"Ir De Colados"

"Honing in on somebody else's gig"

Or in more educated terms, "going to an event you weren't invited to."
"Ir de colados."

Last night, JP and I went to Ruti's house.  Ruti and two of her sisters make amazing Queretano food every Saturday night, and sell it fresh from the grill in front of their house.  JP and I are good friends with Ruti's kids (Job, Sandy, and Sandy's husband Phil).  So we go every now and then for good eats.  Most of the non-family members who get Ruti's food take it home to eat it, but since we're *almost* family, we eat there.  We joined in a large room where lots of the family (many of whom we didn't know) were eating, and had good conversation with those we do know. 

Here's a GUAJOLOTE sandwich, the type that Ruti makes for dinner!  YUM!

All of a sudden, ladies started bringing in cakes, the lights went out, birthday candles were lit, and we were all singing the Mexican birthday song.  The cake was cut, and pieces were distributed.  I still have no idea who the birthday person was (I didn't understand the name during the birthday song, as there were too many people for me to see who blew out the candles). 

I immediately felt like we had "honed in on someone else's gig" by being present at a birthday party that we weren't invited to, and we were even eating their cake!  I voiced this to JP, Job, and Phil, that maybe JP and I should go, since this was an event that wasn't meant to include us.  Job and Phil looked at me and made comments about me having been in the USA for too long.  Then MORE free cake was slid down the table to us! 

It's true.  Here, you don't HAVE to be invited to the birthday party.  If you happen to be in the area, you can just come on in.  I've been to baby showers for ladies I'd never met (without bringing a gift!), and many birthday parties for friends of friends.  And we eat their food or cake and have a good time, even though we didn't know the celebrated person!  It's all about everyone being included!  Kind of nice!  heehee!

This picture is from our 30th birthday party a few years ago.  We knew there would be people coming who we didn't invite, so we bought two cakes, and asked some of our good friends to bring pop, chips, and small sandwiches to make sure everyone was taken care of!  :)

* One exception to this is weddings.  Many people give "tickets" to their wedding so only the number of people with a ticket can come.  This is because a lot of people have very expensive dinners after the wedding, and you HAVE to know how many people will come so you have the correct amount of seating and food.  We put everyone's first name on their wedding invitation so the family would know who exactly is being invited.  (So there was no mistake that their grandparents from Mexico City, or the cousin who lives down the street shouldn't show up for this one!) Although in small towns, sometimes the entire town is invited to the wedding! 

Storage...

What do YOU think of when you hear the term "storage unit?" 
This is what I thought of:

JP and I *may* have watched a *few* seas, er, episodes of this show while in the US...  heehee!

That's what I thought of when thinking of a "storage unit."

And then we called up the lady who's in charge of the storage unit that we still have here in Queretaro.  A simple call to make sure we were up to date on the payment, turned into an invitation for us.  The lady who runs the storage unit facility where we had our stuff stored during our time in the States asked if we could come out some day to talk to her about Jesus.  Wait, WHAT?! 

A quick background on our storage unit: we left our friend Luis in charge of "paying the lady" for us each month.  He is super busy, so he had a guy who works for him - Nacho - go out and make the payment.  The "Lady" got to know Luis and Nacho, and somehow a conversation got started over the course of several months about how they are Christians, and we - the people who's stuff is in the storage unit - are missionaries.  She started asking them about Christ.  And of course they shared with her.  So when we called up the other day about the payments, she asked if we could come and talk with her about questions she has about Jesus/the Bible/etc.  Um, YES!  Unfortunately, they storage units are outside of Queretaro, and there is no public transportation that will take us there.  But, we're going to be borrowing a car to go out there because this is pretty important!  How many times do you get someone you hardly know asking if you can come talk to them about Jesus?!  We'll definitely be making a way to take this opportunity!

Side note: I want to know how some of those storage units in California stay so clean inside...  Ours is well-packaged boxes and some furniture, and after a year and a half, there's a good half inch of dust on EVERYTHING!  Brandi NEVER ends up dirty while looking through a unit, and I was filthy after opening the two boxes that had my essential kitchen stuff in!  haha!

"Lucky You, You Live In Queretaro!"

This is what several announcements around our city say to all the Queretanos (people from Queretaro) that pass by.  We're lucky because we live here.  A quick glimpse around our city will tell you that,  we ARE pretty lucky to live here!  People from other states are moving in at a rate of approximately 140 people PER DAY to live in Queretaro.  Why?  We're the second safest city in the country (behind Merida which is near Cancun), and safety is a huge issue in Mexico these days.  We're the second cleanest city (behind Aguascalientes, a few hours north of us).  We have 8 (if I'm not mistaken) large industrial areas to provide jobs, and foreign companies are moving into Queretaro, making even more jobs.  The cost of housing seems quite economical to people coming from Mexico City (think Californians thinking $300 grand is a bargain home in Oregon).  The climate is pretty much amazing.  So there's a lot going for our city of now over 2 million.

 

Highway sign on the road between San Luis Potosi and Queretaro in the state of Guanajuato.

 

But... there's always a but.  If you take more than a cursory look at our lovely city, you'll begin to see what's really here.  People are hurting.  People have no hope.  People want to do whatever they can to get ahead, especially at the expense of others. 
80 percent of people in Queretaro drink more than one alcoholic beverage daily.  If you think about it, that's not just social drinking anymore, that's at problem level.  We have the highest rate of alcoholic women in the country.  Surveys say that girls as young as 12 are getting drunk on a weekly basis.  We have the highest rate of single mothers in the country as well.

Something is happening in Queretaro, and it's most notable among women.  I've seen women stopped in the street "road-raging" (screaming, hitting each other, keying the other's car...) with other women.  The other day, I was crossing the street and a bus *may* have cut in front of a woman driver (this happens ALL the time with the busses).  Instead of dealing with it and moving on with life like the rest of us do, she gunned the engine, drove alongside the bus, and started screaming a string words that I honestly don't think I'd ever heard a women say at the bus driver.  The other pedestrians and I were in shock.  It was a woman who waved a gun at JP and I a couple years ago when he wasn't driving fast enough on the highway.  Women are having severe anger problems.  Girls are the ones bullying others at school. 

Lucky you, you live in Queretaro. 

Lucky you, if you're a 12-year-old girl in Queretaro, you may get drunk this weekend.  Lucky you, you're more likely to be a single mom than the 12-year-old girl in any other state.  Lucky you, you may come home to an alcoholic mom.  And no dad.  Lucky you, you probably either get bullied at school, or are a bully yourself.  Or both. 

Lucky you, you live in Queretaro.

Pray for our city.  Pray for us, that we can be a beam of hope here.  Because God loves Queretanos!