my natural "whatamalaness" is coming through

so, yeah i've sucked about the blogging thing lately. sorry. if anyone's life depends on my bi-weekly posts, though, they should seek help from a professional. or just worship me, whatever's easiest.

Quick Rundown of the Mission Trip (for the full details, see my memoirs...)

Friday, July 16- the buss was late, therefore we didn't leave until 8 pm. the bus ride was exciting and "different" and also happened to be 22 hours non-stop. woot!

Saturday, July 17- the bus ride continues, however many fun stops are made. one at 4 am. one at 8 am for a nice breakfast at the golden arches. one at around noon when we had already crossed the border, and yet another bathroom stop. then we finally reached arteaga, mexico. it was about 6 pm. we had dinner, found our dormitories, showered...

Sunday, July 18- early wakeup for breakfast due to the moving-about of the "elders" as we nicknamed the older folks in the group. mass (in spanish) in this GORGEOUS church next to the place we stayed. touring of cities near where we were staying. a marketplace "fiesta" with lots of food we couldn't eat, drinks we couldn't have, stuff we couldn't bring across the border, and pinyatas (one of which i purchased). what? i'm not a tourist?!?

Monday, July 19- first work day. good stuff that slow-moving tedious manual labor in the sun. lots of children ready to help in return for my sunglasses. i mostly straightened wires for re-bar. back to the mission compound for lunch. what?? beans, rice and tortillias, how do they ALWAYS know what i want?? some people got montezuma's revenge later on this night. BEEEWWWWAAARRREEE!!!!! the bathroom therefore was rank the next few days. (too much information? deal with it, i had to.)

Tuesday, July 20- the teens have started hanging out a lot more and nightly games of "sugar packets," a less-common form of Spoons, is a new favorite in addition to Mau (a seven-card game played like UNO where you can't tell people the rules; they must figure it out for themselves....aka "a bucket o' fun"). second work day. today i worked mainly on the trench we were building with shovels, pickaxes, mallets, and picks. i became "steam-shovel Sarah." ohhh yeah, i'm cool. this little girl from the village took me to her house and offered me watermelon. it was a lot more awesome than it sounds...the girls teens decided to sleep on the balcony under the stars. that ROCKED!

Wednesday, July 21- last work day. more digging... steam-shovel sarah showed her true colors. we stopped early to have mass and say goodbye to the people we had connected with. this girl Carla braided my hair during mass. hugging, some tears... not from me though. i hadn't really gotten to know the kids that well.... oops. fr. mario (from mexico) arranged kids to dance for us after dinner (their dancing is kind of like tap in that their shoes make the noise that they dance to). the watermelon girl returned to hang with us. grand silence is proclaimed after our daily theological reflection, however the teens boycott and talk until around midnight when we were forced to return to our respective dorms.

Thursday, July 22- GRAND SILENCE DEMANDED UNTIL NOON. yeah, that was hard. then lunch, then shopping in this outdoor market thing in Sautillo. i bought aviators for $2, moracas, and cassanetts. party in the mission compound. we had a big dinner and then this mariaches came and sang for us, and then we had some pinyata action... it was awesome. late night for the teens...

Friday, July 23- early wakeup due to elders banging suitcases down the stairs. some bus action. oh, then our bus' air conditioning broke and the 180 degree weather was really SUCKING. then there was the bus that caught on fire.... yeah, that was fun. then we had to go through customs at the border. we had to get off the bus, take all the luggage off, x-ray all of it, and they checked and x-rayed the bus. then we got back on the boiling bus, and drove until we got to a place we could stop for lunch. the wheels on the bus go round and round... we arrive at the hampton inn in san antonio and realize that we all heart air conditioning, beds, consistantly-working toilets... wow. then we went to the mall to hang out and have dinner. THEN, there was a party until the wee hours of the morning (or until our adult supervisor said it was time to go to bed....) in elizabeth and my room. it ROCKED!

Saturday, July 24- the bus ride home where elizabeth and i annoyed cody a WHOLE lot, sent notes to people, and we watched ben hur. DON'T WATCH BEN-HUR. we also watched Master and Comander. gooood stuff. then, before we knew it, we were home. tear, tear. later that night we had a little teen renunion at Fridays. then off to puccino's, then we hung out in the parking lot and checked out fernando, cody, melissa, and terrie's cars.... we're cool, i promise.

p.s. that was really long. hope you made it through.