The wolf is always here...

An interesting day indeed. Last night I decided to make oatmeal raisin cookies for the promotores because...I wanted them? Ted wanted them? We were watching a movie this morning and I thought they'd go well? I made said cookies. Last night they were chunks of moist molasses butter deliciousness. This morning they had transformed themselves into small, dry, rocks. We had read that baking at high altitudes had this effect but I had no idea that these cookies would become lil bricks. I decided to bring them anyway and quickly looked up how to say "Would you like to try some cookies, they are a little hard, like rocks" before I ran out the door whilst spilling coffee all over my hand and bag. Those peer counselors. They were so kind. One of them even asked me for a second. I heard a little giggling as they managed to crack the outer oatmeal stones with their teeth. One of the young men and I had an exchange about the fact that we were both bakers. I told him I also did cake decorating, "Yo era una decoradora de tortas hace seis anos." He looked at me a little strangely but smiled and then we all had to move chairs into a different building to watch a movie. It wasn't until later that morning that Karen, the wonderful graphic designer I sit next to in the office told me in Spanish, "Oh I know it's tricky because there are different words for things in different regions and torta is actually cake in Spain but in Mexico, torta is sandwich." I actually couldn't stop laughing. I (explicative) love that I mess up so so so much every day and people are just gracious about it!! On that note, I have experienced being around a large number of the retiree/ex-pat community that live here in San Miguel. It's difficult for me to understand why so many of them insist on speaking in English to Spanish speakers. Now, I was given excellent advice before I left the U.S. with regards to this blog. "Don't treat it like a journal, if you want to vent put it in a diary, use your blog to inform people about the WORK you are doing"(thank you Giustina). With this in mind, I have chosen not to vent on many occasions in regards to the aforementioned issue(that would be the large English speaking population here) and I will continue to respect that advice. It is an epic challenge, but it can be done! I have also been learning how choosing to feed the "wolf" of anger (even if the anger "seems" justified) is not only self- destructive, it gets in the way of the positive energy that is needed in order to connect well with others. Moving forward, Ted and I participated in a presentation at the theater in one of the public libraries here today. It was a sendoff event for the "Caminta contra la violencia" that's happening tomorrow starting at 5am. That's right, 5 am. A group of us read statistics, in Spanish and English, regarding the violence that is committed towards women in Mexico. The audience sat through a couple of short films, one from Italy, and another from Sweden, that contained domestic violence themes. Tomorrow we walk. Along with a group of hundreds, we will start at 5am in the garden by the beautiful Parroquioa. The walk is actually the beginning of a Catholic pilgrimage that happens every year, but CASA takes part in the first leg of the journey. I have heard people from the community hand out coffee to those that are walking. I was also told not to take it, that the water that was used wasn't bottled water. I've decided to take it anyway. smile. Thank you for joining!