Sunday, April 18, 2010
Today was a day of pleasant surprises: a yummy homemade breakfast, finding so many things in common with Miriam, meeting a world famous author, finding inspiration in a liturgical Anglican church, visiting the governor's palace, finding authentic Oaxacan food delicious, & finding comfort in a message streamed all the way from Philadelphia!
I woke up, without an alarm, at 8 & stayed in bed till 8:30. I got in the shower for the first time here…I was told that it would take a little while for the hot water to come on. So, as soon as it was warm enough, I stepped under & did my thing. But, the water kept getting warmer & warmer until it was hot! I was turning the hot knob down & the cold knob up, but it didn’t make a difference. I finished quickly, but boy oh boy, that was some hot water. Here, it turns out that the cold water had run out. Well, it sure woke me up!
When I came downstairs, I found out that Julie was stomach sick all night. So, Roy made scrambled eggs. Miriam came over to drive us to church. This is the girl who is my age & teaches Spanish at the school where I’ll be volunteering. She is going to be the one driving me into school each day. I got to know her a bit then at the house & on the way to church.
Pastor Steve was outside the Anglican Holy Trinity Church building & greeted us. I walked in to find that this was actually their house & we were meeting in their living room, which had been converted into a small, but effective sanctuary. I had only been to a liturgical service once & just looking at the order of service in the bulletin was a bit overwhelming. So, I suggested to Miriam that I would be in charge of finding the songs in the hymnal if she would be in charge of finding all the prayers & readings in the prayer book. The sharing idea worked well & we managed to stay mostly on track. The whole service was in English. There were about 15 other people at the service, including Lori & Nancy, who are 2 of the other teachers at the school. I really appreciated the pastor’s message, which touched on topics of coping with commitments, the dangers of self-sufficiency, seeing God through stressful circumstances, & staying focused on counting our blessings!
After the service, they had a time of fellowship with refreshments provided by one of the missionaries. There were yummy bite-sized spinach quiche, of which I had two. There were also Triscuits (which apparently are really tough to get here) with dip & black coffee. As Miriam, Lori, Nancy & I were sitting down, Lori asked me if I’d ever heard of the Miss Nelson books. I said, “Oh yeah! That is one of my very favorite series!” To which she said, “Well, let me introduce you to Harry, the author.” I TOTALLY THOUGHT SHE MUST BE JOKING! I mean, seriously, what are the chances that I would come to a tiny, English-speaking Anglican church in Oaxaca, Mexico and meet one of my very favorite authors??? So, I stumbled out a few phrases that made it evident I thought she was joking. Meanwhile, my head just kept going back and forth from him to her, shaking in disbelief! When I finally realized it was true, I shook his hand & told him that I use the 3 Miss Nelson books in my classroom, to start off the first few days of every new school year! We all had good conversation during the time of fellowship & I was able to get to know all 3 teachers a bit more.
Joy had thoughtfully arranged a plan for lunch after church, but because she was still sick, it was just 3 teachers & me. They showed me around the zocolo, which was a busy square where people gathered to shop, sell, meet, & eat... The state band was playing and we listened to it for a few minutes. There must have been 50 to 75 people playing in that band. Their music sounded great. Then, we decided to walk into the museum that borders the zocolo. It is a state museum that used to be the Governor’s palace. The inside was amazingly beautiful! While there, we had fun learning and playing an ancient board game with beans & corn as our playing pieces. It was such fun that Nancy bought one! The museum was really interesting, although we didn’t look at every single exhibit. Another fascinating thing were the 2 murals. I’ve been fascinated with murals for a long time, so I was excited to see some Mexican mural art in person!
Finally (at 3:30) we sat down, outdoors, at a restaurant to have lunch. I wanted to have some authentic Oaxacan food, so I picked from a few that were recommended. I don’t remember what it was called, but it was a large, thin slice of Oaxacan beef with crispy tortillas, covered with a chile sauce made with green tomatoes, covered with 2 different kinds of cheeses that I’ve never had before. I was so super hungry & it was so super good!!!
After Miriam dropped me off at the house, I spent about an hour online – checking email, Flickr, & Facebook. Then, I took notes in my journal as I streamed Pastor Joe’s message from that morning at Calvary Chapel of Philadelphia into my new room in Oaxaca, Mexico = GOTTA LOVE IT!
When I went downstairs, we got to talking about movies. Julie showed me this dvd they had called The Ultimate Gift. Since I’d never seen it, Julie watched it with me. It was a really good story & I recommend it for sure.
At 10ish, I had a ham & cheese sandwich for a late supper & was in bed by 11:15.
I AM disappointed that I didn’t have my camera with me to capture the events of the day, but it was a GOOD day, waking up in Oaxaca, Mexico for the very first time!
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