[Saturday, April 24, 2004]
Hola a todos mis amigos y a mi familia!
Well, I bet you are wondering about my vacation. It was great. I had a very relaxing time. The trip to Oaxaca was a lot of fun. I enjoyed the scenery on the 4 hour bus trip. We drove alongside the mountains and they are beautiful, well some of the way they were beautiful. About 2 hours into the trip the mountains started to change and became very desertous. In place of grass and trees there were the funniest looking cacti covering the mountain. The mountains were very dry and the ground was just dirt. Then, there were those cacti. They were tall, skinny and looked like poles. So, imagine green prickly poles sticking up all over the side of the mountain. It was neat though. I especially enjoyed the scenery driving back during the sunset!! What beauty. Anyways, our friend Jana met us at the bus station in Oaxaca. Oaxaca had some immediately noticeable differences from Puebla. First of all, it seemed to be a poorer area, not poverty-stricken, but I could tell the town wasn't as wealthy. Secondly, it is only half a million in population compared to Puebla's 3 million. Third, the town is more spread out with neighbors scattered on the mountainside. Oaxaca is actually in the mountains, while Puebla is in a valley, between lots of mountains. The fourth difference I noticed is that there are many more Indian-Mexicans in Oaxaca. I very rarely saw Mexicans of Spanish descent iin Oaxaca. In comparison with Puebla, there are many very lighted skinned Mexicans in Puebla. So, in Oaxaca, Indian languages are more common, even just 20 miles outside of the main city. We visited 2 different villages outside of Oaxaca. One village had a famous rug weaver. He makes natural dyes from little bugs that grow on cactus plants, leaves, plants, limes, etc. He showed us how he gets the wool ready to be woven and we saw a young man using a machine to weave the different colored strings together into marvelous designs. It was a hard, long process. The people in his village speak Zapotec, an Indian language. The man said he didn't speak much Spanish. Another village we went to had a place that specializes in black pottery. It was neat. Of course I have a little more interest in pottery than most ordinary people because my aunt is a potter and she has her own business. I sent her some pictures of the black pottery. I bought a couple pieces there. One thing about it is that it is very inexpensive! In the city we went downtown to a few different markets. I love going to the market. You can find so many different things there and they are usually fairly cheap. I bought a shirt. Another attraction we visited in the area was the Tule tree. It's one of the biggest (in diameter) trees in the world. It was interesting to see. Finally, we went to visit Monte Alban, which are Indian ruins dating back to about 500BC. They were such skilled architects! You just wouldn't believe how skilled the people were. There is one pyramid-like structure where on either side of the pyramid, there is a hole left in the stairs going to the top. The stairs were designed so that on 2 specific days of the year the light will shine in one side and out the other. It was part of their calendar system. Amazing, isn't it! Well, that concludes my trip----oh, except for the cucarachas (the cockroaches.) We found cockroaches in Jana's house and the afternoon we left, we had a cockroach killing party because we'd found their nest. I didn't get in on much of the action because I just don't like cockroaches and these were monster roaches!! I'm glad we haven't had them in our apartment.
Well, the first week back to school after break went well. The students were joyful and a blessing as always. The Lord has been teaching me how to help one student that I have who has special needs. By relying on the Lord for wisdom and patience, I have been less frustrated with the situation. God has also been challenging me through a book I'm reading. It's called Evidence Not Seen. It's an autobiography of a missionary who was taken prisoner by the Japanese in the West Indies during WWII. Her faith and reliance on God is very humbling as I realize the trials that she went through and how she always thanked the Lord in every situation. She went through things that you and I would never imagine and yet she felt the presence of God in her life and relied on His faithfulness alone to sustain her. How much we take for granted. How easily we get dissatisfied if things don't go our way. I sure have a lot of growing to do. Perhaps you too should think about your life and in what ways God is trying to stretch your faith and humble you. I'll pray for you as you seek a stronger relationship with God! Have a great week---in your walk with the Lord!
Love,
Angelina
P.S. I would like to send some pictures to those of you who read my weblogs, so please e-mail me your address and I would be glad to get some pictures together since I can't post them online! Thanks.
Well, I bet you are wondering about my vacation. It was great. I had a very relaxing time. The trip to Oaxaca was a lot of fun. I enjoyed the scenery on the 4 hour bus trip. We drove alongside the mountains and they are beautiful, well some of the way they were beautiful. About 2 hours into the trip the mountains started to change and became very desertous. In place of grass and trees there were the funniest looking cacti covering the mountain. The mountains were very dry and the ground was just dirt. Then, there were those cacti. They were tall, skinny and looked like poles. So, imagine green prickly poles sticking up all over the side of the mountain. It was neat though. I especially enjoyed the scenery driving back during the sunset!! What beauty. Anyways, our friend Jana met us at the bus station in Oaxaca. Oaxaca had some immediately noticeable differences from Puebla. First of all, it seemed to be a poorer area, not poverty-stricken, but I could tell the town wasn't as wealthy. Secondly, it is only half a million in population compared to Puebla's 3 million. Third, the town is more spread out with neighbors scattered on the mountainside. Oaxaca is actually in the mountains, while Puebla is in a valley, between lots of mountains. The fourth difference I noticed is that there are many more Indian-Mexicans in Oaxaca. I very rarely saw Mexicans of Spanish descent iin Oaxaca. In comparison with Puebla, there are many very lighted skinned Mexicans in Puebla. So, in Oaxaca, Indian languages are more common, even just 20 miles outside of the main city. We visited 2 different villages outside of Oaxaca. One village had a famous rug weaver. He makes natural dyes from little bugs that grow on cactus plants, leaves, plants, limes, etc. He showed us how he gets the wool ready to be woven and we saw a young man using a machine to weave the different colored strings together into marvelous designs. It was a hard, long process. The people in his village speak Zapotec, an Indian language. The man said he didn't speak much Spanish. Another village we went to had a place that specializes in black pottery. It was neat. Of course I have a little more interest in pottery than most ordinary people because my aunt is a potter and she has her own business. I sent her some pictures of the black pottery. I bought a couple pieces there. One thing about it is that it is very inexpensive! In the city we went downtown to a few different markets. I love going to the market. You can find so many different things there and they are usually fairly cheap. I bought a shirt. Another attraction we visited in the area was the Tule tree. It's one of the biggest (in diameter) trees in the world. It was interesting to see. Finally, we went to visit Monte Alban, which are Indian ruins dating back to about 500BC. They were such skilled architects! You just wouldn't believe how skilled the people were. There is one pyramid-like structure where on either side of the pyramid, there is a hole left in the stairs going to the top. The stairs were designed so that on 2 specific days of the year the light will shine in one side and out the other. It was part of their calendar system. Amazing, isn't it! Well, that concludes my trip----oh, except for the cucarachas (the cockroaches.) We found cockroaches in Jana's house and the afternoon we left, we had a cockroach killing party because we'd found their nest. I didn't get in on much of the action because I just don't like cockroaches and these were monster roaches!! I'm glad we haven't had them in our apartment.
Well, the first week back to school after break went well. The students were joyful and a blessing as always. The Lord has been teaching me how to help one student that I have who has special needs. By relying on the Lord for wisdom and patience, I have been less frustrated with the situation. God has also been challenging me through a book I'm reading. It's called Evidence Not Seen. It's an autobiography of a missionary who was taken prisoner by the Japanese in the West Indies during WWII. Her faith and reliance on God is very humbling as I realize the trials that she went through and how she always thanked the Lord in every situation. She went through things that you and I would never imagine and yet she felt the presence of God in her life and relied on His faithfulness alone to sustain her. How much we take for granted. How easily we get dissatisfied if things don't go our way. I sure have a lot of growing to do. Perhaps you too should think about your life and in what ways God is trying to stretch your faith and humble you. I'll pray for you as you seek a stronger relationship with God! Have a great week---in your walk with the Lord!
Love,
Angelina
P.S. I would like to send some pictures to those of you who read my weblogs, so please e-mail me your address and I would be glad to get some pictures together since I can't post them online! Thanks.
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