Thursday, November 3, 2011

Move-in Week! Maybe??

We are hoping this is move-in week. But as they say here, TIM (this is Mexico). Or a different culture that both exasperates you, and at same time teaches you to learn about it, and Latin America, and its ability to deal with uncertainty. We experienced the first of the Latino culture last year when 'spying" out Ecuador. But now fully immersed in the Life style here in Dolores, we are learning the culture as not just visitors, but as residents. The need to adjust from the " oh well, I can deal with this because its just temporary", to accepting it, and looking at the need to embrace and not try to change the people here, to a USA standard. We are the new people that need to understand & respect what is here.
  So we started yesterday moving in.

                                                                  Living room

Brought some of our bins, from O'Fallon out to home. Elaine spent the day in the kitchen, cleaning, as I walked to the stores to purchase necessities, bucket, mop. broom, bleach, soap, etc  for the "Elaine approved" cleaning that is required before living in the house. The owner had a crew in, cleaning, scrubbing, installing etc. And from what we have heard that is better than a lot of renters get. Still there are plumbing issues mainly that I will bring up to landlord & see if they will address. We are getting an 8ft x 9ft metal gate built, that will close off access from back yard( using the term loosely). Mainly for privacy. We have a 6 stand alone housing compound, witha gate on street to open to get in. It isn't locked but you have to get out of car, slide back and close for off-street parking. Much easier than looking for parking on the street. because we are just 4 blocks, from the "jardin" (town square traditional park) it is very crowded with pedestrians, cars, vendors, children etc. We will be walking mostly to avoid the stress of negotiating the traffic.
For example yesterday after coming back from the "bodega'. walmart, I parked then went walking to downtown to locksmith that Tom L. took us to Monday, to have them provide new keys, went there, talked to owners wife, gestured and spoke my limited spanish, to indicate our need. She sent her son back with me, he removed locks, so as to rekey. Then the father, and uncle returned(regresso) with him to install. $340 pesos($20 usd). I was out, so Elaine paid them. That involved 3 men, 2 trips, 6 keys, and a new lock for front door because it was broke. For services here it is reasonable, because the average pay is less than $8 usd a day. Thus why it is so affordable here, the minimum gov't wage is about $3 usd.per day!!!!   It is cheaper to hire work done than doing it yourself usually. You can have a local sister, who needs $$, to clean your home for $16 a day, she works 6-8 hours cleaning. It may seem like your taking advantage of the situation, but the reality is your helping your sister, and paying her 4 times what she would earn doing the same work for a local business. So there is a understanding you come to appreciate here about working, and assisting the locals, friends or not, and that is why the gov't usually encourage ex-pats living here. As long as your not taking jobs away from locals.
And you have to resist "giving' them money. A few beggars, but not like we saw at airport in Ecuador.
The respect these people have for work is amazing. The term "lazy mexican" is completely false here.
I've seen men loading hundred lb sacks of sand all day long into large truck by hand. over the shoulder, climbing up 5 steps into truck bed and then repeating it all day long. For $3 usd.
Or in the corn fields with a sickle doing that all day. How they will appreciate new world, when they see the fruit of there labors under Christs blessing of the soil.
  We enjoyed good fellowship with the speaker, as tom & Debbie hosted them, and had Phil & Stacey over along with Chip & Marilyn Feid.

                                              Couldn't decide which was better- the green or the red, had to try several samples to be sure............the green!!!!!!!!
1 of Tom's studies, Phil with Chip, speaker from San Luis de la Potosi which means St. Louis of the Mines..... remind of of Potosi Missouri name????? What was the main acivity of Potosi for years?????Lead Mining!!! That is the same at San Luis de la Potosi, silver & gold Mining!!!!!!!! They pronounce there name-----PAH- TAH- SEE, where in Missouri we say----PO-TOE-SEE.

Here is the group Debbie & Tom had over last sunday, from left-Elaine-Sonya-Stacey-Adam-Debbie-Phil(only top of head)-sister Ramierez-Markus-Isaiah-Bro Ramierez-Chip Feid-Marilyn Feid-bro from San Luis-Tom Lipperd.









Took some shots from our Kingdom Hall and 1 has Ron Mudge in them, a twin brother of good friend of Henry & Sheila Johnson (Elaines sister)
                                            Kingdom Hall front entrance-Dolores Hidalgo
We had at same time as we moved here, a brother from Chile moved in with his wife, and her daughter.
Guess what? they are from Marion Ill. area and they know my brother Tim real well. Mike Portell.
They have rented a home just around the corner from Tom & Debbie house. They have come from serving in Chile, and will be with Dolores for awhile. There are 7-9 that have moved in or going to in 45 days, Will have pics of them as I can sneak them in. Don't even have all the names, but 1 couple have rented the house next to us, and moving in Dec 1.

Went to San Miguel yesterday to pick up sofa & beds. Tom drove me over in his jeep & trailer. Met the owners son at consignment shop in San Miguel de Allende, what a beautiful town. Is World famous for its art, shopping, and beauty. At the base of a high mountain, and the town caters to EX-PATS from USA and Europe. The pics tell you why. Saw first Mcdonalds- in Shopping mall where we got a bed from store called Liverpool, VERY UPSCALE. Saw prices and left, only to return after looking at mattress at other stores, and bought there.


Had eventful drive thru San Miguel, I a sworn to secrecy. Suffice it to say that when you are pulling a trailer up very steep 1 way narrow streets, paved in riverbed stones, loaded with a sofa, you can easily get into a challenging situation with drivers going the other way you are driving.!!!!!! But we made it thru, and saw some incredibly beautiful homes.
There are 30-40,000 estimated ex-pats living in San Miguel de Allende. From Europe & north America.
So the city offers many stores that are not found hardly anywhere else around this part of Mexico.
All for now will be spending today, moving our 7 more bins into house, getting internet, unpacking, trying to see what plumbing issues there are, and moving in stove, refrigerator, and washer. Had an interesting option present itself for some appliances. We bought stove, but hadn't pulled trigger on washer & refrig. A brother here asked if we wanted to look at some appliances and dishes that were available from someone who moved, and had left them. So we looked at Elaine was thrilled to see dishes, a nice wrought iron/glass fixture she can put dishes and things on, plus washer & refrig. So that was a blessing to help us avoid more shopping, and save $$. She was touched because after giving up her things in Missouri, wasn't sure she would get any nice things again. Jehovah provides. Again.
Love to all.
Tom & Elaine

1 comment:

  1. Love the commentary! We feel like we are traveling right alongside you both. Your new home is beautiful!

    ReplyDelete