Entry Numero Uno

As someone who was raised in an "anti-blog environment" (incidentally, thanks for that, brothers), I feel the need to start this thing off with a disclaimer: "I will not use this medium to rant about right wing politics, overdramatize the suckiness of my life, publish really lame poetry that no one else "gets," or share the private minutia of my daily inner thought life with the entire world, assuming that others are just as absorbed with me as I am with myself."

That being said, I think it might be fun - for me and even for you, my friends and family, and maybe even you, my creepy friend of a friend who needs to find better hobbies - to share in some of the stuff that's going on in and around me here in this, the Mexican Phase of Ruth. Some themes in future posts may include cultural observations, fun facts, complaints about the bus system, the struggles of moving to a third world country alone, and the ways I'm seeing God show himself to me through it all.

Out of laziness and lack of cool things to say, I probably won't update too frequently...we'll see how this goes. In the meantime, here's an update to bring you up to speed.

Brief recap of the past 3.5 weeks: Walking [stumbling around in the dark] by faith.

Slightly less brief recap of the past 3.5 weeks:

overwhelm, alone, desperate, utterly dependent, depressed, tired, confused, out of place, anxious, many long Spanish novels on many long bus rides, searching for work online, on the phone, on foot (mostly), consuming mountains of taquitos, feeling incompetent, lost in the void, well taken care of, always provided for, accepting, surrendering, grateful, hopeful. All on a daily basis. Except the taquito mountians. I've been trying to cut back on that.

Where I'm at right now:

I currently work afternoons and evenings Mon-Sat at an English school for all ages (kids - seniors) in one of the suburbs of the city about 20 minutes south of downtown and about 1 hour and 30 minutes (by bus) south of where I'm still living with my friend's family. It's a very laid back, low pressure environment, and although the system/set up is far from perfect, I'm enjoying it, and really grateful to be have a place to be and work to do.

As far as my living situation, the hunt continues. I have contacted/looked at so many places all over this crazy city that are either too ghetto, too expensive, too far, or already taken by someone else. I am really, really ready to have a home again, to be able to start creating a life for myself here.

Until then, I'm still staying with my freind's family who live in the wealthiest, farthest away neighborhood in the city, and who have, for all practical purposes, adopted me. The enormity of their genorisity, warmth, and hospitality towards me (a total stranger when we first met) has been an incredible provision straight from the Divine and also really hard for me to accept, considering I can't do anything to earn it and they wouldn't dream of letting me "repay" them for it, even if I could. But a friend who had a similar experience abroad reminded me recently that to resist their generosity would be to deny them the joy of being a blessing.

It's hard to let go of my pride though. But good. (But hard.)

Wow, I see how these things can get lengthy fast...so I'll end there for now. Miss you guys. Very, very much.