husbands cousins and did quiet well with that also. He does know some English but we have a deal where he types in English as much as he can and I type in Spanish and we correct each others sentences. Yes this can make a short conversation very long but it is extremely helpful with learning the written language. As you may be able to tell from reading my blogs IM not the best speller in English and Im finding that I screw it up in Spanish also. I didn't think this would be a problem because Spanish is always spelled phonetically which is what I try to do in English (Thank God for auto spell check).But this is why learning correct pronunciation is so important in Spanish, I use to always say to my husband "But you understood what I meant." when he would correct my pronunciation but now I see why its so important. Aside from being just annoying to fluent speakers when you say a word weird you also cant picture the word correctly and later put it in writing. So for any new learners don't brush off all the people who stress pronunciation and enunciation. Ok so the last thing that happened that proved to me that I am doing better was the best. My husband has a friend from work who we have been slowly getting closer to. They are a younger couple like us (Ok she younger than me by like 7 years but hey who's counting right) and have a daughter the same age. Anyway last time we were over there I borrowed her cook book because my husbands family will not give me any recipes unless IM there to watch them cook the meal. We also found out that she is a trained hair dresser, Whoot Whoot. See Im spoiled because my mom is one and I hate going to people I don't know so this was a huge deal and comfort to me. Anyway we went over there last night after the guys got off work and she cut my hair (it looks great, shes good) and we cooked dinner together. I picked a recipe I wasn't sure I understood completely and that Iv always wanted to make even before meeting my Mexican hubby. Chile Rellenos, OMG they are so yummy and I had no idea the true way they were made. So the guys hung out and we cooked and I understood her the whole time. The only time I had to go ask Issac something I actually knew the answer and was just being timed about it. I find that my best learning comes when I am with someone who is patient and doesn't seem to think Im stupid just because I speak like a 5 year old. So how exciting I found that Im doing better than I thought with my Spanish and learned how to cook a yummy dish. We plan to do this more often although Im not sure it will fit in before the baby and then will have to wait a bit but hey there's goodness in the future. :)

The Joy of Worship

I hadnt yet made a blog about finding a church here in Mexico. It wasnt easy I can tell you that. My husband and I were both raised baptist and were going to a nondenominational slightly charismatic church when we met. We decided when were still dating that both of us agreed on how to raise our kids. We wanted them to grow up in a church that had plenty of opportunities for them to be involved but not to force them into them. With this in mind one of our first tasks when I got to Mexico was to check out some churches. He had been going to one with his aunt that he liked a lot for him but he hadn't checked out the kids stuff yet. So we tried this church first. We got there a little early to find out if they would have someone for the kids that eve. Yes they assured us there would be a kids leader. So we went in to join in on the worship. I loved it right away. I could tell the spirit was there, people were all praising in their own ways, some dancing and yelling and some sitting with bowed heads. Although I couldn't join in to much due to no knowing the language of the songs and the distraction of Alana I could tell I liked their view of worship. But when I went to the bathroom it was dark and seemed dirty, no soap or towels to wash with. (Ok remember IM a nurse this is difficult for me.) So then after worship I figured it was time for the kids to go up. Issac and I brought Alana up to the nursery and we were told someone would be up shortly. Ok here where I freaked. The nursery had aunts all over, dirt on all the toys, dirty diapers on the changing tables, and the only couch in there looked like it had been run over with a dirty truck. Issac said this might be the best we can find so I said ok and waited. Soon the pastors youngest who is Alanas age came up with his older brother who is only about 8 or 9. No one else showed up. We waited about 45 min and when I couldn't stand it anymore we left. I was heart broken and bound to find a different church.
I went online and searched until I found an in home church that was just getting started. We tried it the next week. There were only about 8 people there but there where other kids Alanas age. Worship was with no music and when Issac later offered to bring his guitar and play they told us they didn't believe in instruments for worship. Ok we thought we can maybe deal with that. We don't agree but from experience we know as long as the church preaches Christ and doesn't stray from the gospel sometimes its ok not to agree with all the doctoral stuff. They had a nice lady who took all the kids to another room to do a lesson during the service and after only a few Sundays Alana was content to go with them. We liked what the pastor had to say and he seemed to stick to the Bible and what it says. This church only meet every other week though because the pastor also preached in a city about 2 hours from here. So on the odd Sundays we were checking out other churches. We went to a "Pentecostal" church one Sunday night. I have that in quotes because any Pentecostal I know from the states would pass out if they went in there. Seriously it was the driest worship service Iv ever been to (and I was raised baptist)!!! First off the pastor said "Ok now lets sing the normal." (so they sing the same thing every Sunday) And the poor young boy (looked about 12) who was playing the guitar looked absolutely mortified to be there. Also at this time I'm about 2mo preg and there is an extremely stinky lady sitting next to us. Sorry to add that in but I couldn't stay there. Oh and the church was only one room and there were no other kids. Everyone other than us and the sad boy in front were at least over 50.
In the mean time we had visited his Aunts house. This is the aunt I love to go see she lives here in the same town. Anyway she tells us we should give it another try and that they are doing more with the kids. That she is even taking over a class. Well I'm stubborn and didn't want to but we prayed about it and we decided to go.

This time we went to an am service. I swear to you that the devil had clouded my eyes the first time we went. The bathroom was clean and had soap and a towel (cloth but that's cool)!!!!!!!!!!!! Again I enjoyed the worship service and this time we waited around to see when the kids where to go. Oh they don't go yet. First the pastor takes any written prayer requests and prays publicly over them. Oh I like this a lot and I like the idea that the kids are kept in to see it. Then we did offering and another song. Ok now they are telling the kids they can go. I personally want to take Alana to be sure that there is going to be an adult in the room. I had already guarded myself again what the room would look like when we got there. But wait I round the corner and the carpet is vacuumed, only a few random ants, the couch looks like it has been vacuumed, The toys don't have dirt on them they all look like they were just disinfected and no dirty diapers laying around. Sigh!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Ok Satan back off because God has shown us our new home. The lady who was to care for the toddlers did take a bit to get to the room but when she did she was warm and nice. We loved the sermon and as God does it hit home right to what we were needing to hear. We have been regulars every since. Only on one other occasion in and eve service have they not had a person for the toddlers and Alana was the only one there that night anyway. So she hung with us and no one seemed to care when she laughed out loud or said something louder than she should.

Ok after that forever long story here is the real reason for this post. Last night for the first time I was able to translate (for the most part with out Issacs help) the worship songs. Once I translate them I try to sing a long. (My tong is always so tired after church) Last night I was able to truly worship God and not in my native tong. I sang two different songs with not only the understanding of the meaning but the swelling in my heart to know that I meant every word I sang. I cant in a blog or really in anyway of words describe the feeling of worshiping our maker. But recently I have only been able to do it alone and at home with Issac playing or a CD. It is so much better when you are surrounded by other Christians who are praising God and showing him how much they care and love him. My heart is swelling even now as I write this just to know the peace and surrender I felt during those songs. After I just thanked God for showing himself to me and to Issac and for bringing us to this church.
This also means that my Spanish is improving more than what I thought it was. See I study and study but with out real world practice I don't know that Im progressing. So that is that God has given me his Amazing Grace and allowed me to worship him through song with fellow Christians. Just wanted to share my joy.

Learning Spanish Oct

So yesterday when I was researching the FM3 I found a ladies personal blog about getting her own. I found that it helped me a lot to read about someone else who had been through a similar situation. That is what inspired this entire blog site. Here is my story of learning Spanish so far. This way when someone like myself is searching for help they can read my story and maybe be comforted by it.


So I started trying to learn the moment I fell in love with my now husband. At that pint I knew; mi casa su casa, vive, Adios, and caca. None of which are to helpful. When I became interested others at our church where to so Issac started a class using the Living Language books. I think we got to about the 3rd chapter before Issac got picked up for being illegal. Needless to say our life was upside down and the class fell off the radar. We soon decided to get married and at this point I was in nursing school and had more important things to rack my mind over. So Spanish was again on the shelf. After we married I decided it was time to commit again to Spanish I was now graduated from school and ready to continue learning. I ordered some CD's off line that where cheep but really good. They were called Advantage Language and are a computer program. I loved this. Tammy came over once a week and we did the lessons together. Soon Tammy was unable to come and the immigration stuff with Issac began to pick up. I also got pregnant somewhere in here and my memory was shot. But I continued to randomly do the comp program and was still trying to trudge through the book we had bought for Issacs class alone. Issac is always there to answer questions also. Ok so now I would say I have the knowledge of someone who has Spanish one in High school.
Then Issac has to go to Mexico and my life is crazy, sad, busy, just to much to worry about Spanish. The only reading I did was for stress relief and fun.
So here I am sitting in Mexico with the knowledge of High School Spanish one. I brought those comp CD's which I early didn't add that after about the Int part they had audio CD's also and I also got a digital translator with it that works pretty well even now. I also brought with me the book that started it all with Issacs class. I know I should have finished it by now but geesss didn't you read my excuses. So the comp one wont work because they can only be installed into one comp and that is at Shawndras in the States. So I hit the Living Language book (which also came with audio CD's). I got through this one I think early Aug. It is an ok book but mainly for memorization and for tourist. Im not exactly a tourist although thats what my legal status is. So now I feel Im at about Spanish one College maybe. If the people who communicate with me speak clearly and a little slower than normal I do ok. Also if they use words they know I know. :)
To continue my learning Im now working on increasing my vocabulary. I listen to the Audio CD's from Advantage Language while doing dishes, playing outside with Alana, Taking walks, during Alanas cartoons ext. Issac recently got Rosetta Stone for me and I whizzed through Unit one in like 3 weeks it had 8 lessons with about 12 sessions in each. Im pretty happy with that its mainly about listening comprehension which is what I need to master before I can dream about speaking it well myself. We will soon have the second unit up and running and Im sure it will be more of a challenge. I also recently borrowed Issacs cousins Spanish one and two books from Jr. High. So this is 7th and 8th grade Spanish here. But if you think about it this would be higher up in the States because the entire book is in Spanish. I also am reading through a book that his aunt used to lean English it has both in it and is pretty neat. Its called Expreselo todo en ingles, express everything in Spanish. The entire book has both languages like the title.
Gosh still a lot to learn but I will keep you posted on how it is going. With all these sources and being immersed in the population I hope I will be doing better soon.